NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 10 - A Destiny for the Prologue Boss
Translator: FenrirTL
Editor: ford53
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< Chapter 10: A Destiny for the Prologue Boss >
“My disciple, after observing many fates over a long period of time, I have come to one ultimate realization.”
“What is it?”
“That nothing in this world goes according to plan.”
Excerpt from ‘A Tombstone for a Young Dragon’ – Collections of the British Museum
***
“Let’s go outside to talk.”
When Jangman tucked his gun away and suggested this, the woman… no, the girl who had worn the black dog mask accepted the proposal.
And with that, a silent journey began, without further conversation. They left the black market, passed the abandoned logistics complex, and returned to Incheon Market without exchanging a single word.
Jangman was never talkative to begin with, and Dung Beetle was preoccupied with organizing his thoughts about the recent fight.
Naturally, the girl also kept to herself.
It was after they arrived at Jangman’s bar that she spoke up again.
“So, when can I get the item? I can give you the money anytime.”
The girl addressed Jangman, but he, pretending not to hear, took out a bottle of liquor from the cabinet.
“I can give you the full amount in cash. It will take about a week, though.”
Again, there was no response.
Jangman sipped his drink, and Dung Beetle began inspecting the weapons inside the carrier.
It was then that the girl realized something was off.
“Excuse me…? Sir? Are we not making the deal?”
“The deal’s not with me; you have to talk to that guy.”
Jangman gestured with his chin, and the girl’s gaze shifted to Dung Beetle.
“…With him? Why?”
“Because if you want the item you’re looking for, talking to him will be faster.”
‘What does he mean?’ The girl’s eyebrow arched curiously, but Dung Beetle was engrossed in his own business.
“Um, excuse me?”
She spoke first, having to initiate the conversation. When Dung Beetle didn’t seem to hear, she leaned in closer in front of the carrier.
“Excuse me? Excuse me? Excuse me? Excuse me? Excuse me?”
As Dung Beetle was pulling out the shotgun, he sighed briefly and replied.
“Why did you want weapons to hunt a Necromancer?”
“Pardon?”
“You said that to Yosef. That you were looking for weapons to catch a Necromancer. Was it just an excuse to find that rod? Or was the Necromancer really your target?”
“…This feels like a turning point where the deal could either be made or broken based on my answer. Am I right?”
“Probably.”
The girl narrowed her eyes and scrutinized Dung Beetle. Apart from his golden eyes, there was nothing special about his face, neither his expression nor his looks.
She glanced at the contents of Dung Beetle’s carrier and then sat down beside him as if struck by a thought.
“Grenades, shotgun… You’re planning to fight a Necromancer, aren’t you? Right?”
Dung Beetle didn’t answer and instead reviewed the shotgun manual.
“Hmm, a heavy hitter from the black market and a novice superhuman chasing a Necromancer. That’s a story that would get criticized for being too cliché if it were a movie, don’t you think?”
“…Cut the nonsense. What’s your answer?”
“Shall we introduce ourselves first?”
Seemingly not yet ready to give a straight answer, the girl attempted to change the subject.
“No.”
Dung Beetle responded curtly, but that did not deter the girl, who began to introduce herself anyway.
“My name is Park Seti. Why do I, a Korean, have blue eyes, why is my name Seti… Ask my father, not me. I sometimes want to ask him, too.”
“…”
“Since I’ve revealed my name, wouldn’t it be fair for you to do the same?”
Park Seti looked at Dung Beetle with intense eyes. Silence followed for a moment, but finally, Dung Beetle waved the white flag.
“…I’m Dung Beetle.”
Park Seti’s elegant brow curved slightly.
“…Since I’ve told you my real name, shouldn’t you reveal your real name too?”
“It is my real name.”
“…?”
She wasn’t sure if it was the right time to laugh, so she checked Dung Beetle’s expression again. However, not a trace of humor was to be found on his face.
“Wow… There’s someone worse than my dad. Are your parents with the surname ‘Steel’ or something?”
“No, I’m an orphan.”
“Oh… um…”
“There’s no need to feel sorry. I don’t even know my parents’ faces.”
‘I feel even sorrier, though?’ She swallowed the words rising to her throat.
A brief silence, fidgeting fingers.
She sighed and decided to lay out her story honestly.
“The handle of Uragan… I mean, the rod, it’s not because of a Necromancer, it’s for my younger sister. There was an accident a month ago.”
‘I received the curse instead of the temple.’ She added information that hadn’t been asked for.
The mention of ‘a month ago’ caught Jangman’s attention, but he didn’t interject into their conversation.
“500 million could get you into a top hospital or summon a high priest.”
Dung Beetle remarked.
“It didn’t work. Not the famous doctors, nor the high priests of the Ulsbaty faith.”
“A high priest couldn’t heal her, but you think that rod can?”
“…Yes, I can’t be sure. But the soul and horn of a unicorn have always been known to overcome all curses, right? That’s what I’m counting on.”
As her words ended, Dung Beetle silently took out a long box from the carrier and placed it on the table.
Unbeknownst to the girl before him, inside the box lay the rod made of a unicorn horn that she was so desperately seeking.
‘What should I do?’
Dung Beetle pondered.
The sincerity of the girl trying to save her family was certainly touching, but that was all.
He was no longer the Dung Beetle from before his death, nor the janitor moved by a small act of kindness.
He had no intention of giving up the weapons he needed to fight the Necromancer for a fleeting moment of sentiment. There was neither need nor reason to do so.
His dilemma was about the benefits in a much more distant future after defeating the Necromancer.
Would it be advantageous to help her and form even a small connection, or would ignoring her be more beneficial?
Park Seti.
An unheard-of superhuman. That raised questions.
In today’s vanity-driven society, how could a woman superhuman of such beauty remain unknown?
Unless paparazzi and social media were eradicated, it would be impossible.
Then there were two possibilities.
Either she was a superhuman who had lived her life hiding her powers, or she was a student from a superhuman academy.
Given her youthful appearance and immature behavior, the former seemed unlikely.
That naturally implied she was an academy student…
Assuming she was an academy student, her actions were all the more meaningful.
The wealth to casually offer 500 million, the skill to freely use the mysterious martial art called Shadow Skipping, and the knowledge to find the black market.
Just by listing simple facts, one could infer that she came from a background far beyond an ordinary person, let alone a superhuman.
‘A family member or disciple of someone high-ranking, whom ordinary people can’t even meet face to face.’
Having come to his own conclusion, Dung Beetle weighed the scales in his mind and asked himself.
Would a friendly connection with her be advantageous?
The scales tipped in favor of ‘yes.’
Having made his decision, Dung Beetle pushed the box containing the rod discreetly behind him and then spoke up.
“…Three days.”
“Pardon?”
“Bring the money here in three days. I’ll hand over the rod then.”
“Really?”
Regardless of Dung Beetle’s sincerity, Seti beamed with gratitude.
“Thank you! Mr. Dung Beetle.”
***
“Is it a good idea?”
After Park Seti left the bar, Jangman sipping his drink, asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Letting her off easily like that. She looked quite suspicious to me.”
“It is suspicious.”
“Then why? She might be connected to your enemies, or she might spread what we’ve talked about here.”
It was an undeniable fact. But Dung Beetle shook his head.
“…It doesn’t matter.”
“Did you fall for her already? Well, such a pretty girl isn’t common.”
“It’s not that.”
“Then?”
“I thought it’s worth the risk since I received something without asking for it.”
“Received?”
Shadow Skipping. The peculiar footwork used by Park Seti.
Dung Beetle didn’t explain how he ‘received’ it. He didn’t know how to explain it himself.
Since Jangman didn’t seem to expect an explanation, their conversation ended there.
The next day.
Dung Beetle left Jangman’s bar and headed for the closed Pier 13.
According to the words of the deceased foreman, it was the place where janitors gathered corpses and handed them over to the Necromancer.
The deepest part of the abandoned ports that starkly illustrated the decline of Incheon.
The scene at the pier, where Dung Beetle arrived with his carrier of weapons, was filled with the smell of deserted land.
Pallid dust, containers, and trash scattered in disorder…
There was neither a scenic view to admire nor anything worth calling a view. Dung Beetle first climbed up a container to check the topography of the pier.
‘Only one entrance, lots of places to hide thanks to the containers…’
This terrain inevitably forced close combat. For him, armed with only a shotgun and grenades, it wasn’t a bad terrain.
Having surveyed the surroundings, Dung Beetle then sat atop the container.
Looking out over the sea from a high vantage point, the ocean breeze mixed with the scent of iron tickled his nose.
While savoring the sea wind for a moment, he thought of Park Seti.
More precisely, he recalled the Shadow Skipping she had used.
A real superhuman martial art.
The exchange between Dung Beetle and her had been brief, but what she showed him was indescribably abundant.
To what extent could a body enhanced with mana move?
Right before the deal with Yosef, just by enhancing his senses, Dung Beetle had experienced a whole new world.
To him, the sight of her was a shock in itself.
‘Can you really imbue such powerful force into a kick, making it as strong as a sledgehammer, just by reinforcing the lower body muscles with mana?’
‘If you overlay mana on the plantar fascia, maximizing its elasticity, can you jump around like bouncing off the ground?’
Every kick and step she showed Dung Beetle represented a revolution in thought, a Copernican shift.
Of course, what surprised him the most was realizing all this just by watching.
‘Really… is it because of Mignium’s talent?’
Without that, there was no other way to explain the situation. Was it innate talent that had suddenly blossomed?
That was unlikely.
He had never once thought of himself as talented in his life.
It had taken him over three years just to learn the janitorial job, indicating he was rather lacking than talented.
‘Talent, talent…’
Talent bestowed by Mignium. The word encompassed meanings too vast for a single term, for he had no idea what the true nature of the talent he received was.
Was it simply a talent for manipulating mana? Or a talent for superhuman martial arts? Maybe both.
Having thought this far, Dung Beetle stood up and focused on the muscles of his lower body.
Something inside him… surely mana… followed his thoughts, wrapping around the muscles of his thighs and descending lower.
Passing below the thigh through the hamstrings, moving down to the calves, through the soleus muscle, and finally to the plantar fascia on the bottom of the foot.
When mana reached the plantar fascia, responsible for the elasticity of the foot, all the muscles felt as clear as if he were holding them in his hand.
Park Seti had maintained this state while performing the Shadow Skipping. This must have been the foundation of Bichak.
Dung Beetle recalled each trajectory of the kicks that she had demonstrated.
A big roundhouse kick with a wide swing of the waist, an aerial kick slicing through the air, short side and front kicks…
And the strange footwork that supported all of them.
Dung Beetle awkwardly attempted to replicate those stances.
The first try was clumsy.
On the second attempt, he realized the awkwardness of the first was due to the difference in physique between him and Seti.
By the third, it was getting somewhat similar.
On the fourth, he was able to spring from the ground at the same level as Seti.
He didn’t attempt a fifth.
Suddenly, he realized that to implement more required more than just the parts of Shadow Skipping he had observed yesterday.
Perhaps if he saw the training process of Bichak or a martial arts manual, it could be different…
‘This is the limit for now.’
The essence or core of martial arts.
He could almost grasp something in his mind, yet he couldn’t quite comprehend what it was.
However, he did come to one realization.
His talent… no, the talent given to him by Mignium was real.
A talent that allowed him to master sensory control in an instant, which others would need years of training to achieve, and to steal techniques from a single exchange.
‘Hah…’
The feeling he had immediately after the realization was neither revulsion nor joy.
It was a chill.
Just like when holding a sharp knife or a loaded gun… that kind of chill ran through his body.
There was no choice but to use the talent. Revenge had to be achieved, even if the cost was everything he had.
‘…’
As he lifted his head to look at the sky, the sunset stretched long over the sea.
Dung Beetle lightly jumped down from the container using the same footwork as Seti.
Despite the nearly 6-meter drop, the sound when he landed was no different from that of a falling feather.
“It’s time to prepare for the guests.”
The time to secretly practice the stolen skills was over. Now, it was time to prepare for battle.