Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: The Captured Soldier
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Thud! Thud! Thud!
Someone was knocking on the door of the hideout.
Jeong Ha-gyun approached silently, like a cat, and pressed his ear to the door.
“…Who’s there.”
Ma Jeongwoo’s voice came from outside.
“Open the door.”
“What’s the password?”
“There is no password! Hurry up and open it, this is heavy.”
Jeong Ha-gyun cautiously opened the door.
Clank.
Creeeak.
A bloodied face suddenly thrust through the half-open gap.
-Kraaaah!!
Jeong Ha-gyun yelped in surprise and fell backward.
“Aaack!”
Thud.
Ma Jeongwoo chuckled as he grabbed the bloodied soldier by the scruff of the neck and dragged him inside.
“What are you doing?”
“…What is that?”
“Japanese soldier. Brought him here for interrogation.”
“…!!”
-What’s that guy? How’d he capture a Japanese soldier all by himself?
-He didn’t get caught, did he? He’s not a traitor who got tortured and flipped sides, right?
Ma Jeongwoo gave him an exasperated look.
“What’s that saying about seeing what you expect to see? Hey, Kim Cheonjae! I finished all the tasks you gave me.”
I approached Jeongwoo with a bright smile.
“You confirmed all the locations?”
“Yeah. The soldiers don’t wander the streets outside their designated times, apparently.”
“Why’s that?”
“Why do you think? With that Specter bastard showing up, everyone’s busy leveling up. They say there’s about two thousand people in this castle. Gotta be hundreds dying every time it spawns, right?”
The little devil Specter that appears in every round.
It showed up the day before we arrived, so it won’t respawn for at least ten days.
Meaning no one’s dying from low levels until the next turf war.
‘Still….’
Ding!
[Your level has increased!]
A golden light swirled above my head.
Ma Jeongwoo grinned warmly at me.
“What’s this? You left auto-hunt on?”
“…Yeah. The animals I revived on the way here are all waiting in the Forest of the Dead.”
“Ha… nice. Experience share is at 20% now, right?”
“That’s right. Even the EXP I earn gets shared with party members. We can all level up together.”
“Share ratio’s 50%, right?”
“Sixty. I’m a Necromancer, remember.”
The captured soldier interrupted our conversation.
“You damned Chosens.”
Even after being dragged into enemy territory a total wreck, he still spouts that crap.
Perfect prey.
I crouched down with a beaming smile.
“You think you can keep talking like that?”
“…”
“What era do you think this is, calling people Chosens? Your uniform isn’t even from the colonial era. So outdated.”
“Shut up! This uniform was personally designed by Lord Conqueror!”
Hanjo’s handiwork, huh.
Ptooey!
His spit landed right in front of me.
“…Alright then. Let’s begin the interrogation. Might get a little torturous, so brace yourself.”
* * * * *
Jeong Ha-gyun gave me the room at the end of the basement as the interrogation chamber.
I sat the captured Japanese soldier in a wooden chair.
And tied his arms and legs to it with rope.
“Let me go!!”
Jeongwoo stripped off his heavy chainmail and tossed it to the ground.
Thud.
He slung his axe over his shoulder.
I lit a cigarette and sat across from him.
Thud.
The room, once used as a storage shed, was pitch dark.
Drip. Drip.
Water droplets fell from the ceiling.
The only things in the room were two chairs, the table between him and me, that was it.
Under the flickering light, only our faces briefly illuminated on the table.
“Four questions total. You get ten seconds to answer each. Miss the time limit, and you get punished.”
“Bullshit. You think I’ll talk?”
“…Let’s begin.”
The text ‘Setting’ shimmered above the soldier’s head.
[System Message]
[The secret conversation function with NPCs is activated.]
[The designated conversation target cannot refuse questions from player ‘Kim Cheonjae.’]
I couldn’t help but laugh.
The trait I got from the marketeer in Gyeongseong had activated.
A use for gold coins that low- and mid-tier players don’t even know about. It’s been a huge help to me.
The Japanese player clamped his mouth shut and glared at me.
I slowly blew cigarette smoke into his face and asked.
Puff—
“First question. Hanjo fought us this morning. Is he still alive?”
“…”
His eyes wavered.
He struggled violently against his bonds, trying to break free.
Not planning to answer, huh.
But his mouth opened on its own.
My trait forced the NPC’s mouth open.
“Ha, Hanjo-sama is…”
Whoosh—
The sound of wind slicing through the air.
Crash!
“Gaaaah!!”
Ma Jeongwoo suddenly swung his axe down. The soldier’s left arm was severed. I looked at Jeongwoo in bewilderment.
“Wh-what? He was just starting to talk.”
My heart pounded from the shock. The thumping reached my head.
Thump. Thump.
Jeongwoo looked at me triumphantly.
“I already knew the answer. Hanjo’s still alive.”
This guy’s lost his mind since we got here.
“…R-really? Warn me next time before you swing. You scared me.”
“Oh! Sorry. Heh heh, time’s wasting, so next question.”
Lucky he’s an NPC. Treating a player like this could come back to bite us later.
-Kuh… ugh…
The soldier drooled from his mouth, groaning. Blood from the severed arm soaked the floor.
The metallic stench of blood filled the room.
“…Can you still answer?”
“Kuh…”
His HP bar above his head showed he was on the brink of death.
I had no choice but to wake the sleeping Michael and call him to the interrogation room.
“Michael. Heal him up a bit.”
“Heal? Okay.”
Michael drew his pistol from his waist and entered the room.
Creeeak.
“Hello! Japanese.”
“Kuh… What are you? Huh? You’re not a Chosen.”
“Ready? Let’s start light.”
Click.
At the sound of him chambering a round, the terrified Japanese soldier’s pupils shook.
“C-crazy bastards. You’re really gonna kill me? Me, a soldier of the Great Japanese Empire? Can you handle that?!”
“Okay. Okay. One shot, all done.”
“Wh-what one shot?”
Michael licked his lips and grinned to reassure him.
“…Just, heal.”
The cold gun barrel pressed to his forehead, and the Japanese soldier’s face froze.
“…Just kill?”
The soldier’s face twisted. He dragged his chair backward trying to flee and toppled sideways.
Thud!
“W-wait a sec. I’ll talk. Just talk, okay? Kuh… my arm…”
“Pain’s just a moment. This’ll make it all better.”
“P-pain?! Wait. Wait, bring back that Chosen from earlier.”
I stepped forward from the shadows where I’d been watching.
Guess he was too tense to notice me in the room.
Michael approached the fallen soldier and aimed his pistol.
“…Genius Kim. Shoot?”
“Please… please don’t shoot. I beg you. I’ll answer everything. Don’t shoot!”
The soldier’s bloodshot eyes bulged, his lips trembling.
Tears streamed from his eyes, mixing with the blood on the floor.
This wasn’t what I wanted.
I scratched my head and said to the soldier.
“Alright, let’s restart the interrogation. Michael, you’re dismissed.”
“…No heal?”
“No heal. Out.”
“Out again? Okay.”
Michael tilted his head, holstered his pistol, and left.
* * * * *
The torture—no, interrogation—was over.
The Japanese soldier ended up crippled for good.
According to Jeongwoo, it was nothing compared to what our people endured during the colonial era.
Whoosh—
Smack!
“Kraaah! My balls!”
“Shut up. Still one side left.”
He said we had to avenge our ancestors’ spirits.
‘….’
I didn’t want to watch the torture, so I left the interrogation room.
“I’ll head out first.”
“Yeah. I’ll go when I’m done.”
“Go easy. He’s just an NPC anyway.”
“That’s why I’m even angrier. The fact that characters like this exist.”
“…Do what you want.”
Creeeak.
Thud.
Jeong Ha-gyun, waiting outside the door, asked me.
“Is it over?”
“…Yes. I’ll explain, so could you gather everyone here?”
Jeong Ha-gyun nodded and clapped his hands to call the players.
“Everyone, gather up!”
I explained the interrogation results to them.
There weren’t any major facilities to worry about.
The real threats were the Japanese players.
Some had unexpected abilities mixed in.
“First, the people we need to watch out for most. Number one: Psycho Makoto, a Ninja class. Apparently a job only available in Japan.”
-Psycho Makoto! That guy’s seriously dangerous.
-One of our group got his head lopped off in one hit by him.
“Next, self-proclaimed Samurai—but really just a Swordsman named ‘Tanaka Gunkichi.’”
-Tanaka Gunkichi? Never heard of him.
-Wasn’t he the one in the green uniform hunting Chinese while Hanjo hunted Koreans?
-Yeah! I heard the captured Chinese yelling ‘Gunkichi, Gunkichi.’
I cleared my throat to regain their attention and continued.
“Gunkichi’s a military otaku famous for his 300-man beheading record. Probably the one who brought back the old Japanese uniforms.”
Jeong Ha-gyun slammed his fist on the table.
Bang!
“Crazy bastard.”
“…Finally, the last ones to watch out for… no, people. Two men who move with Gunkichi: Mukai and Noda.”
No one seemed to know Mukai or Noda; they just murmured about who they were.
“Quiet down. Mukai and Noda travel with Gunkichi. Both Swordsmen like him. The unique thing is they always stick together.”
Kim Ria tilted her head.
“Why do they always go together?”
“No idea.”
“Ah….”
“Anyway, that’s everyone to watch for. You all probably know more about their facilities and movements than we do.”
Jeong Ha-gyun asked me.
“No spies? No spies at all?”
I slowly scanned the gathered players before answering Jeong Ha-gyun.
“…Yes.”
“R-really?”
“Yes. That weapon deal you mentioned earlier was probably just coincidence.”
Jeong Ha-gyun let out a sigh of relief.
“Phew—Good. Everyone here is someone I’ve known for a long time. I was worried there might be a spy.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. It’d be hard to kill old comrades we’ve known for so long.”
Comrades?
“…I see.”
I looked at the map spread on the table and asked Jeong Ha-gyun.
“Ten days until the turf war. We have work to do before it starts.”
“Work? What?”
“…A total of 56 players.”
“56? What do you mean….”
I stabbed the map with a kitchen knife.
Thud!
“The captured Korean players. We’re rescuing every last one. I’ve got all their locations, so let’s plan the operation.”