Sight #1
"In that situation, both of us surviving doesn't make any sense. If the Bureau had intervened, they'd be waiting here right now, but it doesn't seem like they did."
Honestly, that was the biggest problem. I racked my brain for how to explain it. Obviously, I couldn't mention the grimoire. Even if we'd fought through hell together, the nun was still a religious person. At best, she'd react like Salhyeong had. At worst, she'd immediately behead me with that holy power of hers.
So I gave the most plausible answer I could.
"Well, you see... I really thought I was going to die too. You'd already been taken down, and I had nothing left either."
"Yes... that's true."
"It was the final moment. The progenitor was laughing at me, mocking me, asking what kind of death would be the most entertaining. So I made one last desperate struggle."
"Don't tell me..."
"Hah!"
I thrust my finger forward like I was pointing and shouted.
"I hurled out everything that had been boiling inside me! Right up until I did it, the progenitor kept sneering, saying something that disgusting would never work on her. But the moment I let it loose, she couldn't even dodge. It drenched her, and her body started melting right then and there!"
"What...!"
"It happened in an instant. She melted away so fast she screamed, then turned into a swarm of bats. Even the bats melted while shrieking. I saw my chance and landed the finishing blow like my life depended on it. And as you can see... the progenitor vanished. I don't know if she's completely dead, but there were so many bats that some might have escaped."
It was a flimsy excuse, but it was the only explanation I could give right now. The process was a lie, but it was true that the battered Secrem had fled as a bat. When lying, you had to base it on truth and mix in the falsehoods. That was the only way to make it convincing.
"What in the world..."
The nun looked utterly bewildered by my bullshit.
"That can't be right. You repelled her like that?"
"It's the truth. Honestly, it's not completely impossible, is it? I already have a record of repelling her the same way in the subway."
"...The same way."
The nun stroked her chin and nodded.
"Ah, I see. In a ritualistic sense, it might be possible."
"Ritualistic sense?"
"Just like you said, you've repelled her once before using the same method. Perhaps that fact turned it into an absolute weakness for her."
A weakness?
"You know how those legends work. Like the weakness of an evil dragon. The wound inflicted by a certain hero becomes its absolute weakness. In other words, if you repeat the exact method the hero used, that becomes the way to defeat it."
"Ah, I think I get what you mean."
If a hero had once slain an evil dragon with a specific method, that method became a conceptual weakness for the creature. It had... a certain logic to it?
"In other words, as far as the red woman is concerned, the legend has been established that you can defeat her by eating a ton of garlic and vomiting on her. That's why you were able to do it."
"Ooh! Exactly!"
It was complete nonsense, but it fit together. From my perspective, it was beneficial if the nun accepted it this way, so I made a show of being deeply impressed.
"Then that makes me a hero, doesn't it?! A hero great enough to create a legend that slays an evil vampire!"
"Well... for now, yes. Honestly, it's incredible. Creating a new legend... In the old days, you'd have been treated as a legendary hero or saint. The Vatican would definitely want to reward you for this."
"A reward?!"
"If I report what happened, they'll give you something."
"Whoa!"
A reward from the Vatican! It had to be some incredible item!
"Phew... Anyway, save the excitement for later. Let's get out of here first. We can't let the Bureau find us now that it's over. We need to clean up the situation too."
"Right."
I immediately retreated with the nun.
* * *
We left the fog-shrouded city behind. Inside, the two Bureaus were probably still fighting. The large-scale perception interference operation would still be ongoing as well. It seemed that Geha-nak had ultimately failed to descend. If he had, there would have been obvious signs by now. He had crossed over from the first playthrough to the second, and I'd killed him in the second, so he had simply disappeared.
We entered an abandoned church nearby.
"Just a moment."
The nun said she needed time to recover and went into a room to rest. No matter how you looked at it, she'd taken serious injuries and needed proper rest. Though her nun's habit being torn to shreds made it a bit awkward to look at.
Anyway.
"..."
Sitting on a pew, I thought about the grimoire. What the hell was that bizarre number?
[Reality Recognition Value: 5,400]
A value over five thousand couldn't be normal. And it had risen in real time while the grimoire devoured the progenitor. There was definitely something there. Something incredibly important that I didn't know about.
Plus, that Reality Re-cognition Device I'd encountered underground at the Bureau... It was far too similar.
What should I do? How could I find out more?
Would I even be able to use the grimoire again in the future?
Right now, I had [6,401] points. What I could do with them was extremely limited...
While I was dozing off thinking about it, the nun came out.
"Haa. I finally feel like myself again."
"Huh? Your clothes are fixed."
"Ah, I restored them with my own power."
"You can even recover clothes?"
"They're special garments. Anyway, while I was recovering my strength, I tried sensing the red woman's presence."
Some kind of tracking spell?
"Surprisingly, I can't feel anything at all. If she'd fled, there should have been traces of her power left behind, but I can't find any."
The only power left in Secrem was equivalent to a single bat. It was so faint that tracking might have been impossible. Or maybe she'd been flying around and got eaten by a crow.
"Does that mean she's really dead?"
"Yes. It seems that way."
The nun nodded.
"You did well. Since the red woman is dead, she won't be targeting you anymore."
"Haa... Finally. This exhausting life on the run is over."
"Yes."
The nun smiled gently.
"But you've already set foot in this world. That means you'll likely encounter more strange incidents in the future."
"That's..."
"You'll have to deal with it. That's the kind of world this is. I won't be taking back the weapons I gave you, so keep them. Use them to protect yourself. I'll give you some silver bullets too."
"Thank you...! But it sounds like you're about to leave?"
"Well, yes?"
She was leaving?
"I need to report back to the Vatican. I originally came to Korea to hunt the vampire, so now that the mission is complete, I should go home."
"Ah."
So that was it. Once Secrem was dealt with, the nun would return to the Vatican.
"That's a shame."
"It is. I quite liked you too."
The nun grinned and reached out, lightly brushing her fingers across my shoulder.
"That tickles!"
"Why is your skin so sensitive? Well, I'm sure our paths will cross again someday. I'll give you my contact information. If you ever need help, call me. I'll assist if I can."
I received a business card.
"Thank you. I'll definitely ask for your help when I need it."
"I'm the one who should be thanking you. Thanks to you, we were able to catch the red woman. Hunting a progenitor's descendant is an enormous achievement. It will deal a massive blow to the progenitor herself as well. Dealing with vampires will be much easier from now on."
"I'm glad to hear that."
Secrem had been repelled, but vampires were still my mortal enemies.
"Well then, take care. I'll contact you soon about the reward."
"Yes. Ah, but the reinforcements never showed up in the end?"
"I need to have the authority to call for them first."
"But how are you planning to get back?"
"This is a church, after all. I'm going to use this cross to teleport back to the Vatican."
Teleportation?!
"I was wondering why you were saying goodbye here!"
"Hehe, it can't be helped. As you can see, my wounds are quite deep. I need to get proper treatment at the Vatican right away if I want to survive."
"Go quickly! Hurry! What are you standing around for?!"
"Eek."
I immediately started shoving the nun toward the exit! I'd been holding back someone who was in a rush!
"Ah, anyway! Don't go around declaring you'll become a vampire hunter! Just live normally! Try not to get involved with the hidden world! Vampire hunters aren't exactly normal people, you know!"
"Ah, yes, yes."
I let that nonsense go in one ear and out the other.
I parted ways with the nun.
* * *
It had been a good encounter in many ways. But had it been the best outcome?
If I hadn't had the grimoire, I would have lost to Secrem. If I'd met the nun without the grimoire... I probably would have become Geha-nak by now. Then I would have invaded again in the fourth playthrough. It would have been a strange development in many ways.
Anyway, this had created a connection with the Vatican. I'd received the nun's contact information, and she said they'd give me a reward. On top of that, I'd crushed Secrem. This playthrough was a massive success, plain and simple.
I no longer had to fear vampire attacks. And since I wasn't tied to an organization like the Bureau, I could attempt anything I wanted.
The depression born from the despair of having ruined everything had been somewhat healed by repelling Secrem.
"Alright."
Starting today, the immortal Kim Geun-hong was back. I would try again to overcome this massive supernatural situation I'd gotten caught up in. Collecting clues about the ending would be good too.
Of course, the most urgent matter was figuring out what was going on with my grimoire. That Reality Recognition Value was bothering me far too much...
"Let's head back for now."
Since Secrem had been crushed, I could finally return to my beloved home. It had been a while since I'd seen Mom and Dad's faces or eaten a home-cooked meal. I needed some healing.
With that thought, I started moving.
This was the countryside, and I couldn't drive a Damas since I only had a Class 2 automatic license. So I planned to catch a taxi into the city and then take a bus.
"Hm? What's this?"
I pulled out my phone to call a taxi.
[□□□□□□□□□□□]
"What the hell? Why is it like this?"
Every single character on the phone was broken.
"..."
Ominous. It felt like some kind of spiderweb was clinging to my face. In this situation, my phone's text suddenly breaking like this?
I opened the browser. The keyboard was also completely broken into □□, but since I'd already memorized the layout, I figured I could still search.
[...]
Not only could I not search, the screen itself wouldn't even load. It just kept loading endlessly.
Was there no Wi-Fi because this was an abandoned church?
"Maybe my eyes are messed up..."
I rubbed them, but the text was still broken.
Had it broken because I'd bumped into something during the fight?
I stepped outside the church.
And then.
—Swish.
The moment I opened the door, I immediately closed it again.
...What the fuck is that outside?