Chapter 30 : Manners maketh man (5)

“Where is the hunter you took?”

“Hunterrr…? Ah, that big sister?”

The object, smiling innocently, responded as if it had just remembered.

“I took her to my house! We’re going to be friends forever.”

“Friends, you say.”

“Uh-huh, the mean cultists told me.”

“If I use my powers like this, like this! I can make friends forever…!”

“K-kinsfolk.”

“Jinjo has the ability to command kinsfolk.”

“She’s probably talking about that.”

The Fox Beastkin next to him explained, sweating profusely.

So if it can’t kill them, it binds them in another way.

If there was one curiosity–

‘If we all get tied up like this and can’t clear it, do we just get kicked out?’

That wouldn’t be a good outcome either.

In this era of grand Tower conquests, to be stuck and delayed at this level of stratum.

Wouldn’t it cause immense image damage to the reputation of Do Yoon and other beginner hunters?

Bobbing, bobbing.

The young Jinjo swayed her head left and right, making a gesture as if trying to recall something.

“You know.”

“Right now, I’m feeling so good.”

“Because I really wanted to do it…!”

“To give back the same to the people who hurt me..!”

For some reason, the object deeply hated and loathed the cultists, who were NPCs here.

‘They must have done something wrong.’

He didn’t think too hard about it.

What was before him was the past of the Tower Master, Wine-jwa.

Right and wrong weren’t important; he had to judge based solely on the events.

‘Cultists are evil b*stards.’

Do Yoon ran his thought process according to the manual he got from the Gallery.

“Good job.”

At the praise coming from Do Yoon’s lips, it was the hunters who were surprised.

Praising the object in this situation.

When they were busy thinking about how to escape, he was making such generous remarks.

By now, the two hunters couldn’t help but exchange meaningful glances.

‘This b*stard is crazy, right?’

‘Definitely.’

It was a moment when the hearts of the hunters, terrified and tense, coincided without a single word.

The object, who had unexpectedly received praise, tilted its head and looked at Do Yoon.

“Did I do well?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s strange… All the bad cultists called me a monster.”

“The one who calls others a monster is usually the monster themselves.”

Do Yoon grew up in an orphanage.

His memories of family had turned white like an old man’s hair due to the Gate Break.

Instead, from a young age, he had learned how to handle other young children.

So-called, “elementary schooler whisperer.”

At those words, the smile that had consistently been on young Jinjo’s face vanished.

“Monster…? Those bad cultists are monsters?”

“Of course.”

“That’s strange…? But I’m the monster?”

“I killed them all?”

“They hurt me, so I hurt them back.”

Young Jinjo’s mind became a tangled mess.

An instinct born from malice.

However, she had no way to deal with being praised and looked at normally in this broken situation.

‘Why?’

Without even realizing that the smile had disappeared from her lips.

Jinjo finally took a good look at Do Yoon.

“You know what?”

“Tag is originally more fun with two ‘its’.”

In the midst of the crazy situation, Do Yoon took a step closer to Jinjo with a warm smile.

“Th-th-that…!”

“If you don’t want to ruin everything, shut up.”

Do Yoon, approaching Jinjo, spoke coolly over his shoulder.

This was a moment that required more caution than ever before.

The object was a bundle of variables, the origin of boss monsters, and a tattered rag woven from pain and malice.

In other words, what stood before Do Yoon was a monster wearing the mask of a child.

‘What should I do.’

Leaving behind the hunters who had quieted down at his words, he briefly racked his brain.

The object suddenly appearing was very bewildering, but.

Thinking positively, the need to go looking for it had vanished.

They would have had to meet eventually anyway.

‘Cooperation.’

To clear the Theme Stage, it was necessary to pass through the object’s story, i.e., its trial.

For that, he first had to resonate with her and proceed with the remaining story.

“Here.”

Therefore, Do Yoon willingly extended his hand towards the object.

“Let’s go beat up… no, catch the cultists.”

“That’s strange, so strange… All the other big sisters and brothers said they were on the cultists’ side?”

“….Who?”

“I know everything.”

“That people who want to hurt me like the bad cultists have come in.”

Do Yoon immediately realized the true identity of the ‘big sisters and brothers’ the entity had mentioned.

“Big brother, are you going to bully me like the bad people too?”

‘Hunters.’

It seemed she had already taken a few more hunters before coming to him.

‘To this extent?’

The ability to instantly subdue beginner hunters like himself and then reach his location.

‘Did the balance team all go home?’

It was undoubtedly too harsh a trial for a newbie hunter like Do Yoon to handle.

“Whew.”

Do Yoon refreshed his dimming thoughts.

“Big brother, are you friends with those bad people too?”

An undeniable fact.

Do Yoon was also a hunter like them“

The hunters positioned behind him turned pale with a sharp gasp.

They sensed that the temporary peace was about to end.

Do Yoon’s gaze found the blood-red aura gradually creeping up behind the object.

He could feel it instinctively.

A powerful aura, to an extent that his current self could not possibly touch.

A natural disaster.

The object was literally a disaster sweeping through the Theme Stage.

A deep self-loathing arose at his own predicament, where he could do nothing but struggle helplessly.

It was a powerlessness he had felt several times already, yet he just couldn’t get used to it.

This might have been resentment stemming from his birth, no, from the incident where he lost everything due to the Gate Break that day.

He faced the object that was gradually revealing its malice.

[“Due to the target’s mental interference, ‘Mana Resistance (C)’ activates.”]

[“Failure!”]

As soon as the status window announcing failure appeared, a throbbing headache assaulted him.

Do Yoon faltered for a moment, but soon gritted his teeth, regained his composure, and stood firmly on the ground with both feet.

His mental strength was being depleted in real time.

A dizzying sensation, as if falling into a deep abyss, embraced Do Yoon’s shoulders.

He wanted to exert his maximum abilities right now and devise an escape route, but his rationality barely suppressed it.

‘Can’t escape anyway.’

The opponent was an object that had already easily subdued several hunters.

Do Yoon, once again reminded of the power gap, calmly recalled the conversations in the Gallery.

The advice to side with his past self as much as possible and appease her resentment.

“I want to play together but… I don’t trust big brother.”

Young Jinjo showed a bright smile.

The emotion in her eyes was far from cheerful.

Somewhere between forlornness and emptiness.

Before he could turn his head at the trembling voice, he noticed blood flowing down his chin.

A nosebleed.

It seemed his limit would arrive soon.

Like the other hunters, he would fail to appease the object and be kicked out of the Tower in a kidnapped state.

And after that?

Do Yoon bit his cheek and snapped himself back to reality.

It felt like the world would spin and his legs would give out at any moment, but he forced a twisted smile.

[“Resistance failed!”]

[“Resistance failed!”]

[“Resistance failed…!”]

[“…How dare you, a mere imitation of me, possess greed beyond your station.”]

Amidst the loud warnings of the status window, someone’s voice was heard.

However, Do Yoon had no leeway to care about the unexpected situation.

His gaze still stretched straight ahead, towards the object that was ready to attack at any moment.

A girl with snow-white skin and hair, clinging to a twisted version of her happy past.

[“Attempting ‘Resonance’ with target, ‘Jinjo’s Memory’.”]

The object, about to start hunting again, stiffened at the strange sensation.

Their minds were forcibly linked, and for a moment, their identities became entangled.

“Wh-what!”

A nearby hunter, for no reason, was terrified by the traces of burning mana.

Object and Do Yoon.

A phenomenon that should never have occurred began to happen due to some interference.

-Tiring!

“I… I, huh?”

The mana that had been relentlessly slaying cultists until now escaped the object’s control.

Looking at the object that had become an ordinary child in the blink of an eye, Do Yoon opened his mouth.

“It’s okay.”

He takes a step amidst the raging gust.

With each step, new memories and emotions surged, digging into Do Yoon.

None of them were his own.

The source was–

“D-don’t come.”

Deeply shaken by the unexpected situation, the victim of this whole incident, the girl who had been turned into a monster by someone’s

greed.

“It’s okay.”

Before he knew it.

Do Yoon had approached the object.

“I’ll do it.”

He raises a trembling arm and extends it towards young Jinjo.

“…Hick.”

The terrified girl squeezed her eyes shut.

However, the expected outcome did not arrive.

Only, the touch she had so desperately longed for, now too late, warmly embraced her back.

“Ah?”

In the seeping memories, he acts according to instinct.

Do Yoon embraced the object, feeling as if something was pushing his back.

The sensation coming through his arms was too small and fragile to belong to a murderer.

“You were in a lot of pain and lonely, weren’t you.”

“I’ll do it now.”

He conveys that he will willingly take the object’s place.

Young Jinjo froze, as if broken.

Beyond the distant, distant psyche, she felt something.

Endless experiments, inorganic gazes, the terrifying scenery of cultists who looked not at a life, but at a product.

Behind the dark curtain painted in crimson, she held onto precious fragments of memories that should not be forgotten.

“I’m in pain.”

“Yes.”

“It hurts…”

The monster, nestled in Do Yoon’s embrace, sobbed mournfully, shedding tears like chicken droppings.