NOVEL NEXT Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Kwa-gwak-gwang!
Something whizzed past my hair and mercilessly destroyed the floor. An intensely powerful explosion occurred, making my whole body resonate. Through the dust, I caught a glimpse of the thing that had flown towards me.
“Th-That…”
What had flown towards me was a massive iron ball.
Holy shit. The ball was as big as my torso. It was the perfect size for giants in a fantasy movie to wear as shackles. The blood and flesh sticking to it gave it an unsettlingly realistic feel.
“Did you dodge it? How?”
The large iron ball was drawn back into the darkness as if its weight was a lie. Its master had pulled it back.
Bright, cold eyes glinted in the darkness, full of suspicion.
“To be able to pre-empt my attack… what are you, really?”
Him? Or her? Anyway, the stranger’s voice was distorted with noise, like it was actually manipulated. Thanks to the location too, the horror atmosphere was alive and well.
What the hell is going on? I’m being chased to my death by a murderer – this isn’t some other-world harem fantasy where girls chase me around!
“Why am I the protagonist of the classic thriller ‘The Shining’?”
“Why am I repeatedly dying in a smelly sewer since opening my eyes in this other world?”
“Who the hell is that guy trying to kill innocent me?”
“Hah… hahaha…”
Innumerable questions arose and disappeared. What came out of my mouth was just hollow laughter. After all, it’s not like that guy could answer any of them, or would even bother to.
“Hmm?”
The stranger interpreted my laughter somehow and let out a low sound. They started to menacingly swing the iron ball around, a chilling voice speaking.
“Laughing? What gives you that confidence?”
“Confidence? I’ve just given up.”
As I shrugged my shoulders and spoke, the stranger’s eyes narrowed from within the darkness.
“Do you not want to live?”
“Will you let me live?”
“Of course not.”
“Then why do you even ask? X-bullshit.”
As I swore with all my might through my tightly clenched throat, the stranger started slightly. A kind of confusion beyond curiosity lingered in their gaze as they looked at me.
“This reaction is quite refreshing. You… aren’t you afraid of death?”
“The lion fell over worrying about the deer. Am I not afraid? I’m terribly afraid. So what?”
I raised my middle finger and wiggled it at the stranger.
Of course, the stranger doesn’t know the meaning of this gesture. It’s like cursing an annoying foreigner in Korean.
Thinking about it, this was the first time I properly conversed with this stranger.
The stranger’s surprise attacks failed this time in this life. Normally, my limbs would be severed without me knowing, or I’d be hit by the iron ball. I would scream and die repeatedly.
“At least, I’ve found something important.”
That stranger is not a bloodless, tearless, emotionless mad psycho.
He is a human who can communicate.
This is a big gain.
“Hmph. It’s not like it’ll help knowing your kind’s way of thinking.”
The stranger finally seemed to realize this conversation had no nutritional value. They nodded, then suddenly swung their arm towards me.
Chhhhh! The iron ball invaded my vision before the sound reached me.
“Ugh!”
I desperately threw my body, but there was no way I could match the speed of the iron ball.
Pwaaak! Now accustomed to the sound of flesh being ripped apart, a fiery pain shot through my right shoulder. Simultaneously, my body was sent flying into the air, spinning around.
“Kghh!”
I smashed into the ground under gravity.
My whole body aches. I have no sensation in my shoulder. Groaning, phlegm spewed out of my mouth.
“Cough! Cough!”
As the situation evolved, the sense of reality that had tried to vanish pressed against me anew.
Damn it, I was calmly chatting with the murderous little killer trying to capture and devour me. Perhaps I’ve gone completely mad.
“… Letter… at least this…”
I only then remembered the torn cloth clenched in my hand.
Hastily, I opened the Box of the Dead I was holding in the other hand. The smooth lid opened softly with a ‘plop’.
And I furrowed my brow at the instant.
“What is this?”
There was something already in the box. I pulled it out in a hurry.
It was paper. There was something written with crooked letters, and two fingerprints that looked like they were stamped with blood.
A fragment of a contract? It clearly looked hastily made for such a thing. Did I from my past life put this in when I don’t remember? It’s possible.
Anyway, I don’t have time to think about this now.
I don’t know what I from the past life wanted to do, but let’s make sure I survive in the next life first!
I threw the scrap of paper into the sewer carelessly and quickly shoved the bloody cloth into the box.
“Any last words?”
Grrrrr. By the time I finished, the sound of a blade being drawn was already close.
The stranger always made the final blow with this blade. It seemed like it would be the same this time.
I somehow twisted my motionless neck to look at the stranger’s feet.
Shoes, black in color and covered in blood and filth, were right in front of me. I smirked and gave my final words.
“Nice shoes.”
“… Thank you for the compliment.”
Prrd!
My chest tightened. A sudden sensation like a foreign body hit my lungs, causing incredible pain to spread.
“Kraaaaagh!”
And my consciousness quickly faded away.
*
“Kheeeuk!”
Right after the gate in the white space, I violently opened my eyes.
It felt like my breath was clogged up to my throat. Following instinct desperately, I rolled my eyes to grasp the situation. The scenery of the damp sewer came into view, and the stench pierced my nose mercilessly.
“Hoo… I, this is strange. Was it this… hard when I rode the gate before?”
While I shook off the inexplicable pressure weighing down on my whole body, I wiped the cold sweat all over and calmed my harsh breathing. I put all my efforts into clearing the foggy mind.
“I’m feeling better now. So…”
After I pulled myself together, I used the skill ‘The Eye of Mimir’ to check my condition or items. There were no overall abnormalities. The special bonus items were exactly as I remembered being explained.
There were only a few strange points. First, that my level was 2 and not 1. And the other one was…
“What is this? It’s blinking.”
One of the bonus items I received, ‘Box of the Dead’, was flickering in a sinister purple color.
As I stared at it quietly, a strange sensation came over the edge of my vision and triggered ‘The Eye of Mimir’.
[Item Information]
[Name: Box of the Dead]
[Notice: Item Updated – Items stored in the Box of the Dead from the past life have been updated.]
“Item Updated?”
My thought process came to an abrupt halt.
Without noticing, I dropped the Box of the Dead I was holding. Shocked by the sound of the box rolling on the floor, I barely regained my senses and hastily picked it up again.
“… Could it be?”
One hypothesis crossed my mind.
But because it was so hard to believe, I kept shaking my head.
“Could these updates mean… I’ve already died once?”
This thought struck me as absurd, causing me to snort, but the eager legs that were full of determination just a moment ago were stiff with fear.
“Could it be… but what if…”
This hesitation became my fetters.
The sounds from beyond the darkness of the sewer seemed unusually loud.
“Hmph.”
I sighed and cautiously reached for the lid of the Box of the Dead.
Let’s confirm what this updated item is first. Whatever surprise or confusion it brings will be dealt with later. After swallowing dryly, I slowly gathered strength in my hand.
Plok. Despite its strange material, the box opened surprisingly easily. Inside was a disturbing piece of cloth scribbled with blood.
I lifted it and stared at the letters.
“Move cautiously… initially J”
It’s Korean. I flipped it over in case, but it was still Korean.
The blood writing made it hard to read, but judging from the atrocious handwriting, it was probably mine.
After reading it a few times and checking again, I read it aloud.
“Don’t move recklessly… initially, X.”
A sudden burst of profanity from my past life.
What was the intention? Even after thinking for a long while with my head tilted, I couldn’t figure out what purpose it had.
But one thing became almost certain now.
“Wh-what the… am I really… dead?”
A hypothesis muttered out of my mouth that made me smile helplessly despite its absurdity. However, I inevitably came to believe in this ridiculous hypothesis because when I touched the lamp on my waist, it lit up with an ominous sound.
“… It’s active.”
Izanaami’s Heart activates.
In other words, I’m already dead.
I shakily lifted the lamp. Woom, woom. The lamp vibrated slightly as it sent bright light in a specific direction. I slightly turned my head toward the light’s direction. Surprisingly, it was very close.
Sure enough, my corpse was lying there. I guess I couldn’t see it until now due to the sewer’s darkness.
The torso was terribly crushed with a pierced chest.
“Owa-aaaah!”
Screaming, I threw the lamp away. Coincidentally, the lamp hit my corpse and rolled on the floor.
Go-ooom.
The lamp resonated with the red rune drawn under it. The body disintegrated into the wind and disappeared. Persistent warning signals rang in my head.
[Item Activation – Izanami’s Heart]
[Retrieved the lingering memories from the previous life.]
[Restored 0 points to strength, 1 point to agility, and 0 points to intelligence.]
[No skills were lost in the previous life, so no skills were restored.]
[Restored all memories from the previous life.]
“Scream!!”
Once again, I had to clutch my head and scream in agony.
So it’s the twentieth time. Even with the memory returning, I had such thoughts amid the pain.