How to get on the protagonist’s flower path

I silently raised my gun and aimed at Park Yul-han’s forehead.

“What do you want?”

My teeth clenched. These bastards dared to invade my home again?

To confront Park Yul-han, I summoned the Sacred Ring with my other hand.

“Whoa, whoa, calm down. I came here to talk. It’s about the abnormal situation.”

I frowned even more and pulled out another gun.

“How brazen. The abnormal situation is something you guys are intentionally creating, right?”

“Ah— that can be seen both ways, can’t it?”

“Speak clearly.”

“Oh, you’re so fierce. I’m too scared to say anything.”

Despite his words, Park Yul-han continued to smile nonchalantly.

“To be precise, it’s not that we created that strange gate; we merely changed the location where it would occur!”

“…You can change the location of the gate?”

“Yes. Well, we made a slight alteration as a warning. Did it catch your attention?”

“It made me want to kill you bastards.”

“Please spare us~.”

Are the techniques these guys possess not for generating gates but rather for changing their locations?

‘Could it be that they failed even after increasing the density on the second round?’

But judging by that tiger’s comment, maybe…

I glared at Park Yul-han, who was smirking, and asked, “Don’t you have the ability to freely control the generation of gates?”

“Of course, we can’t do that.”

Park Yul-han, who had been smiling throughout, turned expressionless when he said that.

“Even those who closed the tower’s door cannot do that.”

His blood-red eyes pierced through me.

“I’m sure the Savior side tried. The problem is that attempt led to the great disaster eight years ago.”

“…The great disaster eight years ago?”

For a moment, an absurd conjecture flashed through my mind.

Gate, location movement, closing, failure, eight years ago, great disaster.

It was a forced combination made by some intuition and should never be the truth.

“…Then, eight years ago, in Yongin—”

“Gang Na-hyun.”

At that moment, someone suddenly interrupted our conversation.

“…Teacher?”

It was the teacher with a knife to their throat.

“Do not listen to his words.”

No, that’s not the teacher.

“His words are all misleading and pointless.”

It’s the Oracle.

Moreover, it had forcefully seized the teacher’s body.

“I would think that’s impossible… But if you side with him, I don’t know what will happen to this teacher.”

“Wow, what a terrifying expression.”

Park Yul-han looked at me with an awkward smile.

“I don’t think today is the day for this, so I’ll be going now.”

Just as I was about to shoot at Park Yul-han as he tried to escape, he added one more thing.

“And that thing you’re guessing, you’re probably right.”

Bang-!

The bullet I fired missed its target and sliced through the air.

At the same time, the sound of a knife hitting the floor echoed.

“Teacher!”

The new body of the teacher, from which the Oracle had escaped, collapsed. I hurriedly caught the teacher’s body.

My teeth clenched involuntarily. Why were these bastards barging into someone’s home, causing chaos and threats? A hollow laugh escaped me.

“Let’s see how this goes, shall we?”

I carried the teacher and moved to her room. With the ring of sanctity back on, I strapped twin pistols to my waist.

If the Oracle and Wild Hunter were going to act like this, then there was no choice.

I could only do my best to protect my family.

No matter what price I had to pay.

The black scale. It was time to meet her again.

“Sister? Where are you going?”

“Yeah. Something came up. I’ll be back in a bit.”

I strode forward with heavy steps.

***

Between the intermediate zone and the illegal settlement, there was barbed wire surrounding it. In other words, up to the very front of the barbed wire, it was a legally habitable intermediate zone.

Even so, there aren’t many people who want to live right up to the illegal settlement. Naturally, the people who end up here are the poor.

I walked past the shabby houses toward the border.

“Are you a student? What brings you here?”

A soldier guarding the border spoke to me. I smiled brightly and replied that I had just come to observe.

To reach the place where the Black Scale lived, one had to use a specific method within the illegal settlement.

I had no choice. I bought two transit tickets.

[Current Meta Points: 4380 points]

I silently shed tears inside as I watched the points I had painstakingly gathered scatter away.

Tearing the transit ticket, my body smoothly shifted over the border to the desired location. I quickly resumed my steps and arrived at the nearby village of illegal residents.

I changed into an old hooded zip-up I had prepared in advance, as entering in a too clean manner would surely attract attention.

“I haven’t seen your face before.”

“Did you come here to be sold?”

Still, it was unusual for someone new to enter this closed-off village, and whispers continued around me.

After casually brushing off the group following me, I wandered through deserted alleyways until I finally found a wall engraved with the symbol of the Black Scale.

I grumbled as I traced the symbol on the wall.

“Why make it so difficult to find?”

There was only one thing left to do. What was it?

…Recite the spell.

I’m not joking; I mean it.

“Sigh…”

I let out a deep sigh and stood before the symbol.

It was fortunate that I had reread the parts where the spell was mentioned a few times while searching for clues in the novel. Thanks to that, I had memorized it.

“The one who created the tower, the first being he made, the one who measures and changes the world, the fairest of all,”

Gradually, the symbol began to glow black.

As if something were filling it, I continued to recite the spell while watching the symbol slowly change.

“I request a transaction with the Black Scale.”

And then darkness swallowed me.

[The presence of the Black Scale has been detected near the meta system user.] [Entering component analysis for the update.]

***

“It’s been a while, soul of the other world.”

Behind the red veil, her familiar voice echoed.

Hearing that voice, I suddenly recalled the first time I met her.

Of course, it wasn’t the time to leisurely reflect on the past, so I quickly shook off such thoughts and approached her.

“Have you come because there’s been a problem with the transaction?”

“Yes. I requested that ‘the teacher and all the children at my orphanage never get involved with the crime syndicate.’”

“You were told you would be the exception.”

“The only exception is me.”

After taking a puff from her pipe, the Black Scale exhaled.

“That may be true. Hmm… But the situation with the ‘Wild Hunter’ is a bit ambiguous.”

“What?”

She chuckled softly, then lightly tapped the end of her pipe against her hand.

“I’ll ask you this: Can one who willingly sacrifices one for the sake of a hundred not be called a hero?”

“…What are you talking about? Aren’t we discussing whether the Wild Hunters are criminals or not right now?”

My reaction made the Black Scale burst into light laughter.

“Heh, that’s right. Then let’s interpret it in a way you can understand.”

She took another puff from her pipe and exhaled.

“They do earn money and operate in the underworld, but they are a group with a righteous purpose.”

“If they’re making money and operating in the underworld, they’re simply a part of a criminal organization. And they were a group that originally tried to kill people—how can they be righteous?”

“I see. You’ve defined it that way. In that case, we’ll need to adjust the transaction accordingly.”

The Black Scale lightly clapped her hands. At that moment, a giant shadow of a scale appeared behind her. The scale was tilted to one side.

“I have broken one promise. Therefore, I shall balance the weight of the scale with one more wish.”

She pointed the pipe upward.

“What do you desire?”

“I want ‘the teacher and all the children at my orphanage to never get involved with the Oracle.’”

I stated what I wanted.

“It shall be done.”

And she replied.

As the shadow of the tilted scale slowly began to move, it became level again. Watching that, I casually remarked.

“I’d like to add one more transaction, is that alright? Whatever you demand in return, I’ll definitely give it.”

“Speak. The price will be charged when what you request is fulfilled.”

“That’s both kind and ominous. If I were to—”

And so, the transaction was made.

***

After completing the transaction, I exited that space through the wall.

I absentmindedly brushed the wall I had come out from, lost in thought.

What I had requested would likely happen someday.

Then, what would the Black Scale demand in return?

It felt like I was cradling a ticking time bomb, unsure of when it would go off.

All of this was because of the Oracle and the Wild Hunters.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance.

As I was about to head back to school after finishing my business, a stranger suddenly blocked my path and spoke urgently.

“What on earth are you thinking? To make a deal with that thing!”

I sensed it right away. This was the Oracle.

And I laughed.

“Hey.”