Chapter 450: The Insect Farm (4)

At first, Seo Jun-Ho had no intention of stepping up because he still hadn’t completely recovered. He was still riddled with injuries. If the knights simply gave Tess a light warning, he wouldn’t have stepped up.

‘What they’re doing isn’t right…’

Seo Jun-Ho had encountered quite a few knights so far.

'The elf knight, the knights of the Winter Castle, and the knights of the Ruben Empire.'

If Neo City’s martial artists could be considered knights, then even the Jinyiwei could be a Knight Order as well. They had many differences—language, race, and country, and there was even a chance that they were from different dimensions. Despite that, they all had one thing in common.

'They had honor.'

They protected the weak from persecution rather than tormenting the weak with the strength they had honed for decades. The memories Seo Jun-Ho had met so far were men of honor.

'How dare they pretend to be knights…!’

Seo Jun-Ho smiled coldly and quietly opened his Inventory. There was nothing good about making a fuss, so he was planning on making sure that his identity would remain hidden.

‘Fortunately, I’m pretty good at stealth.’

In a dark cave, all he needed to hide his identity was a mask.

***

"What’s the hold-up? Did you see a ghost or something?" asked Jupiter.

Pagaro stopped dragging the child and broke out into a cold sweat.

‘They didn’t notice?’

There was no way that it was standing there the whole time. Pagaro was sure that it wasn’t there when he left to drag the child outside.

‘Is that really a ghost?’

Pagaro gulped and turned to look at Bongo, who was a knight with them and asked, "Hey, who's that guy on your left?"

"How childish. Stop with the lame jokes and drag the kid here."

"N-no! There's really someone next to you!”

"Why would someone–-” Bongo turned, annoyed. However, he was both horrified and surprised to see someone else standing next to him.

‘Fuck, what's up with this guy?’

Since when did this guy arrive next to him?

Bongo’s eyes widened as goosebumps broke out all over his back.

However, before he could even reach a conclusion…

Crunch!

…there was a sickening crunch, and his view abruptly changed.

‘Huh?’

He was suddenly looking at his comrades—Jupiter and Pagaro—even though he didn’t really turn his head to look at them. Both Jupiter and Pagaro were staring at him with pale faces, looking as if they had seen a ghost.

'Hey, come here. There's a strange punk next to me.’

Bongo walked slowly toward his comrades, but rather than shortening, the distance between them only grew distant.

‘What?’

How come he couldn’t approach them?

Bongo noticed something strange. He lowered his head and finally realized that his head had turned a hundred and eighty degrees.

Thud!

Bongo fell to the floor. He convulsed a few times, but he eventually stopped moving.

From now on, he would never be able to move again.

"Fuck…!"

Jupiter and Pagaro immediately unsheathed their swords at the horrifying death of their comrade.

Slide!

They pointed both of their swords at Seo Jun-Ho, but the latter didn’t even move. Every time the torch that Bongo had dropped to the floor flickered, Seo Jun-Ho’s shadow would momentarily become longer.

The inexplicable pattern terrified both Jupiter and Pagaro.

Jupiter asked, "W-who are you? Are you a slave?"

“…”

"Are you a commoner? Take your mask off and identify yourself!"

“…”

"Fuck! Are you deaf?! I said, take your mask off!"

The agitated Jupiter repeatedly shouted at Seo Jun-Ho. However, Seo Jun-Ho didn’t give any responses.

Finally, Seo Jun-Ho replied, "Idiots. Why would I even wear a mask if I’m just going to take it off, anyway?”

The cogs in Pagaro’s brain were churning as he remained silent while standing there.

Pagaro arrived at a conclusion and said, "He's trying to hide his face and voice."

"What use would that have? We’ll immediately discover him the moment we launch a search.”

There was only one passage from the Farm to the outside, and it was the ceiling.

In addition, it was a passage that even the king himself couldn’t recklessly open despite his status here, which was akin to a god. In other words, it was easy to find a criminal on the Farm.

"Well, he wouldn’t have killed Bongo if he hadn’t thought that far,” said Pagaro while staring intently at Seo Jun-Ho.

"We should focus on killing him in the meantime. I'll go in first, so follow right after."

"All right." Jupiter nodded.

Pagaro kicked off of the floor and charged toward Seo Jun-Ho.

Seo Jun-Ho reacted by stomping on the torch on the floor.

“…!” The surroundings were suddenly enveloped in darkness, but they weren’t greenhorns.

"Jupiter! Make a fire first!"

"I'm already on it!" Jupiter searched his pocket and pulled out a box of matches. In the dark, his muscle memory enabled him to retrieve a match, and he immediately started lighting it.

Jupiter was in a hurry, so he quickly managed to light the match, but the match only managed to illuminate the surroundings briefly before extinguishing.

"W-w-wait…! Fuck! Why did it go out?!"

Tap! Taap! Crackle!

Jupiter finally managed to light another match after five attempts.

“…!” Jupiter was startled to find Seo Jun-Ho standing right in front of him.

‘W-what about Pagaro?’

His trembling eyes looked around and saw Pagaro dead with a sword sticking out of his chest.

"Fuck!" Jupiter cursed and threw the match he was holding at his opponent's face.

Clack.

The match simply bounced off the wall and fell to the floor.

‘S-sword! I have to pull out my sword!’

Jupiter’s trembling hand reached for his waist.

Shwing!

The sound of a sword being drawn could be heard.

"…Huh?"

However, Jupiter’s trembling hand was still looking for the handle of his sword. His eyes quivered violently from fear as a cold blade penetrated his heart.

"Eup! Eup!" It was so painful that he felt like he was about to lose his mouth. He tried to scream to relieve some of the pain, but his opponent didn’t allow him to scream.

"Shhh…!" Seo Jun-Ho placed a finger over Jupiter's lips and calmed him down like a parent soothing a noisy child. "Everyone is sleeping, so you shouldn’t scream."

Tremble!

The fear only made his heart beat even faster, which brought him more pain.

‘Ahhh…’

Large amounts of blood poured from the hole in his chest, and both his mind and eyes grew hazy. He was about to die, but for some reason, Jupiter was happy to die.

‘Actually, once I die...’

He would finally be able to escape this nightmare.

***

"Haaam." Seo Jun-Ho yawned and opened his eyes. The noisy surroundings seemed to have woken him up. He looked around to find some water to drink, but someone pushed a cup of water toward him.

"Oh, thank you…” said Seo Jun-Ho and drank the water.

Once he was done, Tess finally asked, "What did you do last night and where?"

“…?” Seo Jun-Ho wiped his mouth with his sleeve. He returned the cup of water and replied, "I slept here."

"Why?"

"Because it was night?"

"Hmm." Tess didn’t know what to say at that. Eventually, he managed to compose himself and speak once more. "Your physique really is abnormal..."

"What did you say? Anyway, how did you get hurt?” asked Seo Jun-Ho.

Tess coughed dryly beneath Seo Jun-Ho’s gaze. “Ahem, I tumbled down the street."

"You know I was a sheriff, right? Your injury looks like it’s a friction injury."

Flustered, Tess hurriedly made an excuse, “Well, I tumbled and slid…”

‘How is he so sharp?’ Tess inwardly grumbled. Afterward, he changed the topic and said, “Anyway, there’s an emergency right now. Three knights went missing last night.”

"Missing?"

"Yes. It is also the first missing person case on this Farm. After all, there’s really nowhere to run here,” added Tess.

"Maybe they’re just sleeping in a secluded place?”

"…No. Large amounts of blood and even their swords were found."

"Oh, no…" Seo Jun-Ho looked genuinely sorry. "That sounds horrible. Since this is the first missing person case here, I guess they’re taking it seriously?"

"Of course. It has been messy since morning. The knights and soldiers furiously searched the lower floors."

"We’re here,” a voice suddenly rang out.

A group of people had just entered the medical ward.

Tess could recognize the one who had spoken, and he asked in a slightly nervous voice. "…What brings you here, Knight Captain, sir?”

"I’m here to find my missing knights," said Audrick, the Captain of the Knights. He scanned the inside of the cave and continued. "There has to be some evidence somewhere since the incident involves not one person but three people."

"This is the medical ward. I don’t think you’ll find any evidence here…”

"Well, I don’t know,” Audrick replied, “Even your parents ran wild, after all."

With that being said, Audrick gestured with his chin, and the knights, as well as the soldiers, started inspecting the medical ward. About half an hour later, a soldier approached and reported.

"Reporting to Knight Captain, sir, we didn’t find anything."

"Hmm..." Audrick revealed a reluctant look as he looked around. His eyes eventually landed on Seo Jun-Ho. "I've never seen you before.”

"He’s my patient, and he fell from the ceiling two days ago."

"He’s a patient? Why does he look so healthy?”

Audrick walked toward Seo Jun-Ho and crouched. He then snatched Seo Jun-Ho’s hand and examined it with shining eyes.

'He has no calluses. This isn’t the hand of a martial artist or someone capable of wielding weapons.’

Seo Jun-Ho's hands became as soft as a baby’s hands after the body transformation. However, there was no way Audrick would be aware of that fact. Therefore, Audrick concluded that he was barking up the wrong tree and stood up.

"You have a great physique. You should visit the knights if you need a job," said Audrick.

“Let's go." Audrick then led his subordinates out of the cave.

Seo Jun-Ho revealed a grim look. While Audrick was examining Seo Jun-Ho’s condition, the latter was also examining Audrick’s condition.

'His body also contains no magic.’

Seo Jun-Ho could only hope that the so-called king of this Farm would have magic.

Otherwise…

"It would be the worst…” Seo Jun-Ho muttered in a gloomy voice. He really wanted to return to Earth as soon as possible.

***

The king was currently eating a large steak. He turned to look at Audrick, and with a voice that sounded similar to a metal sheet being scraped, he asked, "Am I wrong, or did you just say that there were no traces whatsoever?”

Audrick could see the king’s displeasure. He hurriedly put down his fork and knife before replying, "Yes, we searched everywhere from the first floor to the ninth floor, and we found no traces."

"You must have missed a few places. Search again."

"But…" Audrick bit his lips. He was sure that he had looked everywhere. In fact, the reason he searched the floors personally was that he couldn’t trust the reports of the people below him. In addition, he had conducted the same search three times by now.

'Of course, it seems unbelievable.’

He felt the same way just a few hours ago.

While Audrick was thinking about how to make his report, a soldier barged into the room and interrupted their meal.

"M-my king! The corpses of the knights have been found!"

"Wait, what?" Audrick was so shocked by the revelation that he jumped up from his seat. With a look of disbelief, he asked, “Where? Where the hell were they found?”

“…”

Knight Captain Audrick was just below the king, and he was the second-in-command of the Farm.

The soldier started sweating upon hearing Audrick’s question.

"W-well... I am sure that there has been a mistake, but...”

"Hurry up and answer!" exclaimed Audrick.

The soldier could only shut his eyes tightly and reply, "They were found in your cave."