Chapter 521 – Room 207, Gate Room – Fourth Trial: ‘Fallen King’ (7)
– Han Kain
According to what the Vatican found while monitoring the Horus sect, the ‘Kingdom of Dreams’ is held in a sacred relic storage room in the Korean diocese.
“Although it’s called a sacred relic, from what I know, they’re just art pieces. The real miraculous items are probably stashed away in the main diocese in the U.S.”
Minah still seemed doubtful about whether the ‘Kingdom of Dreams’ was truly a miraculous item.
If it were something genuinely miraculous, it wouldn’t be found in the Korean diocese.
Only NPCs not affiliated with the Hotel Party can use hotel tools.
So, the Horus sect probably valued the Kingdom of Dreams as just a valuable painting like the ‘Mona Lisa’ or ‘Sunflowers.’
Then, Minah shared some ‘infiltration tools’ provided by the Vatican with me.
“What’s this?”
“Think of it as a kind of identity disguise mask. Try it on.”
As I stood in front of the mirror wearing a leather-like mask, a completely different person appeared. Not just my real identity, ‘Han Kain,’ but a middle-aged man that didn’t resemble ‘Cha Eun-ho’ in room 207 at all.
“Pretty impressive!”
“Don’t get too carried away. If it’s a powerful chaos entity, they could see right through it, and if you get shot, it shatters immediately. It’s just for fooling normal folks.”
“Is that so?”
“Now, I’ll explain the infiltration plan—”
“Wait a minute.”
I relayed my final request.
“What do you mean?”
“Can we get it?”
“Well… I could get it, but it’s too random. Plus, it might complicate our infiltration.”
“That’s precisely what I considered.”
“… Fine.”
*
The round full moon filled the early dawn sky.
The fact that the moon still existed in this world touched me in a strange way as we set off.
Infiltrating the building where the relic storage room was located wasn’t difficult.
I had grown accustomed to doing secret agent-like stuff while advancing through the hotel, and the Vatican had already gathered plenty of information.
‘Pause for 6 seconds. Move five steps to the right. Move forward again.’
Following this mindset, we wound up in a silent space.
The surroundings felt more like an art gallery than a treasure storage room, with various sculptures and paintings on display.
Perhaps they often hosted exhibitions for high-ranking folks from various social sectors?
— Clink!
When the wriggling sound came from my bag, Minah frowned and looked my way.
Just from her expression, I could hear what she wanted to say.
‘I knew this would happen when you made that bizarre request! It’s a disruption to our infiltration.’
Anyway, since we hadn’t been caught yet, I awkwardly laughed it off.
After placing the bag in a suitable position, I carefully began my search within.
Not long after, Minah spotted the ‘Kingdom of Dreams’ hanging on the wall.
I nodded in response to her question of ‘Is this it?’ and cautiously inspected the frame.
Should I carry it out as it is?
It felt too heavy, but if I broke or ripped the frame, it would surely make noise—
Just then.
“…!”
I was struck by an intense, foul odor that hit my nose.
This was one of those moments when my extremely sharp senses kicked in after heading to the second floor!
Ari and the old man had diagnosed that this was one of the powers birthed from the elevation of my soul.
The key point was that someone—most likely a being that wasn’t even human—was approaching.
There’s no way someone sneaking in would be our ally in a place like this.
After about three seconds, Minah’s expression hardened, and she put her hand into her inner pocket.
Was she about to pull out her gun and engage in a shootout?
Considering that there were many valuable artworks nearby, they’d probably prefer to avoid a gunfight.
Given this point, maybe escaping without bloodshed was still possible—
“…”
No, wait.
There was a card I had prepared for such situations.
“Minah, kneel down next to me.”
“…?”
“Just trust me. What are we being quiet for?”
There was no need to stay quiet since the enemy had already sensed our presence.
“Eun-ho, what are you—”
“This isn’t going to work. The frame is too heavy. All I need is the painting. Now, kneel!”
— Thud!
As the door to the sacred relic storage room burst open, armed guards poured in, ignoring the backdrop of 21st-century Korea, I confidently acted in front of everyone.
— Crash!
I slammed the frame against the wall and shattered it.
“You guys!”
Judging by the twists of facial expressions from the guards, perhaps they were here on orders to avoid damaging artworks.
“No matter how clueless you are, do you not know what art is?”
“Lower your weapons!”
A low, resonant voice came forth from me.
I exuded a weighty atmosphere.
“What the hell are you saying? This crazy bastard!”
Of course, this wasn’t enough.
My hand naturally extended into the air, revealing the grimoire above it.
As the guards briefly stared in shock at the clear anomaly, the one reeking of that foul odor narrowed his eyes.
“They’re not ordinary! Protect the artwork at all costs—”
This was the moment I had prepared for.
The bag I had subtly placed in the corner of the sacred relic storage room opened, and ‘it’ flew out.
— Flap!
A parrot with glossy white feathers gracefully descended onto my shoulder.
Normal folks would probably react with, ‘A parrot out of nowhere?’ but this was a secretive place where the sect viewed parrots as messengers of the gods.
So, I boldly declared.
“Do you know who I am?”
The guards began to panic.
Some of them even had that ‘No way?’ look in their eyes.
I leaned in closer and added a whisper.
“Didn’t the pious one, Hong Gohak, tell you? The time has come.”
That old man, Hong Gohak, made a fuss about how Horus would return to even a stranger like me.
Surely, he must have told those around him dozens of times!
Maybe sensing something odd, the guards started rolling their eyes, keeping an eye on the giant who reeked of that bad odor.
As I guessed from the start, it seemed this huge guy was their leader.
If I could subdue him, the rest would naturally kneel.
— Grrroowl…
From the beak of the sacred bird came a low sound.
The parrot looked up at the guards as if it were a person.
“Why do you still show such vile intent?”
While parrots could mimic human speech, had they ever seen one engaging in a conversation like this?
Bizarre.
But also divine.
In this world, evil and mystery were no different, so strangeness was indeed a symbol of the divine.
The giant, beginning to sweat heavily, cautiously replied.
“I-I’m Park Seungjin, in charge of security operations for the Korean diocese—”
“And?”
“I-I received reports of a theft—”
“Where is this thief?”
Standing tall with my back straight in front of the panicking guards, I maintained my confidence.
The key to such acting is to act confidently, no matter what.
This time, I alternated between talking to the parrot and the guards.
“Everything beneath the sky is in His hands, so this temple belongs to the noble one.”
“I have come to fulfill His will.”
“So Seungjin, is there anywhere I can’t go here?”
At this point, Park Seungjin was already kneeling.
Of course, the other guards behind him also awkwardly bowed down.
“There isn’t!”
“Then is there anything here that I cannot obtain?”
“There isn’t!”
Once again, I brought the frame down against the wall.
— Crash!
With nobody trying to stop me, I readily pulled out the ‘Kingdom of Dreams’ for all to see.
“Hmmm…”
Now that I just extracted the painting, it felt like a mere piece of paper fluttering lightly.
Now that the atmosphere was set, it was time to act ‘more mysteriously.’
I rolled up the painting and tied it with string before attaching it to the parrot’s leg.
“Seungjin, it’s dark in here. Open the window.”
“Are you referring to the vent over there?”
“Window, vent, whatever works.”
“Ah, understood.”
Soon, the parrot and the Kingdom of Dreams were sent off through the vent.
“… Uh.”
For a moment, a dizzying feeling overwhelmed me.
Time-wise, it was only brief, but using the Avatar’s power without the protection of the status window was still taxing.
I could only utilize it now because I accepted the ‘second sentence.’
Time to start wrapping things up.
With a gentle gesture, Minah, being the attentive one, gracefully stood up.
Now, exiting the sacred relic storage room with confidence and disposing of the Vatican’s special disguise mask would complete the perfect crime!
Haha, see? Bringing the parrot was a brilliant call!
I had asked to find the most mysterious and prettiest parrot, and it paid off.
That little one, since I named it Newpero, might as well help me out in the future.
Had I thought about throwing down if things went south? It seems like it was going too smoothly right now—
But wait.
Whenever I think, ‘This is easier than I expected,’ something weird always pops up.
So, I shouldn’t let my mind wander like that.
Let’s not have that thought.
Let’s drop the idea of ‘not having that thought.’
Let’s empty out the decision to discard the thought.
Let’s not obsess over the decision to empty it.
Let’s stop thinking about the reluctance to detach.
Let’s forget even that reluctance we just set down.
Release the burden associated with ‘forgetting’—
— Beep!
An indescribable unpleasant sensation hit me.
The endless flow of thoughts came to a halt.
In that instant, I ‘felt’ an old man within my expanded conscious realm.
He was a vile wielder of magic.
He was a sorcerer capable of distorting human minds.
He was the chief of the Korean diocese, Head Priest Hong Gohak.
I saw the old man.
The old man saw me.
The physical distance was still over a few kilometers, so we couldn’t see or hear each other.
But the old man didn’t doubt the incomprehensible ‘communication’ happening now.
He was someone who firmly believed in the existence of miracles.
In this silent conversation, the priest felt me, and I felt him.
I sensed the distortion cloaked within the belief of someone who was once devout.
“Sir, you are late.”
— Crackle!
“No. It’s not too late yet.”
“What? What did you just say?”
Turning my gaze, I caught sight of Minah, who was covering her ears with both hands.
“My head hurts! What was that? Look at those guards, they’ve all collapsed—”
“Let’s just get out of here.”
*
As soon as we returned to the residence, Minah exclaimed in an excited voice.
“Wow! What was that? It was so much better than Ji-eun! It was on a different level! Is it because it originally belonged to you? Um, I’m really curious about this!”
“…”
“By any chance, are you really some god or a similar existence? So that means—”
“Minah, I’m feeling really exhausted right now; I’m going to take a short break.”
“Huh?”
My head ached.
Now it was unbearable, and I had been spitting out blood for a while.
“Ew! What’s with the blood?”
“…”
Even though my proficiency with the grimoire had risen while accepting the second sentence, there is a limit to these things.
Having used a ton of Avatar’s powers without the status window protection after the hotel incident and now, the backlash was unavoidable.
“I’m just going to take a quick nap.”
In an instant, my body began to crumble; Minah was asking urgently.
“What about the parrot? We need to find it! We need to get the painting!”
“… I don’t know. Search well. It might be sitting on a tree or something.”
“What?”
Sorry for Minah, but thanks to the mind games with Hong Gohak, I lost control over Newpero.
That little guy would have probably turned back into a regular parrot and would be freaking out somewhere.
If things went south, it might have even been killed by a crow or a falcon…
Well, as long as the painting was safe, that was all that mattered.
“Please find the painting. I’m off to sleep now.”
“Hey! At least tell me its approximate location—”
And just like that, I lost consciousness.
*
…
…
…
When I woke up, feeling the cold air, I was alone.
Was Minah still looking for Newpero?
“Oh.”
On the table lay the ‘Kingdom of Dreams.’
Thank goodness Minah found it while I was out cold.
“…”
Finally, I had the means to locate my allies.
Moreover, I now had a way to gauge ‘Minah’s identity!’
— Flutter!
The Kingdom of Dreams unfurled.
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