Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 292

292. The Worst Person in the World (1)

Maria Keller stared at Samuel for a long time without answering.

A moment later, she stubbed out her cigarette roughly on the desk.

Smoking made her head feel fuzzy. He wasn’t someone to deal with when her head wasn’t clear.

She had been sober for a while now.

“Priest.”

Samuel nodded slightly.

Because she felt no vitality from him, Maria felt like she was watching a moving statue.

“Was Samuel one of you from the start? Or…”

“Samuel died of a myocardial infarction [heart attack] three days ago.”

Samuel, or rather, the thing wearing Samuel’s skin, said.

“We took care of the body, and we borrowed his identity and face because we needed them. For the time being, it would be good if you just keep calling me Samuel instead of Priest, as there are things I need to do using this identity.”

Maria chuckled.

“Either way, I didn’t expect you to be bold enough to come here yourself. Don’t you guys usually only meet people inside dungeons? That’s your territory, after all. The outside, where the game is being played, is dangerous.”

“Dangerous, Keller?”

Samuel asked with a blank face. Maria’s face twisted.

“Tell me, Keller. There are more than ten ability users in this Chrome headquarters alone who could kill me. You could call Adam Polt and have me torn to shreds. Or, without even bothering to call him, isn’t there a pistol in that drawer?”

Maria gritted her teeth. Samuel was mocking her. Even the priests knew about her anger.

Most priests were as weak as ordinary humans. But their strength lay not in their physical bodies, but in their bizarre abilities.

These beings, called angels, administrators, dungeon masters, or priests, were known only to a very few, including Maria Keller.

They were also the reason for the establishment of the UN Special Monitoring Unit, appearing with the birth of dungeons.

Identifying themselves as administrators of the dungeons, they have been in contact with ‘administrators of humans’ to control the operation and difficulty increase and prevent unexpected variables from arising.

Maria Keller was one of them.

Even so, the relationship between Maria and the priests was not simple.

“Keller, you haven’t forgotten our contract, have you.”

“…Of course not.”

Maria’s eyes wavered at Samuel’s words. But Samuel, as if it wasn’t enough, spoke again about the contract they had made.

“We agreed to provide you with information about ability users and dungeons. Thanks to that, you’ve been able to control the world of ability users without major chaos until now. We also wanted this world to grow stronger in a stable manner, so until recently, we all had a pretty good relationship.”

Samuel’s pupil-less eyes turned coldly towards Keller.

“But lately, Chrome seems to be falling short of its capabilities. Did we overestimate you too much?”

“It’s all because of your damn tricks!”

Maria shouted, slamming her desk.

As Samuel said, Chrome was able to operate the world stably thanks to its contract with the priests. But they did not share all the information.

Unexpected damage continued to occur somewhere in the world, and disasters struck without prior warning.

The numerous human extinction scenarios that Maria Keller had created were also with the priests in mind.

Ultimately, they are enemies of humanity.

The difficulty of the dungeons is constantly increasing, to the point where humanity can’t handle it.

Maria tried to extract as much information as possible from them, but as Samuel said, the situation was getting out of her hands.

Maria couldn’t help but be suspicious in this situation.

Was it possible that they were pushing her into a difficult situation while pretending to provide her with information?

Despite Maria’s passionate reaction, Samuel showed no change in expression.

“You’re suspicious. That’s why you’ve been avoiding meeting with us.”

Samuel tilted his head. It was an angle that would look like a broken neck if it were a human.

“But you’re also afraid that cutting ties with us while being suspicious will only make the situation worse. You weren’t such an indecisive person, Keller. We chose you not because you were the smartest or the most capable.”

“…”

“But because you are a decisive human being.”

Samuel carefully took out a box the size of a ring case from his pocket.

“It’s a portable storage device.”

“…What is it, an item?”

Maria took a step back with a stiff expression.

The priests are the administrators of the dungeons. The items they use were often beyond imagination.

“It’s just an ordinary USB. Don’t be so scared. An unexpected variable has occurred, so I’ve included a newly revised plan that reflects that variable. Use it to help operate Chrome. It will be difficult for a while.”

Maria raised her eyebrows at the word ‘variable’.

“If it’s a variable, are you perhaps talking about the disappearance of the Taean Dungeon before?”

The disappearance of the dungeon in Korea became an opportunity for not only the priests but also Chrome to pay attention to Korea.

Until then, there had been instances of difficulty being adjusted, but the disappearance of the dungeon itself was the first and last time.

This was because the disappearance of a dungeon was impossible without the intervention of a priest.

At the time of the incident, the priests even summoned Maria Keller to ask her what was going on.

“It may or may not be related, but we don’t need to tell you that.”

Maria took the USB with an anxious expression and immediately plugged it into the computer.

The contents were a short document file.

Maria’s expression twisted as she quickly skimmed through the beginning.

“You bastards! What are you trying to do!”

“Don’t get excited. We’re just trying to move the progress forward a little.”

Samuel put his finger to his lips and pushed them up slightly. Then, his statue-like face twisted grotesquely as if he were forcing a smile.

“Accept it with a smile, Keller. It’s not as bad as you think. It’s just a plan that reflects the variables. Even if it goes to the worst, it won’t be even 1/100th of the number of victims that would have occurred when the original Cheonru appeared, right?”

“But this is!”

“It’s just that the overall level of humanity is being standardized upwards. I don’t know why you think it’s so terrible. Many people will probably like it more than you think. And the stars too.”

Samuel whispered with a distorted smile.

“So think about how you can use this to make your plan a success.”

***

“Oppa [term of endearment for older brother or boyfriend], have you suddenly gone crazy?”

Yoomin was taken aback when Hyunwoo, who had appeared after several days, suddenly hugged her.

Of course, before that, Hyunwoo had showered to wash away the fine dust, brushed his teeth, and even changed into new clothes. But Yoomin hadn’t.

“Just a moment… let’s stay like this.”

“No, um. It’s all good, but right now I’m…”

The problem was that Yoomin was in the middle of dissecting a monster, and her whole body was covered in blood and wearing a protective suit, so she couldn’t feel Hyunwoo’s hug at all.

Besides, the entrails, flesh, and skin displayed all around were hardly an environment that could create a romantic atmosphere.

Yoomin carefully hugged Hyunwoo, trying not to stab him with the scalpel.

“Yoomin, what if I was born as a different person than I am now?”

“Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“So, um… yeah. Do you remember when we first met? Let’s say that state continued as it was. Would we have continued to meet?”

“Why are you suddenly making such a pointless assumption? Of course we wouldn’t have met.”

Hyunwoo made a hollow expression.

“Don’t people usually say they would have met, even as a lip service?”

“No, that’s because Oppa became a completely different person than he was then. Wealth and education are only the second least important things.”

“…You’re saying they’re the second most important things.”

“You’re not thinking of saying they’re not important, are you?”

“They’re important.”

Even if you cry while lying face down, there’s a difference between crying while lying face down on a high-class mahogany desk and crying while lying face down on a yellow linoleum floor.

“Yes. But what I thought was most important was… ambition or confidence.”

Yoomin said as if reminiscing about that time.

When she was still an ordinary graduate student, and Hyunwoo was rummaging through the gutters.

“But back then, Oppa was, to put it nicely, a lump of inferiority complex. But when I met Oppa again… he had amazing abs enough to cover that up.”

“No, wait a minute. Does abs usually get mentioned here?”

“You’re not thinking of saying they’re not important, are you?”

“Important… are they?”

“They’re important.”

Yoomin nodded repeatedly and said.

“Usually, the problem with men is that they can’t handle their self-consciousness and confidence, but there’s a difference between confidence with abs and confidence without abs.”

Hyunwoo still didn’t understand. But Yoomin smiled and opened the helmet part of her protective suit.

“And above all, there’s also the fact that I’m attracted to men who seem dangerous. It’s probably my dad’s fault.”

Hyunwoo kissed Yoomin. After a long kiss, Hyunwoo asked what he had been wondering.

“What did your father do?”

“Ask Doctor Dowonkyung. My dad was my mentor when I was in the second year of middle school. That’s why I can’t say anything even if I date Oppa.”

Hyunwoo had to postpone his curiosity until he met Dowonkyung. He had to meet Dowonkyung soon anyway.

He was thinking of contacting Maria Keller through Dowonkyung’s connections as a scholar.

Confronting her as an ability user against an ability user would easily invite suspicion, but he calculated that it would be easier if he included Dowonkyung in the middle.

“By the way, how’s the situation these days?”

When Hyunwoo went to Difficulty: Hell, this place had just risen to Difficulty: Normal.

Of course, Hyunwoo had cleaned up any major threats while looking around the situation around Korea, but that didn’t mean it was safe.

Yoomin’s expression darkened.

“Um… it’s not good. Monsters are starting to communicate in earnest inside the dungeons, and building walls is making the attacks several times more difficult. The number of deaths is also increasing. I heard that borders are being redrawn in places like the Third World. Dungeon-related industries are also having a hard time securing resources, so raw material prices are skyrocketing.”

“What’s the situation with the JeonNeung Association?”

“They’re making the highest profits ever. The price of moss is whatever you want to call it, and the equipment is almost monopolized. Requests for magic bullets are pouring in like crazy, so we’re thinking of expanding the factory to eight times its current size.”

Even in situations where everyone is screaming and panicking, someone is bound to laugh.

It was the same during the Great Depression and the IMF crisis [International Monetary Fund crisis, a period of financial crisis in several Asian countries in 1997-1998].

At least it’s better for one person to laugh than for everyone to scream together.

Hyunwoo stood on the laughing side.

“However, there are countries that lack the ability to pay for importing our goods. We’re receiving them as national bonds for now, but to be honest, whether we’ll be able to get them back…”

“It’s okay. Sell them, sell them.”

If we sell them cheaply only to those countries, there may be talk of fairness.

But now it’s a situation where countries are collapsing or not. If victims are occurring right now and we only talk about money, we’ll get cursed, and ultimately, if this existing world collapses, Hyunwoo won’t be able to have the ‘comfortable world’ he wants to enjoy.

Some degree of loss is an investment to maintain infrastructure.

Yoomin knew that too and was exporting goods while accepting some losses.

“Hmm, and in the United States…”

It was then. Suddenly, a buzzing sound and vibration were felt.

Hyunwoo felt his vision darken for a moment. Just as he wondered what was going on, voices suddenly poured out from all directions.

[Hello, everyone. Welcome to Difficulty: Normal.]

Hyunwoo realized that this voice was the same as the system notification sound.

Hyunwoo turned to Yoomin. Seeing that she also had a flustered expression, it was clear that she was hearing the same voice.

[I know you’re surprised by the sudden announcement. The thing is, as a result of checking the recent situation, we found an error that we couldn’t leave unattended.]

Yoomin quickly started typing the message content into the PC.

The system notification sound is not recorded. Writing it down was the best option.

[Therefore, our operators have decided to carry out an emergency update to clean up the existing situation a bit.]

The system message monotonously and businesslike announced the announcement.

[Until now, most of you have been unrelated to things like dungeons, hunters, and monsters. All of this was to allow you to gradually adapt to the new era. We were never going to make any radical changes. Rapid changes kill too many people.]

The system notification sound was strangely frivolous and high-tension. It was different from when it had only delivered messages in a businesslike manner.

[But ta-da, there’s no such thing as absolute. It’s different from now on. We’ve decided to implement a patch so that everyone can enjoy it fairly together. Everyone becomes a participant in the game. There’s no such thing as someone else’s business. You are the hero of this world.]

“What…”

Hyunwoo had a bad feeling. This was not in the White Bone Records, nor was it the story he had heard from others.

[The patch will start with the solar eclipse. As the solar eclipse progresses, shadows will be cast on the world. The power of the stars becomes stronger in the shadowed areas, and the concentration of mana becomes thicker. Sounds simple, right? But I don’t think you’ll get a sense of it just by hearing it, so I’ll give you a more specific example.]

Suddenly, a video appeared in front of him. It was a typical American suburban landscape.

Watching people panic, listen, and look around, Hyunwoo realized that this scene was a video being reflected in real time.

Then, a round shadow suddenly and slowly began to cast over their heads.

The shadow, which spread like ink, quickly covered the entire suburban area.

Hyunwoo noticed that the man in the shadow flickered for a moment as if several figures were overlapping. The man grabbed his face as if confused, then took his hand away.

His eyes were literally burning.

Similar situations were happening around him. The man suddenly ran towards another man in front of him and tore his neck off in one fell swoop.

At that moment, someone pulled out a gun.

Gunshots rang out.

Gunshots rang out a lot.

But the man who was shot didn’t budge.

The gun was thrown on the floor, and a fight began. Someone tore at the enemy with their bare hands, someone hid somewhere. Someone else hurriedly contacted and moved.

Hyunwoo realized the situation.

A person who was an ordinary person instantly became an ability user and became a subordinate.

Human beings who had been monsterized, which could only be seen in Difficulty: Hell, were quickly appearing.

[‘Shadow’ extremely pushes an individual’s tendencies, sharply increases the concentration of mana, and at the same time brings about physical ability enhancement. Those who know will know that this is not a bad thing. However… there may be some who don’t like the patch details.]

The system message kindly, generously, and benevolently said.

[We would like to give a choice to those who do not like this unilateral patch. Kill the ‘Worst Person in the World’ within the next 72 hours. Then the patch will be stopped immediately and the reflection of the shadow will be stopped. However, keep in mind that you cannot change someone who has already been patched.]

With absurd words, the system message cheerfully concluded.

[Then, from now on, we will proceed with Mission ‘Leviathan’. We ask for your participation!]