episode_0040

Sukgeok

After slashing one of his legs with a sword, he questioned the man again.

“This is the end.”

The man screamed in agony, but soon shouted as he sensed his impending death by looking at his own mangled body.

“Damn it… anyway… even if I speak, I’ll die. Because of the branding magic, I’ll die the moment I speak!”

Unable to endure the pain any longer, he revealed his biggest weakness and was left with nothing but a man.

If he couldn’t answer, he was worthless to Macderas.

Macderas changed the question.

“If you could have taken those kids, what would you have done? You can at least say that much.”

“You’re asking because you don’t know? Of course, I would have taken them to use them as leverage!”

He forcefully stomped on the man’s mouth. As a result, the man, perhaps sensing his own death, began to scream until the end.

“Don’t act noble… You’re just a mass murderer in the end. The worst mass murderer who killed not only his own people… It’s ridiculous… leaving so many people behind, yet cherishing your own people so disgustingly…”

Using magic, Macderas cut off the man’s breath. Eventually, the man disintegrated in mid-air, leaving no trace.

“…”

In front of the dead man without even a corpse, Macderas silently recalled the previous inter-species war.

– Sir Macderas! It’s… it’s too difficult to hold on any longer! You must use the massacre magic!

– No. We cannot execute the massacre magic until all the prisoners of the Human Alliance in the enemy’s territory and those performing missions in the enemy’s front return. Everyone will die from the indiscriminate attack.

– If this front collapses, everyone behind will die! It means the very destruction of the Human Alliance! You must choose between abandoning and taking action.

– Damn it…

– Macderas, the words of the Imperial Knight Commander are correct. Execute the mass massacre magic.

– But if His Majesty uses it now, our allies in the enemy’s territory will also die.

On the battlefield, there is no one who is not prepared for death. Do you know why I am here? Because if this place falls, everything will end. When this place is overrun, more than hundreds of times the number of people you tried to protect will die. And once we fall, the elves and dwarves who helped humans will also face ruin.

“Your Majesty, I…”

“It’s an order. Macderas. Carry out the massacre magic. I will take responsibility for the aftermath.”

The sight of lightning bolts raining down like mad, and countless red creatures springing forth, devouring everything in sight, vividly remains in my mind. The image of those lives dying indiscriminately is etched once again.

“Macderas… Why… Why have you forsaken us!”

“We fought for you, so why…”

It felt as though the cries of comrades who perished together from the massacre magic on the enemy lines were echoing.

“Damn it…”

Although he saved humanity, Macderas was called a slaughterer because he killed all living beings on the enemy lines. Due to his crimson rain, both allies and enemies melted away, screaming.

He saved humanity, yet gained the title of a slaughterer. Even among allies and enemies.

Of course, no one openly expressed resentment.

It was a fact that Macderas’s mass slaughter magic led to victory in the war and prevented annihilation. Even without such justification, witnessing the horrific scene where countless people died due to a single magic, no one dared to rashly confront him.

I hear a hallucination.

“There could have been a better way.”

“Don’t rationalize it by calling it an order. It was you who killed us.”

“In the end, you chose those who are alive now over us.”

“Ugh…”

I breathe heavily. A headache rushes in. Memories I had forgotten for a while torment my mind again. Dizziness rushes in, as if I might collapse at any moment.

Then…

Gwaaah…

A familiar sensation washes over me.

Desperately turning around, I find Flimia grabbing my sleeve and looking at me.

“You took too long to come back…”

She looked at my face and hurriedly approached me as if surprised.

“Macderas-nim? What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

Her pale complexion, the sight of her breaking into a cold sweat, made Plimia wipe my sweat with her hand, wearing a worried expression.

“It seems like what I ate earlier didn’t sit well.”

I vaguely evaded, but Plimia wasn’t convinced. The current state was not that of a normal human being.

“Macderas-nim… Do you also have… difficult times… like me…”

I didn’t lie to her. Instead, I didn’t respond.

Thump thud…

Plimia grabbed my clothes. But this time, she pulled me into an embrace. Not too deep, not too shallow.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but… I hope I can help… If you’re having a hard time, please tell me…”

The pounding of my heart, the return of color to my pale face, and the fading of hallucinations. Macderas slowly pushed Plimia away and spoke.

“I’ll tell you later. I’ll tell you later.”

Macderas looked at Plimia. What if Plimia were to learn the truth about the interspecies world war? How would she feel knowing that he had killed enemies, as well as allies and prisoners in the enemy camp? Would she understand that it could happen? Or would she condemn him as a monster?

I don’t know. But I didn’t particularly want to find that answer right now.

“Macderas-nim? What are you doing?”

Choi Yebin approached me with a basketball. Seeing Plimia urgently falling from my side, she opened her eyes slightly.

“Hmm…”

Macderas spoke around.

“If you bring that ball from the arcade, it’s theft.”

“Really?”

“Hurry back. Before you get misunderstood.”

After that, we spent quite a pleasant time. As if nothing had happened.

—

“Huuaam…”

Plimia stretched and got up from a distant bed. As soon as she opened her eyes, she looked for me.

Thump thud…

Now, her gesture had become familiar instead of a greeting.

“Are you up?”

“Yes. Yebin-unni also seems to be sleeping well now.”

Due to Flemea’s persistent request, Choi Ye-bin and Flemea came to my room before going to bed and slept together. However, they arranged to sleep separately with beds more than 1 meter apart. At first, Flemea was anxious, but now she seemed somewhat accustomed to it, so there were no problems sleeping apart.

Choi Ye-bin, who had suffered from insomnia, started to sleep quite well after moving rooms.

“Well, even if I search the whole world, there’s no safer place than my room right now. She must have realized that after spending a few days. She must have realized what kind of status I have in this novel, and inside this martop. Especially how safe my room is.”

After spending time together with Flemea and Choi Ye-bin for a few days, Flemea’s condition improved a lot. However, her habits remained unchanged.

She always wakes up and looks around, checks my location, and then grabs my clothes without fail. That seems to put her at ease.

The routine became somewhat familiar. When we wake up in the morning, we eat together, spend time outside, have lunch and dinner, and then play simple board games or chat before sleeping.

Repeating such mundane actions was a form of psychological therapy. Choi Ye-bin, who was in a novel where assassins roamed, and Flemea, coming from a place where wars constantly broke out, needed to feel everyday things.

The effect was remarkable.

Now both of them seemed psychologically stable.

Now, it’s about time for me to do what I need to do.

— — —

“What? What do you mean? Are you going to another novel?”

“Go…going to another novel…?”

Choi Ye-bin and Flemea widen their eyes and ask me questions. Especially Flemea bombarded me with questions, unable to contain herself.

“W…where are you going? How long will you be gone? Who are you going to see? W…will you come back?”

“No need to worry. I’m just going to see a user on the forum called ‘trying man.’”

Flemea muttered as if relieved.

“Ah… So you were meeting a man…”

“That’s right.”

Gosh…

The Phlemea, who had come to my side, grabbed my sleeve and asked, “Can’t I go with you?”

Using the Link skill would allow us to go together through warp, but this time it was not possible.

“I can’t use the warp ability. I can only use the newly acquired possession ability this time.”

“So, does that mean you can’t not go?”

“I have to go.”

For some reason, the skill called Leader emphasized that Trying Man needed help.

Even when I helped Phlemea without a system message before, my administrator points and level dramatically increased, and various permissions related to the extinction guild were added.

So, what would happen if I openly helped someone the system wanted me to help? Perhaps I could get an even better reward…

‘Eventually, even if it’s not the Succubus Union, there might be another race union and another world war.’

We must not rely solely on massacre magic. If we can acquire other abilities that we can control, we must surely master everything. That is to protect this ordinary daily life.

“…”

Phlemea grabbed my sleeve and murmured regretfully.

“Do you really have to go…?”

“Yeah. Anyway, I’ll end up going later.”

“Are you going to help someone?”

As I nodded, Phlemea let go of my hand.

“You have to be careful… Will you come into the community? Can I send a message through that?”

“Whatever you want.”

After Phlemea finished her regretful farewell, Choi Ye-bin, who was next to me, approached and said, “I’ll take good care of Phlemea, so be careful. Don’t do any strange behavior or use community language.”

I chuckled as if I were sending off a child.

“Got it.”

Finally, I used the administrator function.

“[Trying Man is currently unable to warp. If you use the newly acquired possession function, you can possess Trying Man’s body. Will you possess?]”

I pressed accept.

However.

“Uweeeek!”

As soon as I possessed the body of Trying Man, a wave of nausea swept over me in an instant. My whole body felt sluggish, and a dreadful pain, like being pricked with needles from all directions, surged through me. This must be poison. Thinking so, I tried to use a detoxification spell, but…

[Due to possession penalty, magic usage is restricted for 24 hours.]

“Damn it…”

I urgently activated the selective penalty release function.

“Release the magic usage penalty…”

[Not possible. Currently, only mana usage penalty and release of low-level magic are available.]

“Then… do that…”

In an instant, my body began to fill with vast amounts of mana.

“Detox.”

As soon as I confirmed mana entering my body, I urgently used the detoxification spell belonging to the low-level magic. As mana began to be absorbed into my body, I returned to my original state in an instant.

“Ugh… Ugh…”

As I opened my eyes, I almost vomited.

“What a damn situation…”

[The possession of Macderrass on the body of the deceased Trying Man has been successfully completed.]

But what surprised me more was the system’s message.

Judging by the recent post, Trying Man was alive.

“He’s dead? So that’s why the warp didn’t work?”

Forming a brief hypothesis, I desperately looked around.

Whoosh!

Using a flame spell like a torch, I illuminated the surroundings, revealing a strange sight in front of me.

“What on earth is this…?”

Hundreds of pills scattered around.

Probably, this is Trying Man’s signature.

I slowly moved around, searching through the drawers and desks. Literally nothing useful came out, and since there was an empty space above the ceiling, I pushed there and found a note. His diary was written there.

“I bought a large amount of medicine that even ordinary people can learn magic from. If I take this and learn magic, he will look back at me again, won’t he? He won’t ignore me anymore, or try to avoid me. Let’s confess then.”

The situation was roughly outlined. The pills scattered on the ground contained no mana at all. Strictly speaking, they were filled with toxic, paralyzing, and convulsive substances.

Someone bought and took medicine deceitfully, leading to fatal overdose. That seems right.

Now that the cause has been revealed, it’s time to find the supplier.

But the supplier wasn’t found for long.

Thud

Thud

Thud

The sound of someone walking outside is heard.

Clank…

Clank…

Click…

Even though I didn’t open the door, they poked the keyhole several times and entered. I pretended to be unconscious.

“First, let’s assess the situation.”

Thinking I was dead, two stout men bickered among themselves.

“Hey, looks like this guy kicked the bucket.”

“Ah, damn… We were going to just take his stuff after he passed out from taking the drugs, but now this happened.”

“What should we do?”

“We need to call some guys to get rid of the body and clean up. Take all the drugs, grab anything valuable around here, and since it’s come to this, make sure to bring the body back intact. There might be a use for it.”

“Got it.”

A lackey-looking guy murmurs as he sweeps up scattered pills.

“Ah… Why did this idiot shove them in his mouth if he couldn’t even finish eating them? He’s got spit all over them.”

“He seemed desperate, didn’t he? He asked if taking a lot at once would have a stronger effect, so when I said yes, he shoved them all in. Stupid bastard. But still, isn’t he our excellent customer, alive or dead? Giving us such a useful resource while living and dying.”

“Well… you’re right, boss. We need these kinds of desperate guys to survive. Hehe.”

The guy who was diligently picking up the pills suddenly felt something strange, glanced at me, and then spoke to his superior again.

“Boss, but this guy can’t be alive, right? How did he take the pills? I’m pretty sure they get absorbed when ingested…”

“He probably took so many that they came back up, pussy. Shut up and hurry up and gather them.”

“Got it…”

The lackey hurriedly gathered the pills. He froze. Our eyes met.

I whispered to the subordinate who met my gaze.

“If you make a sound, you die.”

However, the man ignored me and stepped back, then soon thrust his sword towards me.

“You… sir… that guy is still alive…”

“What nonsense…”

The man who looked like a superior immediately stepped back with his sword as soon as he saw me.

“How are you still alive…? Who are you? Are you from another organization?”

I peeled off the pills stuck to my body and picked up a pen rolling on the ground. This should be enough.

“The one who should be asking questions is not you, but me.”

Suddenly, one of the men shouted.

“This… this inferior inspector who can’t even use magic. Whoever you are, you will die here today.”

I replied, lowering my body.

“Who’s inferior, you’ll find out soon enough.”