CH 22

”Fenex, or as they call it, ‘the singer of eternal rest.’”

Can you really fight something like this and win? The question outweighed the worry.

“Aren’t any of the other guild members coming with you?”

“Nope. It’s just the two of us.”

“But… I mean, he must be really strong for the hunters to fail for a whole month.”

“He’s not that strong, they just fail time and time again because of his abilities.”

At the mention of abilities, my gaze dropped back to the tablet. The line below the picture read.

[Those who are mesmerised by the sound of Fenex’s voice find themselves leaping into his mouth. If you find yourself face to face with Fenex, do not be fooled by any sounds you hear. The faint-hearted and the weak-minded will eventually collapse.]

As soon as I saw the last sentence, an involuntary sigh escaped me.

[Do not summon him out of mere curiosity; remember that every human being who has ever summoned him has been cast into eternal repose.]

I asked him why he would take me instead of a more able fellow and it was because of this.

A body that will not die. There is no one better suited to be Fenex’s summoner than me.

“Is this why you said you needed me?”

I asked, looking him straight in the eye, and Simeon nodded quickly.

“Please lend your body to me.”

There’s no point in keeping the gate open anyway. The crack is only getting bigger, and there’s no telling what might come out of it. Someone must stop it, but I can’t help but hesitate.

That’s right, a demon summoning. Who would have thought that after all my church upbringing and baptism, I would be in charge of such a task. I have a long life ahead of me. Well, maybe my heavenly parents will be pleased that I’m finally using this cursed body for the good of others.

I rolled my eyes in silence, and Simeon snapped to attention.

“What do you think?”

“There’s nothing I can do. …I’ll do it.”

A satisfied smile crossed his lips.

“But don’t you need a hunter’s licence to get in the gate?”

“I’ll take care of that, all you need to do is summon him safely.”

Simeon assured me, and not other people, so I wasn’t worried.

No, I’m the only one who should be worried in the first place. It was my first time entering the gate, my first time stopping a runaway spirit, and of course my first time summoning a demon. Besides, I don’t have the power to help Simeon extinguish the demons.

“Are you sure you can handle it alone?”

I asked cautiously with a worried glint in my eye, but Simeon answered with a smile and set a date to go to the gate.

“I’ll pick you up in three days.”

I could feel his age in his easy smile. Of course, he’d entered the gate many times before and buried artefacts, but his confidence must have come from his unique ability, which was recognised as an S-class.

It was time for me to find out what his unique ability was. So as soon as I returned home from dinner, I typed Simeon into the search bar.

Luckily, someone had compiled an article about Simeon, and I quickly read it. It was a long list of videos of Simeon using his powers and defeating monsters. As I pored over each and every one of them, I suddenly noticed something.

There was a distinct difference in his hand gestures in each video. When dealing with Class A monsters, he overlapped his index finger with his middle finger. This is a gesture for playing a light game of Go when the creature is relatively small in size. In another video, he used his thumb and index finger. It’s clear that these are organs for playing heavier various pieces of different sizes.

In all of the videos, he was playing a game. They range from strategy games with clear wins and losses, such as mahjong and poker, to simple puzzles that require a set of actions to complete.

But the ending is always the same. The moment Simeon declares victory, the monster collapses in a heap. It doesn’t matter how strong or huge the monster is. At the end of the game, there is only a winner and a loser.

I’ve been watching Simeon use his abilities, and while I had some idea what to expect, I’m now convinced.

It is only visible to Simeon with his eyes closed. A puzzle inherent in the living. A single game of life and death. And when that graceful hand wins, the loser dies.

Glory to the winner, death to the loser.

The fate of the game is determined by the first move the king makes.

His unique ability, defined in a concise sentence, was called the <King’s Gambit>.

Three days passed, and at last the promised day came.

I’ve been trying to learn about the gate, but the internet hasn’t given me much useful information. However, I did find one important fact about the Daegwallyeong Gate that I was about to visit.

The hunter, who failed to stop the outburst of the <Codex Gigas>, is still in coma. According to the book that previously Simeon showed him, the moment he summoned Fenex, he’ll be mesmerized by his voice and fell into a sleep he couldn’t wake up from.

“Hah….”

I was uneasy. Even I, with my immortal body, could fall into an unconscious state.

I steeled myself and prepared to leave. I didn’t know what would happen inside the gate, so I chose clothes that would allow me to move easily, even if it meant wearing my usual hoodie and cotton pants.

I head out just in time for my appointment and see a familiar car in the villa car park. It’s a black sedan with heavily tinted windows. The licence plate is different, but it’s the same car I drove to the Korean restaurant a few days ago. Without hesitation, I jump in the back seat and say hello.

“Hello.”

This time, of course, there was no reply.

I’m going to go all the way to Songdo and join Simeon? Maybe he’s already at the gate. In any case, it would take over two hours from here to Daegwallyeong. There’s nothing to do in the car, so I keep my eyes glued to the road.

I wonder how much time has passed. Rattle. I woke up to the car body shaking as if I had crossed a guardrail. I yawned and rubbed my eyes in a daze and heard the low voice of a distant man.

“Good morning.”

Startled, I turned to see Simeon. If the car hadn’t been moving, I would have thrown open the door and jumped out. As I stood there, pinned to the corner, staring blankly, Simeon smiled and whispered,

“You could have slept more.”

How could I go back to sleep at this point…. I woke up, more surely than if I’d been hit with ice water.

“Uh, when did you get on?”

“Not long ago, maybe half an hour, I had some errands to run.”

I hadn’t realised who was in the car next to me, but I hadn’t slept at all because I was worried about the gate.

Embarrassed, I quickly look away, and my eyes widen at the view out the window. The city, which had been full of buildings when he had just fallen asleep, was now an endless expanse of green grassland.

“This is….”

“We’ll be there soon, though we’ll have to walk a bit as the area around the gate is cordoned off.”

I could see the mountains in the distance, and we were already there. It wasn’t until we were close to Daegwallyeong that I realized we were entering the gate. Seeing the tension in my face, Simeon spoke in a softer voice.

“There are a few things I need to tell you before we enter the gate.”

Simeon pulled something out of his inside jacket pocket and handed it to me.

“First of all, this.”

It’s a wristwatch. The lack of hour and minute hands makes it obvious that it’s a smartwatch. However, the black leather band and antiqued silver bezel made it look like an expensive analogue watch. I suddenly wondered what kind of gift it was, but I put it on my wrist and looked at it.

“Why are you giving me this?”

I asked curiously, and Simeon wordlessly rolled up his sleeve.

The same watch was on his wrist. A fleeting thought of a couple’s item flashed through my mind, but I quickly dismissed it. Luckily, Simeon was too busy looking at his watch to notice the change in his expression.

“Why don’t you press the button over here?”

Simeon pointed his index finger at a small protrusion on the top right of the bezel. I pressed it, and the numbers ’72:00:00′ appeared on the screen. Just to be sure, I pressed it again, and it started counting down.

“72 hours…?”

Tilting his head gently, Simeon explained what the numbers meant.

“It’s the maximum amount of time a human can last after entering the gate.”

“What happens if you stay beyond that?”

“Slowly, the body breaks down into molecules that eventually become part of the spirit’s power.”

Wait. Why are we just now getting to this important part?

I feel like I just signed a contract without reading the back of it. To make matters worse, the navigation system was about to arrive at its destination. Now that I’ve already arrived at Daegwallyeong, I can’t even walk back.

I stare in disbelief, and Simeon speaks in a crisp tone.

“The theory is that your body disappears, but your consciousness remains, but it hasn’t been proven yet.”

“Why… What?”

”Because the dead don’t talk.”

Should I quit now……? Of course, I’d guessed that staying in the gate too long wouldn’t do any good, but I hadn’t realized there was a time limit.

“So we have 72 hours to summon and destroy Fenex?”

“Exactly.”

Simeon sounded like a teacher praising a model student. I really hoped I was wrong.

Ok. I’d decided to go in anyway, so let’s be positive. I’d be in and out faster than 72 hours in a blizzard. Let’s find out the conditions to release the leash, get a normal job, and… hide where he can’t find me.