Chapter 524 – Room 207, Gate Room – Fourth Trial: ‘Fallen King’ (10)
– Han Kain
To be honest, I was momentarily overwhelmed by the destructive atmosphere engulfing Seoul.
Screams from citizens and the eerie songs echoing from countless chaotic creatures filled the air.
If this place were the Room of Curses, then it was the moment to realize we’re screwed and contemplate escape.
However, this is Room 207, the Gate Room.
Concepts like escape don’t apply here; there’s only one shot at this place.
There’s that ‘One More Chance’ giving a reattempt effect, but the owner of that inheritance hasn’t joined us yet.
I don’t have the luxury to ponder impossible options.
I just need to pick from the possible choices!
“Minah, did you hear that call just now?”
“Th-that voice was definitely Hong Go-hak, right? I didn’t even open my phone-”
“Contact the Vatican and ask them to track his location. I don’t care how they do it—through phone tracking or satellites, just get it done!”
“You want to go after Hong Go-hak? E-even if we know where he is, that’s still a problem! The outside is swarming with monsters. For some reason, it seems they can’t enter this church, but if we go out—”
“I can handle that part.”
“… Okay.”
While Minah contacted the Vatican, I also reached out to ‘someone’.
— Ting ting!
“Did you check the situation outside?”
「…」
“I really could use your help right now. The location is the church entrance I mentioned yesterday, so if you use the map app—”
「What about joining us?」
“Not yet. Just take out the monsters around us from a distance.”
「- Click!」
Finishing the call, I glanced back at Minah, who was coming toward me.
“I found him! He’s so obvious that I didn’t even have to track him.”
“He’s being obvious?”
“If you head toward Yeouido from here, there’s a park on the way—”
“Just knowing his location is enough! Can we walk that distance?”
“I have a car! Should we leave right away?”
“No, wait a minute.”
The monsters outside were ready to swarm in as soon as the church door opened.
They must’ve been trying to drag the faithful outside, suggesting that this church possesses some sort of power to keep the enemies at bay.
At that moment, Minah cautiously asked.
“Who were you on the phone with just now?”
“….”
“That person will handle the monsters around us? Is that a teammate? Based on yesterday’s explanation—”
“You know him well. You’ll meet him soon.”
“What?”
“I’ll explain shortly. But right now, we’re busy, right? Let’s get moving.”
*
As we hurried toward the parking lot, Minah’s eyes shimmered like a rabbit’s, failing to hide her surprise.
A thick fog enveloped us, and the monsters lurking nearby kept melting away.
Honestly, I was equally astonished at every turn.
Didn’t I originally lack this kind of power?
A power I gained after entering Room 207?
Since this trial is long-term, unexpected events are bound to occur.
“Car keys!”
“Here!”
With no time to waste, I pressed the accelerator without hesitation.
— Vroom!
Confirming the position Minah showed on her phone—
— Bam!
Dodging the monsters bouncing around, I managed to hit a few—
— Screech! Crash!
Frowning as I saw a monster devour a citizen right in front of me, I winced—
— Bang! H-help me!
At this point, Minah couldn’t take it any longer.
“Hey!”
“…”
“Do you think this is a bumper car ride? Why are you hitting everything in sight?”
“I-I’m trying my best here.”
“Why do you drive like this? Didn’t you say you’ve been through it all?”
How unfair.
I’ve endured all sorts of craziness in the hotel, but I had hardly ever driven a car!
Whether rolling around in the Stone Age for centuries wouldn’t make my driving skills any better!
— Honk! Honk!
“Why are you honking? Do you think the cannibalistic clowns will flinch from the sound?”
“This is just a habit!”
“Is stomping on the accelerator instead of the brake there also a habit?”
“…”
Thinking back, it was clearly a mistake for me to be in the driver’s seat.
But consider it.
While scheming away with my head about everything happening, the girl next to me was just a high school student.
In this situation, it makes sense for a grown man to take the wheel, right?
Minah, sitting there naturally in the passenger seat—
“Get out of the way! Just get out!”
“…”
— Whoosh!
Before long, Seoul was swept by heavy rain and wind.
The view of the road, filled with wailing figures, looked like a scene from a nightmare.
A clueless girl from the Vatican and a young man who couldn’t even distinguish between the accelerator and brake.
The security vehicle carrying this bizarre duo pushed across the gloomy road.
*
As we neared the desolate park, I realized the information from the Vatican was indeed correct.
Hong Go-hak was carelessly exposing his location.
Approaching, I pondered where everything had gone so strangely wrong.
…
At the very beginning, when I didn’t know anything, I intended to snatch the sacred sun held by the leaders of the Horus congregation.
After joining the congregation, I realized that this ‘Horus’ they worship was me, and I thought it wouldn’t require fighting.
Midway through, I revised my short-term goal to securing the Kingdom of Dreams for that reason.
Logically, the Horus church must have been established by my allies, so contacting them seemed like a way to assimilate the Horus congregation.
Once I got the congregation, wouldn’t the sacred sun naturally come back to me?
Thus, I was progressing step by step, but suddenly, Hong Go-hak went berserk like a madman!
…
Upon connecting with Hong Go-hak, I sensed a strange distortion lurking deep within his heart.
“Diocese head. Why are you doing this?”
The old man clasped his hands humbly and replied.
“What have I done to deserve such a question?”
“…”
“If you were surprised by the horrors of Seoul, I will answer that I simply unveiled the truth.”
“What?”
“The Vatican has deceived everyone with an inadequate veil for many years. Lies always have an end.”
Something about what he said felt familiar but confusing.
To interpret it, it seems Seoul has already become hell for some reason, and the Vatican has covered up that devastation with strong miracles.
Could it be that Hong Go-hak merely inflicted a small hole in a solid dam, causing its collapse?
“Even if all your words are true, you broke the veil.”
“Eventually, it was a delusion bound to break someday. Today is just the start.”
“What do you mean—”
“The Vatican knows too. The disgraceful fools standing behind you may know nothing, but the Virgin Mary hidden in Spain is aware.”
I fell silent for a moment, waiting.
The diocese head seemed about to reveal something significant.
…
…
Five seconds of silence—short yet feels long.
Suddenly, Hong Go-hak burst into laughter.
“Haha! How was my imitation from earlier?”
“… Imitation?”
“Didn’t I seem like I know all the world’s secrets? Quite the convincing act, wasn’t it?”
“…”
“Lord Horus.”
Finally, that name emerged.
I didn’t deny being called Horus by a priest.
“I’ve served Pope Sophia for many years, who had a peculiar habit.”
“…”
“She would never give clear answers to questions and enjoyed riddles and vague responses.”
“…”
“Thanks to that, many came to believe Pope Sophia was a more mysterious and enigmatic being, but I realized something different.”
“What did you realize?”
“Aha! This person is human too! The reason they don’t speak clearly is that they don’t know the answers themselves, and they enjoy riddles just so the other falls for their tricks.”
“…”
Listening to him, it wasn’t entirely wrong and was a bit amusing.
Though I hadn’t met her yet, Pope Sophia’s behavior seemed vaguely akin to that of an owl.
“That makes sense. If my knowledge isn’t perfect, a little bluff is necessary to intimidate my opponent.”
“That’s right!”
“So, Hong Go-hak, are you going to start mimicking Sophia from now on?”
“Haha, isn’t it okay?”
Would he really think to play at riddles with flimsy information, without being an owl himself?
— Flap!
When the grotesque energy radiating from the grimoire appeared, the old man smiled as if disappointed.
“Seems like you need strength to imitate a god.”
— Squee!
An indescribable unpleasant sensation hit me again.
An endless cycle of bizarre thoughts swallowed my mind!
Hypotenuse rectangle rotational displacement spiral!
What the hell is going on here!
The 13 little ones zoom down the road!
(Directed to a dead-end alley!)
“The first little one says it’s scary.”
The second little one also says it’s scary.
The third also says it’s scary—
This is the work of an outrageously famous eccentric poet!
The fragmented writer’s spirit bursts through the dining room’s door!
Cubic sugar soaked in spilled blue ink is loaded onto a tricycle!
Military boots stomp on business cards, a flowerpot crashes with the furniture!
I endured the chaotic string of nonsensical phrases, waiting.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long for the rivalry to be resolved.
Since I had a ‘second sentence’!
“If what belongs to the other can be yours, then couldn’t you also be another?”
“Ugh! Wh-what is this!”
I turned to look at the mysterious shadow that had appeared behind Hong Go-hak.
He was aged, but he wasn’t me.
…
In that instant, I became curious.
When I first split, I contained ‘the madness of the grimoire’ on one side and ‘the erosion of the sacred sun’ on the other to isolate them.
But now, what about it?
Perhaps this distinction itself could be meaningless.
“Ugh!”
Observing Hong Go-hak twitching all over, I couldn’t help but admire him.
He had a unique power, yet could resist my possession attempt to this degree?
Still, it was only a matter of time.
Though Hong Go-hak wielded mind-shattering magical power, he wasn’t sufficient to resist the grimoire.
Finally.
The twitching old man suddenly calmed down.
“Ready?”
“Yep.”
Every time I converse with ‘myself,’ it feels peculiar.
Soon, information gleaned through another possession began rising within me, as if it were only natural.
…
Crisis, despair, pain, frustration, and…. betrayal!
“So that’s it.”
The Horus church plunged into crisis after Pope Sophia vanished, lacking leadership.
With the Vatican’s relentless offensives increasing by the day.
For laypeople, it was perhaps better, but the high-ranking officials within the congregation were, in reality, as fragile as flies.
“Ugh…. Were there so many non-humans?”
In fact, a significant portion of the Horus church’s upper ranks were intelligent beings like werewolves or yetis, making it clear the Vatican wouldn’t show mercy.
…
In the memories, Hong Go-hak lost acquaintances daily.
Yesterday, he lost a friend of 20 years, today, his long-served disciple.
In all this despair….
Horus never extended a hand for salvation to him.
“… This is bad.”
At the final moments of the flickering candle of faith.
Someone whispered to Hong Go-hak.
“Foolish priest, you’re still seeking an unresponsive god. I shall give you genuine salvation.”
“Hm, so Hong Go-hak has become a pawn of someone unknown?”
Another me replied.
“He couldn’t endure the Vatican’s persecution and betrayed the congregation. The real problem is what happened next. Despite abandoning his faith, astonishingly, the god returned.”
“… That’s a little unfortunate.”
“With the god’s return, a typical priest would, like that guy from earlier in the church, fold his hands in prayer… but not for Hong Go-hak. He’s already committed the ‘unforgivable sin.’”
“If it’s what we call apostasy, I think he’d just be let go if he knelt down.”
“That’s our thinking, but in his mind, he must have felt hopeless about reversing the situation. That said….”
He cocked his head again.
“Is it in his possession?”
“What?”
“That ‘genuine salvation’ being in his possession? Wait a minute; let me pull it out.”
Soon, the other me rummaging within drew something out.
“It seems someone handed this to the diocese head?”
A small object, wrapped in soft cloth.
“Wow, it’s really tiny.”
“Yeah.”
Once I uncovered the cloth, I saw a small shard of glass glimmering ominously.
“It looks like a piece of a mirror? What is this—”
— Ting!
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.