Chapter 156
Chapter 156
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 156
Chapter Title: Checkmate
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The fiery blaze subsided, leaving the front of the welfare center strewn with soot-stained corpses.
After dealing with the remaining white monsters, Lee Si-woo spoke with a blank expression.
“Now that we've lost the explosives, clearing out the church won't be easy.”
Luchtator patted Si-woo’s thigh as if to console him.
“Don’t be too disappointed. They say that every cloud has a silver lining. We’ll find a way if we just tackle it head-on, won’t we?”
“Yes. It’s a shame, but what can we do? If we don't have teeth, we'll have to chew with our gums.”
“Do you have a plan?”
“Nothing I’d call a plan. We have no information, after all. We’ll just have to charge in and see what happens.”
Si-woo turned his gaze toward the stark white building that stood alone on the village hill.
The church, boasting a lofty silhouette under the overcast sky, exuded an inexplicable, ominous aura.
Si-woo looked down at Antonio’s corpse—dis-membered and covered in black ash—with a bitter expression and said.
“Let’s go. I think it’s about time we left this wretched place. Let's clear it quickly and go get some rest.”
Luchtator, as if trying to shake off his own gloomy mood, spoke in a deliberately bright voice.
“Oh, that sounds great. How about a can of beer and a plate of squid? Deal?”
“…If I just stand by and watch you drink beer in that body, I think I’m the one who’ll get arrested.”
“It’s fine. I’m not the one getting arrested.”
“Well, alright. If we drink in secret, I’m sure it’ll work out somehow.”
Dispelling the tension with idle chatter, Lee Si-woo headed for the church.
* * *
When Adrian, who had lost consciousness, opened his eyes, he saw a black-haired child wearing a gas mask through his hazy vision.
Seeing the child massaging various parts of his body, as if having nursed him all this time, Adrian asked.
“Who… are… you…”
The child in the gas mask covered Adrian’s mouth with both hands and whispered.
‘Shh, be quiet. It's dangerous.’
The child nudged his body as if to tell him to check his surroundings. Regaining some of his senses, Adrian surveyed the situation.
And then, his body froze.
In the thick darkness, the sticky floor was littered with tens, hundreds of white eggs the size of ostrich eggs.
And he saw the white monsters, tenderly caring for the eggs like nannies.
‘Don’t take off the gas mask. You’ll pass out.’
The church’s basement housed a storage area for disaster preparedness.
It contained gas masks for toxic substances, preserved food, and disaster relief supplies, which was how the child had survived.
The gas mask had allowed him to block the toxic fumes spewed from the skin pores of the ‘Mother,’ a giant, white, pot-bellied monster in the center of the underground storeroom.
Adrian followed the child to a corner wall, away from the eggs, and whispered.
‘Did you save me?’
‘Yes. I saw you fall from above. Luckily, the white monsters here are only interested in the eggs, so I was able to save you.’
‘And you put the gas mask on me?’
‘Yes. Otherwise, the nannies would have infected you as soon as their babysitting time was over.’
‘Babysitting time? Infection? What are you talking about?’
The child stared at Adrian. His audacious gaze seemed to say, ‘This adult… he’s a troublesome one.’ Adrian was so dumbfounded he almost let out a hollow laugh, but he managed to hold it in.
The child spoke with a sigh.
‘For thirty minutes, no matter what happens, those white monsters stay right by the white eggs. During that time, they won't flinch at any suspicious movements, presences, or sounds. But if someone approaches or tries to harm the eggs, they go berserk and kill the target. After this babysitting time ends, they spend ten minutes patrolling the area and eliminating any threats.’
‘Did you figure all that out yourself?’
‘Of course, I didn't figure it out alone. There were a few others besides me at first.’
‘…And?’
The child replied in a somber voice.
‘You know, don't you? What happened? All this information I’ve gathered wouldn't have been possible without the sacrifices of others.’
The child continued in a heavy tone.
‘The person who pushed you was probably one of the people who was with me in this basement and got infected. The white monsters feed these eggs to people, and when they do, those people become their puppets. Over time, they turn into white monsters. That’s how they reproduce.’
Adrian asked again in a deliberately serious tone.
‘Wait, so you were captured and brought here? The other children too?’
‘Yes. The white monsters captured kids around my age and brought them here. And… they fed them to the Mother. So those eggs are… huff, I don’t need to say more, do I? I really don’t want to explain it in detail. The process is disgusting just to imagine.’
Even as he said this, the child remained composed throughout.
It was a calmness and mental fortitude unthinkable for an elementary school student.
However, as Adrian retraced the child’s story, a question arose.
He had lost consciousness the moment he fell into this basement.
So how had this child remained unscathed?
Had someone else saved him?
Or perhaps…
‘Did someone else save you?’
‘No. I was the one who saved the others.’
‘How? You said everyone who breathes the fumes in this basement passes out?’
‘I don’t know why, but besides feeling a bit drowsy, I didn’t lose consciousness from these fumes. Hmm, I might have passed out if I’d been exposed for a long time, but I had enough time to find a gas mask and put it on. The nannies must have assumed I’d pass out, so they just focused on the eggs.’
‘…How strange.’
‘It is strange, isn’t it? I’ve never really gotten sick, and when all the other kids got food poisoning, I was the only one who didn’t. The director used to say to me, ‘You have such a strong constitution, no illness will ever dare come near you your whole life.’’
In the end, he had survived thanks to his healthy constitution.
But the director had likely called him strong because of the child’s extraordinary willpower and temperament.
What child could handle such a desperate situation so wisely without shedding a single tear?
His curiosity about the child reaching its peak, Adrian asked.
‘What’s your name?’
The child answered, a faint hint of a smile in his voice.
‘Si-woo. My name is Lee Si-woo.’
Inside the gas mask, Adrian’s face hardened like a rock upon hearing the name.
The three syllables of the man he hated most in this world had just come out of the child’s mouth.
Unaware of Adrian’s inner turmoil, the child continued in a bright voice.
‘By the way, mister. I have a good idea. Would you hear me out, and if you think it’s good, will you help me?’
* * *
Upon arriving at the church, Lee Si-woo climbed over the barricade at the entrance and went inside.
Inside, people who had been waiting greeted him warmly.
“I can’t believe it, a survivor! What a relief.”
“Are you two the only ones? Or are there more survivors?”
Lee Si-woo observed the two men welcoming him with an unreadable gaze and asked.
“Are there no monsters here?”
The middle-aged man with streaks of gray in his hair nodded.
“No. Fortunately, they haven’t appeared here. It must be because the grace of the Faceless One is with us.”
“Is that so?”
Si-woo replied dryly, glancing at the four or five other survivors sitting and praying on the long wooden pews characteristic of a church.
What was strange was that the eyebrows, noses, and mouths of the praying survivors remained perfectly still, even with their eyes closed.
Like wax dolls that weren't breathing.
And that wasn’t all.
The two men who welcomed him without a hint of suspicion, despite his appearing in a strange suit.
The content of their question, immediately asking if there were more survivors.
And finally, their movements, as awkward as if they were wearing clothes that didn't fit.
Based on all these clues, Lee Si-woo raised his hammer without hesitation.
At Si-woo’s unsettling action, the two men tilted their heads at a bizarre angle and asked.
“Sir. Why are you suddenly raising such a dangerous weapon?”
“Please put the weapon down. It’s safe here. You can rest assured. If you need anything, please tell us. Food, a place to sleep, we’ll provide whatever you…”
Si-woo's hammer slammed into the head of the older of the two men.
As the man's head shattered, blood burst out like a fountain.
Even more repulsive was the fact that the blood was mixed with hundreds, thousands of white larvae.
Stomping on the bloody mess that looked like vomit from the mix of white and red, Lee Si-woo spoke to Luchtator.
“Sir. Let’s clean them all up. They aren’t alive.”
As soon as Si-woo finished speaking, the husks of the remaining man and all the praying survivors burst open, and white monsters emerged from within.
Seeing the white monsters flailing their long arms and legs like newly hatched moths and screeching, Luchtator muttered.
“I suppose I won’t be eating silkworm pupae as a snack for a while…”
For the two who had faced dozens of white monsters, dealing with less than ten of them was merely a bothersome process, not a particularly difficult task.
After the commotion, having cleaned up the white monsters, Lee Si-woo leaned on his hammer like a cane and wiped his forehead.
“There are probably a lot more monsters in the basement. There might even be over a hundred.”
“Hmm, a hundred… can we handle that?”
“I plan to block the basement exit and take them out one by one. So it would be best to get plenty of rest before we begin.”
“Let’s do that… Who’s there?!”
Luchtator, who sensed another presence a moment before Si-woo, assumed a defensive stance with the agility of a flying squirrel.
Behind them, in front of the church’s main entrance.
A man with a model's physique, wearing a brown trench coat, was standing stock-still.
Long, dark hair like a gloomy, starless night.
Lips as white and pale as marble.
Eyes devoid of will, full of languor.
The man, who had a decadent aura one might see in a slum alleyway, put a cigarette to his lips and spoke.
“How strange.”
The man stared intently at Si-woo and continued.
“Why is my mark upon you?”
The man flicked his finger downward, and Si-woo involuntarily dropped to his knees under a gravitational force like the hand of a giant pressing down on his shoulders.
The situation was no different for Luchtator, who was struggling to get up, his chin pressed to the floor like a puppy being scolded by its owner.
One step. Two steps.
The man slowly approached Si-woo.
With each step he took, Si-woo felt the saliva in his mouth evaporate and let out a groan.
A devastating pressure, as if sand flowed through his veins instead of blood.
His head wouldn't lift, like a subject crushed by a king's majesty.
But, strangely, what was this familiar feeling amidst it all?
Yes, as if he had found a long-forgotten origin.
The man spoke.
“A pity. If the knight order wasn't arriving soon, I would take you all. It can't be helped. Today, I can only focus on the most interesting one.”
As soon as the man finished speaking, the basement door flew open, and a child and a man burst out.
It was the young Si-woo and Adrian.
The young Si-woo shouted at the man and at Si-woo and Luchtator, who were pinned to the floor.
“Run! It’s about to blow!”
The man curled his pale lips into a smile and, as the young Si-woo ran toward him, caught him in his arms and whispered.
“Checkmate.”
When the man carefully covered the young Si-woo with his trench coat, the child vanished without a trace, like a dove caught in a magician's cape.
Having secured the young Si-woo, the man glanced at Si-woo, Luchtator, and Adrian and said.
“As for you all, we’ll meet again.”
The moment the man finished speaking, a massive wall of fire began to erupt from the church's basement.
The young Si-woo and Adrian had worked together to rupture the church's gas line.
As the man vanished before their eyes with a flap of his trench coat, Lee Si-woo, freed from the gravity that had bound him, shouted to Luchtator.
“Sir! Run!”
As he sprinted with all his might alongside Luchtator to escape the flames chasing at their heels, Si-woo was finally able to guess the identity of the man he had encountered.
‘The Ancestor Demon. He's the Ancestor Demon. My past life, my origin…!’
As Si-woo desperately escaped the church, a system message appeared before his eyes.
[You have cleared Secret Chapter 1.5.]
[You have cleared the Secret Quest ‘Encountering the Origin’.]
[Calculating rewards….]
*Ding.*
[Calculation complete. Return to the starting point. Rewards will be distributed upon your return.]