< Greeting (2) >
Seeing the dangling head speak felt bizarre . I did see undead in dungeons, but there weren’t any that spoke .
“Is that possibly one of those well-known zombies? The ones you get infected by if you get bit?”
“I don’t know what it is, so hyung, stay back . ”
Yoohyun said, stepping one foot forward . Just then, the zombie or whatever flapped its mouth again .
“The appearance is absurd, everyone . Wait a moment . ”
And then, Yoon Kyeongsoo’s appearance changed .
“Ah, limited edition Bunny Bunny Bear!”
“…Hyung?”
Yerim shouted happily, and Yoohyun mumbled, taken aback . In the meantime, I couldn’t say anything .
A bit away, between the collapsed building wreckage, Yoohyun was standing there . My younger brother who was a little older, his outline a little clearer, and his height a little taller . Without even me knowing, I stretched out my hand, and grabbed the arm of the Yoohyun in front of me . The twenty-five-year-old younger brother smiled .
I didn’t know who they were but it was a bad hobby . Or was I the problem? Since it seemed like the appearance that each person saw was different .
“Hyung, are you okay?”
Yoohyun asked worriedly, but I couldn’t turn my gaze away . Yoohyun slowly came over . He came closer to about ten steps away .
That thing was fake . I knew that better than anyone else . I couldn’t help but know .
“…Should I, get rid if it?”
Yoohyun said, turning his eyes away to do his utmost to not look at Yoohyun… no, that thing .
“……No . ”
Even though it wasn’t real, how could I watch something like that, fuck . I didn’t know what Bunny Bear was, but it didn’t seem to be a person, so should I ask Yerim… shit, rather I should…
“Is it not an appearance comfortable for talking?”
That thing said . On top of that, the voice was the same, too . Next to me, Yerim shouted that ‘it cried bboo, how cute!’ .
“If you know, then change right now . ”
Yoon Kyeongsoo with his head dangling was much better . When I replied, grinding my teeth, Yoohyun, shit, that thing gave a small laugh .
“You’ve probably guessed, but it’s not an appearance that I want . It’s hyung who wanted to see it . ”
“…Don’t laugh with that face . ”
It was slowly getting harder to endure, but thankfully, that guy’s appearance changed . The size became much smaller . It became smaller, but the target that it molded itself after wasn’t different . It was still Yoohyun . This time, I would go crazy for a different reason .
“Ah, really, crap…”
How cute . My younger brother who was around six or seven smiled big . He had soft hair like a puppy’s, and the round cheeks were pearly . Small hands, and obviously, small fingers, and his feet were small, too . If it was now, a Yoohyun who I could really easily pick up and hold…
“Yoo-Yoohyun . Grab onto me . ”
“What?”
“I want to run out, wow, really, seriously……”
I wanted to pet his head . I wanted to hug him . I wanted to touch his cheek . Even though I knew it was actually a corpse, I wanted to run over right now . How could he be so lovable and cute?
“Ahjussi, exactly what are you seeing?”
“…Yoohyun when he was younger . ”
“Oh, I want to see it, too! I also want to see when ahjussi was younger! Change, Bunny Bunny Bear! It’s not changing . Then, dance!”
I flexed my hand, and then took out my cell phone . Just in case, I tried taking a photo, but I got the zombie . Shit . A video didn’t work either, as expected, shit .
“Yoohyuuun . ”
“Hyung, I’m here . ”
At the slightly sullen voice, I turned to look at my brother . When I saw the twenty-year-old after looking at the six-to-seven-year-old, the reminiscence felt new . He was that small, but now he had grown this big .
“Our Yoohyun really grew a lot . ”
“Please get a hold of yourself, ahjussi . You have a completely vacant face . ”
“The kid is cute . ”
Just in case, just once, couldn’t I try petting just his head once? Of course I couldn’t . I didn’t know what that was . I should get a hold of myself .
“Is this also hard for us to talk, hyung-ah[1]?”
“Yoohyuuun!”
“Hyung!”
“Ahjussi!”
Yoohyun and Yerim grabbed me at the same time . Shit, let’s calm down . But I couldn’t calm down . Should I close my eyes instead? But there weren’t any photos left of when he was at that age, so it was a waste . And he was moving, and blinking, and speaking .
My heart hurt . He was really cute . Look how small his shoes are . I wanted to buy him something tasty . Though he wasn’t real, though he was fake . Shit, at any rate, it was the same that photos and videos weren’t the real thing either . Did I not have anything to feed him with?
“Looks like it won’t work . We’ll just have to talk with the original appearance for hyung-ah . ”
“What? Wait!”
Young Yoohyun disappeared, and Yoon Kyeongsoo’s creaking corpse took his place instead . To think that this would happen . My younger brother .
“I’ll greet you again, everyone . I’m a type of replacement for the lizard’s owner . ”
The corpse said . Yoohyun frowned, and Yerim tilted her head .
“It’s going ‘bboo bboo’ but I can’t tell what it’s saying . ”
Did it not sound like human words to Yerim? It seemed like it only transmitted words to people who knew about the filial duty addicts .
“You sure appeared fast . It looks like there wasn’t much to do for the transfer of duties . ”
“The reason why there wasn’t, was that he went and died . At any rate, there’s someone whose contract was maintained, so I came to greet you for a moment like this . Could you let me know how and who killed the lizard?”
“Would I tell you that?”
“It’s like this, as expected . There isn’t much I know about this side either… Clumsily lunging doesn’t suit my disposition . So, should we simply make a bet?”
It was welcome that Diarma hadn’t sent proper information . It was especially a relief that they didn’t know much about before the regression, and about me .
But it seemed like the contracts that were made before were continued over to that zombie as they were . I should also get rid of Choi Sukwon, or at the least, make him get de-cursed . Would there be other people who had contracted?
“What kind of bet are you talking about?”
“I didn’t chose yet . I have to look around here first . ”
“It seems like there’s no reason for us to accept the bet . ”
The zombie shrugged its shoulders .
“Or, do you want to keep on being disrupted? I’m not the type that takes it easy like that, either . But the lizard owner died and I don’t know those circumstances either, so even the preparation is lacking . However, that doesn’t mean I can’t do anything . ”
Yoon Kyeongsoo’s head let out a sigh . At the same time, it dangled a lot to the point of it being admirable that it didn’t just fall off . It was disgusting to look at, really .
“I don’t have any intention of risking my life, so let’s just each go safely . Hm? It’s ending it with just once . Whether it’s rock-paper-scissors or solving mazes or a duel or whatever . Then I’ll consider it as having done all I should to do and draw back, and everyone can diligently block dungeons . How about it, it’s good, right?”
The zombie’s hand lifted up and gestured to around my chest . And then it spoke .
“Diarma’s successor-nim . ”
“You’re saying annoying things . ”
I glanced at Yoohyun, but he didn’t show any particular reaction . It seemed like the contents that he heard were also different from mine, like with Yerim .
“The lizard owner was a bit dumb . But his ability was usable . He was a guy whose skill in combining curse and poison dragon types was pretty good . Though I don’t know how you learned that ability . ”
Looking at how that zombie talked, it seemed like it was higher up than Diarma . Of course, it could be a bluff, or the relationship between the two could’ve been bad so it was putting him down, but it was better to overestimate an enemy’s abilities rather than underestimate .
‘And it’s certain that it has a hallucination-like mind-related skill . ’
The lizard bastard also used that type of skill when he was pulling me over . Did the filial duty addicts have a lot of guys with mind-related skills? I should ask Myeongwoo for mind-related resistance items . Couldn’t I extort items from the immoral people?
“Obviously it wouldn’t be good to be disrupted in the middle of the busy mess of blocking dungeons, but I’ll give a reply after I hear the conditions for the bet . ”
“Alright, good . Convey it to the immoral people, too . You’re in contact with them, right?”
I hesitated for a moment and then nodded my head . If I said no while having Diarma’s ability, it would sound too much like an obvious lie .
“As expected . But I wonder why it’s you . There’s even an appetizing kid right next to you . His talents are outstanding and he also has an elemental . I like him . What about staking him on the bet?”
“Don’t say something crazy and if you’re done with your business, get lost . ”
Why did these bastards keep on aiming for someone’s younger brother? The zombie smiled and collapsed . At the same time, Yoohyun and Yerim turned to look at me .
“I only heard it going ‘bboo’ . Ahjussi, it seems like you talked with it – what did it say? Will a zombie infection start from now?”
“No . That kind of thing would…n’t happen? Probably . ”
I couldn’t be sure . Even dungeons appeared, so there was no reason zombies couldn’t show up .
“Yoohyun, what did you hear?”
“Things like it’s those guys’ replacement, and questions like how did I get free of the contract . It asked if I didn’t have any intention of making a new contract, so I just refused . What about hyung?”
“I…”
I trailed off, looking at Yerim who was looking at me with eyes sparkling with curiosity . I did have to tell Yerim, too . But I was caught in the mermaid queen’s words that the more it was known, the bigger the influence became . It would be better to ask the immoral people specifically about sharing the information .
“Let’s go back first and talk- . ”
“Right!”
The corpse jumped up again . The head that dangled at the rough movement finally fell off and rolled on the floor . Whether it did or not, the voice continued .
“I forgot I was going to give a present before going . This body’s owner’s value is considerably big, so you’ll be able to get a good present . Do well . ”
Right afterwards, Yoon Kyeongsoo’s corpse melted down . And above that, a gate appeared . A supersaturated dungeon gate that was right before bursting . I quickly grabbed Yoohyun, who was about to go in as soon as he saw it, and spoke .
“Hey! You don’t even know what’s inside!”
“I have a gate stone, so if I think it’s dangerous, I’ll come out immediately . ”
“Then me going in would be better instead! I have an item that Myeongwoo gave me . ”
“Hunter Bak Yerim, I will leave hyung to you . ”
That younger brother didn’t even pretend he didn’t hear and pulled me off . Then, Yerim grabbed my shoulder from behind .
“Even if you use a damage nullification item, if you just go in, then it’s the end . See, you can’t even move if you’re grabbed . ”
…That was true . Yoohyun placed his hand on the gate . But as if he was touching a wall, he was blocked .
“Even though it looks like supersaturated gate?”
“It looks like it was deactivated . Is there somebody inside?”
Would there be cause for it to be so? Anyways, you couldn’t go in .
“First, let’s draw back, and prepare for a dungeon break . ”
At my words, the two of them nodded their heads . I had drawn back while I took out my cell phone in order to convey the situation to Song Taewon, who should be nearby .
Kooreureung
The gate shook . Then, what poured out from inside it was deep blue water .
Yoohyun snatched me up and jumped into the air . Yerim also immediately used her flight skill . Kwakwakwa, along with the noisy sound, the water that poured out without end swallowed up the isolation center building in an instant . A whirlpool formed where the gate was and the ground became dug up .
In the space of a blink, a small lake formed . The gate was in the middle of that, like an eye . No, was it really an actual dungeon gate? The gate that was floating on top of the water soon sank down underneath .
Within the confusion, we got out of the lake, first .
“What has happened?”
Kang Soyoung, who was standing at the edges of the lake, where the water was barely touching, saw us and asked . It seemed like the people who were near the barricade were swept up by the water . Thankfully, it was normal water, so we saw them swim out without having gotten much damage .
“I would like to explain, but I do not know very well either . ”
It seemed like there weren’t any monsters, and I hadn’t seen a dungeon break where only water poured out, even before the regression . Normally, only monsters poured out .
Song Taewon also appeared and asked for the complete story, but there were very few things we could explain . It felt wrong to just leave it alone, but even so, there wasn’t anything we could do about the lake . While we were all at a loss wondering if we had to take out the water at least, Kang Soyoung spoke .
“Doesn’t it seem like it became larger than before? The lake . ”
It was as she said . The lake was slowly, but without stopping, getting bigger . It was a slow speed, but if we left it like this, we couldn’t know how far the water would go . .
“…It would have been better instead if monsters had come out, like normal . ”
Song Taewon’s expression was rigidly stiff . The other people also had similar faces, as expected . In the middle of that, Yerim shot her hand up .
“Since water came out, couldn’t we go inside the gate now? I will go check . I have my earrings . The one that has the effect where I can move freely in water . ”
I mean, Yerim . Still, it wouldn’t do for it to be you alone .
[1] ‘hyung-ah’ is a childish way of saying ‘hyung’