Chapter 75
Chapter 75
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: The Uninvited Guest
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Tentacle used his 4-star Talent, 'Mental Connection', to see through every facet of his target.
Their memories, thoughts, and even their guilt.
After getting his hands on everything the target was, he slowly toyed with them, corrupting and destroying them.
Tentacle's ability manifested regardless of Circle or level, which was why even high-Circle mages were wary of him.
From the moment contact was made with his tentacles, even a high-Circle mage would become his prey unless they possessed exceptional mental fortitude.
Such a bizarre Talent was the strength of the monster species and the biggest reason mages of other races feared monster mages.
-A 9-star? Is he truly a 9-star prodigy? A 9-star prodigy has fallen into my hands? And he has a Soul Treasure, too? Haha, what a windfall!
Tentacle couldn't hide his joy the moment he looked into Lee Si-woo's memories.
He never imagined that the human mage he'd looked down on would bring him such a precious treasure.
Moreover, with a haul like this, it was highly likely the Elder wouldn't even question his mistake of losing the elemental stone.
A Soul Treasure possessed by a prodigy on the level of the Five Divine Seeds?
He couldn't be sure, but a Soul Treasure from a 9-star prodigy had to be a supreme treasure, the kind that only existed in myths.
Tentacle was thrilled at the thought of obtaining Lee Si-woo's Soul Treasure, but he tried to calm himself with a deep breath.
-Hoo, calm down. It's not in my hands yet, so I need to stay composed until the end. Alright, first... I should start by dealing with his mind.
Tentacle entered a virtual two-story house, a reflection of Lee Si-woo's memories and mind.
It was a sanctuary from a time Lee Si-woo missed the most, a time he most wanted to return to.
On a sofa inside the house sat a youthful-looking Lee Si-woo, appearing to be just around twenty, with an expressionless face.
Tentacle sat across from Si-woo and spoke.
-Surprising. I thought you'd want to return to your childhood when you lost your parents, but this period? Was your time with that woman really that good?
Lee Si-woo answered Tentacle's question impassively.
“Because I promised I'd come back.”
-Right, but you didn't go back. Then again, how could you? After marrying her, you stole her father's entire foundation and then threw her away like an old shoe.
“It was for her sake. She didn't belong in that world.”
He was sincere.
Just as her father had wanted to send her to an ordinary man, he, too, hadn't tried to keep her by his side.
He loved her, and because of that, he didn't want her to be tainted by him.
In this way, even his love was selfish.
Like someone who, fearing a white rose might get dirty, traps it in a glass jar to admire, he had selfishly kept his distance without asking for her opinion.
Yes, regardless of whether she was sad or not, he wanted her to maintain the pure white color he so admired.
Forever.
-Didn't belong? Ha, why don't you cut the absurd rationalizations? Weren't you the one who killed her father, the one who opposed your marriage in the first place?
“...”
Tentacle's face, a squirming mass of tentacles, rippled strangely.
As if it were smiling.
Lee Si-woo's expression, on the other hand, remained unchanged from start to finish.
As if he felt no emotion, no guilt.
-A murderer mad with revenge. A con man who killed his father-in-law and swallowed his business whole. A piece of trash who whispered words of love only to toss his woman aside like an old shoe when the time came. Interesting. A very interesting life. Don't you think?
Tentacle leaned in close to Lee Si-woo's face and whispered.
-I know. Others might not, but I, who have looked into your memories, know. You're a man who used the perfect excuse of revenge to greedily satisfy your own desires. As avaricious as an Agwi that's never full, no matter how much it eats. Isn't that right?
“Perhaps.”
Tentacle grew a little irritated.
Normally, when their trauma was provoked, humans showed signs.
Just as a doll creaks before it breaks, humans would scream or express anger, showing various reactions.
But Lee Si-woo was different.
He showed no such signs at all.
Facing a slightly bewildered Tentacle, Lee Si-woo calmly began to speak.
“You're right, I'm trash. But her father was no better. As a high-ranking member of a crime syndicate, he oversaw all sorts of organ trafficking. In a way, he was the same kind of scum as the bastards who killed my parents. Yes, he was a man who deserved to die, and so I killed him.”
-But you're no different, are you?
“Correct. So someday, I'll die like my father-in-law. Bitten in the neck by a stray dog rummaging through garbage, hideously and wretchedly.”
-And if you don't die?
“It would be a shame for those waiting for me in the afterlife, but if that happens, it would just mean I'm a pretty lucky son of a bitch.”
-Hoh, a shame for those waiting in the afterlife... So you do feel sorry for the friends and parents you abandoned, after all?
For the first time, Lee Si-woo's expression changed.
Seeing Lee Si-woo's eyes tremble, Tentacle sneered.
-Don't act so high and mighty, you bastard. You're a man who's done every despicable thing imaginable to survive, all because you don't want to see the dead again. Just like how you brought death in the pit for your own greed... Ah, now that I think about it, you pulled the same kind of shit here, didn't you? The location of the ruins—you were the one who revealed it, weren't you? All to get the elemental stone.
“...”
-When you want something, you don't hesitate to use the lives of others as nourishment, yet on another day, you grieve over a life you killed by mistake. Hehe, what a contradictory and nauseating character you are.
As if Tentacle's accusations were entirely right and proper, Lee Si-woo closed his eyes and remained silent.
Tentacle pointed a finger at Lee Si-woo, continuing his tirade.
-You're a plague demon that brings death, a piece of trash who doesn't hesitate to push others to their doom for your own desires. Ha! And yet, you saved Rei in the pit and gave her a significant portion of your wealth. Even though you really wanted to kill her!
“That's right. I did. I actually wanted to kill her. It would have been the better choice for my own safety. But I didn't. It was probably for the sake of some pathetic hypocrisy.”
-Is that all? You spent so many points for the Seojok. For the cure. When in fact, you killed that child's father! You're the one who annihilated the future of the Seojok! Why? Does it make your pathetic heart feel even a little bit better? Huh? You disgusting bastard.
Lee Si-woo gazed steadily at Tentacle with his black eyes, clear as black pearls, and spoke.
“Yes. It does make me feel a little better. So? Is there something wrong with that?”
Tentacle was momentarily speechless at Lee Si-woo's shameless reply.
It was strange. Normally, by this point, the target should be drowning in self-loathing.
But Lee Si-woo showed no sign of it.
Despite having conversed with him, Tentacle, for this long in the mental world—a point where mental corruption and ego destruction should have already begun.
-...What?
“Like you said, I'm an irredeemable son of a bitch. But that's why I've tried to be generous whenever my own safety wasn't at risk and I had even a little to spare. Yes. It's pathetic hypocrisy and nauseating self-satisfaction. So? Is there a problem with that?”
-That attitude is the problem. It's not enough that you put on an act of repentance with your hypocrisy and pretense! It's your attitude of unhesitatingly committing the same mistakes again when the time comes to do something despicable for your desires!
Lee Si-woo closed his eyes, crossed his arms, and leaned back on the sofa.
Tentacle stared intently at Lee Si-woo's face, which was now clearly showing signs of exhaustion.
Despite Tentacle's scathing criticism, Lee Si-woo smiled.
“That's right. I admit it. I'm trash. And I'll probably keep living like this. Because that's the way of life I've chosen. The Seojok? The reason I saved them? It's nothing special. It's because it makes me feel better. I find comfort just by pretending to be good, pretending to be okay, pretending to be regretful.”
Lee Si-woo thrust his head forward toward Tentacle.
His bloodshot, veiny eyes fixed an unsettling gaze on Tentacle.
With a bright smile that revealed his pearly white teeth, Lee Si-woo spat out as if screaming.
“Yeah, you son of a bitch. I'm a piece of detestable waste, a contradictory bastard who kills people and steals their things, only to be generous to someone else to make myself feel better. So what? I feel like living this nauseating life, so why the fuck are you complaining? I'm going to live like a piece of shit and die like a piece of shit, so what the hell is it to you?”
Tentacle's breath caught in his throat.
He finally understood.
There was no need for him to corrupt this mind.
Perhaps it was that day in the past when he abandoned his parents and survived alone.
Or maybe it was the day he cast aside the woman he loved and chose his sordid desires.
Back then, the man had already been broken.
-You, you are...
Lee Si-woo grabbed Tentacle by the collar.
Lee Si-woo spoke as if humming a tune.
“Yesterday, I hurt someone out of greed; today, I gave to someone out of guilt. Tomorrow is fearsome and filthy, but what can I do? This is the kind of man I am. It's the only way I can feel at ease, feel satisfied. But someday, this will all come to an end. Smelly trash...”
Lee Si-woo slammed Tentacle's head into the floor.
“...always ends up in the trash can.”
Tentacle's body fell limply through the shattered floor into the basement below.
Falling helplessly like a broken kite, Tentacle splattered onto the floor.
And a sticky darkness greeted him.
A dark basement.
In that basement, steeped in darkness, was a large prison made of iron bars, and standing before it was a young butler wearing a featureless mask.
“To enter private property without an invitation? This is quite troublesome, guest.”
At the young butler's words, Tentacle's jaw trembled.
This was a mental world.
Therefore, only Lee Si-woo should have existed here.
Unconditionally, absolutely.
But sometimes, that wasn't the case, and from what he had learned, this was an extremely dangerous sign.
He recalled something a great elder of his species had once said.
-Never make contact recklessly. Always leave contact as a last resort. Indiscriminate contact can lead to an encounter with something you cannot handle. Do not forget. Within the minds and souls of some beings, things beyond your imagination may reside.
Tentacle scooted backward on his bottom.
He could tell.
The giant bars behind the young butler.
He knew that within the shadows beyond them, something was crouching—something that a trivial being like himself could never handle.
-What are you? I-I'm sure I entered Lee Si-woo's mind. Another being can't possibly reside within a person's mind and soul, so what in the world are you... No, more importantly, what is that in there? That is...
The young butler let out a low laugh.
“You must have been hungry, lacking energy. Hmm, how about it? Why not taste and tear into something yourself for a change?”
As soon as the young butler finished speaking, a massive arm shot out from between the iron bars.
The arm, covered in sparse black fur like that of a great beast, instantly snatched Tentacle and dragged him inside.
Tentacle screamed and struggled, but it was useless.
He had been dragged helplessly into the darkness beyond the bars, like a gazelle with its neck caught in a leopard's jaws.
*CRUNCH.*
Soon, the sound of something being torn apart, bones and all, and chewed upon, flowed from within the cage.
The young butler stood with his hands behind his back, humming a tune.
“Mental Connection, is it? Excellent. We were in need of a 4-star Talent, and this will surely be of great help to the Lord. Well, since you've chewed up his soul completely, it'll be impossible for him to reside as a Cell in Barathrum, but that should be fine. What we need isn't his soul, but only his Talent.”
At the young butler's words, the beast inside the large cage let out a low growl.
It was a satisfied sound, like that of a predator after a feast.