Chapter 296
Chapter 296
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Weakness
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"Ugh..."
Song Arin furrowed her brow as she sat up, and Jang Chaeyeon likewise scowled while getting to her feet.
"Are you okay?"
"No. My head hurts."
Of course it would. She took a solid hit like that.
Song Arin fiddled with her temples and let out a sigh, while Jang Chaeyeon rubbed her own neck before looking at Yoo Daon.
"Nice clean knockout technique."
"Thanks!"
"Why wasn't mine clean?"
"Because you didn't ask!"
"You have to ask?"
Song Arin grumbled in disbelief before turning to me.
"What happened? At least it looks like we're the only ones left, so things seem okay for now."
"...Well, about that."
How do I even explain this?
As I groaned trying to figure out how to put it, Yoo Daon spoke up calmly.
"Jaeheon tried to go off and die by himself again!"
"Bullshit."
The moment she said it, Song Arin clicked her tongue and looked at me, while Jang Chaeyeon stared right at me too.
"No, this time there was a real reason."
"Does having a reason make it okay to die?"
Song Arin glared at me again, and in the end, I could only tuck my tail between my legs without a word.
"I'll let it slide this time."
"Thanks."
With that, she looked around again.
"So, we just leave now?"
"...Yeah, but..."
"Why? What's got you so uneasy?"
Song Arin scowled deeply at my expression.
"Well, she just vanished all of a sudden."
The four of them looked puzzled as I explained the butterfly's mother's sudden disappearance, and all four wore bewildered expressions.
"That's weird."
"..."
"Hmm..."
"...Hm."
They each pondered in their own way for a moment, then Song Arin went "Ah" and looked at me and Yoo Daon.
"You said after the black-haired guy went in, you couldn't hear that butterfly's mother or whatever anymore?"
"Yeah."
"So, doesn't that mean the black-haired guy ate the butterfly's mother or something?"
"Me?"
"..."
Did she really have to voice the exact hypothesis I'd been mulling over?
What if Yoo Daon freaks out hearing it from her?
I shot Song Arin a sharp, reproachful glare—no, a pretty damn harsh one—but she didn't notice and kept going.
"See, before the black-haired guy showed up, that monster showed no sign of disappearing. Meanwhile, she was trapped getting tortured by the collective consciousness."
"..."
"Then suddenly, after he comes in, the monster's presence vanishes, and all the parasites start obeying him. Logically speaking, doesn't that add up?"
"It's not logical. How does a person assimilate with a containment object?"
"It can happen."
Jang Chaeyeon cut in, and for a split second, the Cube flashed in my mind, shutting me up.
"Anyway, we don't have time for that. Right, Daon?"
"...Right!"
Yoo Daon hesitated briefly before nodding.
Just to be safe, I looked up at her.
[Name: Yoo Daon]
[Age: 23 years old]
[Trait: Immortality]
[Talent: Regeneration (Time)]
[Background: What makes a human human?]
[Weakness: If she takes a prepared shot, she dies.]
"..."
"...Jaeheon?"
Strangely, seeing that odd background and weakness left me speechless for a moment, and Yoo Daon looked at me with concern.
"Is something wrong?"
"...Yeah."
Answering her question, I stared at her.
Recalling the butterfly's mother's weakness from earlier.
[Name: Butterfly's Mother]
[Age: Created 20 years ago]
[Trait: Parasitism]
[Talent: Parasitism]
[Background: Having tasted betrayal and deception, it has now surrendered to an unbearable rage.]
[Weakness: This is neither an adult nor a complete form. Save your trump card if you have one.]
Save your trump card if you have one.
Does that mean I should use Critical on Yoo Daon now?
No. Hold on, let's think.
If I fire Critical at Yoo Daon right now, and for some reason the butterfly's mother isn't parasitizing her?
And more importantly...
"Jaeheon?"
"..."
What if my Critical pierces Yoo Daon's immortality and she dies?
"Jaeheon!"
"I'm listening."
"You're not."
Yoo Daon sighed and shook her head at my response.
"You're worrying again, aren't you?"
"Yeah? Oh, yeah."
"Jaeheon."
"Yeah."
"Shoot."
Yoo Daon spread her arms.
"If it'll ease your mind and everyone else's, shoot me. I won't mind at all."
"..."
Yoo Daon looked at me steadily, then stepped closer, picked up the gun, and pressed it to her forehead.
"It's not hard, Jaeheon. I'll come back anyway."
"..."
"Just pull the trigger once."
Her clear eyes met mine.
[Critical: 1 remaining]
The translucent window blinked.
And I...
"No."
...removed the gun barrel from her forehead.
"...Really?"
Yoo Daon looked at me worriedly.
"Yeah."
It's not complete.
If the butterfly's mother is with Yoo Daon, that would mean either Yoo Daon ate the butterfly's mother, or the butterfly's mother ate Yoo Daon—neither makes sense.
First off, the former is physically impossible. Yoo Daon has no parasitism ability.
So the latter, then—but that's not very credible either.
If that were the case, it would've targeted me from the start, not Yoo Daon.
Which means it's somewhere I don't know about...
I checked above Song Arin's head, Jang Chaeyeon's head, and Eirin's head too, but nothing showed up.
"...Let's go."
Whatever it is, we need to get out of here.
To verify my hypotheses, and if they're right, to deal with it properly.
As we exited through the underground stairs we came in, flesh walls greeted us once more.
"Looks like nothing happened, thankfully."
Song Arin breathed a sigh of relief, and Jang Chaeyeon turned her gaze elsewhere upon hearing it.
"Where'd that rolling guy go?"
"No idea. Probably rolled into a ditch somewhere."
"Figures."
I wondered if she was being too nonchalant since he wasn't from HR, but An Sanghyeon seemed less like someone to find and more like a phenomenon that finds us, so I had no intention of searching.
"So, where to now?"
"Back."
"Situation over?"
"For us, yeah?"
I nodded in response to Song Arin, and she groaned as she started walking.
"Tired, so tired. Incidents never let up for a day."
"Tell me about it."
"What'll be waiting when we get back this time?"
"The Funny Box."
"Oh..."
"Ugh..."
My and Song Arin's faces soured instantly at Jang Chaeyeon's words, and Yoo Daon quickly raised her hand to liven things up.
"Come on, don't be like that. How about we all go on a trip somewhere?"
"Monsters at the beach?"
"Fighting cults in the mountains?"
"...Hotel staycation?"
"Kidnapped at the hotel?"
Just hearing it sounds exhausting.
Yoo Daon faltered more with each of our responses before speaking again.
"...Housewarming?"
"We already did that... ...But thinking back, nothing happened during the housewarming, huh?"
"Yeah?"
Now that I thought about it, the housewarming really was incident-free.
"Should we do another housewarming?"
"Yeah... No need to hunt for new trouble and make life harder."
As Song Arin and I chatted, Eirin raised her hand.
"Then at my place. You guys haven't been there."
"...True."
"Ye-eun's place too."
"Ye-eun's in the dorms, right?"
"Dorms aren't a home?"
Even so, a bunch of adults crashing at a kid who can't drink's place feels off.
"Just bring a gift."
"That works."
"What to get? Housewarming gift?"
"Light one—a TV?"
"Then I'll get a fridge."
"Shoot, then I'll bring an air conditioner!"
"Damn. They're taking all the best stuff. Fine, washing machine for me."
"Nice. Bed and wardrobe for me."
It's not like it costs much.
Chattering like that as we walked, we arrived at a plaza similar to the one where we first gathered.
Fewer people than before, but a few still clustered in groups, talking seriously.
"Leaving?"
Jang Chaeyeon looked at me.
"No."
No intention of leaving, obviously.
I had one problem to solve first.
I closed my eyes, opened them, and looked at Song Arin.
"Arin, got a hand mirror?"
"...Why single me out like that? What's the reason?"
"Felt like you'd have one. Do you?"
"...Yeah."
Song Arin handed me the hand mirror, and I pulled it out to check my face.
"...What are you doing?"
Soon, a translucent window appeared.
[Name: Kim Xheon]
[Age: 2X years old]
[Trait: -]
[Talent: -]
[Background: This person is not currently human.]
[Weakness: Shoot the decisive shot.]
My eyes always show weaknesses like this.
No context for the situation. Whatever it takes, it shows the surefire way to finish the target.
Critical might work on Yoo Daon.
But that doesn't mean she's become the butterfly's mother.
"Don't freak out. Listen."
"Oh, come on."
Ignoring Song Arin's groan of a sigh, I continued.
"Daon. Awl, please."
"Oh, sure."
Yoo Daon handed me the awl, and I stared at it before looking at the others.
"I'm about to stab an awl into somewhere on my body. Pray it's not my head or chest."
"What the hell?"
"I'm parasitized right now."
"...I stepped on you earlier?"
"You stepped on the larva."
I answered Eirin calmly and closed my eyes.
It being a larva was the weird part from the start.
All the larvae were killed by the butterfly's mother after being tricked. Even the ones meant to feed me.
[Critical: 1 -> 0]
The world turned black and white as I looked at my body.
A red dot smack in the middle of my stomach.
"..."
Ah, I hate this. Ever since the last Observer incident, it feels like all I do is get hurt.
Fine, think positive.
Better than shooting myself in the gut.
I clenched my teeth, aimed the awl at my solar plexus, and thrust hard.
Along with the vivid sensation of piercing flesh,
-Aaaah...!
A scream echoed.