Chapter 473: Driving A Wedge (4)
‘What the- How… did she do that? How is this even possible?’
Kim Hyunsung, who was in front of me, was eating as if he hadn’t heard anything, and above all, it was because I couldn’t properly understand what was happening.
‘What the hell is this?’
It was a question that hinted that she had been listening to the conversation so far.
-I asked where you heard the r-r-rumor. Oh… I-I guess you can’t answer right now. I-I made a mistake. It would be quicker to meet up and ask.
‘How could she hear that? No, more importantly… is she using magic?’
I didn’t know all the details; I couldn’t even tell what kind of magic it was. It felt even more disconcerting because I couldn’t find any traces of magic power. This was even more so when I could sense that my wall of magic power being used to block out voices leaking out was still there.
I didn’t even notice that someone had intervened against the blocking magic, and in reality, the magic wall was working just fine.
Theoretically, no one should be able to hear what we were talking about.
I thought it could be a unique ability or some other kind of skill, but it was quite difficult to eavesdrop on our conversation even with those kinds of abilities.
It naturally nagged me.
The voice that I kept hearing was not only a bit strange, but it was also giving me goosebumps.
‘Who is it?’
I slowly looked around, curious about who was conveying her thoughts to me.
However, only a few of the party members and Kim Hyunsung were still among the remaining people.
“Kylie, is there anything making you uncomfortable?”
“No. Blue Guild Master… it’s that just now…”
“Yes?”
“I- It’s nothing.”
‘Damn. What is it, really?’
“I want to hear more about what you were saying earlier… The fact that a person named Gerhan of Hellfire and Kiyoung are hanging out…”
“As I said, he’s someone of very poor quality. I thought it was a simple misunderstanding, but it doesn’t seem like that when looking at your face. Do you have any concerns?”
“No. I don’t have any particular concerns. Of course, I am a little worried about him in another way… he’s been coming back drunk more frequently. I feel like he’s been drinking more than usual. Still, he kept coming to the mock battles or joint training…”
“Then the rumors…”
“No. It can’t be. Kiyoung likes to meet people, but he is well put together, so perhaps it’s not what you’re thinking.”
“Yes. Of course, I’m just saying this out of concern. I was worried that the Honorary Cardinal might get caught up in a bad scandal… Still, he’s like a pillar of the State. These rumors could hurt his image, right? It could be someone’s malicious rumors. Of course, it’ll also be a bit of a drag to call it a simple misunderstanding…”
“…”
“I think it’s better to wait and see a bit more right now and talk to him if you get worried. It’s important to solve these problems through conversation.”
-C-C-Come to the bathroom. You’ll be in trouble if you don’t come. Y-You have to come, okay? If you don’t come, I will go after you. Come, quickly.
‘What the hell is this?’
The moment I tried to continue talking, I heard the voice once again. However, I still couldn’t find its owner.
I thought it wouldn’t really matter if I ignore it, but for some reason…
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
I thought it would be better to go there.
My consciousness was telling me, of course, not to go. It was saying that I would be safe if I ignored the words in my head, but on the other hand, I wanted to check what the voice really was. It all felt like some sort of horror movie in my head.
‘I wonder if this dweeb knows something.’
However, I didn’t want to complicate things.
-I-I-I just want to ask a few questions.
It could be an enemy’s trap, or it could be that the Blue, who had now noticed the plan, was planning something in return.
If not, it might be the forces of other guilds.
Since the place wasn’t the guildhall of the Manhattan Guild, I couldn’t be completely at ease, but it was absurd to think that the Blue would get rid of me right in the guildhall.
Even if the voice was from an enemy, I was sure that it would not harm my body.
-M-move q-quickly…
“…”
‘I’ll follow my guts.’
Eventually, I stood up.
What the owner of the voice wanted was just a conversation, after all.
“Just a second…”
“Oh. Okay.”
I walked towards the bathroom, all whilst swallowing hard.
I would hate to leave the impression that I had been away for a long time during a meal, but it would be no exaggeration to say that I had already achieved some goals with Kim Hyunsung.
It wasn’t something great, however.
‘Since I only did the basics.’
The rest could be done both gradually and slowly.
There was still plenty of time and plenty of opportunities. The unidentified voice had to come before that.
As I continued to walk, I finally arrived at the destination. As soon as I slowly breathed in and opened the door, I saw a familiar face. In fact, it was hard to say that it was familiar. It was my first time to be with her in person.
‘Jung Hayan.’
This was the Blue’s promising archmage.
Although Lee Kiyoung and Kim Hyunsung relatively shadowed her, she was also one of the characters that all the guilds were paying attention to.
Although it was a bit much to say that she was on the same level of the State’s eight seats, she could be fully called a wizard who competed for the top of the continent.
When I carefully went in front of the sink, I heard a voice right next to me.
“Y-you came. Thank God.”
“It was you.”
“Ah… yes. I-I’m sorry to be so s-sudden. I mean. I was too curious…”
“How was it possible to hear our voices through the barrier blocked by magic power? And was it just my thoughts that you conveyed your voice in my head? Or is it kind of magic like a unique ability or an attribute? Or was it a spell… no, more importantly…”
“It’s h-hard … to explain it… I-I’ll let you know later. First… my question comes first. Right? I a-asked you first, didn’t I? Right?”
“Ah… yes. So the question is…”
“Um… I asked where you heard the rumor.”
“What rumor…”
“The one that says that oppa is hanging out with bad people.”
“…”
“You said that every night, he hangs out with bad women and that he gets drunk, didn’t you?”
“I don’t know. I can’t remember where I heard it exactly…”
‘She’s a bit weird. Is she an idiot?’
She really did seem a little weird in the head.
‘They said she was a genius…’
The opposite seemed more convincing.
Her body was trembling as if she had the flu, and her eyes were red. Her skin was strangely white, and her lips were shaking.
The way she kept stuttering seemed to be suffering from some sort of schizophrenia.
From the very first time I saw her, I felt something strange, but when I looked at her right in front of me, I could clearly see she wasn’t normal.
“It could be a l-lie. It must be a rumor.”
‘Fools are easy to use… Could I use her?’
“I don’t know. I don’t think it’s unconvincing, considering he’s not even coming to the guild dorm… come to think of it, what kind of relationship do you have with the Honorary Cardinal…”
“We l-l-l-love e-each other…”
“I heard he’s dating the Mercenary Queen…”
“D-Don’t even talk about her. I… really hate C-Cha Hee-ra. Before that… where exactly did you hear the rumor? Who saw it? W-Who heard it?”
“I only heard it, so I don’t know the details… I think it’s almost certain, though. The people whom the Honorary Cardinal has been hanging out with recently aren’t that high in quality…”
“You’re not lying… a-are you?”
“Why would I lie?”
“Do you know what kind of women they are? Where are they from? Are they all dirty women? They must be, right? They must be all dirty women.”
“No. I don’t know exactly…”
“W-w-why is there so many things you don’t know? A-a-aren’t you lying? I really hate lies. I especially hate these kinds of lies…”
“I’m not lying…”
Just as I said uttered those words, my eyes locked in with hers.
‘Huh?’
I couldn’t understand it, but the inside of the bathroom momentarily became dark, and it felt as if my arm had been blown to one side.
I tried to scream, but my voice refused to come out.
My stomach opened, my guts poured out, and the blades of the wind coming from all sides began to cut at my whole body.
There were no preemptive measures taken before it all happened.
‘Ah-aaaaaahhhh!’
My muscles were torn, and my skin was slowly getting sliced apart.
It felt like I had been minced until I became mushy, and it also seemed that I was becoming more and more a chunk of meat.
‘Kill… kill me. Kill me.’
It wasn’t unreasonable to beg for death.
What was happening was something I couldn’t even imagine- something I couldn’t properly express in words.
I tried to move somehow, but my body wouldn’t listen. The madwoman began to scream incomprehensively and stabbed with a dagger all over my body.
‘Please stop… please. I. Am sorry… I…’
After about a minute or so, I started to vomit like I was waking up from a dream.
“Blaaarrghhh!”
Instead of the black scenery, I saw the bathroom.
Unlike earlier, when it was covered with blood, the tile floor was clearly visible.
‘I survived… I-I survived.’
I touch my body and my limbs.
I just started to grope my body desperately, holding back the vomit and thinking what had happened to my body, if everything was normal.
‘What did I see? What the hell had I just seen?’
A series of phenomena that I couldn’t understand since earlier had just transpired.
I didn’t know if this was because of the aftereffect, but my legs were becoming rubbery.
Without knowing it, I sat down on the vomited floor, and tears were coming out of my eyes like rain.
It felt like she had gone mad. I was trembling so much that I couldn’t even speak.
Of course, I couldn’t figure out the current situation properly, but I understood who caused the phenomenon.
“Tell me seriously now. That’s not a lie, right?”
It had been a long time since I realized that something was wrong.
The advantage that Lee Kiyoung, Kim Hyunsung, and Lindel’s three great guilds, or the Blue, had.
I couldn’t think of anything about the plan in my head.
No, in order to live, I shouldn’t think. I couldn’t think of anything else.
The most important thing was to turn the false rumors shed somewhat like a joke into facts.
That way, the same phenomenon could be prevented from happening.
“M-Maybe.”
I was feeling as if I was falling into a pit that I couldn’t escape.
I had no choice but to hope that the State’s Honorary Cardinal, a symbol of integrity and innocence, would eventually corrupt himself.