Chapter 128
Chapter 128
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The World Beyond the Left Eye - Heart Poison
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"Good, sent."
Shin Se-hoon (40) stretched after sending the email. He habitually reached for a cigarette and sighed at the empty pack.
'Should I quit this time?'
He hated to waste the ones he had left, so he'd finish them first.
Quitting nicotine cold turkey made his head foggy, so he'd quit after this case.
It was almost the end of the month anyway, so starting on the first.
But he hated wasting the rest, so he'd finish them first.
He'd smoked them all, but then a new case popped up, and cold turkey fogged the brain, so he'd quit after this one.
New Year's resolutions and turning forty hadn't helped—he still hadn't started, even halfway through the year. Today, he desperately scoured for tasks to fuel his three-day quit attempt.
'Let's check the entities.'
He inspected and maintained the four entities that had elevated him to his current status as a detective.
'I'll clean you up nice.'
The past-capturing camera.
A camera that could capture the past of a specific location, adjustable down to the minute, reaching back up to a thousand years.
'You too!'
The Absolute Interrogation FBI Badge.
Show it to anyone, and they'll give an interview.
But it didn't force truth, so he had to discern lies himself.
'You thought you could escape? You're washable too! Just picking off the lint for now—dry cleaning later!'
The killer's suit jacket.
Wear it, and firearm accuracy hits 100%, martial arts skills skyrocket, and you sense killing intent and danger.
'You too! I'll wipe that glass spotless... Wait, it's electronic?'
And finally, the master detective's touchpad.
Enter a case, input accurate info, and every 10% progress granted helpful hints via this portable terminal.
Shin Se-hoon activated the touchpad.
[Info 147: The culprit behind everything is the Dangjin Lee family.]
[Disappearance of 4: Progress 90%]
[Hint 9: Teaming up with Fixer Lee Seung-hoon might solve this case?]
'Does this mean only the world's top fixer can crack the case?'
Or had there been a reason he hadn't appeared yet?
'No big changes on my end. So either the Dangjin Lees changed, or Fixer Lee Seung-hoon did? Time to investigate.'
The master detective's touchpad allowed up to three info inputs per day.
It gauged truthfulness and case relevance; failure in either stalled progress.
Three failures locked it for a month, so inputs demanded caution. But a true first input let the rest slide, so Shin Se-hoon used his two remaining slots to test truths.
[Info 148: The Dangjin Lees have changed, creating an opening Fixer Lee Seung-hoon can exploit.]
[Disappearance of 4: Incorrect info. No progress change.]
[Info 149: Fixer Lee Seung-hoon has changed, and that change ties to the Disappearance of 4.]
[Disappearance of 4: Progress 91%]
Fixer Lee Seung-hoon had changed.
Maybe he'd become a target like the other missing persons—famous in this era, marked by the Dangjin Lees.
'What method do they use to target the missing?'
He flipped on the TV for white noise, tuned to news, and sank into thought.
'Their mansion was loaded with ritual items. Likely they mark targets ritually and draw them in. Disappearances were sudden, like vanishing into thin air, so space-transfer rituals. Or mark with ritual, track via entity, swallow into their space.'
Most missing persons had received special treatment from Dangjin Lee affiliates.
They'd eaten special food.
He'd been served special food too.
They could make special food.
"!?"
Startled, Shin Se-hoon yanked on the killer's suit jacket.
'Why didn't I see it before?'
He kicked open the office door and bolted down the hall.
'It's the food!? Matches the missing persons' last traces! And when I visited, they fed me ritual-laden food!'
No elevator—modern rituals loved them most.
He burst through the emergency door, racing down stairs, urgency etched on his face.
'Food! Ritual marking via food! Missing this obvious clue till now? Perception alteration! And it lifting now means...!'
He flung open the first-floor emergency exit.
"...Damn it."
Beyond the door: the ninth-floor hallway.
"Too late already."
Trapped after failed escape, Shin Se-hoon gathered intel on his prison.
'Every floor's now the ninth.'
No other people.
Copied floors were identical—except entities stayed only on the original ninth.
'Changes reset if you visit another floor and return.'
No food worries, then.
Munching office snacks, he kept probing.
'TV works, but loops the same channel, same news.'
Phone dead.
Apps, messengers—nothing.
'Elevator works. All buttons just say fourth floor now.'
Disappearance of 4.
He shunned elevators—the number screamed ritual death.
'Still, maybe an exit.'
He pried open the doors, wedged them, cracked the ceiling, peered into the shaft.
'...Back off.'
Darkness beyond held something.
Human silhouette, but crawling quadrupedally—instinct screamed danger.
'I'll escape eventually.'
Day one ended.
'I emailed Fixer Lee Seung-hoon. Even if time flows differently here, one day outside, I just endure.'
Two days passed.
Shin Se-hoon spotted the change immediately.
'The suit's not working?'
Wearing it activated a sixth sense for danger.
It had flagged the shaft entity; now, dead.
'This space's doing.'
Camera failed too. Badge untestable, but surely same.
Touchpad flickered crudely garbled text.
[Goo149: Somethin gonna happen soon maybe Disappear 4 is comin get ready or somethin.]
[4Miss: Progrss 91%]
[Hin9: Lee!Seung!Hoon! Fixer come help!solve!it!maybe?]
Garbled spots showed resistance to this space.
Some object entities had egos.
'Hang in a bit longer. Nothing happens if I do nothing, right? Fixer Lee Seung-hoon will come soon.'
Just endure till then.
Today's meal: three-minute meatballs from the office fridge.
Ten days passed.
Shin Se-hoon guessed at time flow.
"Assume one day here is one minute outside. Only ten minutes gone. If Fixer Lee Seung-hoon takes twenty-four hours, that's 1,440 minutes more. I got this."
He started muttering—to himself.
TV looped same channel. But today, different broadcast.
"Our family believes all humans are born addicted."
Past chat with the Dangjin Lee patriarch aired.
"Human souls hold talent for all things, but born addicted to misfortune, lacking bodies to wield it. Misfortune is innate poison, inescapable. Yet suppressible."
"How?"
"Poison with poison."
"Suppress misfortune with misfortune?"
"Not quite. Piling misfortune on misfortune fails when the first hits. But rethink: misfortune steals talent, brings life's trials. Counter with equal calamity."
He hadn't grasped it then.
Just suspicious, noted it down.
"Poison with poison, calamity with calamity, evil with evil—humanity's survival wisdom. Remember it."
"No way—the Dangjin Lees' talents come from suppressing misfortune?"
But how?
Link to missing persons and calamity suppression?
No answer.
TV died, never lit again.
100 days passed.
Fixer Lee Seung-hoon still hadn't arrived.
"I can get out, I can get out..."
Shin Se-hoon fell silent at times, but forced words like this.
Touchpad persisted; inputs worked, but garbled, no gains.
"Stay sharp. When entities grab you, mind matters most."
Hence recent workouts.
Gym on the floor: sweat, shower.
"Gym crowd noise used to annoy me—handy now."
Days later.
Same as always.
Then odd noise from another office; cautious steps toward it.
Same floor's tax office.
Through glass doors' gap: interior morphed to ancient shrine.
Old priest, young man.
Shin Se-hoon thought the youth resembled Dangjin Lee patriarch Lee Won-bok.
Priest turned to Shin Se-hoon.
Priest bared black teeth; black liquid dripped.
Shin Se-hoon recoiled. Peered again: plain office.
"Regret..."
I'd never regret.
Back to office.
"Se-hoon, you're here?"
Not office.
Childhood home of neighbor big sis Sun-ah—pre-puberty friendship.
"Yeah! Sis! Can I play games?"
"Sure, have fun. Sis has vacation homework—don't bug me?"
"Got it!"
Adult outsider Shin Se-hoon gawked mutely.
Unseen, intangible wall blocked approach.
"Awesome! Bonus!"
Kid Se-hoon played Mario on Famicom.
July calendar—familiar day.
"Huh? What's this? Pipe here? Wasn't before?"
No.
Don't go. That pipe's bad.
"Secret passage!"
Character plunged in.
Princess character inside.
"Hello! Hero! You came to save me!"
"Whoa! It talks!?"
"Hero! Am I pretty?"
Innocent kid missed the weird, answered dot-princess honestly.
"Yeah! Pretty!"
"Then me or Sun-ah sis—who's prettier?"
"Uh, Sun-ah sis!"
"Really?"
Princess vanished.
"Kyaaah!"
"Sis!?"
Scream; kid Se-hoon raced to room.
Adult followed, hands shaking. Invisible wall blocked at Sun-ah's door.
"Kid."
Princess with axe.
Sun-ah: one leg gone, crawling, tears, reaching out.
"Se-hoon said you're prettier."
"S-Se-hoon!"
Princess raised axe.
"Pretty without legs?"
Sun-ah's last leg severed amid screams.
"Pretty minus one arm?"
Blood foam with scream.
"Both arms gone?"
Pain-flipped eyes; right arm gone.
"On the face!"
Axe to face.
"Scars! This! Big! Still! Pretty!?"
Wood-splitting cracks echoed.
Kid Se-hoon pissed himself, collapsed trembling.
"There."
Axe to neck.
Princess shoved severed head at kid Se-hoon.
"Hero, say it again. Sun-ah pretty, or me?"
Kid fainted.
Princess cackled, tossed head, vanished.
"..."
Adult Se-hoon stared at rolling head.
First entity encountered.
Neighbor sis dead from his slip.
First entity murder witnessed.
Severed face froze.
Axe-ravaged.
Eyes opened, glared at adult Se-hoon.
『All your fault.』 Snapped back—office. Mystery detective's fruition, conquering childhood nightmare. "..." Chest crushed by gloom, unrelenting. Heart poisoned.