NOVEL NEXT – Chapter 38
Drip, drip, drip—
The sound of blood hitting the floor synchronized with my heartbeat, like the ticking of a clock. In the dimly lit room, the faint fluorescent light illuminated the bloodstains.
The sensation of cutting off my arm with a dull blade was still vivid. The dull blade digging into my flesh, the sharp pain as it cut through the bone. But contrary to my expectations, there was no pain. The Painkiller was effective.
Seeing my left arm lying lifelessly on the floor, it felt surreal. Even as the entire floor turned red with blood, my mind remained eerily calm.
If losing my left arm could earn me a lot of Dalant, and if that could lead to something better… Maybe that’s what I was thinking.
“Strange. The mental shock is less than I expected.”
A soft laugh escaped my lips.
From the moment I prepared the Painkiller and the compression bandages, maybe I had anticipated this situation.
“Cough… cough…”
Hyun Ji-min coughed, clutching her throat. It was the aftermath of being strangled by the Evil God just moments ago. The blue marks on her neck were still vivid. Seeing those marks, a wave of guilt washed over me.
But despite her violent coughing, her hands moved swiftly. While coughing, she pulled out talismans from her bag and stuck them all over my severed arm.
The yellow talismans quickly turned red with blood. Then, she carefully placed the arm into a sports backpack filled with more talismans.
“Hey, are you okay?”
She glanced at me and asked. Her voice was hoarse, cracked from the strain.
“I’m fine. Are you okay?”
“Me? I’m fine… This is nothing.”
Still coughing, Hyun Ji-min focused on placing a talisman on Park Chan-ho’s forehead to block the spirit gate. Her hands trembled slightly.
With my remaining right arm, I removed the talisman that opened the spirit gate. A rustling sound of paper accompanied a sharp sensation.
I turned on my smartphone. Several messages popped up.
[You have successfully escaped from the ‘Real’ Horror Story.]
[You have partially sealed the Horror Story phenomenon.]
[You have made a crucial contribution to the sealing.]
[You have been awarded 300,000 Dalant as a basic reward.]
+300,000D
[You have been awarded an additional 700,000 Dalant as a bonus.]
+700,000D
One million.
Not bad for losing an arm. Without hesitation, I opened the Dalant Shop.
The items I had looked at yesterday caught my eye.
A 50,000 Dalant adhesive and a currently discounted A-grade prosthetic arm. The detailed information of both items appeared on the screen.
[Dr. Godric’s Organic Adhesive]
– Grade: C
– Price: 50,000D
– Description: A special medical adhesive developed by Dr. Henry Godric, a biologist and physician in the early 19th century. Originally developed to treat war casualties, its effects were too potent for civilian use. Apply the adhesive evenly to the wound, align the severed parts within 10 seconds, and hold them in place for at least 5 minutes until it hardens completely. Bones, muscles, nerves, and blood vessels will fuse perfectly without rejection.
I skimmed through the description and moved on to the next item.
[The Gluttonous Left Arm of the Glutton King]
– Price: 2,000,000D -> 800,000D
– Description: A modified version of the left arm of the infamous ‘Glutton King’ Gluttony III, created through dark alchemy. Legend has it that he was cursed after indulging in feasts while his kingdom suffered from famine. After his death, only his left arm was preserved and later transformed into a magical artifact by alchemists. It can generate up to 1 ton of force and has a mouth in the center of the palm. This mouth can chew and swallow any material below C-grade at the user’s will. Swallowing certain objects grants temporary abilities related to them.
The Gluttonous Left Arm of the Glutton King.
Commonly known among CTP Foundation enthusiasts as ‘Blood Wind,’ this item was notorious. With this arm, most tool-type Horror Stories below C-grade could be easily neutralized.
Moreover, tools with side effects could be used without any drawbacks after passing through Blood Wind.
Suddenly, I remembered the comments on the original document.
– “No wonder this document has such bad reviews; there are no side effects for the user.”
– “Honestly, with just Blood Wind, 80% of tool-type Horror Stories would be neutralized.”
– “This is seriously broken; why hasn’t this document been deleted?”
In threads, it was always mentioned as the first item to get if the Foundation’s world became reality. And with a 60% discount, I was lucky.
‘This will do.’
I pressed the purchase button, and two items materialized out of thin air: a bottle of adhesive and a muscular prosthetic arm with a mouth in the palm.
Seeing my balance drop to 2.8 million Dalant, I chuckled. Still, 800,000 Dalant was a small price to pay if it meant I could take on more Horror Stories in the future.
Hyun Ji-min looked at the prosthetic arm with amazement.
“How did you get this…?”
“Explaining would take too long. Let’s just attach it first.”
I picked up the severed arm from the floor and applied the adhesive evenly to the wound. The transparent adhesive mixed with blood, turning pink.
‘Now…’
I aligned the Glutton King’s left arm perfectly. Following the instructions, I waited for 5 minutes without moving.
“What’s that?”
Hyun Ji-min examined the mouth in the center of the prosthetic arm’s palm. Sharp teeth were visible between the lips.
“It can chew and swallow anything below C-grade.”
“Where does what it swallows go?”
“I don’t know.”
The document didn’t mention that part. It only said it could ‘swallow.’
After 5 minutes, the adhesive had completely hardened. I tested the prosthetic arm.
‘Move…’
Surprisingly, each finger moved according to my will. The mouth in the palm clicked its teeth and closed as I thought.
‘This is really amazing.’
It felt as natural as if it had always been my arm. It even felt like the prosthetic was alive.
“Ugh…”
That’s when it happened.
Park Chan-ho groaned. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around, confused.
His pupils shook uneasily. The confusion of facing strangers in an unfamiliar space was evident.
“W-who are you…?”
“Don’t worry. I’m Chan-hee’s junior.”
“I’m a shaman hired to exorcise the evil spirit possessing Park Chan-ho.”
Hyun Ji-min and I calmly explained. Park Chan-ho still couldn’t grasp the situation and kept looking around.
“R-right. Where’s the evil spirit? Where did it go?”
“We just removed it.”
“Huh…?”
Park Chan-ho was horrified to see the blood-soaked floor. He broke into a cold sweat and turned his head away.
“By the way, where are we?”
“Your brother’s house.”
“What? My brother’s house? This doesn’t look like his house…”
Park Chan-ho still looked confused, tilting his head. But he hadn’t forgotten about his brother, as he kept looking around.
“Where’s my brother…”
At that moment, Hyun Ji-min seemed to sense something strange and cut him off with a glance at me.
“Wait here. I’ll go find your brother.”
Hyun Ji-min and I stepped out of the room. Park Chan-hee was sitting on a sofa at the end of the hallway.
He was slumped over, motionless. Under the fluorescent light, drool dripped from his mouth.
“It’s not me, it’s not me, it’s not me, it’s not me, it’s not me, it’s not me, it’s not me…”
He muttered rapidly.
The way he repeated the same phrase over and over was unsettling.
Seeing how abnormal he looked, Hyun Ji-min slowly approached him.
She rubbed the dark circles under his empty eyes with her finger. Black soot stained her finger.
“As I thought…”
Hyun Ji-min let out a deep sigh.
“I had a feeling, but it seems he was hit by the backlash I sent.”
“Does that mean…”
“Yeah. From the beginning, it was the older brother who cursed the younger one.”
Suddenly, everything made sense. The reason Park Chan-hee, who was always struggling financially in college, suddenly managed to buy a two-story house in the heart of Seoul.
He had been sacrificing the souls of exorcists who came to remove the evil spirit from his brother to accumulate wealth.
According to Hyun Ji-min, wealth accumulated in this way would eventually return as a backlash.
I looked at Hyun Ji-min with a dumbfounded expression. Thinking I was asking for help, she shook her head and said,
“Sorry, but no. He brought this on himself.”
“Don’t think I’ll help him either.”
I agreed with Hyun Ji-min. There was no reason to save someone who had sacrificed their own flesh and blood.
But there was one thing that worried me.
“But what do we tell the younger brother?”
“That’s… a bit tricky for me too.”
Hyun Ji-min also looked troubled. How could we explain that his own brother had tried to sacrifice him to an evil spirit?
Turning my head, I saw bloodstains scattered all over the room from when I cut off my arm. Even my socks were soaked in blood.
“First, we need to clean up.”
I smiled bitterly and picked up a mop. Even though I had become a Catastrophe Foundation employee dealing with blood and flesh daily, I still wasn’t used to this.
Of course, the harder part would be explaining everything to Park Chan-ho later.