Chapter 142

Chapter 142

Unlocked chapter (5/11)

[A Windless Day (7)]

There were 71 people living in the underground canal at Uijeongbu Station.

They had been hiding from the monsters for years, through three different tides, and were all malnourished.

The reclamation team treated the people coming out of the tunnels and distributed supplies.

They were people, too.

Even players who were more inclined to be driven by desire and emotion couldnt help but feel sympathy for the people living in the tunnels.

Of course, they needed to make sure they werent in league with the monsters.

The backbone of divisions E and F began to capture the chiefs of the villages, from the village to the bar.

You-u, what are you doing!

The village chief, the eldest of the chiefs, shouted in a stammering tone.

All of the chiefs were raising their voices, saying that this was ridiculous.

We shouldnt believe them.

Seoyoung Shin decided to take the center stage so the others wouldnt be swayed.

I asked the children, she said, and they said there was a ritual of being a good child?

It was a bluff.

She hadnt asked the children, just spouted off the information Eunha had given her.

But the nuance of knowing was enough to change the look on the chiefs faces.

Who told you?

The village chief spoke up in a nervous tone.

Changhae Clan Sublord. What do you mean, a Good Child Ritual?

Guyeounsu opened his slender eyes and glared at the chiefs.

The Damaul village chief, who met his gaze, was so surprised that he staggered backward with his butt.

From what Ive heard from the children, its a strange ritual.

Shin Seoyoung explained the information she had heard from Eunha by saying that she had heard it from the children.

Children cant walk on the ground without undergoing the Good Child Ritual.

The only people who could gather food from the earth were those who had undergone the Good Child Ritual.

So what is the Good Child Ritual?

Almost every player who heard the story frowned.

It sounded like a myth.

So Does it mean that children who receive the Good Child Ritual are recognized as good children if they return from the river, and bad children if they dont?

Dangun Clan lords Jang Bong-jeon, asked if what he had heard was correct.

Wait a minute, Seo-young. So, if a child gets lost in the river and cant come back, does that mean theyre automatically considered a bad child? Thats too.

Guyeounsu stuttered.

Its too weird.

Even if the canal is a complex structure, a child born and raised in an underground canal might not be able to return.

Placing his hand on Lamel, he turned to the chiefs, demanding an explanation.

The master is here.

The master?

The village chief hadnt been surprised by the aura of the players.

His eyes widened and he spoke like an apostle trying to spread the faith.

A great master. In the dark waterways, he judges whether the child receiving the ritual is good or bad.

Well, thats some nonsense, arent you sure its not the monsters you follow?

Monsters!

The village chief shouted with wide eyes.

Shin Seo-young raised her shoulders in a triumphant manner.

You dont mean to tell me that youve been sacrificing children to monsters as a form of ritual?

Young lady, be careful with your words

Just then, the village chief crawled forward.

He opened his mouth in a stuttering voice and glanced at each of them, as if to remind them of his words.

The master is a greata great being. If you harbor ill intentions, you will return to our master.

.

You, too, remember. I dont know what its like outside, but. This land belongs to the master, so you canreceive the good child ritualtoo.

With a bubbling voice filled with fervor, the village chief, with a face smeared in filth from living in the underground sewer, chuckled as if he found something incredibly delightful.

His appearance, with a missing front tooth, smiling, was grotesque beyond imagination.

Master is everywhere, and now that were not having the Good Boy Ritual, hes probably mixing in among us to see who has a bad heart and who has a good heart.

So be careful. If you behave like this, you will not survive the Good Child Ritual.

My master is a great man. Lies dont work in his presence, and he always hears our voices.

The Clan Lords decided to imprison them for their insane ramblings.

So this monster called Master, how do we find him?

As soon as Clan Lord Dangun Jang Bong-jeon entered the conference room, he immediately sighed deeply.

He suggested forming a party of moderately skilled players to explore the ritual waterway.

Conversely, Guyeounsu raised the possibility that monsters might be lurking among the people through the stories of the village chiefs.

What should they do?

Throughout the meeting, Shin Seoyoung was at a loss.

Divisions E and F had succeeded in keeping the villagers alert.

Now it was time to find the monsters that the residents obeyed.

Noona. You wont find it.

Eunha advised against finding the 3rd-tier Overrank Hundred Face monster.

Theres no way to find it among the people.

Even if youre a very perceptive player, you wont be able to find it.

It was a boy. He poked his head out of the manhole and looked at them.

It was as if he was envious of the kids who were chatting with the players.

He couldnt help but feel sorry for him.

Even in his own clan, he was known for his individualism, and he was interested in the kid.

Hi.

Lee Seung-hwan approached the child.

The surprised child made eye contact with him.

Do you want to eat this?

He knelt down to make eye contact and held out the chocolate bar.

Just like his hyung, who had offered him a piece of bread.

The child looked back and forth between him and the chocolate bar, then nodded and snatched it up with one hand.

The way he gobbled it up reminded him of a hamster shoveling food into its cheeks.

Im Lee Seung-hwan. Whats your name?

Thats what his hyung said back then.

Seung-hwan looked at the kid who had finished the chocolate bar and asked, Whats your name?

The kid shook his head.

I dont have a name. Only good kids can get a name.

Living in a land overrun by monsters, children never know when they will die.

The survivors, who had organized themselves into villages, treated them as adults, not according to age, but according to their own rules.

The same goes for names.

You dont get it at birth, you get it by the rules. Through the ritual of the good child.

Even the names were the same, such as family, village, and town, all of them were similar.

.

Lee Seung-hwan felt sorry for the child in front of him.

He remembered of himself wandering around the city without a family, and of his hyung, offering him a piece of bread.

Yes, pity.

Something he should be wary of as a player.

Well, Ill give you a name.

A name?

Yes, a name. Your name is, In hoo, Yoo In hoo.

The wind from the ruins caressed his hair.

He felt as if his dead hyung was stroking his hair.

So he gave the child his hyungs name.

The name of the hyung he admired and followed.

So, Eunha, lets say theres a monster named Hundred Face there, like you said, then.

Im not saying there might be, Im saying there is, and Im asking you to believe it, even if its hard to believe.

I want to believe your story, but its too hard to believe.

Phew, okay, so, why?

How do you think we should find it?

At that, Eunha frowned.

You think youre going to take it down?

Give it up. How are you going to find it when its blending in with the crowd?

So you want me to let the monster blend in with the people?

Leave it alone. Youre not going to take back Uijeongbu anyway, so at least keep the residents on guard.

You say we will keep failing, failing and failing, but you dont know if were really going to fail or not.

Even if you tell me that theres no way to find it, you wont know for sure.

Eunha sighed in frustration.

It is not there. I dont know either.

Actually, he did.

How to spot the Hundred Face in a crowd.

During the Second Reclamation of Uijeongbu, the reclamation forces fought fiercely over how to spot out the Hundred Face.

Some argued for an inhumane approach, suggesting that they should kill everyone, including residents, to eliminate any potential threats, given the tragedy of the First Uijeongbu Recapture Battle. Others advocated for a humane approach, emphasizing the need to protect the residents and find a way to identify Hundred Face without harming innocent people.

The argument had divided them without any resolution in sight.

The person who dismissed the debate was the Mist Flower Partys Caster Bae Subin.

Well, why not just kill them all? Whats the point of this? Leader, Ill take care of it.

The Mistflower Party was authorized to act independently in the Second Reclamation of Uijeongbu.

They were authorized to do so by Fairy Im Gaeul.

Moreover, no one wanted to include the ruthless Mist Flower Party, which acted independently and showed no mercy, in their divisions, apart from the Blaze Clan.

This was possible due to the trust in the newly appointed Fairy Habaekryeon.

This is insane.

Were they even human? I cant say they werent.

No matter what, this is.

The Mist Flower Party has opened the gate! Find the Hundred Face quickly!

At that moment, Baek Subin, the <Witch of Slaughter> rushed out of the meeting room and indiscriminately slaughtered the captured villagers.

As she giggled and unleashed her magic against one by one, she was on the verge of madness.

Bae Subin.

She was called the <Witch of Slaughter> because she would not withdraw her hand of death until she saw the Hundred Face, even in front of people begging for their lives.

But Shin Seo-young will never be as cruel as Bae Subin.

Living and dying with honor, Shin Seo-young was a woman of principle.

She loves children and dreams of a better future, and she will not kill those who have not yet committed any crime.