Meeting and Farewell
“Appa… bye.”
The small tentacle creature Siling gazed briefly into the deep sea before returning to my embrace. At the same moment, a system alarm appeared.
Will you accept the parasitic organism ‘Siling’?
“Parasitic organism?”
The unexpected phrasing made me stop swimming and read it again. I had assumed the small tentacle would grow and gain its own body, but it seemed it was meant to coexist symbiotically with a host instead. After a moment’s thought, I decided to accept it.
“It probably won’t do any harm.”
Now that we had left the deep sea far behind, I removed my wetsuit and put away the White Stone. Cold water soaked my body. Siling circled my frame, searching for a place to settle, then seeped into the back of my left hand. Several small tentacles sprouted from my arm before being drawn back inside. I could feel that I could summon and control them at will. At the same time, my breathing stabilized.
“Does it also function like gills?”
I tried swimming by expelling the tentacles. My speed increased several times over, and I could change direction freely. The water pressure on my body had also decreased significantly.
“Now I can move underwater just like I do on land.”
I stroked my left arm with my right hand.
“Thanks, Siling.”
“Together.”
“Yeah. Let’s get along from now on.”
I sped toward the surface. It was time to find the snake’s pawn.
Swish—
I quietly raised my head above the water. On the ship, many summons were bustling about, each carrying out their assigned tasks. Even the leopard beastmen were hurriedly transporting bombs.
“For now… should I check on Park Seona?”
I headed for the training grounds. Park Seona was in the middle of artillery practice with the leopard beastmen on the modified cargo ship.
“Everyone! Fire!”
Bang— Bang— Bang—
“Squad 1 hit! Squad 2 hit! Squad 3, what are you doing! You only grazed the target! Do you think the enemy will die like that? Huh?”
She always called me “Nanggun-nim, Nanggun-nim,” but this was her usual personality. I actually preferred this side of her. Having someone who focused on their own duties was far more advantageous for survival than someone who clung to me with a cutesy voice.
“Though even that could be an act…”
When I approached, Park Seona spotted me and smiled.
“Ah! Nanggun-nim, you’re here.”
Her face held the unspoken question of how things had gone. Could Park Seona be the pawn? She had said she was an idol back on Earth. Weren’t idols skilled at acting?
“I can’t tell from the outside at all.”
“Everything went well. The octopus monster… or rather, the master of the Dark Trench will fight for us. More precisely, he’s already left to engage the fishmen.”
At my answer, Park Seona’s expression hardened.
“Have they already reached this far?”
“They’re not that close yet, but if he loses, we’ll probably meet them soon enough.”
I decided to test her with the lines I had prepared. If she was Heaven’s Snake’s pawn, she would at least react to that name.
“Do you know anything about a patron called Heaven’s Snake?”
Park Seona tilted her head and shook it. Her face asked for more explanation. I mixed a little truth with a lie.
“According to the master of the Dark Trench, that being is trying to interfere with this world and kill us all.”
Park Seona’s eyes widened in shock. It was clearly fear and anxiety.
“If that’s true, isn’t this a huge problem? There’s no way we can stop patrons with our own strength…”
She appeared to contact her own patron. Then, as if receiving a reply, she spoke into the air. I couldn’t hear what her patron said, but Park Seona’s expression rapidly darkened. Shadows fell across her face.
“Th-this is bad. According to my patron, the patrons who use the title ‘Heaven’ are extremely powerful beings. Why would such an existence… why?”
“As I thought… it’s not Park Seona?”
I eased some of my suspicion toward her. In truth, the possibility that she was the pawn had been low from the start. If she intended to harm me, she would need sufficient power to do so. As an assassin, she lacked the necessary ability.
“For now, let’s go see Mingming.”
We went to find Mingming. She was in her laboratory, using former-user zombies to manufacture “special missiles.” I didn’t know what had happened to them, but the moment the test subjects saw me, they screamed for help.
“Please save me! I was wrong! Please!”
“Deputy Baek! No, Master! This isn’t right!”
Mingming, who had been modifying them in various ways, spun her chair around to face me. It was the same expression Park Seona had worn—the face that asked how things had gone with the Dark Trench.
“Did everything go well, darling?”
I nodded quietly. Then, with a stern face, I spoke.
“But there’s another, bigger problem.”
“What is it?”
It was Park Seona who answered instead of me.
“It’s serious, Mingming-nim. One of the patrons called Heaven’s Snake is trying to kill us. Shouldn’t we contact the organizers even now? I’ve never heard anything like this before…”
At that moment, a look of confusion crossed Mingming’s face. But it wasn’t “Who is Heaven’s Snake?”—it was closer to “Why would they do that?” She clearly knew Heaven’s Snake.
“No way… right?”
Mingming was an obvious high-ranking user. She was strong enough to hold the advantage even against most Stage 7 users, so it made sense she would know about the patrons. I couldn’t jump to conclusions.
“Let’s push a little more…”
Initially, there were two main possibilities: either the user had colluded with Heaven’s Snake, or they had simply been used. If it was the former, they should have attacked me together with the Golden Lord back then. First, I needed to uncover their relationship. And I had the perfect item for that.
I took out the snake bracelet and handed it to Mingming. The object radiated a red glow.
“I took this from Heaven’s Snake. As you can see, it reacts when someone connected to her is nearby. Check it.”
Mingming the magic engineer possessed the ability to appraise items that the system provided no information on. She accepted the bracelet and focused her mind.
“Heaven’s Snake’s item, positive…”
“Reacts to Heaven’s Snake’s power, positive…”
Before she could say the next words, a thick reinforced glass wall dropped between us—as if confirming she was the one.
Thud—
“There was no mention of direct involvement…”
“So it was you.”
I glared at Mingming and asked. Honestly, I had hoped it wasn’t her. I had wished the last unidentified intruder wasn’t the snake’s pawn. A deep sense of betrayal churned from deep within.
“Mingming… why did you betray me?”
Mingming tilted her head.
“What betrayal, darling? What did I even do in the first place? Besides, the original plan wasn’t to kill you, you know? Why did you suddenly go crazy and do something like that…? Something like that…? Ah? You set this up to find me, didn’t you?”
Mingming seemed to have realized her mistake. She pressed a hand to her forehead.
“Our darling really is smart. I didn’t even know an item like this existed. This is purely the fault of the side that gave me the project. It’s not my responsibility. And it’s not betrayal either… but from the way things are going, you probably won’t believe me, right?”
I quietly pieced together her words. She had received a project. But it hadn’t been discussed beforehand. In other words, she had been given a task by Heaven’s Snake, but it seemed unrelated to awakening the Golden Lord. Mingming chewed her lips a few times before muttering.
“I don’t like this. This isn’t my fault. Why did they interfere on their own… I really liked you, too…”
With a wave of her hand, the glass rose again. Then she tossed the snake bracelet and a round object toward me.
“Darling, the truth is very different from what you see. But right now, you won’t believe anything I say. So… that’s a gift.”
I couldn’t understand. I had clearly thought I had caught Heaven’s Snake’s pawn. Yet the person in question looked as if she were the one being wronged, her eyes brimming with tears.
“Darling, spread your wings. I’m leaving now.”
“What do you mean…?”
At that moment, Mingming stored away her laboratory. I instinctively activated [Swallow’s Wing] and pulled Park Seona into my arms. As the laboratory vanished and Mingming fell into the sea, she waved at me. Then her figure blurred and disappeared.
“What…?”
Park Seona answered my question in her place.
“She returned to the original stage she came from. She gave up on the reason she came here.”
“That reason you couldn’t talk about?”
“Yes… that’s right…”
Thus ended my brief yet intense encounter with Mingming. It left behind countless questions. But perhaps, just as she said, what I saw wasn’t everything.
Mingming had definitely come after receiving some request from Heaven’s Snake. Yet she had helped me. She saved me in a crisis and had used all her abilities to prepare for what came next.
“I don’t know… The more truths I learn, the more secrets seem to follow.”
For now, I returned to the cargo ship. It would be good if the monster of the deep sea defeated the Golden Lord, but I had to prepare in case it didn’t.
“I should have finished building the ship before catching the thief…”
Though I had heard something unsettling, keeping Heaven’s Snake’s pawn around would have been even more unsettling. It had to be done. But with Mingming gone, I was now short on manpower to modify the floating structures.
While I was thinking that, the round object Mingming had thrown began to float up and speak.
> New owner recognized. Authentication complete.
The mechanical voice sounded strangely similar to Mingming’s. The robot continued speaking.
> Current assigned order: Construction of a ship using floating structures. Are there any additional instructions?
“What are you…?”
At my question, the iron sphere answered. It projected an image on its surface and greeted me.
> Greetings. I am Mingming No. 100. You may call me No. 100 for convenience.
“Mingming No. 100?”
> Yes, that is correct. Are there any additional instructions?
“No… nothing like that.”
No. 100’s mission was to construct a ship using the floating structures—the same work Mingming had been doing. When I said nothing further, No. 100 naturally began moving about, converting the ship into a proper vessel. It even started ordering the summons around.
> That must be attached over here.
> I will reconfigure this circuit.
> Call the beastmen, not the stupid zombies.
“Hmm…”
With Mingming gone, I had gained an unlimited engineering slave. It was a gift she had left behind.