episode_0147

“Do, help…” , request.”

Quick!

Finally, something worth listening to came out.

It’s not the correct answer you want, but it’s barely within the range of the correct answer.

The fact that he still speaks informally, and the fact that he grinds his teeth at the end is also the same.

Part of me wanted to send it back one more time, but I decided to just endure it.

“I don’t really like it, but… “For now, I’m satisfied with that.”

In my life, there is no such thing as an object or ideal situation that I like 100%.

Even if it can be created in the first place, that is a problem in itself.

If you don’t have anything in your hand, the only thing you can aim for is the back of your head.

If I have 90% in my hands, I need to give the other person 100% in their hands to make them think for a moment before targeting my back.

“Then let’s end the battle.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he reset the goal of the 50 fireballs he had prepared as a negotiation card.

Goodbye, tentacle friend.

Although it was only for a short time, our chemistry was the best.

“Sigh.”

Suppressing my overwhelming emotions, I fire a bunch of fireballs at the guy who still hasn’t sent a single tentacle in my direction.

Puff poop!

Pow-!

As the spectacular fireworks display unfolds before her eyes, the masked girl looks with wide eyes at the tentacle monster struggling and dying in the flames.

Wow… .

The masked girl’s neck flutters as she looks at the tentacled monster shedding mournful cries.

By now, you’re probably thinking it was a good idea to ask for help.

You might think that if you had made a mistake, you might have been the one who died in the flames.

well.

What choice would I have made if the masked girl had rejected my offer until the end?

I don’t know either.

After the tentacle monster’s body completely melted, the still boiling fire was destroyed.

As expected, there is an old notebook lying in the place where the dark smoke rises.

“bingo.”

I pick up a notebook that has not lost its original shape even though it is only scorched in a hot fire pit.

Meanwhile, the masked girl suddenly came to her senses and pointed a knife in my direction.

“for a moment.”

“what.”

“That notebook… “You’re not planning on watching it alone, are you?”

I guess he was worried that I would jump out while holding the notebook.

You’re worrying for no reason.

“No way.”

If the purpose of joining hands with her was simply to obtain this notebook, that might be the case.

To be exact, I thought about it to some extent at first, but changed my mind along the way.

Because while killing the tentacle monster, another use for her came to mind.

“Choose.”

“… “What do you mean?”

He waves an old notebook at her, who gives her a very wary look.

“Are you going to watch it together, or are you going to take over after I watch it?”

The masked girl thought for a moment and then opened her mouth.

“We’ll watch it together.”

Then, it slowly approaches me with hesitant steps, and stops walking with about three steps to go.

It seems that I have calculated that the minimum safe distance to avoid an attack in the event of a surprise attack is three steps.

“… Can you see it there?”

“Suffice.”

“Heh.”

I snorted involuntarily at the confident answer.

That woman still seems to be less self-objective.

Why don’t you know that if you set your mind to it, it’s useless to take thirty steps instead of three?

“Then I will unfold it.”

【X month XX day 2XXX】

【I found a tightly closed door deep inside the cathedral I used as a base.】

【I tried to open the door to check where it leads, but failed.】

【I pushed it, pulled it, and hit it hard with a hammer, but there wasn’t a single scratch.】

【We were more concerned about surviving than this door, so we eventually gave up on opening the door.】

【But sometimes, I get curious every time I pass by the door.】

【What on earth is inside there?】

It is a tightly closed door that does not leave a single scratch even when struck with a hammer.

“It looks like I found the answer.”

“I agree.”

“The question is where the cathedral is… .”

“… Uh, um.”

The way he reacts to the question I posed is quite unpleasant.

When I turn my head towards the masked girl, she turns her head to follow me.

“I think it would be best to search separately for now.”

“… “I guess so.”

“Then I’ll go over there.”

The masked girl unilaterally decides which direction I should go and walks away with great strides.

“for a moment.”

The guy stops at my call and turns his back with a stiff, machine-like gesture.

“Is there anything else left to say?”

“okay. What are you going to do with the signal?”

“signal?”

“… “I think sending a signal when you find a cathedral is a duty that must be observed while holding hands.”

“Oh, that’s right! That’s right, um.”

The masked girl continued speaking in a panic, as if someone had been stabbed by something.

“If I find it, I will shoot a large sword energy into the sky. “Then it will look good, right?”

“good. Then let’s set off fireworks here. A large flame similar to the one that engulfed the tentacle monster just moments ago.”

When she spoke in a subtly threatening tone, the masked girl’s spirit faltered for a moment.

But that was only for a moment.

“Hmph, whatever you like.”

He snorts and turns his back.

“Okay then.”

After finishing speaking, the masked girl jumped over the open wall.

She lands on the floor with a lightness that puts the seven-story height to shame, and starts running toward the direction she had chosen without even looking back.

As if someone has already decided where to go.

“… “I should follow along, right?”

At this level, he didn’t just say anything, but he was expressing that he should follow with his whole body.

* * *

The masked girl, who had been running frantically to get even one step further, stopped.

Before her eyes, a building stood precariously, with cracks running like spiderwebs on the exterior wall, as if it wouldn’t be surprising if it collapsed at any moment.

When the masked girl saw the crushed cross under a pile of cement nearby, she finally burst into laughter that she had been holding back.

“Ahahaha!”

The moment she found out that the door to the sanctuary was hidden in the cathedral, she was filled with joy.

When she first came to this place and wandered around without knowing what to do, the first thing she found was this cathedral.

At that time, I felt like the building was going to collapse at any moment, so I only glanced at the entrance, but now I have a reason to go in.

“Whoa… , good.”

She took a deep breath and entered the cathedral.

Just before I entered the entrance, the promise I had with the man who forcefully held my hand came to mind, but I quickly erased it from my mind.

“Hmph, it was an unwanted ally.”

She was an unwanted ally.

In fact, it was difficult to even call it an alliance.

He was only threatened.

If it were a true alliance, she would have kept faith to the extent possible, but there was no place in her to keep faith from that kind of scoundrel.

“Tsk… .”

Still, I felt a hint of remorse, but I quickly shook my head vigorously to erase the thought.

Anyway, he also knows that there is a door to the sanctuary in the cathedral.

Even if you don’t tell him, he will find the way.

However, it just takes longer to find the way.

‘This is the price you pay for insulting me.’

Forcing herself to think that way to relieve the burden on her mind, she entered the cathedral.

The interior is bleak and devoid of any healthy objects, as if there had been an uproar.

She moved forward slowly, keeping her hand on the handle of her sword and wary of the spell.

“It was definitely deep inside the cathedral… .”

The masked girl pauses for a moment and thinks.

Where can I go to reach the deepest part of the cathedral?

“Umm… !”

At that time, I was deep in thought.

A voice that suddenly came out of nowhere instantly relieved her worries.

“What are you worrying about? Of course I have to go down to the basement.”

“That’s right, underground… !”

For a moment, I was happy about the unexpected hint.

Her body and thoughts stiffened as she realized that this was a voice that should not be heard here.

Again and again

The sound of shoe footsteps can be heard clearly.

Kim Do-jin walked past the frozen masked girl at a leisurely pace and then turned his back.

He looked down at her with a dry gaze and opened his mouth.

“Are you ready to pay the price for breaking your promise?”

“Tsk… !”

The masked girl, who was posing as if she would draw her sword at any moment, soon relaxed her posture.

It’s just as he said.

He broke his promise.

Even though it is a partnership that was forcibly entered into through dirty tricks, a promise is a promise, right?

If I hadn’t encountered it, I would have ignored it all along.

However, as I faced it, I had to pay a price.

Because she was not harsh enough to face someone who broke her trust and force them to do so.

“… “I will pay.”

“It’s nice to be cool.”

As a small fireball was created at Kim Do-jin’s fingertips, the masked girl bit her lower lip tightly.

The image of a tentacled monster screaming and dying in a fire pit came to mind and my spine started to tingle.

The fireball that was resting at his fingertips was shot out without warning.

“Sigh… !”

The masked girl closed her eyes tightly.

As I was strengthening my whole body to prepare for the pain I would soon feel, an unexpected situation unfolded.

Pow!

Instead of feeling the pain that should have already arrived by now, he suddenly hears a small explosion behind him.

The surprised masked girl hurriedly looked back.

There, I don’t know when it appeared, a zombie was burning silently.

As I was so shocked and clutching my heart that was pounding, I heard a voice from behind me.

“You only get to see it once.”

For a moment, I was taken aback by the unexpected treatment.

She answered with a firm voice filled with determination.

“… “Keep that in mind.”

She thought.

The man in front of me may not be as bad a person as I thought.

* * *

I think I met an interesting person.

When I told them to pay the price, I never thought there would be a person who would really give up their body obediently.

Is it pure or stupid?

Look at it now.

I gave him a look, pretending to be tolerant, and then I saw that he was leading the way with his back clear, as if he had a strong relationship with me.

“… “At this level, it is a natural monument.”

Suddenly I began to feel remorse.

Actually, I only gave it a look because it still has value… .

I searched the cathedral building and found a passage leading down to the basement.

We arrived at the 4th basement level after removing the large debris blocking the stairs.

A long, windy hallway unfolds before your eyes.

And at the end, an old door can be seen dimly.

“I guess that seems like the final destination.”

“I guess so.”

“I will take the lead.”

The masked girl walks forward as if it were natural.

I naturally followed her.

Finally we reached the end of the hallway.

“Hmm… .”

She asked me as she looked around at the worn-out door in front of her.

“Would you like to go in first?”

I shook my head.

“Go in first. “I don’t mind being next.”

In fact, the reason I brought the girl here was because she had something I didn’t have.

This is the key that opens this door.

Suddenly a thought occurred to me.

I wonder if I can go in through the gap in the door that the person in front of me opened and entered.

Although it seemed highly unlikely that it would work, I decided to give it a try.

You have to lose anyway to get your money’s worth, right?

In order to test the possibility, you inevitably have to give up your turn to the masked girl.

It must have been very touching for her.

“… “I am indebted to you in many ways.”

If you see them making ridiculous illusions.

The illusion of unspoiled beauty feels quite burdensome, but it is completely bearable.

“Pay later.”

“Sure.”

It’s like gaining a small card that can be used against the innocent woman in front of you at the right time.

“Then let’s open it first.”

The masked girl took out the key from her pocket.

As he was about to insert the key into the hole under the doorknob, he suddenly turned towards me.

what.

Did you notice anything strange about me?

Just when the tension was about to rise, she opened her mouth.

“Let’s share a common name.”

“… Tongseongmyeong?”

“okay. “If you want to pay off your debt, you need to know something.”

“So, are we going to exchange names?”

She shook her head at my question.

“No, what we share is each other’s numbers.”

“It’s a number… .”

I don’t mean to suddenly share phone numbers.

The number she was talking about was probably… , I guess it refers to the order in which the ‘one with qualities’ trait is acquired.

If that’s the case, it would definitely be an appropriate way to share information while hiding it.

While I was quietly admiring her, she gave me her number first.

“I am number 496.”

The last number is not much different from mine.

I was expecting it to be weaker than I thought.

So now is it my turn?

“Nice to meet you, number 496. I am… “It’s number 504.”

The moment I gave her my number, her eyes widened slightly.

Why are you like that?

“no way… , That crazy guy during the face-to-face meeting?”

“… Crazy guy?”

Suddenly they say he’s crazy.

Could it be that I’m being treated like a crazy person because of my shocking performance back then?

“For some reason, I thought he wasn’t an ordinary person, but I never thought he would be number 504… .”

Is it my mistake to feel like the word crazy is being used in an indirect way?

She was muttering to herself and continuing to admire, then soon raised her head and spoke.

“Thank you for being lenient with me, number 504. “I will definitely repay this debt.”

Why is it that every time I look at those upright eyes, I burst out laughing helplessly?

“I’m looking forward to it, number 496.”

After a brief greeting with her eyes, she turned around again and continued what she had stopped doing a moment ago.

Push the key halfway into the hole all the way and turn your wrist.

Slam!

The doorknob naturally turns with a sound.

Eventually, the door begins to open quietly without any sound.

All that can be seen through the crack in the door is darkness.

“Then let’s go first.”

After giving me a final goodbye, she pushed herself straight into the door.

The masked girl disappears as if she is being sucked into the darkness between the cracks in the door.

I watch the scene silently, and when the door begins to close, I hurriedly follow her.

I tried to force my arm through the gap in the door.

Teuong!

“ah.”

The darkness that had been sucking me in 496 moments ago pushed me away strongly.

“It doesn’t work either.”

As expected… .

In the end, a damn thing happened.

The hardships were worth it, but instead of looking at the sanctuary, I ended up going back after looking at the old door.

“Ugh.”

I let out a small sigh and took out the camera I had put in my pocket.

This guy has an innocent expression, as if he doesn’t know anything.

“If only he hadn’t eaten the key, he would have been flawless… .”

Ugh.

As I was sighing, Kkumseul, who had been sitting quietly on my palm, suddenly started jumping up and down.

I suddenly raised my head and looked at him, wondering why he was like this, but something surprising happened right in front of my eyes.

The guy’s body, which was as bouncy as pudding, suddenly began to flow down and change its shape.

Kkamsul’s cute and cute appearance disappeared, and what was left in the palm of his hand was… .

“key?”

It was the same type of key as the one the guy grabbed and ate.