Chapter 11: Chapter 9: To Listen (3)

[Ugh, why is there an earthling like you in existence?] The Dokkaebi wanted to go back in time and throttle its past self from even appearing when the words "star channel contract" were uttered.

As for me, I was feeling pretty cheery from getting a huge discount on the items in the Dokkaebi bag.

As per agreement, the ratio of revenue was 4:6, with me only getting 4, but in exchange, the Dokkaebi had to pay 90% for one of the items from the Dokkaebi bag that I chose per day. Of course, it had to be in the range of what the Dokkaebi could pay, but still.

"It's too late to regret." I finally felt like my irritation was vented as I laughed uproariously with rosy cheeks.

In my hand I held an item I normally couldn't get with my measly allowance of coins. This was why I persevered in going through with the contract in the first place, despite not needing one to open the Dokkaebi bag.

[Summoning Bell of the Dead.]

Price: 8 451 coins

Rating: C

Use: A powerful bell that can resound to all areas of the scenario/dungeon. All undead and ghost related entities will not be able to resist the call and appear. Be cautious however, as there is no telling if the ones summoned will wish to communicate.

*Can only be used once in every scenario/dungeon

Ah, but now there will be constellations questioning how I knew about these contracts. My mood plummeted after thinking of the possible consequences resulting from my impulsive actions.

Shoving the possible consequences into the back of mind for the future me to deal with, I studied the bell, tracing over the engravings absentmindedly to prevent my motivation from falling even further.

Up on the building, with the wind whistling, I watched the countdown and mouthed as the seconds ticked down.

"0." I mumbled, and a new notification rang out.

[Stage transformation will now begin. Restrictions on ghosts have decreased.]

Memories from another time overlapped with the surroundings of this time, bringing with it the familiar view of a flooded Seoul, like it was Noah's Ark disaster at the end of the world.

But I guess the truth isn't far off, because we were breathing in a dying world overtaken by the greed of the star stream.

I looked absentmindedly off into the distance, wondering if Lee Jihye and Na Bori were ok, and then to my family.

Moving according to the plan, I took the bell and rang it.

-gong, gong-

With the bell as an epicenter, invisible sound waves pulsed outwards until every crevice of the flooded Seoul was reached.

[...Summoned?]

[Who are you?]

[Are you the one who called us?]

Before I was aware of it, shadowy figures appeared in the skies around me, peering downwards curiously.

I gulped at the sheer quantity. Would they hear me out? 

In the previous run, focused more on survival, I hadn't taken the time to really look at the scores of ghosts, but the amount gathered before me was more than I had imagined.

"Yes, I called you here to talk - well, more like listen," I rephrased my words, drumming up my courage as I pushed my voice to be the loudest it could be. Once I started, it wasn't so hard to keep going.

"I met a few kids back in the National Folk Museum of Korea, and I played with them and then listened to their stories. I won't say that I can understand you, because I'm not that conceited. Still, I can be a listener for anything you wanted to say but never got the chance to."

My hands began shaking, and my achievement spoke up with me in comfort.

[The achievement, "The dead one's listener" is waking up.]

As the achievement disseminated among the ghosts, they started reacting.

[You will...listen?] There was confusion in one of the ghost's voices.

[It's been so long since someone has remembered us.]

[I wonder if my friends that I saw before I died made it through the scenarios?]

The ghosts began to whisper amongst each other. As the fervor grew, the scenario began to prompt in their stead.

[Restrictions on ghosts have been lifted.]

That got the ghosts' attention as they quieted down. Some ghosts stepped forward, a spokesperson for the various other ghosts.

[Alright, we don't have much time.]

[Yeah, the scenario has been trying to force us to do things we don't want to do.]

[It kinda feels uncomfortable, so we're not sure how far we can endure it.]

The drifting sparks building in intensity after the notification rang out as proof of their words.

[Do you really want to listen?]

I looked at the talker weirdly. When I thought back to the feeling that I wished to claw my chest out in dread after the scenario, my choice was definite.

"Yes." It was a simple answer that sealed the deal.

When I looked at the ghosts, I thought I could make out a modicum of joy, relief and hope. My heart ached at that, because it really hit home the fact that they were trapped in this vicious cycle of a dungeon scenario with no one to comfort them except themselves. There was solace in numbers, sure, but it all ate their spirits when they realized there was no salvation, no one to remember them.

They were stagnated, unable to pass on in peace, nor struggle to live. There was no one with answers to their regrets, no one to hear them, and that became their chain to lock them.

[As we said before, there isn't much time, so we're going to have to use a really quick method.] 

[This is gonna feel weird, or maybe so painful that you wished you were dead?] One of them chucked in a mirthful voice.

"What do you mean-" I was alarmed by the contents of the words, but didn't get to finish my sentence before a cold body passed through me.

Through that, the unfiltered feelings and story flowed through my veins. I couldn't help but stagger at the onslaught.

[We were really happy you said you wanted to listen to our stories, so please endure.] This voice was a little timid, and then another story entered my senses.

I could barely recover when the ghosts began passing on their stories in twos, and then threes. They didn't stop.

A father looked at the daughter he loved in despair and whispered, "Please forgive daddy. Daddy had no choice."

When the daughter looked at her body being mauled by beasts as a ghost in bewilderment, she asked, "Why? Didn't you say you loved me most in the world?"

In another story, a 14-year-old boy smiled at his crying friend, "You're tears are hurting me by getting into my wounds. Take care of Simon for me, won't you?"

In the first scenario, he sacrificed himself so his friend could live.

I collapsed on my knees, weak from the intense emotions and parading memories. That ghost was right. In the spurts of thought that made it through my slipping sanity, I felt like I wanted to die on the spot to end my misery.

But a feeling, an obligation, to read to the end of the story, keep me going. This weak flame let me continue.

[Do you want to take a break?] One of them asked, now a little concerned. It was a warm gesture if not for the fact that they were the ones bringing me to my knees, and that I brought this upon myself.

I barely could hear the words being spoken. But as they registered in my spinning mind, there was only one answer.

"No." I spoke so lightly it barely came out.

"K-keep going. I can do it." I strengthened my resolve to endure until the end. If I could read to the end of that novel of misery, why couldn't I take this one?

The ghost which I could now make out as a girl my age still wearing her school uniform looked at me a little longer, as if wanting to remember this moment.

[Thank you.]

And then I continued as I lived through their stories, to remember each one and listen to their untold words.

One more. Just one more. I can do it.

The waving ghosts that looked so serene as they dispersed into golden particles encouraged my efforts.

For an untold amount of them, this continued, but the scenario would not let a person disrupt its intended end, nor would the star stream let it be.

[d det ec t e d r uin a tio n of sce ^ 0. C an ' t le t pr o c ess c0n t^n ue]

There was a boy in the sky whose words came out bizarrely, like some sort of garbled mess of words and sounds entering the ears to the heart.

His hair drifted in the wind, and the dark obsidian eyes looked like it sucked in all light. Bruises and cuts were held together with bandages over the exposed parts of his body, and he was wearing an white trench coat too big for his size.

As a soundless scream broke through its lips, I felt like my heart was breaking into pieces along with it, the reality around me shattering like panels of glass.

When I blinked and looked up, an unknown presence had descended in the boy's place.

[The 7th grade demon, "Incomplete lich king" has descended into the scenario!]

Enduring the continuous discomfort and pain as the ghosts continued to pass their stories on, I continued to crane my neck up at the skeleton clothed in an expansive cloak and holding a scythe in their hands.

My heart beat faster.

Not only was the appearance fear inducing, I knew what such a creature here meant. Even in my thought possibilities of how things could go, I did not predict this.

I was screwed.

"Yanar skarr." Otherworldly language rasped out of its mouth lacking lips and tongue to speak, and the ghosts that still hadn't gone through the process of passing on their stories suddenly clutched their heads and writhed.

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They tried to overtake the command being instilled into them by a being of a higher level, but it was no use.

[R-run.] They turned to me and pleaded in a last ditch struggle before an ominous aura burst out from their bodies.

The malice I couldn't feel before suddenly exploded in my face, and cold sweat dripped down my nape as a result.

[The Ghosts have entered a Berserk mode!]

[Time remaining until end of scenario: 5:00]

There was no way I could survive for five minutes in this kind of situation.

As the ghosts approached and screeched without a trace of consciousness, all the blood in my body ran cold. Fear of death breathed itself down my neck, and I couldn't help but regret everything I did, even if only for this moment.

[The constellations are on the edge of their seats at the turn of events!]

[Lily Blooming in Aquarius is worried.]

Oh. The constellations were still here.

[Sorrowful Heart of Silver is looking at you.]

Along with this message was a voice that I thought I would never hear.

"HEEEYYYYY!" "FIRRREEEE!"

The world shook as the ghosts in-front of me were blasted into smithereens.

And then a ship swerved into view, and atop it was a frantic-looking Lee Jihye and Na Bori.

As I watched with wide eyes as Lee Jihye dismounted and strode up to me, she gave me a big smack to the back of my head, snapping my head downwards.

"You son of a- What kind of 'I'll be back' shenanigan is this?!" Lee Jihye bellowed out, "Are you happy now?! Happy to sit your a** down here in trouble? Why didn't you call us? F***, you don't consider us as friends?"

Fully enraged, Lee Jihye spat out profanity after profanity, not forgetting to order the cannons to fire from the meantime.

I felt indignant at first being the source of curses, but soon became disoriented.

They considered me as a friend? Me? And they were mad at me? Because they cared? They risked their lives for me? I didn't get it.

Their sincerity burned me and weighed me down, because I felt like I didn't do anything worthy for it.

As I was hauled up the ship still out of it, I earned another smack to the back of my head by Na Bori.

"S***! Don't ever do that again, stupid. Next time, we will go together." Looking relieved and more refreshed, Na Bori also activated her stigma to combat against the possessed ghosts.

"...How did you find me?" It wasn't what I wanted to say, but it was the first thing that came to mind, so I just blurted it out.

"My sponsor said it. Man, if it weren't for them I would never have known what happened to you-" Lee Jihye was looking livid right now, so I subconsciously brought my hands up over my head because it looked like she was going to smack me again. 

[The Maritime War God nods his head and says your actions were foolish.]

Something else suddenly came to me. "Wait, I still need to talk to the ghosts!"

Both Na Bori and Lee Jihye looked at me like there was something wrong with my head.

Well, they were attacking without discretion, after all.

"I had an agreement with them. I would listen to their stories. It's not their fault they're attacking like this." Trying to speed through my words in one breath, I took in a deep one and pointed at the incomplete Lich King.

"It's that guy that's making them berserk."

"So?" Na Bori looked at me like she could care less in this life and death situation.

"I need to get rid of him." I bit my lip in stress. How could I defeat that guy? Even if we all went together…but I didn't want to drag Lee Jihye and Na Bori into danger just for my selfish request, now more than ever after how sincere they were with me.

"Ok, let me carve out a path then! Just sit yourself down and look, Lee Jihye's coming through!" But without hesitation, Lee Jihye charged through the throngs of ghosts, explosions ever eminent towards the Lich King still commanding the ghosts.

[The Maritime War God approves incarnation 'Lee Jihye's' bravery.]

[Lily Blooming in Aquarius is screaming at the stuffiness being shoved down their throat.]

"There's an amulet located on them somewhere that binds their soul to the physical world! If we can destroy that, it'll be gone!" I shouted over the wind at my companions.

"Got it!"

They answered back as the waves propelled us forward at an astonishing speed. It felt like the sea was on our side.

[The Maritime War God has spent some probability and has exited the stream temporarily!]

I felt touched at how far the Maritime War God spent for their incarnation even in such a small scenario to the history-grade constellation.

We were closer, but the incomplete Lich King had noticed the threat and manipulated the ghosts to slow us down as it chanted its spell.

Above its head spun a complicated spell formation slowly being written into existence.

"We can't let it finish!" I shouted in alarm, but my companions still couldn't reach the retreating figure, much less me who was dead-weight at this juncture.

Darn it, what can I do? Nothing. I berated myself.

But just as I felt like we couldn't make it, another plot device appeared.

[Lily Blooming in Aquarius is saying to D*mn it all to H*ll and has spent some probability, exiting the stream temporarily.]

[The other constellations are shocked!]

Our ship fleet was glowing a pure white aura, humming sonorously like a beacon in the dark as the ghosts failed to block our way.

Unimpeded, along with the blessing of an archangel and the sea, we reached the incomplete lich king.

It was startled, but it was too late.

[Stigma, Inspiration lv 1, is strongly activated!]

And then, blood leaking out her nose, Na Bori pushed past her limits.

[Stigma, Inspiration lv. 2 is activated!]

"Jihye, its waist!" Na Bori screamed out.

Boosted by the stigma, Lee Jihye leapt out with her sword drawn, avoiding the smaller spells the incomplete lich king hastily conjured in its panic.

I held my breath at the beautiful scene as Lee Jihye swiped her sword across the creature's waist, bisecting it in half along with the shattered amulet.

"KUARRRR!" The incomplete lich king screeched, and then its reaches to the physical world was cut. It wasn't dead, but it could no longer remain in the dungeon scenario.

I didn't stand around to confirm the incomplete Lich king's exit as the ship rushed forward to catch Lee Jihye.

"Quickly!" I shouted to the ghosts. When you help a person, you should see it to the end.

Recovering their senses, they swiftly swarmed over by the bunch, and I groaned at the sensations I could never get used to.

[0:05]

"!" I could hear Na Bori and Lee Jihye exclaim.

[0:04]

The scenes of death trudged on, feeling far longer than the seconds.

[0:03]

I blinked furiously, trying to see how many remained.

[0:02]

Only a few remained. We would make it.

[0:01]

Oh, but I felt so faint. It should be ok now, right? I needed to rest.

[0:00]

[Congratulations! You are the first to clear the hidden dungeon, 'The Other Side'! 1000 additional coins have been earned for the achievement.]

[You have obtained 2000 coins, Dispel Evil lv. 1 and Mental Fortitude lv. 1 as the clear reward]

[You have gained the legendary achievement, "Listener Liberator of the Forgotten"!]

[The hidden dungeon, "The Other Side" can no longer continue to operate.]

[Skill, Overwrite, has succeeded.]

[The star stream has stirred.]

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