City (4)
The image that had been as hazy as a mosaic-censored blur snapped into focus all at once. A hidden evil, creeping toward a man worn down and worn down again.
"Doesn't this look like something straight out of a book?!"
Seong Gaeul had been a liar.
She'd claimed she never expected a hero on a white horse from me — and yet what she'd actually wanted was exactly that: a superhuman riding in on a white steed. The books she'd all but forced into my hands from the library were proof of it. She'd been especially insistent that I devour the shelves of religious texts, and the ones I'd read most carefully of all were the ones on Christianity. His countless parables, miracles, and sayings had quite literally become my Bible, and even now they lingered vivid in my memory.
Among them: what happened when Jesus withdrew into the wilderness and remained there for forty days and nights.
"...The temptation of the wilderness."
And the setting matched perfectly — a barren wasteland or this empty desert, six of one, half a dozen of the other.
Snap, snap. I flicked my fingers, satisfied with my own deduction. Nodding to myself, I rose to my feet and decided on a course of action. Then I threw everything I had into sprinting across the desert.
The punishing sunlight drenched me in sweat in an instant. Legs sinking deep into the sand with every heaving, gasping breath, I ran — and kept on running. Without Mimic Holy Body backing me up, my body turned to molten mush in less than an hour, like it was melting straight into the ground. I wiped the drool that had trailed past my lips and down my chin with my forearm and collapsed flat onto the ground.
Thud—
Ignoring the sand kicked up by the impact, I buried my face in both hands. This was exactly what I'd intended, but it was far harder than I'd bargained for.
"Haah— haah—"
"O you who call yourself a god—"
"GAH, FUCK!"
SMACK—!
Startled, I slapped my hand down, and something squishy came away with it. I stared at the snake crushed beneath my palm, momentarily speechless. Blinking blankly at the thing I'd just killed, I slowly looked up at the sky.
"Um... does that come with a refill?"
[......]
While I smiled awkwardly up at the unresponsive System, a long hiss of dragging sand sounded nearby. I lifted only my upper body and stared straight ahead — a snake was slithering toward me in slow, boneless waves.
'Wow... thank god.'
Ssssssssss—
The thing hissed away like it'd just eaten something unbearably spicy, then coiled itself up right in front of me.
"You guys really do come hissing, huh?"
"......"
"Oh, sorry— carry on. Carry on."
Having read the room, I waved a hand apologetically. The snake bobbed its head as if clearing its throat, then slowly opened its mouth.
"O self-proclaimed god—"
Un-snake-like... wait, what even counts as snake-like? Regardless, it continued in a low, gloomy voice.
"If you are truly the savior of another, then turn this stone into bread."
A laugh escaped me, utterly unfitting for the solemn atmosphere. Jesus had been tempted at the extreme edge of starvation after fasting to his limit — I had not. I chuckled lightly and answered the serpent.
"Well, I suppose I should say man does not live by bread alone, but by every word?"
The moment I gave Jesus's answer that had repelled the tempter, the snake melted away. I blinked, laughing hollowly, and a fiercer wind slapped me across the face.
Now I stood atop some high-rise in Seoul — and beside me, once again, was the snake.
"Can you cast yourself down from this place? I have seen you soar freely through the heavens. But now that your power has vanished — are you still, even now, yourself?"
Oh...
Wait, this isn't the question Jesus was asked, is it?
Holding my head high, I stared back at the serpent as it watched me, and thought it over for a moment. But the more I looked at it, the more... kind of cute the snake was. So this is why people kept them as pets, huh?
I asked it jokingly. "Do I get bonus points if I do a somersault on the way down?"
"......"
Ignoring the serpent, which was somehow looking at me like I'd exhausted its patience, I leapt straight off the building.
WHOOOOOSH—!
The fiercest wind yet hammered my face over and over. What, did it want me sobbing in terror on the way down? I peered at the ground below — distant-looking, yet closing in at terrifying speed — and thought. If the question was about my essence, then telekinesis, just as before, was not that essence. I was certain of it, without a single doubt or flicker of anguish. I forced open the eyes the wind had squeezed shut.
Once again, the snake and I had been carried somewhere new. And before that snake, spread out in endless mounds... wait, this isn't treasure at all, is it?
The serpent spoke in a silky, coaxing timbre. "Here lies a bounty of things to aid what you love most. Can you see it?"
At that very moment, a message window bloomed before my eyes.
◈ Skill: Brainwashing(Upon acquisition, it is inherited into your class skills.)
◈ Skill: Kama Sutra(Upon acquisition, it is inherited into your class skills.)
◈ Skill: Pleasure Amplification(Upon acquisition, it is inherited into your class skills.)
...A world overflowing with sex unfolded before me. Sex — quite literally, skills and items related to the act packed my field of vision edge to edge.
"...Pleasure Amplification. If I stacked that with Liquid of Subordination, the destructive power would be beyond calculating, wouldn't it?"
Seeing my gaze waver for the very first time, the serpent raised its voice. "Not one — I can give you all of them. Say but a single word: that you are no savior. Then everything you see here is yours!"
I smiled at the snake. Then I walked slowly forward, picked up one item from the countless stacked offerings —
"Snake, listen carefully. I am under no obligation to satisfy women with honest words. This isn't the kind of romance where women hold all the power."
"......"
"I can just blow my load whenever I want. Don't you even know my skill loadout? Boring is actually worse for me. I like the rapid-fire type — premature-ejaculation style, thank you very much."
"......"
"Sure, if the woman's satisfied I'd feel pretty good too. But how exactly does that..."
I whispered to the snake, which was now staring at me with eyes that had well and truly given up on me. "...prove that I'm not a savior? I have no idea, demon."
With those final words, the serpent dissolved away once more. And in the spot where it had lain floated a small gem — neither blue nor red, but green. A jewel overflowing with life force at a single glance. I closed my hand around it.
You have resolved the theme of Guro-gu's Special Stronghold, 'Sindorim Techno Neighborhood Park'!
The Awakened One's dominion over Guro-gu is rising rapidly!
77.5% → 85%
"Oh, what — they gave me 2.5% extra? Wait, hold on. Was it 2.5% per trial?"
"...85%!"
Two or three more special strongholds, and I'd finally have total control over Guro-gu? Which meant I could definitely make it back without a Return Stone. And if I came home with Guro-gu in hand — just how happy would they all be?
My shoulders bounced with joy, and along with them I felt my weakened body slowly firming back up. Surging mana circulated through me, warming every corner of my frame.
Vreeeeeing—!
As I channeled mana and ran a full check on my body, yet another message appeared.
As a Special Stronghold reward, you acquire 'Green Gem'!
What's with this one — why is it just called Green Gem?
I pulled the Stone of Duplication from my inventory and held it up against the green gem for comparison. The Stone of Duplication was unquestionably far larger, radiating a far more resplendent light. Was that because it had been enhanced through the special trial? If it hadn't been, would I have gotten it as a plain "Blue Gem" instead?
I put the Stone of Duplication back into my inventory and examined the Green Gem closely.
What lingers in the mind shall be made real.
"Another short-and-sweet inscription..."
A total riddle, is what it is.
Scratching my head, I tucked the Green Gem into my inventory as well.
"Alright~ shall we head to the next special stronghold?"
[I acknowledge you.]
A single line of text floated into view just as I was about to lift myself with telekinesis. I froze mid-motion and stared up at it.
I bit back a snicker and rationed my words. It felt like the thing was gritting its teeth, but there was no sense fanning flames in a burning house. The hidden pieces — the murals — and the themes of the special strongholds. This thing kept trying, over and over, to test something in me. Dilemmas, trials, agony.
Of them all, this stronghold's theme — 'Agony' — had been by far the easiest. No problem is simpler than one whose answer you already know. I'd walked in with the hint, the setup, and the solution all in hand, which made it that much simpler. The moment Jesus met the devil in the wilderness was the moment he had endured a forty-day fast and suffering. So I, too, had inflicted a little suffering on myself.
The serpent had appeared as though a trigger had been pulled and offered up its temptations, but not one of them was remotely fatal. A mind not yet gnawed away by fatigue saw the demon's true intent with perfect clarity. That kind of ordeal only becomes terrifying when physical exhaustion feeds mental collapse. I'd faced it stripped of the crucial ingredient — the mental collapse — so there was no way it could have been difficult.
The Awakened One, Han Guwon, is acknowledged.
You are a Superhuman.
What — you looked absolutely furious a second ago, and now you're complimenting me?
[However.]
[You are boring.]
[One who is praised and revered requires a tale worthy of it.]
[You face no crisis. You endure no trial. You know no agony.]
The messages rattled on in rapid succession, like a prosecutor building a case.
[Your city and your theme are 'Faith'.]
[A saint exists, whole and unbroken, atop trial and tribulation.]
[And so, I make you this proposal.]
The instant the messages ended, all of Guro-gu flared with light. Above the sky I was staring into, points of brilliant brightness rose slowly, then converged into one.
FLASH—!
All Special Strongholds of Guro-gu will be merged into a single new Special Stronghold.
Clearing rewards are set to 100% Dominion and Enhancement of the Green Gem.
Do you accept?
[YES / NO]
Now, through the System's own words, I understood for certain. This thing wanted something from me — and I had failed to provide it. What, though? Either way, one thing was clear: it was watching my current course of action with eyes full of displeasure.
"This is definitely going to be way worse than that shit show from earlier, isn't it?"
And yet the terms were far too good to refuse. The special trials had already yielded me monstrous items, and this Green Gem would be no different. On top of that, I could wrap up all those scattered, messy special strongholds in a single stroke. Which meant I'd get home that much faster.
"And in proportion to that, the difficulty will scale up geometrically."
Agony piled upon agony. Honestly, this suited the theme of 'Agony' better than the neighborhood park ever had.
"Is there a time limit on choosing?"
"......"
As always, the System said only what it wanted to say and held its silence.
"...No need to rush anymore, then."
I turned my body west, away from the east. One night at Gocheok Dome to recondition myself. And then, tomorrow — Guro-gu would be entirely mine.