Chapter 68

Chapter 068 – Win Rate of 120%!

8 PM.

Seugal, who had been alert towards the outside, became irritated.

“Hanamjin, that guy, surely isn’t planning to not come again today? Don’t you know you’re supposed to come and feed me?”

Seugal, who hadn’t eaten for two days now, including yesterday, was becoming a little more sensitive.

Awakened Ones consume a lot of calories, so just one day of fasting was already quite Painful.

Staring at such Seugal, Yu Yeo-reum felt curious.

Seugal surely had the concept of 「Gracious Lady」, yet her actions didn’t reflect that.

A concept was akin to a restriction or fetter. It was impossible to act against it. Someone with the concept of 「Demure」 would act demure accordingly.

‘…Or perhaps the adjustment from the 「Gracious Lady」 concept only reaches this extent?’

“Ahhh! I’m starving.”

Shivering and being irritable, Seugal.

Actually, the reason Seugal was acting unusually restless today wasn’t solely because of hunger.

The ‘something’ outside the stone gate yesterday was disturbing Seugal’s mind.

“Hanamjin, that guy, surely didn’t meet something strange yesterday and d*e? That’s why he can’t come?”

Just as Seugal made what seemed like a plausible guess…

“Seugal, all you’ve talked about since yesterday is Hanamjin. Could it be….”

“What? Without him, who’s going to feed us?”

Seugal flared up without reason. She didn’t know what would follow Yu Yeo-reum’s “Could it be…”, but it was surely something that would irritate her nerves.

“And! Other people don’t even know we’re trapped here. It’s not like we can shout for help out loud anyway, with some weird monster outside.”

When Seugal stopped thinking about Hanamjin and recalled the strange monster again…

What was that thing’s identity?

“Yu Yeo-reum, did you not see exactly what was beyond the wall with your X-ray vision?”

“I saw. It looked human. Its eyes were strikingly bl**d red.”

According to Yu Yeo-reum’s X-ray vision, it had a human-like form.

Of course, it was similar to a human but had parts that were somewhat different. It gave a strangely unpleasant feeling, as if it were.

Seugal said,

“I didn’t realize it yesterday in the chaos, but that eerie and ominous sensation. It’s akin to the unpleasant valley sensation I’ve felt before, the time I met Jin Eun-byul.”

Seugal remembered the rich girls.

Daughters of conglomerates like Seugal usually held parties on their birthdays to foster camaraderie with each other. That’s how Seugal from Seonam met Jin Eun-byul from Samjin Group.

Of course, Seugal didn’t really like Jin Eun-byul.

That girl was quite unpleasant. Like something else under the guise of the name Jin Eun-byul.

It wasn’t always like that. Around the time she entered middle school, Jin Eun-byul suddenly changed as if she had become a different person. That was also around the time Jin Eun-byul started bragging about being a famous fortuneteller.

‘If Chairman Seo Do-cheol had caved in, he would soon ask Samjin Group about my location through Jin Eun-byul. This would lead to a clash between Hanamjin and Jin Eun-byul.’

Seugal imagined what would happen if the unsettling Jin Eun-byul clashed with the crazy Hanamjin.

Who would win? Truly a difficult question.

If Hanamjin were to lose…

“Seugal, your heartbeat is increasing rapidly.”

“You freak! Stop checking my heartbeat without permission!”

Swish-.

Seugal covered her chest with her hand while glaring at Yu Yeo-reum. And as she stared, there was a sweet smell emanating from Yu Yeo-reum.

To Seugal, who was extremely hungry, the sweet scent from Yu Yeo-reum’s body was akin to torture.

So, while Yu Yeo-reum was peacefully enjoying 「Photosynthesis」 in bed, Seugal approached her like a fox attacking a chicken coop and pounced on her.

“Iluwait!”

“What? What is this?!”

Seugal licked Yu Yeo-reum’s neck.

Slurp-!

Surprisingly, the soft skin tasted sweeter than expected, which shocked Seugal.

‘…It’s sweet! And the taste varies by part? Is this the power of the 「Candy」 concept?’

Of course, Yu Yeo-reum was shocked.

She didn’t expect Seugal to suddenly engage in such bizarre behavior.

“Stop! I don’t have that kind of hobby! You crazy girl! Go away!”

As the demure Yu Yeo-reum pushed Seugal away, who had obtained calories by licking her candy-like body, Seugal’s head spun…

Her brain was calculating the results of the clash between Jin Eun-byul and Hanamjin.

The conclusion came out quickly.

Hanamjin’s victory.

Because Hanamjin possessed the 「Lover’s Flyswatter」, a weapon that even Seugal herself, known as the Worst Girl, feared.

# # #

“Love’s Flyswatter!”

Slap-!

“Aaaaah!”

When I hit Jin Eun-byul lying on the bed, she bounced up and down, seizing, which was quite a pleasant sight to behold.

Her bloodshot eyes glared at me, only for her head to showcase the trick of spinning 360 degrees.

But that was all.

Spinning her head 360 degrees didn’t evoke any sensation or threat towards me.

Slap-! Slap-! Slap-!

I beat Jin Eun-byul with the flyswatter until her white skin turned red. Jin Eun-byul, who had been so hostile earlier, changed tactics and pleaded with tears in her eyes.

“I get it! Stop! Stop! Get that flyswatter away! What on earth do you want to know?”

Finally, her will seemed to be somewhat broken.

Slightly disappointing!

Seugal would have continued throwing tantrums for another hour.

‘Indeed, I have become someone who cannot do without Seugal.’

While feeling such regret…

Chang-sik, who had been tensely waiting, spoke up.

“The Demon won’t simply answer our questions. She’s sure to bewilder and confuse us! On that note, I will ask the first question!”

Volunteering himself as the guinea pig.

Truly self-sacrificing!

“Okay, tell me if I can get a girlfriend?”

“Huh.”

“….”

Chang-sik’s question made Baek Yeo-ul and Deoksun furrow their brows. It felt like they were saying, “Should you ask that kind of question in this situation?”

Soon, Jin Eun-byul giggled.

“Jung Yuna’s son, Choi Chang-sik. You cannot get a girlfriend.”

“Wh-WHAT!?”

“But you will have two wives. It’s not a lie. I can’t tell lies because of my 「Divination」 backlash. Believe it or not, it’s your choice. My 「Divination」 isn’t entirely perfect either.”

Really? Skipping the girlfriend phase and ending up with two wives?

Truly impressive, Chang-sik.

“Me? When can I get a girlfriend?”

Now I was curious too. When would I be able to escape this pitiful solitary state?

Then Jin Eun-byul split her lips till her ears in a spine-chilling laugh.

“Hanamjin, for ten thousand years, you will be alone! Doomed to wrestle with extreme loneliness for a very long time. Hehehehehe-!”

Am I destined never to get a girlfriend and always fight against loneliness?

Total nonsense!

“No, you Demon! I don’t believe fortune-tellers!”

A man usually doesn’t believe in divination or prophecy.

People getting into astrology, physiognomy, and fortune-telling are due to a lack of male hormones, according to my belief.

“Alright, we have two questions left. My 「Divination」 has a limited number of daily uses.”

There was indeed a limit on the number of questions.

She should have mentioned that beforehand!

That girl, she was deliberately hiding it.

Now we had to be careful with our questions.

When everyone was glancing at each other, Deoksun, who had been trembling all this time, mustered the courage to ask.

“Why did you torment me? Even my dad and younger brother. What was the reason you treated us so cruelly? I never did anything wrong to you.”

I heard Deoksun was bullied by Jin Eun-byul in middle school. She was curious about the reason.

Jin Eun-byul’s expression suddenly turned serene. It was a different face from the one that had been struggling like a demon just moments ago.

“In my dreams, you hit me.”

“…In a dream?”

Disliking someone because of something that happened in a dream?

“Just for that reason…? Just…”

Deoksun gritted her teeth in apparent anger but seemed to try to suppress her fury. She probably had a lot she wanted to say but felt the timing wasn’t right.

Now, only the last question remained.

Everyone’s gaze fell on me. It seemed they were giving me the chance for the last question.

“N Mart arson. Did you know that then-president Nam Tae-geon and Seonam’s chairman Seo Do-cheol were involved?”

“Is it alright? Answering this question will deeply hurt one of you.”

Slip-.

Jin Eun-byul’s eyes slowly opened.

“I’ll offer you one last chance to change your question. Sometimes, the smallest truth can be more piercing and hurtful than the biggest lie.”

She acted so arrogantly, like she was giving us a favor. It was laughable.

She might be avoiding the question because she didn’t want to answer it.

After all, if President Nam Tae-geon were to fall, Jin Eun-byul herself, the medium, would also take significant damage. It seemed she wanted to change the question to avoid strangling herself by her own hand. The backlash against divination about lying seemed to be real?

“There will be no change in the question!”

“……….”

Jin Eun-byul’s expression looked extremely angry.

She had no way out. So, naturally, it would be agonizing.

Jin Eun-byul now gnashed her teeth while struggling. Her torment was so painful her eyes bled. It was so pitiful to watch, even for me.

I slapped her sole with the 「Lover’s Swatter」.

Whack-!

“Hurry and speak. Before the thorns of regret start affecting you.”

“Aaaaaah! You… you’re right…! N Mart arson was part of Chairman Seo Do-cheol’s plan… and… Uughhggh! The President’s… approval… was… there! The evidence has already been burned! Even if the Lord of the Underworld is dead, hahaha…!”

Jin Eun-byul eventually confessed.

It was regrettable that all the evidence had burned away, but her confession in front of many people about the high-ranking figures’ crimes was sufficient harvest.

“The broadcast has ended due to violation of regulations.”

“Friend! The broadcast has stopped!”

As soon as Jin Eun-byul’s confession ended, the live broadcast cut off. Was there interference from higher-ups? Our goal was achieved, so the broadcast didn’t matter, but there was an issue…

“…Hahaha, this is all your fault. Because of you… because of you… Keugh-.”

Jin Eun-byul began convulsing. She coughed up foam as if something were stuck in her throat.

I rushed to her, opened her mouth, and cleared the throat’s airway, noticing something strange was in her mouth.

A silver coin.

A foreign coin I had never seen before.

「Name: The Lucky Coin」

「Description: Commemorative coin for the 10th anniversary, featuring a fairy princess’s face.」

「Possession: 《Fortune Lv.4》 – Bestows blessings akin to the bluebird of fairy tales. Grants the possessor’s wish; its current power is entirely depleted.」

What on earth is this?

As I was bewildered, Baek Yeo-ul’s face turned pale.

“Th-that coin…!”

Baek Yeo-ul seemed to know something about this coin. Jin Eun-byul, who was foaming at the mouth, then said,

“This is all because of you! Baek Yeo-ul! You killed me! Hehehehehe!”

Blink, blink-. Flash-.

The building lights repeatedly turned off and on, then went completely dark as if the fuse had blown, leaving the villa pitch black.

When the terrified Chang-sik hastily turned on his phone’s flashlight, something unbelievable had already happened.

“…Uh, where’d she go? Friend! Jin Eun-byul, who we tied to the bed, is nowhere to be seen!”

Jin Eun-byul, who had been tied to the bed, had vanished.

All the crosses hanging on the wall were now upside down.

Soon, Deoksun raised her hand.

“Chang-sik, your… shoulder…”

Drip, drip-.

From the fingertip Deoksun pointed at, a mysterious red liquid dripped onto Chang-sik’s shoulder.

As Chang-sik’s face turned pale in the light of the phone, Deoksun added,

“Ch- Chang-sik, don’t look up. Don’t look up in situations like this; it’ll get you killed! It’s a horror movie cliché!”

Instead of frozen Chang-sik, I lifted my head.

Creak, creak-.

Jin Eun-byul was hanging on the ceiling like a spider, with extended limbs and joints unnaturally twisted. What was peculiar was that her face was crushed like a whirlpool.

Jin Eun-byul was no longer fully human, yet not entirely non-human.

A Demon being. That would be the appropriate term.

Unlike 「Yomra」 or 「Pinocchio」, who temporarily lose control after consuming Concept Stones, Jin Eun-byul herself had been consumed by the Concept and degenerated into this state.

This was the second time I’ve seen a Demon Being in such a complete form. For high school students, it was a crisis of the highest order!

But…

I am not just any high school student!

I’m the world’s smartest high school dropout!

“Hohohohoh! The time has come to reveal my ultimate move!”

I took out the 「Rechargeable Ketchup Bottle」 from my lower torso.

In my mind, this 「Ketchup Bottle」 was the solution to getting out of this situation.

The win rate was 120%!

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