Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Gambling Den Atrocity
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"Hoo... this is something."
"This is pretty gruesome."
A few police officers were walking through the middle of an illegal gambling den.
When it came to the horrific things that might happen at a typical gambling joint, one might think of people dying or having their wrists sliced off, but this incident was something else entirely.
"What the hell do we even call this?"
Scattered across the floor amid stakes worth tens of millions were gamblers sprawled out like they were in bed.
They were clearly alive, but their brains must have taken massive damage—they were drooling from their mouths, unable to react properly.
"They're acting just like newborns."
"It's downright chilling."
They soon turned to look at one section of the wall.
"And the worst of them..."
"Has to be that one."
A corpse whose entire body had transformed into something indescribable, no longer human in any part.
Next to it rolled an unidentified toilet paper core, surrounded by congealed, murky blood.
"This doesn't look like something we can handle on our own."
"Pardon?"
"Call the Tale Management Bureau."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Got it."
While Do-hyun was getting a rundown of the incident from the police, Se-jin was observing the surroundings with the investigation team.
It had been a while since she'd done her actual job.
"No intact parts anywhere here, so ID'ing them is out of the question."
"The blood's composition is completely different too—no way to analyze it."
One of the investigation team members continued briefing Se-jin based on what they'd learned so far.
"No forms of identification on any of them, and most of their clothes have melted away, so we can't even tell what they were wearing."
"Ah, thanks."
Se-jin, ever the squad leader, needed to shake off her personal fixation on the horror shop.
She couldn't keep neglecting her duties just because of her role.
"Hmm... Is this thing a tale? But it doesn't quite feel like one."
She'd have to run a detailed examination to know for sure, but based on all the cases she'd handled so far, this seemed more like a human who'd fallen victim to a tale.
"If that's the case, then whatever turned people into that state is still out there. Is it the same one that reduced the gamblers to vegetables?"
In a normal situation, she might think that, but the corpse and the brain-dead cases were so wildly different that it wasn't easy to connect them.
"Squad Leader... I'm here."
"Oh, you made it?"
"Even if I've been hanging around the New Tale Investigation Squad all the time lately, I'm still a researcher, you know? You've been calling me like I'm a team member these days."
"Come on, we're not strangers. It'll take two days just to transport this to headquarters and run tests. The faster, the better, right?"
Woo-seok couldn't keep his mouth shut at Se-jin's shameless attitude, much like the nearby victims.
"Sigh... Fine, whatever."
Woo-seok shook his head helplessly.
"So, what do you need from me?"
"Check if this corpse is human or not."
"...It is a corpse, right? I mean, it doesn't even look human at a glance."
"That's how it looks to me too."
"Well, I'll take a look."
Woo-seok pulled out all sorts of reagents and tools from his bag and approached the corpse.
His movements were efficient and precise, true to his biology background, drawing eyes from the rest of the investigation team.
"Whoa..."
It impressed even Se-jin.
He'd always been pretty skilled, but with history rewritten, his abilities seemed even sharper.
Probably because he'd started crafting things like Momentary Dream and other items himself, embedding that knowledge into him.
No one in the Bureau still saw Woo-seok as some manufactured head researcher.
To Se-jin, he seemed to surpass Yoon Seo-yeon at her peak by a wide margin.
"Not sure if Yoon Seo-yeon even did her own research for real."
As Se-jin muttered self-deprecatingly, Woo-seok finished his analysis and stood up.
"Hmm... The DNA's all jumbled, hard to explain, but the human components dominate."
"So, what's your take?"
"Human. Though tales are unpredictable, of course."
Se-jin's expression darkened.
Partly from not managing her face while thinking, but mostly because she'd secretly hoped it was a tale, not a person.
"If it were a tale, the story would've ended with it turning people into that and then self-destructing."
Her head throbbed at the thought of hunting down whatever tale had done this, just as Do-hyun approached after getting the details from the police.
"Squad Leader."
"Yeah? Anything special?"
Do-hyun gave Woo-seok a quick nod before answering Se-jin.
"Pretty much matches what we saw. Actually, the lack of expertise means there's nothing useful."
Tae-jun cited examples like the time of the incident or the organization's identity.
"Hmm. Police aren't in our line of work, so can't be helped."
"But there's one thing that bugs me."
"Something bugging you?"
"Yes. It's something we might've missed precisely because we're from the Tale Management Bureau. None of the victims is the gambling den owner."
"What? Then let's start with th—"
Beep beep beep—
Right then, the investigation team's anomaly detector went off.
The target was the pathetic toilet paper core lying on the floor.
The team hid their bewilderment, wondering if the device was faulty, but at the sight of the core, everyone in the New Tale Investigation Squad thought of one thing.
"The red toilet paper from the horror shop?"
Se-jin puffed out her chest and spat out the words rising to the top of her head.
"The Merchant again!"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Who's talking smack about me?"
I scratched my itchy ear.
There was that old saying, 'Your ears itch when someone's talking about you.'
I wondered if it actually worked in this world.
Well, if it did, my ears wouldn't survive with the Bureau and such constantly yapping about me.
"..."
I'd decided where to go.
Now I just had to set out.
"But."
Is going there really the right call?
The decision was perfectly rational.
Solid reasoning, clear goal.
Yet the more I thought about it, the more visceral revulsion welled up.
Looking back now, I questioned if it was even a tale I could handle.
It felt a bit too cosmic horror for my taste.
And there were some minor issues too.
"Still, I can't spend my whole life with this nagging feeling..."
Are you planning to stew in it all day?
I don't care what you do, but if you're going, go already—or shut your trap if not.
"Shut it, you devil."
Hah...
This is a real pain.
The Shop's words were grating, but not wrong.
Fine.
Let's go.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Hoo... The foreign merchant returns."
With the bell chime, time froze, and the king's monologue began.
Even though my power had grown incomparably stronger since first meeting the king, I couldn't possibly defeat this tyrant of pride.
Ding—
"It's been a while, Your Highness. I hope you've been well."
Keep the greeting simple.
Ding—
"The annex you built for me makes time flow faster than it should—even nonexistent time—so I've had no time to be bored."
The king rose, gazing out the window at the annex.
"At the same time, the lack of further change has left me quite melancholic."
He suddenly turned to me, frowning.
Is he saying that melancholy is my fault?
Observing my frozen expression, the king twisted his lips into a sneer.
"Hahaha! Relax. How could I blame you for my melancholy?"
Damn, that lunatic.
Ding—
From the moment I saw him turn his precious subjects into objects, it was hard to view that king favorably.
A guy with values twisted enough to do that to his most treasured people—what value would he see in a nobody like me?
Who knows if he'd suddenly spout some romantic line like 'Become mine' and turn me into a calculator.
"Haha... The reason I visit Your Highness today is that I've found another way to assist you."
I pulled the item I'd brought from my pocket.
"This."
The Time Persistent Camera.
Equipment I'd hunted down while taking a break from business right after cutting ties with the Bureau.
Ding—
"If some lowly thing said that, I'd dismiss it as arrogance."
Uh-oh, why's he coming closer?
The king stepped down from his throne toward me.
Soon, from less than a meter away, his eerie expression stared at the Time Persistent Camera.
His motionless throat trembled with tension, as if time hadn't stopped it.
"But you, who already proved it possible, say this—how could I not believe you?"
The king walked past me.
"Speak truth. I have waited. The possibility of rebuilding my kingdom that you showed me has kept sleep from my eyes."
I couldn't turn my head, so I couldn't see him, but he was surely addressing me.
"Thus, I declare: if you rebuild even the last remaining annex, I shall grant you a grand reward!"
Ding—
The bell tolled, and in an instant, the king who had been behind me returned to his throne.
I didn't really need any grand reward, but since he offered, time to get to work.