The 31st Piece Turns the Tables

Chapter 19

It seemed like the arrows were shot from quite a distance away. Most of the arrows landed on objects, not people.

“Wh-what is going on?!”

“I asked you what’s going on, Aden!”

“Sungho! Hey, Jin Sungho!”

Two Predator Guild members were shot by arrows.

Unfortunately for one of them, the arrow pierced through their neck.

Ffffsssss…

The only sound Sungho was able to make was the sound of air weakly escaping his body. It didn’t take long for him to close his eyes for the last time.

And like that, he died.

“Uaaaaaargh! He’s dead! He died!”

“Aden! What are we supposed to do now?!”

Even though the group had committed murder before, they acted like scared little children in front of impending death.

Seol focused on observing Aden’s facial expressions.

Aden was seething in rage.

And suddenly, he shouted. It seemed he had reached a decision.

“There’s a canyon nearby! If we lose our pursuers there then return to the Great Silent Forest, they won’t be able to find us! Hurry up and steer the wagons!”

“B-But…! It’s not that simple—”

“Shut up! Did you forget that I hired you?”

Aden forced his hand on the party. It was almost like he had become a new person.

Seol knew that Aden was making the wrong decision.

When merchants were normally faced with this situation, they often used the wagons as a line of defense to respond to their attackers.

This meant that this was either Aden’s first job as a merchant or he was too dumb to act appropriately.

Regardless of whatever it was, the situation was dire.

This time, Aden shouted at Sang-gyu’s group, “How long are you going to cry over a fucking corpse?! Get in the wagon!”

“What? Wh-what did you just say–”

Slide.

Aden slid a dagger next to Jincheol’s neck.

He was so quick that Jincheol couldn’t react in time.

“Gasp…”

“Do as I say if you don’t want to die. Playtime ends here.”

Jincheol’s eyes grew wide as he could do nothing more than slowly nod.

Sang-gyu’s group left behind Sungho, who was already dead, and helped the other injured party member into the wagon.

Seol also followed them into the wagon.

“Fuck… Fuck… What the hell is going on…?”

“Wasn’t this supposed to be an easy Adventure?! Why do we have to be in this situation?!”

Death comes for everyone and fear is just its messenger.

Sang-gyu’s group was overcome by fear. The most they could do was just look around for help.

“It hurts… it hurts… it hurts so bad…”

“Kyungmo!”

The other member of Sang-gyu’s group was lying down in the back of the wagon with an arrow in his chest.

He would continuously groan until he would slowly grow weaker and weaker.

“A-Am I… going to die like thi—”

Thud.

Sang-gyu’s party was now down to two.

Neigh!

In surprise, the horses started galloping faster.

Ffft.

Fwoosh!

“Hiek…”

Arrows pierced through the cloth exterior of the wagon.

It was so chaotic that they couldn’t pull themselves together.

However, Seol was able to maintain his cool.

‘We’ll get caught near the end of the canyon.’

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Both Seol’s first and second characters faced off against their pursuers there.

Because Seol knew that they would safely reach the end of the canyon he wasn’t scared like Sang-gyu’s party was.

Sang-gyu saw Seol’s calmness and started yelling at him.

“You were acting like this was an easy Adventure but that wasn’t the case at all!”

“...What?”

“Damn it… How are we supposed to get out of here, huh?”

Jincheol growled toward Seol.

“Hey, we’re going to work together as a party until we get out of here, got it?”

This was obvious in a normal party but since they weren’t amicable with each other, it had to be stated.

Jincheol was asking Seol to follow his orders.

It was obvious in Jincheol’s eyes since there were two of them and one of him.

Jincheol also thought that even if their initial plan of killing him was revealed, it would be difficult for even Seol to make it out safely on his own.

But Seol’s response only confused them.

“Why should I?”

- Huh? Were you talking to me?

- His expression is hilarious LMFAO

- These guys are obviously murderers LOL Why would we work together~

- You guys fell for the secretly strong MC trope EZ

Sang-gyu’s eyes turned red as he pulled out a scimitar from his waist.

Slide.

“Are you dumb or something? Do my words sound like a jo…ke…?”

“Huh… Why… is my body… urgh…”

Both Sang-gyu and Jincheol were losing control of their own bodies. It felt like their bodies were stiffening up like concrete.

Clatter.

Even the scimitar that Sang-gyu held fell to the ground.

“Wh-why is my fucking body…”

“Mine too!”

Their bodies were stiff below their head but they could still control their mouths.

“You guys are quite slow, huh?” said Seol.

“What? You bastard! You! You did this, didn’t you?!”

“Let us go! I don’t know what you did but I’ll kill you!”

“You shouldn’t have carelessly eaten the food that a stranger gave you.”

Sang-gyu and Jincheol quickly realized what Seol meant.

There was something done to the alcohol they drank earlier.

“Damn it… Fuck! You plotted this with Aden, didn't you?”

“No, there’s no way that would be the case… Aden! What the hell is that bastard Aden?!”

Fffft!

“After them!”

Rumble Rumble!

They could hear their pursuers chasing after them.

Before they realized it, they had already escaped the canyons.

Seol fixed his clothes and readied himself.

Hum…

As Seol gathered black energy in his hand, a massive figure appeared inside the wagon.

Fsssss…

“I-It’s…”

“A troll! It’s a troll! Wait, he’s…”

They knew it as well.

What Seol had just summoned was Jamad, the Chief of the Rock Molar Tribe. They only caught a distant glimpse of him in their previous Adventure but they could tell that it was him.

How could they have forgotten the fear they felt from Jamad?

Sang-gyu started murmuring to himself in disbelief.

‘He defeated Jamad?’

Jamad looked difficult for their party to take down together.

Obviously, Seol defeated Jamad by himself and not in a party but Sang-gyu had no way of knowing that.

Jamad then spoke to Seol.

“...This isn’t a good situation.”

“It might look like that, but let’s observe for now.”

“Hmph… Alright, I will protect you.”

When the two noticed that Seol was about to escape the wagon, they started calling for him.

“H-Hey! Take us! Take us with you too!!”

“Where are you going, you… If you leave like this, the Predator Guild won’t leave you alone!”

“Like I said before, why should I?” answered Seol without even looking back.

Sang-gyu’s party wasn’t going to help him at all, they were just going to hold him back from doing whatever he wanted to do.

It was clear that the two knew what their fate would be if they were left here.

‘They’re coming.’

Suddenly, people holding ropes and obstructions appeared in the path the wagon was going. Those men had the same geometric tattoos that Aden had.

“Hold on tight!” shouted Aden. As he shouted, the wagon started to curve and tilt.

Now that they were surrounded, the other wagons couldn’t proceed anymore and were stuck.

“H-Huh?”

“No!”

And as Sang-gyu and Jincheol were screaming, Seol had already disappeared.

* * *

Translator - goguma

Proofreader - Karane

* * *

Before the wagons hit the ropes and obstacles, Seol successfully escaped from the pursuers with Jamad’s protection.

It hurt a bit when he rolled off the wagon but he wasn’t that injured.

Some of the pursuers had split off from the group to chase after Seol but all of them fell to Jamad’s hands.

And now, Seol was observing the others.

“Are you just going to watch?”

“Yeah. I’ll only waste my energy if I fight now.”

“Well, suit yourself.”

Aden gathered his forces from the wrecks of the broken wagon and prepared to face his pursuers.

“Damn it… How did they know that we would be here? Hey, it’s time to fight.”

Aden didn’t lie about one thing, there really were other guards protecting the wagons.

A group of guards more powerful than Sang-gyu’s group.

“There’s around twenty pursuers. Survive on your own.”

“Damn it… you didn’t say anything about this!”

Woosh… Woosh…

Someone approached while spinning their scimitar.

They also had geometric tattoos on their face like Aden.

“Aden… or should I say… Kujo. Did you think you’d be able to escape from us?”

“How the hell would someone that’s running away know that, idiot?”

“Hahaha… your tongue’s as prideful as always. You should’ve used that tongue for ‘Borgo’ instead.”

“I didn’t like the way I was treated, so I was trying to catch a big fish… What do you think about partnering up with me? I’ll treat you better than Borgo does.”

“Can you protect me from Borgo’s chase?”

“Do you think that’s possible?”

“Haha, then just die easily. You have the map and the translated copy, right?”

“Of course! I have it on me right now. Why don’t you come try and take it if you can!”

“Alright, then let me say goodbye now. The map will be returning to its original owner.”

“Bullshit! If someone heard that, they’d think Borgo found it himself. I’m the one who found it, you bastard!”

Claaaang!

Aden—no, Kujo’s group… looked much weaker than Borgo’s advance party.

And during that time…

Seol was checking the details of the changed Adventure contents.

[Adventure 3-1. ‘Moving Wagon.’

The wagon line headed to Nobira has been ambushed. It seems there were circumstances that you weren’t aware of. Survive the ambush.

Objective: Survive the ambush and escape your pursuers

Remaining Time [N/A]]

Seol already knew that this situation would happen. He also knew that this Adventure would constantly change.

This Adventure was much more complicated than what you would first expect.

There was a widely known ruin hunter named Borgo (the name might change but the person and the role were the same) who was active near Nobira.

Kujo, one of Borgo’s subordinates who was dissatisfied with him, while exploring a ruin, discovered a map to a different ruin, and secretly took the map in an attempt to translate it.

Borgo realized this and chased Kujo, but by that time, Kujo had already escaped to Kongory. So then, Borgo’s group had no other choice but to stay near the Great Silent Forest and wait in ambush for him.

In the translated copy that Kujo had, it said that in order to open the entrance to the ruins… you would need five living sacrifices.

‘This meant that Sang-gyu’s group and I weren’t here to guard the wagons. We were here as sacrifices.’

That was the reason why Aden drugged the alcohol.

It was so that we would be forced to become his sacrifices without being able to retaliate.

Clang!

Claaaang!

Seol quietly watched the two groups fight.

It was something that Seol had already seen before.

He also already knew the results of it.

As some time passed, the results of the battle were becoming clearer.

“Krgh… Urgh…”

“Hahaha… Keep going if you want to die.”

“Borgo’s going to kill me if I back off anyway.”

“That’s true. Then just die here.”

It was funny, but no one from either group was going to survive their fight. And just as Seol predicted, the scenario that he drew was playing out.

‘Well, the sacrifices are going to survive though.’

Seol’s first character, Snowman, was able to heal himself using mana and ran away from the situation. That was how he was able to clear it.

‘And I chose a different option with my 2nd character.’

Seol waited for their fight to finish before approaching the…

“Gasp… Gasp… Is it you, Borgo?”

Kujo was gasping for air after losing both of his eyes. His body was covered in dried-up blood. It was clear that he was going to die from losing too much blood.

“Wait, this smell… It’s you, Snowman. Save me.”

“You’re already dead.”

“Hahahaha… You’re right. How the hell would I be able to survive when I’ve lost this much blood… Look here, do you want me to tell you a funny story?”

Seol could see options before him again.

[[Aden’s real name was Kujo. It seems that he wants to tell you an interesting story as he’s about to die. How do you respond?]

1. Story? What story?

2. I don’t need it.

3. Who were those guys that were chasing us?

4. What is the meaning behind those tattoos?

5. [Required: Intimidation] Tell me everything.

……]

“I don’t need it.”

“Ha! Hahaha! Then let me at least tell you this. Soon, a huge monster that doesn’t even look human is going to arrive. When that happens, you’re going to die anywa… Hello?”

Rummage. Rummage.

Seol was rummaging through the gasping Kujo’s body. He forcibly pulled out anything he could get his hands on.

[You have acquired a 'Map to a Certain Ruins'.]

[You have acquired a 'Translated Copy of the Ruins'.]

Seol looked through the map and confirmed the translated copy.

Both were equally important when it came to ruins.

‘Damn it…’

Seol scowled.

‘If this is the translated copy then I might as well use it as a fire starter.’

It was similar to what Seol already knew, but some lines were translated completely differently.

So, either his memory or the translated copy was wrong. And Seol, obviously, chose to trust his memories.

“Krgh… Hahahahaha!”

Kujo laughed maniacally as Seol went through his belongings.

He was trying to curse Seol as if he was a prophet.

“Yeah, I bet you want the treasures in the ruins too. But, that ruin has already caught Borgo’s eyes.”

“So?”

After acquiring the map, Seol saw new options.

[[You have located the ruins after looking at the map. It’s near the Great Silent Forest. What do you do?]

1. Return the map to Kujo and look for a way to save him.

2. Remain here and wait for Borgo.

3. Return the map then escape to Nobira.

4. Head to the Great Silent Forest.

……]

It was obvious which option Seol was going to choose.

Kujo was leaving his final words for Seol before he died.

“You too… will end up succumbing to your desires. Just like me.”

Seol then responded to Kujo’s corpse.

“No, I am the master of my own desires.”