Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 104

Episode 104

As soon as all the threads were unraveled, the man who had stopped standing collapsed limply

But the boy had no time to worry about that; he quickly wove the pulled threads with his sister's severed ones.

At that, the knife embedded in his sister's neck vibrated and slid out slightly.

Also, the amount of blood leaking out gradually decreased.

No matter how much of his blood he fed her, she hadn't healed, but now, it seemed she was finally healing little by little.

Hope surged. Spurred by it, the boy wove the threads pulled from the man with his sister's even faster.

But at some point, no matter how much he wove, they just clumped together; the threads wouldn't bind.

As if there was a limit to what could be done with just one person's threads.

'This isn't enough.'

There was still a long way to go to weave all of his sister's severed threads.

"What's goin' on?"

"Oh my. Why's this fella collapse here."

It was then. Two or three people living nearby, perhaps having heard the commotion, peeked inside through the open doorway. The threads wrapped around their bodies were still visible.

"What the…… Gasp!"

"I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

The boy muttered apologies to them, tears streaming down his face. But he couldn't stop his hands from pulling the threads.

By the time he had finally woven all of his sister's severed threads.

Thud.

The embedded blade slid out completely. And the spot healed cleanly, leaving behind a distinct scar.

"Gasp! Haa……"

Suddenly, his sister took a deep breath and began to breathe again. Her eyes were still closed, but her chest rose and fell rhythmically.

Thump, thump.

The boy, lying over his sister and listening to her heartbeat, sobbed, overwhelmed by an emotion he couldn't identify as relief or despair.

"H-Heuk……"

He had killed four people to revive his sister. This time, everything was so clear and precise that he couldn't even deny it. All those moments of pulling out others' threads with his own hands. Recalling them, a suffocating sensation overwhelmed the boy.

But his sister, who had always yielded and strived for his incompetent self since birth. He couldn't let his sister, who had met misfortune while trying to stop the man called Father from wielding a knife at him, just die.

'What happens now…… Will I be put in prison?'

Even in a slum, four people had died, so the guards would surely try to find the culprit. After the nightmare passed, only the grim reality remained.

Just as he was gritting his teeth and crying continuously, overwhelmed by uncontrollable despair.

"Nyaang!"

Crash!

Suddenly, along with Samsaek's cry, a sharp shattering sound was heard.

"S-Samsaek!"

Startled, he lifted his head and saw flickering flames. Samsaek had knocked over the only lantern, starting a fire.

Fwoosh!

The old, wooden building caught fire in an instant.

"Nyaang!"

As if telling him to follow, the monster lightly stepped past the fallen people and went out through the open doorway. If he stayed put, not only he but also his barely revived sister would burn to death.

The boy hoisted his sister onto his back and hurried outside. It was a dry season with a continuous drought, so the flames grew uncontrollably fast.

"Fire! Fire!"

"Good heavens! Water! Bring water immediately!"

All his trembling fear of being caught and thrown in prison was for naught; the boy's deeds were absurdly easily buried and erased by the fire. People assumed those already dead hadn't been able to escape the fire.

Fortunately, the situation was quickly brought under control thanks to the Pope's party, who happened to be visiting the vicinity of the slum for volunteer work. They pitied the children who had lost even their meager homes to the fire and decided to take them to the orphanage run by the temple. The twins were included among them.

And the Pope recognized the unconscious younger sister and his face lit up.

"Somehow, a prophecy came down telling me to bestow good deeds upon this place, which is why I came……"

He looked at the younger sister's scar with his wrinkled eyes, moved, and asked urgently.

"I wondered if I felt a holy power somewhere…… By chance, did this child die because of this scar and come back to life?"

"……Gasp."

Thinking all his evil deeds had been discovered, the boy froze stiff. But the Pope just spoke soothingly with a benevolent face.

"I'm not trying to punish you, so it's alright to tell the truth."

"Wh-Why is that……"

"Because if it's true, this child is…… the Agent of God."

"……A-Agent of God?"

"Yes. In other words, the Saintess. Have you heard of the Saintess?"

Even the ignorant boy knew well about the Saintess. Because no one didn't know of the first Saintess, 'Nisea-Liv', who sealed the Ancient Dragon and brought peace to the empire.

His sister was such a Saintess. He had no idea what was going on, but the boy nodded blindly. Even if they went to the orphanage, they would eventually grow up and be sent out. There weren't many ways for two parentless twins from the slums to survive in a harsh world.

"Wh-When she was young, sh-she was stabbed by Father…… b-but she revived right away."

"Just as I thought! O Goddess, who always extends your warm hand to us! Everyone, celebrate the birth of the new Saintess!"

As the boy expected, his sister was escorted to the Grand Temple with utmost care.

"From now on, you twins shall be called Nise and Liv, after the Goddess Nisea-Liv."

They, who didn't even have names, were given names beyond their station. After that, things moved quickly. The Pope announced the appearance of the new Saintess, and everyone showed love and interest in his sister.

On the other hand, the boy, Nise, soon became an outcast and was driven to the old temple, but it was okay. Just being able to stay with his sister was enough.

"Oppa, I'm back! Guess who I met today? I met His Majesty the Emperor!"

Fortunately or unfortunately, his sister seemed to remember nothing of what happened back then.

"Oh right! His Holiness told me to pray for tomorrow's procession. Oppa, I'm leaving!"

"L-Liv! Th-This……!"

His sister, who had visited after a long time and chattered brightly, soon shot up. Nise hurriedly handed Liv a glass bottle. A transparent liquid that sparkled with a mystical silver light when touched by light. It was his own blood, drawn in advance.

Perhaps because he had fed her so much blood, part of his power had transferred to the revived Liv. But it wasn't complete, so Nise often gave her his blood after they came to the temple.

"……Thank you, oppa."

Liv, who supposedly had lost her memories, would accept it with an unreadable smile at Nise's actions. He often felt a sense of alienation and creepiness from her, but he tried hard to ignore it.

"Heuk, oppa! M-My body feels strange…… Why does black blood keep coming out?"

Until one day, she came to him with black blood streaming from her eyes, nose, and mouth. Her threads, which he had barely managed to weave together, were snapped here and there for some reason.

Nise frantically pulled threads from the monsters around the old temple and wove them again. Fortunately, the temple, claiming to create a world friendly to monsters, had started releasing non-threatening monsters into the back garden at some point, so he could put out the immediate fire.

But humans and monsters were different species, so the thickness of the threads, meaning their life force, was different. Because of that, too many sacrifices were required to weave Liv's severed threads.

"Oppa…… My neck hurts……"

But seeing the wound on Liv's neck reopening, he couldn't stop. Nise pulled and pulled threads from countless creatures. To the point where he could no longer hide the leftovers from weaving Liv's threads in his pocket.

Meanwhile, the side effects of reviving the dead also appeared in Samsaek. But there were no more threads to weave. Only the dregs left over from reviving Liv.

"……Samsaek. Do you want to eat this, at least?"

Nise fed them to Samsaek, tears streaming down his face. He knew that the dregs left after using the life force could never make Samsaek perfectly whole like Liv. But Nise was already struggling just to maintain Liv.

Crunch, crunch.

Fortunately, the good-natured Samsaek swallowed what he offered without fuss. Feeding it the dregs didn't cause any terrible things like Samsaek dying. It just… its body turned a bit black, and its eyeballs increased one by one.

Agent of God…… Another Nise……

Around that time, the voice he hadn't heard began to sound again, little by little.

"Heuk……!"

But Nise covered his ears and desperately ignored it. There was no other way. It was too late. To face and undo all the things he had done in his ignorant state. It was already far too late.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

'So Liv was revived by Nise…… and Nise is actually the Saintess?'

I walked back to the temple, mulling over the storm of Nise's past that the eyeball monster had shown me. My panic at the monster suddenly swallowing my head was brief. Fortunately, the bastard, far from attacking me, unexpectedly showed me vision-like scenes. But who knew they would be Nise's unheard-of hidden settings.

'Aargh! Those crazy developer bastards! Why didn't you tell me this sooner!'

Fuming, I walked quickly back to my quarters to grill those bastards. I also had to think about how to tackle this crazy temple quest from now on.

Just as I was entering the east wing where my quarters were, with a serious face. A belated question suddenly occurred to me.

'But…… why does Liv call Nise oppa?'

Nise is the Female Lead. Come to think of it, Elaine also got angry, asking if Nise wasn't a man.

'What the hell is this game……'

I had to ask the developer bastards about this too. Tilting my head, I finally turned the corner of the corridor. And I ran into a rather familiar man, pacing anxiously in front of my door.

"Apothecary! Wh-Where have you been!"

[Novice Priest Semon]

The damn bastard who shoved me into the room next to the Crown Prince ran up to me breathlessly, his face pale.

"Th-The Saintess is sick…… Y-You need to go to the Saintess's room right now. Right now!"