Chapter 80

Chapter 80

A horrible thing had happened in Twilight Town.

The townspeople there had become believers in a false religion and captured outsiders as offerings to their god.

Seol’s party might have killed all of them, but the incident caused Karen immense mental pain, which made her unable to react properly to an attack.

After that, the mastermind behind Twilight Town appeared to hunt down Seol. Seol, with only Jamad available to fight, chose to run away and was swept away by the current into Wet Fog Town.

‘He’s here.’

The ghost-like man who brought hell to Pandea.

He wasn’t particularly strong compared to the enemies Seol had fought so far, but the fact that he was able to paint a town in such negative colors was definitely something he had to be cautious of.

Because his malicious intent was, at least, the worst among the enemies Seol had fought so far.

‘How was he able to track us down? We didn’t leave any traces behind.’

It would be impossible for him to track them downstream. Seol would have also known beforehand if he applied a tracking spell to them too.

“Give...”

The monster’s head, that Karen cut off, continued to talk, trying its best to form a sentence.

The monster’s body was in tatters and was covered in a slime-like substance, but its face was still definitely human, which made it more unsightly to look at.

Seol looked at the monster’s face for a second before pausing.

“...Wait.”

“Why?”

Unravel.

Seol unraveled Chao’s scroll.

He looked at the man’s face on the scroll.

He then looked at the monster’s face beneath his own foot.

“...They look similar.”

“What? Let me see!”

Karen walked over and looked at the scroll too. She then nodded.

“You were right! It really does look like him!”

“Was this monster our objective then?”

- OMG... Karen burned the body though... What are you guys going to do?!

- She burned the fucking medicine RIP

- Where did he hide the medicine?

- His pockets!

- He has no pockets though???

‘No, something’s off.’

The more Seol looked at the monster’s face, the more similarities he found.

Even so, the odds of the Fog Ghost having the sleeping medicine were close to zero.

* * *

Translator - goguma

Proofreader - Karane

* * *

“Give...”

“The monster’s head is still trying to say something...”U//ppTodated fr/o/m nô/v/e/lb(i)n.c(o)\/m

“Shh, be quiet for a second.”

Seol got down on one knee and got closer to the head. And when he did, he could hear the words much more clearly.

“Give me back...”

Seol’s face froze when he heard the monster’s words.

“Why? What did it say?”

“He wants it back.”

“Wants what back?”

The head slowed down before completely stopping.

Seol repeated what he heard exactly back to Karen.

“He wants... his face back.”

“...Oh no.”

[The main contents of ‘Sleeping Medicine’ have changed.]

[‘Sleeping Medicine’ has changed to ‘Face Collector’.]

[Adventure 12-1. ‘Face Collector’

You have arrived at Wet Fog Town to do what Chao has requested of you. Though it seemed like all you had to do was simply find someone and take their medicine at first, the job that you had expected to go smoothly continuously went wrong.

The Fog Disease, which had been afflicting all of the towns in the surrounding area, has infected another person in Wet Fog Town, and not only that, you have also run into a monster near here, one that you faced in Twilight Town before.

The monster has a face extremely similar to the face drawn in the scroll and talks exactly like a human. With its dying breath, it was able to complete a single sentence.

‘Give me back my face.’

To reach the truth, you must find the one who stole this monster’s face.

Objective: Complete the objective written on the scroll.

Chao’s favorability toward you will drop upon failure.

Remaining Time [About 10 days]]

Acquiring the ‘Sleeping Medicine’ mentioned in Chao’s scroll hadn’t changed as the Adventure’s objective, but the majority of the contents had changed.

After meeting the monster, Seol continued to worry the entire day until nightfall.

“Do you really think that someone could steal someone else’s face?”

“It probably is true, judging by the fact that we weren’t able to find the person drawn on the scroll.”

“Damn it... How the hell are we supposed to find them now?”

Skid...

Karen grumbled and kicked a chair.

The fact that she had so many drawings only implied that there were a lot of patients who fell asleep. Seol’s feelings were askew after hearing such a small child say that like it was nothing.

Draw...

Draw...

“Hm?”

“What’s wrong?”

“No... it’s just that... um... I’m having a hard time drawing.”

The young girl tilted her head and bit her pencil. After a moment, she started to draw again.

Her action caught Seol’s attention to the point that now he was only watching her complete her drawing.

“You’re really good at drawing.”

“Yeah! That’s why mommy told me she’d save up money to send me to Audenin. She told me that if I go there, I can learn properly.”

“She’s a good mother.”

“Alright, I’m done now! Do you want to see it?”

“Sure.”

Seol grabbed the girl’s drawing.

She drew a portrait of Sarah sleeping and Gunt crying in a grave, calm manner.

Though it hadn’t been colored yet, Seol felt a lot of things from this painting.

The first was awe. He was in sheer disbelief of the child’s talents as it was drawn expertly, to the point that he doubted that it was really drawn by her.

The second was disconnectedness. Even though it looked like Sarah was simply sleeping in the drawing, she was headed to death in real life.

And lastly... was a sense that something was off.

“...Huh?”

“Why? Let me see too?”

Seol handed over the drawing to Karen, hoping that this would help her from becoming even sadder.

“...Huh?”

And she had the exact same reaction as Seol.

[Insight activates.]

[The drawing is inconsistent.]

With Insight activating, Seol was confident that his feelings weren’t just his feelings.

It had a different face.

Gunt had a different face.

The face that they saw in the drawing was the same face as the one they saw earlier on Chao’s scroll.

Seol calmly put the drawing down and asked the child a question.

“Is this... Dr. Gunt?”

“Yeah!”

“Why did you draw Dr. Gunt like this?”

“Huh? What do you mean why?”

The child pointed at Gunt who was still crying and sobbing.

“He looks like that, no?”

Seol, with a still face, patted the child’s head and handed the drawing back.

He then delicately spoke to Karen.

“I guess we can get lucky from time to time.”

“Right? I was thinking that we would be unlucky forever too.”

The two then slowly headed over to Gunt, who was by Sarah’s bed.

Gunt was still crying, tears poured down his face as he heaved.

“Sarah, I hope that next time... Sob...”

“...Dr. Gunt.”

“It really isn’t... sob... e-easy sending off Sarah. P-Please j-j-just give me a bit more–”

“Dr. Gunt, I have a question.”

“Sob... Sob... Now’s not a good time. Why are you being so rude right now?”

Gunt swiftly turned his head and looked at Seol with a furious look in his eyes. He then had a cool expression once more.

“Why did you do it?”

“What...?”

“Karen.”

Fwoosh!

Karen swiftly wrapped Sarah in her bedsheets and pulled her in. And then, she softly laid Sarah down behind her.

The townspeople, not knowing their intent, shrieked at their rough actions.

“Kyaaaa! Wh-what are you doing to Sarah?!”

“Snowman?! Karen?! Why are you guys acting like this?!”

Gunt looked at Seol with a face completely drained of any expression.

“...What are you doing?”

“Why did you do this to Sarah, no, to the townspeople?”

“Sob... Are you... suspecting me?”

“Answer the question.”

Gunt buried his head and cried even more.

“Sob... Sob... Sob... Why... Sob...”

And then... his cries became eerie.

“Sob... Sob.. So-ehehe... Hehehehehehe! Why!”

Gunt suddenly stood up and glared at Seol.

Gunt’s eyes had turned red.

“Why did I get caught?”