Chapter 220
Chapter 220
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 220
Chapter Title: Expulsion and Sealing
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Rumble-crunch-splat.
The body upheld by [The One Who Waits Silently] crumbles away.
And Kim Shin-hwa—or whatever it was that had become her—watches the sight with a hazy, ecstatic expression.
As the incarnation shatters, spilling entrails and bones, spraying crimson blood everywhere, pure joy, curiosity, ecstasy, greed, delight, and hunger bloom across the face of what was once Kim Shin-hwa.
Creak-groan-crunch.
One of the doll-like humans steps forward in a bizarre, beautiful, eerie pose.
What was Kim Shin-hwa quickly grasps the situation. That one who just exploded and died had transferred to another body and been reborn? What an incredible power. I’m jealous. I want it. I wish I had that kind of strength too.
The creaking doll body.
[The One Who Waits Silently] raises one hand upward and stretches the other downward, forming the Tongin mudra. It’s a gesture meant to reveal the Buddha’s compassion, but [The One Who Waits Silently] has no connection to the Buddha.
It’s merely a method to prolong the duration of the forcibly seized body—a motion similar to Buddhist mudras purely by coincidence.
“Now answer me. What is your name? Are you the white servant I have been awaiting?”
“I-I-I’m K-K-Kim Shin-hwa.”
“…….”
“S-Sorry. I-I d-don’t kn-know what the wh-white servant is.”
[The One Who Waits Silently] gazes at what was Kim Shin-hwa, gracefully and slowly bringing his hands together to form the Jigwonin mudra.
His gaze pierces beyond the mask, beyond the skin of what was Kim Shin-hwa.
To [The One Who Waits Silently], it appears as an empty abyss. Just like Kim Shin-hwa herself. Nothing is visible.
Even after expending so much, [The One Who Waits Silently] originates from an abyssal existence. Skipping several layers of insight, he discerns the true nature of what was Kim Shin-hwa.
“Ah, I see. You’re one of Kim Shin-hwa’s incarnations. What I seek to summon is not an incomplete incarnation without even a true name. Return to where you came from.”
A soft voice infused with compassion and love.
To fulfill his vow, [The One Who Waits Silently] must draw out the true power trapped deeper within Kim Shin-hwa’s inner self.
What was Kim Shin-hwa hugs her own body and steps back.
“N-No! I-I f-finally got this b-body. It’s m-mine now. I-I’m K-Kim Shin-hwa. I-I’m n-not going b-back!”
Her tone is like a child throwing a tantrum.
[The One Who Waits Silently] slowly forms the Hapjangin mudra as he speaks.
“How troubling. I have no time. If you intend to interfere with my vow, then I shall shatter you as well.”
With those words, doll-like humans approach from all sides, their joints squeaking.
“Uh, u-uh…. C-Come cl-closer. If you c-come any cl-closer….”
What was Kim Shin-hwa mumbles, then falls silent, groping at [Reckless Destruction] covering her head.
The oversized water buffalo bone mask—grotesquely large compared to her body and head—responds to her mana.
[System: Cooldown has not ended, so the trait cannot be activated.]
“N-No…. I-I’ll t-take what I w-want…. G-Give it to m-me.”
Crunch-crunch.
Mana concentrates in the hand of what was Kim Shin-hwa. It’s not proper spellcasting. Pure brute force. Mana rams in like sheer willpower, forcibly extracting the latent power sealed within [Reckless Destruction].
[S-Grade Function Activated: Craving of ‘Violence’. Reckless accessory ‘Destruction’ triggers. Randomly boosts health and attack power stats (+N), enhancing melee combat performance.]
It’s incomplete. She’s only drawn out a handful of shadowy fluid trapped inside [Reckless Destruction].
But what was Kim Shin-hwa overlays her own mana to fix its form.
Crackle-crunch.
The sticky shadow soon morphs into a short dagger with a pitch-black blade.
Ssssh-slice.
Swish-whoosh-slash.
How many times does what was Kim Shin-hwa swing her hand? Heads, bodies, arms of the surrounding dolls fall to the floor.
Thud-flump-drip.
As Kim Shin-hwa predicted, these are patients from the closed ward of Paju Central Hospital, turned into dolls by the surreal entity [Doll Factory].
Their surfaces resemble dolls, but sever the neck and they die, blood flowing from the stumps.
Sploooosh!
Blood sprays like a fountain.
Beneath the mask, what was Kim Shin-hwa grins with flushed excitement, reveling in it.
“I-I c-can do it. I-I’m K-Kim Shin-hwa!”
“You are an incarnation embodying the desire and delusion to seize another’s power and wield it—”
Sploooosh!
[The One Who Waits Silently]’s head falls. What was Kim Shin-hwa moved at a speed imperceptible to human eyes and severed it.
But [The One Who Waits Silently] had no intention of defending or dodging from the start. Another corpse rises and speaks.
“—indeed. I can no longer wield greater power, but before you gain a true name, my other incarnations will—”
Sploooosh!
Another head of [The One Who Waits Silently] comes off. One nearby rises immediately.
“—destroy you.”
“I-I w-want the p-power that un-uncle has too. I-I’m je-je-jealous. Sh-Share it with m-me. The n-name, the p-power, the e-existence, that p-power to l-live again even after d-destruction. Sh-Share it. No, g-give it to m-me.”
[The One Who Waits Silently] slowly begins raising his right hand to the sky while pointing his left toward the ground.
“How pitiful. An incarnation born from a single human’s ravenous craving.”
After repeated excessive descents and unnatural ability use, most of his power is spent, but enough remains to activate his unique trait once more.
“Eek, eeeek!”
What was Kim Shin-hwa screams and retreats. She instinctively senses the power of the ability [The One Who Waits Silently] is about to unleash.
“N-No! N-Not that! D-Don’t use it!”
What was Kim Shin-hwa hunches like a terrified cat, throat tightening as she hisses, “Kyaaah!”
Clearly, in the next moment, what was Kim Shin-hwa would have been erased.
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But [The One Who Waits Silently] refrains from activating the trait and slowly turns his head.
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An incongruous sound captures their ears. A noise that shouldn’t be heard here repeats.
[The One Who Waits Silently]’s face twists. Muscles on his face distort unnaturally, on the verge of tearing and losing their shape.
“⌚? Why?”
In the direction he gazes, there is nothing. Not here, but slightly to the side, or further down. The beings present in this place have detected something in a direction they cannot interact with.
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Somewhere around the corridor’s corner, pitch-black steam rises. And the stench of rotting corpses filling the hall from some point onward.
From a direction—and in a manner—impossible to observe now, someone speaks.
“ , .”
Fwoooosh!
At that moment, the backpack on what was Kim Shin-hwa’s back rips open, spilling its contents.
“Wh-Who!? Wh-Who’s t-touching my th-things!?”
Crash-rumble.
Magic stones glimmering in every color. Each one high-purity, too volatile for amateurs.
Whiiiir.
Some magic stones trace geometric light trails toward [The One Who Waits Silently] and explode.
KABOOOM! KABOOOOM!!
Explosions laden with immense heat and mana.
“------!!”
[The One Who Waits Silently]’s scream. A sound impossible for human bodies to utter or hear.
Whiiiir.
The exploded stones are just a fraction. A vast number settle into preordained positions, forming dazzling magic circles bright enough to blind.
What was Kim Shin-hwa senses the circles’ shapes and lets out a scream laced with horror.
“Th-That! Wh-Who!? N-No way, K-Kim Shin-hwa? D-Did K-Kim Shin-hwa set this up!?”
Sharing a body with Kim Shin-hwa means sharing her traits too. The 30 Intelligence stat and [Spell Mastery] trait convey the circles’ meaning to what was Kim Shin-hwa.
Purification, erasure, expulsion, banishment, return, nullification, exclusion, eviction, disposal, exorcism.
And imprisonment, sealing, isolation, suppression, control, defense, coercion, restraint, binding.
Spells to drive some entity’s power from this place—and simultaneously seal it away.
“N-No! N-Nooo! Th-That’s mine! M-Mine!”
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Kiiiiin!
Enveloped in blinding light, [The One Who Waits Silently] addresses the now-unobservable direction.
“⌚. Have you decided to entangle yourself with us once more?”
He slowly forms a few mudras to counter Kim Shin-hwa’s magic circles, but he cannot escape.
Without sacrifices, rituals, or even a medium to receive its presence, he has expended too much trying to exert influence inside the barrier formed to repel an abyssal entity.
“I see. My time here ends. But I am the one who has awaited the white servant for so long. If Kim Shin-hwa is truly the white servant as we foresaw—then he will summon us himself in the end.”
He addresses the unobservable direction once more.
“Gr-gr-gr-gr-⌚. We shared some amusing memories in the future.”
Uttering words out of tense alignment, [The One Who Waits Silently] slowly fades away.
Now left in this corridor are the magic stones still swirling brilliantly in the air and the countless human corpses scattered about.
“Ah, a-ahhh! It’s g-gone…. I-I h-haven’t eaten yet!”
What was Kim Shin-hwa pounds the blood-slick floor in outrage.
Hiss-hiss.
And from some corner of the corridor, thick black steam flows.
Having drawn slightly closer from beyond observation range, ⌚ now speaks in a voice even what was Kim Shin-hwa can perceive.
“Whew, it actually worked. Did you really calculate and prepare all this? You were all talk, but damn, junior, you’re the real deal.”
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A bizarre sound echoes repeatedly from ⌚’s body.
“Wh-Wh-Who are you!?”
“Hm? You don’t know me?”
“N-No.”
“Hmm, didn’t it share memories?”
As he speaks, ⌚ scratches at where his head should be.
“Oh, right.”
Only then realizing the issue, ⌚ continues.
“Anyway, kid. You’ll figure out who I am in a few days, so don’t worry about it. Just take a nap for now.”
⌚ slowly raises his hand. The object in it is something Kim Shin-hwa will receive in a fortnight.
Kiiiiin.
Of the stones still hovering, those bearing powers of imprisonment, sealing, isolation, suppression, control, defense, coercion, restraint, and binding approach what was Kim Shin-hwa.
“Aaagh! N-No! D-Don’t lock me up!”
What was Kim Shin-hwa swings her pitch-black dagger, slicing through suppression, isolation, and control—but she can’t cut them all.
“Aaagh! N-No! No! No! No! Stop! Get out of here! Pull back! No! I said no! Idiot. Should’ve run away. Get out of my way!”
Screaming “Aaaah!” or “Kyaaah!”, what was Kim Shin-hwa collapses to the floor.
⌚ mutters while gazing at the fallen form.
“Hmm, but does your junior have to deal with this crap every time he uses his powers? Getting chased by ?s is nothing compared to this insane penalty.”
Grrrrr.
From somewhere in the now-quiet corridor comes a strange noise, like a dangerous beast growling low.
“Eek!? Time’s up already?”
⌚ startles and shakes his head. Then he spots a ? somewhere in the corridor—
“Aaahhh!!”
In a light panic, ⌚ flails barefoot down the hall, eventually slipping on someone’s entrails and crashing to the floor.
Crunch!
“Guhhh, my head! My head!”
Clutching his rolling head, ⌚ whimpers pathetically for a moment before fleeing—left, left, further left, farther left—into an unobservable distance.
The now-leaderless ? growls toward the unobserved direction, then slowly vanishes, leaving behind some indescribable foul fluid.
Now, truly left in this corridor are only the countless scattered human corpses and Kim Shin-hwa, slumbering under the protection of the variously glowing magic stones.
No, one more.
“Waaah—there’s something amazing here—”
Lee Ha-seo’s voice echoes from down the corridor.