Chapter 225
Chapter 225
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 225
Chapter Title: Land of the Forgotten (3)
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“A-Are you really giving it to me?”
“Of course. It would be a shame to keep this taste all to myself. You’re all my friends, after all.”
“Uuuuugh!!”
The targeted dokkaebi’s eyes sparkled as he accepted the gourd bottle.
One sip, and he gasped in admiration. Two sips, and he sighed. Three sips, and he shed a tear.
The dokkaebi displayed the three stages of flavor, giving me exactly the reaction I wanted.
I could almost hear Cheonryang’s insides burning up behind me.
“You don’t have to look so envious. I’ll pass it around to everyone. The liquor is endless.”
I had all the dokkaebi take a sip from the gourd.
In response, each of them let out their own magnificent exclamations of wonder.
“Keuhaaa!”
“Oh, shit! Unbelievable! A taste that makes even a dokkaebi speak English!”
“Captain! This is just as amazing as that other one!”
By now, even the dokkaebi were enjoying themselves.
They had figured out what I wanted and started teasing Cheonryang.
*Yes, this is it.*
I liked these quick-witted dokkaebi.
“Grrrrrrroan….”
The more the dokkaebi praised the drink, the more Cheonryang’s face crumpled.
*He’s holding out better than I thought.*
Still, his surrender wasn’t far off.
I took him by surprise, thrusting the gourd right under his nose in an instant.
His flaring nostrils instantly sucked in the aroma as if inhaling.
Only then did Cheonryang realize his mistake, his eyes widening.
“Hngh!?”
He tried to resist, but his mouth was already watering.
Cheonryang hastily wiped away the drool, but I wasn’t one to miss such a reaction.
I grinned and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“How about a taste, then? Just one sip, no strings attached.”
An earthquake erupted in Cheonryang’s pupils.
His hand slowly reached for the gourd.
It didn’t approach quickly.
Slowly, very slowly. Sometimes it would hesitate, or even retreat, but it steadily drew closer to the gourd.
I watched with narrowed eyes, and when his hand was more than halfway there, I shoved the gourd into his mouth.
“Eub!?”
“One sip. Just one. Don’t drink any more than that. That was the deal.”
Of course, I was just saying that.
There was no way this drunkard would resist a delicious liquor once it touched his lips.
The moment his throat, which had been motionless for a long while, bobbed, the match was decided.
Cheonryang hung his head low.
“...Human. What’s your name?”
“It’s Kim Se-hyeon.”
“Well, you see. I’m not really supposed to give it to you. Seriously.”
“I know. You can’t just lend out a treasure.”
“But… ahem. I’m just so drunk right now. I can’t see a thing, so I wouldn’t even know if someone took it. Ahem, ahem.”
Cheonryang avoided my gaze, feigning ignorance.
*He says that so easily, even though he’s not drunk at all.*
I smirked and stood up.
Cheonryang had his pride to maintain, and since I had gotten what I wanted, I decided to back off.
‘The Dokkaebi’s Bat.’
Behind the simple yet massive chair where Cheonryang usually seemed to sit.
I reached for the roughly two-meter-long golden club leaning against the wall.
*Shwoook.*
The moment my hand touched it, it transformed, shrinking to about 60-70 centimeters.
This was one of the Dokkaebi’s Bat’s basic options: resizing itself to fit the user’s hand.
The weight was just right, too.
I wanted to give it a test swing, but if I used it incorrectly, Cheonryang would have every right to take it back.
I glanced at Cheonryang, who was deliberately pretending not to see me, and moved to a secluded corner.
[So, what are you going to use that for?]
“I’m going to summon a soul.”
[A soul? Whose?]
“Jacob’s.”
The Dokkaebi’s Bat had various functions, like granting wishes, but what I wanted was its power to ‘summon the dead.’
The power to forcibly call back a soul that had already died and departed for the afterlife.
It was impossible if too much time had passed since death, but a month was well within the realm of possibility.
“Come out, ttuk-ttak.”
*Poof!*
When I struck the air with the Dokkaebi’s Bat, a cloud of smoke billowed out.
*I think he said he added this meaningless effect just for fun.*
I slung the bat over my shoulder and focused on the silhouette within the smoke.
[...Where is this? I’m sure I was dead.]
Jacob, looking around in confusion, met my gaze.
It didn’t take long for his face, which had been momentarily uncomprehending, to contort in rage.
[Kim Se-hyeon…!!]
“Long time no see, right?”
Jacob immediately lunged at me.
He stretched out both arms, intending to strangle me.
Of course, that was impossible.
He was a spirit; I was flesh and blood.
We were beings that could not interfere with each other.
Besides, if his attack had actually landed, I would have been kicked out of this world on the spot.
[Damn it, damn it all! To be standing in front of the man who killed me and be unable to do a thing…!]
“Who tried to kill who first? If you’re going to kill someone, you should be prepared to die yourself.”
[Shut it, you monkey.]
Jacob, who had been growling and grinding his teeth, suddenly frowned as if a thought occurred to him.
[No, wait a minute…. You must be the one who summoned me in the first place, so what reason could you possibly have to call me? You’re not here to apologize. What’s your objective?]
Jacob’s eyes were filled with distrust.
He probably wouldn’t answer even if I told him.
I gave a short reply.
“I have something to ask you.”
[Ha, this guy’s a complete psycho.]
Jacob burst out laughing.
[You summoned me expecting me to answer? Seriously? Oh, no way, not a chance. Go ahead and ask for a hundred days. See if I say a single word. Bleh bleh bleh. It’s easier to stick my tongue out since I can’t spit.]
“So you won’t answer?”
[Why don’t you try and make me talk.]
“That was the plan all along.”
I never expected him to cooperate willingly in the first place.
I opened my inventory and took out an item.
A chain with a faint silver-blue hue clattered as it fell to the floor.
[Soul Shackles (B)]
A chain made of Spirit Iron.
It has the effect of being able to impact spiritual bodies.
It can inflict greater shock and be used on higher-level targets in proportion to the user's mana.
An item I obtained from defeating the Disaster of Countercurrents.
Originally, going to meet Jacob was just one of the plans I was considering, not a definite one.
But the moment this item dropped, I immediately made it my top priority.
[Ah, I’m getting a bad feeling about this. Can you put that away? What the hell is that!?]
“It’s something that allows me to inflict physical damage even on souls.”
[Don’t you have some serious issues!?]
“That’s how dangerous you guys are.”
To reign over the world and rule it after preventing its destruction.
How could I possibly leave alone those who would openly talk about turning a global catastrophe like the apocalypse into a means for their own gain?
And besides.
“This isn’t the only thing I prepared.”
[What else… Hiiik!]
Jacob shrieked and slowly backed away.
Not that he could get very far before the shackles stopped him.
I smiled brightly and shook a bottle.
“I seem to have a lot of encounters with bottles of strange liquid since coming here.”
[In a way, that’s the real soul-killing liquor. Even for a simple ghost without accumulated resentment, holy water is truly fatal.]
“Because it forces them to pass on.”
[Wait, wait, hold on! What do you mean, pass on! You’re the one who forcibly summoned me after I’d already gone to the afterlife, aren’t you!? I wasn’t lingering in this world; I was fine in the afterlife, and you dragged me out! How is this any different from exorcising me for lingering in the mortal realm!?]
I stroked my chin for a moment.
That was a surprisingly logical argument.
Hmm.
“Whatever.”
[Kyaaaaaaaaah!?]
“Still won’t talk, you stubborn bastard. Let’s see who gives in first!”
[I’ll talk! I’ll talk! Please, stop! Stop!!]
Only after I had used up an entire bottle of holy water did Jacob, completely exhausted, gasp for breath.
[Hah, heok, you relentless bastard…. To go this far, even so….]
“I heard something from Ciel.”
If I hadn’t stopped Jacob back then, Seoul would have collapsed within a few days.
First, that troublesome drug would have spread throughout the city.
As Hwang Chan-jin and Jun Bo-ra moved to stop it, another Pentagon Eagle team that had already arrived in Korea would have joined forces with Salvatio players from China and Japan, who were on standby to provide support depending on the situation.
There was no way Seoul, already in a precarious state because of Paradise, could have fended off all of them.
‘The L Team was dispatched after they heard Jacob was taken down, though.’
It wouldn’t have been much different.
She said that if Jacob and the initial forces had trouble making progress, the L Team would have immediately gone in for support.
“Considering what you bastards keep doing to us, you should be thankful this is all I’m doing.”
I yanked on the shackles, and Jacob was dragged toward me.
His face was contorted, yet helpless at his inability to resist.
Then, he snorted once, and his expression changed to one of indifference.
[I’m dead, so what does it matter. I don’t want to suffer any more now that I’m dead…. You wanted to know about Salvatio, right?]
“Feeling like talking now?”
[It has nothing to do with me anymore, so let’s just make things easy. I’ll tell you everything I know.]
Jacob stroked his chin as if organizing his thoughts.
[Salvatio is… just a gathering of people with similar goals. That’s about it. Of course, its members are limited to those who have played EOA to some extent.]
“What’s its scale? How big is it?”
[Not many, but not few either. The last time I checked, there were about 30 people. They were in the middle of expanding, so I don’t know how much bigger they’ve gotten. They’re recruiting players from all over the world, except Korea, so I think they’ve probably grown much larger.]
“Hmm. Then another question, something I wondered about before. The fact that the Strategy King exists and that Korean gamers are good at games isn’t a very convincing reason. What’s the real reason for excluding Korea from recruitment?”
[…I don’t know that either. I just know that’s the reason the Master gave. Most people just accept it at that. Huh. Now that I think about it, that’s not much of a real reason, so why did I accept it back then?]
I recalled the ability Ada possessed.
The one called Master must have progressed quite far in the game.
If he planned to expand his influence by quickly agitating others, it was highly likely he used some kind of suggestion or brainwashing power.
Even so, that didn’t explain why he excluded Korea.
*Does he hold some kind of personal grudge?*
[Ah, who cares. Anyway, Salvatio is currently focused on the United States. Their base is there too. The Master’s identity is unknown. Probably no one in Salvatio knows. Even the Saintess, who’s in a high position, like a second-in-command, didn’t seem to know his face or name at all.]
“What about the person named Spade? He seemed to be on par with the Saintess.”
[You know that aloof guy? That’s surprising. Well, that man is no pushover either. He’s probably below the Saintess. It’s not like there’s a ranking system; it’s divided into about three tiers, and within the same tier, everyone is considered equal, so no one is definitively above or below another. The tiers are just for convenience, anyway.]
“In any case, even if you belong to Salvatio, no one knows the identity of this Master.”
[That’s right.]
Jacob nodded.
I felt like I was descending deeper into a labyrinth.
A foreigner who has likely played the game more than anyone else besides me and holds anti-Korean sentiments.
…There was no way I could know who that was.
[Ah, now that I think about it, something just occurred to me. For some reason, he had a similar vibe to you. The atmosphere he gave off, or that certain something unique to a person, you know?]