Chapter 182
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 182: How to Reveal the Truth (4)
3 months passed like an arrow in a stalemate. After a long wait, the Wedge was finally completed.
“Wow, you worked hard~”
“You too~”
I looked disapprovingly at Choi Garam and Park Yulhan praising each other. Perhaps because they were fellow researchers, the two had become quite close.
“So, the finished product?”
At my words, the two looked at me and grinned.
“Don't be surprised!”
Park Yulhan took out a box covered with a cloth from behind his back. It seemed he wanted to do a drumroll or something, but I mercilessly pulled off the cloth.
“That's too much!”
“Too much my foot. You, who postponed it for two months now, are too much.”
“…It was close, though.”
Tornito, who heard the news while training and came to this spot with me, nodded as if he understood my feelings. This bastard said it would be finished in a month, but kept shouting 'Just one more month!' and postponed the completion for two months already. So how can I not go crazy? I looked at the appearance of the Wedge finally unveiled. It was an object close to a cone shape, and uniquely, the handle part of the Seventh Key used as a material still remained. Overall, it has a shape that spirals like the thread of a screw towards the end. The tip of the cone was very sharp. I grabbed the handle of the Seventh Key, no… the handle of the Wedge and lifted it.
“Is this also that? The thing used by stabbing?”
“Yes. That is correct. What's different from before is that it has definite physical force.”
“Physical force?”
“It means it bleeds if stabbed.”
Choi Garam answered instead. Why bother? As if noticing my thought, Park Yulhan continued.
“The usage method of this Wedge is like this.”
He gave a glance towards the finished Wedge.
“When the Oracle enters a possessed body, you stab the heart directly with the Wedge. Then the Oracle cannot escape from that body. Simultaneously, if you kill the possessed body, the Oracle is also killed as is.”
“Wait.”
Flustered, I stopped him.
“Then… it means the possessed body also dies. You're saying sacrifice someone again?”
“It can't be helped.”
“…If we make the repulsion of the prototype more efficient and prevent possession in everyone at all…”
“It's impossible.”
Park Yulhan spoke with a cold expression.
“Mass production is difficult for both the prototype and the Wedge. So, it is better to kill surely through the Wedge than to increase prototypes to prevent the Oracle from possessing.”
“Can't we kill only the Oracle?”
“That is so. Since the Wedge is an item that can be made only once, the opportunity is only once. Let's go carefully.”
“……”
I didn't like it. Park Yulhan's appearance speaking as if someone's sacrifice was unavoidable. Ah, this is why I hated the Wild Hunt. Although there is a difference in scope, anyway, they also think small sacrifices are inevitable for the purpose. The reason the Fox cooperates with the Wild Hunt but doesn't share friendship beyond that would be in the same context. In the end, it was me who couldn't hold back and opened my mouth.
“Then how are you different from the Oracle?”
“Different.”
Park Yulhan spoke nonchalantly.
“In that we save the other races.”
“I asked about the method of saving, not the target of saving.”
Is that method, indeed, just?If not just, can you stand proudly against someone like the Oracle? At my words, Park Yulhan made a very, very strange expression.
“Wow.”
Bursting out an ambiguous exclamation.
“You are truly innocent beyond measure.”
“I know it's a foolish remark.”
“A person cannot always walk a path with no moral flaws.”
“I know that too. But…”
I looked at him intently. He was looking at me with dark, sunken eyes. Suddenly, I recalled his past. A life where he had to willingly endure even two regressions to save the other races. How much did he have to give up with regression in mind? It wasn't that I didn't understand. What changed from before regression is that I am here. But just as I don't completely trust him, he also… no, didn't completely trust the miracle my Meta System could cause. Is that why? He seemed to have a strong tendency to think leaving out the variable called me from the calculation.
“I am here.”
I spoke calmly to him who was tired of facing reality.
“I, the Irregular whom you guys called a variable, am here.”
That I am here.
“…You are truly arrogant.”
“I spoke arrogantly because I have an idea, just now.”
Really. A good idea suddenly came to mind. I looked at the Wedge I held for a moment.
“…Park Yulhan.”
“Yes.”
“Prototype, there is still one left, right? Give me that.”
“Um, is this helpful in killing the Oracle?”
“It is.”
“If so.”
I put the prototype Park Yulhan handed over into my Inventory.
“Park Yulhan.”
“What is it?”
“Can the Oracle only appear in this world through the method of possession?”
“That is correct. Since he is close to human thought, he has no main body, you see. Virtually all his abilities wielded in this world are an extension of possession.”
“I see. Thanks.”
I turned on the Point Changer. And smiled.
“How about using my Point Changer?”
At my words, his eyes widened. It seemed he hadn't thought that far.
“Will it work?”
“Probably. The value of a Key is huge. And the value of the Wedge, the only one in the world made based on the Key, will be even huge.”
“……”
“You don't want to sacrifice people either.”
“…If possible, that is so.”
“Then trust me.”
I will make sure no one is sacrificed. At my words, Park Yulhan made a strange expression. It was an expression like he was about to cry, and also like he was about to laugh. After being silent for a moment, he opened his mouth with difficulty.
“…Do as you please. That is yours now. Since it's an object that couldn't have been made without your Key.”
“I take it as permission?”
“Yes, but investment of further resources from our side is difficult. Keep only that in mind.”
“Understood.”
I spoke slyly. Park Yulhan, who was always sly, became an expressionless face on the contrary. He stared at me silently, then turned his back and disappeared. Watching that figure, I looked down at my Point Changer window. Perhaps,
[The Oracle becomes unable to possess.] [25,000,000 Points]
Maybe I could stop the Oracle even with Story Twisting. With trembling hands, I put the Wedge into the Point Changer.
[Wedge - 24,000,000 Points]
24 million points. That was the value of the Wedge. One million points…If I had just one million points, I could stop the Oracle's possession. As soon as I realized this fact, I stood up from my seat. But unfortunately, I didn't have anything with a value of one million points. The Keys cannot be used. But…
“I tried not to borrow money if possible.”
…There was a corner to rub against. I took out my device and contacted someone. Not long after, someone on the other side answered my call.
—Is it Nahyun? What's the matter?
It was Yggdrasil.
“Yggdrasil-nim.”
—Yes.
“Do you have some money?”
—…Mm?
It was time for Money Splurging Season 2. Not with my money, but with other people's money. …It must be just a feeling that I'm becoming more brazen as time goes on, surely. Yggdrasil was recently assigned a room at the Wild Hunt headquarters and staying there. For reference, after Yggdrasil came out of the Academy, it was quite a fuss. The Academy covered Yggdrasil's absence as a business trip, but inside the Wild Hunt, words were exchanged that they should use Yggdrasil to promote the legitimacy of the Wild Hunt, and so on. However, Yggdrasil herself did not move actively. Maybe bored, she came out to the training ground occasionally, but basically, she was in her room. Maybe that's why it was easy to find her. When I explained about the Meta System and Point Changer to her, she was quite amazed.
“So you mean you need equipment to change into points?”
“Yes.”
“The reason you want to proceed like this?”
“I don't want to sacrifice even a single person.”
“Hmm.”
Yggdrasil, thinking about something at my words, grinned soon.
“Well, sure. Good! Hearing those words reminds me of old times too.”
“Old times?”
“There was. Someone called Park Si-yeon, a foolish guy.”
That name… wasn't it surely the name of the previous Hero? Momentarily, wonder brushed past, but I thought whatever. Yggdrasil seemed to rummage through her Inventory, then soon poured out numerous expensive equipment.
“This is what I used around the 10th floor, and this is what Mikel made for the first time! And this…”
Even without listening to the explanation, bows and equipment that looked enormously expensive at a glance poured out.
“Why so many?”
“Because my bastard friends left wills to hand over all decent equipment to me if they died.”
“…Is, is it okay to use such things?”
At my words, Yggdrasil snorted.
“Do you know the reason those guys gave this to me?”
“What is it?”
“The reason was ‘Save more people.’”
Yggdrasil, ruminating on the past, grinned. As if the memories with them were so precious.
“So I do not regret.”
That confident smile must be something only those who lived their best could make.
“Take as much as you want!”
But I was actually terrified inside. Because the equipment Yggdrasil gave looked more precious and larger in quantity than what was in the Fox's warehouse. No, does all this even fit in the Inventory? But since it was a situation where I couldn't withdraw now, I tried to look nonchalant.
“Hm? Why are your hands shaking?”
“…It's a bit cold. Maybe because the AC is strong.”
…Guess I wasn't nonchalant. I swept the equipment with trembling hands. The sight of flashing equipment disappearing in an instant made my liver shrink…. Finally, the converted points showed me an enormous number.
[24,984,130 Points]
Even so, it was lacking.
“Is it lacking?”
“…Yes.”
Seeing my hardened expression, Yggdrasil also hardened her face.
“Mmm… It's a pity, but I have nothing more to offer….”
“Yes. Thank you, Yggdrasil-nim. This is enough.”
I left the seat after bowing politely to Yggdrasil. I must repay this someday. I thought about getting the Fox's help again, but it was impossible because I already looted too much last time. Even if he filled it up to some extent with Mithril Turtle byproducts, it must have been quite a burden. I couldn't ask for more. Since we didn't only have the goal of overthrowing the Oracle, we can't pour all resources there. Then… There is only one method left. Dark black hair and intense red eyes catching my gaze floated in my head. Guilt seemed to prick my heart, poke. But,
“…Because this is the only way to earn points.”
I clenched the prototype tightly, reminding myself as if making a resolution.