NOVEL NEXT Chapter 56
Episode 56
A chill ran up my spine, sending shivers all over. My heart began to race wildly.
Should I push their hand off and sprint down the stairs, or turn my head and check who it is? I pondered this several times in a split second.
Then—
“Huh?”
I realized something a moment too late. Despite the person being so close, no warning alert had appeared.
Come to think of it, I was so startled by the hand on my shoulder that I didn’t even remember if the voice was male or female.
“Hey, why are you just standing there? That’s embarrassing.”
It was a familiar voice. Turning around, I was left speechless upon seeing the face of my friend, Sang-kyu.
“…It’s you.”
“Yeah, what’s up? I thought I’d greet you since you looked just like yourself from behind, but what’s with this reaction?”
Sang-kyu said with a confused look.
Without answering, I checked the people who had just gotten off the elevator. Then I glanced down the stairs.
Knowing it was Sang-kyu made my tension ease for a moment, but this wasn’t the time for that. I had to avoid dragging my close friend into a dangerous situation.
Biting my lip, I decided to dash down the stairs quickly.
“Sorry, I have something urgent to take care of. I’ll contact you later.”
“Hey! Si-hyun!”
Ignoring Sang-kyu’s voice, I hurried down the stairs.
4th Floor.
3rd Floor.
Luckily, I hadn’t run into that foreign woman yet.
I wish I could just take the elevator up instead.
2nd Floor.
Just before I spotted a brown-haired woman, a warning alert popped up in my vision.
[Warning: Detected a person with a certain level of notoriety nearby.]
I increased my speed. If she blocked my path, I’d just slam into her to break through.
Yet, there was no collision. Instead, she seemed to effortlessly sidestep and let me pass.
But she had a disturbingly pleasant smile on her lips. I tried to ignore it and continued downward.
Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain, as if something was stabbing into my thigh.
“Huh?!”
In that instant, I couldn’t muster any strength in my body. It felt like I was hit by a paralysis attack. Just then, someone appeared and caught me as I was about to lose my balance.
“Whoa, Si-hyun, you drank too much. Pull yourself together.”
That voice sounded concerned for a close friend.
However, I instantly recognized who it was. The warning alert had reappeared.
[Warning: Detected a person with a certain level of notoriety nearby.]
That alert that I really didn’t want to see anymore.
“…Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.”
Filled with despair, I regretted it. I had been too focused on the woman and hadn’t paid enough attention to what was ahead of me. Plus, when I glanced from the window, I hadn’t seen her group, so I never thought they would suddenly show up.
“Rebecca, I’ve got this friend. Can you help me carry him?”
“Okay.”
Apparently, the foreign woman’s name was Rebecca. She came over and helped her group carry me. Since we were in a busy area, people passing by merely recognized the scene but didn’t pay much attention to it. After all, there was a bar on the 2nd floor, so nothing was out of the ordinary.
What was driving me crazy was the fact that I couldn’t even speak. It felt like I was about to be kidnapped without a chance to resist.
I was dragged toward a black van. Another member of the group was in the driver’s seat. And there was that unwanted warning alert again.
I was unceremoniously tossed into the backseat of the van. At least I wasn’t thrown onto the floor.
Bang.
The van door shut, and I was completely kidnapped.
“That was too easy. One job down.”
The guy who had carried me, Jeon Hee-seung, said with a cheerful tone.
“Do you know how much the Paralysis Poison from the Ice Serpent costs? It’s good for not being yours. If we could finish this in one go, we wouldn’t have this mess.”
Rebecca grumbled.
Normally, paralysis poison wouldn’t work this quickly. Especially not on an Awakened Being like me. It was the top-grade Paralysis Poison from the Ice Serpent, which was why it had such a terrifying effect. And because of its strong effectiveness, it was expensive, which led Rebecca to complain. It was she who had given Hee-seung the poisoned needle coated with the Ice Serpent’s poison.
“Where are we going?”
The man in the driver’s seat, Han Kyung-jin, asked. They had kidnapped me but hadn’t decided on a destination.
There were dozens or even hundreds of ways to kill someone.
Where and how to kill me hadn’t been determined yet. They had initially thought they could dispose of me at home, which was why the plan had changed suddenly.
“Let’s go somewhere quiet?”
Hee-seung suggested.
“Why?”
Rebecca asked.
“Since it’s come to this, let’s have some fun torturing him before killing him.”
“Oh? That doesn’t sound bad.”
Rebecca showed her agreement.
“Go wild, do as you please.”
Kyung-jin drove according to their terms.
‘These fucking crazy bastards…’
I felt my teeth gnashing with rage. Obviously, there were no decent people among those with notoriety. I tried to move my body somehow.
But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t move at all.
What do I do?
What do I do?
What do I do?
In this hopeless situation, I desperately thought and thought. I was the one who survived against the Giant Monkey, much stronger than these guys.
I couldn’t give up here. No, the choice to give up on life didn’t exist for me. I wouldn’t allow it until the final moment. I would somehow survive and return.
I resolved to read my captor’s information first. Knowing their details might help me uncover their identities and maybe even find their weaknesses.
I started by checking the details of the closest one, Hee-seung.
[Average Assassin]
Name: 75
Gender: Male
Occupation: Assassin
Notoriety: Average
[Alias] Nail of the Black Cross – 75 is a member and a Nail of the Black Cross, the worst assassin group in the Reiter Continent. He has committed many murders as the organization’s tool of death, following orders.
– All skills increase in efficiency by 30% in dark places.
– Members of the Black Cross are called by numbers instead of names.
– Members cannot refuse the organization’s orders.
[Stats]
Strength 297 (D)
Agility 404 (C)
Wisdom 93 (E)
Stamina 328 (C)
Mental Power 350 (C)
Magic Power 391 (C)
[Resistances]
Physical Resistance 16.4%
Magic Resistance 17.5%
Poison Resistance 25%
Fire Resistance 0%
[Skills]
Passive: Assassin’s Calm, Assassin’s Patience, Dagger Handling, Poison Resistance
Active: Stealth, Concealment, Assassination Technique, Surprise Attack
‘An assassin?’
After checking the information, I was sure of one thing. Those who had triggered the warning alert truly were nothing like regular Awakened Beings. They were incredibly dangerous individuals.
The Black Cross?
I had never heard of that organization before, but given the caliber of killers they housed, it felt like the level of danger had exceeded all bounds.
At least I was relieved that my assumption about their power being C-rank was correct, but in my current paralysis state, even an E-rank would be impossible to overcome.
‘What about the others?’
I read the information of the remaining members. Just as expected. Those bastards were all part of that Black Cross group.
They all had the alias of Nails of the Black Cross.
The man in the driver’s seat was 71, and the woman named Rebecca was 72.
All their ranks were C-grade, and their stats were similar. The skills showed that they were thoroughly specialized in ambush tactics, just like assassins.
That was perhaps a string of hope, I thought.
In a direct confrontation, they were likely weaker than ordinary C-ranks. If a fight broke out when I managed to slip away, that might help me. Of course, given that I currently couldn’t move, that was just a distant dream. And I had a rough idea of how I had been tracked.
Rebecca had a tracking skill. She probably used that to find my location.
‘Dammit, what a mess.’
I needed to regain mobility before I could do anything. But there were no signs of that happening.
Did they know that? They hadn’t even tied me down properly.
“Step on it more.”
Rebecca, sitting in the passenger seat, complained about the current speed.
Kyung-jin, who was driving, had a displeased look on his face and frowned.
“If you’re not happy, you drive.”
“I’m not happy, but I don’t want to drive.”
“…”
Irritated by her words, Kyung-jin suddenly slowed down. The car moved at a tortoise-like pace.
“Sorry. Go back to how it was.”
Rebecca spoke in a robotic tone, almost apologizing.
Only then did Kyung-jin speed up the car again.
“Yawn.”
Hee-seung in the back yawned out of boredom. Then, he closed his eyes and said, “Wake me up when we arrive.”
He acted relaxed, as if I wasn’t even there.
…If only my body was okay, I would break myself out through the window and jump.
I was feeling suffocated and about to go mad.
“By the way, that guy’s a Correctional Officer, right?”
Rebecca asked.
“Probably.”
“How bad did he have to be for someone to hold a grudge against him? He must have lived a completely reckless life. It must have been a prisoner who requested this?”
“Don’t get too interested. Just kill him mindlessly as we’re told.”
Kyung-jin replied with a voice that sounded rather bitter.
Meanwhile, I was in shock from their conversation.
Why hadn’t I thought of that? What a dumb move…
The moment I saw them as assassins, I should have realized they were not mere hunters robbing items by killing. They were genuinely killers, hired to take lives.
If that’s the case…
There was only one person who could possibly be the client.
Jang Hak-ki.
The one who held the greatest grudge against me was Jang Hak-ki. Assuming he had turned his life around was one thing, but he hadn’t redeemed himself yet. And he was in a position to commission an assassination on an organization.
I had misjudged.
Jang Hak-ki was smart enough to know that killing me would risk permanently disabling his ability to control me. He wouldn’t take actions that would harm me.
Yet, I had missed this. Looks like his feelings for revenge completely overshadowed every other emotion.
“Jang Hak-ki, that bastard…”
For the first time, I felt such intense anger towards an Inmate.
Is he trying to kill me now, beyond just making a fool of me?
I swear, I will survive and return to crush his face underfoot.
◈ ◈ ◈
The car headed towards Yangju.
Though my body was paralyzed, I could see clearly where we were going, yet they didn’t seem to care. It was as if I was already considered dead to them.
The car passed through the countryside for a while.
It felt like we were going further into the wilderness. As we went deeper, the visibility of houses gradually faded away. Then, we entered an isolated villa area. Behind it, there was a secluded mountain. It was truly a desolate place, hardly reachable by any human.
It was clearly a stinking place. There was no way an assassination organization would build something like this for mere leisure. It was definitely constructed for their covert operations.
“We’ve arrived.”
Rebecca said shortly, glancing at the sleeping Hee-seung.
◈ ◈ ◈
I was forcibly moved into the villa.
Kyung-jin seemed to touch something in the study on the first floor. Then the floor below opened up, revealing a hidden staircase.
‘A secret door?’
I never expected to actually see something I had only experienced in movies. As I descended the stairs, a dimly lit underground passage illuminated by flickering yellow bulbs came into view. Passing through several rooms, Hee-seung opened the door to one room.
It was a gray room made entirely of dark concrete. In the center stood a chair, surrounded by shackles and chains.
But what caught my attention the most were the torture tools scattered all around. Just looking at them was terrifying and gruesome.
‘Damn, what the hell… have I seen such lunatics…’
I felt like swearing. At the same time, I was drowning in despair. There was no sign that the paralysis would wear off.
In my anxiety, feeling lost, an alert suddenly popped up.
[Po-ahim has finally lost patience in your critical situation and is attempting to step in. It promises to detoxify you using the ‘Tear of the World Tree’ whenever you wish.]
…A saving notification appeared.