Chapter 30
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Memories of Murder (1)
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I realized something was terribly wrong.
When the hell did she run off?
I didn't sense anyone leaving.
Such trivial details didn't matter.
After sheathing my dagger, I stepped out into the hallway.
The sight of the long train corridor made my mind go blank.
This train was longer than it looked.
Checking on every single passenger was impossible.
‘Calm down.’
First, I returned to my seat.
She might have just gone to the restroom or stepped out for a moment.
I sat on the edge of the bed and clutched my head.
One minute felt like an hour.
Time passed, but Ria didn't return.
I knew it was time to move.
I took a sword out of my item window.
Hiding it inside my coat, I stood up.
I had sponsored the god Soter with 30,000 Contribution Points and received my first skills.
[Yoo Ji-han (Soter)]
Rank: Guardian
Strength: A- (51%)
Stamina: B- (80%)
Mana: C+ (93%)
Healing Power: B (62%)
Contribution Points: 8,490
Skills: <Line>, [Mana Detection]
Talent: [Blessing of the God Soter]
Items Owned: [Shower Bomb x200], [Small Mana Potion x10], [Small Health Potion x100]
<Line> and [Mana Detection].
The first skill was obviously an attack skill, so I had some idea of how to use it.
The problem was the second one.
Mana Detection.
He had said the second skill would be more useful than the first.
I hadn't felt anything between the floors as he'd described, but it might be different here.
Following his instructions, I took a deep breath and focused on my surroundings.
I could definitely feel something.
It was a flicker, like a small flame.
‘I think I can do this.’
Drawing on a little more mana, I could feel the auras of people even farther away.
The train jolted slightly. It seemed we had entered a tunnel.
My head throbbed.
I felt like I shouldn't push it any further.
I slowly exhaled, taking another deep breath.
If I used this method, I wouldn't have to search the entire train car by car.
Though the fatigue seemed a bit intense.
I recalled the conversation I’d had with him about [Mana Detection].
—Forget the talk about flames and presences. What I'm asking is, how is this skill actually helpful?
—That mana, or presence, is slightly different for every person and entity. Haven't you ever felt someone's approach without seeing them? Like when a close friend sneaks up on you or something.
—I have, but... that's because we're close.
—If you've met once, you're close enough.
It didn't seem like there was anything particularly helpful in that.
Using the skill, I could tell he was right—there was a strange, individual difference in mana.
So what form did Ria’s mana take?
‘How am I supposed to know that… wait a minute.’
When Ria had given me the beef jerky, our hands had brushed for a fleeting moment.
I hadn't been using Mana Detection then, but I thought I might be able to recall the sensation.
I tried again.
Being the second time, it was definitely much easier than the first.
‘What is this?’
The feeling of the mana grew stranger the farther back in the train I focused.
It seemed to be coming from the third-class section, but it felt different from just a lot of people being crowded together.
If the first and second-class cars felt blue or refreshing, most of the third-class section felt like muddy water.
A thought occurred to me: perhaps the reason the man and I were treated differently when entering the dining car was because of the presence or absence of this ‘mana.’
‘Found her!’
At the very end of the third-class carriages, there was a single, dissonant mana signature.
I was certain it was ‘Ria Angelina’s’ mana.
It seemed quite far away; I had no idea why she would have gone all the way there.
‘I’m going.’
Since we were staying in the same room, I could always make the excuse that I came because I was worried.
Vowing not to make the same mistake twice, I headed for the third-class car where Ria was.
There were crew members here and there, but since I was a first-class passenger, they didn't pay me much mind.
I opened the door to the third-class carriage.
The moment I stepped inside, the smell of food hit me.
It smelled a bit like ramen, maybe some kimbap, or something greasy.
It was a smell I had never encountered before, and it wasn't a pleasant sensation.
I strode forward.
‘She should be around here, right?’
Just as I was about to move to the next car, the door opened from the other side.
A woman came running out and collided with me.
Fortunately, I managed to avoid falling over.
“H-Help me!”
There was something strange about the woman who had bumped into me.
Her shabby clothes were one thing, but she was covered in a significant amount of blood.
Is she hurt? What’s going on?
“Are you alright?”
I bent down and offered a hand to the woman who had collapsed to the floor.
The scabbard of my sword peeked out from under my disheveled coat.
Seeing it, the woman flinched and recoiled.
She was limping, and there was a bite mark on her leg.
It looked less like an injury inflicted by a person and more like one from a beast.
“A m-monster! It’s a monster…”
A monster?
Could a monster have appeared on the train?
He never mentioned anything like that.
When I tried to open the door to the carriage she had just fled from, the woman grabbed the hem of my coat.
“Don’t! You’re a—a Muel, right? We have to stop the train! Stop the train! If we don’t, we’ll all d—kuhk…”
The woman spat blood onto the floor.
I took a potion out of my item window.
It barely worked on me anymore, but it might work on her.
I opened the health potion and poured it into her mouth.
But what was a Muel?
“Cough…!”
She wasn't in any condition to swallow; she spat out the entire potion.
Blood mixed with the potion and splattered onto my body.
I needed to try a different approach.
‘I have to get help.’
With so many people on the train, there had to be a doctor or someone skilled in healing among them.
I laid the woman down on the floor and grabbed the handle of the door to the car ahead.
At that moment, the woman shot up.
Wondering what was happening, I turned around just as she lunged at me.
“Grr, graaah!”
My body crashed to the floor with the woman on top of me.
She began to vomit an incredible amount of blood, seemingly without end.
It was as if she was trying to disgorge every last drop of blood in her body.
“Graaah! Help… ugh… graaaah!”
The veins all over her body bulged as if they were about to burst, and she wept tears of blood.
The blood that poured from her open mouth dripped down, soaking my cheek.
“Wait…”
The woman opened her mouth like a beast and tried to bite my shoulder.
Startled, I pushed her away.
Why is she so damn strong?
I had no choice.
I grabbed her by the collar, spun her around, and shoved her off before scrambling to my feet.
“Grrrr, grrr…”
Her consciousness seemed to have vanished; she was making sounds that were impossible to understand.
Staggering to her feet, the woman glanced back and forth between the carriage and me.
She looked just like a zombie.
I leaned against the train wall, taking deep breaths.
I felt as if what happened to her was somehow my fault.
The thought that I should never have let Ria leave the room kept replaying in my mind.
The wound on the woman’s thigh looked severe.
Looking closer at the injury, I realized it wasn't from an animal, but from another person.
The woman had lost her mind.
She was more beast than human.
Slowly, watching her, I drew my sword.
I couldn't afford to be killed by a woman who wasn't even my assassination target.
I tripped her and mounted her as she fell.
Raising the sword with both hands, I prepared to stab her in the heart.
‘Damn it!’
I couldn't hesitate.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I silently cursed every swear word I knew.
I want to live!
—Don’t think too deeply about the dead.
His words, which I had once dismissed as nagging, came to mind.
*Shunk.*
The tip of the sword pierced flesh and skewered the woman’s heart.
Her body, which had been thrashing like a fish out of water, went limp.
Leaving the dead woman, I staggered to my feet.
The rocking of the train and the noise pounded in my head.
“Ugh…”
My stomach churned.
I reflexively covered my mouth, and the warm blood on my fingers smeared across my lips.
“Hey, did you hear that strange noise?”
“I think I heard it too.”
“Is something going on?”
I could hear the murmuring of people from the carriage beyond.
*Clang.*
I pulled my sword from the dead woman’s chest.
As soon as I did, blood gushed from the hole like a fountain.
Before I could even process the fact that I had killed a human who wasn't my target, the door to the carriage behind me was torn from its hinges.
“Kyaaaaaah!”
“Aaaargh!”
The carriage behind me was pure chaos.
Leaning against the wall, I fought off an infected person who charged at me.
Other infected people were pounding on the door to the opposite carriage, where more people were.
A man sitting near the back opened the door.
“What’s all this noise? Wh-What are you people? What are you—Aaaargh!”
As soon as the door opened, an infected person bit the man, and the carriage in front of me instantly descended into chaos as well.
I swung my sword at the infected person blocking my path.
Thankfully, these infected didn't resurrect or keep coming back after being killed.
If they were unkillable, that would be a whole other problem.
That would make them zombies, not just infected.
Come to think of it, we had talked a little more after discussing the skills.
—What happens if I fail to kill the target?
—I’m telling you this so you don’t fail.
—But what if?
I had asked, thinking there was no harm in preparing for a worst-case scenario.
My casual question was met with a long silence from him.
Was it really that difficult a question? As I tilted my head in confusion, he finally spoke.
—Kill them. No one on the train can be left alive.
At the time, I didn't understand what he meant.
I'd had several chances to kill Ria.
I used Mana Detection.
Ria was still in the rear car of the train.
Unlike the chaotic car in front, the one at the back was almost completely wiped out.
Sword in hand, I surveyed the infected people in the train car.
‘Hoo.’
Sweat slicked the hand gripping my sword.
All sorts of thoughts raced through my mind.
I was an ordinary student.
My grades were average, and so were my social skills.
Everything was normal, unremarkable.
If none of this had happened, I probably would have gone to a decent university based on my grades and gotten a decent job at a decent company.
But the truth was, I hated that.
I envied people who could immerse themselves in something, who lived with a single desire, indifferent to the opinions of others.
I was too conscious of what those around me thought, so I never had the confidence to give something up to achieve something else.
Maybe I was just greedy.
—Still, you have to live. Isn't it a waste to die like this?
I had never thought of it that way before.
The moment I heard those words, my mind cleared.
I understood exactly what I had to do, why I had been brought here.
Come to think of it, desire wasn't such a complicated thing.
‘I will survive!’
I will survive, and just as he said, I’ll punch the bastard who orchestrated all this right in the face.
No more hesitation.
There was no reason to hesitate.
*Crunch.* Something burst in my mouth.
It was labeled a mana potion, but it tasted more like a round piece of candy.
The surface of my mana-coated sword shimmered faintly.
It was the skill that had sliced through the lectern in a single strike when I’d tested it between the floors.
He had mentioned its actual power would be even greater.
I swung the sword at an infected person’s neck.
It felt less like cutting and more like drawing a line. The middle-aged woman’s head was cleanly severed, tumbling to the floor.
‘No more hesitating!’
I was certain now.
I would do whatever it took to survive.
I cut my way through the infected people in the carriage, moving forward.
Just as I reached the last car, a presence made me turn.
It wasn't the presence of an infected person, but my nerves were so frayed that my body instinctively aimed my sword at the man’s throat.
“Calm down. It’s me.”
“Dead?”
For someone with such an ominous name, you've survived for quite a while, haven't you?