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Summary
Part 3: The Three Laws
Jin-Woo shouted out towards the rest of the Hunters.
“Everyone!”
Their attention shifted towards him in an instant.
Jin-Woo spoke as he met their gazes.
“You must kowtow towards the god statue!”
Hunters began tilting their heads after hearing him.
“Kowtow….?”
“You want us to kowtow to that statue?”
Hunters exchanged glances with each other, before loudly cussing out at Jin-Woo.
“F*ck you! What bullsh*t are you spewing here?!”
“What the hell! How can you say something like that under the current circumstances?!”
“Have you lost your mind, Seong Jin-Woo?!”
Kim’s face became boiling-red as he began snorting like a bull.
“I had no idea you, Mister Seong, would be like this! If I could move, then I’d have punched you in the face already!!”
Jin-Woo bit on his lower lip.
Six of their comrades were killed by the god statue. So, it was rather obvious that the surviving Hunters would cuss him out when he told them to kowtow towards that abominable thing.
It wasn’t hard to understand what these Hunters were feeling at the moment.
‘And, the most important thing is….’
The most important thing was, he had no logical evidence to back his theory up. He only had his gut feelings.
Indeed, that was the only way to describe it.
However…
“I’ll do as you say.”
That voice came from Jin-Woo’s back. Everyone’s eyes immediately shifted there.
It was Mister Song, effectively the leader of this group.
“Mister Song ahjussi?”
“You are going to kowtow to that f*cking statue?”
Just as other Hunters began to freak out, Song looked straight at Jin-Woo.
“Young man. You’ve discovered something, haven’t you?”
Jin-Woo resolutely nodded his head.
“Is it your instinct again?”
“…..Yes. For the time being.”
“I see.”
Just now, eleven people survived thanks to Jin-Woo’s instincts.
Well, with the death of Mister Joo, there were ten now, but still – if it was Jin-Woo’s instincts, then wouldn’t it be worth believing it at least once more?
That’s what Song thought.
When Song knelt down and kowtowed towards the god statue, the mood had become solemn and silent.
“….He’s really doing it.”
Seizing upon this opportunity, Jin-Woo shouted out once more.
“Everyone, I beg of you! Please kneel before the god statue. We might be able to get out of here alive!”
Might live.
Might be able to get out alive.
The impact those simple words carried was quite explosive.
‘We might live?’
‘We can get out of here?’
‘With just one kowtow?!’
The hesitant Hunters began to plop down to the ground, as if they were really kowtowing. The number of them performing the act gradually increased. In the end, even the complaining Kim bowed his head towards the statue.
However, there was no visible change to the god statue. Indeed, those chilling red light still shone from the eyes of the statue.
Jin-Woo felt his heart go cold.
‘Was I wrong?’
It was here that his gaze shifted to Ju-Hui next to him.
No matter how generous one was, it was difficult to describe her posture of squatting on the ground shivering, while holding her head in her hands as her kowtowing.
‘What if….’
Jin-Woo carefully grasped Ju-Hui’s wrist.
She raised her head like a scared cat. Seeing her, Jin-Woo wordlessly nodded his head. Only then did she relax her muscles somewhat.
With that, Jin-Woo was able to slowly change her posture.
‘Done.’
There was only one person remaining now. And that would be him.
Jin-Woo knelt down towards the god statue, placed his hands on the ground, and slowly lowered his head.
Finally, something began to change.
“Huh? Uh, uhh?!”
Hunters who had noticed the change first raised their voices.
“The god statue!! Look at the statue!!”
“It’s eyes!”
The red light buzzing in its eyes was gradually weakening.
“What the hell? Is this really going to work??”
Eventually, the red light completely vanished.
“Oh!! Ohhh!!”
Hunters began rejoicing loudly.
“The red light is gone!!”
“We made it!!”
The excited Hunters began standing up one at the time. Even then, the statue didn’t fire the red beam.
Jin-Woo belatedly raised his head and spat out a sigh of relief.
“Whew….”
Just as he suspected – this chamber operated strictly within the set regulations.
‘If that’s the case….’
Then, this game was far from over. Two more ‘laws’ still remained. The second law, exalt the god. And the third law, prove one’s piety.
It was then.
RUMBLE!!
Accompanied by a goosebump-inducing noise, the entire chamber began to shake.
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened immediately.
‘As I thought….’
His suspicions proved to be correct once more.
Things were only getting started.
The humongous god statue was slowly rising up from the stone throne.
“Huh?! Huhhh???”
Hunters were hugging each other while shedding tears of joy until then, but when they realised this turn of events, they all froze up like statues themselves.
“What…. what the hell!! It wasn’t over yet?!”
“This, this can’t be!!”
None of them could articulate what they wanted to say. Despair rapidly dyed their expressions.
“Ah…..Ah, ah…”
Soon, the god statue completely stood up from the throne.
The ‘creature’ swept its gaze around once, and began walking towards the Hunters.
***
THUD!!
Every time the god statue stepped on the ground, the whole world seemed to shake.
THUD!!
It was so tall that its head was almost scraping against the chamber’s indescribably high ceiling.
THUD!!
Even when the Hunters were overwhelmed by the statue’s sheer size, the thing was gradually closing its distance to them.
“Mister Seong!! Mister Seong Jin-Woo!!”
“What can we do??”
The Hunters who were cussing at Jin-Woo only a short while ago hurriedly began crowding around him.
“Is there a way out of this?”
“Say something!!”
All these adults were forming tearful expressions as if they’d start breaking down in sobs and wails very soon.
Currently, Jin-Woo was their only hope.
Jin-Woo helped the frozen-stiff Ju-Hui up from the ground and began talking about the second law.
“Exalt the god. That’s the key.”
“Wait, isn’t that…?!”
Kim suddenly butted in as if he knew something others didn’t.
“Isn’t that what’s written on the slate?”
“Correct. Worship the god. Exalt the god. And finally, prove your piety. We need to satisfy all three laws.”
Jin-Woo began speaking faster and faster.
Why? The god statue was already a stone’s throw away from them.
THUD!!
Everyone’s complexion paled as the gigantic shadow loomed over them.
“Let, let me try something.”
A young male Hunter who usually kept to himself suddenly took a step forward.
“What the?! What are you trying to do?”
“I’ve been in a church choir. I’m confident if it’s about ‘exalting’ something.”
The young Hunter slowly stepped forward towards the statue while disregarding the dissuasion of Kim. He regulated his breathing while looking up at the god statue before he took a large gulp of air.
“I come to you, Lord….”
His clear voice began reverberating within the chamber.
“….Renew my faith once more….. Bless me with your grace, Lord…”
The statue stopped its march in front of the singing Hunter.
“Oh!! Ohhh!!”
Hunters began gasping out in elation. The god statue didn’t move from the spot as if it was absorbed by the singing.
All the other noises in the room vanished. Only the young man’s voice could be heard in the chamber’s interior.
The young Hunter was encouraged by this and carried on.
“All the weakness found in me… Through your love, I shall overcome…”
Among the Hunters, only Jin-Woo was shuddering from this ominous sensation filling him up.
‘This… this is wrong.’
Jin-Woo swallowed up his words several times.
The chamber featured its own set of rules. But the young Hunter was ‘exalting’ the god statue with the ‘rule’ of Christianity, not with the rules of this chamber.
Thankfully, the statue wasn’t moving – but, could singing that hymn qualify as upholding the rules?
Jin-Woo shook his head.
The only reason why he didn’t say anything was solely because he couldn’t think of a better way to stop the god statue himself.
It was right then!
THUD!!
The weighty noise reverberated throughout the chamber.
“K, kkkkyyyyaaahhhk!!”
The female Hunter screamed at the top of her lungs.
When the stone statue lifted its leg up, bloody mess of what used to be the young Hunter could be found on the ground as well as on the bottom of its foot.
Other Hunters began screaming in panic and shock, too.
“Ahhhhh?!”
“Uwa, uwaaaahk!!”
The face of the statue, emotionless until then, was now crumpled in pure rage.
“It’s angry!!”
“Run, run away!!”
Hunters dispersed away from the statue in a hurry.
Unfortunately for the female Hunter, she lost her reasoning and stood on the spot while screaming loudly after personally witnessing the death of the young male Hunter.
“K, kyaaachk!!”
‘D*mn it…..’
Jin-Woo was running away while carrying Ju-Hui in his arms, but he turned around so he could go and help that woman out.
But then, Song stopped the youth.
“But, ahjussi…?”
“It’s too late.”
As if slapping a fly down, the god statue slammed its palm down at the female Hunter.
SLAM!!
“Keuk…”
Jin-Woo inadvertently shifted his gaze away. It was a truly gruesome sight and he couldn’t bear to watch it unfold.
“There is no time to waste like this. Are you planning to let this girl die, too?”
Song’s words sobered Jin-Woo up in an instant.
It was as he said.
THUD!!
“Uwaahk!!”
THUD!
THUD!!!
“Help me!!”
The statue was not walking around anymore.
No, it was actually running around and stepping on the humans it found nearby. Whenever the thing stepped on the ground, the entire chamber shook around, hard.
THUD!! THUD!!
Jin-Woo gritted his teeth and began running again. Ju-Hui squeezed her eyes shut and held onto him for her dear life.
“Let’s split up!”
“Yes!”
Thinking that moving around together was dangerous, Jin-Woo and Song ran in separate directions.
Jin-Woo made sure to run towards the furthest corner from the frenzied god statue. However, there was another Hunter who had arrived there before he did.
It was Mister Park.
Park was running with everything he had.
Tears formed on the edges of his eyes when he recalled his family.
“Sob…”
Back home, a son who resembled him so much and a wife pregnant with their second child was waiting for him. He couldn’t die here, not like this.
Perhaps because he ran with everything he had, he was able to run the furthest away from the statue out of everyone here.
“Pant, pant….”
As Park tried to control his heavy breathing in the corner, his friend Kim urgently shouted at him.
“Mister Park!!”
Park raised his head after hearing the familiar voice.
“Yeah?”
Kim pointed at the spot behind Park and cried out.
“Your back!! Look behind you!!”
It was then, something sharp gleamed coldly behind Mister Park.
“Uh…?”
Slice!
Park was sliced in half from the top of his head right down to his groin. His cleanly-cut two halves fell to the ground.
“PARK!!”
The stone statue that killed Park with its greatsword returned to its position as if nothing had happened, exactly like how the doorkeeper did before.
Kim began tearing up after witnessing this scene.
“You sons of b*tches….!!”
THUD!!
THUD!!
Behind him, the humongous god statue was stepping on and killing humans one at the time, and if you ran towards the corner in order to avoid it, then the stone statues located there would start attacking you.
“U, uwaaaah!!”
“My arm!! My armmmm!!”
The interior of the chamber swiftly fell into chaos.
“Heok, heok….”
Cold sweat dripped down from Jin-Woo’s forehead.
His legs were getting heavier. His breathing was getting rougher and rougher. However, his head was filled with only one chain of thought.
‘Exalt the god. Exalt the god. Exalt the god….’
The words of the second law circulated in his brain non-stop. The key to unravelling this mystery definitely existed within this chamber.
Something within this chamber that they could use!
However, when the Hunters first entered this place, they had searched every nook and cranny, but didn’t find a single contraption nor things that might be some kind of tools.
‘No, back then or now, the only things here that can move are the stone statues.’
It was then.
A thought raced past Jin-Woo’s brain just then.
‘Only things moving in here are the statues?’
D*mn it.
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened.
“Why haven’t I thought of that before?!”
If the only things that could move were the stone statues, then the only thing he could use had to be them, too.
These statues activated when humans got near them, meaning he had to take advantage of this rule.
‘What if….!’
Even though he was running short of breath, Jin-Woo roared out loud enough to shake the entire chamber.
“Run towards the statues holding musical instruments!!”
All the Hunters still alive heard Jin-Woo’s voice.
“!!”
“Instruments?”
A ray of hope found its way into the eyes of the Hunters.
Quite different to back when he told them to kowtow, everyone moved unbelievably quickly. If Jin-Woo was wrong about this, then as soon as arriving near one, they would be killed by the stone statues holding the musical instruments. However, no one here questioned Jin-Woo’s words.
Song was the first one to arrive in front of a statue carrying a musical instrument.
“….”
Song controlled his heavy breathing and raised his head to look at the statue. And as if it was a lie, the fingers of the statue moved and strummed on the harp.
Cling, clang…
A beautiful melody flowed out.
“It’s working!!”
“Hurry to the statues with instruments!!”
Hunters ran towards the nearest correct statues in hurried footsteps.
The statue with a trumpet began blowing it triumphantly; one with a flute began playing with it; the one holding the lyre strummed on its strings.
“Heok, heok, heok….”
While sensing the approach of his physical limit, Kim somehow arrived in front of the statue that held a buzuka and plopped down to the ground. (TL: I don’t know what this buzuka could be. TLed as is from the raw.) (ED: Probably either a Bazooka or a Bouzouki, both from the 1900’s.)
Ttiring, ttring….
As soon as the statue began playing the instrument, the god statue stopped chasing after Kim. He must’ve been overcome with emotions, because Kim then began shedding tears while he stayed down on his knees.
“Sob…. Sob….”
Meanwhile, the god statue turned around. The ‘creature’ searched around and soon enough, found its next prey.
“God d*mn it.”
Jin-Woo spat out a cuss as his gaze met the god statue’s.
He then began running hard – so hard that his heart might explode. His back was already soaked through in sweat.
‘Why?! Why isn’t it working?!’
Jin-Woo’s resentful glare landed on the stone statue in front of him. The statue holding a drum showed no signs of moving at all.
THUD!! THUD!! THUD!!
The god statue closed in with frightening speed. He was practically on the other side of the chamber from the d*mn thing, yet the distance between the two shortened in no time at all.
Jin-Woo swallowed down his saliva.
‘Could it be that the statue won’t play because there are two people here? Me and Miss Ju-Hui?’
He couldn’t think of anything else. Why? Because, other statues were playing music just fine as soon a Hunter stood in front of it.
‘There is no time to think anymore.’
Jin-Woo put Ju-Hui down and got ready to run to somewhere else.
“M, Mister Jin-Woo…..”
Still terrified out of her mind, Ju-Hui clung onto Jin-Woo’s sleeve. Jin-Woo calmly whispered in her ear.
“We’ll both die if we stay together.”
Tears began forming on Ju-Hui’s eyes. Her fingers trembled as they held onto his clothes. Unfortunately, there was no time to explain to her in detail. Jin-Woo carefully pried her hand away and began running in the opposite direction as hard as he could.
Boom, boom, boom….
When he glanced back, the statue behind Ju-Hui began beating its drum in a slow but steady rhythm.
‘What a relief.’
There was only one thing remaining now: to run to the other statue without getting killed!
Only Jin-Woo hadn’t received the protection of the music-playing statues. Quite obviously, the rage of the god statue was solely directed to Jin-Woo and him alone.
Jin-Woo did his best to avoid the foot of the thing that rivalled a building in size and crossed the room in a hurry.
THUD!
THUD!!
He fell and rolled around but still, he somehow managed to avoid getting flattened by the god statue’s foot.
“Heok, heok.”
He might only have been a rank E, but he was still a close-combat type Hunter so his physique came in handy in situations like this.
‘Just a little bit further!! A bit more!’
Jin-Woo kept an eye out on the god statue’s movements and ran even harder.
His speed increased.
And when the distance remaining between him and the stone statue was mere a dozen feet…
“No, that’s the wrong one!!”
….Mister Song cried out to him.
Jin-Woo had been paying attention to the god statue only; he was stunned by the shout and hurriedly turned his head take a look at his front.
“Ahh!!”
It’s not a statue with an instrument?
He belatedly realised that the thing that looked like a musical instrument from afar was actually a shield, instead. And sure enough, the statue mercilessly stabbed down with its shield.
“Heok!”
Jin-Woo hurriedly threw himself to the side.
“Kkyahhk!!”
Ju-Hui screamed.
Jin-Woo rolled on the ground and when he came to a stop, he raised his head to see the god statue standing right in front of his nose.
“It’s one thing after another….”
His forehead must’ve been torn from him rolling on the ground, because blood was flowing down and blurred his vision. His view was restricted and he couldn’t look too far away.
Jin-Woo quickly searched around his vicinity.
‘An instrument…. an instrument….’
However, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t see a single statue holding an instrument nearby.
Meanwhile, the god statue raised its leg over Jin-Woo’s position.
“Heok!”
THUD!!
Jin-Woo threw himself again and somehow avoided the foot of the statue again.
But he had reached his limit.
A powerful dizziness was assaulting him and for some reason, he couldn’t even balance himself.
‘Please….’
If there was a real god, he thought that he’d start praying right about now.
It was then, Jin-Woo spotted a stone statue that held neither a weapon or a musical instrument.
‘Is that…?’
Jin-Woo decided to bet everything on that statue. He crawled on the ground and arrived in front of the statue in question. He then managed to flip his body around and lied down on the ground so he could see the god statue.
He no longer had any energy to move.
“Pant, pant….”
Jin-Woo stared at the approaching god statue and continued to roughly breathe in and out.
The expression of the god statue was far more contorted compared to before as if it got infuriated further by Jin-Woo’s continued evasion.
The god statue now stopped in front of Jin-Woo. Seeing a ‘creature’ as big as a high-rise blocking his entire view, Jin-Woo felt like he couldn’t breathe anymore.
“Pant, pant…..”
Did it think he was nothing more than a cornered rat? The god statue simply looked down at him and didn’t do anything else.
‘This is the end….’
Jin-Woo sensed his own unavoidable death approaching closer after looking straight into the eyes of the god statue.
However…
Wu-wu-wu….
From somewhere behind him, a beautiful and otherworldly voice came out.
Jin-Woo turned his head around to see what was going on.
Wu-wu, wu-wu-wu….
The lips of the stone statue holding a book moved, and whenever they did, a divine song flowed out and filled the interior of the massive chamber.
Wu-wu-wu, wu….
The crumpled expression of the god statue slowly reverted back to the emotionless state. Soon, all those horrifyingly contorted facial muscles of the stature smoothed out.
When the song of the stone statues came to its eventual end, the god statue turned around. Then, just how other stone statues had done until now, it returned to its throne and settled down as if things that happened until now were nothing but a lie.
THUD!!
The noise of the god statue sitting down on the throne resounded throughout the chamber.
“Pant, pant….. Barely, made, it…”
A thin smile formed on Jin-Woo’s lips.
Meanwhile, Ju-Hui began running from her position at the far end of the chamber.
“Mister Jin-Woo!!”
She ran with all her might and knelt down next to him as tears streamed down on her face.
“What can I do…. What am I supposed to….”
She summoned all of her magical energy and activated her healing magic. However, nothing seemed to improve.
The dispersed Hunters gathered around Jin-Woo one by one. Every single one of them carried a dark expression.
“What… Mister Jin-Woo….”
Even then, only Ju-Hui was crying in sorrow.
Why was everyone acting like this?
Jin-Woo’s lips bobbled up and down. He wanted to ask what was going on, but he couldn’t really summon forth his own voice.
Sensing that he had no choice, he tried to prop himself up.
“….?”
Then, he noticed the pool of blood around his lower torso. Only then did he belatedly realise the change to his body.
“Ah…..”
Below his right knee was gone.
Jin-Woo’s eyes reflexively shifted toward the stone statue holding the shield. He then saw the trail of blood clearly visible on the end of the shield.
And the rest of his right leg was just below that.
Drip. Drip.
Drops of blood started falling from Ju-Hui’s nose. That was the sign of her reaching the limits of her physical stamina.
The healing magic from a rank B Healer was unable to recover missing limbs. Meaning, what she was doing was basically pouring water into a broken jug. Her stamina rapidly bottomed out in the end.
“It’s fine now… Miss Ju-Hui. You can stop….”
“I’m going to heal you!! I’ll fix you as good as new!”
Hunters stared at the two of them while forming miserable expressions.
Out of the seventeen who initially entered this chamber only six remained now. And from this group of six, two of them had suffered horrible, grievous wounds. Song had lost his arm, while Jin-Woo lost his leg.
They might have survived, but none of them felt like rejoicing at the moment. It was then, yet another strange noise rocked the chamber.
RUMBLE….!!
The middle of the temple, where that strange magic formation could be found, suddenly rose up above the ground.
Jin-Woo inwardly thought that it had finally come.
‘Prove your piety, is it….’
He already had a rough idea as to what those words could mean.
Part 5: Final Trial
The circular magic formation in the centre of the temple began rising up noisily and only stopped after reaching the height of a couple of steps.
“An altar…”
Hunters displayed alert reactions as soon as Jin-Woo muttered out.
‘An altar….?’
‘He just said it’s an altar….’
The person who had rescued them from the two preceding crises was not some high ranked Hunter, but rank E Jin-Woo, who used to be the butt of their jokes most of the time.
‘If it weren’t for Mister Seong, all of us would have been….’
Hunters were thinking this exact same thought. Under the current circumstances, Jin-Woo’s words were their lifeline.
And now, that Jin-Woo had muttered out a word ‘altar’.
Kim always was quick on the uptake and so, he caught onto the meaning first before anyone else had the chance to do so.
“I get it now. I see how it is.”
Kim then unsheathed the sword hanging on his hips.
Now originally, this weapon would be used to cut various monsters down. But for now, it’d have to be utilised for a different purpose altogether.
“Even if I’m a dumb b*stard, I can more or less get what you’re trying to say here.”
Hunters nervously swallowed their saliva while looking at the sharp, coldly-gleaming blade.
“Oii, Mister Kim. Why are you pulling your sword out like that?”
“Why don’t we talk about this first? Let’s talk first.”
The highest ranked member among the group, rank C Hunter Song was heavily injured, meaning there was no one here that could potentially stop Kim, who boasted a pretty powerful set of skills himself even within the D rank.
Kim pointed towards the altar with his sword.
“The final law, prove your piety. And there’s an altar appearing out of nowhere in the middle of this place.”
Kim’s gaze then shifted to Jin-Woo.
“So, aren’t we supposed to offer up a sacrifice? Mister Seong?”
Jin-Woo slowly nodded his head. That was what the youth thought as well. One of the surviving six had to act as a sacrifice.
‘That’s what the last law probably meant….’
Jin-Woo came to this conclusion.
He sensed more disturbance and raised his head, and realised that the eyes of Mister Kim as he approached closer did not look friendly at all.
A long sweatdrop glided down Jin-Woo’s forehead.
“Ahjussi… What….?”
“You, young man, don’t say anything and be still!!”
Kim angrily shouted out and pointed his sword at Mister Song, who was squatting next to Jin-Woo in order to check out the youth’s condition.
“Just who was it that dragged us to this place? Wasn’t it this guy? Yes, it was Mister Song! So, don’t you think it’s only right for Mister Song to take the ultimate responsibility?”
“Ahjussi!”
Jin-Woo tried to get up in a fit of anger, but then, Song’s hand that resembled the bark of an aged tree stopped the youth.
Jin-Woo looked at Song in disbelief.
“….”
Song wordlessly shook his head. His eyes were pleading with Jin-Woo, asking the youth to not say anything else. Of course, Jin-Woo had lots of things to say, but he kept them down for now.
Song slowly raised his body up.
“What Mister Kim said is right. I should take the blame for today.”
“Old man, I guess we are now finally on the same page.”
Kim used the tip of his sword to point towards the altar.
“If you get it now, then let’s get going already. Over ten people died here because of you, old man.”
< Chapter 3> Fin
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