Chapter 13
I’m translating the chapter now and will preserve the HTML and special system blocks exactly where needed. I’ll keep the prose natural and formatted for publication, then I’ll do a quick consistency pass before handing it over.CHAPTER_TITLE: Chapter 13
[■ A devotee of the Cult of Doom.]
[■ Those who exist to destroy this world and revive the evil god.]
The information window that rose up told me who the other side was. The system was calling the trembling figures before me evil.
[■ Killing intent detected.]
The same went for the skill that sensed killing intent. It was telling me those people were radiating malice.
And if this was killing intent—
...then that was exactly what it meant.
Killing intent. The urge to kill someone. If that was what it meant, then—
Those bastards want to kill us.
Then, by the same logic—
My gaze shifted to the so-called monsters called the Playthings.
[■ Plaything Warriors.]
[■ Beings chosen to save this world.]
I could see them, eyes darting around in confusion. The ones called the saviors of this world were those Playthings.
The power that pierced through illusions was telling me as much. Which meant—
The ones we’re supposed to save in this Gate aren’t humans.
It’s those monsters.
“Hoo-wup!”
As that thought settled in, I heard movement. Lin Xiao was closing in on the Playthings. It looked almost like slow motion. A mysterious green energy had begun to seep into his hand.
Danger. I knew it instinctively.
The moment I realized that, my thigh moved on its own and drove me forward.
Thump-!
The world shifted.
“...!”
Lin Xiao stopped. I had stepped in front of him.
“...What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
His face twisted.
“Are you trying to interfere?”
Heat flashed in the eyes set in that contorted expression.
“Why...!”
Raine and Toshiyu stared at me, faces full of disbelief.
“I heard there are people interfering with Gate clears lately. Are you one of them?”
“...Huh?”
At Lin Xiao’s words, the two of them flinched. People like that existed? That was the first I’d heard of it.
Still.
I ran through the situation in my head.
I’ve blocked them for now, but...
What was I supposed to do? From their perspective, it seemed like the Gate would only end once the Playthings were eliminated.
And if I was honest, I would have thought the same thing too—if not for what my skill had told me.
Click. I reached up and checked whether my mask was in place. Thankfully, it was.
Feeling that, I steadied my breathing.
Remember it.
I am Musin.
The famous and powerful superhuman whose name had begun spreading everywhere at this very moment.
That was how they saw me too.
If it’s inside a Gate...
I remembered the movement I’d just made. I had dashed ahead of Lin Xiao, an S-class superhuman, and stopped him.
I’m strong.
I was strong.
At least in this space.
And they knew I was strong too.
That much was obvious from Lin Xiao’s reaction alone.
So maybe I can use this.
With that thought, I cleared my throat.
“Hey, Musin. Say something alre—”
“It isn’t them.”
“What?”
My words made Lin Xiao narrow his eyes.
My voice still wasn’t familiar to him.
“What do you mean, it isn’t them—”
“Can’t you tell?”
I put a note of pity into my voice. I wanted it to sound like I was asking how he could possibly miss something so obvious.
“Don’t you feel that killing intent?”
“...Killing intent?”
At that word, Lin Xiao’s reaction sharpened.
“Killing intent?”
Looking confused, Lin Xiao turned around. Once he shifted his gaze from the Playthings to the humans—
“Why... why are you looking at us like that?”
The white-haired woman trembled and spoke to Lin Xiao.
“We haven’t done anything...”
“...”
At her reaction, Lin Xiao narrowed his eyes and stared harder, as if concentrating.
I was just wondering whether he could actually tell something from that when—
“...Huh?”
Lin Xiao reacted as though he’d noticed something.
At that instant, the white-haired woman’s eyes went cold.
“Oh no, you caught us. How did you know?”
Whoosh-!
Light burst outward. The staff in the woman’s hand flared brilliantly, and with a sickening creak—crack!—the humans began to warp.
What?
■ Corrupted Illusion of Korka is reacting.
■ A devotee of the Cult of Doom receives power from the Apostle of Doom.
■ It transcends the species. Stop it before disaster manifests.
It wasn’t just the woman. Everyone in her group began glowing as they transformed. No matter how I looked at it, they no longer seemed human.
They were anything but ordinary. Seeing that, Lin Xiao moved.
He looked ready to eliminate them.
Then—
Patcheonmu
“...”
The Patcheonmu that hadn’t activated before finally responded.
What the hell? It had said I couldn’t use it before—so why was it working now?
I didn’t know why, but now wasn’t the time to think about that.
It said to stop it.
I didn’t know how to stop it. Was there some special method? The thought crossed my mind in passing, but—
Clench-!
My fist curled shut on its own.
■ Skill activated.
■ Patcheonmu.
■ Power ratio adjusted to account for rank gap.
■ Reincarnator’s attributes increase by 5,000%.
Just before Lin Xiao moved and drew a blue line through the air—
Thump-
My fist struck first, releasing a small vibration.
And then the storm came roaring down.
Kwo-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga---!!!!
The tiny tremor became a typhoon. In the blink of an eye—no, perhaps even faster than that—
“Khek.”
That was the only sound the transforming figures managed before it was over.
“Aaaah!”
“Ugh...!”
Raine screamed, and Toshiyu gritted his teeth as he endured the pressure.
“...No way...”
Lin Xiao, meanwhile, had frozen like a statue, stunned by the impact. The energy gathered in his hand scattered at that very moment.
Kwo-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga---!!!!
With a brutal roar, everything in front of me vanished.
...Whoa.
Watching it, I swallowed hard.
That’s absurd.
Every time I saw it, I was still shocked. It was a monstrous force, as if to prove what had happened in the last Gate hadn’t been a lie.
Is this really
my power?
This was EX-class power, ludicrous beyond belief. At least within Gates, it kept showing overwhelming force again and again.
Right. I was told to hide this.
I didn’t know why that old man—my past life—had told me to hide his power.
...There’s probably a reason for it.
Between this power and the situations I’d been through, and the things I’d learned, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I absolutely could not let my identity be exposed recklessly.
Drip, drip.
Debris scattered in all directions. Fragments of things that had been human, but no longer were.
“...”
Seeing that, everyone fell silent.
What had once been a forest had long since become a desolate ruin. And in front of us yawned a hole so enormous it served as proof of an explosion beyond reason.
“Th-tha... th-that...”
A while later, Raine covered her mouth with her hand and reacted like she’d short-circuited.
“...What in the world...”
I could feel Toshiyu staring at me, his already pale face gone even whiter. And then—
“That’s... impossible.”
Lin Xiao stood frozen like stone, mouth hanging open at the impossible scene.
“How could a power like that—!”
He looked ready to shout, but then—
Ping-!
An alarm rang out.
■ Congratulations.
■ You have successfully cleared the B-class Gate, ‘Suppressing the Cult of Doom.’
■ You saved a forgotten world.
■ The Plaything Warriors praise you.
■ Rewards will be distributed according to contribution.
■ 1. Musin 100%
■ 2-
■ 3-
■ 4-
The system displayed the ranking. Just like last time, only my contribution appeared at the top.
...Huh?
Another achievement had broken. Was an achievement supposed to unlock this easily? It felt like one popped every time I entered a Gate.
...So that means I succeeded, right?
At any rate, I took it as proof that the Gate had been cleared.
Good.
I’d been worried when I heard contamination would rise by 10%, but somehow I’d dealt with it.
You have succeeded in the Gate mission.
The quest has been cleared.
Rewards will be paid with a time delay.
Returning now.
Psaaah.
The world collapsed.
At that moment, I felt a gaze from somewhere. When I turned my head, I saw the Playthings from earlier, the ones who had been flustered before.
What now?
They were staring at me with bright, clear eyes.
It was unnervingly intense.
Then—
Ping.
Another alarm sounded.
You alone showed no prejudice in this false world.
Thus, having achieved salvation, the reward left by the Plaything Warriors is now being delivered to you.
What?
I looked away from the message.
It seemed like a message only I could see. Was this another achievement-like thing?
What the hell?
While I was still puzzled—
“Hey...!”
Lin Xiao came striding toward me.
“You. What the hell are you?”
His angry face was striking. Why was he so furious? I was still trying to figure that out when—
“How can you possibly be my older brother’s...!”
Before Lin Xiao could grab my collar, he turned semi-transparent and disappeared.
Toshiyu and Raine did the same.
The Gate was ending, and everyone was being sent away.
The same would happen to me.
The Gate is closing.
And just like that, my eyes closed.
* * *
When I opened them again, a familiar ceiling greeted me.
“...”
It was the hospital ceiling. Groaning, I pushed myself up.
“Ugh...”
My head was foggy. Maybe it was the aftereffects of going into the Gate and coming back out. I felt pretty drained.
“Haa...”
I wasn’t sweating, but I still wiped my forehead.
It was just how I shook off my own exhaustion.
“What time is it...”
I looked at the clock beside me. It was already morning.
The moment I checked the time, I took a sip of water. Then I found my phone and opened the internet first thing.
As expected, it was already overflowing with articles about the Gate I’d just come from.
[Failure raises contamination by 10%. The highest failure penalty in history.]
[B-class Gate. Despite the name, the failure rate for the entire party was reportedly over 90%...]
[Again with 100% contribution. Musin. Who exactly is he?]
[A monster of a superhuman even S-class Lin Xiao couldn’t handle appears.]
[There’s even talk that a new SS-class may have been born...]
[The Korean Superhuman Association has stated...]
“...Whoa.”
Reading the flood of articles, I let out a low breath.
Once again, it was nothing but articles about Musin. And apparently—
...A failure rate over 90%?
It seemed most of the parties in the Gate had failed.
Damn.
Apparently, almost no one had realized the humans were the problem instead of the Playthings.
You alone showed no prejudice in this false world.
That line from the system suddenly flashed through my mind.
“...”
It left a vaguely unpleasant taste in my mouth. I pushed it aside and was just about to keep checking the articles when—
Knock, knock, knock.
I heard someone outside.
“Come in.”
At my answer, the door opened and someone entered.
“Forgive the intrusion. I’m Jeon Yuseon, a superhuman.”
“...Ah, yes.”
It was Jeon Yuseon from the Association.
Right.
Come to think of it, I was supposed to meet the Association president as soon as the Gate ended.
I figured he’d come to escort me for that, but—
“First, I must apologize.”
“Pardon?”
Jeon Yuseon suddenly bowed his head and spoke to me.
“The president asked me to convey his apologies. He said it would be difficult to meet with you today and hoped you would understand.”
“Oh. Suddenly? Did something come up?”
“Yes... something did come up.”
Jeon Yuseon wore a very troubled expression.
“...You’ll probably understand the reason if you check the news right now.”
“The news?”
As far as I knew, the news had only been about the Gate and me... no, about Musin.
Suspicious, I looked back at the screen. And then—
“...What is this?”
Among the articles that had been pouring out about the Gate until just a moment ago, I saw one rocketing up the rankings.
[The strongest superhuman. Sudden arrival in Korea.]
[Hale Irene. Why did America’s symbol come to Korea?]
“...Irene?”
Hale Irene.
An article saying America’s SS-class superhuman had come to Korea.
And very suddenly, too.