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Translator: penny
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: Facing the Devil
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Back in reality, I pulled out my smartphone and immediately called Jun-chang from my recent contacts list.
- Ring ring. Ring ring. -
- "Hello?" -
"Hey, Jun-chang. It's me."
- "Huh? Oh, yeah. What's up? ...Ah, you're calling about the funeral, right? Wait, do you want to go with me?" -
Huh? What funeral?
What the hell was he talking about all of a sudden?
Just as I was thinking that...
I remembered why Jun-chang had contacted me before.
It was because a friend from school had died.
But I'd brushed it off as unimportant and forgotten about it right away.
And honestly, it still didn't matter much now.
"Ah... no, not that. ...More importantly, that game you made back in the day. The mansion escape survival game. The one you asked me to test for your college assignment submission. What was the password for that secret passage? The one you enter on the keypad."
- "...Huh? Out of nowhere...? ...No way, you still have that game?" -
"Cut the crap... Can't you remember the password for that secret passage?"
- "The password...? Uh... yeah, I remember. It was my first game, after all. It's my birthday." -
"Your birthday? When is it?"
- "Dude, you don't even know my birthday? You asked the exact same thing back then. Man, you never change..." -
"Whatever. Just tell me already."
- "Ugh... what kind of friend are you...? It's May 5th. Children's Day. That's why I always said I only get gifts twice a year while everyone else gets three. Other people get Children's Day, Christmas, and their birthday. But not me..." -
"Yeah, whatever, that's not important. So the password is probably 0505? But I feel like it was a bit more complicated..."
- "Man, you're saying the exact same stuff as back then... You really haven't changed a bit. Like a damn pine tree." -
"Shut up. Just give me the password. ...Hurry, it's urgent."
- "You have to add two asterisks in front, like next to the well by the upright stone. Asterisks and then 00. So... the password is **000505. But what's with the sudden interest in that old game I made? Did it grow on you? You said the story was boring as hell back then." -
"Yeah, it's still boring as hell. Anyway, thanks for the password. I'm hanging up. Heh... Sorry about this to the you in that world."
- "...Huh? What the hell? You drunk?" -
"No. Nothing. Bye."
- Click -
I hung up and re-entered the fourth floor of the Tower.
The keypad for entering the password was still right in front of me.
I inputted the password '**000505'.
Suddenly, gears whirred behind the bookshelves, and the heavy shelf slid aside.
- RUMBLE -
It was that same heavy sound I'd heard from outside the door.
I smirked and stepped into the secret passage.
Inside, there was a 'Open' and 'Close' button on one wall to control the entrance behind me.
I pressed 'Close', and the secret entrance sealed shut, hidden once more.
- RUMBLE... CREAK -
The secret passage led to Basement Level 1.
And there, several motorcycles were parked.
'This guy's how he moved fast and secured his alibis.'
The mansion's underground space was ridiculously vast. Unbelievably so.
There were five basement levels, from B1 to B5.
Basement Level 1 featured a massive web of secret tunnels connecting the mansion and its surroundings, with dozens of motorcycles stationed throughout.
'He's supposed to be a super genius scientist, but all he does is set up secret underground passages with motorcycles? No teleporters or hyperloop rails? Typical limited imagination from an engineer game dev. It's a virtual game anyway—teleportation would've been cooler.'
I hopped on one of the parked motorcycles.
The key was already in the ignition; just turn it on and go.
I'd learned to ride one briefly at 20, trying to impress girls...
So it wasn't hard.
And this was some high-end model.
- VROOM! -
I revved it up and headed toward where Jun-chang was likely to be.
Being a luxury bike, the zero-to-sixty was insane, and I reached my destination blazing fast.
Best of all, with the wide underground tunnel empty except for me, straight-line driving made it a breeze.
Driving's tough when you have to watch others and change lanes.
But alone on an empty road? Piece of cake.
I arrived, killed the engine, and dismounted.
My hunch was right.
A motorcycle still warm from recent use was parked there, like someone had just ridden off it.
'Heh, of course.'
What would the culprit, Jun-chang, do first?
Isolate the area, obviously.
The landlines were probably already cut.
And cell signals or wireless phones? Blocked by the super genius's jamming device, per the setting.
That left only escaping on foot through the land routes.
So...
'He'd blow the bridges. Just like in the game. Heh...'
I took stairs from B1 up one level and pressed the 'Open' button.
- RUMBLE -
Here, it wasn't a bookshelf—instead, a hidden crevice in the cave wall slid open.
I stepped out and slowly made my way toward where Jun-chang should be.
- BOOM! KABOOM! RUMBLE! -
As I walked from the cave into the open...
Sounds of explosions and collapsing structures echoed from outside.
Just as I'd predicted.
Jun-chang was destroying the iron bridges—the only connections from the mansion grounds to the outside.
I headed toward the noise.
There, over a thousand-foot chasm on the cliffside, I saw him blasting sections of the sole path with explosives, deliberately severing the bridge.
'Good job. Your role ends here, Jun-chang. Heh...'
I snuck up on Jun-chang, who was busy with his demolition work.
He didn't notice me approaching quietly from behind.
Maybe he never even dreamed someone could be tailing him right now.
'Tsk tsk. You shouldn't let your guard down.
You always lost in games because you got careless in real life too.
Same here...'
I stared at the back of his head with a sinister grin for a while.
But it started getting boring, so I finally announced my presence.
"Jun-chang. You cut all the roads and bridges?"
"Yeah, the cutting's done. Just need to clean up...
Huh...? ...W-wait, how are you here...?
...Huh? ...What? ...Wha-how?!"
Jun-chang's face was completely different from his usual one.
Not the innocent, simple look—but something vile and sinister.
And now, it twisted in utter bewilderment.
"Kuhuhu... Why so shocked?
Jun-chang... no, Devil...
...Fuck, what a shitty name.
I hate even saying it. Cringe as hell.
Your naming sense has always sucked."
I pulled a silenced pistol from my Subspace Storage, one I'd prepared earlier.
I aimed it at Jun-chang's head.
"Anyway, I'll finish what you started. Kuhuhu..."
Jun-chang panicked hard.
He seemed to realize this was a real gun.
A typical Korean might think it was a toy or fake...
But in this world, with his murderous intent, he knew right away it was legit.
"...W-what the hell? Why are you doing this to me? ...And where'd you even get that gun?"
"You really gonna ask me that? I know exactly why you're blowing the bridges and sealing the only way in."
"...H-how did you...?"
"Kuhuhu, enough chit-chat. Time to die.
I'll take care of those fun times with the girls you had planned...
Thanks for setting all this up."
"...F-fuck... I got played...
...How'd you figure it out? You some kind of psychic?
How do you know my secret plan that I never told anyone...?"
I lined up the sights perfectly between his eyes.
Jun-chang sensed death coming and freaked out even more.
Just as I was about to pull the trigger and embed a bullet in his forehead...
A nagging doubt suddenly hit me.
'...Wait, the fourth hidden trial. Wasn't it "everyone survives"? What if killing this guy fails it?'
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