Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: It's Okay Because I'm a Genius Even on a Time Limit
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Inside was yet another box. What is this, a Matryoshka doll?
Its pitch-black surface, devoid of any ornamentation, only sapped my expectations further.
“……Ugh.”
“Aww, tsk tsk. Why hide it away like that? Why not open it right here? I’ll stay way over there and just watch. Hmm?”
The old woman coaxed me in a soothing tone, like she was comforting a child.
My response was obvious, of course.
“No thanks?”
“W-What? No?”
“Yeah.”
“What do you mean? You think this old lady’s gonna snatch it?”
Instead of answering, I pulled out the box and tucked it under my arm.
“Jeez. What an odd one. I won’t touch a speck of dust on it, so don’t worry.”
The old woman clucked her tongue in disbelief and walked ahead.
I hurried after her.
I resolved to do a proper inspection once I got back to the dorm.
But there was something that had been nagging at me, so I asked her.
“You talk like you know all about it, but you don’t actually know its true nature?”
The old woman, walking ahead, replied.
“I only know the story behind it. It was the first item I received when I opened this pawnshop.”
“The first one?”
“It’s been over sixty years, I’d say. I started this place around age twenty.”
……Sixty years?
That long ago?
“A pretty young woman came by, as I recall. So bold and roguish. Tsk tsk.”
“…….”
My steps, which had been slowing, came to a complete halt.
Drip.
I’m not sure why.
I knew it couldn’t be, but I asked almost on instinct.
“That woman…… Do you know her name?”
“Her name?”
“Yeah. Was it maybe Yoo So…….”
“Pah, you fool. What pawnshop takes items under real names?”
The old woman, who had stopped too, turned back with a toothy grin.
……Yeah, fair point.
It didn’t make sense anyway.
That was sixty years ago.
I’d thought of Yoo So-young on impulse, but aside from gender and a vaguely similar personality, there was no connection.
This is why you shouldn’t get your hopes up.
Your thoughts start ignoring reason and drifting toward what you want.
I let out a ridiculous chuckle at my own absurdity.
“But I did hear what those around her called her.”
The old woman’s next words froze every sense in my body.
“Leah…… I think that was it. It’s been ages, but she was my first customer, so it stuck with me.”
Her baptismal name and pen name.
The other name Yoo So-young had used at the very beginning……
* * *
The long-absent customer bolted out in a frenzy, and the usual silence settled in.
The old woman, gazing toward the entrance, turned her head at the sound of someone calling her.
“Mama.”
The excited voice came not from the door, but from the opposite side.
The dark wall by the iron bars rippled for a moment, and a woman in black night clothes stepped out.
It was the kind of shocking sight that would make anyone faint, but the old woman just mildly scolded her.
“Didn’t I tell you to use the door like everyone else?”
“I’m sorry. It was urgent, so…….”
The woman bowed deeply, then spoke again.
“How did the prophecy go?”
“It was true. She came on the very last day.”
“Then that person really……?”
“It’s been passed on for sure. Slowly, but she produced it well.”
“Ah…….”
The woman trembled faintly, then bowed her head again and cried out.
“Congratulations, Mama. With the forgotten legacy delivered, the foundation for our leap forward is set.”
“Congratulations? I just did what needed doing. Nothing changes right away, does it? But…….”
The old woman continued casually, then gave a wry smile as she looked at the woman.
“I guess I really am getting old. Couldn’t even control a single emotion. Tsk tsk, what great cause can I accomplish like this?”
“What do you mean…….”
“Tsk tsk. I went and mentioned that person’s name like some sentimental fool.”
“……”
The woman had no reply to the old woman’s words.
Mentioning ‘that person’ was a sensitive, delicate topic—she feared making a mistake.
“Tsk tsk, what blasphemy is that…… Any movement from the Captain’s side?”
Unbothered by her reaction, the old woman swiftly changed the subject.
“It’s quiet. Just as expected—they have no idea the legacy even exists.”
“Tsk tsk, I see. Even that madman is human in the end. Let’s put it out of our minds for a while.”
“Pardon?”
Unlike the startled woman, the old woman added matter-of-factly.
“Acting conscious of it only draws attention. Just leave it be. That’s safer. The seed’s planted—it’ll grow on its own.”
“But we need to secure their identity…….”
“No need for that nonsense. The connection’s already made. Have faith and wait—they’ll come to us on their own before long. Tsk tsk.”
The old woman smiled broadly, flashing her yellowed teeth with utter confidence.
* * *
Current time: 11:57 PM.
The night at Taehak, illuminated by only a few remaining lights.
Closing the dorm room door let out a deep sigh matching my tangled emotions.
“Ha-”
What a truly exhausting day.
Thud.
I set the box on the desk and downed a glass of water.
With my mind cleared, I uttered the name I’d been mulling over the whole way back.
“Leah…….”
Is that person really Yoo So-young?
Is this box something she left behind?
It’s supposed to be exactly what I need……
If the law of causality is the barrier between me and Yoo So-young, and the boundary crumbling means our connection, then it’s a pretty credible hypothesis.
“But.”
There’s a glaring flaw I can’t overlook.
Time.
The old woman said she received the box about sixty years ago.
“Jeez…….”
No matter how you slice it, that gap is impossible.
Did Yoo So-young, who went in first, become a person from sixty years ago?
That’s nonsense—don’t push it.
Unless she invented a time machine, but that’s just a joke.
This isn’t some sci-fi novel. Odds are 0.001% at best?
So the answer’s simple.
“Just a coincidence in names.”
There’s gotta be more than one Leah in the world……
The problem is, even knowing that, I can’t stop being drawn in.
Like that 0.001% is my reality.
“I’ve really turned into an idiot. Latching onto one lucky find and indulging in delusions.”
I couldn’t keep this up, so I decided to check the item first.
I stared at the box on the desk.
Judging by size and weight, maybe some accessory?
Clink clink.
Shaking it carefully, it felt substantial—not small.
Creak.
I lifted the lid with eager anticipation.
A sharp metallic tang from age hit me as the interior revealed itself.
“…….”
I fell silent.
No, I had to.
Because there was absolutely nothing inside.
“This can’t be…….”
I’d definitely heard it rattle when I shook it.
I reached in to check again.
Grab.
Incredibly, I grasped something.
A bizarre scene, like clutching space itself, but the solid volume and smooth texture proved something was there.
“What the…….”
It was beyond anything I knew, so I activated my trait right away.
[Trait: Appraisal activated.]
[Search successful.]
[Reading as much as possible.]
[Pandora’s Box]
[Grade: ???]
[Description: A box called the root of all evil or the sole hope. The last remaining desire slumbers within. It can be opened with the owner’s blood; further details are veiled.]
Jeez.
Grade’s a question mark, and the rest is secret.
No specific lore came to mind, but the name rang a bell.
Pandora’s Box was a famous treasure from Greek mythology.
The story I remembered went like this.
Zeus, displeased that Prometheus gave fire to humans, gifted his brother ‘Pandora,’ a beautiful woman.
The brother fell head over heels at first sight, and Zeus gave Pandora a small box.
With strict orders never to open it……
But who could resist?
A gift from the king of gods, Zeus himself.
Naturally, Pandora’s curiosity drove her mad.
In a state where not opening it felt like death, she finally did.
And the result?
Shwaaaaa.
Every calamity poured out.
Greed, envy, resentment, jealousy, and more.
Foul, corrupted emotions tainted the pristine world in an instant.
It was a trap—and Zeus’s punishment for a mere human stealing divine fire.
That’s where my knowledge of Pandora’s Box ended.
Sharing the exact same name as what was before me……
“Hmm…….”
But it wasn’t just the name.
The description’s ‘root of all evil’ and ‘sole hope.’
Those two phrases hinted at something ominous.
‘Root of all evil’ we covered, but hope was one of the calamities that spilled out back then.
Zeus judged from a god’s perspective.
Hope was an evil that made you abandon the present for an uncertain future.
Ironically, that vague variable’s promise kept humanity alive……
“It’s safe to open, right?”
Anyway, I pondered while stroking the transparent box.
But if I don’t?
It’s transparent, so no use as decor.
That settled it.
“It said it opens with the owner’s blood.”
I opened the desk drawer and pulled out a sharp dagger.
Borrowed from Kang Cheol-min, not yet returned.
I didn’t know how Pandora opened hers…… but where there’s a will, there’s a way. I slashed my palm without hesitation.
A sharp sting, and red blood dripped onto the box.
Drip drip drip.
More.
Keep going.
“…….”
But no change.
Wrong approach?
As I wondered if I’d interpreted too literally,
[3%]
[4%]
System messages appeared in my vision.
Knew it.
Drip drip drip.
The number rose slowly with the blood volume.
I thought I’d given plenty, but barely 4%.
“Tough one.”
I held out to 5%, then slashed my other palm.
Drip drip drip again, but progress slowed.
This won’t cut it—where next? As I pondered,
[10%]
[1st threshold reached.]
[Pandora’s Box recognizes you as its owner.]
[Partial opening initiated.]
Messages flashed, and change came.
Screeeeech.
A nauseating friction like nails on chalkboard, and black smoke billowed.
Whisp whisp.
The black smoke rose languidly, like eels swimming upstream.
Its eerie, ominous sight sent chills down my spine.
“……This won’t screw me over, will it?”
Understandably.
My current look was straight out of a villain summoning an evil god.
[The last remaining calamity ‘Greed’ begins to sprout.]
.
.
My instincts were spot on.
Swoooosh.
The drifting black smoke plunged into my right hand in an instant.
Too fast to react.
[Pandora’s Box absorbed.]
[Achievement-754: The Man Who Awakened Calamity]
[Reward: 3 days granted.]
[Conditions met. Hidden quest activated.]
───────────────
[Hidden Quest: Master of Calamity]
[Objective: Using Greed’s power as a base, seek out and absorb the other Seven Deadly Sins calamities that escaped Pandora’s Box.]
[Deadline: Terminates upon death]
───────────────
“It’s real?”
I froze stiff as a board.
And what’s this hidden quest?
Seven Deadly Sins?
This isn’t Dragon Ball—go hunt and absorb calamities?
It wasn’t in the original novel, no reward, and the objective and deadline reek of doom.
“Terminates on death? Come on.”
Not even absorption.
Like I’m a target now, forced to survive.
I’d dodged the mythic catastrophe of calamities flooding out, but losses outweighed gains—or so I thought.
[Reward: Time constraint removed]
Removed…?
“No choice but to take this seriously now.”
I stared blankly at the box—now absorbed—and my right hand where Greed resided.