Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Holy Night
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Holy night.
The black night sky seemed covered in prey, with countless stars faintly illuminating the cabin's interior through the windows.
A man held a revolver with a wicked smile on his lips, while a slender woman in armor lay collapsed on the cold floor—an eerie scene.
If others had witnessed this sight, they would surely have said:
A murder scene.
The black curtain behind the scene, Park Yeon-jeong, fixed his cold gaze on the woman who had become a corpse.
But soon enough.
Twitch.
The fallen woman's finger moved ever so slightly.
Whoosh!
With a sprightly rise that made it hard to believe she'd just taken a bullet to the forehead, our princess sat up.
Park Yeon-jeong quietly asked the princess as she rose.
"Princess?"
【……】
"…Princess?"
【……】
Why isn't this woman saying anything?
Is she scared?
No, more importantly, the purple bullet definitely hit her, right?
Doubts about himself began to swell.
Park Yeon-jeong immediately checked the cylinder of the revolver in his left hand.
The cylinder was...
Completely empty.
No bullets in the cylinder meant the purple bullet had definitely passed through the barrel and fired.
...In that case.
He had no choice but to watch the situation now.
He kept observing the princess's reaction.
Clack.
The princess planted her feet on the ground and slowly stood up.
Then, as she slowly raised her head and met his gaze:
She looked at him with a sunflower-bright smile.
【My prince, you're such a tease.】
These were the words she directed at the man who had aimed a gun at her forehead—mistaking it for a mischievous prank.
And as he confirmed the clear heart mark in her eyes:
He murmured inwardly.
'Good.'
He let out a sigh of relief.
That heart mark was proof that the purple bullet had definitely hit her.
The princess was now under the effect of the purple bullet: charmed.
That settled it.
Now, Park Yeon-jeong's next move was all but decided.
Rustle.
He reached into his coat pocket with his right hand and pulled out the quill pen.
It was originally meant for that arbiter in the ghost story casino.
'But for now, capturing any ghost story will do.'
Noise would understand.
He had to believe that.
...Anything more could wait.
Right now, the priority was to bring back something—anything.
The moment he drew the pen.
The quill pen reacted immediately.
『The quill pen identifies material to use as ink.』
He hadn't expected it to react so instantly upon being drawn.
【Prince, what's that?】
The princess looked up at him with her glass-bead eyes sparkling.
He answered her question with a curt reply.
"I'll show you something nice."
Soon, the quill pen began displaying text.
『Valid material identified... complete.』
Our quill pen hesitated a bit while identifying the target right in front of it.
He'd been inwardly anxious that this ghost story princess might not qualify as material.
『Replenishing ink.』
That message meant:
'It's done. We're good.'
They were almost there.
【Huh, Prince? Why is black ink...】
Gulp!
Before the princess could finish her curious question, black ink poured from the quill pen and swallowed her whole.
With that, our ghost story princess became quill pen material without a hint of resistance to the end.
Soon, the feather on the quill pen took on a black sheen, symbolizing the princess's glossy black hair.
......Done.
'It's over.'
Fortunately, the capture of the ghost story princess ended without a hitch.
Though more things had gone wrong than expected, as long as he'd captured a ghost story, Noise would soon summon him to the library.
A deep sigh seemed to pierce through his lungs.
With everything wrapping up, the tension drained from his body like slackening muscles, a wave of relief washing over him.
He closed his eyes, imagining returning home and soaking in warm water.
Shake!
Suddenly, the ground trembled, and spatial collapse began.
He caught his breath, waiting for Noise's summons.
Hop!
At some point, our little Bear Doll had shrunk down, leaped onto his body, and clung to him.
'Let's really go home.'
Come on, Noise.
Get me out of this damn place already.
......
Noise?
...Thud!
!
A wooden pillar supporting the cabin roof just brushed past Park Yeon-jeong's shoulder and crashed down beside him.
Crack!
!!
A fissure split open between his legs on the ground he'd been standing on moments ago.
"Noise! I captured it!"
Crunch... Thud!
The wooden pillar vanished into the fissure as if sucked in.
Noise?!
At this rate, I'm really going to die!
Stop joking around and help me escape this place!
......
Noise's response was slower than usual.
If this continued, he might get pulled into the endless darkness with the collapsing space, vanishing forever.
But in this already dire situation that couldn't get worse, misfortune struck Park Yeon-jeong like a chain reaction.
Sss...
?
His gaze snapped to the sudden white text before him.
『Unlucky Day.』
......Pardon?
The text flashed by, drawing Park Yeon-jeong's eyes not to it, but naturally to the white skull mark on his left wrist.
The skull mark, white just moments ago, was now black again.
The exact opposite of the "Lucky Day" message from before.
- Unlucky Day.
...Clank!
The distant sound of clashing armor grew louder.
【The prince's left arm!】
【The prince's right leg!】
【The prince's head!】
【For the princess alone!】
Clank clank clank!
'What the hell are you guys?!'
The heavy, sharp clash of gloves from the body-obsessed knights already upon them. Twisted voices leaked through, eerily blending as they approached from afar.
【For the princess alone!!!】
Once more, the floor beneath Park Yeon-jeong crumbled.
Seizing the chance, the fanatical cries of the diligent knights grew even louder.
But.
Even in this situation, Noise remained silent.
It was strange.
No, it is strange.
By now, he should've been summoned to the library.
......No way.
Is it because of that arbiter?
Thud!
The fissure had grown large enough to swallow a person.
【For the princess's love alone!!!】
The assault of our loyal knights, screaming at the top of their lungs, was imminent.
Everything was heading straight to worst-case.
Absent Noise.
Lucky Day turned sour.
And the mad knights.
Time was up.
No place to run.
He'd fall into the fissure like this.
Or get his limbs torn off by those knights.
One or the other was inevitable here.
Missing in action ending.
Dismemberment ending.
He needed another way out of here.
No matter what.
To survive.
Park Yeon-jeong's eyes quickly scanned his surroundings.
Escaping this place was top priority.
The only things still catching his eye in the cabin:
Full-length mirror.
Princess dummy.
Wooden furniture.
Sundry household items.
......Mirror?
Mirror!
Swoosh!
Park Yeon-jeong's gaze shifted to the window reflecting the outside.
It was night outside the window now.
And with the worst luck of "Unlucky Day" upon him...
He could do it.
He could escape.
The other ghost story always tied to the current "Seven Knights" ghost story.
Call that one.
Right here.
Right now.
Thud!
Park Yeon-jeong rushed over and grabbed the miraculously intact full-length mirror. He shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Bloody Queen! Bloody Queen! Bloody Queen! I caught the princess!"
......
No response.
'You damn queen, respond already!'
Crunch-!
!
The ground under his feet vanished into endless darkness again.
Clank clank!
【Princess!!!】
The knights' footsteps were close.
Too close.
Maybe seconds left before they stormed the cabin.
Grit!
His teeth ground together.
"Bloody Queen!"
Please!
Wobble.
!
An impossible sound from the rigid mirror surface brushed his ears.
Then, a woman's voice from beyond the mirror.
〖Show me the princess.〗
The voice from beyond the mirror demanded to see the princess.
But.
The princess was now sealed inside Park Yeon-jeong's quill pen.
He didn't know how to release her.
〖Show me the princess.〗
Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!
He needed someone to fool this queen's eyes right now.
Someone who could pass for the princess, even briefly...
There was.
Right here.
Wasn't there an identical fake with the princess's appearance?
The dummy the princess had modeled after herself.
"Bear Doll!"
Whoosh!
At his shout.
The Bear Doll hopped off his shoulder and grew to full size in an instant.
It scooped up the princess dummy from the bed and thrust it toward the mirror.
"See! I captured that princess! The one you've wanted so badly—I got her!"
His words sped up.
But time was critical.
〖......Princess.〗
"Yes! It's the princess!"
'So invite me to your space already!'
Bang!
......Shit.
The cabin door burst open, and his eyes met those of the orange-armored knight leading a rainbow of knights behind.
Damn!
His limbs were moments from being torn apart by the knights.
〖Well done.〗
Wobble.
A ticklish tone brushed his ears.
Gulp!
!
A long hand in a white glove shot out from the mirror he'd been holding, grabbed his collar, and yanked him in.
Whoosh!
Seeing him pulled in, the Bear Doll hurled the princess dummy into the mirror first.
Then, as the Bear Doll tried to follow:
It happened.
With the knights' voices tearing apart.
Grab!
The orange knight seized the Bear Doll's lower body in one swift motion.
Riiip-!
"Bear Doll!!"
Amid the ripping fabric tearing at his ears.
We all tumbled into the space beyond the mirror.
*****
Thud!
Park Yeon-jeong, falling from a slight height upon passing through the mirror, hit the ground shoulder-first and winced in pain.
“Bear Doll!”
But his gaze went to the Bear Doll that had fallen with him, before the pain.
The Bear Doll sprawled on the floor.
But it was no longer whole.
Only the upper body remained, its shredded lower half limp like rags on the ground.
'No way.'
The sight of its missing lower half brought a despair he'd never felt before, crushing his chest.
Like a tragic protagonist, Park Yeon-jeong roared in rage.
“Bear Doooooll!!!”
Whoosh!
......Huh?
Whoosh whoosh!
"Yo, you're alive?"
The Bear Doll, which he'd thought dead from its gruesome state, casually waved both arms at him.
Had he viewed it too much through human eyes?
But whatever.
As long as it was alive.
Escaping that collapsing space was victory enough for now.
Swish.
Flinch!
The sudden fan sound froze him again.
'...Right.'
Surviving that collapsing space was good, sure.
〖You may honestly share your thoughts on seeing the real me.〗
But the real trouble started now.
〖...Do I look beautiful?〗