Chapter 4
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Overflowing Fury
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Boom!
A few days had passed since I arrived here.
In that time, I'd eaten cake, sipped tea, and rolled around to my heart's content.
Oh, and I'd checked the gallery a few times, uncovering some new facts along the way.
Gates appear periodically in this place. Once one forms, it doesn't vanish easily.
Unlike me, who'd wandered endlessly inside one for so long, the people here seemed to come and go frequently.
"Doesn't look all that special."
I sprawled on the bed, kicking my legs idly. I wasn't one for fidgety habits like sprawling or slouching back home, but this body felt most comfortable this way.
It was like my restlessness had dialed down a notch.
Still, this world was something else entirely.
The people here explored the other side like it was some uncharted frontier.
Of course, that didn't make it any safer for them.
Countless folks died doing it.
Yet they kept plunging in anyway. Why?
'Money, probably.'
There were two big moneymakers.
Strange, wondrous items. And the Anomalies themselves.
Come to think of it, there had been some odd objects.
Stones that spat endless flames. Dolls that moved on their own.
To me, they were just toys—nothing more, nothing less—but apparently, they fetched a pretty penny.
So why did Anomalies pay off?
I didn't know the details, but bringing back parts of one meant someone would buy them.
The boards called those buyers the Foundation, the Corporation, and the Cults.
"Hooong."
I'd wondered if this place was one of those Cults, but I couldn't confirm it.
The info wasn't detailed enough.
Anyway, it was pretty entertaining.
But not so much that I'd keep staring or feel like posting anything myself.
Besides...
The real fun was the situation unfolding right here, right now.
A few days back, the Cult Leader had come to me with a request.
"Um, Oracle. Might you grace us with another miracle today...?"
Oracle—that was the title they gave me. He'd even brought a list of options for me to pick from.
Daughter of the Great One. Chosen Being. All sorts of grandiose stuff. Oracle felt the most low-key, so I went with it.
And the "miracle"?
"Waaaaaaah—!"
It was just putting on a little show in front of the packed crowd.
Enlarging a shadow dramatically.
Summons something or other.
Boring tricks like that.
Every time, the onlookers lost their minds in rapture.
The Cult Leader beamed with satisfaction.
To be fair, he'd warmed up to me lately, unlike his snappy demeanor at first.
As long as he kept the cake and tea coming steadily, I was happy to oblige.
"You did splendidly today."
Once the miracle show wrapped up, he courteously escorted me back to my room.
The moment I returned, I flopped onto the bed and blinked.
Another view popped into sight.
The spot I'd captured in my eyes: this place's underground.
"Guh..."
No sooner had I switched views than a groan echoed through.
Over the past few days, I'd scoured every corner of this bizarre cult compound.
It didn't seem like a simple scam operation where the Leader fleeced people by playing messiah.
Or rather... that wasn't the whole story.
Our first encounter had been weird enough, right?
A Cult Leader fleeing an Ogre?
So I'd poked around and learned a few things.
The followers here?
All victims of Anomalies—themselves or loved ones.
The Leader claimed he was the lord's servant, dispatched to combat such horrors. Or at least, that's the lore.
"Heh heh heh."
A servant of the lord, nearly torn apart by an Ogre?
Isn't that hilarious?
The reason it happened was even funnier.
This Cult Leader had no clue how to handle Anomalies.
At first, he'd dismissed it all as nonsense—people seeing ghosts or whatever.
He figured they were just weak-minded fools hallucinating.
So he'd sweet-talked and manipulated them out of their cash.
Hunting that Ogre? He'd been convinced it was a myth.
"But surprise!"
Ogres showed up for real.
The Leader bolted in blind panic.
If not for me, he'd have been shredded on the spot.
The whole cult would've evaporated.
But it didn't.
I appeared.
He got his salvation.
No—more than that. He started believing he was truly chosen.
The Chosen Bald Man.
If he'd stopped there, he could've kept scamming modestly and lived okay.
"Idiot."
But he didn't.
In this building's basement...
Dozens of people were imprisoned.
The Bald Man occasionally went down to torture them, venting his stress.
Surprisingly! He had a justification for it.
Those underground were Anomaly-possessed!
What he did was "treatment" to restore their sanity!
"What a total idiot."
In reality, about 90% were just mentally ill folks who needed a hospital.
But.
Shockingly.
The other 10% were legit.
Truly possessed by Anomalies.
And the Leader whipped and clubbed them all equally.
Provoking the Anomalies like crazy.
I whispered to the bear doll clutched in my arms.
"You know? They're all furious."
That basement? A furnace on the verge of boiling over.
Once it spilled, it wouldn't stop until it melted and incinerated everything here.
How long could it hold?
"Hmm..."
A week, maybe?
Even if it dragged a bit, I could wait it out.
Wouldn't want to miss the best part.
The Oracle's ecstatic miracle shows, arriving like a comet, had swelled the Hundred Names Church's followers at breakneck speed.
Donations poured in even faster.
Even the skeptics, having witnessed her miracles firsthand, began emptying their coffers without hesitation.
"Uhahahahaha!"
The Cult Leader was over the moon.
He'd planned a quick scam-and-dash, but this? No need for that anymore.
Especially that little brat—a total lucky charm.
The girl he'd bumped into in that alley.
When he'd first seen her wield that "power," terror had gripped him like nothing else.
Prostrating and begging back then? Pure survival instinct.
He'd thought refusal meant death.
Even after bringing her back, he'd trembled in fear.
One wrong move, and she'd kill him.
But now?
Things were different.
Just keep feeding her demands, and she was a perfect lamb.
And not only that—she poured her power into boosting his operation without holding back.
"Can't let her slip away."
Pamper her ego indefinitely, and the cash would roll in forever.
That's why he'd recently hired a pro patissier.
"Heh heh."
Thinking of the money stacking up in his office made it a bargain.
Grinning, the Leader left his office and headed underground.
Honestly, he didn't enjoy the trips much these days.
He used to go for stress relief, but with his mood sky-high, no need.
Still, he couldn't slack on inspections.
Those locked below were relatives of VIPs.
At least pretend to care.
Folks assumed cult leaders ran wild unchecked, but these gestures mattered.
He planned to pick one at random, whip them or douse with holy water, then bounce.
"Hm?"
Halfway down the corridor, though...
Something caught his eye.
A figure standing there.
He flinched, then recognized the face and spoke.
"Cheongsu? Is that you, Cheongsu?"
Cheongsu.
One of his most trusted aides. A basement overseer.
"Why are you just standing there like an idiot?"
The Leader approached with a mildly scolding tone, clapping a hand on his shoulder.
Something felt off, though.
His body was too... cold. Rigid.
Thud—!
"Eek!"
The Leader recoiled in shock.
Cheongsu toppled forward like a rotten log.
Belatedly, he rushed to check—then.
Creeeak—.
The fallen man's head twisted. At an inhuman angle.
Body face-down, yet the head wrenched straight toward the Leader.
Where his bulging eyes had been: gaping holes.
And the mouth.
Sewn shut crudely, like a child's clumsy stitches.
"Huuuugh!"
Cheongsu's lips twitched as if to speak, but only a deflated wheeze escaped the slight gap.
"Wh-what the—?!"
The Leader stumbled back.
That's when he noticed more.
Doors. Doors ajar.
C containment cell doors standing open here and there.
What didn't compute: doors he'd passed locked just moments ago, now flung wide.
"Ah... aaaah."
His gaze snapped to one open door. His face contorted.
A figure stood inverted inside.
Upside-down, grinning ear-to-ear, clapping gleefully.
As if at a delightful spectacle.
Kwaaaaaang—!
In the next instant, an brutal impact hurled the Leader's body somewhere.
Invisible force had slammed into him.
But no worries.
I'd made sure I wouldn't let him die in one go.
Wouldn't that be too quick? A shame to miss the slapstick.
Not when so many here harbored grudges against him.
They deserved time to savor it.
Creeeak—.
Creeak—.
Doors creaked open elsewhere in unison.
Even the sane would've cracked in such a hellhole.
Pack it with Anomaly victims? Their power was bound to swell.
They'd grown stronger, even devouring others.
Mere human chains and iron doors meant nothing now.
I'd watched it all.
From the very start.
"Ahahahaha."
Six days.
A day shorter than I'd guessed.
But this was just the beginning.
The basement lurkers sensed the Leader descending the stairs.
They clocked the surface world.
Like moths to flame, they surged upward.
At terrifying speed.
Kwududuk!
"Aaaack—!"
A casual passerby in the hall got pounced, screaming.
Kwak, kwududuk—!
A seated figure yanked skyward, limbs snapping.
Some choked.
Others pulped to gore.
Conveniently, only the Leader's inner circle was around at this hour.
His cronies.
Kugung!
Soon, some of the rampaging horde reached the second floor.
For the record, my room was there.
Kwajik—!
Something crunched outside the door. Then it swung open.
Step, step.
Twisted-head figures shambled in, grotesque grins splitting their faces.
Mouths sewn crudely shut.
I could feel their thrill at gorging on easy prey.
As the strongest locked here, it brimmed with confidence.
"So greedy."
Plenty of easier pickings around.
I had no plans to intervene...
But I wouldn't let it have me.
So I reached out.
Toward the staggering thing.
A light touch.
"Boom!"
The instant after...
Popopopopopbang!
The shambling horrors throughout the building detonated in unison.