Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: The Lone One Before the God
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Joo-jun wasn't breathing.
"O- Oppa!!!"
Lee Eun-ji grabbed Jang Joo-jun's shoulders and shook them, praying with all her might that he would wake up.
"Wait! Unnie! That! CPR!"
"Ah! J- Just a minute... H- How do you do it again?"
"J- Tilt his head back.. Unnie, let me do it!"
"O- Okay!"
Seong Ha-rin quickly tore Joo-jun's top open to expose his chest and performed CPR just as she had learned in school.
She compressed his chest thirty times before breathing into his mouth. With every breath, his lungs would rise and fall, but it was as if a switch had been flipped—his heart showed no response whatsoever. In the end, Ha-rin struck his chest where his heart should be, trying to perform cardiac massage, but Joo-jun remained utterly unresponsive.
"Ah, Ah! What do we do! O- Oppa!"
Eun-ji stamped her feet in panic, desperately praying for Joo-jun to regain consciousness. She hadn't even thought to retrieve the defibrillator that might be stocked in the supermarket. They were simply too flustered and agitated.
'Why does this guy always end up on the verge of death the moment you take your eyes off him?!'
Just as Eun-ji thought, Joo-jun's class trait meant that if he was left alone, he would always end up somewhere in pain, teetering on the brink of death. It seemed safer to just keep him fighting zombies.
'What am I going to do if Oppa dies like this? Ah, no. I can't even imagine it. He'll come back to. There's no way Oppa would die. He'll definitely wake up with an awkward smile...'
She imagined a world without Joo-jun. She didn't even want to think about it.
Thinking it over, she realized that in this hopeless world, she wouldn't be able to survive without him.
No matter how much she and Ha-rin leveled up or grew stronger, she felt they would always be inferior to Joo-jun alone. Furthermore, if it weren't for the bond of the slave mark, she felt she wouldn't be able to trust anyone else. She had found stability even as a slave.
'We've only just started to feel at home and want to live together.'
Not only that. Beyond mere survival, she had finally found someone to give her pure devotion to. If he were to die now, she felt she wouldn't be able to endure it. She was already relying on him for so much. Just as he found peace with them, they too leaned on him.
Eun-ji wanted to be by his side, even if it meant being a slave. She just wanted him to be there.
"D- Damn it! Why! I did it by the book, so why?!"
Ha-rin, still holding the lifeless Joo-jun, did everything she could to bring him back.
However, the breathless Joo-jun was like a doll with its strings cut, showing no reaction no matter how much CPR she performed. Strangely, his body was completely still.
There were no post-mortem reactions at all. It was as if every single organ, every single cell, had instantly ceased all activity.
It was as if he had fallen into a state of suspended animation.
Had a doctor, a forensic pathologist, or someone with similar knowledge been present, they might have noticed something was off.
But Eun-ji and Ha-rin were simply plunged into despair at the thought that Joo-jun was dead.
'If you were just going to leave us like this... why did you bother getting close to us, you bastard...'
Seong Ha-rin had felt and realized many things while being with Joo-jun.
She had felt good when he stroked her, and she had experienced a thrilling pleasure she had never known before when she lay with him.
Also, fighting alongside him and realizing he was a trustworthy man she could turn her back to, she thought he was the one person she truly needed to survive in this ruined world.
She instinctively realized that she could only survive long-term by sticking to his side.
That's why Ha-rin didn't want to lose Joo-jun. It was a natural phenomenon of a female being drawn to a strong male, and as a woman, she felt a strong attraction to him.
'So please... just breathe...'
However, no matter how desperately Ha-rin prayed, Joo-jun showed no response.
There were no signs of his heart beating again. It was as if he were completely dead.
"Huh?"
Just then, Kang Hwa-young woke up, rubbing her eyes. She frowned at the strange atmosphere.
"What's this...?"
"Ah... Oppa. Oppa. Hng..."
Ha-rin, holding the unbreathing Joo-jun, burst into tears.
Eun-ji, having lost all will to live, clung to Joo-jun's arm, her body going limp.
Watching them, Hwa-young approached Joo-jun. She couldn't quite understand this bizarre situation.
"Uh... Master? Huh? Why isn't he breathing? Master? Master! Wake up! Master!"
Hwa-young slapped Joo-jun's cheeks repeatedly, but he didn't stir.
"Huh? What's wrong with you? Huh? This isn't right..."
Even after slapping his cheeks over and over, Joo-jun didn't open his eyes. She gently took his hand.
The pulse she expected to feel wasn't there.
"Huh? This isn't right. This isn't right! M- If Master dies, my blood... Who's going to give me my dinner? Huh. This isn't right!"
Her intelligence significantly lowered by her class, Hwa-young saw Joo-jun merely as the one who fed her. She clutched her head in anguish.
The thought that she would no longer receive blood made her feel like she was going insane.
Of course, if she could think a little more rationally, she might have had the positive thought that she could be free from the slave mark and kill people to drink their blood. But she wasn't in a state to make such a rational judgment yet.
"Ah, damn. He can't die. Ah. Huh? Sniff sniff. Something smells weird."
Just as she was about to be consumed by madness, Hwa-young detected a cold, unpleasant smell wafting from Joo-jun's neck.
She rolled her eyes and stared intently at Joo-jun's neck. A dark aura was shimmering there, as if it were deliberately choking him.
Hwa-young had no idea what it was.
She just had a feeling that if she cut off that dark aura and sucked out the old blood, she could save Joo-jun.
"Huh. That's like poison, I think. Yeah. I have to suck out the poison. I have to suck the poison to save him. Poison. It's poison. I have to suck it."
"W- Wait! You crazy bitch! What are you doing?!"
Hwa-young lifted Joo-jun, who had stopped breathing and was growing colder by the second.
She was about to bite his neck when Ha-rin quickly grabbed her shoulder to stop her.
Ha-rin had been wary of Hwa-young from the start. She had even seen her go wild with a lust for blood, so she thought Hwa-young was simply trying to drink the blood of a corpse.
Ha-rin couldn't look favorably upon Hwa-young trying to drink Joo-jun's blood, even if he was dead. However, she couldn't stop Hwa-young's vampirism.
The moment a hand was placed on her shoulder, the simple-minded Hwa-young flew into a rage.
"Get out of the way! Get the hell away!"
Hwa-young, her eyes blazing red, screamed at Ha-rin, who was trying to stop her.
In that instant, the aura of a predator emanating from Hwa-young froze Eun-ji and Ha-rin, delaying their reaction. Seizing the opportunity, Hwa-young quickly sank her long fangs into Joo-jun's neck.
The blood-sucking began. Hwa-young sucked out and spat out the dark aura that was choking Joo-jun's life. It was a mixture of the venom from the Black Serpent's twisted core and an unknown energy.
With every spurt of the black essence spat onto the ground, Joo-jun's complexion gradually returned.
Soon, his heart began to beat again.
"H- He's alive...? H- He's really alive!"
"Thank goodness... Hng... Oppa..."
Realizing that Hwa-young had found some unknown method to bring him back, Eun-ji and Ha-rin no longer interfered. They quietly held Joo-jun's hand, massaging it gently as they waited for him to wake up.
After sucking out and spitting the black fluid for about five minutes, Hwa-young pulled away from Joo-jun, scraping her tongue with her finger.
"Ugh... Bitter..."
"Huff!!!"
"O- Oppa!"
"Master...!"
Joo-jun woke up, breathing raggedly.
Luck 666 was not what one would call a completely fortunate number.
He was fated to always be accompanied by pain.
*****
He opened his eyes.
'Huh?'
He felt a sense of floating, as if he were alone, suspended in an infinitely vast space.
However, he could barely feel any physical sensations, including his five senses. Only his consciousness remained.
'This is crazy. I was too arrogant. I promised myself I wouldn't let my guard down, but this is what happens when I trust my luck too much.'
Before eating the core, he had felt an inexplicable confidence. He thought he would survive this time as well and reap the benefits.
'To think I'd die so meaninglessly. Why did I have to go and eat a twisted core... Damn. It's too late for regrets. My low intelligence must have killed my body... Are Eun-ji and Ha-rin crying right now? I don't know. Haa...'
Joo-jun quietly mulled over his mistake.
He grew depressed thinking that his faith in his high luck might have been too great.
He had become complacent, intoxicated by the sweetness his luck brought, and this was the result.
'They say a dull wit brings hardship to the body. I guess this is that. Well, my grades weren't great in school either. My social skills were always clumsy too. Hah. Let's not regret even in death. I'm already dead anyway...'
Joo-jun felt hollow.
He never thought he would die so easily. He thought a luck stat of 666, an unprecedentedly high number, would let him survive.
That was a belief based on experience. Since the apocalypse, his luck had never betrayed him.
'But where is this? Wasn't my soul supposed to be in Kashnax's possession? Why did I wake up alone in a place like this? This place is like... an abyss...'
He couldn't see an inch ahead and couldn't feel anything. He was just slowly fading away in an endlessly black space.
'This isn't hell. What is this place? Is this a punishment where I slowly go insane in a void with nothing? Then it's still hell, isn't it? I'm going crazy.'
With only his mind left, his thoughts wouldn't stop. No, he couldn't stop them.
He feared that if his thoughts stopped, he would truly cease to exist.
'Come out! Goddamn it! Kashnax!'
Just as he was finally screaming and calling for the evil god, something approached him.
It was a being that felt like a swarm of insects. That's all he could perceive. His senses were gradually returning. Especially his hearing, which had come back completely.
CRACKLE CRUNCH!!!
The sound of insect carapaces clashing and shattering, overlapped with the unique flapping sounds of flying insects, produced a horrific, disgusting noise that eroded one's sanity.
Had he been alive and well and heard this sound, his eardrums would have likely burst and his mind would have been worn away.
It was such a vicious noise, but Joo-jun, who was losing his existence as a spiritual entity, was instead able to hold onto his sanity by this intense external stimulus.
He had been on the verge of crumbling in a place where he could feel and see nothing.
"Ah, there you are. Finally, I get to see your face."
The insects crushed together, creating a sound that mimicked a human voice, audible to Joo-jun. It sounded like they were forcibly imitating a human larynx, making it extremely unpleasant to hear.
Of course, Joo-jun wasn't foolish enough to show that.
'W- What...'
The moment he heard the voice, Joo-jun felt a pressure similar to what he felt from Kashnax. That was undoubtedly a 'god'.
'W- Who... are you...'
He naturally used honorifics.
As he asked, he vaguely realized where he was and what the being interested in him was.
This was the abyss, and the being before him was an 'evil god' who resided there.
"I am Indicron, the master of the abyss, and the 'god' you shall serve from now on."
The moment he perceived the being, a system window flickered and flashed before his eyes.
The screen was cracked in places, but Joo-jun could read it well enough.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[You have encountered the evil god 'Indicron'!] [Congratulations? You have become a servant of another evil god!] [You have drawn one step closer to the evil god!] [The Grace of the Abyss is engraved upon you!] [All players of the righteous god factions feel a sense of unease from you!] [Achievement Unlocked! 'Revenge Faith'] [Achievement Unlocked! 'Indicron's Servant'] [Achievement reward granted.] [Achievement reward granted.]
'Guh...!!!'
Perhaps because he had no body, he couldn't feel any physical pain.
But the feeling of his soul being scorched made Joo-jun scream internally.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[Grace of the Abyss: Your soul and body are now also the property of the evil god Indicron. As his servant, you can conceal your stigmata.] [Those with other stigmata will not be able to find you easily.]
Something was engraved on what he assumed was his forehead.
It didn't feel as violently forced as it had with Kashnax.
He just felt a crushing sensation that made his skin crawl.
"That bastard Kashnax always leaves his servants to fend for themselves. I'm not like that. So I called you here to warn you this time."
'Guh... Is... Is this where I ended up because of the core...?'
Joo-jun was certain he had died from eating the Black Serpent's twisted core incorrectly.
But that didn't seem to be the case.
"You're half right, half wrong. It's more accurate to say I deliberately made you die. The twisted core was just a smokescreen to blind you. I was worried you might not choose it."
'Th- That's...'
He wanted to ask if a god could feel worried, but Joo-jun didn't ask anything unnecessary.
"Unfortunately, I don't have time to explain in detail. Just by forcibly calling you here like this, I have to endure the backlash of causality. And since a revival attempt is already in full swing outside, I'll just explain what you need to know briefly."
'Uh... Okay.'
Indicron seemed somewhat rushed.
Joo-jun read the mood and immediately shut his mouth.
"Soon, the champions of the righteous gods will attack you. I don't know their names or classes, or even if it's one or many. I only felt the causality being slightly shaken. Their plot to crush you before you've even sprouted is so vexing that I called you here. So be prepared. You are my servant and the darling of the Myriad Demons. If you die so easily after I went through the trouble of warning you, even death won't be peaceful for you."
'Th- That's...'
The god's warning made Joo-jun's spiritual body tremble. The unfamiliar sensation of his spirit body shaking made his skin crawl.
'I- I understand for now.'
"Good. You don't have much time left. Ah, it's already time. Then go on up. Your slaves are calling for you earnestly. Truly loyal ones, they are."
Soon, light enveloped Joo-jun.
He regained his consciousness.
"Ugh... Bitter..."
"Huff!"
"O- Oppa!"
"Master... Haa... You're alive..."
As Joo-jun opened his eyes, Eun-ji and Ha-rin clung to him as if they had been waiting.
Meanwhile, Hwa-young was scraping her tongue with her hand as if she had eaten something inedible.
⚔ STATUS ⚔
Due to 'Black Serpent's Twisted Core' consumption, Mana has increased by 500!!!
Excellent! Magic Power stat has surpassed 500!!!
Mana circuits have formed in your body! All stats except Magic Power increase by 20!
📜 NEW QUEST 📜
Achievement Unlocked!
📍 Unlocked: 'Overflowing Mana'
📍 Unlocked: 'Life Collateral'
Joo-jun glanced at the successive notifications and caught his breath. He already had nine rewards to claim.
'Damn... So it was telling me to prepare for PVP with those crazy bastards...'
Joo-jun wondered just how powerful the guys who were coming for him must be for a god to personally call him.
He also thought he would have to kill them all.
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