Chapter 110
Chapter 110
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: Corpse Tree Harvest
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The corpse trees multiplied even faster than they could harvest them.
All four people there were the type to shrug off all but the most intense mental assaults, but even they would grow weary if it kept dragging on.
"Wouldn't this be enough...?"
Among them, Park Se-jin—who was especially vulnerable to mental strain—panted heavily, substituting the piercing fatigue drilling into his brain with deep breaths.
He had originally been the top ace aside from the Headquarters Chief, but the apocalypse she had never endured was enough to completely upend that.
Naturally, Park Se-jin couldn't help but feel a massive disconnect, though no one paid it any mind.
"Hard to say. That bastard Shin Jin-seong never explained things properly... but yeah, I think this should be plenty."
Hyeok Tae-jun said this while eyeing the mountain of body fragments piled up in one corner of the floor.
It was a shocking scene that would have knocked out any civilian who laid eyes on it.
The Headquarters Chief, who had been diligently hacking away at the trees beside him, turned to Moon Woo-seok, who was watching.
"Moon Woo-seok... Chief Researcher."
The Headquarters Chief felt a twinge of awkwardness and regret as he recalled what he'd put Moon Woo-seok through.
Moon Woo-seok's lips trembled at the strangely awkward title, like a hypothermia patient.
"...Why do you call me?"
"What do you think? You're... you know, smart and all."
"Even if you ask me, I've only been to The Shop a few times myself. I have no idea how these bodies are actually supposed to be used."
"Fair enough."
The Headquarters Chief returned to silently smashing the corpse trees.
They regrew faster than he could destroy them, triggering even more powerful hypnosis.
Just as Park Se-jin was on the verge of losing his mind...
Wee-oo wee-oo—!
A sudden siren echoed off the walls.
"Damn it! It's already hatching!"
The Headquarters Chief shuddered, recalling nightmares from the past.
There was no more time to wait.
Whether this was enough, or if it matched what Shin Jin-seong wanted, didn't matter anymore.
Convinced it was sufficient, they began preparing to move to the next phase.
"But... how are we supposed to transport this?"
"Uh..."
"How about this, maybe?"
Park Se-jin pointed at something abandoned next to the fertilizer.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Faster! Pull harder!"
"Y-You lunatic... talking down to me like that now!"
The Headquarters Chief glared at Hyeok Tae-jun, who was yelling at him, and shouted back.
"Hey, there's no time to tack 'sir' onto every word!"
"Back when I died, you were bawling your eyes out... What the hell happened after I kicked the bucket?"
"Heh, old stories later. We gotta move this cart quick!"
That's right.
The method they'd chosen wasn't anything from tales or science—it was just a plain old cart.
They could have used a truck or something, but the downtown streets—churned into chaos—were clogged with fleeing civilians, making it impossible for vehicles to move freely.
"If we're doing this the hard way, couldn't we just use a spatial rift or something?"
Moon Woo-seok yelled this as he ran, pouring every ounce of energy he had left into it. The Headquarters Chief shot him an incredulous look.
"You, a chief researcher, don't even know that? Spatial rifts have mass limits because they're refined artifacts."
Moon Woo-seok recalled how he'd gotten that chief researcher title in the first place but let out a deep sigh and dropped the argument.
Part of it was not wanting to bicker, but more than that, he wanted to focus on the spectacle in the sky.
The outer god—far smaller than in his memories—and the tiny dot floating beside it.
"Shin Jin-seong..."
Moon Woo-seok remembered something that junior of his had once said.
"If I'd known your life meant sacrificing for the masses... I never would've given you my core."
No one noticed the grief buried deep in Moon Woo-seok's hollow eyes.
Not even Moon Woo-seok himself—he chalked it up to simple awe.
"Jin-seong's out there struggling! Can't slack off now!"
The Headquarters Chief said this and accelerated even further.
Hyeok Tae-jun glanced up at the sky too before lowering his gaze to match the Chief's pace.
He checked around to make sure no one was falling behind and soon spotted Park Se-jin.
"Squad Leader, hurry up!"
"Huh? Oh, sorry!"
Park Se-jin pulled himself together and caught up to Hyeok Tae-jun.
"Why the long face?"
At Hyeok Tae-jun's question, Park Se-jin blinked with a dazed expression.
"Well... I died pretty early, so there's a lot I need explained. The explanations so far have been so bare-bones, I still don't get what's going on. Same with whatever's up with Jin-seong..."
"I'll fill you in properly once this is over. For now, just know the world's on the brink of doom, and we need to help Shin Jin-seong!"
Park Se-jin realized his questions wouldn't be answered anytime soon and quietly thought of Shin Jin-seong on his own.
The Shin Jin-seong in Park Se-jin's memories wasn't a great guy.
In the previous timeline, he'd known everything but kept it hidden like a coward. In this one, he'd tormented Park Se-jin as a merchant from a tale.
Yet to everyone else—excluding himself—Shin Jin-seong seemed like a beacon of hope.
"Feels like I'm the only one in the dark here."
In any case, they charged ahead amid the cart's screeching wheel sounds.
It was such a ridiculous sight that it almost felt like a circus act.
But once the civilians saw what was piled atop the cart like a tower, the amusement drained from their faces, replaced by sheer horror.
They realized it was less entertaining circus and more freak show.
"Ha... haha—!"
Hyeok Tae-jun laughed merrily from some inexplicable thrill.
The black sphere hovering in the sky clearly evoked doom, but for some reason, he felt utterly convinced they'd win this time.
"Shouldn't be getting cocky like this..."
Embarrassing as it was to admit, even though this was a repeat of that horrific disaster where his lover Han A-ram and his niece had died, he felt no anxiety whatsoever.
If this were back when he'd scarfed down Eyeball Candy nonstop, maybe—but the current Hyeok Tae-jun wasn't some cold-blooded killer, which made it all the stranger.
If he had to sum up the feeling in one sentence, it was like the 'story' had been scripted that way from the start.
In truth, everyone else felt the same, and that conviction kept them from sinking into despair.
"Is this Jin-seong's doing too...?"
"Exit 2 up ahead!"
Moon Woo-seok ignored Hyeok Tae-jun's musing and thrust his index finger forward with a shout.
"Straight to the emergency stairs then!"
The Headquarters Chief summoned even more power from his abs and exploded forward.
Despite the terrain's limitations, he hefted the cart with his freakish arm strength.
Without questioning if emergency stairs even existed here originally, they descended—and the moment they passed a certain point...
The surroundings changed.
"Th-This place!"
Park Se-jin—the sole angel contractor among them—gasped in shock.
It was the angel's space where Hyeok Tae-jun had once received that watch.
"I figured it'd connect to The Shop, but what is this?"
"Fear not." "I am The Shop itself." A massive question arose for everyone, but before they could voice it, the angel's voice pierced down.
"Sacrificed one." "Got a ton of questions, but looks like now's not the time. Long time no see, angel. You've helped me out a lot before—in the last timeline too."
"Indeed, you who have regained your memories—it's been a while." "And the savior's lion is with you too!" "That 'lion' means us, right?"
Moon Woo-seok whispered so only the Headquarters Chief and Park Se-jin could hear, but the angel naturally overheard and replied.
"Yes, I speak of you all." "The four lions chosen by the savior, who will lead this world to salvation." "Is this really... an angel? The one I contracted with didn't have this personality."
Park Se-jin recalled that time.
It had been a machine-like entity, obsessed with compensation.
"Ah, my former contractor." "I wish to converse with you at length, but you know better than I that now is not the time." The Headquarters Chief shouted as if he'd been waiting for those words.
"We piled these up like a mountain! Is this enough for what you wanted?!"
"The quantity is sufficient." "Your efforts shine through." The angel sounded pleased.
"Of course, I typically accept only the flesh of the living as payment." "But as I am also The Shop, there is no reason to refuse this!" It was clear that "The Shop" fragment had altered part of the angel's tale.
"Excellent!" "Shin Jin-seong, savior, merchant!" "Saint called by three names!" "I am the angel, once The Shop—thus, your contractor!" ⟨ Contract Proclamation ⟩
The angel—worthy of all fear—began to resonate through the world.
Their lives flashed by like a rapid panorama, and as the changes mirroring the world's history neared their end, a blinding light filled their vision.
"Your final wish is granted." "The story you have woven shall twist the world with irresistible force!" "And since that twist is your intent, the next chapter of this fabricated tale shall be its finale!"