Decoding the Ghost Stories in Fantasy

Chapter 10: Wandering and Scheming in Another World (2)  

I grabbed a pistol and a shotgun and headed toward the intruder.  

Although they hadn't worked on the man who called himself the Sword Hero, firearms were still universally recognized as humanity's deadliest weapons.  

Moreover, Naram noona's drone was watching me. That was the biggest reason I didn't want to reveal my true abilities.  

The person I had always thought of as an older sister was actually a mysterious monster that devoured Phantoms and used their abilities?  

One monstrous trait was enough for me—resurrection.  

Of course, I couldn't even imagine my kind and lovely Naram noona despising me, but people were unpredictable.  

"The intruder has just entered the S-Area. He's about three hundred meters from Seo-ho... He's right in front of you, so be careful."  

Naram noona updated me on the intruder's movements through the surveillance cameras.  

Good.  

"Got it."  

She was watching me right now.  

This was the moment. As a man, I had to impress her.  

I stepped forward, mimicking the movements of second-class agents who charged in with their pistols.  

I struck a pose straight out of a Hong Kong noir film.  

"Seo-ho, this is a crisis situation. Stop fooling around."  

"......"  

It was sad, but I had no choice but to endure the shock of realizing that my well-practiced ultimate move had a fatal flaw...  

The intruder came into view.  

The dim lighting only allowed me to make out his silhouette, but I could clearly see him glancing around as he walked between the pillars in the corridor.  

"He's full of caution. But he hasn't spotted you yet, Seo-ho."  

Such detailed observations.  

Perfect.  

I aimed my gun.  

Not directly at the intruder, but slightly to the side.  

Bang!!  

The bullet hit the hallway wall just as I intended.  

At the gunshot, the intruder turned to me in shock.  

Staring at me like that would only backfire.  

What an amateur.  

"Freeze. From now on, don't move—"  

Before I could even finish my warning, he spotted me and immediately charged forward with a yell.  

He was impatient.  

This intruder wasn't as fast as the Sword Hero.  

Still, he must have had something up his sleeve—lightning suddenly crackled around his right arm.  

It was a fascinating sight.  

"S-Seo-ho! Be careful!"  

Unlike Naram noona's worries, my mind was perfectly calm.  

He was breaking common sense by recklessly charging at me, but he was still moving at human speed.  

It was something my eyes could easily track. I had the advantage.  

Bang!! Bang!!  

Two shots fired, one hit.  

The surging lightning fizzled out.  

The intruder collapsed forward.  

I looked at the blood oozing from his leg. Yet, there was still no sweet scent of a monster.  

"It hurts… Damn it, it hurts… What kind of magic did you use, you bastard…?"  

Like the Sword Hero, the intruder spoke in a language I couldn't understand but could somehow comprehend.  

His voice was that of an immature boy.  

"Hello."  

Now we could finally have a proper conversation.  

I pointed my gun at his head.  

"Don't even think about moving a single finger. Otherwise, I'll send you straight to your dead mother."  

"Seo-ho…"  

It was a justified response to a brute who attacked without even listening to reason.  

But what if he really didn't have a mother?  

Still, I, Woo Seo-ho, was a man who was weak when it came to Naram noona.  

I retracted my crude remark and softened my words.  

"…I'll send you straight to your dead grandmother."  

"Ugh… ugh…"  

The intruder gave up resisting.  

Perhaps realizing the difference in power, he alternated between glaring at me and my gun before biting his lip.  

"From now on, answer my questions honestly."

"Alright."  

"Don't speak informally."  

"...Yes, sir."  

"State your name, age, affiliation, and the reason you came to this place."  

I had spared the intruder who attacked me for several reasons.  

In life, there are moments when one must make a decision.  

Those who act emotionally in such moments never meet a good end.  

Those who let mercy and sympathy cloud their judgment always face the consequences.  

Of course, this wasn't my own experience.  

It was one of the lessons learned from the deaths of countless fourth-class personnel at the research facility.  

Even when I killed the Sword Hero or witnessed the corpses of the researchers, my heart never raced.  

If necessary, I could kill anyone.  

Though, of course, Naram noona was always an exception.  

"If you don’t answer, I’ll kill you."  

That didn’t mean I was a mindless murderer.  

It wasn’t like I’d assault or kill a random passerby just because I needed fifty thousand won.  

I had basic morals.  

I just didn't feel guilt when I crossed the line.  

I only killed when I deemed it rational.  

That was another reason I spared the intruder—besides gathering information and avoiding Naram noona’s scrutiny.  

I hoped this intruder wouldn't turn me into a killer this time.  

"Three."  

I placed my finger on the trigger.  

"Two."  

"Adam."  

The intruder finally spoke.  

"Sixteen years old, from Sunflower Town, affiliated with the Arena... I came here because I needed money. I swear on my younger sister’s honor... every word I just spoke is the truth."  

I glanced at the sparrow drone.  

"Uh, uh, uh... Maybe we should hear him out first?"  

I slowly lowered my gun.  

***  

For someone like me, who always resurrected in perfect health after dying, needing medical knowledge was unexpected.  

I couldn't just leave Adam alone after he surrendered, so I decided to provide some basic first aid.  

"May I use magic...?"  

I nodded without thinking, and warm light, resembling vegetation, bloomed from the boy’s hands.  

As his glowing hands touched his wound, the embedded bullet popped out, and the injury began to heal.  

"Wow."  

Naram noona and I exclaimed at the same time.  

Even with this, he wasn’t a Phantom?  

"Amazing."  

"This is my only ability."  

"You used lightning earlier, though."  

"That was the power of an artifact. Besides common-use magic, other spells require someone to be born with a magic circuit. So..."  

"I'm Woo Seo-ho. Just call me Seo-ho."  

"...I didn't expect you to be so unfamiliar with magic, Seo-ho. From how you attacked me earlier and how you're speaking now, I assumed you were an incredibly skilled magician..."  

Last time, the intruder called me a demon. Now this one was calling me a magician.  

"Seo-ho, switch to speaker mode."  

Naram noona seemed to have something to say.  

Her voice sounded strangely excited.  

I complied with her request, and—just as I expected—  

"Hello, friend! I'm Kang Naram! I work at the Paranormal Research Facility! My favorite foods are mala soup and tanghulu...!"  

She fired off words like a machine gun.  

Adam's eyes widened in shock.  

Realizing that this would hinder smooth communication, I switched back to call mode.  

"Why’d you switch it back?! Put it on speaker again!!"  

"I’ll turn it back on after I finish talking. If this guy really is from another world, like you said, then he's probably confused. We should be considerate."  

"Ugh..."  

I calmed Naram noona down and turned back to Adam.  

"Don't mind that voice just now. There's one more person listening to our conversation."  

"Oh, I see..."  

"I'm sure we both have a lot of questions for each other, so I'll start by introducing myself."  

I briefly explained my situation.

I originally worked in this place, but I got caught up in a major accident.  

When I woke up, everything was strangely out of order.  

Since an intruder had previously tried to kill me, I had no choice but to react sharply.  

I also had no idea why we could understand each other.  

Those were the common points.  

I left out detailed parts like the Paranormal Research Facility.  

There was no benefit in listing unnecessary details at length.  

The boy quietly listened to my words and seemed to grasp the situation to some extent.  

"I should introduce myself again. I am Adam, a magician working at the Arena in the nearby Sunflower Town. Sunflower Town is a city with a population of 2,000 and is under the protection of Lord Sayan..."  

Adam seemed to understand very well that I was unfamiliar with this world.  

Seeing how he was kindly explaining everything, including unnecessary additional details.  

At this point, I was able to clearly grasp the situation.  

As Naram noona had suggested, she and I had been sucked into another world due to the influence of a wormhole, and the boy in front of us, Adam, was a resident of this world.  

I didn’t think it was an impossible story.  

I prided myself on knowing as much as Naram noona about the miraculous ways Phantoms could bend reality.  

If that was the case, I needed to discuss the details with Naram noona before making a decision, but the general direction was already set.  

For now, I would use this boy, Adam, as a compass.  

Whenever you're in an unfamiliar place, you always need a guide.