Chapter 58

Episode 58: Snow Falling on a Red Night

I opened my eyes.

Before I knew it, it had become a deep dawn, a time convenient for vampires to be active.

In this late dawn, I woke up because I couldn’t sleep.

Perhaps I had dozed off a little, as the space I was lying in had become even darker with the shadows.

Irlya was peacefully asleep beside me.

She had quietly fallen asleep after drinking my blood and emanating light from her body.

Now, that light had subdued.

I also seemed to have succumbed momentarily to sleep due to the lethargy that came when she took my blood, and the warmth that accompanied lying in bed.

‘… I really can’t seem to sleep.’

By the way, did I have such a constitution that couldn’t sleep in unfamiliar places?

‘… No, perhaps it’s because I fainted earlier…’

That seemed the most likely reason why I couldn’t fall into a deep sleep.

I threw back the blanket and covered Irlya completely.

Since we shared the same space beneath the blanket, it seemed right to do this.

I went out to the outdoor terrace that I had checked beforehand in the room.

When I opened the door to the terrace, it felt like visiting a cold storage in midsummer.

Even as I moved and thought, Chaewon did not react.

Irlya, too.

They probably seemed to be in a deep sleep.

‘But do ghosts also sleep deeply?’

It was a fact that couldn’t be scientifically proven, so I decided to let it go.

‘Inventory.’

– Ding!

[Calling the inventory.]

…

I leaned against the railing installed at the edge of the terrace and pulled out the vampire journal from my inventory.

This book was one I obtained from the library.

The Betrayer’s Apocalypse, obtained in the same gate, had given me significant information… so perhaps this book was also the system wanting to tell me something.

I was thinking that there might be some secret it wanted to convey.

Outside, the red energy was still thick.

Looking up at the red night sky, snow was falling white from the heavens.

The moon hanging in the sky looked as if it was taking on a red form, starved for blood.

That full moon must be appearing red here for some reason.

Upon reflection, I thought… perhaps I was no different from a prisoner captured in a war.

This was a place where I had to defeat a boss.

In the midst of enemy territory.

The center of evil.

Why did my heart feel so at ease in such a place?

My profession as a hunter… was certainly ingrained in me during my school days, drilled into my ears until they were sore.

That was….

‘To dirty our hands to cleanse the world.’

A grand mission I had learned, but reality was different.

Everyone sees the profession of Hunter merely as a means to make money.

Hunters are indispensable beings in this world today.

Without them, monsters would burst forth from the gates and destroy our livelihoods.

I also started with grand aspirations.

Whether a low-level hunter or a high-level one.

The thought that everyone was working for the world.

But when I first started the job of a hunter… that dream was almost shattered.

Right from the beginning, others saw hunting only as a means to earn money, and I wonder why that was a problem?

I have no idea what I was thinking back then.

Because now I… was also seeing being a hunter merely as a means to make money.

However, since my identity was cleansed and I infiltrated the association, that profession of being a hunter.

No longer looked like a means of making money or a job that worked for the country, or even further, for the world.

It merely became one of our ordinary daily routines.

An ordinary office job or field job.

– Tap.

My face.

A cold frost fell on my cheek.

This cold sensation pulled me from the swamp of random thoughts.

These days, whenever I see white, I keep thinking of her.

Her first impression was surely not good.

She had hair as pure white as the snow that falls in winter.

Why must she be destined to be a sacrifice?

‘What is Harin doing right now?’

Even as an S-Rank healer, she has no combat ability.

But that doesn’t mean she is useless.

Because I am powerless.

Because I am weak.

I have certainly become stronger than the day I survived the EX-grade dungeon, but I still fall short against someone like Verdium.

Therefore, to tackle him… I must acquire the knowledge from this book.

Books.

They are like spiritual nourishment and mute teachers.

I turned the pages of the book.

‘King’s Insight, activate.’

– Ding!

[Unknown characters present.]

[Beginning interpretation.]

[…1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9………]

– Ding!

[Interpretation completed.]

**********

I couldn’t obtain information as useful as I had hoped.

This book seemed to be pretty useless, filled with meaningless information.

I doubted whether the system had misinterpreted it.

It really didn’t even tell me the most basic weaknesses.

Still, I did obtain one piece of information.

It concerned vampires.

High-ranking lords.

They are all ‘Ancestors.’

These beings can live without needing to drink blood.

It’s just less efficient.

They can turn humans who agreed to their blood drinking into vampires.

I already knew this fact.

These Ancestors regard indiscriminate blood drinking as lowly behavior.

… What about Irlya?

‘Mutant?’

The reason she covets my blood.

Is that reason merely for the ‘growth’ of her body?

My mind was still filled with unknown thoughts.

– Ding!

『Quest』

『Broken Paradise』

『Correct the flow of time by following the lives born from death.』

『White Night. 0/1』

『Reward: A book inscribed with secrets.』

After reading the vampire journal, a blue window popped up in my view.

Once again, this thing is showing me my path.

Quests always guide me in the direction whenever I make up my mind or attempt to approach the unknown truths of this world.

– Rattle.

The door to the outdoor terrace opened.

“Dear one. What are you doing outside without sleeping?”

Irlya approached me after opening the door to the outdoor terrace, as if she had awakened.

“Oh, did I wake you? Sorry.”

“Yes, because you didn’t close the door tightly, the cold came flowing in. Reflect on that.”

– Whoosh.

Then, suddenly, a cold wind blew in.

“Ugh, so cold—”

“By the way, if we don’t hold a wedding… you know.”

Irlya looked up at me.

“Uh? Why are you saying that all of a sudden…?”

“I’m not saying I dislike you. Don’t misunderstand.”

She continued to look up at me, nodding quietly in response.

I gathered my thoughts and continued in the flow of what we talked about before we fell asleep.

“If we don’t hold a wedding… maybe we can save Harin?.. I heard she’s being used as a sacrifice.”

I cautiously expressed my thoughts.

After hearing my words, Irlya seemed to fall into a moment of contemplation.

“Hmm… do you dislike marrying me? Well, I can understand that… although your blood is rather precious…”

Irlya muttered the latter part softly so I couldn’t hear.

I couldn’t tell whether her body was shaking from the cold or for another reason.

“But, unfortunately, if the wedding is not held, this body will become the sacrifice instead. That means, it’s not about the wedding itself.”

I was shocked to hear this startling fact.

“Then… where exactly are we offering the sacrifice? No, what’s the reason behind offering a sacrifice in the first place?”

“I’m not exactly sure either.”

Irlya shrugged her shoulders.

“Well… I overheard something last time, but they said to offer the sacrifice to something called ‘Parasite’ or whatever—”

“What?!”

Irlya seemed startled and flinched.

“Why are you suddenly shouting like that? You scared me…”

As soon as I heard the word ‘Parasite,’ I felt a convulsion in my body, my heart racing wildly.

Parasites are insects that inhabit living beings to control them.

It seemed premature for Parasites to be relevant at this moment.

Is the goal of Verdium to spread Parasites by offering sacrifices?

Or is it to stop the Parasites?

But either way, Harin or Irlya must enter as sacrifices.

Offering a living being as a sacrifice cannot be accepted in 21st-century South Korean society.

Just like that moment… a strong chill enveloped my body.

Black armor.

Though I didn’t know its name.

On the system, it appeared as ‘The King of a Country Without a King.’

Then, could it be that those referred to as the Country of “Ring Guard” were being ravaged by Parasites, gnawed down to their bones, their minds devoured, and watched until the very end?

He must have witnessed the sight of his lord, his king, being devoured.

He would have also felt the pain of being gnawed away.

Ah, now I understand.

‘I have come to realize.’

The reason he appeared as ‘The King of a Country Without a King.’

Because everyone, including himself, had become skeletons.

At that very moment.

He must have become ‘The King of a Country Without a King.’

Because…

‘That guy in the black armor.’

He was the only remaining ‘human’ with his ego intact.

Once again, I felt like I took a step closer to uncovering the secrets of this world within the Black Gate.