Chapter 98
Chapter 98
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 97
Chapter Title: The Glowing Tattoos
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Next up. Just as I imagined.
"What the fuck is this?"
"Argh, my leg!"
"Gah!"
As the flock of crows dove into the office, it quickly turned into a scene from hell.
Thwack, thwack.
Striking down with bread, it somehow made a dull thud like being hit with a blunt weapon.
I slowly made my way in and approached the thugs.
The closest one was clutching his smashed, blood-streaming nose and coughing.
"You, what the hell are you?"
Thwack.
Instead of answering, I hit him where it hurt again.
"Urk, you demonic bird..."
Thwack.
This time I smashed the back of his head, and he went quiet.
I closely examined the area around the left forearm of the fallen thug.
And there it was.
"A tattoo."
It looked bumpy, like something had been injected into the skin, and the design was in the shape of a demon locust.
"Hmm."
But it wasn't glowing. At a glance, it didn't seem much different from a regular tattoo.
Did it only glow when mana was channeled?
But this guy didn't have anything resembling mana in his body.
"Fuck. Just blow it up. Blow it up and kill all those bastards."
Right then. An enraged shout pierced my ears.
A bearded man with a cigar in his mouth was yelling orders.
"But what exactly are you blowing up?"
It couldn't be a bomb, right?
I was about to stand and regret not taking out the boss first.
Flash—
Suddenly, light burst from the demon locust tattoo.
Wriggle—
At the same time, the fallen thug started staggering to his feet.
Like a zombie, he flailed about and let out a guttural groan.
"...Kill..."
His fury-filled pupils burst with blood vessels, turning red. His speech was slurred, but he could still talk, so he wasn't completely insane.
Was it some kind of berserk effect?
"Fascinating."
I could instinctively sense that the thug's abilities and aura had changed from before.
It wasn't an illusion from him growling like a beast or the tattoo flashing on his forearm.
It was the discomfort picked up by my sensitive senses.
It felt like his very essence had stepped up a level.
He'd clearly been a regular person, but now he was emanating an aura similar to an Awakened.
Was there a setting like this in the original story?
I racked my brain, but nothing came to mind.
"You're no ordinary thugs, huh?"
Grrr.
Instead of answering, he lunged at me.
With the movements of an athlete, he closed the distance in an instant.
He tried to wrap me up in a grapple without warning.
"But even so..."
I lightly twisted my body to dodge.
"You're still just thugs."
I thrust my fist toward his fully exposed back.
A standard straight punch.
An extension of the taekwondo I'd learned in elementary school.
But with my strength at 5.2—average for a regular person is around 3—it was plenty threatening.
He bounced off like a timely hit between second and third base, staggering as he tried to regain his footing.
"I'm busy, so just lie down."
This time, I charged at him. I ran straight in and slammed my shoulder into him.
I didn't know much about martial arts, so I was just using my overwhelming physical stats simply.
Thud.
His body flew through the air with a whoosh and crashed into the wall. He didn't move, seemingly knocked out again.
"What the hell is going on?"
It was no ordinary phenomenon, so I glared into the empty air, but no answers came.
As always, I'd have to figure it out myself.
I calmly collected my thoughts and scanned the whole scene.
Out of the forty or so flashing ones, about half had glowing tattoos.
But the intensity of the light leaking through their suits varied.
Some were dim, others fairly bright.
The difference in results was so stark that no separate deduction was needed.
"Definitely..."
The brighter ones were stronger, and those who were originally stronger emitted even brighter light from their tattoos.
"Argh, s-save me!"
Just look at the bald-headed Awakened that Reina had by the collar right now.
He had an especially bright glowing tattoo.
He'd seemed like a Rank 10 Awakened at the entrance, but now he carried the aura of a low Rank 9.
He'd crossed a wall that some spent their lives trying to surpass, all with just a tattoo.
This was no small matter.
Whether this was a side effect from the new loop because of Yoo So-young's traces.
Or just an anomaly, or a gap in settings I didn't know about.
I needed to investigate closely and uncover the truth.
...That was when I resolved to do so.
[Through keen observation and strong obsession, you've unlocked the possibility of a new plot development.]
[Achievement-248: Story Pioneer]
[Reward: Acquired 20 SP.]
[An unplanned interquest has activated.]
───────────────
[Inter Quest]
[Objective: Uncover the secret of the glowing tattoos]
[Reward: +30 days to remaining time, 50 SP]
───────────────
I smirked at 4885, who was only now reacting.
It looked like they were hastily preparing something over there too.
At least I wasn't alone.
Thanks to Reina coming along, I didn't have to worry about the small fry.
My eyes immediately turned beyond the chaos.
"We should fall back for now."
"Fuck. What kind of monstrous bitch is that..."
"Getting caught will make it worse."
The bearded man was led by a scarred thug and fled through a door at the back of the office.
"Can you handle them alone? I'll move separately."
I shouted to Reina and chased after them, crossing the room.
"B-block them so they can't follow."
Two tattooed thugs with glowing tattoos stepped up to block the way, playing bodyguard for their boss.
...They were asking to die.
Swish.
I pulled out two threads of Heavenly Silken Yarn and wrapped one around each.
I infused them with mana, flung them aside left and right, then fired the threads at the doorknob.
I closed the distance in one go.
Boom—
Bursting through the door, I saw a narrow, long corridor and the bearded man's back as he ran.
"Where do you think you're going?"
I shortened the distance with Jam and manifested a stone at the same time.
Not just the shape—it was real stone the size of a fist, with the properties to match.
But tie Heavenly Silken Yarn to it and throw, and it becomes deadlier than a gun.
So I adjusted the speed and hurled it.
Swoosh.
The stone shot straight forward, borrowing the yarn's power.
It tore through the space in the blink of an eye and—before it smacked the bearded man's head with a crack—
Slash.
I heard the sound of something being sliced first.
The scarred thug next to the bearded man.
Because he'd drawn his sashimi knife and slashed.
"As expected."
I confirmed the rippling light on his left forearm and smirked.
Truth be told, my real target was the strongest among them. Not the bearded man, but Scarface.
The bearded one was probably just a figurehead; Scarface was the real deal, looking like a low Rank 8 with the tattoo boost.
In demon terms, upper green or lower blue.
So nothing changed.
They were opponents I could control; they weren't escaping unless I let them.
"Try blocking this too."
I quickly manifested a 40% Ilgeom and threw it again, then kicked off the ground.
Catching up to the Ilgeom's speed was, of course, impossible.
"Urk."
The shot Ilgeom shattered Scarface's sashimi knife and pierced his left shoulder.
"Arghhh, b-blood..."
It then embedded in the bearded man's thigh, and only then did I arrive.
"S-s-save..."
"I'll deal with you later."
I smashed the bearded man's face as he rolled on the floor one more time.
He convulsed and went limp.
With the noisy nuisance gone, only Scarface remained.
Not wanting to waste time, I got straight to the point.
"What the hell is that tattoo?"
Naturally, nonsense spilled from his mouth.
"J-just... kill me."
So I asked again.
"Why should I?"
"...?"
"Why should I kill you?"
"W-well..."
It was an important question, but he seemed flustered and couldn't answer.
He'd probably spat it out without much thought.
Likely something he'd picked up from gangster movies. They always say "kill them all" when captured.
Tsk tsk.
I clicked my tongue long and hard, then laid out my honest feelings.
"I'd rather you stay alive. So hang in there; this is only the second time I'm using it on a person, so I don't know what side effects it'll have either."
"What are you..."
Swish.
I pulled out Heavenly Silken Yarn and wrapped it around him.
"W-wait a second."
Scarface panicked hard, thrashing and resisting violently.
He'd begged for death earlier, but now he wanted to live.
But I had no intention of stopping.
The situation was serious enough that I had to know.
What the hell was going on.
I placed my hand on Scarface's head and muttered softly.
"Read."
* * *
4 PM.
Joo Ah-rin returned to her dorm with just a bottle of store-bought sauce and a pack of ramen—needed the spice packet.
"Hmm..."
Of course, her heart was as empty as the bare basket.
If she hadn't known, she could've just cleaned some squid or prepped abalone.
Assuming Cheon Seo-yoon's guess was right, that tiny store-bought sauce felt—exaggerating a bit—like a complex magic circle.
She wondered if she could really cook for him.
Her missing mother.
It would be food filled with memories of someone she could never see again.
"It's tough."
Joo Ah-rin stared blankly at the sauce bottle before heading to her desk.
She still had time, so she turned on her laptop to ponder more and check work emails.
"..."
But was it because old memories resurfaced after so long?
Something she'd hidden away tight, the missing persons report she hadn't opened in years.
The incident she'd forgotten about, now devoid of emotion, tickled the corner of her mind again.
After a brief pause, Joo Ah-rin finally moved the mouse.
Click—
[Unsolved Case-8742: Letter Demon Missing Persons Incident]
About 7 years ago.
Letters in black envelopes were sent to around 50 people, and the recipients vanished one by one.
The motive and evidence were unclear, leaving it unsolved. The demon from the letters, pegged as the culprit, was just a provisional name; no real information had been uncovered.
Click—
Joo Ah-rin read down the report, retracing past regrets.
Her frown deepened with each line.
Maybe her perspective had changed, but she noticed sloppy structuring she'd missed before, excuses presented as facts sticking like thorns in her eyes.
It felt like a slapdash investigation swept under the rug.
But she had no intention of dwelling on it.
Nothing would change anyway.
Thanks to the one who'd abandoned her child, she lived busily day to day; any resentment toward that person with no lingering hate had long faded.
Click—
The report reached the final page.
[Victim List]
A meaningless page, so she scrolled down quickly—shh shh—to check that name after so long.
"...!"
But then, an unexpected word flashed by.
.
.
Her scroll stopped. The screen froze with it.
Joo Ah-rin blinked, leaned forward thinking she'd misread.
[Victim No. 21. Yoon Jung-ah]
Age: Mid-30s
Clan: Presumed Prime Brew Clan.