NOVEL WEB Ch. 7
Chapter 7: Shin Bitnari (6)
“Sigh…”
[You were caught again, smh. The Lord of Chaos chuckles.]
“You didn’t tell me on purpose. You actually enjoy this, don’t you?”
[The Lord of Chaos feigns ignorance as if he has no idea what you are talking about.]
[The Lord of Chaos makes a face like raising a younger sibling is pointless because all they ever do is blame their older brother.]
This damned bastard… With an exasperated glare at the indirect message window, Nari let out a long sigh and turned toward Kang Ihyun.
“Okay, so… Hey… How much did you see?”
Flare, aura gathered in Nari’s right hand. Kang Ihyun flinched as her fierce eyes locked on him.
“I… I won’t say anything. Never…! Just please, spare my life…!”
“I mean, I wasn’t planning on killing you. I only asked how much you saw.”
A terrifying pressure flowed from her small frame. The atmosphere warned him that lying would make things worse, so Kang Ihyun spoke honestly.
“...Right after I cleared stage three, a message appeared saying the gate difficulty had risen. I came to help you and…”
“And?”
“I saw Mr. Lude lying hurt on the ground, and then you… you checked his body and dispersed him with black aura. And then you said you had to… stitch the avatar back together.”
“Ugh~ shit. So you heard it all...”
Nari pressed a hand to her forehead with a sigh. It was not as though Hunters had never discovered Lude’s avatar before, so she was used to handling cleanup.
All she had to do was erase the memory with mental domination, wiping only the part where she had been exposed. But the problem was that tampering directly with memory damaged the victim’s mind.
“This is my first time trying it on an S-rank.... Would it even work well?”
“W-Wait a second! W-What are you going to do to me?!”
With a blaze, Nari approached him with black aura coiling around her hand. Kang Ihyun retreated a few steps, unsettled by her chilling demeanor. Nari smiled wickedly as she closed in.
“Hmph! You can’t run, Kang Ihyun. This is what you call ‘checkmate’!”
“Hgh!”
Black aura clung to his ankles before he realized it. Nari stepped close, hand glowing with aura, and lowered it toward his forehead with a sinister smile.
“Don’t think too badly of me. Since you are S-rank, the side effects won’t last that long… probably.”
“…What?”
His trembling voice faltered as Nari placed her hand on his forehead and whispered.
“Sorry. Things get complicated for me if I’m exposed.”
Then she activated her incarnation trait.
[Incarnation-Exclusive Trait :: Fragment of the First Dream]
[You call upon the authority of ◼◼◼◼.]
[You borrow the herald’s skill.]
[Herald ◼◼◼◼ exclusive skill :: Chaos always arises from within the human subconscious.]
Ting—!
[Skill activation has been nullified.]
“Huh?”
She stared at her hand in disbelief. Kang Ihyun stared at her, looking confused.
It bounced off. The skill simply bounced off, like a crashed computer program. Startled, Nari tried several more times, pressing her hand to his forehead.
[Skill activation has been nullified.]
[Skill activation has been nullified.]
[Skill activation has…]
“...Huuuh?!”
Tap, tap, tap tap tap. No matter how many times she pressed his forehead, the same message appeared. The Lord of Chaos was laughing so hard in an indirect message that he clutched his belly. Nari’s expression twisted more and more.
“Why isn’t this working?! Why won’t it work?! Hey, this is cheating! What are you?!”
“I-I’m sorry, but could you… stop hitting me now…?”
“Why isn't the brainwashing working?! Why won’t the mental domination stick?! This is cheating!”
The menacing aura from before was gone. Nari was on the verge of tears as she tapped Kang Ihyun’s forehead repeatedly. Kang Ihyun’s forehead turned red as he sheepishly apologized.
“Uh… I-I think it’s because of my constellation… I’m completely immune to dark type mental attacks. Sorry…”
“Agh! What?! What?! No way!”
Nari clutched her head in horror. The black message window showed the Lord of Chaos laughing uncontrollably, sending string after string of laughing emojis.
[Ah yes. Since he is the avatar of an archangel, things are bound to be different, laughs the Lord of Chaos.]
“Shut up! I’m supposed to be the strongest! Immunity shouldn’t work against the strongest! Aaaagh!”
“U-Uh, sometimes these things happen. There are seven billion people on Earth… you know? I-It’s bound to happen to someone, right? So… don’t worry too much and…”
“Ah… N-No…! This cannot be how it ends…!”
The roles had reversed. Nari was panicking, while Kang Ihyun was relatively calm.
“It’s fine! I swear I won’t tell anyone. I’ll never…”
“Quiet! How could I trust that?! Come here. If you vanish in a dungeon, even your body won’t remain. It would be better if I just killed you now- ”
“Young master!”
Just as Nari raised her black half-scissors, a loud voice echoed through the boss chamber.
Both Nari and Kang Ihyun froze and looked toward the entrance. Kang Ihyun’s face went pale.
“Young master! Where are you? I know you’re here! I heard you skipped mass after work and ran off, but how could you leave me behind! I’m your partner!”
The dungeon had been cleared, and now Hunters and rescue teams were starting to enter. Kang Ihyun turned to Nari, speaking in a frightened whisper.
“T-That’s my partner.”
“What?!”
“H…Hurry and run! My partner is unbelievably persistent! If you get caught, you won’t be able to make an excuse!”
“Huh?! U-Uh… O-Okay…!”
Kang Ihyun did his best to hide Nari with his body. His expression was so composed that it was hard to tell who the victim even was. Swept up in the situation, Nari quickly opened a dimensional rift.
“L-Let’s go, quickly!”
“Hey, why are you acting as if our roles are reversed!?”
Normally, Nari should have been the one pulling him along by the collar…. But instead, Kang Ihyun tucked her under his arm and dove through the rift.
“Young master—!”
The voice calling out for him echoed until the rift closed. Nari glanced up at Kang Ihyun.
“By the way, so you really were… ‘Young master.’”
“Huh?”
“No, I just realized that… people really do think alike....”
* * *
He thought they had escaped rather peacefully… He really thought so…
But now Kang Ihyun was tied up with black ropes, glancing around nervously.
A small studio in Yongin, Gyeonggi-do. Neon light seeped through the curtains of a tiny window. Everyday sounds came through the walls, and beyond the window cars and drunkards made noise.
Lude—no, Nari—was muttering in the next room. It seemed like she was speaking to her constellation.
[The Staff of Purification marvels that Lude turned out to be such an ordinary person.]
‘I… I’m going to have to agree.’
Ordinary people adored Lude, but in the Hunter world, his reputation was the worst. Arrogant, greedy, lying to the Awakener Association, hoarding dungeon loot all for himself.
He was like a single mudfish ruining the water, destroying unspoken rules.
Even within the Sanctuary, guildmates mocked him for acting like the protagonist of a web novel. Kang Ihyun, who liked him, was considered a weirdo.
There were wild rumors too. It was rumored that he had bought Disneyland with his fortune. That he owned fifty penthouses. That he lived in luxury hotel suites without a house. And that he was the illegitimate child of a chaebol…
‘But in reality, he’s just… ordinary.’
It was a normal studio apartment, plain except for being a little barren. It wasn’t exactly too shocking, but…
‘Still, I feel like I understand him better now. I even want to know his real name.’
Kang Ihyun liked him. To the point that becoming a Hunter because of him would not be an exaggeration.
‘I… really wanted to see him just once. I’m glad I met him this way… I wish I could learn his real name... and I want to learn more than that…’
He smiled to himself, even while tied up. He looked so happy that his constellation cut in.
[The Staff of Purification looks at you with disgust.]
“Huh, you’re smiling?”
Nari appeared, finished with her talk with the Lord of Chaos. Seeing Kang Ihyun smiling while tied up, she sat in front of him with an incredulous look.
“You know, I thought it over, and unfortunately…”
She shook her head as if truly disappointed. Then, swish, she pulled her black half-scissors from her inventory. Kang Ihyun’s eyes went wide.
“I’ve decided to kill you.”
“Mmph—!”
He shook his head violently in denial. His constellation popped up an indirect message, asking if he still likes that he got to learn about Lude.
“It’s my first time killing a person so I’m nervous... Sorry, but it’s your fault for being immune to my mental abilities…”
“Mmph! Mmph!”
With a tone like she was granting mercy, she raised the scissors. Her eyes were serious. Really serious. Kang Ihyun’s blood froze. He scrambled away as the blades struck the spot he had just vacated.
“Don’t worry. It’ll be over quickly… It won’t hurt… probably.”
Yeah, her eyes were not normal. Not sane. No monster he had ever faced radiated such madness.
Panic-stricken, Kang Ihyun unleashed his skill. Flame burst out, burning away his gag and bonds. After being freed, he shouted in desperation.
“W-W-W-W-Wait! Time out! P-Please, spare me!”
“No, you saw my true self! If anyone knew, I would…!”
“I swear I’ll never tell! I promise!”
“I can’t trust you!”
Whirr, whirr, she swung her scissors wildly.
In a frenzy, she chased him around the apartment, knocking over furniture. He dodged frantically, while chairs crashed and belongings shattered. The constellations munched popcorn as the chaos continued.
…How long has it been?
“Excuse me. I live downstairs. Could you please keep it down at night?”
The stern voice outside the door made them both freeze. Right. Noise complaints.... They couldn’t afford to bother the neighbors…
After walking back to the table, Nari sat across from Kang Ihyun, fuming. He looked a little deflated.
“…Sorry. I got too worked up.”
“N-No, it’s all right. Anyone would panic if they were found out…”
“You, don’t tell anyone. If you do… if you do, I’ll really kill you!”
“I-I swear I won’t. I promise!”
“How can I trust that!”
The conversation looped back to the beginning. Kang Ihyun sighed and called on his constellation. A piece of paper fluttered down. It was the Oath of the Sacred Flame.
“Let’s make a pact. It’s my skill. If I break it, I fall into hell instantly. Will that be enough?”
Nari picked up the blank contract and mulled it over. She looked calmer now, and relief spread over Kang Ihyun’s face despite himself.
As he watched her think deeply, a message came down from his constellation.
[The Staff of Purification suggests you use this chance to propose something you want as well.]
‘...S-Should I do that?’