Chapter 28: 28

Chapter 28

At a public bathhouse that has been closed for more than 20 years and one where even the residents have forgotten about its existence, an unfamiliar guest can be seen walking in.

Creak–

The tight sliding door opened with difficulty and made a shrill noise. The noise reverberated in the empty interior.

Then a person appeared through the opened door. It was an old man of short stature with a bent back like a hunchback.

“Huu…”

The old man took a moment to catch his breath, wiping off the sweat on his forehead. Soon after, he pulled a large vinyl bag inside before entering the bathhouse himself.

Following the footprints on the dusty floor, he headed to the women’s bath. The vinyl bag rattled up and down whenever it passed over a broken tile.

Then, at some point,

Suddenly, the vinyl bag began to wriggle, and a stuffy moan leaked out.

“Hmph!”

The old man stopped walking and looked around.

Coincidentally, a wooden surgical hammer came into view. He picked up the hammer and struck the vinyl bag.

After repeating it several times, the vinyl bag quieted down again.

Clink–

The old man lifted the vinyl bag using a pulley that was installed on the ceiling at some point.

As he pulled the zipper on the vinyl bag down, a woman bleeding from her head came into view.

Nevertheless, there was still a thin breath coming from her mouth.

After observing the woman’s condition for a moment, he wheeled an iron cart from somewhere.

On top of the cart, a glass tube resembling an incubator for newborn babies was placed.

He carefully opened the lid.

Then, along with white smoke, a cold air that seemed to freeze one’s hands spread in all directions.

“Oh my baby. You must have been hungry, right? Grandpa will cook for you soon, so please wait a little longer.”

The old man looked at the incubator lovingly.

At the end of his gaze was a corpse of a ‘dog’ that was well preserved as if it was still alive. However, it had passed away 10 years ago.

Its name was ‘Pero,’ and it was his only family.

“Ugh…”

At this time, the woman, who was hanging upside down, slowly opened her eyes with a light groan.

The woman and the old man’s eyes met.

After staring vacantly at him for a moment, she widened her eyes and began to struggle hard.

“Hmph! Hm! Hmm!”

“You’re already awake.”

The old man came to the hammer he used a while ago and knocked out the woman who was struggling.

Then, after taking off all of her clothes, he naturally drew magical patterns over her immaculate skin as if it was something he had done countless times.

“Ro ‘Pero’ cks kak.”

A low, ghastly voice resonated.

The woman’s skin that was fresh in its 20s quickly began to shrivel.

Her hair turned white and black liver spots bloomed across her face.

After some time, she turned into a completely dried-up mummy.

And contrary to her, the fur on Pero had a more vivid glow than before.

“I’m so proud of you for enduring it so bravely…You’ll be able to play with grandpa again soon, so hang in there a little more, Pero.”

The old man stroked Pero with a sad look.

His name was Jang Wick. He was a four-circle level necromancer who stole a treasure and fled to Earth a long time ago.

And his current goal was to revive his only family, Pero, by turning it into a ‘living dead’ and have its heart beat again.

He had put in a lot of effort over the last 10 years with only this goal in mind.

Every year, during this period when the yin energy was the strongest, he has been using the stolen treasure to revitalize the corpse of Pero little by little so it wouldn’t decay.

He looked at the ominous-looking mask emitting yin energy next to the incubator.

The cold air of the dead was flowing out from it.

‘There’s not much time left.’

He recalled the ongoing rituals.

He could already feel his heart beating faster, thinking of the day he’ll be able to hear Pero’s voice once again.

But at that moment,

“Keuk!”

Wick sat down, grabbing his chest. The sudden pain made his eyes spin.

‘W-what’s this…’

He soon realized that the ghoul, who had been connected to him, had died.

And the place where the ghoul was currently located was none other than the place where one of the rituals was taking place.

Wick hurriedly checked the mask next to the incubator. The yin energy he felt from it was noticeably reduced.

Pero, who was affected by the yin energy, also had its fur discolored. In addition, it gave off a slight but murky smell as if it was decaying.

“N-no!”

The pure yin energy that was absorbed during this period was the most important force in making a living dead.

He wasn’t sure what the problem was, but if this continues, Pero may decay.

His face distorted horribly.

‘The hell…who is it?!’

But now, rather than anger, he was thinking of a way to solve this problem. He bit his lip.

Soon, he made a decision.

‘Anyway…there won’t be a promise of next year at this rate.’

Originally, in order to avoid the trackers chasing the stolen treasure, he has been saving this method as a last resort.

But now he wasn’t in a position to hide it.

He grabbed the mask and exerted force in his hands.

Then, the forces he had arranged throughout Guangcheng District began to emerge.

* * *

I took the sportswear out of my inventory, put them on, and headed to Pumpkin’s house. Perhaps because it’ll be winter soon, the weather was quite cold.

“H-hero…If you don’t mind, can you lend me some clothes? Even just a shirt…”

Of course, I was the only one wearing clothes.

Thugs appeared several times on the way, but each time, I was able to finish it without difficulty.

After walking for about two hours, we were finally able to arrive in front of Pumpkin’s house.

“T-there’s my house!”

The boy smiled brightly with an expression of someone who had survived a tough ordeal. I smiled along with him and spoke.

“Then hurry inside. Hyung.”

To break another altar today, I had to finish this challenge as soon as possible.

But for some reason, the boy didn’t go straight home. Instead, he stayed next to me and bowed his head.

“Um, thank you so much. Really…I don’t know how to pay back this favor…If hero hadn’t saved me, I would have…”

The boy suddenly started crying with snot running down his face. Then, as if he had come to his senses, he approached me.

“I-if you don’t mind, please come inside for some tea…”

“No. That’s not necessary, so hurry up and go home.”

“You did such a good deed, but you don’t want anything in return…As expected, you’re truly…”

The boy began to drag his words with tears in his eyes again. He kept talking nonsense without proceeding.

I frowned and pushed the boy right towards the fence. But even until the end, he looked back and bowed his head.

“T-thank you. Really, I’ll pay back this favor one day! And if you come here next time…”

“…”

Only after the boy repeated the same words endlessly did he open the door and entered his house.

Why are side quests’ cutscenes so long?

I watched the boy from behind until the end and waited for the Challenge to update.

After some time. No matter how long I waited, the Challenge didn’t update.

What’s going on?

Was there a part that I had missed? I opened my status window to check the condition of the task again.

[Challenge – Guide the Lamb (Chain Quest).]

Condition: Bring Pumpkin to a safe place.

Period: 3 days.

Reward: 1x Random Box (Medium).

– Bring Pumpkin to a ‘safe place.’

I thought it would definitely be his house…

Was this not the place for the quest?

As soon as I thought that, a frightened scream came from inside the house.

“Argh!”

It looks like something has happened.

My reward was in danger.

I ran to the boy’s house faster than I’ve ever ran before. When I kicked the door like I was breaking it down, a man with a ruddy face holding a kitchen knife caught my eyes.

“I’m sure I told you to obey the curfew! Are you making fun of me too?! Just going around with the money I worked so hard to earn!”

“D-dad, don’t do this! Actually, what happened was…”

“You rude punk. Talking back to your father who is as high as the heavens?! This won’t do. I’m going to kill you today if it’s the last thing I do. Stand there!”

The man threatened harshly with a kitchen knife and approached the boy.

I’ve seen enough to understand the situation. I think I just need to kill him.

I approached the father and son pair who were having an altercation.

Then the boy looked at me in surprise.

“H-hero!”

“Who are you? I see! I thought Pumpkin was acting weird these days, so it was you who gave him false hope. You son of a bitch.”

The man walked towards me while waving his knife as if to threaten me. He reeks of alcohol.

Wuung–

I pulled out my sword. An eerie cry resonated in the house.

“H-huh?”

Then the man, surprised to see my sword, stopped in his tracks and faltered.

As soon as I tried to cut off his neck,

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“S-stop. Hero!”

“Huh?”

At the sound of the quest object shouting, I changed my trajectory at the last second and hit the man’s head with my grip.

Boom–

But my Body was 3. The man who was attacked by me fainted on the spot with his head bent.

In fact, I could have stopped if I wanted to, but I just turned it around because it was cumbersome.

“Uh…Uh…”

The boy looked at his father’s figure with a bewildered expression, then he hurriedly ran to him.

And after confirming that he was breathing safely, the boy looked back at me with a sigh of relief.

“Thank you so much for saving me once again…Heuk, Not once, but twice like this… Actually, my father wasn’t like this before, but after my mother left the house…”

There were signs of the boy talking nonsense again. He was unnecessarily talkative.

Cutting off the boy’s words, I asked.

“By any chance, is there a safe place around here, hyung?”

“What? A safe place? Hmm…”

The boy frowned as if he was facing a very difficult math problem.

Everything about this boy was frustrating.

By the time I ran out of patience, all of a sudden, the boy made an ‘ah’ sound and spoke.

“A short walk from here, there’s a person who takes care of children in difficult family circumstances.”

“…Are you sure that’s the place?”

In a place such as Guangcheng District, there was someone who took care of children? I looked at him suspiciously.

I didn’t want to waste my time if it can be helped.

Then the boy nodded with a very trustworthy look.

“Yes, yes! He’s a trustworthy person. Everyone calls him ‘Hairy’ because he has a full beard on his face, and he runs a butcher shop in the next neighborhood.”

“…Hairy?”

A familiar name came out.

Somehow, I felt like I knew who he was talking about.

Well, if it’s that old man, then the condition should be right.

I sighed briefly and told the boy.

“Then I’ll take hyung there for now, so let’s go. I can’t stay here forever.”

“Oh, oh…Thank you. Hero. How can I repay this grace…”

As soon as my head was about to hurt again. Suddenly, the man who was lying on the floor staggered to his feet.

Thinking about it, I put my hand on the handle of my sword, ready to kill.

Since the condition of the task doesn’t say I couldn’t forcefully take the boy away, I can just throw him to mister Hairy’s house somehow.

The father of the boy who woke up looked this way while grabbing his head.

And he…Like a child, blew air into his cheeks and spoke.

“Why do only adults get to play!”

“F-father?”

The man suddenly hung on Pumpkin’s arm with a childish tone, as if he had regressed to an infant.

“I want to play too! Play! Play!”

“H-huh? What’s wrong, dad? Huh?”

“Play! Play! Or I won’t eat!”

A middle-aged man with protruding belly fat was whining.

“…”

I had a thought while looking at the disastrous scene. As expected, I should’ve hit his neck earlier.

* * *

Ko Changsu, ‘Hairy,’ has been cut off from the rest of the world for some time and has been like an abandoned man.

Not only did he risk his life to avenge his son and only for it to be taken away by an unidentified villain, but he also couldn’t protect the child who resembled his son.

‘It’s all because I was foolish…’

After his son’s death, he wasted away each day, drinking alcohol that he had never touched before.

And then, one day.

He found a little girl crying in front of his butcher shop.

Although he didn’t want to care about the world anymore, with the cry that lasted all night, he eventually took action and opened the door.

“Why are you crying here? It’s noisy. Why don’t you go home right now!”

“Heuk…Heuk! M-my mom…”

The girl hugged Ko Changsu’s leg while shedding tears mournfully.

“Huh? Hey, what are you doing?”

“Waaah!”

Thus, Ko Changsu found the meaning of life again. Since then, he has lived with the mission of helping children in need.

He thought that was the only way to atone for the two children he couldn’t protect.

‘My body is still intact, so what have I been doing so far?’

There was still something he could do.

He used all the money he had saved for his revenge and bought a building next to the butcher shop for the children to stay in.

The children, who were alienated in Guangcheng District, heard the rumor one by one and began to knock on his door.

As a result, before he knew it, more than ten children were living with him.

‘I…I guess I’ve survived until now for these children.’

Strangely enough, he thought he had done this for the children, but it was them who ended up saving him.

He felt each day was worth living again. To him, these children were like irreplaceable precious treasures.

But…Now in front of his house, those who seek such treasures have come.

“Grwaar–”

“Keuk! Keek! Kuaak!”

Dozens of people flocked in front of his butcher shop.

No, it wasn’t people. Their eyes were white, and their joints were bent in irreversible directions.

They banged on his home. Each time it happened, the children’s cries would grow louder.

“Waaah!”

“Ajeossi, I’m scared…”

These monsters banged on the door whether their bodies broke or not. The door’s hinge continued to shake.

Creak–

“It’s okay, don’t you trust mister? This old man won’t let a single one of those bastards inside.”

He took out a handgun and held it in his hands to reassure the children. But inside, he had lost all hope.

‘It won’t hold out much longer at this rate…at least the children…’

The moment he had such thoughts,

Creak!

‘?!’

Finally, the flimsy hinge fell off.

“Graaawr!”

“Keuraak!!”

Through the gap, the monsters tried to push each other’s bodies in. He intuitively aimed his pistol.

Bang–!

Bang–!

.

.

.

He fired his pistol at the monsters trying to climb the stairs.

Sparks flew in the dark interior.

Fortunately, it was effective and the monsters in front of him fell. But more continued to flood in, and as a result…

Click–

Click–

All the bullets eventually ran out. His face became colored with despair.

‘Ah…Then these kids…’

He prayed to God.

Don’t take these kids again. Otherwise, he’ll really curse God even in death.

What did these children do wrong…?

“Fuck! Isn’t this too much?!”

His voice, full of resentment, spread through the night air. At that moment,

Wuung–

An eerie cry came from somewhere. And,

Swish–

A smooth cut whistled but no wind could be felt. At the same time, something fell to the floor.

Then the sound immediately resumed without stopping.

Swish–

Swish–

.

.

.

After some time, all the voices from the monsters surrounding the area disappeared.

‘What the hell happened?’

He slowly went down the stairs in a very nervous state. One step after another.

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And when he finally came out of the building, a voice he had longed to hear came into his ears.

“It’s been awhile, hasn’t it, ajeossi?”

He slowly looked around. Then, a child with a big smile who he couldn’t protect a long time ago came into view.

== Translator’s Note ==

1. Please report any typos, grammatical/spelling errors, sentences you find weird, and other etc…in the comment section.

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