Chapter 159
Chapter 159
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 159
Chapter Title: Wraiths and Warnings
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Thanks to having memorized the map, Lee Si-woo was able to find the police station before sunset.
At the main gate leading into the station, the guards on duty spotted Lee Si-woo’s party and leveled their assault rifles at them.
“Stop. One more step and we shoot.”
The guards, tense at the appearance of uninvited guests, relaxed slightly after getting a look at Lee Si-woo and Looktator’s attire.
As ridiculous as Lee Si-woo looked in his frog suit, Looktator’s appearance in a rat suit, which made his already small frame look even smaller, was downright adorable.
*What are those idiots?* As the guards held them at gunpoint with such expressions, a black man in a white shirt and jeans ran out from behind them.
“Wait! They’re with the rescue team, just like us. Don’t hurt them.”
At the black man’s words, the guards silently lowered their rifles.
Once the guards stepped back, the man approached Lee Si-woo.
“A pleasure to meet you. I’m Montreal, from the Oasis Club.”
“Thank you for stopping them. I’m Eric. And this is Looktator.”
Since nothing good would come from using his real name, Lee Si-woo gave the alias Eric.
“Judging by your suits, you must be veterans. If you don’t mind me asking, what run is this for you?”
Lee Si-woo answered Montreal’s polite question.
“No. This is my first run.”
At Lee Si-woo’s reply, Montreal’s face showed a hint of disappointment as he asked again.
“Ah, so you received those suits from your club? May I ask which club you’re affiliated with?”
“I am affiliated with a club, but for certain reasons, it’s difficult for me to say. I’m sorry.”
Montreal frowned slightly at Lee Si-woo’s answer.
“Mr. Eric. There are users from various clubs here. If you don’t tell us your affiliation… you may find your movements restricted, you might not receive fair food rations, or you could face disadvantages for speaking out. Are you okay with that?”
Montreal’s warning was practically a threat, but it wasn’t as if he could just make up a club, could he?
Lee Si-woo replied as if it were no big deal.
“I’m fine with it.”
Seeing that Lee Si-woo still wouldn’t reveal any information, Montreal spoke with a displeased expression.
“…Very well. For now, please come in. Ah, for your reference, we users are currently operating under the setting of a rescue team from Mumeon, dispatched to save Normal Town. Please keep that in mind when you speak with the NPCs.”
“Understood.”
Montreal went and said something to the NPC guards. They nodded and gestured for them to enter, allowing Lee Si-woo and Looktator to step inside the police station.
The police station itself was quite large, but it seemed small for a facility responsible for the security of an entire city.
Based on the information he had gathered in the previous chapter, it seemed the Knight Order, a system unique to Mumeon, likely limited the scale of the police station.
Still, even considering all that, it was hard to understand why a police station of this size had only two guards.
“Are you perhaps short on manpower?”
Montreal was quite displeased with Lee Si-woo’s insistence on being mysterious, but he felt the man was sharp for a first-timer.
It was unusual for someone to notice a detail most would overlook or ignore and immediately pose a question about it.
“Yes. A few days ago, people in the city started disappearing. Now, apart from those of us in this station, you can’t find a single soul.”
Noticing Montreal’s unusually dark complexion and worried expression, Lee Si-woo asked cautiously.
“The users are going missing too, aren’t they?”
*Well, look at this guy.*
Thinking Lee Si-woo was quite perceptive, Montreal raised his eyebrows slightly.
“…Yes. That’s why the clubs have gathered at the police station. We’re trying to use the firearms and NPC personnel here to deal with what’s happening.”
“Hmm, I heard that Chapter 2, known as the Vigilante chapter, is cleared by protecting the city with survivor NPCs from monsters until the Knight Order arrives. Is that correct?”
“Yes. That’s common knowledge. That’s why the clubs are stationed here. This city resets and becomes whole every time the chapter is cleared. Then, when someone pulls the trigger, the chapter opens, and the city gets wrecked. It’s an endless cycle, so if the resident clubs don’t manage the open and clear cycles, things become a mess.”
Having grasped the general gist of how Chapter 2 worked, Lee Si-woo asked.
“So this time, the strange phenomena began even without the trigger being pulled?”
“Yes. That’s why we don’t know what to do right now. We need to know the reason and the cause to respond, but since this is the first time we’ve experienced this phenomenon, we’re at a loss.”
Lee Si-woo continued to ask Montreal various questions to gather information, and Montreal, though annoyed, answered him sincerely.
Although Lee Si-woo was a suspicious newcomer, they were desperate for every person they could get, and they couldn’t afford to mistreat a talented individual who owned a suit.
However, as Lee Si-woo entered the police station, he was greeted by unexpected shouts and yelling.
A man in his sixties, wearing a police uniform and appearing to be an NPC, and a boy in dusty clothes with a soot-stained backpack were raising their voices at each other.
“This little brat just won’t listen! Didn’t I tell you? Go spout that nonsense to your mommy at home! Kid! Can’t you see how serious things are for everyone right now? And you’re here spouting bullshit about salt and silver!”
“The people in the city are disappearing because of ‘wraiths’! And they’re weak to salt and silver! If we don’t stockpile as much as we can, more people will be abducted tonight! We have to prepare, and fast. Otherwise, we could be in for a world of hurt tonight!”
“Wraiths? I’ve never heard of such things in my life. And what, you need salt and silver to deal with them? I took you in because you looked pathetic, but are you a complete lunatic?”
“Chief, you can call me a lunatic all you want. But… it wouldn’t be that hard to secure salt and silver from the nearby supermarket and jewelry stores. It’s a low-risk gamble, so if you could just spare a few people…”
“Ah, this little brat is so damn annoying. Hey, kid. Manpower is the one thing we’re shortest on right now! Do you think we have time to entertain your useless delusions? Stop bothering me and get lost! Before I throw you out!”
The boy pleaded, grabbing the police chief’s sleeve.
“Please, don’t do this…”
When the boy, whose hands looked like they hadn’t been washed in ages, grabbed his sleeve, the police chief shook him off as if a bug had landed on his clothes.
“How dare this brat touch someone without permission!”
As the chief shook off the boy’s hand, he tried to kick the boy in the stomach.
However, the boy dodged the chief’s foot with the agility of a startled cat and retreated backward.
The chief was momentarily surprised by the boy’s skilled movements but then spoke with a light scoff.
“Not bad for a stray who’s been rolling around in the streets. Anyway, I don’t have time to deal with the likes of you. If you want to get your dinner ration, go curl up in a corner. And stop being a nuisance.”
With that, the chief left, but the boy had no intention of giving up. This time, he latched onto Montreal.
“You’re the rescue team, right? Please, listen to me. We need to secure as much salt and silver as possible. Otherwise, this police station is finished.”
However, Montreal’s reaction was no different from the police chief’s.
“Kid, step aside. We’re too busy to play along with your strange games.”
“I’m telling you, it’s not a game! Physical attacks don’t work on these wraiths at all. I-I saw it outside last night. You guys fight wearing those weird suits, right? And you get stronger. But none of that works on the wraiths. Just yesterday, a pretty blonde lady…”
As soon as the words “pretty blonde lady” left the boy’s mouth, Montreal’s expression changed drastically.
He grabbed the boy by the collar and snarled.
“Blonde? Are you talking about a woman in black leggings and a white T-shirt?”
“…You know her?”
“Of course I know her! She’s with me! Where is Melanie? What the hell happened last night?!”
As Montreal’s strong grip tightened around his neck, the boy struggled to pull his hands away, gasping for air.
“First, let go of…”
“Shut up and tell me where Melanie is! Before I snap your neck!”
“…I saw her get taken by a wraith. I don’t know what happened after that.”
“Wraiths? Bullshit! No such monsters exist! The only things that appear in this city are the beastmen! In fact, the only monsters in this entire world, besides humans, are the other races! So cut the crap and speak straight!”
“Why don’t you believe me? There are strange fog monsters called white wraiths! They only come out at night! They appear without a sound and snatch people away!”
“Then how the hell are you still alive? And how do you know that salt and silver are effective?”
“How do I know? I found out while scrambling to survive, that’s how. Damn it, fine. If you don’t want to listen, then don’t. You’re the ones who are going to die, not me! And… don’t you dare grab someone’s collar like that!”
The boy kicked the tip of his foot into Montreal’s elbow, causing Montreal to involuntarily loosen his grip and let go of his collar.
Furious, Montreal tried to touch his suit watch, but the boy twisted his lips into a smirk, pulled the belt from his waist, and swung it like a whip.
*Crack!*
The belt struck Montreal’s suit watch, preventing him from touching it properly. Seeing that Montreal couldn’t transform, the boy hit him with a sliding tackle to the shins.
“Kugh!”
As the off-balance Montreal stumbled, the boy jabbed him in the nose with his elbow and stuck out his tongue.
“Heh, I already figured out you have to touch that watch to wear that suit thingy, you know? You’ll only find a hero who’d wait for you to transform in a kids’ tokusatsu show. You idiot. And! I hope you all have a hell of a time tonight! I try to do you a favor and you just ignore me?! Hmph, we’ll see who regrets this tomor…”
The boy was chattering away excitedly as he tried to flee, when a woman in a cat-themed suit, the Catsuit, appeared behind him and put him in a headlock.
“Hey, kiddo. I don’t think you’re in any position to lecture my colleague, are you? Third-rate villains always get caught by the hero while running their mouths, just like you are now.”
Choking from the woman’s headlock, the boy gagged.
“Ch-Cheating with a surprise attack…”
“What’s cheating about it? Hah, still got a smart mouth even after being caught like this… Looks like you need to be taught a serious lesson.”
She slammed the boy onto the floor with a spectacular judo throw.
Even in that situation, the boy used a breakfall to minimize the impact, but the pain from being thrown onto the hard floor was considerable.
As she prepared to give the groaning boy a proper beatdown, Lee Si-woo, who had been watching silently, intervened.
“That’s enough.”
“What, who are you? Didn’t you see what he did to my colleague? Don’t stick your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
Lee Si-woo had already recognized the boy’s identity.
How could he not?
Not when he saw that face, which was a spitting image of his own teenage self.
Lee Si-woo spoke, his voice cold and low.
“And what if I have to get involved?”
“Oh? What’s this? Are you serious?”
Montreal stood up, clutching his bleeding nose.
“Mr. Eric. You should choose your actions carefully. You could get kicked out of here for protecting an NPC like that.”
Lee Si-woo let out a smirk.
“I think the kid’s words have merit. Without the appearance of something like a wraith, the strange phenomena in the city can’t be explained. So… if you want to touch this kid, you’ll have to go through me first. I believe this boy is an important key to solving this phenomenon, and I intend to protect him.”
The woman in the Catsuit shot back.
“What a load of crap. Hey, you… you’re going to regret this.”
Lee Si-woo’s eyes flashed as he spoke.
“I wonder. We’ll have to see who regrets it.”