Chapter 190
Chapter 190
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 190
Chapter Title: Catching the Tail (1)
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“You vicious bastard!!”
Eida let out a high-pitched scream.
Quite the set of lungs.
“Must have been a soprano.”
“Y-You vile fiend! You're not even human! Spawn of hell!!”
Eida thrashed her only unbound leg.
A reaction like that wasn’t surprising.
Not if she knew the identity of the item I’d brought out.
“The Torturer's 18 Tools…! That's an item with an unwritten rule among players to never use it!”
“An unwritten rule, not an illegal one.”
In fact, it could be used in the game without any issues.
However, it was an item that had to be handled with care, as getting caught using it would immediately decrease your affinity with all NPCs.
Its effect was simple, yet certain.
It drastically increased the probability of extracting information from its target.
The process of how it made them talk was omitted, but the item's name itself was blatantly "torture."
“Still, since we're just starting, shall we go with something light?”
I deliberately put on a wicked smile and took out the tool on the far left.
“Hic.”
Eida immediately gasped.
This works on some people, but not on others.
Looks like I hit the jackpot.
“Endless Laughter…!”
“Seeing as you even know the tool's name, you must have used it before. Right?”
As I held the tool up to her face, Eida, her face pale as a sheet, shook her head vehemently.
Her eyes pleaded for me not to use it, of all things.
When someone makes a face like that, it's my duty to use it even more.
“N-No!!!”
“Yes.”
Immediately, Eida’s scream echoed through the area.
‘Well…’
Endless Laughter and all that.
Despite its plausible-sounding name.
It’s just a tickling tool.
An artificial feather made of incredibly soft microfiber bristles.
[The 'Devil Who Mocks the Heavens' chuckles.]
I turned my gaze from the half-fainted Eida and watched Hwang Chan-jin.
His fight with the teleporter also seemed to be nearing its end.
‘They're a surprisingly bad match-up.’
Teleportation is fundamentally a power that requires concentration.
The shorter the distance, the less time is needed to focus, making it appear as if there's no delay.
However, Hwang Chan-jin's 'chill' had the effect of disrupting concentration, so unless it was a super short-range teleport, it would feel choppy and interrupted.
“Eida…!”
Urgency showed on the teleporter's face.
In a 2v2 fight, the moment one person goes down, it instantly becomes a 1v2.
I was staying out of it for now, but the outcome would be obvious the moment I joined in.
Even while swinging his sword, Hwang Chan-jin shouted at me.
“Stay out of it!”
“Wasn't planning on it.”
Knowing Hwang Chan-jin's pride, he would never allow it.
I crouched down next to Eida and took out another tool.
This one… was it called ‘Brain Eater’?
This one also had a scary name, but in reality, its effect was just making you listen to the sound of nails on a chalkboard at max volume through a headset, forever.
[That sounds like it lives up to the name…]
“It's not like I'm the one using it.”
I held out the ordinary-looking headset in front of Eida.
Looking as if she didn’t even have the energy to speak, Eida’s eyes screamed, ‘Please, stop.’
“If you don't like it, you can just talk.”
“…I can't do that.”
Eida bit her lip and averted her gaze.
“If you're going to be like that, I have no choice but to get rough.”
*CRACK!*
Her pupils shook violently as I plunged my sword into the ground between her legs.
It was hard to see it as simple stubbornness.
Her trembling was all too apparent.
‘This is…’
*Fwoosh!*
The moment I grew suspicious of Eida's condition, she vanished right before my eyes.
I reacted and tried to grab her, but the darkness that shot out like a rope passed right through her body, accomplishing nothing.
I couldn't help but let out a dry laugh.
“…Void Space Jump.”
A skill the teleporter could use only once by permanently consuming his own ability.
It sent the target into a void space, blocking all interference, before moving them to the desired coordinates.
In other words, it was a skill that ‘moved someone in an invincible state.’
That teleporter had just unhesitatingly destroyed his S-rank power.
“Keuk…!”
Immediately after, the teleporter, now powerless to resist Hwang Chan-jin, was beaten mercilessly.
Even as he was bruised and bleeding all over, the teleporter held his head high.
“I'll be the hostage. Let her go.”
“You fool. Don't tell me you actually think you're being cool right now?”
Hwang Chan-jin stomped on the teleporter's back.
His eyes were chillingly cold.
Like me, Hwang Chan-jin hadn't expected him to resort to such a measure.
“The order's just changed, that's all. I'll hunt you down to the end and catch you. Your entire team. And you're going to be the one to give up that information.”
“…”
The teleporter stared at Hwang Chan-jin without a word, then his head dropped.
He had passed out the moment he let his guard down.
At this rate, getting information out of him immediately would be impossible.
“Kim Se-hyeon.”
“Your face is screaming that you're about to take this out on me.”
“We're at war. In war, there are no old men, no children, no men, no women. There are only enemies.”
After closing the distance to just a few steps, Hwang Chan-jin glared at me fiercely.
“All you need to make someone talk is a mouth.”
“…Have you given up on the angel's sponsorship?”
As if I didn't know more intense methods.
It might be different if the angel's usefulness was completely gone, but for now, we still had to be mindful.
I sighed and glanced at the spot where Eida had been.
“Her reaction was strange.”
“How so?”
“She must have been bound by a contract. The kind that activates if she leaks information, or even just speaks about the contract itself.”
Even with the Seductive Succubus's bewitchment, Eida also possessed mental powers, so I wouldn't be able to find out.
In other words, I couldn't know unless I looked directly into her mind.
Which was practically the same as impossible.
“First, we need to find Eida's whereabouts. Void Space Jump is impossible to track.”
“…Persistent bastard.”
Hwang Chan-jin’s face twisted as he focused on the teleporter lying at his feet.
“I'll get the information from this one. You're too soft.”
“Suit yourself.”
In truth, a non-disclosure contract could simply be broken by force.
With Eida, as I said before, it would be meaningless for other reasons even if we did.
There were various ways to get information from the teleporter, so I decided to leave it to Hwang Chan-jin this time.
***
“This is a living inferno.”
When I returned to where Lee Min-hwa was fighting alone, the place, which was already in ruins, was being devastated to the point where not even debris would remain.
The building where we had found the Tarwi followers was completely engulfed in flames, making it impossible to enter.
Amidst it all, Lee Min-hwa, who had been staring blankly at the flames, slowly turned her head.
“It's over.”
“Unfortunately, we let one get away. We're about to resume the pursuit in a bit…”
“All of them.”
I snapped my mouth shut.
Although she had turned her head my way, Lee Min-hwa wasn't looking at me.
“…Did you have some kind of grudge against them?”
After a moment of silence, I asked the first question.
The anger Lee Min-hwa had shown, and the actions that resulted from it.
It couldn't be explained without a grudge.
“A grudge… I have many.”
Lee Min-hwa gave a sorrowful smile.
“I thought it was only Choi Seo-hee.”
“It is Choi Seo-hee.”
“…Pardon?”
“It's an extension. In a way, you could say this is the more fundamental grudge.”
My eyes widened.
A story I didn't know.
A story so deep that I never had the chance to learn it while playing the original game.
“Choi Seo-hee was originally from Tarwi. And she was chosen to become their 'Saintess'.”
Tarwi. And Saintess.
The appearance of keywords I never thought would be connected to Choi Seo-hee was quite a shock.
“Becoming a Saintess in Tarwi doesn't mean becoming an idol. It's all sorts of inhuman living, inhumane treatment. The expression 'a raised beast' would be more fitting. Unable to bear such a life, she escaped.”
“You know a lot.”
“Because I investigated. Enough to live with dark circles under my eyes constantly.”
I recalled a photo of Lee Min-hwa from a few years ago that I'd seen in the game.
An overall gaunt face.
And yet, it was impressive that her looks hadn't faded much.
So she hadn't been worn down just by her sibling's death.
“While escaping, physically and mentally exhausted, Choi Seo-hee must have gone mad in the process. She committed a massacre in the first village she reached, and soon after, players were sent in to stop her.”
I listened quietly to Lee Min-hwa's words.
However, based on this alone, it was a bit of a stretch to make Tarwi the target of her revenge.
It was a leap to say Tarwi was the cause.
“It's not a widely known fact, but there were also Tarwi followers there who had come to capture Choi Seo-hee. Since the players were trying to kill her, their priority must have been to stop the players rather than capture her alive.”
“…And in that process, your sibling was killed by Choi Seo-hee.”
Lee Min-hwa slowly nodded.
“After that, Choi Seo-hee must have gone to Geumeumdal and even had her powers sealed to prevent her information from leaking and to hide her identity. Though she ended up dying at the hands of someone other than me.”
Lee Min-hwa silently conjured a small flame in her hand.
“I thought that if I could at least take care of them, I'd feel a little better.”
Lee Min-hwa muttered as she clenched her open palm into a fist.
With a *flick*, the flame went out.
When she opened her hand again, there was nothing left on her palm.
“It feels empty. So very empty.”
‘I see.’
I had been curious about how Choi Seo-hee became S-rank and why she accepted a seal that had no merit for her.
When Choi Seo-hee told me she'd been 'done in by Kwon Seong-shin', it was probably because she hadn't properly read the clauses in the contract when the sealing was performed.
“Se-hyeon-ssi. I'd like to apologize for getting angry last time.”
Lee Min-hwa gave a detached smile.
I shook my head slightly.
“You don't have to apologize. I understand.”
“No. It's not much of a substitute, but I'll help train the twins. My advice should be meaningful if they're handling the power of fire. I'll promise my support as well.”
It was sudden, but not at all a bad offer.
“Actually, that's something I wanted to ask of you, so this works out well. You mentioned support… would it be possible to also provide some equipment the kids could use?”
“Of course. The gear I used to use would be perfect for them right now.”
At some point, Hwang Chan-jin had approached and was listening to our conversation.
I thought I felt a strange gaze on me.
Suddenly thinking of Hwang Yu-jin, I added another word.
“…I'm sorry to ask, but if you have any spare supporter-class equipment, I'd like to request that as well.”
“Got it. By the way, it seems some monsters heard the commotion. I'll go take care of them.”
Sensing the strange atmosphere, Lee Min-hwa nodded and excused herself.
As if he had been waiting, Hwang Chan-jin spoke.
“I believe I told you not to pull any tricks.”
“It's for you, you punk.”
“…Was that your trick on me?”
This guy has finally lost his mind.
“Stop saying creepy things. You decide what to do with it.”
“It was a joke.”
The corner of Hwang Chan-jin's mouth was faintly raised.
It was such a rare expression that it was actually unsettling.
All the more so because Hwang Chan-jin had never joked before.
“Then I'll gratefully accept.”
“What about the teleporter?”
“I froze him.”
Hwang Chan-jin hooked a thumb over his shoulder.
Just as he said, a large man was perfectly preserved in ice, like a mammoth.
…Don't tell me he did that on purpose because people called him a cryogenic human?
“Kim Se-hyeon.”
As I was entertaining that reasonable suspicion, Hwang Chan-jin suddenly said my name.
It was the same expression as always, but subtly different.
The eyes of a man who had become certain of something.
“What now.”
“I had my suspicions before, but yesterday and today. These past two days have convinced me.”
I faced Hwang Chan-jin, our gazes locking for a long moment.
“That you're the Strategy King.”
“…”
I didn't answer, nor did I look away.
Why Hwang Chan-jin was so sure I was the Strategy King was a matter for later.
What was important was how Hwang Chan-jin would react if I revealed the truth.
“I am…”
The moment I finally opened my mouth after running through hundreds of scenarios in my head.
“He…lp…”
Jun Bo-ra appeared, covered in blood, and collapsed after barely managing to get that one word out.