The Black Tights Ritual
Twenty-two years old. Grade 4 Tanker. Kim Ju-ho.
In the midst of two full days of vomiting and diarrhea.
The patient card attached to the hospital bed detailed Kim Ju-ho’s condition.
Creak.
A public official wearing a dark blue suit dragged a chair over and sat across from him.
“It’s damp in here.”
He looked at Kim Ju-ho as he spoke.
The white sheet was soaked through with sweat, and multiple IV lines dangled from his arm.
Still, Kim Ju-ho was conscious.
That was what mattered.
“Are you ready for the interview?”
“Y-yes… Please go ahead.”
“First, congratulations on regaining consciousness.”
“Is… is everyone else safe?”
“You would know if you’d been watching television.”
When he glanced upward, the TV was reporting that the fainted hunters were waking up one after another.
The official pulled his chair closer.
His interlaced fingers hovered near Kim Ju-ho’s face.
“Let’s start here. I understand there was a warning. Is that true?”
“Yes. That person warned me it was dangerous…”
“That person?”
“Yes… the holy one…”
“You mean Hunter Kim Hwang-je. That’s what people have been calling him ever since he stopped the meteor.”
“Yes, yes. That’s correct.”
The official gave an invisible snort.
These brainless pigs, getting swept up in such absurd nonsense.
“All right. He shouted from the top of the hill that the monster was too much for him and that everyone should retreat. That matches the other statements. Now, which of these monsters did you see?”
He pulled out a montage and thrust it forward.
Three types of creatures were drawn on it.
A beast with a snake’s head and a chicken’s body, a worm sprouting multiple heads, and an octopus-headed monster with a human face whose massive tentacles whipped in every direction.
It resembled a male Medusa.
“The last one.”
The official clicked his tongue.
“You really charged a calamity-class epidemic demon?”
“…I thought it was an event prepared by Gaya Group. I thought it was a prank.”
Of course a Grade 4 hunter had no clearance to know exactly how strong the creature was.
He continued.
“I was drowning in debt… Anyone would have done the same. It was the Day of Mutual Prosperity, and… Gaya Group never issued any warning…”
“That’s enough. Who can stop hunters from chasing the scent of money straight to their deaths? Just finish recovering your memories.”
Whether hunters died in dungeons or not was none of his concern as high-ranking personnel.
The real problem was that this incident had flipped the entire world upside down.
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
“At first I thought it was just a normal stench. Dungeons always smell like blood and filth.”
“I know. You said it started that way.”
“Yes. But then the people at the front started screaming and running.”
“Screaming… Was it a breathable toxin?”
“I’m not sure. But… thousands of people were vomiting while they ran… Uuugh… urgh…”
“Nurse! Nurse!”
The official shouted loudly.
A nurse rushed in and placed a vomit basin in front of him.
He emptied his stomach into it.
The official spoke to the nurse.
“Damn it, what the hell did you feed this patient? Shouldn’t you just keep him on an empty stomach and pump him full of sedatives?”
“Sir, this patient is already on the maximum dosage of sedatives. He shouldn’t even be doing an interview right now…”
The nurse replied.
“Fine. This won’t take long. Go on, keep talking.”
He frowned at the green vomit, then quickly turned his head away.
The nurse took the basin and left.
The tanker barely managed to open his mouth again.
“Inside the green fog, I saw a massive shadow. And that shadow… was fighting a monster that looked like a mix between a starfish and an octopus…”
“And then what happened?”
“At that moment… that person finally…”
“…What did Kim Hwang-je do?”
Most people had survived the incident.
But no one had actually witnessed ‘Kim Hwang-je’s power.’
He needed concrete information on that power.
“We were running in every direction, terrified… and that person stood tall at the top of the hill… and then…”
Dungeon Management Window
A hill high enough to overlook the thick fog.
To the right, Jo Chun-ki continued to grow larger, while on the left the sewage golem revealed its hideous majesty.
“Whoa, this feels refreshing.”
Knowing the countermeasure ahead of time made things this easy.
“Ugh… ugh, what an incredible stench mixed with demonic energy.”
Of course, Benedict was the one suffering.
He had drawn his sword and was maintaining a barrier in front of Kim Hwang-je.
Kim Hwang-je glanced at the thousands of fleeing hunters.
They were paying the full price for ignoring his warning.
Watching thousands of people run while crying, dripping snot, and vomiting simultaneously was…
Honestly pretty funny.
“If you’d just left when I told you to, you wouldn’t look like that.”
“Aah… My poor citizens!”
Benedict lamented from the bottom of his heart.
The sight of them running while vomiting was truly pitiful.
“It’s all right, Sir Benedict. If they had gone any farther, they would have died. Vomiting and suffering diarrhea while running away is far better.”
One hundred percent correct.
Kim Hwang-je brushed off his clothes and prepared to fly up on his wrapping cloth when the spirit of Gujiga spoke inside his head.
“Please, Your Majesty! You must not leave like this!”
The gold crown then projected light like a hologram, manifesting the Gujiga spirit before him.
“…You?”
The spirit knelt and pressed its forehead to the ground.
It begged desperately.
“That evil consciousness is different! If it flows into the Korean Peninsula, something far more terrifying than plague, smallpox, or war will occur!”
“What kind of outdated warning is that…? Anyway, I wasn’t planning to leave either.”
Kim Hwang-je checked the dungeon management window.
The two siblings appeared to be heading toward the upper floors.
On the map, their figures kept appearing and disappearing near detection devices.
Since he had set the defense level to maximum, even they would need time to break through.
“Sir Benedict.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“I will protect Korea. Let’s postpone the matter of your two children for now.”
“Since I stepped forward and failed, I will accept any punishment…”
“Don’t be too disappointed. Another opportunity will come.”
“Understood.”
Kim Hwang-je had deliberately stayed back to support the family reunion.
But after a thousand years apart, it was absurd for the children to suddenly side with their parents.
In the end, things had fallen apart as expected.
He pushed tracking the siblings to a lower priority and made dealing with Jo Chun-ki the top objective.
He could no longer dominate or control the man, but chopping off that head alone would cause Gaya Group to splinter in every direction.
Now. Shall we start a prince’s rebellion?
“Go forth, Dirty Cook!”
The golem whose mere presence had sent thousands of hunters fleeing in panic.
Its body made of sewage blocks creaked as it moved, eyes gleaming inside the fog.
It charged across the ground and slammed violently into what had once been Jo Chun-ki.
“Uwooooooo!”
A clash between stench and evil consciousness!
Boom!
When its fist struck a tentacle, the tentacle’s skin tore open and suckers rained down like hail.
“Kaaaaaaaak! Kaaaaaaaak!”
The monster that had been Jo Chun-ki writhed in the stench and rose up massively.
“Aaaah!”
It opened its maw and roared.
The dust and green fog vanished in an instant, revealing Jo Chun-ki’s face.
The tentacles of the octopus that had been Jo Chun-ki tore up the ground and wrapped around the golem.
Thud! Thud!
When the sewage golem ripped away the tentacles coiled around its body, black blood poured onto the ground.
The blood boiled furiously on contact with the poison.
But the golem’s right arm was torn off as well.
The sight of it being crushed between massive serrated teeth looked exactly like a car crusher devouring a vehicle.
Some of the fleeing hunters finally regained their senses and shouted.
“Look at the face! The head! It’s Jo Chun-ki! It’s Chairman Jo Chun-ki!”
“No way, why is the chairman a monster over there?!”
Kim Hwang-je watched the spectacle from the hill.
A thousand-times-larger octopus monster was chewing apart a giant sewage golem.
“…”
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the right moment to bring out popcorn.
It also wasn’t a sight normal people could endure for long.
“Let’s finish this quickly.”
Kim Hwang-je took out the scepter and looked at the bard.
Just how terrifying were the emperor’s mages who had captured and taxidermied a natural disaster to turn it into a magical tool?
“Since the empire’s revival was shattered because of you, take responsibility!”
It was a little embarrassing to call it a spell.
But the effect was tremendous.
“Uuuuuuu…! Uuuuuu!”
The taxidermied natural disaster grew cheerful.
It spun around Kim Hwang-je’s body before flattening itself against his head.
“Ack! It’s cold!”
I’ll take your clothes off for you…
A beautiful voice echoed in his mind.
“Huh…?”
The moment the words ended, every piece of clothing Kim Hwang-je wore was stored inside the trade window.
From a distance it looked as if he were stripping off all his items.
But the black disaster wrapped around his body and covered him completely.
Full-body black tights!
“Ah… The day has finally come.”
He who dresses others in tights shall wear tights.
It was an eternal truth.
Looking down at the hunters running like a herd of wildebeest across the savanna, Kim Hwang-je’s ritual finally began.
The Dance of the Ritual begins!
The Bard embraces you!
“Look, look over there!”
“He’s dancing!”
At first only a tiny fraction of the many hunters noticed.
When the music began, a few more caught on.
When a massive beam of light shone down from the sky like a spotlight and illuminated Kim Hwang-je’s body, a huge number of people finally saw him.
Below that light, the dazzling dance of Kim Hwang-je in full-body black tights unfolded.
Oh my god. Oh my god… This is fun!
Kim Hwang-je gradually fell into a trance.
Before long more and more people had gathered.
The spirits of Gujiga circled around him, dancing together.
Some of the fleeing hunters stopped and watched in a daze.
The shameful naked dance merged with the perfectly synchronized movements of the man in black tights.
As the dance reached its climax, immense power poured out through the ritual.
Purifying the epidemic demon!
The Gujiga Crown now completely belongs to the Emperor.
New Vassal State Added: Guji Village
The former king’s residence of Gaya Kingdom now belongs to Guji Village.
Kim Hwang-je shouted in excitement.
“Olssu!”
Light poured down and tore Jo Chun-ki apart in every direction.
“Stop.”
“Yes?”
“He danced in the middle of naked dancers and light, bathed in spotlights, and the epidemic demon died?”
“Yes…”
Snap.
The official’s pencil lead broke.
This interview had been useless as well.
“Damn. More brainwashing.”
He stood up from his seat.
“W-wait! You’re still giving me the promised compensation, right?”
He offered no reply.
He simply grabbed his coat, put it on, and walked out.
When he gestured, a subordinate waiting in front of the hospital lit a cigarette for him.
“Same as the others?”
“A complete waste.”
“He must be hiding something.”
“Widespread confusion and a brainwashing spell. That man is the real thing.”
“But it’s infuriating. Why would he overlay footage like that? It’s obviously fake…”
“It’s clearly a provocation—find out if you can. How insolent… What’s that?”
The official pointed at the document folder.
“Analysis data from the National Magic Investigation Team. They estimate a thirty-six percent chance that Kim Hwang-je is the main culprit behind this spatial chaos incident.”
“…Thirty-six? Who do they think they’re kidding? What about the brainwashing verification?”
“It still comes back as unverifiable.”
The official sighed and looked up at the sky.
The boundary between this world and the other was growing blurrier by the day.
“Damn it. Does no one actually know why an NPC village suddenly appeared in Hannam-dong? Even with that many hunters there?”
“…”
“Call Deputy Team Leader Lee Min-ah from the Security Agency. We’re opening a hearing.”
“Yes, sir.”