Chapter 33
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Memories of Murder (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I muttered, telling him to stop talking nonsense.
I turned toward the sound of Dead’s voice.
A boy, about ten years old, was standing before me.
“Dead?”
Dead, who had been a cat, was gone.
I gripped my sword, wary of the boy.
“It’s me.”
Dead answered calmly.
Just in case, I carefully studied Dead, who stood perfectly still.
Judging by his eyes, it seemed to be him.
First a cat, now a child. I had no idea what kind of person he was.
“Are you some kind of shapeshifter?”
“Do you really think so?”
Dead tilted his head toward the man tied to the chair, driving.
I swung my sword at the man’s neck.
* * *
The train sped on.
At this rate, we would reach the capital in an hour or two.
I dragged the corpse from the driver’s cabin outside and returned.
Dead, now in the form of a young boy, was driving the train.
I had worried about how such a small body could operate it, but my concerns were unfounded.
It was impressive that he, of all people, had survived to the end, despite his name being Dead.
Well, it wasn't his real name, but still.
Leaning against the wall, I tore open a health potion and drank it.
I was sure I had received a hundred of them, but now I had less than ten left.
Still, thanks to drinking them whenever I could, my wounds had almost fully healed.
If there were small ones, did that mean there were large ones too?
Wasn't there an item like an elixir that could heal all wounds in an instant?
I hoped so.
My mouth was bored, so I chewed on the empty potion packet like gum.
The texture wasn't great, honestly.
It felt like chewing on rubber.
Watching Dead drive, a question arose.
Before killing the man, Dead had said we wouldn't be able to stop the train.
The reason was that all the train’s braking systems were broken.
It was one thing for him to take the wheel after killing the infected man.
“What’s the plan to stop the train when we reach the capital?”
“We’ll crash it.”
Man, you say that so confidently.
No, he wasn't an old man anymore.
Though I was dumbfounded, I couldn't argue with Dead's words.
Crashing it seemed to be the only way to stop the train.
“We’ll just have to crash it where there are the fewest people.”
I took a shower bomb from my inventory and set it off.
My blood-soaked body and dirty clothes were instantly clean.
I dragged a half-broken crate to the wall and leaned against it.
I spoke to Dead as he drove.
“Isn’t this, like, a violation of military law or something?”
Dead was a soldier.
He may have changed into a boy, but the fact that he was Dead remained the same.
It was one thing for an outsider like me, but I wasn't sure if it was okay for a soldier like him to get involved in something like this.
“Are you worried about me? You’re kinder than you look.”
“It’s not like that. It’s just… none of this would have happened if I hadn’t failed.”
Believe it or not, I wasn't entirely without guilt.
It felt like a weight that would linger for a while, even after I returned to the lobby.
Though probably not as much as the beef jerky.
“If you’re worried, don’t be. It was my last day before being discharged anyway.”
“I am so sorry.”
I was so shocked that the potion I was drinking nearly went down the wrong pipe.
A major incident like this on the day before his discharge.
I felt like a heinous criminal who should be kneeling with his forehead pressed to the ground.
At my sincere apology, Dead let out a hearty laugh.
Hearing it come from a child’s voice felt a little strange.
Although our time together was short, he didn't seem like a bad person.
Maybe I felt that way because I hadn't had a normal conversation with anyone inside the Tower.
“I have a question. What exactly is a ‘Taboo’?”
Until now, things had been too hectic, and just keeping up with events was overwhelming.
I knew it would seem suspicious, but I felt like this was my only chance to ask.
As expected, Dead turned his head from the wheel at my question.
“I’ve never heard a question like that in my life.”
“As you know, I’m a bit of a country bumpkin.”
Dead looked me up and down.
It was the blatant stare of someone looking at a suspicious person.
“Let’s just say I’m a city bumpkin.”
Just play along.
I thought he had at least that much sense.
At my blunt request, Dead turned his gaze back to the windshield.
“A taboo is, quite literally, a taboo.”
His reply was a masterpiece of uselessness.
Who asks because they don't know that much?
I was asking what kind of taboo it was.
“Every Muel has a taboo of their own.”
“And what’s a Muel?”
“……”
“City bumpkins are always more ignorant than country bumpkins.”
Truthfully, it didn't matter if I just let it go.
I could just ask that guy when I entered the 4th floor.
“They are beings with magical power. Are you not a Muel yourself?”
“Is that all?”
There was a long pause before Dead said that.
I could tell he had thought it over before explaining.
It seemed like a massive oversimplification, but it wasn't too different from what I had imagined.
“I don’t suppose I need to give you a history lecture right here, do I? All Muel have a ‘Taboo’ that they must never break. The taboo is different for each individual, so I can’t say what it is.”
Ria Angelina’s taboo was ‘cannibalism.’
It meant that eating human flesh was forbidden for her.
Dead had said that Ria, having broken her taboo, must not be allowed to become a ‘Thought-Form.’
I had let it slide in the chaos, but it seemed that those who broke their taboo had a high chance of becoming a Thought-Form.
I had no idea what a Thought-Form was or what happened if you became one.
It didn't seem like something I would understand even with an explanation.
Instead, I asked a different question.
“What happened to her arm?”
“She is a descendant of the Colossus’s blood. A half-blood, to be precise.”
“Half-blood?”
“Did you not see that only her arm transformed?”
I had thought she looked like a half-baked monster, and it seemed it was because she was a half-Muel.
I drank the last health potion and tossed the packet on the floor.
I pushed myself off the wall I was leaning on. In the distance, I could see something like a massive fortress wall.
It was so large and magnificent that you could tell it was the capital at a glance.
“Do you know the legend about cats? The superstition that cats have nine lives, unlike other animals. I don’t really believe it, myself.”
Dead’s hands were gripping the wheel tightly, his eyes fixed straight ahead.
Outside the fortress walls was an enormous train station.
The station was getting closer and closer.
“When you’ve lived about nine lives, an accident in your final years starts to feel like nothing.”
I quietly drew my sword.
The skin on Dead’s hands, which were clutching the wheel, began to crack.
Black liquid dripped from the fissures. His entire body was collapsing like slime.
Dead’s taboo was definitely a tenth resurrection.
Dead closed his eyes, and I quietly gripped my sword.
The train crashed into the platform.
* * *
[3rd Floor ‘Assassination’ has been cleared.]
[Calculating Contribution Points.]
[Clear Bonus: +5,000 Contribution Points]
[(Hidden) Slaughterer: +7,000]
[(Hidden) Host Killer: +10,000]
[(First) Ally Killer: +13,000]
[(Hidden) Train Terrorist: +10,000]
[(Failure) Ria Angelina Assassination Failed: -5,000]
[Final: +40,000]
After clearing the 3rd floor, I came out to the lobby.
A crowd of people surrounded me as I exited the gate.
It was obvious they hadn't gathered by chance.
They were the ones who called themselves the ‘Central Guild’ and lorded over the lower lobby.
I waved my hand, swiping the calculation window to the side.
The man in the middle pushed through the crowd and approached me.
“Yoo Ji-han, was it? To come out alive without our help… I don’t know what god you serve, but you’re impressive.”
The man extended his hand.
“Join the Central Guild. I’ll put in a good word with the Master and make sure what happened before is forgotten. You might have been lucky up to the 3rd floor, but it’ll be tough from here on out.”
I burst out laughing at his magnanimous offer.
That day, I killed someone who wasn't infected.
* * *
An old-fashioned cell phone sat on the living room table.
The phone’s vibration rattled noisily against the tabletop.
“Ugh.”
The vibration, violent enough to shatter the table, woke Ji-han.
He had meant to just rest his eyes for a moment on the sofa but had apparently slept until morning.
Ji-han was in a bad mood.
‘Of all the things to dream about.’
He didn't know why he had to dream about that time.
Even without such reminders, Ji-han remembered every single thing that had happened in that Tower.
Ji-han sat up and answered the phone.
A highly agitated voice came from the other side.
— Hey! Do you have any idea how many times I’ve called?
Ji-han yawned, not bothering to reply to the man.
Instead, he wore a look of blatant annoyance.
The man who had called Ji-han was a guy named Lee Chan.
Their meeting had been simple.
Ji-han had helped him when he was about to starve to death on the street.
Turned out, he was a Hunter.
He worshipped some god called Poksin-poksin or whatever, and he was just as crazy as the god he served.
Ji-han was convinced that the god going by the alias Poksin-poksin must be the god of the jobless.
Otherwise, there was no way they would accept a guy like Lee Chan as a follower.
He put the phone on speaker, went to the kitchen for a glass of water, and by the time he returned, the man's voice had died down.
— You weren’t listening, were you?
— What about my request?
— Hah, I don’t know how a super-genius elite like me ended up taking orders from a cheapskate like you. There are so many people in the world who want me. Just the other day, the FBI…
— Shut up and crawl out of your room.
— Shut up! I-It’s dangerous outside! Don’t you know the world outside your blanket is a dangerous place!
— I’m hanging up.
— Ahh, please. Please don’t hang up! This is the first time I’ve talked to a person in a month, I’m so happy right now! You said you wanted to know about Kang Han-gyeol, right? Aren’t you curious? Say you’re curious, quickly!
Ji-han turned off the speakerphone and put the phone to his ear.
— Hello? Are you really not curious?
— What is it?
— You finally answered! Right? You’re curious, aren't you? Like you said, Kang Han-gyeol is part of the Aria Guild. He joined as a D-rank Hunter and recently became a C-rank. You could call it an incredible growth speed. Not as good as me, of course.
— I know.
— You know I’m a genius?
— The other thing.
— Hmm, when Kang Han-gyeol joined the Aria Guild, he told the contract manager that he was best friends with Park Si-woo.
Park Si-woo was one of the three guild leaders of the Aria Guild and the most well-known figure both inside and outside the guild.
‘Park Si-woo is connected to Kang Han-gyeol?’
Ji-han could only wonder why.
The fact that Kang Han-gyeol, a C-rank with no special talents, had a connection to Park Si-woo, an S-rank Hunter and guild leader, was not normal.
— There are also testimonies that Kang Han-gyeol was seen going in and out of Park Si-woo’s office. And this is where the story gets really interesting…
— Why’d you stop talking?
— To be revealed in 60 seconds!
Ji-han clenched his fist.
Should I track this bastard down and beat him up?