Chapter 191
Chapter 191
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 191
Chapter Title: Light Nap
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Crackle—crackle—
That’s the sound of me tapping on Yeom Geum-ja’s desk.
As soon as Seo Cheon-seul and I escaped King’s Castle Club, we came face-to-face with the Foreigner Management Agency.
That’s when Shin Woo-jin yelled, “Kim Shin-hwa! You goblin bastard!”
For some reason, Shin Woo-jin seems to have mistaken Seo Cheon-seul for me.
But regardless of his misunderstanding, we still lost a ton of time shaking that guy off.
“Bwahaha—darkness under the lamp and all that.”
Seo Cheon-seul peers out the window through the blinds of Yeom Geum-ja’s office and chuckles.
We’ve holed up in Yeom Geum-ja’s office, not far from King’s Castle Club.
“We’ve got info to check here anyway, so two birds with one stone.”
That’s what I said, but I haven’t moved an inch, still planted in Yeom Geum-ja’s chair.
Crackle—crackle—
My left hand keeps drumming on the desk. Listening to the repetitive noise makes irritation bubble up all at once. Stop tapping already!
Outside, the Foreigner Management Agency officials are still milling about.
Shin Woo-jin has detection skills as sharp as the eyes sprouting from his skull. Setting up barriers to block that bastard’s senses cost us even more time.
Scritch—scritch—
The tapping on the desk has stopped, but now some weird noise starts coming from somewhere.
Time’s of the essence, but do I really have to dodge those guys too?
“Ugh, this is annoying. I’m exhausted.”
“Kim, wanna take a break?”
“No!”
Ugh, that came out louder than intended.
But resting isn’t going to fix this.
To be honest, I want to declare the contract broken, even if it means paying the penalty.
Not just the penalty—I’d hand back the Four Signs Participation Sword, and even the Scroll of the Night Veil on top of that—
‘But I don’t care.’
I’m done.
Those red things I saw earlier.
Blood and gore, the judge from the Gourmet Expedition Team with the elephant head—and—scritch—grrrk—
“Thousand Gold Captain, you saw that, right?”
“That?”
“The tentacle that burst out from beyond the gate and sent you flying.”
“Oh, that? Bwahaha! Wasn’t a big deal.”
“Not a big deal?”
I continued, recalling the power that tentacle unleashed.
“That was a part of an abyssal being, [Predator of the Mountains].”
“Stung like hell, though. Nearly got flung outside the building.”
Getting flung outside isn’t the issue—it was nearly obliterated right there.
“Thanks to that, I lost my favorite hat. Hmm. Gotta claim proper compensation for it.”
“…….”
He’s got nothing to say to that.
Looking at Seo Cheon-seul’s utterly shameless expression makes me feel like a fool for worrying.
Grrrk—scrunch—
“But why’ve you been scratching your arm this whole time, Kim?”
“Huh?”
My left hand has been relentlessly scratching my right wrist and arm.
The skin’s tearing, down to the dermis.
Since when did I start scratching like this?
No, it’s not just my wrist and arm.
Neck, shoulder, chest, side, thigh.
Every spot my left hand can reach—it’s clawing at all of them.
And from every one of those wounds—bright red—blood is—
“Hah—huh—”
My breathing’s ragged.
Dizzy. My right hand slowly creeps toward my forehead.
What?
Oh, my right hand’s touching my forehead?
Why?
My head hurts.
Oh, does my head hurt?
I want to touch my head.
Don’t, stay still, right hand. I’m scared the mask might peel off.
It itches. I want to scratch. Rip the skin open and pull it out.
Don’t scratch. My teeth are bothering me. I want to yank them all out. Wait, don’t channel mana. Teeth! Don’t pull the teeth!
Stop! Too much mana in my eyes! My eyeballs are gonna burst. Stopstopstop!
This isn’t just a delusion. I could really die! Don’t do it! We’re marching toward death.
“Hah—hah—hic—siii—hic—”
Breath—my breath’s weird? Throat’s too tight! Can’t breathe!
What’swrongKimwhy? I hear a voice like that.
I think I replied, don’tcomecloseyougoblinbastard?
No, maybe I couldn’t even reply and just gasped for air?
“Hic—sii—huh—gah!”
OhnoKimthisisbad. Seo Cheon-seul approaches. Ah, stay away. Get lost! You can’t help me!
Don’t grab my left hand! You crazy goblin shit! Let go! Let go!
Seo Cheon-seul starts trying to strip off my clothes.
Look. Look at that horrific goblin! He’s been waiting for the moment to betray us.
I see! Betrayal!
I channeled mana and slapped Seo Cheon-seul across the face.
There’s a boom—but I also hear Kimstaystill!
You thick-headed bastard Seo Cheon-seul! Finally revealing your true desires! Targeting my weakest moment to steal the Scroll of the Night Veil! To kill me!
“Grrruh—hah! Huh.”
Can’t breathe right. Can’t stop Seo Cheon-seul.
And I can’t tear my eyes from the wound on my right hand. Skin flayed from scratching too hard, dermis exposed on the wrist.
Blood flows from the wrist.
I hoped it might not be, but my suspicions were right. This disgusting thing fills my body. Look. I pulled it out. Not someone else—with my own will, I wounded myself. I drew out the blood inside this body. Now I’ll rip out every last vile thing inside me.
A drop of blood from my right wrist—
Two drops—
.
.
.
.
.
—
Only then did I understand what those hazy shadows were saying.
“This is a dream?”
One of the hazy shadows answered my question.
“Yeah, a dream.”
Calm, composed tone. Its form is vague, like a photo from a broken camera, but the voice feels oddly familiar.
“Wait, wasn’t I just in some kind of manic frenzy?”
“Ah, damn it. See? It reset again!”
Rough tone. From another shadow next to the calm one.
“Hold still. This time it’s probably for real.”
“Snapped out of it? Nah, wrong. This method ain’t working. Just seize control outright!”
“Fine. Let’s make this the last one.”
“Yeah. Last. For real this time.”
The shadows converse with each other.
‘What the hell kind of situation is this?’
The shadows speak in voices that are completely identical, just with slightly different tones.
“Hey, Kim Shin-hwa. You just thought, ‘What the hell kind of situation is this?’ didn’t you?”
“And you’ve noticed our voices are the same.”
I also realized that the ‘us’ they mentioned doesn’t just mean those two shadows.
“My voice is the same as yours.”
The ‘us’ they refer to includes me.
Those two are speaking in my exact voice.
“Of course it is! Idiot!”
“Stay calm a sec. You idiot.”
“Cut it out! You idiots! I get everything you’re saying—”
First, I need to sort out this chaotic situation.
So I hurriedly continued.
“—This is a dream, and I guess I kept repeating the same crap until I realized it was a dream?”
I went through something similar back at Thousand Gold Hall.
“Yeah. So you know who we are now?”
“Yeah.”
“Say it!”
“You’re all me. Kim Shin-hwas.”
“Right. We’ve wasted so much time making you realize that, so let’s sum it up quick.”
The calm-toned shadow spoke.
“Seo Cheon-seul used the power of the Scroll of the Night Veil to force us to sleep.”
“Don’t misunderstand! Thousand Gold Captain was helping us.”
“I know. The mania kicked in, right? But talking in the same voice is really confusing.”
“Yeah. But confusion is better. If our personalities get any stronger, it might be irreversible for real.”
These guys are me.
The calm shadow is probably the me that possessed the spirit golems in In-su Village.
“It’s too late. This guy’s mind is beyond saving! He’s just a lunatic now!”
And the hot-tempered one is the me that went into Red.
“Anyway, you’ve got a message, right? What’s the point?”
At my words, Kim Shin-hwa—spirit golem—replied.
“First off, you think you’re suppressing Blood Phobia with mental strength, but that’s a delusion.”
“A delusion?”
“Yeah, delusion! You can’t suppress it like that. You were just dumping the madness and stress onto someone else.”
Kim Shin-hwa—Red—cuts in suddenly. That guy’s got a short fuse.
“Someone else?”
“Hate to call it ‘someone else,’ but the structure’s the same. You just split off a personality to take the stress for you.”
“That’s……”
A term comes to mind.
Kim Shin-hwa—spirit golem—nods at my realization.
“Yeah. Dissociative Identity Disorder. What people call multiple personalities.”
“The scapegoat handling the madness hit its limit. Ever had thoughts totally opposite yours pop in? Talking to yourself in polite speech? That was him.”
“Don’t think he’s fine.”
“That’s who tortured those thick-headed bastards earlier.”
“Couldn’t control your actions or thoughts, right? If not for Thousand Gold Captain, you’d have cast even worse spells?”
I recalled my abnormal words and actions from back then.
The target wasn’t human, but I blasted incapacitated foes with spells just to inflict pain.
Hah, damn it.
Yeah, I definitely couldn’t control myself then.
“Did the system trigger this? Or is it unrelated?”
This symptom—personality splitting—started in In-su Village. No phobia back then.
Is this system-induced? Or am I just crazy?
“We don’t know either.”
“You don’t?”
Damn, they talk like they know everything, then say that?
“All we know is what you know.”
“This is just your unconscious deduction.”
“We’re only organizing it for you.”
“Your psych knowledge is too vague and abstract to begin with.”
“Dissociative Identity Disorder might not even be accurate.”
“A guy who spent his days gaming—what does he know? Probably something you skimmed online by chance. Don’t go blabbing what we said to others; you’ll embarrass yourself.”
The two Kim Shin-hwas take turns nagging rhythmically. Was I always this naggy?
“Don’t alternate like that; I can’t tell who’s talking!”
“Again, don’t force distinctions. We’re all just Kim Shin-hwa. Unlike the others, we think we need to merge back into one eventually.”
Wait, what Kim Shin-hwa—spirit golem just said……
As I look shocked, Kim Shin-hwa—Red says,
“Yeah. There’s more besides us. And not everyone agrees.”
“Damn it. How many are there?”
“That’s not the point. Anyway, just like Fish Phobia caused amnesia, Blood Phobia’s probably causing Dissociative Identity Disorder.”
“Same as back then. You didn’t even realize the madness from amnesia, right?”
“This time you thought another personality was tanking the phobia so you could endure.”
“Yeah.”
“Exactly.”
“Good. Then—”
I asked the two Kim Shin-hwas.
“—what’s the solution?”
“Sigh, it’s a gamble, but we’ve got one.”
Kim Shin-hwa—spirit golem’s reply.
“The fact that another personality’s taking the madness hits instead of you is clear, right? Use what you can.”
Kim Shin-hwa—Red continues confidently.
“We’ll hold ‘that guy’ back more. Solve it as fast as you can.”
“Don’t let it drag past tonight.”
“Any longer’s impossible.”
“Got it.”
“And finally—”
-
I woke from the dream.
“Damn, finally what?”
Like any dream, it started abruptly and ended abruptly.
I was still in Yeom Geum-ja’s office. Must’ve dozed off in the chair.
Seo Cheon-seul, sitting on the sofa, looks at me.
“Kim, you awake?”
“How long was I out?”
“About six hours? No, uh—five minutes?”
Asking a goblin about time always gets this.
“I see.”
Outside the window, the sun’s setting, painting the sky bloody red.
Guess I slept about an hour?
Time’s short.
‘Solve it by tonight, they said.’
Gotta move fast from here.