Preparation (2)
"Aaargh!!!!!"
Screams echoed through Chronos's Secret Workshop.
Fwoosh—
Flames erupted across every inch of Lee Cheolyeong's body. His skin melted away, the raw crimson muscle beneath cooking, shriveling, contracting.
At first, there was nothing but the screaming.
Ding—
Hero Lee Cheolyeong has reached his limit.
Chronos's Blessing settles upon Hero Lee Cheolyeong.
Returning to the beginning.
The charcoal husk that had been thrashing like a madman went limp, and the flames blanketing the area softly faded away.
Then—
"Hahk—"
Lee Cheolyeong sucked in a deep breath and pushed himself upright.
[Organ Trafficking] [Slave Trading] [Contract Killing] [Fraud] ······
The list of crimes still hung above his head. He had clearly died, which should have reset his karma score — yet it seemed the sins a man had committed could not be erased.
"I'm sorry. Please. That's enough. I'm sorry."
The moment Lee Cheolyeong spotted Woobin, he dropped to the floor and crawled toward him, begging.
Ding—
"Please... no more. Stop it."
His true thoughts surfaced before Woobin's eyes.
At first, the sight had been fascinating.
Even at their very first meeting, when the man had wept and pleaded for help, his eyes had been on Min Juhee while his head filled with nothing but filth.
Even when he'd kindly offered her a drink — an act of goodwill, supposedly — he'd been picturing the black market, sketching out her future as merchandise.
What kind of life had this man lived, that deceiving a stranger and selling her off came to him so naturally?
"Please, I'm begging you."
Outside, his words and his heart had clearly been two different things. Now they were one and the same.
His pitiful pleading matched his inner voice perfectly — which was exactly how desperate he was.
And Woobin knew all too well what kind of emotion was driving the man.
Ding—
The Trial of Rupture has begun.
CRACK!
Blood burst from every part of Lee Cheolyeong's body.
Right on schedule, the hellish pain began. The first time, he had held out all the way to the fourth trial — but perhaps because of his reset level, this time he couldn't even clear the second before he died.
Ding—
Hero Lee Cheolyeong has reached his limit.
Chronos's Blessing settles upon Hero Lee Cheolyeong.
Returning to the beginning.
"Hahk—"
Once again he gulped down a deep breath and forced himself upright.
"Fuck! What did I ever do to you!"
The grief curdled into rage before long.
The sleeping drug was one thing, but he'd even handed over poison — and now, without a shred of conscience, he was demanding to know what he'd done wrong.
Woobin gave no answer. He simply started walking.
'What to test first.'
This one was a crucially important test subject.
The first thing to verify was the workshop's very first effect.
◈ Time flows 10,000 times faster.
◈ Upon reaching death, the body is restored. (*The restored body is reset.)
◈ Skill proficiency increases 10,000-fold.
◈ Random trials begin at regular intervals.
So — did time really flow differently inside and out?
Ding—
The Trial of the Fire Demon has begun.
"Aaack!!!!"
Leaving the scream behind him, Woobin walked toward the firmly sealed door.
Click.
The moment the door shut, silence settled in.
The first thing he'd confirmed was whether the door could be removed even with another person still inside.
Ding—
Removing the door connected to Chronos's Secret Workshop.
Without the slightest restriction, the door smoothly vanished.
Going by the status window alone, one second outside equaled ten thousand seconds within. Was time truly passing that way?
If it was, that man would have died another five hundred times or so by now. And even as Woobin entertained the thought, the death count was probably still multiplying exponentially.
Woobin's gaze turned forward.
Min Juhee and the little NPC boy were sleeping the blameless sleep of children, oblivious to the world. Experimenting here seemed unwise.
He still had to drag Lee Cheolyeong out and test whether the man could open the door on his own — and whether an open door could be entered freely.
Having made his decision, Woobin moved to head outside.
The door swung wide with a creak — and a familiar man was standing there.
"Hello."
It was Lee Jeonghoon.
Woobin's eyes rose to the top of Lee Jeonghoon's head.
[Comrade Betrayal] [Merciless Violence]
Perhaps thanks to his newly acquired trait, two phrases floated into view. The violence was one thing — but comrade betrayal? What was that supposed to be?
Had the man done something like what those bastards who'd sold Woobin out once did? His mood was just beginning to sour when—
Jeonghoon peeked inside, then spoke in a low voice.
"You must have been resting. Let's talk somewhere quiet."
Falling into step behind Jeonghoon, Woobin recalled the plan they had agreed on. The content was simple.
"The higher-ups will summon you. As you give your report, read out this item's effects. Someone is bound to react — and that someone is most likely the mastermind."
"The mastermind will want the item back by any means necessary. They'll move to force an outcome before the day is out. That's when you fix a time and a place. We're setting a trap."
First, find the mastermind behind this whole affair.
So — had the plan unfolded as intended? Judging by his expression, someone had certainly taken the bait.
Before he knew it, they had reached an empty corridor.
"Your prediction was spot on, Mr. Woobin. The moment I showed them the magic stone, one of the senior officials reacted immediately."
"......"
"The man behind it all turned out to be more dangerous than I expected. Dangerous enough that merely knowing the truth could cost you your life."
"So who is it?"
No answer came. Jeonghoon only gave Woobin's shoulder a pat and kept walking.
"This is as far as you should go, Mr. Woobin. We'll handle the rest on our side."
It was probably meant as a kindness. He knew that if the mastermind slipped away, simply knowing the truth would put Woobin's life in danger.
But to Woobin, that consideration was nothing but needless meddling and unnecessary arrogance.
Woobin narrowed his eyes at Jeonghoon's retreating back.
'So that's how it's going to be, huh.'
He had more or less anticipated this outcome from the start.
Ordinarily he would have trailed the man, shadowed him — but the reason to bother had just evaporated.
'Twenty minutes from now...'
Because with his new trait, he had already seen everything inside Jeonghoon's head.
The location was an abandoned church near the back gate. And the mastermind was...
'Jeong Hantae.'
A son of a bitch who wouldn't be enough even if Woobin tore him apart alive.
Faint moonlight washed over the surroundings. Bushin's distinctive architecture mingled with thousands of stars, spreading out a scene genuinely worth beholding.
It was a spectacle of beauty beyond peace — yet an ominous tension pressed down on the air.
Woobin stood at some remove from the abandoned church.
"Please... spare me. I'll never do it again."
Lee Cheolyeong wept and pleaded before him.
Shh—
Flinch—
At Woobin's simple gesture, Cheolyeong flung himself flat on the ground and held his breath.
Every verification was complete.
The results were thoroughly satisfying.
The question he'd been most curious about — the door's access rules — turned out to have a simple answer.
'So it can't be opened from the inside.'
Anyone could enter from the outside. But once inside, Lee Cheolyeong had been unable to open the door himself.
Through an already-open door, however, passage was free.
His second curiosity — the flow of time — had been resolved as well.
"Please... please..."
He'd left the man alone for roughly ten minutes while he spoke with Jeonghoon. This was the result.
"Please... I never want to go back in there. I have to beg."
His mind had bent past breaking, teetering one step from shattering outright.
Granted, his psyche was supposed to reset with every death — and he had still broken down this badly. The man's will was rotten to the core.
"Save me... please..."
Woobin hardened his expression as he looked at him. What to do with him?
Plenty of sins hovered above the man's head, but technically he wasn't a wanted criminal.
Killing him would carve a hefty chunk out of Woobin's karma. But he couldn't exactly just cut him loose, either.
'What a hassle.'
Ding—
Creating Chronos's Secret Workshop.
Click.
At Woobin's gesture, a door materialized out of thin air.
"Hiiiiek!!!"
The mere sight of it made the man shriek and tremble all over.
"Get in."
"Wh-what?!"
"I said get in."
"P-please..."
"If you don't want to be locked up for the rest of your life, get in right now. Endure it well, and I'll let you out next time."
At those words, the terror flooding Lee Cheolyeong's face subtly hardened into something else.
Woobin knew exactly what the man was feeling. He would sooner die than go back inside.
But Cheolyeong shut his mouth at once and stepped toward the door.
"You'll really let me out next t—... Never mind."
He had begun to say something, then flung the door wide open without a moment's hesitation. The instant he laid eyes on the room, every inch of Lee Cheolyeong's body shook. The terror had him so thoroughly in its grip that he was pissing himself on the spot.
"Endure it... and next time..."
And yet there was no hesitation in Cheolyeong's movements.
BANG!
Woobin gazed at the closed door and smiled coldly.
'He'll be useful.'
It had taken only a single line.
"If you don't want to be locked up for the rest of your life, get in right now. Endure it well, and I'll let you out next time."
Those words carried a double meaning.
The hope that the pain might someday end — and the despair of being imprisoned for life.
And yet the man had obeyed, meek as a lamb.
'I'm already curious.'
How would Jeong Hantae react?
Thump— thump—
Imagining the moment of his revenge to come, Woobin waited.
Roughly five minutes remained until the appointed time Jeonghoon had arranged.
Ding—
A message he had never anticipated greeted Woobin.