At those words, Kang Do-hyeon’s face became even more flustered.
That was understandable, because the opponent clearly looked like a demon.
‘If I hadn’t looked at the horoscope, I would have thought I was a demon too.’
═══════════════
[Name] Yang Sera
[Rank] Ghostly Item
[Five Elements] Earth
[Status] Curse ‘Mutation’
═══════════════
“This is a human. It is cursed.”
Kang Do-hyeon seemed momentarily flustered at Seo Kang-rim’s words, but soon his eyes became sharp.
“How did you know that?”
“You can understand the curse thanks to Youngsu’s influence.”
While Seo Kang-rim was making excuses for Lini, the statue attacked again.
-Bang!
Kang Do-hyeon urgently grabbed Seo Kang-rim by the back of his neck and pulled him down.
There was no hostility or murderous intent in the frozen face of the statue.
Only the mechanical movement toward the object in front of the eyes is captured.
“It seems certain that there is something up there.”
As the two people descended the stairs to the first floor hall, the statue stopped moving.
It seemed like a structure that would attack when a human entered a certain area.
Seo Kang-rim quietly looked at the statue, put away the map, and went up the stairs.
Kang Do-hyeon said in embarrassment.
“Seo Kang-rim, what are you doing?”
Without answering the question, Seo Kang-rim ran straight towards the statue.
The statue detected the intruder and took action, but was too slow for Seo Kang-rim.
Seo Kang-rim hit the statue’s face with his fist.
-Pfft!
The statue stumbled and rolled across the floor.
Seo Kang-rim watched the scene for a moment.
‘Is he dead?’
I was planning to just stun him without killing him, but it took more strength than I thought.
Judging from the slight trembling of his body, he didn’t seem to be dead.
It was unclear whether the statue was weak or whether he had become stronger.
Judging from the fact that Yang Sera’s rank in the four pillars of destiny is Gwiilpum, it seems to be the latter.
‘It seems like raising it to level 30 had a big impact.’
After successfully subduing him, Kang Do-hyeon also climbed the stairs.
He looked down silently at the fallen statue.
“… … You’ve definitely gotten stronger.”
Seo Kang-rim let out that muttering.
Kang Do-hyeon also seemed to be thinking of saying something new and soon started talking about something else.
“So what are you going to do now? Are you going to leave me here unconscious?”
“We need to lift the curse. Linny, come here.”
Liny, who had been hiding in a corner and shivering, carefully approached and tapped the statue with her head.
[The ability ‘Purification’ is activated!]
[The curse placed on the target is lifted!]
As white light began to leak out, the turbid energy from the statue’s body began to gradually disappear.
Then cracks began to appear on the surface of the statue, and its shell began to peel off, as if a worm had emerged.
Kang Do-hyeon glanced around and said.
“It would have been a disaster if other people had discovered this place first.”
There were several broken statues scattered throughout the stairs.
It seemed like the people who came in first were the ones who killed them.
Seo Kang-rim used ‘Steal Fortune’ on them, but soon canceled the activation.
‘The rating is too low and it’s been dead for a long time.’
Meanwhile, the human who had been freed from the curse opened his eyes and let out a rough cough.
She looked at the people in front of her, her face distorted as if in pain.
Kang Do-hyeon said while looking at the woman’s face.
The woman stared blankly at Kang Do-hyeon, or rather, at the sky.
“What’s your name?”
“Ah, ahh… … .”
Instead of saying a name, only a strange cry came out of his mouth.
Although his body had returned to that of a human, it seemed that his mind had not yet recovered.
Seo Kang-rim looked at the woman for a moment and then moved towards the restaurant.
‘I should tell Annabi too.’
We should have known about the statue before we knew about the survivors.
If you happen to come across a statue, you might smash it.
Seo Kang-rim headed to the restaurant and looked around.
——————
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‘Where did everyone go?’
There was no Annabi or anyone else in the restaurant.
Where did everyone go?
In the meantime, something felt off.
The moment Seo Kang-rim sensed a change inside the restaurant.
-Koosh!
From behind, three or four statues loomed over him.
It was a situation where a normal person would have been crushed to death.
Seo Kang-rim hurriedly avoided them and looked at the Sajuchang, and they were also humans.
-Crack!
Seo Kang-rim subdued the statues in one breath.
Although the statues’ bones were cracked and broken due to the somewhat violent suppression, they did not die.
“Lini! Come here!”
As he called out loud, Linny ran towards the restaurant and activated the purification.
Soon, the statues returned to their original appearance one by one.
“Ugh, ugh… … .”
Those who had been turned into statues were the humans who had just entered with Seo Kang-rim.
They were still holding their heads and groaning, seemingly confused.
‘What happened to Annabi?’
When Annabi disappeared from sight, he became anxious.
I left the restaurant to look for her and went to the entrance of the first floor stairs, where Annabi was.
She was talking to Kang Do-hyeon.
‘This one isn’t a statue. That’s a relief.’
Seo Kang-rim sighed in relief and walked forward.
Annabi and Kang Dohyun were constantly talking to Yang Se-ra.
“Do you remember your name? What happened here?”
“Uh, uh… … .”
The woman was holding her head, her face distorted as if she didn’t want to recall the memory.
Seo Kang-rim, seeing that sight, knelt down on one knee and looked at the woman and said.
“You ate the food here.”
At those words, the woman was startled and looked up at Seo Kang-rim.
Kang Do-hyeon asked, as if asking what was going on.
“food?”
“I just ran into some statues in the restaurant. After lifting the curse, I realized they were the same people who came with us earlier.”
The feeling of discomfort that Seo Kang-rim felt when he entered the restaurant was because of the food.
The amount of food that had been neatly presented had clearly decreased.
Annabi sighed.
“You were eyeing the food earlier… … . I guess you ate it while I was out.”
Kang Do-hyeon responded in disbelief at those words.
“You’re all out of your minds. So everyone who came in here ate that? Aren’t you stupid?”
If it were ordinary food, everyone would have tolerated it, but the food here was different.
The food that had the effect of this ability applied to it gave off a strong scent of temptation.
It was a harmless scent to high-ranking Chasas or Seo Kang-rim, but low-ranking Awakened people would have been possessed without even knowing it.
‘And if I had been locked up here for a month, I would have eaten rotten food.’
The woman’s cheeks were hollow.
At first glance, he looked like someone who had been starving for a long time.
The demons here were all made of clay or statues, and could not be used as food.
Even if there was poison in the food, he would have swallowed it.
After all, the only choices would have been between Asa and the Poisonous Snake.
“The shops weren’t open, the wireless network wasn’t working, and the flow of time was different from the outside world… … .”
Annabi spoke as if she could understand women.
It was a situation where no outside help could be expected.
Moreover, the flow of time was different, so no matter how long they waited for rescue, the outside world thought nothing was wrong.
“Uh, we… … .”
The woman’s mouth started to move, and only then did words begin to flow out.
The woman spoke incoherently.
“I wasn’t going to eat, but I was so, so hungry… … . I broke the barrier on the third floor and went up to the fourth floor… … . Up, up… … there was something strange… … .”
His eyes were shaking as if he had remembered something scary.
His face had become pale, almost as if it had been more rosy than when he was just a statue.
When the woman shut her mouth and trembled, Kang Do-hyun turned away without asking any further questions.
“I understand the situation. Let’s go upstairs.”
As he moved his feet, Annabi and Seo Kangrim followed him.
Annabi seemed worried about the woman, but it would have been best for her to capture this place as quickly as possible.
As I went up to the second floor, I noticed that the interior was even darker than the first floor.
There are also statues welcoming them.
“… … Are these all human?”
Kang Do-hyeon frowned and looked at the statue.
At first glance, the number of people lined up in the hallway appears to be in the dozens.
He looked at it and muttered.
“Can’t you just pretend you don’t know and deal with it?”
“Deputy Kang Do-hyeon. Don’t say things like that, even as a joke. We’re not deputies.”
“No kidding. You want me to catch them one by one and lift the curse?”
-Gigigigig!
Meanwhile, the statues caught sight of the intruder and began attacking.
The moment the closest statue lifted a giant axe and was about to strike Kang Do-hyeon’s head.
Before Kang Do-hyeon could counterattack, Seo Kang-rim moved faster.
-Crack!
The head hanging on the map was cut off in an instant.
The headless statue waved its hands in the air and then fell over.
Annabi’s surprised voice was heard.
“Mr. Seo Kang-rim, that’s definitely a human… …!”
“Not all of them are human. There are some demon statues mixed with some human statues.”
Using ‘Fate Seeing’, I was able to determine that different statues were mixed together.
The problem was that Kang Do-hyun and Annabi couldn’t see it.
Seo Kang-rim kicked and knocked down another statue that was rushing towards him, then said:
“I could tell you what a human is, but there are too many of them… … .”
“Tell me what a human is.”
Kang Do-hyeon took out an amulet from his pocket and said.
At first glance, it looked like a talisman of the binding type.
“Fourth, fifth, seventh from the front.”
-A masterpiece!
As soon as he finished speaking, Kang Do-hyeon ran out between the statues.
The statues that Seo Kang-rim had designated had talismans attached to them and were now solid.
It took only a moment to destroy the remaining statues.
“Mr. Seo Kang-rim, you are truly amazing. If it weren’t for Mr. Seo Kang-rim, it would have been a big problem.”
Let’s quickly sort things out without casualties, Annabi said in an admiring tone.
Kang Do-hyeon kept his mouth shut, but his feelings were the same as Annabi’s.
‘Seo Kang-rim… … I thought he was special since he was in the educational facility. Is it because he received good advice?’
While staring at Seo Kang-rim silently, their eyes suddenly met and Kang Do-hyeon hurriedly looked away.
He spoke loudly for no reason.
“Slow down, Seo Kang-rim. Let’s go up quickly.”
The upper floors had the same structure, so it didn’t take long to get up to the 4th floor.
Kang Do-hyeon glanced around the 5th floor and said.
“That strange thing that woman spoke of must be up there.”
Perhaps because of what Yang Sera had said, the darkness on the 5th floor felt even thicker.
As the three went upstairs, the place became quiet without a single statue.
At that moment, Kang Do-hyeon stared into space and furrowed his brow.
“Deputy Kang Do-hyeon. What’s going on?”
“Doesn’t it smell?”
“If it smells… … ?”
“It smells terrible.”
Seo Kang-rim could smell it too.
The smell of rotting corpses and blood.
And an unknown foul odor.
When I went up to the 5th floor, I couldn’t see any other rooms.
All I can see is an endlessly long hallway.
At that time, I was quietly walking down a hallway with no lights on.
A sound was coming from beyond the darkness.
-Oops, oops… … .
A sound like something being broken or chewed.
“A demon? No, a person… … It looks like one.”
As Annabi said, there was a person at the end of the hallway.
He looked like an old man, judging by his long white hair and beard.
“Uh… … Uh… … .”
An old man who was eating something raised his head and looked at the people.
The light between the drooping eyelids was unfocused.
“There are survivors, so we need to secure them quickly… …!”
The moment Annabi was about to run towards the old man, Seo Kang-rim grabbed her arm.
Annabi looked at him at the sudden stop.
“Mr. Seo Kang-rim, why are you doing that?”
“When was the last time a party entered this realm, excluding us?”
“According to what I heard, a week ago… … .”
“A week outside is years here.”
Anyone who has been here for at least a few years, if not a few months, has been here for decades.
Was that what that man looked like when he first entered this realm?
“If you eat the food served here, you will become a demon. But that person did not become a demon.”
“… … !”
Only then did Kang Do-hyeon seem to realize something strange.
He took out the talisman in a hurry.
The old man stood up hesitantly and approached them.
“It’s been a long time since we lasted on food brought in from outside.”
“Then how on earth… … ?”
“They must have survived by eating what was supplied from outside. But it wasn’t food.”
Moonlight streaming through the window illuminated the old man.
When I looked at him in a bright light, I could tell he was actually a middle-aged man, although his white hair and beard made him look older.
I could now see what the man was eating.
What he had been chewing on just a moment ago was a human hand.
