< 88. Hell of Disbelief (16) >
***
‘Numbering the millionth.’
This was our first meeting as we were recently assigned to a different dimension while traveling through different dimensions.
Nevertheless, there were three reasons why Minjun paid attention to the number.
‘So that means they’ve been doing this for at least 700 years.’
It is known that the probability of prisoners classified as ‘Asif’ surviving for more than 100 years is less than 50%. As irregular workers, they often take on dangerous tasks that regular members of the committee are reluctant to undertake, and often end up dying violently in various accidents and disasters. Considering that the current majority of prisoners are in the tens of millions, it means that those in the millions are veterans who have experienced all sorts of hardships and have the judgment and talent to survive until now.
‘He looks mentally sound.’
The limit of sanity for a single-born prisoner like a human or orc is usually 200 to 300 years. If it goes on longer than that, their sanity begins to break down. The man in front of me must have been around for several times that amount of time, but he shows no signs of abnormality. That means he is from a long-lived species. Such authors are generally difficult to deal with.
‘and···.’
The final reason I was looking at the other person’s head with disgust was because it was a familiar number, even though it was my first time meeting them.
Minjun sneers.
“That idiot who made that ridiculous offer to me over the spirit world network.”
Asif-1,319,552’s face hardened. At the same time, a flash of light flashed from both his eyes.
Minjun said in a tone full of laughter.
“You said we should team up with other prisoners to retrieve the head and split the reward?”
There was a message that Minjun checked on his computer just before he left for Germany. The man in front of him boasted about his ‘tracking ability’ and proposed that they join hands.
What was Minjun’s reaction to that?
“It was so absurd that I didn’t even think of replying.”
I read and chewed.
By not responding, you are sending a clear message to the other person. I don’t need your help, and I am enough on my own.
The prisoners, unaware of this fact, exchanged bewildered glances. Asif-1,319,552 gritted his teeth and shouted.
“400,000 talents is an absurdly large sum of money. Do you really need to monopolize all that?! After all, if you’ve been a prisoner for that long, you must have accumulated a lot of talents! Even if you impose a high life tax, 800 years is enough to pay your retirement benefits…”
“My account balance is not something you should be interested in, and it is not a basis for such nonsense. You are confusing the issue. I am moving alone because I am confident that I can succeed in my mission on my own. Why should I share the reward with you? The results were achieved solely through my own ability.”
It was a tone of confidence that he could retrieve the Patriarch’s head alone, and those who heard it did not dare to refute it. Asif-1,319,552 spoke in a cold voice.
“You’re doing great. You’re really doing great. Since you’re getting ahead with your great abilities, don’t you think you can afford to give in a little for the other prisoners?”
Minjun thought it was a waste of time to continue listening to that nonsense.
“Don’t get me wrong. We’re prisoners. We weren’t bound voluntarily to begin with, and there’s nothing we can do to improve our situation by looking out for each other.”
Unless the circumstances are extraordinary, such as a dimension on the verge of destruction by a dictator, the committee will openly induce competition by waving rewards in front of the inmates.
A deeply rooted winner-take-all structure.
Minjun was convinced that even if he were to redistribute talents to take care of the ‘weak’, there would be no real value created. This rigid system had no room for the prisoners to change their will.
“Furthermore.”
Twist your lips.
“You must be quite thick-skinned to say something like that in this situation. A group of incompetent people gathered together, thinking of stabbing the back of the head of someone with ability.”
The shadows boiled over. He cast his gaze one by one on the four prisoners surrounding him.
The number of people that started out as more than ten has decreased significantly. Half of them split up to follow Ha Eun-seong, and several are already incapacitated for combat.
‘It’s a bit daunting to do a million times, but… I guess it’s doable.’
That was when.
Gyaaaah!
A scream was heard from afar. Judging from the direction, it was not from an inmate.
Instead of paying much attention to it, Minjun grabbed the ceremonial dagger. The enemies whose concentration was momentarily broken also changed their expressions and gathered strength.
The moment Minjun cut off his own arm below the elbow, the prisoners rushed toward him.
***
Dotes looked at those passing by in the hallway with a puzzled look.
They were all of the ancient race. But the atmosphere was strangely chaotic. Judging from their attire, they were from the Mint. They were always proud of doing the most important work in the committee, so they were not like those who showed a confidence bordering on arrogance.
Dotes read the air of bewilderment and confusion.
“Hey, you guys. Do you know what’s going on over there?”
He stops someone passing by and asks them, pointing with his chin at the mint employees who had just passed by.
The man who stopped was not an ancient race, but not a prisoner either, but an ordinary regular employee. The timing was just right. The other man was known to be a man with sharp ears and a loose mouth.
“This is a really top secret, you know···.”
The colleague hesitates, scratching the cornea of his left eye with a blunt finger.
“You don’t believe me? Just tell me.”
Then, the colleague whispered to me after threatening me several times not to tell anyone.
“It looks like there’s a problem at the mint.”
“Hey, I have eyes too. For now, both of them seem fine.”
A sarcastic remark that anyone with two eyes open can know what information they are babbling about.
My colleague grumbled.
“You’re impatient. Listen. The mint’s recent report on the amount of talent being mined seems to have decreased more than expected.”
Dotes’ two ears perked up.
“how much?”
“About 15% per day compared to the estimate.”
“what?!”
Dotes gasped in horror.
“Really? 15%?”
“Yeah. Isn’t it weird? It’s impossible to make an accurate prediction anyway, but this is just too big.”
Even Dotes did not know the secrets of the mint perfectly. However, he knew that there was a cycle that determined the amount of mining. The elite of the mint simulated the cycle to estimate the amount of mining and reported it to the commissioner.
Of course, looking at the annual total, the fact that the actual mining volume was always slightly lower than the forecast was a headache for the mint, but the delegates did not point it out to that extent and hold it accountable.
However, a difference of as much as 15% this time was a big problem.
——————
faqwiki.us
Join our Discord for new chapter updates!
https://discord.com/invite/xr7SxG5T6V
——————
“But there was a similar incident in the past? A few hundred years ago?”
“There was a time when it decreased by about 3%. But then, the mining volume recovered the next day. It rebounded as much as it had decreased, and production actually increased. The mint and the commissioners were not too excited because of that experience and were just watching the trend. But…”
It seems that patience has finally run out.
“You’re in trouble because things don’t get restored even after waiting?”
My colleague’s speech became more cautious.
“It’s already been ten days.”
Dotes asked back, not because he didn’t understand what he meant, but because he couldn’t believe it.
“what?”
“It has been ten days since the mining volume decreased.”
“······oh my god.”
“The commissioners were furious. They said the mint simulation was wrong. But no matter how many times they re-verified, the results were the same.”
Dotes muttered in bewilderment.
“Has the base production decreased? But since the committee was formed, that hasn’t happened even once…”
My colleague said, folding his eyelids.
“Well, it’s hard to guess the reason for this since we’re not from an ancient race. Anyway, we don’t know how the Mint acquires talents. The word mining that everyone talks about is actually quite ambiguous. How would we know if they actually dig the ground and carve stones on a certain planet to mine them, or if there’s another way?”
Nevertheless, what was accepted as common sense by everyone was that production had never deviated so much from the mint’s simulations, and that production had never stopped for even a single day.
“So, do you know how much of the total talent mining volume has decreased compared to expectations over the past ten days?”
My colleague whispered carefully that this time it was a real secret. The cumulative error compared to expectations.
As soon as he heard that, Dotes’ entire body feathers stood on end. His voice that followed was tinged with shock and fear.
“······2.5 million talents?!”
***
The port city’s nights were now shrouded in complete darkness.
Joachim looks at his adoptive father in heavy silence.
His resurrection seemed to be incomplete. For once, the absence of his neck was enough to indicate that he had lost most of his normal biological functions. In addition, the Patriarch fell into a deep sleep that he never woke up from at night, as if he had fainted.
Joachim could only vaguely guess that this narcolepsy might be a necessary condition for maintaining the current state.
And strange events always happen at this time.
Joachim looks at his adoptive father with a bewildered expression.
‘What on earth is this holy light?’
The neck was radiating a brilliant light, just like the moment it was first resurrected.
The ecstatic light that flows after losing consciousness. I watched it as if I was possessed, even though I had already witnessed it several times.
‘beautiful!’
Joachim thinks. That is the perfect proof of God. It is proof of the existence of the gods who sleep in ‘Dreamland’.
The priest lifted up his adoptive father with both hands. In a possessiveness of unknown origin, Joachim captured the light in his retina.
Even though I already had my head in my hands, greed rose up. If I break this head, will I be able to grasp the light inside it myself?
‘···No. That won’t do. It won’t do that.’
After receiving contact from the headquarters, running away with the head was considered extremely rational at the time.
But as time passed, Joachim could not be sure. Could it be that among the motives of his mind there was no impulse to seek that light?
The priest cleared his mind of the complicated thoughts.
‘This is not a personal desire. It is to place evidence of God with the people of Earth. And it is a step towards uncovering the truth hidden by aliens.’
While I was thinking about that.
Gyaaaah!
I heard screams outside. I knew what was going on without even looking.
‘It’s getting faster and faster.’
The city they first stayed in had murders that started a few days after they left. But the interval between them gradually decreased, and today, even though it was their first night here, the killings and madness had already begun.
“This too, is this your doing, borrowing the power of the sleeping god?”
People who have nightmares and commit murder in the place where the Patriarch resides.
And the verse written in the Book of Asif.
Suddenly, this thought occurred to me. Up until now, the Earth believers have committed all sorts of bizarre acts to make the sleeping gods have nightmares. That was the teaching of the Patriarch.
But perhaps there was a much more direct way to awaken and inflict nightmares on the gods?
“I can’t believe a word you say anymore.”
I once believed in you with all my heart, but now my eyes are filled with distrust.
Joachim, who was laying his head on the table, caught sight of one spot. The place where the Patriarch’s neck and jaw met. About half a span away from the sharp cut that Minjun had made. When viewed from the front, it was obscured by shadows, but there was an old scar that looked like it had been stabbed by a blade. It was clear that it had been made long before his death.
A gruesome mark left on the body of a high-ranking priest who can heal wounds with divine power.
Since he was young, he and his adopted children had asked him how he got his scars, but the Patriarch never once told him. He could have just covered it up or told a suitable lie, but he just kept his mouth shut. At the time, I thought he had bad memories and let it go, but now that I think about it, everything seems suspicious.
Joachim muttered, running his finger over his scar.
“How many more secrets are there that you are hiding from us?”
That was when.
“!”
Joachim, sensing something strange, opens his eyes wide.
Phagec!
He felt the barrier he had built with divine power being forcibly torn away. The protective device he had created with all his might to protect his hideout was destroyed in an instant.
The force that had pierced through it was of a kind that was all too familiar to Joachim.
“No! Why now of all times···!”
Joachim gritted his teeth and stood up. He grabbed the Patriarch’s head with a rough gesture.
< 88. Hell of Disbelief (16) > End
