Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 128

128. To My Old Self (2)

Finding clues about the past in the future.

It sounds plausible, but searching for information in the ruined Difficulty: Hell was not an easy task.

Most of the information available was fragmented, like newspapers or magazines, and even those were not properly preserved.

The only useful information was the White Bone Records, but even there, there was no mention of the Alliance.

“There are two possibilities….”

Either the Alliance was acting while thoroughly concealing their existence, or they were actually an insignificant group.

I didn’t think much of the latter possibility. An ability user who can artificially raise a 4-star to a 5-star or higher wouldn’t have ordinary abilities.

And the people that the Teacher accepted as members of the Alliance wouldn’t have been chosen based on simple criteria.

Someone who can reliably pledge allegiance to him, and at the same time, someone who can prepare for the future.

Park Hwi-so can handle the dirty work of the underworld, and Ryu Sua has the ability to control the political world.

I thought it was highly likely that other Alliance members were also individuals who had a hand in various fields.

‘If so, I might be meeting someone who is preparing for the future for the first time.’

Thinking that, Hyun-woo felt uneasy.

The words ‘preparing for the future’ are commonly used, but truly preparing for the future is never easy.

Moreover, humanity is currently enjoying a golden age with dungeons and mana. In this situation, genuinely preparing for destruction or ruin is not something that can be done with ordinary insight.

‘Well, now that the difficulty has increased, some people may be taking it a little more seriously.’

But the Alliance had been preparing for this point long before that.

In Ryu Sua’s case, she had been preparing for at least 15 years.

Park Hwi-so also seemed to have been affiliated with the Alliance since he was active.

It’s difficult to gather people with the absurd slogan of ‘protecting humanity’ for so long.

Unless they really came from the future.

Even Lee Ji-tae only voiced concerns and didn’t seem to have any serious conviction.

“Hoo….”

I couldn’t find any clues about the Alliance in the White Bone Records.

If it was an organization that had prepared so thoroughly, it must have had some impact on the world, but there were strangely no related records.

‘From the beginning, the White Bone Records are just diaries written from an individual’s perspective.’

There may be content that differs from memory, and unless it was something that the White Bone Old Man directly experienced or saw, it was usually described briefly.

Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s worthless. Rather, it still has endless value.

But it meant that it was insufficient to procure the necessary information from time to time.

“Butler, does squeezing your non-existent brains make you study well? Studying is a talent.”

Lenian tapped Hyun-woo on the head with a straw.

Hyun-woo shook his head to drop Lenian off. But Lenian, with wings, was unlikely to fall.

“What are you looking for so hard?”

Lenian sat next to the White Bone Records and asked. Hyun-woo opened his mouth with a desperate feeling.

“Do you happen to know about the Alliance?”

“Are you talking about two or more individuals, groups, or countries cooperating for their mutual benefit?”

“What about Teacher?”

“Isn’t that a word that refers to someone who teaches students or is excellent in arts and sciences?”

“…….”

This is hopeless. These guys use ambiguous nouns as names without clear names, so it’s not easy to find information.

Come to think of it, it seems like they were doing this from the beginning to hide their presence. That’s why there are even fewer records.

Meanwhile, Lenian’s gaze changed as if looking at something even more pathetic.

“Butler, if you don’t even know such basic words, shouldn’t you get a Korean textbook from the library instead of looking at such strange nonsense?”

“If there is even a library….”

At that moment, something flashed through Hyun-woo’s mind.

“That’s right, the library! Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Are you saying you’re going to study on your own because you didn’t even meet the standards in the basic education course?”

“If it’s a library, there will be data left. They will also collect newspapers and magazines. Even if it’s collapsed, the books are densely packed, so the probability of damage is low, so at least I can get clearer information than now.”

Hyun-woo hurriedly took out the map drawn by Kirson and began to search it.

But I couldn’t find a place that I could think of as a library. Lenian looked at me with an even more pathetic expression.

“So? Are you going to dig up all the libraries and read them one by one?”

“If necessary, I have to do that. There’s still time until the quest.”

Lenian slowly rubbed the White Bone Records with his feet and muttered.

“Why don’t you look through the book one more time?”

“I’ve already looked through it as much as I could….”

Hyun-woo then saw Lenian stepping on the White Bone Records.

Even if it survived, it is an old book that crumbles at the corner if touched incorrectly. Hyun-woo waved his hand to chase Lenian away, but suddenly a phrase that Lenian was stepping on caught his eye.

[The data sent from the Cheonggye Dungeon branch was entrusted to Eve in the basement. The people at that branch are also in very bad condition….]

It was a phrase that stood out so much that I wondered why I hadn’t discovered it.

The sounds of people from a certain branch dying about 1/5 in a month or having an epidemic did not catch my eye. Hyun-woo only looked at one thing.

‘The gym where the White Bone Old Man was… was there a basement there?’

There is. Because the gym itself was a semi-basement.

But this phrase gave the feeling that it contained more data.

To be sure, the only data found in the gym were a few magazines and the White Bone Records.

Also, it may be pointing to somewhere other than where he was.

But Hyun-woo was strongly concerned about it.

From the beginning, if you think about it, that place is where the White Bone Old Man took his last rest, and it is a place where dummies for beginners are placed.

And he made it possible to find his place only when certain conditions were met.

But what if there’s still something hidden there?

Hyun-woo immediately felt the need to search further.

Then I saw Lenian smiling slyly next to me. Suddenly, Hyun-woo remembered Lenian turning the page.

‘Could it be that he gave me a hint to see this?’

“Butler.”

Lenian suddenly opened his mouth.

“U, uh?”

“You seem to have gotten a hint thanks to me again. Don’t you think it’s time to hug and love your lovely fairy?”

“You’re talking about brain fluid again. Aren’t you tired of that pattern?”

“You don’t need it anyway. Brain fluid.”

“That’s too much….”

***

“Yerddan!”

With a bark! Yerddan, who was lying on the shelter floor with his belly exposed, jumped up and ran towards Hyun-woo.

The way he rubbed his big body and licked him was just like a puppy.

Of course, the story is a little different if it’s a wolf the size of a small car that can swallow Hyun-woo in one bite.

Hyun-woo felt like he was being sucked into Yerddan’s mouth just by being licked.

“No… stop, that’s enough. Come back to human size.”

At Hyun-woo’s command, Yerddan began to shrink his body.

Before long, a silver-haired boy in a neat white suit appeared. Hyun-woo looked over him with a complicated expression.

“Who dressed you in that?”

“Old Man.”

Unlike before, Yerddan answered coldly with a face that was not cute at all.

It would be nice if he called Park Hwi-so by his name or grandfather, but he was following the title Hyun-woo called him, Old Man.

‘Look at this.’

Also, what I felt while watching was that Yerddan’s personality is different when he is in wolf form and when he is in human form.

No, it’s natural to call it Ranggeok [wolf nature] when it’s a wolf.

The closer he gets to the appearance of a beast, the closer he gets to a well-behaved dog, but when he is in human form, he shows a cold appearance as if nothing happened. I couldn’t tell which one was his real personality.

“So, what is it.”

‘Looking at his attitude and tone, he’s a young master from a well-off family.’

Looking at the dignity he feels without doing anything special, it may be true that he is of royal blood. But he’s just a dog.

“I have something to give you.”

Hyun-woo took out an item from his inventory.

[Eternal Devourer Ouroboros (Legendary)]

[Special Ability: Permanently absorbs a small amount of stats in proportion to the area of the devoured opponent. Hunger stress increases slightly. If you fall into a state of mental abnormality, you may cause self-cannibalism.]

[Annotation: As expected, the Starving Star, Yogulem, created another perverted work of art. It seems to be a choker mainly worn by hunting dogs raised in Yogulem’s training camp. It is presumed that it was created not only for the purpose of simply controlling them, but also for the purpose of making the hunting dogs have better meat quality through the process of eating each other.]

The Eternal Devourer Ouroboros was a snake that bit its own tail, constantly clicking its black scales.

It’s not alive, it’s made of metal, but I don’t know how it moves without a battery. It must be thanks to mana or something.

Indeed, Admiral Ren’s annotation, which described it as ‘perverted,’ was not lacking, but the ‘permanent stat absorption’ option was an option that could not be ignored.

However, even if you ignore the crazy debuffs such as ‘stress’ or ‘self-cannibalism,’ the premise that ‘you have to eat the opponent’ was almost impossible for Hyun-woo.

‘No matter how tempting the stats are, the things in Difficulty: Hell are all as big as a house.’

So the alternative I found was Yerddan.

Yerddan relies on stats rather than skill abilities, and he is still enjoying devouring while wandering around Difficulty: Hell.

Even if he is brainwashed by someone, it will end with self-cannibalism, so it was good as a safety device.

Yerddan accepted the Eternal Devourer Ouroboros that Hyun-woo held out with a complex expression.

“Did you…… prepare this for me?”

“Huh? Ah, uh.”

To be honest, it was something that failed to create an item that could strengthen the intensity of the Covenant of Restraint. Currently, the Covenant of Restraint was only slightly better than a chain.

But well, it doesn’t matter if I lie to make it sound good.

“Want to try it on?”

Yerddan flinched, but soon nodded his head. I thought he would get annoyed or angry, saying it was perverted, but I didn’t know he would accept it so readily.

Even though it was something used to strengthen the meat quality of meat in Yogulem’s training camp.

‘Anyway, I have to catch and kill all the guys who eat the dogs they raise.’

Yerddan turned around and revealed his white neck to Hyun-woo. Hyun-woo felt a sense of guilt as if he was doing something wrong while putting a choker on Yerddan.

Anyway, I filled it up.

“Hmm….”

Yerddan moved his neck with an uncomfortable expression. The clicking metal choker seemed to make shallow red wounds on his neck.

Yerddan suddenly began to transform his body.

I wondered if the choker would tighten his neck, but the choker also stretched with a chrararak sound [onomatopoeia for a stretching sound].

It’s a sight that violates the laws of physics, but mana is the best. Yerddan, who had returned to the wolf form the size of a small car, looked much more comfortable thanks to his fur.

Yerddan shook his body once and then licked Hyun-woo for a long time.

“Looks like you like it.”

I thought he would come out saying, Wolves don’t wear dog collars!.

“Well, it’s good if you like it. Puppy, I gave you a gift, so you have to use your strength this time.”

“Woong?”

I wish you wouldn’t make such unnecessary cute noises.

***

The place Hyun-woo headed to with Yerddan was the gym where White Bone was buried.

‘It’s the first time I’m moving alone with Yerddan.’

Kirson must be moving with Park Hwi-so.

I wanted to attach Kazat as well, but Kazat had to manage the discipline inside the shelter while Hyun-woo and Kirson were away.

Fortunately, Kazat seemed to like the secret police system that Hyun-woo proposed.