Chapter 130 (2/2)

Seol Jihu's tightly closed eyes opened slowly. When he realized he had been transported to another area, his jaw immediately dropped.

He had heard that if he were sent back to Paradise, he would return to the place he entered from. However, the place he was currently in wasn't the Salt Desert's oasis. Moreover, the salty smell in the air carried the scent of the ocean.

Immediately raising his spear, he stood alert. He couldn't sense anyone nearby, but he examined the room nervously. Only after carefully scrutinizing the place several times did he slowly put his spear down.

He was in a room with a desk and a bed. Beyond the small window on the wall, he could see an open sea. Realizing that this was probably the mysterious s.h.i.+p signaling the coming of the Banquet, Seol Jihu was convinced.

He had entered Stage 3 on his first attempt; the same Stage Kazuki and Dylan failed to enter twice before.

The problem was this. He couldn't find the door out.

But as he had experienced something similar in Stage 1, he decided to wait calmly.

'I read that Stage 3 is a battle royale….'

He was thinking about all sorts of things when he caught sight of a plate of bread sitting on the table. Even a gla.s.s of wine was placed next to it.

Now that he thought about it, he hadn't eaten lunch yet. Being a glutton that he was, Seol Jihu rejoiced and reached for the bread before going 'Ah!' and retracting his hand. Although it did look tasty, he couldn't just eat something so suspicious.

He took out some dried meat from the black belt Teresa had secretly given him. The hunger and thirst he experienced while escaping from the laboratory remained as a trauma, making him develop a habit of bringing ample food and water wherever he went.

'Tasty.'

Seol Jihu looked around the cabin room while chewing on the dried meat. Realizing there wasn't anything else, he sat down on the bed and began to wait.

How much time pa.s.sed by?

Splash- Splash- While only the sound of waves cras.h.i.+ng against the s.h.i.+p rang out….

Click! A familiar sound rang out.

A part of the flat wooden walls slightly came apart. It now looked like a revolving door.

As he was tired of waiting around, Seol Jihu got up from the bed excitedly.

It was then…

'Hm?'

The door began to spin on its own.

When it turned 180 degrees and the other side of the wall came into his view… Seol Jihu flinched seeing the huge characters written on the wall.

He had never seen these characters before. But Synchronization seemed to be taking place, as they began to wriggle in the next moment.

Not long afterwards, the strange characters turned into a recognizable word and Seol Jihu could easily read what it said.

'Wo…?'

Just as he read the word that had turned Korean….

Sparkle! The word suddenly shone.

Seeing a bright light for an instant, Seol Jihu's eyes dimmed. He looked as if he was entranced, and his arms drooped down as well.

Seol Jihu left the cabin room in a daze.

Walking like a puppet, he made his way through the dark s.h.i.+p. Opening the door at the end of the corridor, he walked down the staircase that followed.

Almost like someone who had his soul sucked out of him, he walked non-stop.

It wasn't until he reached the bottom of the staircase that he stopped.

Click!

Another click rang out, and light returned to his dim eyes.

“…Ah.”

Snapping out of his daze, Seol Jihu blinked multiple times. He felt like he had lost consciousness after reading the character, but he couldn't remember it well.

He felt like he had a dream.

'What happened?'

Seol Jihu stared at the staircase with a confused look. It looked like he had walked down to the bas.e.m.e.nt, but he couldn't see a door at the end of the staircase.

It must have disappeared immediately.

The only exit was a door that he could see in front of him.

The mysterious power that brought him here was obviously telling him to open it.

Despite understanding this, not knowing what was beyond the door made him hesitate. But he obviously couldn't just stand there forever.

After hesitating for a long time, Seol Jihu walked toward the door. Taking a deep breath, he pushed his left hand forward. Rousing his mana to activate the Blessing of the Circ.u.m if needed, he slowly pushed the door with his spear.

And when he carefully stepped in…

Zing–! A powerful, acute pain struck his brain.

“Keuk!”

His eyes widened automatically, and his waist bent back. Struggling from the powerful pain, Seol Jihu clutched his head.

It was information.

Just like when he experienced Synchronization and just like when he saw the stone stele in Stage 2, new information was being jammed into this brain.

And just like always, the pain soon disappeared. But Seol Jihu didn't straighten out his back and stood there, frozen.

He was in utter shock at the rules of Stage 3.

'Wh… what?'

The rules this time weren't as complicated as before, but they were several times more shocking.

At that moment, rustling rang out. Seol Jihu raised his head, and nine doors entered his vision. Including the door he had used to enter, there were ten in total.

And in front of each door was a person groaning while ma.s.saging their temples.

They seemed to have noticed the situation too, as they looked around the room and fixed their posture.

Soon…. A total of ten people gathered in one place.

Technically, Seol doesn't even know the Priest's gender because Korean doesn't have gendered p.r.o.nouns. I gave the Priest a gender because a) it's pretty obvious by her mannerism b) it makes text flow much better; this section makes specific note of how Seol doesn't know her gender. Since this is quite obvious, I've omitted this part from the translation.