READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 279. Value Is There One Moment and Gone The Next (4)
‘Is it true that on Earth, just being of the same species makes you call someone a friend?’
Despite everything, my curiosity remained intact.
‘Ah right. They think I’m just a Ki-simche possessed right now.’
Why had those parasites from that universe initiated a [possession] exactly at the 8th anniversary of Dungeon Shock?
Or maybe they were mistaking that something-or-other for a Gate Creator instead of a Ki-simche? Or perhaps…
“Hmm.”
Questions were endless, yet the means to erase them were nowhere to be found.
“They don’t even show a change in expression when threatened.”
And sadly, Kang Chang-ho felt as frustrated as I did.
After a brief exchange, Kang Chang-ho realized he wasn’t getting any valuable information from our short chat and helplessly moved the situation forward.
“Looking at this, it might actually be more credible if we were to say a government official was involved.”
He had begun some unnecessary act of performance art.
*
About five minutes had passed since then.
‘A Ki-simche, no matter how weakened, would still be difficult to kill without the right strategy. No wait, if they’re still alive after being tortured like this, then Kang Chang-ho is quite the piece of work.’
While my mind was peacefully developing ideas, I was currently in a body with three more blue nails stuck in it.
There hadn’t been any separate conversations in between, but I could guess that Kang Chang-ho had taken these additional measures to suppress any dangerous elements.
‘Sigh.’
But suddenly being skewered with metal was one thing.
What am I supposed to do about this now?
“……Kang Hunter-nim.”
My pronunciation was half gone due to the nails.
“But… Hunter-nim… how are you still alive after meeting the Gate Creators…?”
I had gone through the effort of correcting the designation of Ki-simche to communicate with Earthlings. The sentence that came back was dreadful.
“If I thought they would obediently answer all my questions, I would’ve been the one sitting there instead of standing here in front of this workbench.”
“…….”
“The various things I mentioned earlier were just out of frustration over these monsters not being able to create a single Gate properly, so don’t give them much meaning.”
Still, I had tried my best to answer all queries, but Kang Chang-ho remained unchanged in his stance despite hearing all those responses.
I couldn’t apologize for this.
Trying to elicit sympathy wouldn’t work either.
At one point, I had even tried to persuade Kang Chang-ho, saying we should collaborate to find the real Gate Creators instead of being like this.
But in response, Kang Chang-ho said that if I wasn’t a monster and was just an ordinary person, then there would be no reason for him to see me as a comrade.
Now it was just absurd.
‘Getting a bit angry here.’
In my mind, I wanted to rip Kang Chang-ho apart.
But realistically, that would be difficult.
If we were to compare our magic power, it’d be like the difference between a raw egg and a rock.
If we were both high-tier mages, it might be different. But fighting with an F-Class resource against this absolute gap in magic power was really tough.
Not to mention, I couldn’t even deal with B-Class opponents at will, which is why I had barely managed to threaten Seonwoo-yeon with a fake result from a scale.
‘Damn it.’
Moreover, counting on outside help seemed futile…
Looking at the fact that Kang Chang-ho had succeeded in the kidnapping, the omitted stages in between were painfully obvious.
Before I was locked in this basement.
Jeong Ha-seong was following government orders while conquering a Gate, and Seo Esther was at the Korean Magic Tower.
Yet I had foolishly assumed that Kang Chang-ho’s hands would reach out to Seonwoo-yeon, so I diverted the Curse Mage’s attention there and everything fell apart.
I had been slow to respond in every way.
The one-room apartment had collapsed in just about seven minutes, how could Esther, who was in Guro District, reach the end of Mapo District in that time?
If it were a specific Movement Artifact called Hayangsae that accelerates well, that would be another story. But it just so happened that there was a stormy weather at that time, which would’ve made it hard for flying magic tools to perform.
‘Looks like Kang Chang-ho also calculated the weather.’
You notice ten things if you see one.
Could someone who had prepared the kidnapping so thoroughly have neglected to set up any tracking measures?
‘Hah.’
I felt drained.
With the rising annoyance, I momentarily thought.
If that’s the case, it seemed I couldn’t expect any support from the outside either. Perhaps, I should just dignifiedly pass away so I wouldn’t fall victim to Enhancement Hearts.
What if the Fourth S-Class of Korea, upon meeting Esther, simply left the message, “Kang Chang-ho has come,” before dying?
Then it would be hard for that kidnapper to function normally in Korea moving forward.
‘Huh.’
But then again, what’s the point of revenge after death?
The emergency escape set in this body is called soul separation, but in reality, it’s hardly different from hitting the self-destruct button. Isn’t that also something?
‘Hmm?’
As all these thoughts ran through my mind.
–Tuduk.
I bowed my head under the binding of the magic tool.
With my refined senses, I was catching on to some anomaly.
‘This is….’
Even an S-Class Hunter, endowed with the ability to handle magic power, and even possessing an additional sensory organ like the Dragon’s Eye, seemed unable to detect it.
‘A Gate?’
The birth of something.
I honed my focus, observing the ground intensely.
Unlike before, now that I had acquired the Dragon’s Lung, I had captured a clear flow that was unlike anything from the Korean Magic Tower highest tier incident.
‘It’s happening.’
Additionally, considering my current situation, how timely was this coincidence?
“Hey, Kim…”
It was just at the moment the other side was about to call someone else’s name after a long while.
I also opened my mouth.
But what erupted from this mouth was not a sound, but a liquid.
“……!”
It meant that the kidnap victim was suddenly coughing up enough blood to flow down their neck.
“What is going on?”
A slow-moving flow of magic, reminiscent of the Baek-ui Maze incident, was rising from below the ground.
Realizing that, I quickly turned off my pain immunity system as if grabbing a lifeline.
And then it felt like my insides were being stabbed with a fire-heated knife.
“Blood is flowing.”
As I could roughly presume from the symptoms, I was currently artificially inflicting an injury akin to vengeance from some sea creature.
The side effects of the infiltrating coral were irrelevant to the termination of the [Protection] effect. My bleeding was not a matter of actual item effects adhering to a natural time limit.
Looking back, my life had been a string of misfortunes.
Having endured such absurdities in my past life, I should’ve been getting a break by now.
I was trapped in an F-Class body right after reincarnation.
Targeted by primitive mages and kidnapped three times.
“Are you planning to die by biting your tongue or something?”
But now.
The opportunity had arrived.
How can a person’s bad luck last a lifetime? Just as proof of the average fluke, finally, an exceptional chance had come my way, and so I emulated the side effects of the divine tree, spitting blood onto the ground.
Through this act, I conveyed a message to them.
Your desired prey is right here.
“……?”
Right on this land, there is delicious nourishment — a substance of life — for you.
If I win their hearts sincerely like this, the Ki-simche adjusting the trap might respond.
“From the inside…?”
As the captured alien began showing abnormal symptoms, Kang Chang-ho approached.
He yanked open the upper lip of what he was hunting to check inside their mouth.
Blood was suddenly rushing from their digestive organs.
Surprise briefly flickered in Kang Chang-ho’s voice.
But that was just for a moment.
“……!?”
Soon, a fresh prey box was completed.
And the trap began to reach out toward the direction it sensed the life force.
*
…When I opened my eyes again, what lay before me was a familiar white space.
‘Done.’
The traps used by foreign invaders won’t devour useless materials.
‘EX-Class.’
During the process of moving into this space, the kidnap victim naturally freed themselves from their restraints.
I lightly loosened my arms that had been stiffened due to the magic tools and scanned my surroundings.
‘It’s neither A-Class nor S-Class. In this EX-Class space, my stratagem can only be speeding up effortlessly. Since he’s swept in with me, all I have to do now is run away without Kang Chang-ho catching me!’
At first, I thought so.
But as soon as I finished adjusting my eyes and properly recording my surroundings…
“……!”
Kim Gi-ryeo’s visual organs read the stone tablet illuminated in the corner of the room. By now, my entire plan was unraveled.
“Wait, no. This isn’t the time to run…”
This place was akin to a distant past.
‘Ah-ha. I’ll kill Kang Chang-ho with the Gate gimmick while I’m at it!’
That’s because I had already experienced a box perfectly identical to this one before.