Ch.204204 – Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil 5

# 204 – Encouraging Good and Punishing Evil # 5

“Over here! Over here!”

Bang-!

I fired my gun again at Cheon Aesu, the monster who had followed us to the third floor of the old school building. It was my last bullet.

Swoosh-!

The bullet tore through Cheon Aesu’s body, splattering blood on the floor. Despite being shot multiple times already, Cheon Aesu approached us with steady strides as if nothing had happened.

“I’ll tear your body to shreds and hang it on top of the church cross.”

He seemed furious at me for continuously shooting at him. It was killing intent. The intent to deny my very existence in this world.

I had never experienced such blatant murderous intent from any ghost, evil spirit, or demon before, which made me feel incredibly sad and afraid.

But in a way, this was all according to my plan.

‘That’s right! Hate me more! Keep chasing me!’

We ran around the third floor in circles, fleeing while luring Cheon Aesu closer to the pond. When he was standing in front of the pond, I shouted loudly.

“Now! Sua!”

“Beam from my eyes!”

Flash-.

Kwon Sua put her fingers in a V-shape against her eyes. Cheon Aesu hesitated at the idol-like pose that made it seem like light was actually shooting from her eyes.

“What the—”

“Now, Juhui!”

“Got it!”

Tadadat-.

Yang Juhui sprinted with all her might while Cheon Aesu was distracted by Kwon Sua. But Cheon Aesu quickly turned away from Kwon Sua and roughly grabbed Yang Juhui with one hand.

Crunch-.

“You brats. How many years do you think I’ve lived? Did you think you could kill me with such a pathetic plan? I am the chosen one. I am an apostle!”

“Urgh!”

Yang Juhui, whose role was to push Pastor Cheon Aesu into the pond, was lifted into the air, her legs flailing.

—Let’s become one.

—You’re with us too.

The swarm of evil spirits clinging to Cheon Aesu reached out toward Yang Juhui.

Just when I thought she was in danger, Dahui lunged at Cheon Aesu.

“Let go of my friend!”

Babababat-! Thwack-!

Dahui’s slender body struck Pastor Cheon Aesu, and taking advantage of the disturbance, Yang Juhui managed to kick the pastor in the head.

“Get lost! You fake pastor! Go to hell!”

Thwack-! With Yang Juhui’s powerful kick, Pastor Cheon Aesu fell toward the pond.

Splash-. I was about to celebrate as he fell into the pond, but he quickly regained his senses and was crawling back to shore.

“Is he the Terminator or what? Just pass out already!”

What now? Since our plan to drop Cheon Aesu into the pond had been exposed, he wouldn’t fall for it easily again. In this urgent situation, I looked at my friends.

It seemed there was only one option left.

“I’ll grab him and drag him down to the depths! You guys block the pond entrance! With stone lanterns or rocks! I’ll take him into level 3.5!”

It was essentially a water ghost strategy.

I thought this was something only I could do. Jeongseok grabbed my shoulder firmly.

“Are you trying to sacrifice yourself alone again? Even if everything goes back to normal, it means nothing if you’re not there!”

“Idiot. I’m not sacrificing myself anymore. I have a plan. Jeongseok, you’re the captain when I’m gone. I believe in you all.”

Pat-. Rather than explaining, I just jumped with all my might.

Then I embraced Pastor Cheon Aesu’s body and sank toward the pond.

Splash-!

“Damn brat! Son of a whore!”

Cheon Aesu struggled violently as I dragged him down into the deep water. At the boundary between life and death, even though we all had immortal bodies, drowning alive was still agonizing.

Of course, I had the trait “Diving Expert,” an enhanced version of the “Holding Breath” trait. It meant I could swim without breathing for about 10 minutes.

When I first received this “Holding Breath” trait, I was honestly disappointed. Back then, I wanted something like a hypnosis app.

But any trait could show remarkable effects depending on how it was used. There hadn’t been a single useless moment in my life so far.

Everything I have.

My memories. My experiences. My future. I’ll use it all to defeat the hero.

“What you’re trying to do is wrong! This power shouldn’t be given to brats like you! I could create a better world! I could!”

Pastor Cheon Aesu kept shouting as we sank into the deep level 3.5 pond. He was saying that he was right and we were wrong.

Maybe he was right. Cheon Aesu just wanted to restore everything to normal, and what we were doing might be the wrong thing. I accepted my selfish self.

“The stories of encouraging good and punishing evil are exhausted. From now on, it’s the era of villains like our pirate crew!”

“What nonsense!”

Graah-!

I held onto Cheon Aesu more tightly as he struggled to reach the shore. Perhaps because water was filling my nose and mouth, memories flashed before my eyes like a montage.

About all the connections I had made so far.

From relationships like Yang Juhui, Jeongseok, Yu Dahui, Bong Jiyeon, Teacher Hong Miri, and Kwon Sua, to those who tormented me like Jeong Sojin and Kim Geonho, and even ghosts like Gu Hyena, villains like Wang Jahyeon and Gong Yerin.

If tomorrow comes for us, the future could change.

There was no rule saying today’s villain couldn’t become tomorrow’s friend.

So at this moment, I decided to bury the hero who was trying to take away our tomorrow.

“Arrrgh!”

I grabbed his pant leg and kept sinking endlessly.

Endlessly.

Above my head, countless stones and fragments of stone lanterns fell. The entrance to the pond we had fallen into was being blocked.

Realizing that I could no longer escape this infinite pond even if I swam, I finally let all the strength drain from my body.

# # #

When I regained consciousness, I was lying in a cave in level 3.5.

“Guaak!”

Only after vomiting so much that it felt like water was being expelled from every pore in my body did I come to my senses. The first thing I thought of was the hero, Cheon Aesu.

Looking around, I saw Cheon Aesu collapsed beside me as if unconscious.

The evil spirits that had been wrapped around his body were no longer visible, perhaps having drifted away in the long pond. I turned my gaze from him and looked around.

Level 3.5.

A purgatory that was neither hell nor heaven.

A place where time flowed 30 times slower than the outside world.

‘How much time has passed since I lost consciousness?’

After opening the door to the fourth floor, the concept of time had become meaningless. The sun never set no matter how long we waited. But for me, who had the “Clock” trait, it was different.

Just waiting would bring in 100P per day due to the effect of the “Rabbit Money Box.” That was how I had been able to perform infinite regressions to save Dahui.

‘If I spend 30 days here, one day passes in the outside world. Then I can acquire 100P. In other words, 30 days here is equivalent to 100P.’

I decided to earn points and endure in this place.

During this process, Pastor Cheon Aesu woke up.

“You bastard! I’ll kill you! Son of a whore! You should never have been born! You fake! Look at what you’ve done! People are suffering, and all efforts have been wasted!”

Crunch-.

Pastor Cheon Aesu strangled my neck, and it was so painful I thought I might die. But I didn’t die. For the same reason Cheon Aesu hadn’t died despite being shot multiple times.

“You can’t kill me.”

After that, Cheon Aesu beat me mercilessly, strangled me, and struck me with rocks. Naturally, I didn’t die.

It was painful enough to die, but I couldn’t die.

‘Is this hell?’

I thought about a place where sinners receive eternal punishment. If there was a world where only hatred and pain continued, it would be aptly called hell, and that’s exactly where Cheon Aesu and I were now.

“I have to go back! I must return!”

Cheon Aesu seemed to have grown bored of beating and trying to kill me. Now, rather than dealing with me, he was obsessed with trying to get back to the outside world.

However, the pond entrance we had come through was already firmly blocked with solid stones, rocks, and cement.

“What’s all this commotion?”

“Who are you?”

At that moment, men in Japanese military uniforms approached us.

The swords and guns in their hands gleamed blue.

“Isn’t it the child of the Tenshoin family?”

“We meet again. How many hundreds of years has it been?”

They were the Japanese soldiers I had met before when looking for Yang Juhui. They all had white beards, looking almost like Taoist sages. When I stared at their beards with curiosity, they said:

“You mean this? At some point, we stopped feeling hunger or the need for sleep. So we endlessly meditated and reflected on ourselves. And we came to understand why we’re trapped here.”

“This place is hell. We committed many sins. How many lives we took with these hands, how many possibilities we destroyed. We…”

The Japanese men were crying profusely.

It was surprising behavior from people who had tried to eat me and Dahui alive before. They even seemed to feel sympathy for me being trapped in this place.

“Boy. It’s unfortunate that you’re trapped here at such a young age. We can’t help you escape, but we can teach you meditation methods to accept time.”

“It’ll be good for passing time endlessly. Sit like this…”

“Like this?”

As I was marveling at their transformation, Cheon Aesu spoke.

“What! Who are you talking to!”

It seemed Cheon Aesu couldn’t see the Japanese men.

This was a natural result, as he was a being who rejected the supernatural from birth. He couldn’t see ghosts or souls, and he couldn’t even see the heaven he so desperately sought, let alone hell.

“Let me out of here! I have a mission! I was born for it! Do you think everything will go your way just because you’ve trapped me here? Nonsense!”

“……”

“There are others who will stop you besides me! I am not alone! I am God’s will! The spearhead of truth! Everything won’t go your way just because you stop me!”

As Cheon Aesu spoke, his eyes were staring into empty space.

His eyes were filled only with darkness. I closed my eyes as well.

“Ahhh! Let me out of here! To grow old and die here without meaning! I have things to do! Let me out now!”

Occasionally when I opened my eyes, Cheon Aesu had aged beyond recognition. I don’t know how much time had passed since we were trapped in this place, but he was definitely being worn down and broken by the flow of time.

“Aaaagh!”

After several meditations, when I opened my eyes, Cheon Aesu, who had once been as impressive as a martial arts fighter, had become a madman making sounds like an animal’s cry.

He had even forgotten human speech and crawled on all fours, digging through everything around him. The sight was both pitiful and chilling.

“Status Window.”

I turned my gaze away from him and looked at my status window.

『Name: Ha Yeongwon Lv.5

Trait: ◀ Click to open

Quirk:

Funds: 1530 Points

Description: In a world where time has stopped flowing, you are a fake who wants to become real. Like a pirate sailing the sea of eternity on the wind of wishes, you’ve unfurled your sails toward danger.』

1530P had accumulated in my status window.

When I entered this place, I had 240P, so about 12 days must have passed outside?

Time in this purgatory flows 30 times slower, so I had spent about 360 days in this cave. Of course, that didn’t matter to me.

I knew exactly what I needed to do now.

「Would you like to spend 100 points to enhance the unique-grade trait “Sloppy Clock”?」

「Enhancement success probability: 10%」

「Upon success, trait will change to “???”」

“It’s time to fix what’s broken and for falsehoods to become truth. Now I’ll forge myself like pure gold through hammering!”