episode_0021

“Wow! Let’s see if there’s an event at the store!”

“That’s right. It’s very fancy.”

“Does it look nice? It’s cool.”

Seeing the fingers of the store owner and customers flying, Heo Sae-ron, Eun No-eul, and Kwon Gyeong-gu all exclaimed in exclamation and clapped their hands.

Of course, I also applauded with my mouth open while watching the event.

I have never seen anything like this in my life!

I felt like I made a good decision to come to this store.

“Ugh, uhuh…”

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Suddenly, I tilted my head when I saw the store owner shaking and holding his hand.

“Where does it hurt?”

“Are you okay? Should I call an ambulance?”

“Geugh, gyeong…Gwae, it’s okay, it’s okay~”

With a face that was half goat and half human, distorted by burns, and a polite smile like a gentleman, he sweated and held my finger.

“Hey, here! It’s a finger dipper!”

“Wow~ Looks delicious!”

“Well, this is my first time seeing alcohol like this.”

The liquor, made simply by putting your finger in the soju bottle and shaking it a few times, boasted a subtle color and luxurious blood aroma like wine.

“Would you like to have a drink?”

“Ah! Before that, let’s order some snacks!”

“That’s right. I forgot about it because of the event. Uhm…”

“Please make the menu you ordered first and then order it~ That’s the rule~”

Seeing the store owner speaking with a very reluctant expression, we nodded and closed the menu.

I don’t know why, but it was because what he said felt natural and right.

“What did you order? Saeron was the bone holder, Noeul was the finger holder, and Gyeong-gyeong was the tongue holder?”

“That’s right! Oppa, you have a good memory!”

Feeling good about Saeron’s praise, I shrugged my shoulders and shouted excitedly at the store owner.

“I’ll provide the rest of the ingredients!”

“Oh! Oppa, you’re cool?”

“Ahaha. You don’t have to do that…is it okay?”

“It’s my welcome party, so we should at least provide alcohol!”

“Then I will drink it gratefully.”

“I’ll drink it well! Oppa!”

I smiled at the women who expressed their gratitude and held out my hand to the store owner, who seemed somewhat embarrassed.

It was his right hand, the index finger of which had just been cut off.

A mirror of resentment was shining on the back of my hand, and I don’t know why it was like this.

This guy is going crazy all the time.

“Now, cut off one more finger and bone it.”

“Ah~ Everything, the marinade! You have to use the ingredients of the person who ordered it!”

“Huh? Was there a rule like that?”

I had never seen or heard of this store’s rules, but somehow I knew he was wrong, so I asked to confirm.

“Yeah, that’s right! That’s right~”

The store owner nodded as if it was natural, but strangely he couldn’t accept it.

“Hmm…? My head hurts a bit for some reason…”

“Me too…why are you like this?”

“I have a strange feeling. I feel like I should ask for something.”

At that time, the companions complained of headaches or tilted their heads with uneasy expressions.

“……”

The store owner kept his mouth shut, sweating coldly and rolling his eyes.

As if afraid of something.

“Bone, I’ll make it for you! I’ll cook it myself! I’ll give it to you!”

“Huh? Is that okay?”

“Huh? My headache is gone!”

“Really? It’s fascinating.”

“Well, the strange feeling is gone too.”

shaking!

The store owner, who aimed his hand with a blood-stained and rusty Chinese sword, trembled for a moment, then closed his eyes tightly and swung the Chinese sword.

Suddenly! Sigh!

“Ahh, ah…!”

“Wow, it’s pretty~”

“That’s great.”

He screamed in pain, removed the bones from his hands, dipped them in soju, and shook them.

“Hey, here! It’s bone soaking liquor!”

“Wow! It looks delicious!”

“That’s right, it’s nice to see the wine-like color with the pure white finger bones taking center stage.”

“Let’s quickly make drinks and serve snacks!”

“What happened next? Was it tongue and fingers?”

“That’s right! Whose body do you want to use as the next ingredient?”

“I’ll do it.”

Since it wasn’t against the rules, I held out my hand.

“Now, please cut it quickly.”

“……”

The store owner, who was silent for a moment, rolled his eyes.

“Krrr…”

“Whoop, whoop…!”

“Kyaaa…!”

For some reason, all the customers in the store were looking in this direction and breathing heavily.

No, more precisely, while looking at the store owner.

“So, finger dip judo! I’ll give it to you!”

“Wow! Really!?”

“The service here is good! I’ll come again next time!”

Pop!

Since one of the shopkeeper’s hands was missing, he used his mouth to tear off his remaining fingers and turned them into a liquor bar.

“I’ll keep my tongue. I also lost a bet with Saeron.”

“Oh! That’s right! I completely forgot!”

“Now, cut it quickly. Beeh~”

When Hyeong-gyeong stuck out his tongue, the store owner swung his Chinese sword at him without hesitation.

Taean!

“Yes…?”

However, surprisingly, his tongue easily withstood the blow from the Chinese esophagus.

“Geek! Giik! Giik!”

Tang! Taean! Sigh! Kwasik!

After the store owner exerted all his strength and swung his Chinese sword several times, his tongue was roughly torn off.

“Eup! Eupeup!”

Although blood was pouring out, Gyeong-gyeong smiled and showed his tongue.

Crack! Pop! Coughing…!

“Oooh?”

Surprisingly, countless plant root-like things sprouted from his tongue. It instantly took the shape of a tongue and soon changed its texture and color as if in mimicry, turning into a normal tongue.

“What kind of power is that?”

“Ahaha! Is this your first time seeing Han-gil? Oppa Gyeong-gu is a tree man! He’s very strong and doesn’t die easily!”

“Wooden man? Does he have such abilities? That’s fascinating.”

“Hmm… Actually, it’s a bit vague to call it a supernatural power. It’s an aftereffect of being eroded by a supernatural entity.”

“corrosion…?”

“I’ll explain later. Oh, for your information, Saeron here is also a victim of erosion. In other words, the only truly talented people on our team are the team leader and you.”

I couldn’t figure out what erosion was, but looking at the nuance of the words, it doesn’t seem to be an ability that he and Saeron acquired because they wanted to.

“Are there no such thing as innate psychic powers?”

“It’s not like there are none. However, the number is really very small.”

“okay…”

As I was twitching my severed finger, the store owner handed me a menu.

“Now, please order food.”

“Wow! Finally!”

“What do you all want to eat?”

“Hmm..I think thigh steak looks delicious.”

Braised finger meat, thigh steak, teppanyaki grilled intestines, sashimi eyeballs, bone marrow cream spaghetti, bone marrow soup, etc.

It was full of food that looked delicious just by looking at its name.

“I love offal teppanyaki!”

“Then shall I do the eyeball circuit?”

“I have thigh steak.”

“Hmm…then I’ll have the bone soup with spine.”

Heo Sae-ron, Eun No-eul, Kwon Gyeong-gu, and I decided on the menu in that order, and the store owner nodded.

“Well then, now let’s start the game of robbing materials.”

“Huh? A game?”

“It’s a game?”

We all tilted our heads, but the store owner continued talking regardless.

“Duel events will be held with mutual consent.”

“Uh oh…”

“It’s sudden…”

We all tilted our heads at the unexpected situation, but soon realized that it wasn’t a violation of the rules and nodded.

I don’t know how I knew, but I figured it out anyway and it didn’t feel unnatural.

“Well, great! There should be an event like this!”

“Sounds fun! What kind of game is it?”

Heo Sae-ron and Gyeong-kyung accepted it with a smile, but I was looking at the store owner with an uncomfortable expression.

When I glanced back, I saw that Eun No-eul was also making the same expression.

“Hey. If there was such a rule, shouldn’t you have told me a long time ago?”

The store owner laughed at my words.

“No, even if I show it, it’s not against the rules~”

“Uhm…”

It definitely feels that way.

Rather, it feels like ‘knowing the rules’ is normal in this restaurant.

In other words, we are abnormal.

I don’t know why the situation turned out like this… Anyway, I sighed because I didn’t break any rules.

Eunno-eul nodded as if she understood, but her uncomfortable expression remained the same.

“Whoa, okay. So what game are you going to play?”

“The game is not played with me~”

As the store owner said that and took a step to the side, people sitting at other tables stood up as if they had been waiting.

“Me first! Me first!”

“What are you talking about? I was targeting you from a while ago!”

“Everyone get out! If you don’t want to die, get out!”

We opened our mouths in surprise as guests of all strange sizes and appearances came rushing in.

“Wow! This store is really fun!”

“I see. I guess this is the kind of store it used to be. It’s cheerful.”

“Sometimes things like this are fun. Are you looking forward to it?”

While Heo Sae-ron, Eun No-eul, and Kwon Gyeong-gu were saying a word, a large monster who had pushed away all the others stood in front of us.

He was limping on one leg and had a pig’s head, and his appearance reminded me of an orc from a fantasy world.

“That guy over there! Let’s arm wrestle with me! And give me your thigh!”

The man who challenged Gyeong-gyeong, who ordered ‘thigh steak’, brought a chair and sat down at our table.

He is truly a gentleman.

“Oooh! Okay! Let’s have a fight!”

As if influenced by the cheerfulness and politeness, Gyeong-gyeong smiled and held out his hand.

“Start, do it, do it.”

“Whoop whoop!”

“Hmph!”

Good!

With the store owner’s meaningless and languid start signal, the table began to scream as the two people put pressure on their joined hands.

“W-what…!?”

The clash of forces that seemed for a moment to be antagonistic soon began to tilt to one side.

“Wow! Oppa Gyeong-gu is good!”

“Hehe. There’s no way Gyeong-gu is losing in strength. It’s not like he’s exercising with form.”

“wow…”

Brother Gyeong-gyeong was leisurely handing over the arm of a human who was three times larger than himself.

“That’s ridiculous…! That’s ridiculous…ugh…!”

Quang!

The large man held on with all his might, but the back of his hand ended up touching the table.

Next moment.

Damn it! Wow!

“Kwaaa!?”

The man’s remaining thigh was completely torn off by an invisible, intangible force.

It was a mysterious sight, as if an irresistible force had intervened.

“Cooking, let’s start.”

The store owner started cooking it right in front of my eyes.

The fragrant smell, like grilling pork, is amazing, and I’m really looking forward to the taste of the steak.

“Next! I’m next! Give me your eyes!”

“Spinewoooo! Give me my spine!”

I wanted to watch them cook, but unfortunately our table was too popular.

“Me! Me too! I want to play games too!”

Heo Sae-ron was jumping up and down and waving his hands, but perhaps because her presence was so faint, the guests were only sticking to Eun Noeul and me, begging us to play games with them.

“I’ll do it first.”

“Kihehehe! You’ll compete with me by crying! And give me your spine!”

As I stepped forward, a man with no spine and his upper body touched the floor stepped forward.

He had a bird-like head, and even though he was standing on two feet, his back had curves that could not have been so cool.

“What’s the point of crying?”

“Literally! If you knock the opponent out with your cries, you win! Then let’s start with me! Ki-e-e-e-e-ek!”

I wasn’t even ready yet when he started screaming at the top of his voice.

It was strange to see him screaming with his head on the floor because he had no spine, but the scream was quite powerful.

“Ugh…!”

“My ears hurt…!”

“Gyaaagh!”

“Uuuu…!”

All the guests, including our group, frowned and covered their ears.

“Ugh…!?”

I couldn’t understand why they could only react that way.

The moment I heard that scream, my head started pounding and my internal organs shook as if they were being shaken.

Not only that, but I quickly felt dizzy and the blood drained from my face.

“Ugh, keuuuh…!?”

Blink blink.

Eventually, the vision blinks, signaling loss of consciousness.

“─Eeee! Cough! Cough! Cough! Damn it! I can’t control it properly because I don’t have a spine…!”

“Kuuu!

When his shouting ended, I was barely able to come to my senses.

It was dangerous.

I almost passed out.

“Hehehe…then it’s my turn now, right?”

I received something really nice as a gift, so I guess I should give back what I received.

The Mirror of Resentment spewed out an ominous flame as if it wanted something, but it consciously suppressed it and drew a smile of conversion.

“Hehehe! That’s right! Try as much as you can! A human has to scream to know how loud it is…”

Wow! Whoops! Damn it!

As strange-looking snouts appeared from various parts of my body, his mouth… no, his beak closed tightly.

“Now, sleep…”

He tried to say something, but the grotesque mouths sucked in the surrounding atmosphere as if it were creating a vacuum and howled without hesitation.

“Kkkk!!”

“Kkieee!”

“Kyaaa!”

“Kwaaah!”

A terrifying sound that shakes the entire store.

“What!?”

“Aaaah!”

“Cough!”

“Grrr to!”

Guests who are severely shocked fall down, bleeding from their ears and mouths.

Of course, that was the same for my companions as well.

This is because this scream was not something that could cover up Pia.

“…uh?”

And I came to my senses.

As if waking up from a dream.