### Chapter 226 – Room 202, Cursed Room – ‘Mermaid Princess’ (4)
—
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)]
Date: Day 100
Current Location: 2nd Floor, Room 202 – Cursed Room ‘Mermaid Princess’
Sage’s Advice: 2
– Han Kain
After the meeting with the Priestess, the scenario updated, hinting that we should gather rumors about her on Sea God Island. However, this was more complicated than I thought. The islanders watched us with suspicion the moment we stepped outside.
Fortunately, I had someone with the ability to gather intel without a hitch: me, thanks to the power of the Grimoire, I could temporarily borrow the body of a merman.
I felt a little bad, but I decided to ‘borrow’ the body of a young merman who had come to the government office. Moments later, Grandpa tackled the bewildered merman, knocking him out cold and whisked him away in a limousine without a soul noticing.
As we observed the merman, the doctor spoke up.
“Mind if I take a quick look?”
“What kind of look?”
“I’ve been observing the ‘merfolk’ species, and they seem a bit odd. I want to check their anatomical structure in detail.”
“Hold on, Sanghyun! If this guy disappears for too long, it’ll raise eyebrows. Gaia needs to gather intel before that happens. Time is not on our side.”
“Ten minutes should suffice. I believe it could help with the progress in this room.”
With such insistence, we couldn’t refuse the doctor’s request. We laid the still-unconscious merman on the guest bed provided by the sea goddess or governor, allowing the doctor to observe the merfolk’s body.
“This is puzzling. Really strange.”
“What’s strange?”
The doctor tilted his head, simply responding, “He looks too ‘human.’”
“Excuse me?”
“I read the materials from Eunsol, and apparently, in this worldview, the god of the sea raised the deep-sea clan that originally lived underwater to land.”
“That’s right. They claim to have a longer history as intelligent beings than humans.”
“Basically, that means they underwent a different evolutionary process, yet they resemble humans so closely?”
“Well… wasn’t there an explanation that their primitive form was different, but the gods modified them to resemble human forms to adapt to land? It’s only natural they’d look alike since they were essentially remade in the image of humans.”
“There are elements that can’t be explained by that—”
“Hold on! Sanghyun, didn’t you say we’re short on time?”
“My apologies.”
The doctor stepped back, and I quickly ‘borrowed’ the merman’s body and left the government office.
As I strolled out into the city, I realized I had no clue where to go. Grandpa and the doctor suggested bars or restaurants as meeting spots, but who knows if a merman would actually spill some beans at some bar?
[58:17]
In that brief span, two minutes had elapsed. Looks like I’ll have to use another stored power.
[Advice: 2 -> 1]
‘Where on earth should I go to hear some rumors?’
[Anyone who’s spent all day driving alone tends to have a chat whenever someone hops in. It’s a taxi driver’s occupational hazard.]
Being in a profession like this, it’s notorious for taxi drivers to engage passersby whenever they ride — time to go grab a taxi. I hopped in and casually told the driver to take me somewhere randomly, then subtly brought up the Priestess to gauge his reaction. If he focused solely on driving without chatting, I’d jump out immediately. I repeated this taxi selection process for nearly 40 minutes before finally finding a driver who wouldn’t stop talking.
“Hey, can you take me to the bank opposite the Sea God dock?”
“Sure thing!”
Finally catching a break, I learned the art of conversation. Instead of randomly bringing up the priestess, I needed to pitch a topic that would naturally lead to her mention.
“Oh man, that dock construction takes forever! I wonder when it’ll ever finish!”
“Sir, you’re thinking about it all wrong.”
“Excuse me?”
That was all it took. The driver, like a wise old man schooling a clueless kid, rambled on about the Cheongseong Group’s wicked schemes related to the dock and the Priestess’ great discernment to thwart them.
…
[09:24]
Less than ten minutes left. Did I pick the wrong guy? I’m supposed to find ‘unsettling rumors’ about the Priestess, but this merman taxi driver seems like a supporter of hers. I need to throw some bait.
“Still, isn’t the Priestess making some questionable moves lately?”
“Young friend, watch your words! What are you talking about?”
From ‘guest’ to ‘young friend,’ huh? Time to poke a little more.
“I mean, killing the heir of the Cheongseong Group was a bit much, no?”
— SQUEAAAK!
The car suddenly stopped in the middle of the road and veered into a side alley.
“…”
“…”
“Listen, I’m going to impart one piece of advice as someone who’s been around the block.”
“…”
“Watch your mouth! Don’t let your fishy tongue run wild—otherwise, you might find your life getting complicated! You got that?”
“What? Did I say something wrong?”
“The Sea God has three daughters! Right now, the only one left is Serenade. What do you think happened to the other two? The Priestess is scarier than you think. If I had malicious intent, you’d be sushi by now.”
The driver told me he wouldn’t charge me if I just got out. Naturally, I gladly handed over money (not my real money, but still) in joy.
So, the Priestess, Serenade, purged her sisters to seize power. What kind of implications does this hold for the scenario we’re facing?
—
“That wraps up the intel I managed to gather. Just to note, the body I borrowed released me right around the government office. Any issues arising from that?”
Grandpa brushed it off. “I tackled him and knocked him out cold. He probably doesn’t even know what’s happened. He’ll just think he had a heat stroke or something. Even if he figured out some supernatural force hit him, he wouldn’t connect us to the culprit, so it’s all good.”
Eunsol pondered for a moment before speaking up. “Serenade eliminated her other two daughters and took the throne of the island. Is that a secret she’s hiding? What’s the connection with the murder mystery we need to solve?”
The doctor cautiously chimed in. “I have a theory, but…”
“Go on.”
“Just look at the island’s situation. If we ignore the supernatural for a moment, it strikes me as a relatively common scenario, doesn’t it? It’s akin to various modern islands fearing and detesting ‘mainlanders’ while simultaneously relying on interactions with them.”
“Rely on interaction with the mainland, huh…”
“What did you think when you arrived at that government office? It seemed surprisingly modern for an isolated island, right?”
“Absolutely. It felt just like a 21st-century Jeju Island.”
“I believe two factions were formed on this island: one that wants to strengthen the ties with the mainland and another that seeks to exclude it. That’s quite usual, you know.”
The fragmented information now fused together into one giant theory.
The Cheongseong Group wanted to modernize the island, utilizing the profuse profits that could be generated within that process. Perhaps the two daughters of the Sea God, who were said to have been purged, supported developing the island with the help of a corporation from the mainland.
If that’s the case, then Serenade could have eliminated her sisters for the sake of rejecting the mainland. With that thought, one of our lingering questions began to float back to the surface.
“Serenade claimed she had no reason to harm the heir to the Cheongseong Group, right?”
“She questioned the motive because killing him wouldn’t settle the lawsuit regarding the port. What’s the point?”
“That’s true. It’s a lawsuit over the ownership of the port; killing one guy won’t resolve it, right? Perhaps Serenade had a completely different reason altogether.”
“Lee Sooho might have been the link between the reformists on the island and the mainland.”
“It wasn’t an attack targeting the Cheongseong Group. Of course, that goal probably existed, but the larger aim must have been to utilize fear to suppress opposition inside the island.”
“Grandpa, were you suggesting Serenade killed Sooho to instill terror in the reformist faction on the island?”
“If that’s how we interpret it, the information we’ve gathered aligns spectacularly. Recall how that taxi driver treated Gaia’s information. He sounded like a man scared of a dictator.”
“That’s certainly the vibe he gave.”
Even if they killed Lee Sooho, there’s a limit to how much they could suppress the Cheongseong Group. They’re a private enterprise backed by the Bureau, after all. With that support, they’ll never back down.
But the opposition on the island? They don’t have any backing whatsoever. Their representative, the other daughter of the Sea God, has vanished, and the person who connected them to the mainland has been assassinated. Could they still manage to resist Serenade now?
Slowly, the image of the Priestess as a dictator and her insidious schemes began to paint itself vividly in our heads. We started crafting our arguments for tomorrow’s meeting.
—
– Park Seungyub
In this life-or-death moment, you know how in movies, the protagonist views their entire life in panorama when faced with imminent danger? Well, I found myself caught in the same thought.
What on earth are the others doing? Are they suffering more than I am right now?
— GRROOOOAAAH!
The earth-shattering roar of the behemoth sea worm, innocent citizens collapsed, losing the strength to scream, waiting for their final moments.
And right now, I harness the energy of the universal celestial!
“Now’s my chance!!!”
I leaped from the rooftop towards the sea worm. As my body soared into the air—
Something, whether it was the sea worm’s tongue or a tentacle, ‘coincidentally’ brushed right under my feet at that precise moment!
I had no clue what I should do, but I thought, “Let’s roll with it!” and I kept running on the fleshy mass.
— TWITCH!
The tentacle spasmed mightily, lifting my body into the void. Floating in the air, everything seemed to stop momentarily. I noticed a small figure atop the giant sea worm’s head.
Who is that? A malicious sorcerer controlling the creature beneath them? I don’t know what they are, but shouldn’t I take them out? But right now, I’m… floating?
In a flash, countless thoughts raced through my mind, but reality didn’t change. My body levitated, still plenty of distance between me and the creature’s head—
— WHOOSH!
‘Coincidentally,’ a strong updraft propelled my body upward from mid-air. I spun 180 degrees and landed neatly on the head of the sea worm.
Whoa! This is insane! I’m going crazy here! Isn’t this the stuff of movie heroes? Tom Crxyz would be in awe!
Basking in my moment of ‘coolness,’ I suddenly noticed a ‘girl’ on the other side, muttering in awe.
“Void Pace? Heavenly Rise?”
… What in the world is she talking about?
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