Chapter 55

The hologram badge Samra gave me was attached inside my clothes.

It wasn’t somewhere visible, and of course, I had never shown it in front of Dominic.

“…The badge.”

“The badge?”

“I received it as a gift. From a friend.”

“Ah, a friend from London?”

“…Yes. But how did you know I was wearing the badge? I hid it inside my clothes.”

I asked while laughing as if I was making a joke.

Hearing my question, Dominic answered as if he found it fascinating.

“From some point onward, I could simply feel it.”

It seemed like he had only just realized that the badge had been hidden.

Judging from the way he spoke, it didn’t seem like he had known from the moment I started wearing it.

For some reason, I had the feeling it was after he saw the Shining Irregular Polyhedron.

And the reason he recognized the badge was probably…

‘Is it because it isn’t an item from CallOVo?’

The most plausible theory was that he sensed something strange because it was an item from outside.

“First, let’s leave this place.”

I walked forward first.

“We still need to collect the remaining evidence, and we also need to rescue the people kidnapped as sacrifices. It would probably be more efficient if we split up.”

I spoke to Dominic as he followed behind me.

“I’m short, so it’s easier for me to hide and move around. I’ll go collect the evidence. Dominic-ssi, would you take care of the sacrifices?”

I had never once thought of myself as short, but those words came out naturally when I was standing beside Dominic.

“That is a good idea. I will protect those we rescue at the clinic. Edel-yang will not be able to approach that place.”

I briefly explained where the people who were going to become sacrifices were being held.

But then, I realized I could no longer hear footsteps following me.

I stopped while opening the door leading out of the holding cell and looked at Dominic.

“…Dominic-ssi?”

“Roasted Chestnut. I know this is an unreasonable request, but…”

He placed a hand against his face for a moment. He seemed almost surprised by his own actions.

“No. Forget it. Please ignore me.”

Was he doing this intentionally?

When someone started saying something and then stopped, didn’t that only make it more curious?

It probably wasn’t going to be something pleasant, but my curiosity kept bothering me.

And if I didn’t ask now, I had no idea what kind of bomb it might become later.

‘Wouldn’t it be better to make it explode sooner?’

I approached him with the mindset of a bomb disposal expert.

“Please tell me, Dominic-ssi.”

After hesitating for a while, Dominic carefully asked me.

“Could you give me the badge?”

The request itself wasn’t cautious at all.

I still didn’t know what the badge was for, but seeing how much it bothered Dominic, it seemed like it was an important item.

I couldn’t casually hand such an item over to Dominic.

It wasn’t only mine. It also belonged to Samra.

I had no choice but to tell another lie.

“I’m sorry. It’s a keepsake from a deceased friend…”

After sending Samra, who was perfectly alive and working fine, to his grave, I put on the same pitiful expression I had shown earlier in the cell.

“My benefactor and companion, Dominic-ssi… I want to give you anything I can, but this one thing…”

Dominic became flustered and immediately apologized.

“It was your friend’s keepsake… Roasted Chestnut, I’m sorry. I acted on an impulse just now. I don’t know why I behaved that way either.”

I shook my head as if telling him it wasn’t his fault.

“I think it’s because of that strange metal box we saw yesterday.”

“…!”

“It really is a dangerous box. Let’s never go near it again.”

“I suppose we should. So yesterday, Roasted Chestnut experienced this same impulse?”

Dominic looked at me with a new expression.

It was the look of someone checking once again whether I was truly alright.

I smiled as if nothing was wrong and asked:

“Shall we go now?”

“Yes, Roasted Chestnut.”

Dominic obediently followed me out.

Then we separated to carry out our assigned tasks, and finally, when I was alone—

“Phew…”

I let out the breath I had been holding.

While I was together with Dominic, it felt like my heart was constantly on the verge of giving out.

It was even worse because I had lied to Dominic so many times.

The reason was that I had already deceived Dominic more than once.

I had intentionally told Dominic the wrong location where the kidnapped people were being held.

I wanted the rescue to take a long time, so he would have to spend the entire day focused only on that.

After all, today’s ritual would not use the kidnapped people as sacrifices. The cult members themselves would be offered instead, so there was no need to rescue them early.

‘Originally, I planned to stay as close to Dominic as possible.’

I had intended to keep an eye on whether he caused any trouble while also making use of him for various purposes.

But now, I was starting to think I should keep him hidden away somewhere.

Things had become tangled because Dominic had replaced the sacrifices with cult members.

The people who were supposed to be sacrificed had been rescued, but the ritual itself was still going to happen.

Of course, I could infiltrate the cult together with Dominic and stop the ritual.

That would be much easier…

But Dominic’s strange reaction after seeing the Shining Irregular Polyhedron, combined with everything else, made me decide that I should avoid showing him anything related to summoning an Outer God as much as possible.

Perhaps Dominic was an existence summoned here by the cult.

That thought came to me because I knew the rituals performed by the cult could summon various Outer Gods.

I didn’t know whether he was some kind of divine being, but regardless, he was certainly not ordinary, so the possibility existed.

But if that were true, there was another problem.

The trials were only a space that repeated the same world.

The fact that a trial could summon and imprison an existence like Dominic…

I couldn’t believe the trial possessed that much power.

In any case, it was a question I couldn’t answer right now.

Because of that, I decided I would handle today’s ritual by myself.

I went around to the back of the police station and peeked inside through an open window.

NPCs had set schedules, and at this time, nobody was behind the police station.

I reached inside and took the hat hanging on the wall.

‘I’m only taking one hat.’

Since they had dragged an innocent person here, I felt like the police station could at least provide a souvenir.

The atmosphere was quiet, so it seemed my escape from the holding cell had not been discovered yet.

If they came to deliver dinner to the prisoners, they would notice.

So I had to finish collecting evidence and enter the cult before then.

I quietly entered an alleyway where no pedestrians ever went.

A plump mouse squeaked and quickly disappeared in front of me.

After walking deep into the dead end, a system window appeared.

There were more than ten movement options unlocked, more than eight pieces of evidence collected, and more than two companions recruited.

A shortcut that became available once certain conditions were fulfilled.

All of those were conditions I had prepared yesterday.

I selected my destination.

My body stepped onto a trash can and effortlessly jumped onto the top of the wall.

In an instant, I climbed up to the rooftops and began running.

The moment of racing across the roofs of the low buildings was precarious.

With my original physical abilities, it might have been difficult.

However, because I was moving through automatic movement, my actions were almost no different from those of a movie stunt performer.

Leaping across gaps between rooftops, I reached my destination, City Hall, in no time.

After checking the time on the clock tower, I looked around the area.

The cobblestone plaza was filled with a restless atmosphere.

Police officers stood around with serious expressions.

The reason was that the mayor’s residence, located two blocks away from City Hall, was where the murder had occurred.

The biggest advantage of using the back streets was that they automatically connected to hidden routes.

Strictly speaking, they weren’t roads, but places that could be used like roads.

I climbed up to the mayor’s office by grabbing onto a drainage pipe attached to the wall.

Thanks to all the personnel being gathered around the mayor’s residence, the mayor’s office was quiet.

I took out the wire I had collected yesterday.

I unlocked the window latch and pushed it open.

As soon as I entered, a system window appeared.

An ominous presence can be felt.

It was a notification that an event related to the main story was about to occur.

It was a notification that an event related to the main story was about to occur.

The event that was supposed to happen originally was the Morneveil mayor discovering me, an intruder, and becoming furious.

He was under a weak form of brainwashing, and if I failed to persuade the mayor, he would transform into a monster and a boss battle would begin.

Entering the mayor’s office without preparation meant I would immediately lose one heart.

But right now, the mayor was gone, so I was able to enter without any problems.

Since I had become someone breaking into an empty house, I looked around the mayor’s office.

I was searching for the documents related to the cult that the mayor had hidden.

In the game, I either defeated the mayor after he became a boss or succeeded in persuading him and obtained the item.

I knew the documents were definitely somewhere in the mayor’s office, but since this was my first time stealing them like this, I had to search for their location.

I was about to start by checking the desk when something caught my eye.

A newspaper neatly folded on top of the desk.

It must have been delivered before the news of the mayor’s death spread.

It was today’s newspaper.

I looked at it without much thought, but then something strange happened.

The name of the newspaper, which had been written as ‘Morneveil Herald,’ slowly changed.

And the new name was one I knew.

“Day News…?”

It was the same newspaper that the cat butler in Clean3 had given me.

The newspaper that contained the article about the spaceship explosion.

There was no way it was a coincidence.

I immediately picked up the newspaper.

However, the entire thing was covered in square colored blocks.

Previously, there had been at least one article I could read.

This time, there was nothing.

I carefully checked even the very last page.

That was when I noticed a small lifestyle advice section tucked into the empty space left after the articles had been arranged.

It was only a short piece consisting of a couple of lines, but I could read it.

“I don’t have that ability.”

It felt similar to being told to add ice to a beer that had gone lukewarm.

I had searched desperately only to find some meaningless piece of advice like this.

As I cursed the useless newspaper, a line suddenly appeared over the words.

“……”

What was this?

It felt as if something was watching what I was doing.

I stared at the squares silently.

I remembered seeing similar arrangements of squares several times before.

Every time I cleared a trial, those same square patterns appeared with messages that seemed to be paying attention to me.

I had also seen the same squares during DeZonDeal’s event quest.

The information written in that event quest had actually been helpful.

After thinking for a moment, I decided to try it, even if it was only on the off chance.

Letting a drop or two of blood fall was not difficult.

It was worth trying.

I removed the badge from inside my clothes and lightly pricked my fingertip with the sharp needle-like part.

Then I rubbed the drop of blood that formed on my fingertip onto the badge.

Just as I thought nothing would happen—

The drop of blood absorbed into the badge without a trace.

Then a holographic light began to shimmer.

I widened my eyes at the unusual sight.

Along with a crackling noise like static, a faint voice came from the badge.

I grabbed the badge and brought it close to my ear.

—…Goyo-ssi!

“Samra?”

It was Samra’s voice.

He had connected communication from outside the trial to the inside.

Hearing his voice after such a long time made me incredibly happy.

While I was still amazed by the unbelievable advanced technology, Samra hurriedly continued speaking.

—Where are you right now?

“I’m in <Call of the Void>. I was forcibly transferred from Clean3 directly into CallOVo by an NPC.”

—You mean you entered a trial?

“Yes.”

I felt a slight sense of discomfort.

Samra never said unnecessary things.

The fact that he specifically asked whether it was a trial felt strange.

—Han Goyo-ssi…

After a short silence, Samra spoke.

—<Call of the Void> is a trial that has never hatched before.

“A trial that has never hatched…”

I repeated his words.

—It means it is a trial that does not exist.