novelraw Chapter 30 : What I Believe In Is Only (2)
Chapter 30 : What I Believe In Is Only (2)
Chapter 30: What I Believe In Is Only (2)
The flight show instantly seized everyone’s attention.
It was a trite expression, but it truly knocked the soul right out of you.
Tudududududu!
They flapped their silver wings as they flew about in the vermilion clouds where the sunset had been crushed apart. If angels didn’t come to mind, what else possibly could?
They were appearing in a way I’d genuinely never imagined. Who would’ve thought they’d fall from the sky like this?
Still, in stark contrast to such a holy appearance, what the Lilith Order was scattering was unbelievably tacky.
Just then, small fragments pattered against my umbrella with a tududuk sound. I stretched out my arm, caught one sliding along the curved fabric, and unfolded it.
It was sex toy disinfectant. This was driving me insane.
As if competing, condoms started falling right after.
“Fuck.”
At this point, I had no choice but to fold the umbrella. An umbrella was supposed to block rain, after all.
Chwarrrrk!
Regardless of the discomfort I felt, people on the street raised both hands high as if in worship.
Everyone was frantic about grabbing the relief supplies. These damn humans instinctively shoved others aside.
They were spraying so much that there was no need to steal someone else’s share, yet—truly befitting residents of the lowest district—their civic consciousness was outstanding.
“I should get out of here fast.”
I muttered while watching the ever-multiplying crowd. It was already packed like bean sprouts in a crate, and more people just kept pouring in.
I quickly cut across the scene of madness. Every time shoulders collided, I ignored the ones glaring daggers at me.
“Hey! If you hit someone, you should at least say something, huh?!”
But once, a passerby suddenly blew up at me. As expected, he was a martial world type.
A fan made of tail feathers and a crane-patterned scholar’s robe. Eyebrows arrogantly raised. A Zhuge.
It looked like he was trying to demonstrate the etiquette of the martial world to the woman wrapped around his waist.
Even I, a complete layman to the wuxia genre, knew it was common knowledge that orthodox factions were hypocrites.
Srrk.
I lifted my Python at my waist just enough to show it.
“Still feel the same?”
“……!!”
“I’ve been curious for a while, so this works out. Let’s see if you can dodge bullets with martial arts.”
The Zhuge man hesitated, then bolted outright. Leaving the woman behind like unwanted baggage.
“You depraved wretch! How dare you brandish such metal at a scholar’s event! How despicable!”
“Oppa—! Where are you going!”
“I-I’ll report this matter to the Murim Alliance, so young lady, you wait right there!”
“You fucking bastard—!”
Watching that vulgar, pathetic retreat made my knees go weak instead. It was literally the moment the martial world’s code fell to the ground.
Yeah. Go on. Go.
‘Get lost while I’m letting you live.’
It was a day when I’d killed three bugs. Unless it was unavoidable, it was a day I wanted to refrain from killing as much as possible.
‘I never thought I’d be saying something like this.’
Had I gotten too immersed in the operator concept…….
I was starting to treat killing like going to a convenience store to buy snacks. I kept reminding myself that this was reality, yet my sense of reality kept crumbling.
Remember, Lee Taebaek. This isn’t a game. If you die, that’s the end. There’s no reroll.
“Hoo…….”
I walked on while rubbing my throbbing temples.
In the meantime.
Up in the sky, the Lilith Order was putting the finishing touch on the parade. They arranged themselves neatly and spun, drawing concentric circles. Their timing was perfect.
‘What kind of order even practices stuff like that?’
Soon after, the Lilith Order shrank into distant dots.
“Please come again next time, angels!”
“Milky-white Lil-lith!”
Cheers poured out toward them for the splendid parade they’d shown. Red lanterns flickered indistinctly.
And so, amid the overheated festival atmosphere, the Lilith Order—the ones who could be called the hosts—disappeared beyond the sunset. Just when it felt like chaos might erupt, the heat subsided as if doused with cold water.
Excitement in the red-light district cooled quickly, as its boiling point was low. That was generally the temperament of the people who came here.
Meanwhile, thanks to moving swiftly, I managed to escape to the entrance of the red-light district.
Around then, for some reason, I felt hollow. Red lighting briefly washed over my face.
Seeing the order left me with many thoughts.
“Proselytizing with cybernetic wingsuits.”
There was nothing unusual about the method of relief. Influencing the socially weak first was the basics of proselytizing. What stood out here was the equipment.
‘An exoskeleton wingsuit.’
Even a mechanical arm cost hundreds of millions.
Steel wings didn’t even bear mentioning. They were so expensive that my entire net worth of 300 million became laughable.
And they strapped such absurdly expensive cybernetic prosthetics onto the backs of three people, just to scatter adult products in the red-light district? Fuck, was this a joke?
‘If you’re going to use them like that, give them to me.’
Even calling it proselytizing, this exchange rate made no sense. Even after cutting all the margins, it wouldn’t even cover fuel costs.
On top of that, they were distributing this massive amount of relief supplies for free? Even Lucaken Pharmaceuticals—a company with enough cash flow to rank among mid-sized enterprises—would struggle to drop things like this on a regular basis.
…In short, there was a solid money pipeline behind the Lilith Order. That was the only way it added up. I hadn’t assumed the order itself was flush with cash. If it were, it would’ve been caught by the Beggars’ Sect or the Resistance’s information networks through some route or another.
‘But most of the people I asked didn’t know much about the Lilith Order.’
The appearance locations, the proselytizing method, the polished flight show. Everything was suggestive. “Suggestive” was putting it mildly—frankly speaking, it was suspicious as hell.
There was no doubt a distortion had occurred in the Recons world. That was confirmed through the Triad gang incident.
But it was different from before, when I’d known about the drug Berserk. Berserk had at least existed as dummy data, but the Lilith Order itself felt alien in its very existence.
The Lilith Order was on a different track from the countless run-of-the-mill cults infesting Lake City. It carried a strong sense of otherness that was hard to put into words.
“…An alien religion, huh.”
Then I should consult an expert.
The landlord had a history of being involved with a religious organization.
‘Though it’s a mage tower now.’
Even now, it was still engraved in the public’s mind as the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. That name rolled off the tongue better, too.
First, I needed to win the landlord over. I might not know about women’s hearts, but I knew how to steal a landlord’s favor.
A boarder who paid rent on time? That was a given. A tenant beloved by the landlord was…….
“Looks like my wallet’s going to take a hit.”
I shook my head.
‘I was planning to do it anyway.’
If I thought of it as an extension of the process for searching the Lilith Order, it hurt less. And in any case, I felt satisfied that I’d come here. I’d gained some experience points along the way, and I’d been able to organize my priorities in my head.
I’d also seen the reality of the city—something I’d never have known if I’d just wasted time in my one-room.
After some deliberation, I took out my terminal. The next moment, Jin Sobang’s subordinate, the Narrow-Eyed Man, answered the call.
“I’m calling because I need something.”
[Ah… yes.]
The Narrow-Eyed Man’s voice drooped like laundry soaked through with water. Lee Taebaek calmly stated his business.
[If it’s that, it should be possible.]
“Should be?”
[…It’s possible.]
“Until when.”
[If the money is paid on time, half a day will be enough.]
“Then proceed like that.”
Lee Taebaek was about to relax when he soon furrowed his brow. It was because a faint smell of castor oil vibrated under his nose, piercing through the mask’s ventilation.
Thinking that he should shower as soon as he got back, he hurriedly left the geographical abyss.
[＃1 Small-Scale] 1.7 Patch Notes
◈ Main Patch
• The following quest rewards have been changed.
• Rewards can be checked upon clearing.
Beep—!!
[The creation of the ‘Afterlife’ has failed.]
[Unlock the ‘Large-Scale Patch’ with points.]
[‘Bug’ occurs due to guerrilla action.]
[Obtain operator points upon deletion.]
〉〉 Auto Save…….
〉〉 Applying patch
The day Go-eun, the owner of Eunko Bar, was discharged was two days after Lee Taebaek returned home.
“Finally here. Sweet my home~!”
Go-eun stood in the doorway together with Kang Hyunseong. Her physical condition was better than before her hospitalization. There had been results thanks to the circulation and breathing exercises she practiced every evening.
“Come to think of it, this might be the first time I’ve left Eunko Bar empty for an entire week.”
She grabbed his shoulders and spun around. The rotation was smooth, as if she had been well-oiled.
“Because you were gone this time, didn’t all the regulars leave?”
Kang Hyunseong, who was standing beside her with his arms crossed, chimed in. He had followed along because he was worried.
Go-eun said everything would be fine, but that was only her assertion. The one Kang Hyunseong was concerned about wasn’t her, but Lee Taebaek.
From their first meeting, Lee Taebaek had left an extraordinary impression. But after coming to Lake City, that tendency seemed to have intensified.
This city was also called a hellscape of the mortal world that grew by gnawing away at the humanity of its residents. In other words, such cases were not rare.
If that was so, he had come along on the day of her discharge with the intention of waking her up mentally before it was too late.
After roughly estimating the amount of loss caused by the sparring between Lee Taebaek and Go-eun, compensation also had to be paid. Remaining indebted could solidify the relationship into one of superior and subordinate. As a rule, debts had to be cut off at the bud.
‘With my own private money…….’
Kang Hyunseong groaned quietly. Go-eun cut off his thoughts, which were about to drag on unnecessarily, at the waist.
“It’s fine since this isn’t a shop that makes money from alcohol anyway. For customers who come looking for my main line of work, I’ve set it up so they can contact me separately in case I get hurt or have to be away. I’ve got an electrocardiogram monitor attached near my heart.”
Go-eun shrugged. Kang Hyunseong stared at her with a blank look, then asked,
“You still haven’t been able to cut the tie with the mage tower?”
“You know you can’t cut it even if you want to. When has the Demon Cult ever shown mercy to apostates? Not killing a capable mage right away is just giving them a grace period to come back. If that period is exceeded, they decide you have no intention of returning and send assassins to kill you. That’s the Demon Cult’s rule of law.”
“How about coming over to the Resistance this time?”
“I finally became a freelancer, and you want me to belong somewhere again? I appreciate it, but I’ll pass. And…….”
Go-eun’s eyes were somehow sad.
“If I join the Resistance, the level of assassins they dispatch will increase exponentially. One of the Left Envoy or Right Envoy might come.”
Both the Left Envoy and the Right Envoy were among the Seven Existences.
In short, three of the 10 Wings belonged to the mage tower. Thus, even though the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult lagged behind in capital power, it was acknowledged as a MegaCorp by sheer weight class alone.
“If the Supreme Commander and the battalion commanders join forces—.”
“What if the Heavenly Demon, the master of the mage tower, comes in person?”
“…That would…….”
At that firm remark, Kang Hyunseong bit down on his lower lip. Go-eun, who let out a small laugh, added,
“Once you’re marked by the mage tower, no matter what, I’m basically half a corpse anyway. And it’s something I resolved myself to the moment I defected, so it’s nothing new. Ah, of course, until ‘that day’ comes, I’ll do my best to teach Lee Taebaek in my own way.”
“…You’re quite proactive.”
“Cultivating disciples is one of a mage’s traits. You never know. Like in the old martial world, maybe the disciple will avenge the master?”
Stare.
“Ah, I’m joking, joking. That’s just how the saying goes. Let’s not make faces like you’re going to chew someone up.”
Kang Hyunseong slowly looked Go-eun over, then finally let out a sigh. After taking a deep breath, he pushed the front door.
Creeeeak.
Just how much of a mess would the inside be, would he have to loosen the purse strings on the little stash he had saved bit by bit…….
“……?”
Soon, the door opened fully. It was right after Kang Hyunseong’s eyes widened in surprise.
Kang Hyunseong froze in place, holding the doorknob. Go-eun poked just her head out beside him.
“Uh, uh, uh?”
Three death rattles. Go-eun looked bewildered as she gazed at her own nest, Eunko Bar.
The interior of Eunko Bar was dazzlingly clean. The wooden floor had been renovated into stone, and the yellowish lighting and furnishings had also been replaced with new models.
At the center, a comfortable sofa had been placed, and Lee Taebaek was leaning back into it.
“Oh, what’s this. Kang Hyunseong, you came too?”
Hearing their presence, Lee Taebaek lifted his blindfold upward with his thumb. Then, as he slowly stood up, he said,
“Come in.”
At his attitude as if inviting them into his own home, the two of them absentmindedly closed the door. The signboard hanging on the inside of the door, with ‘Taebaek Bar’ written on it, was tilted askew.