The Murderer in the Trash Heap
Somewhere in the sewer district on the underground floor of the Black Market, a place no one visits, lies a pit.
Crackle... Crackle...
One of the many broken monitors discarded haphazardly in the pit flickered and surged to life. Starting from that monitor, screens began to turn on and off in a chaotic, disorganized rhythm. Soon, every monitor buried in the trash heap was emitting light, operating on its own accord. The dark pit sparkled with artificial light. It was as if the entire trash heap had transformed into a pile of malfunctioning monitors.
The same notification sound flowed from the speakers of the broken monitors, echoing through the pit like a chorus. They were all announcing the 1000th death. It was a signal that the time had come to fulfill the promise. As the trash heap became submerged in the noise of the monitors, someone who had been sleeping quietly stirred, furrowing their brow.
[Ugh... I'm dizzy...]
An unidentified man stood up from the trash pile, scratching his head at the noise pollution that seemed to be demanding he wake up immediately.
[Haa. Damn it...]
He pulled a worn-out hat that had been lying nearby low over his eyes and looked up at the ceiling of the pit. All sorts of filth, corpses, and discarded items were raining down incessantly. The spot where the man had been lying was the center of the pit, where everything fell day after day. To get out of here, he had to pass through the hole in the ceiling.
[It’s... not full yet...]
The exit of the pit he looked up at was still quite high. That meant the pit hadn't filled up with trash yet. He had intended not to wake up until it was overflowing... but the fact that he had to get up already annoyed him. However, he couldn't just sit still after hearing the notification that his 1000th clone had died. A promise was a promise. He was the type of person who took promises quite seriously.
[Haa... they're all dead already. I thought it would take a bit longer. Phew... too fast. Why did they die so quickly? More than I thought... Ah, thinking is a bother, too. I'm tired... I'm dizzy...]
The man pulled a special cigarette made by a drug dealer from his pocket and put it in his mouth. He lit it with his fingertip and began to smoke. As the cigarette burned, his heart settled a little. Only after his mood improved did he finally finish preparing himself to go outside.
[Phew... while I'm up there... maybe I should go see Jackson's face...]
Thinking he needed to get more cigarettes from the dealer, he stuffed all sorts of weapons into a large bag.
[I'll take this too... and this... Hmm. Still usable...]
He crammed everything from poisoned daggers to a crossbow on the verge of breaking, various explosives, and parasitic insects into the bag. In fact, one could say he picked up everything that caught his eye among the murder tools discarded in the junkyard.
[Ugh... so bright.]
The man, whose eyes were fatigued by the flashing monitors, found a pair of sunglasses with one lens missing and put them on.
[Alright. Got everything, mostly...]
With his preparations complete, the man held a javelin in his hand. The javelin, tied with a string, was an item he had possessed from the very beginning. One could call it a symbol of sorts. His clothes, his hat, his bag—most of the other things he possessed were items he had stolen from someone else, but this old, rusted javelin was the one thing he had kept since he first started killing.
[Haa... a promise is... a promise. Shall I go up?]
The 'main body of the serial killer,' who had been sleeping quietly in the sewers of the Black Market's underground floor for a long time, finally broke his long silence and ascended. Since ordinary Awakeners wouldn't be able to stop him, a significant bloodbath would likely follow. After all, killing all of humanity until only one remained was the 'promise' between him and the gods. He would never stop until he fulfilled that promise. Yes, he was a person who took promises quite seriously.
I held hands with Cheshire and crossed over into the Twisted Alley of the Black Market. It’s an unpleasant and gloomy place, no matter how many times I visit.
—Creak... Pshh. Thud!
Somewhere, I could faintly hear the sound of a pipe growing and piercing through a concrete wall. This strange existence, whether it was a creature or something else, grew quite noisily. Spewing out disgusting sewage.
'There seem to be more pipes than last time...'
Seeing the bizarre pipes in the Twisted Alley made me feel gloomy for no reason. It’s not good to look at them for too long. Especially when I get the illusion that the pipes are drawing some strange pattern, the dull mechanical operating sound that rings in my head feels even louder. Is it related to something mental? Perhaps those pipes create victims and devour them in that way. Could the bipeds I sometimes saw tangled between the pipes and dead have all been victims of that?
“Where are we going first?”
“Ah, for now...”
This time, it doesn't end with simply buying items in the Black Market. There are a few things I need to do. I need to take over the shop, and I need to find out about the rewards for the 'Guide Usurper' achievement. I need information on Ziegfried, Franken, and Enkidu. Actually, before coming here, I asked Hilde if she might know, but... she said she wasn't very interested in anyone other than herself, so she didn't really know. Still, she said she detested Ziegfried, so I suppose she would choose either Franken or Enkidu.
“Shall we go to the Central Plaza first?”
“Sure!”
I held Cheshire's hand tightly and moved to the Central Plaza of the Black Market. First, I intend to use the 'Merchant Shop Document' I received as a reward for the 'Black Market Rascal' achievement. They say if you give the Merchant Shop Document to the administrator of the Central Plaza, you can receive a decent shop, so I decided to secure a shop in advance.
[Reviewing...]
“...”
“...Ahem..”
The administrator of the Central Plaza was an existence with a square face. No, it was a shape that was hard to describe in words other than that it was truly just 'square-square.' It didn't have the grotesqueness one might encounter in the food alley of the Black Market, but... it was an existence that made one feel a sense of unease and discomfort, as if its graphics were broken. If the Earth were square and all of humanity worshipped death, perhaps they would end up looking like this. Regardless, the administrator of the Central Plaza was as bizarre as befitted its position. Its overall shape was blurry and ambiguous, and the parts that were broken here and there gave the feeling of looking at a monster that had been mosaic-processed.
[Verification complete. Go into any empty shop and attach this tag. Then that shop will become your property. If you want a shop that already has an owner, you can kill them and take it. This document is currently granted that level of authority.]
“Oh...”
“Haha. Yes! Thank you! We’ll be going now!”
Cheshire quickly took the tag that had been in the administrator's hand and led me out of the building. We had to move quickly because we didn't have time. We had to get out within 4 hours.
“Let's see. What kind of shop do you want?”
“Uh... it would be good if it were a large shop where we could just bring and sell anything.”
“Aha. Hmm... so you don't really care about the interior. Alright.”
My goal is to open a gukbap (soup and rice) restaurant in the Central Plaza. These inhuman bipeds of the Black Market are especially crazy about Earth specialties, so wouldn't it work if I just boiled zombie intestine soup or head soup and sold it? Or maybe ice cream made from the overflowing jet-black cockroaches...
'Ugh... I'm going to die of disgust...'
It’s so disgusting that I feel like gagging just imagining it. I'll have to make the parasitic humans do this separately. I'll have to tell them to come up with their own menu and sell it... My stomach feels terrible just trying to conceive a menu.
“Oh! Jojun! How about that one?”
“Yes? Uh...”
Cheshire pointed her finger at one of the buildings sparsely placed in the Central Plaza. It was a dilapidated, warehouse-like building. Should I say it looked like a large lump of concrete with no special features? It looked very heavy.
“But that place... it looks like it has an owner...”
“But it looks the sturdiest among the surrounding buildings. And it's quite large, too. Even if a nuke goes off, that shop will be fine. Jojun, in the Black Market, being sturdy is all that matters. Let's go and take it. Hehe.”
Cheshire was smiling brightly behind her neon mask. She was probably trying to take that shop for the sole reason that it was sturdy, without any deep thought or consideration. What a bold and cruel decision. The biped who was running a perfectly good business would be forced to choose between being blown up and dying at our hands or running away before that... well, that’s none of my business. Bipeds, after all.
'Cheshire acting without much thought... reliable. Cool and cute...'
I nodded immediately. Since we were both wearing masks, we couldn't see each other's expressions, so I had to nod my head deeply to gesture.
“Alright!”
“Let’s go!”
Cheshire took a laser shotgun out of her side bag. I drew my Ghost-Wailing Blade. The Black Market patrol squad that had been patrolling the area tried to approach us, but after checking Cheshire, they just turned back. As expected of the absolute power in the Black Market.
'This is what you call diplomatic immunity, you little rascals.'
We walked confidently and opened the door to the shop.
—Crack!
The dilapidated wooden door was smashed to pieces with a single kick, and as the intruders entered, the customers inside screamed in unison. They had strange hoses plugged into their backs and were busy shaking their waists against large caterpillars. What on earth is this scene... Is this a brothel?
“Customers, get lost. We are taking over this shop. Get out in 10 seconds!”
—Bang! Boom!!
As Cheshire fired her shotgun at the ceiling, the bipeds who had been thrusting their genitals into the caterpillars hurriedly pulled out the hoses attached to their backs and fled out of the shop. Yellow mucus was overflowing from the hoses. The caterpillars were licking up the mucus... Ugh...
Soon, hearing the commotion, the shop owner jumped out.
“Kieeee!!! What is this!!! Uh..? You are...”
A giant Fly King. I suspect that bastard, who looks like a relative of those jet-black cockroaches, is the mother of these caterpillars. Then, does that biped bastard give birth to children and use them as prostitutes? Ah, I don't know. It's just too disgusting. Damn Black Market. It's all the Black Market's fault that my mental world is becoming strange. For now, I'll wait for Cheshire to negotiate well with the shop owner. I don't have the mental capacity to converse with that fly monster.
“You, you know who I am, right?”
“Th-that purple neon mask... Damn it... The crazy fixer Cheshire... Sh-shit!! What’s your goal!! I don't owe the poacher anything, and I'm not related to the devil!! I don't have any slaves!! I'm not connected to the clown either! I didn't distribute drugs!! I didn't infringe on the drug dealer's commercial area, so why... are you here...”
“The only reason I came here today is because this shop is cool.”
“What...? Th-that... the shop is cool...? No, what kind of bullshit is this...”
“Hand over the shop.”
“....?”
I was able to see a fly look astonished for the first time in my life. I don't think it's a better experience than I thought.