Chapter 129
Chapter 129
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Detective's Sense of Duty
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[Info 149: A change has occurred in Fixer Lee Seung-hoon, and this change is linked to the Disappearance of 4 incident.]
[Disappearance of 4: Progress 91%]
[Hint 9: If you team up with Fixer Lee Seung-hoon, you might be able to solve this case?]
Heart venom is regret.
Regret is an obsession with and folly toward a past that cannot be undone.
"You did this to me. I never should have reached out to a shady creep like you."
Thus, heart venom is nothing special—just a part of life.
For Shin Se-hoon, who had survived until now as a mystery detective investigating and resolving entity-related incidents, mental anguish was something he could overcome with meditation and contemplation.
"Because of you and your childhood trauma bullshit, Mom and Dad got divorced while you were wandering around lost."
"It's because we got sick of taking care of a pathetic kid like you."
But heart venom was true poison.
Neither meditation nor contemplation worked against it, and once regret began pressing down on his chest, it only grew heavier, etching itself into his soul like it could never be forgotten no matter how much he tried.
"Why didn't you hold onto me back then? If you'd wanted to, I would've waited for you. I would've waited while you were in the army, worn my rubber shoes right-side out, visited you often. Our future could've been different. But you dumped me, told me not to wait while you were enlisted. You thought it was consideration, but it wasn't—it was selfishness. Your selfishness just hurt me."
Regret haunted his mind every waking hour.
It invaded his dreams every sleeping hour, forcing him to relive moments filled with resentment.
"If you'd solved it just a little faster, I would've lived. Didn't you see my daughter bawling at my funeral? Didn't that prick your conscience at all? Why? If you'd had just a bit more skill, I wouldn't have died!"
Past mistakes became self-recrimination.
Self-recrimination became condemnation, condemnation led to self-loathing, and self-loathing culminated in a denial of life itself.
"......"
Shin Se-hoon finished washing his face and stared into the mirror.
Three months since the first heart venom.
Since that day, moments of life's regrets appeared daily in his office, hallways, other offices, and each time, Shin Se-hoon stared at them as if entranced, accumulating countless venoms in his heart that tormented him.
"Ha."
The mirror reflected none of his former self.
Dark circles hung thick like ink smeared across his eyes, his skin had lost its luster, and his lips cracked dry even right after washing his face.
His eyes lacked vitality, his pupils were bloodshot from burst vessels, and his fingernails and toenails had long since fallen out.
"Not even a ghost would look this bad."
When he woke up, a worn and tattered gold cord lay by his bedside.
Stuck to it were several notes, each bearing the Chinese character 「死」.
"It's telling me to hurry up and die."
What would happen if he died now?
Disappearing like the other missing people was a given, but where would his soul go after death?
A calamity to prevent a calamity—would his soul become fuel for the calamity, or transform into a malevolent spirit spreading it?
"Let's die."
In that moment facing death, the light on the Great Detective's touchpad flickered on.
[Info 150: Heart venom is not mere regret—it's mental corruption.]
[Disappearance of 4: Progress 91%]
[Info 151: Heart venom is not mere regret—it's perception alteration.]
[Disappearance of 4: Progress 91%]
Even after that day, Shin Se-hoon endured agonizing days tormented by heart venom every single day.
Dozens of times a day, thoughts of death filled his head, and the urge to act on them surged up, but each time he endured through self-discipline, self-recrimination, and gnawing at his own limbs.
The Great Detective's touchpad wasn't unscathed either.
The text had returned to normal, but as if pouring all its energy into that, it stayed drained and off most of the time, flickering on intermittently for just a few minutes at most.
[Info 152: Heart venom is not mere regret—it's reality manipulation.]
[Disappearance of 4: Progress 92%]
Each time, he inputted, inputted again.
The inputted info was the essence extracted through guesswork and more guesswork, jotted on notes even amid the torment of heart venom.
[Info 231: Heart venom doesn't strike the instant you enter the infinite loop space. It hits the moment you witness your past and feel regret.]
[Disappearance of 4: Progress 93%]
It still shut down for a month after three wrong tries.
That's why inputting took so damn long.
[Info 238: The Dangjin Lee clan is not a shaman lineage. They received their current power from the entity. The rest is just knowledge passed down to later generations.]
[Disappearance of 4: Progress 94%]
As time passed, this became his sole purpose in life.
[Info 267: The entity that granted power to the Dangjin Lee clan is so immensely powerful that even the Foundation can't handle it.]
[Disappearance of 4: Progress 95%]
Agony every day.
Thoughts of info every day.
The info soon veered into delusion, and he spent endless time scribbling them all down.
[Info 299: Victims struck by the Dangjin Lee clan's heart venom become malevolent spirits, and this is the calamity.]
[Disappearance of 4: Progress 96%]
[Info 315: Victims whose souls turn into calamities are sealed beneath land owned by the Dangjin Lee clan.]
[Disappearance of 4: Progress 97%]
[Info 347: Through these sealed victims, the Dangjin Lee clan wards off their own misfortune, gaining talents superior to others.]
[Disappearance of 4: Progress 98%]
Delusions, but truth mingled in the endless barrage of delusions, and progress ticked up one by one.
[Info 398: The entity that granted power to the Dangjin Lee clan isn't helping them out of goodwill. It's all just a transaction for mutual goals.]
[Disappearance of 4: Progress 99%]
[Info 444: The moment the entity's goal with the Dangjin Lee clan is achieved, a massive calamity will strike Earth.]
[Disappearance of 4: Progress 100%]
[Achievement 100%! Final Hint!]
[Hint 10: First off, don't get hung up on stereotypes! And this is just the first one. They claim it arose under Russian influence, but actually, it's a culture they created. No need to say it in their language—they use the language of truth, which humans can't pronounce. Speaking in Earth's languages works fine; the other side will understand anyway!]
Finally, the end arrived.
He carefully placed the Great Detective's touchpad next to the monitor and picked up the gold cord, heading to the bathroom.
"Finally."
He looped the gold cord over the ceiling beam and fashioned a noose.
Like a castaway lost in the desert craving an oasis, he craved death.
He had lived on a detective's sense of duty, but now that his obligation was fulfilled, it was time to end his life.
"Fixer Lee Seung-hoon."
He called out to someone from reality, from what felt like an eternity ago.
A name as steadfast as a pillar amid his sense of duty, someone he believed would surely resolve the issue.
"I'm counting on you for the rest."
His legs gave out, and his hanging body rapidly lost its vitality.
Soon, his soul slipped free and headed for the elevator.
『.......』
The elevator, with only four floors, plummeted like it was crashing underground.
It arrived at B444.
As the doors opened, darkness filled with previous missing people welcomed Shin Se-hoon.
『I hate myself the most!』
『No, me! I never should've been born! You're all better off than me!』
『No one's as foolish and worthless as me!』
The missing people poisoned by heart venom and dead screamed endlessly in self-loathing, insisting they were the most loathsome.
『Such solitude.』
Shamanic info he'd looked up to learn about the Dangjin Lee clan.
The ritual of solitude: putting venomous insects in a jar to devour each other until one absorbed all the poison.
『The Calamity of Solitude.』
Shin Se-hoon's body was gradually drawn into the darkness.
Just before entering, one final regret tormented him.
『If only I could smoke one last cigarette.』
Should've stocked up ahead of time.
He pulled a cigarette from his pocket.
Lit it and stuck it into the sand that hadn't fully vanished yet, as an offering.
"You've done well."
Though he could've escaped the immediate pain, he'd chosen a far longer, more agonizing path to gather more info.
'Won't turn on.'
Regrettably, the Great Detective's touchpad wouldn't light up.
It seemed to have burned out completely after overexerting itself in the heart venom space.
"Even so, your suffering wasn't in vain."
I'd seen it.
With this left eye, I'd seen the path of pain and sacrifice he'd walked.
『Le-e, Seung-hoon, nim, spac-e, interfe-ring, pro-per, con-ver-sa-tion.』
Sarangi suddenly reached out to me.
Her voice cut in and out, then the power died as it drained.
"I'm starting a bit earlier, huh."
Shin Se-hoon hadn't finished his meal, had he?
I ate every last bite.
That difference must've caused this change.
"Guardian of Lee Seung-hoon, please come to Exam Room 3."
A woman's voice rang out.
He opened the office door and stepped into the hall, where a hospital corridor of stark white walls awaited.
'It was like this back then too.'
He walked the corridor, inhaling the mood-lifting scent of disinfectant alcohol and that unique hospital aroma.
In front of Exam Room 3, he spotted a little kid eavesdropping through the slightly ajar door.
'So that's what I looked like.'
It felt different from mirrors or photos.
Was this when I was seven? His mental notebook effect wasn't working, so he wasn't sure.
"Pardon? What exactly does that mean?"
His father's voice—so achingly familiar.
"Could you explain it a bit more simply?"
Likewise, his mother's voice.
"That's the diagnosis for young Seung-hoon here. This is the MRI—his frontal and temporal lobes are markedly underdeveloped compared to average. This leads to lower empathy and ability to relate to others."
He remembered the doctor's calm voice too.
"You said he butchered a frog without a care, then washed it and mounted it as a specimen?"
"Yes, yes."
"And dissected the neighbor kid's pet rabbit?"
"......Yes."
The doctor rattled off his shameful antics from his immature childhood.
"And he assaulted another kid to steal their snacks?"
"Yes."
"He can't empathize with fairy tales, only asks realistic questions, and his violent tendencies have noticeably increased?"
"Yes."
"The MRI results, his everyday behavior—all point to one condition."
The doctor said it.
"It's called antisocial personality disorder."
This was what he remembered.
"Or psychopath, in other words."
The first time his parents cried.