Chapter 109

“Stay here for a second. Don’t go outside.”

“Who is the guest?”

“I told you before, it’s someone I have to meet for work. I’ll be back soon, so just wait a bit.”

Yoo Se-byeol left me all alone in the storehouse.

She had mentioned staying at the mansion because of Special Unit business, and this seemed to be an extension of that.

Left by myself, I looked into a mirror and continued practicing my Disguise Mastery.

However, no matter how many times I tried, I couldn’t change my face as effortlessly as Seol Si-heon had.

As I was wallowing in frustration, Mala-nim emerged from my sleeve.

“It seems I simply have no talent for this.”

『Fear not!』

“Hm? You want to try it too, Mala-nim?”

It was a brilliant idea.

Come to think of it, since Disguise was a technique that could be applied to others anyway, there was no reason I had to be the one to learn it.

Trusting in her aesthetic sense, I immediately closed my eyes and entrusted my body to her.

She kneaded my face with her tentacles—sometimes with extreme caution, other times with bold strokes—and eventually let out a cry of triumph.

『Fear not!!』

“Is it finished? Then, I’ll open my eye… s…?”

The moment I saw the finished masterpiece, I was rendered speechless.

The reflection in the mirror was something far too grotesque to be called human.

“Mala-nim.”

『Fear?』

“Why are there so many extra eyes and noses? And the placement is all wrong.”

『Fear?』

At the remark of ‘Isn’t it better to have more of things that are pretty?’, I quickly gave up on trying to understand.

It was my fault for trusting an Outer God’s perspective in the first place.

Just as I was despairing before the wall of talent, another tentacle slithered out from my other sleeve.

It was Digestion, who had recently been taking care of its throat as if it wanted to become an opera singer.

“Digestion, do you want to try too?”

“Kkiiieeek~ Kyah~!”

With a beautiful falsetto, the creature approached and placed its tentacles upon my face.

I didn’t have much faith in it, but as soon as I closed my eyes, I felt it kneading and molding my skin using mana.

Not even a minute had passed when Digestion tapped my forehead, signaling it was done.

After wiping away the sticky fluid left on my face, I looked into the mirror and gasped.

Sitting there was a man so handsome he looked like he had been sculpted by an AI.

“Oh! This is actually pretty good. No one would recognize me.”

“Kkik-kkik!”

“Good job, Digestion. You’re finally earning your keep. Next time they serve braised pollack at the cafeteria, I’ll give it all to you.”

“Tui-tui!”

At my praise, the creature spat digestive fluid onto the floor as if the mere thought made it nauseous.

Back in the day at the relief center, it used to eat whatever I gave it—even the braised eggplant or clam shells.

Ever since it started living as a parasite in my sleeve, its palate had become quite demanding.

Was it sneaking out every dawn to eat something delicious?

“Now that I think about you, I’ve seen quite a few news reports lately about raid parties who were thought to have entered a Gate, only to be rescued after wandering through the digestive tract of a mysterious monster…”

“……!!”

“It’s probably just a coincidence. You aren’t big enough for that yet.”

“Kki-ek~ Kki-eeek~!”

I tucked the creature—who was nodding its head frantically in agreement—back into my sleeve and returned the secret manual for Disguise Mastery to its shelf.

With this, I could continue my activities as the Apostle of an Outer God in the future.

I could have looked at other books on internal arts, but after the mountain hike, I was starting to get hungry.

I recalled Yoo Se-byeol’s warning to absolutely not go outside.

Things like this happened back at the orphanage, too.

Whenever a report of child abuse was filed and an external inspector from the government or the church arrived, the Director would order us to never leave our rooms.

Of course, my childhood friend and I never followed those orders; we would sneak out the back door while they sat around laughing and drinking tea.

I held my hands up to the light, noting how my fingerprints had been worn away.

Because I had touched Yoo Se-byeol’s face while learning Disguise earlier, some powder was still on my fingers.

She usually didn’t even bother with basic makeup, claiming it got in the way when she sweat.

Between her being dressed up and her returning to the mansion on a weekday, it was clear she was here to welcome an important guest.

“Let’s head out.”

I made up my mind to go upstairs immediately.

“When else would I get a chance to eat party food if not now?”

Back at the orphanage, the best time to raid the fridge was when the external inspectors visited.

Believing that fact wouldn’t change this time either, I threw off my robe.

“Ahem! Ah, ahh…!”

My face was changed, and my voice was fine.

As I climbed the stairs as a completely different person, no one recognized me, just as I had expected.

I looked around the mansion.

True to a family that had produced countless masters of martial arts—rivaling even the Cheon clan, the sovereigns of magic—Yoo Se-byeol’s household was no ordinary wealthy home.

Large paintings with just a few lines drawn on white canvases hung on every wall.

At the end of a long, narrow corridor I stumbled upon, a single ceramic jar sat in lonely isolation.

Could I even find something to eat in this maze-like place?

Deciding to change my tactics, I used my tentacles to hang upside down from the ceiling.

Then, I began to track the movement patterns of the servants bustling through the mansion.

“That way looks busy. It seems they’re preparing to greet the guests.”

Having grown up in Ground Zero, this level of intuition was basic.

I crawled across the ceiling as silently as possible, eventually spotting a target.

It was a servant with a height and build similar to mine.

In the garden I had passed through with Yoo Se-byeol earlier, colorful flowers infused with the energy of Mount Cheonsan were in full bloom despite the cold weather.

The man, who had been hurriedly carrying a basket full of flowers, suddenly heard a soft thud at his feet.

“Huh?”

Thinking a flower had fallen from the basket, he leaned down and came face to face with something he had never seen before.

It was a dark reddish color, with stars and moons patterned across its surface.

By the time he realized that the object—which looked like a body pillow perfectly sized for hugging—was a monster, specifically a tentacle, it was already too late.

“Is this… a tentacle? Ugh!”

“Shaaaaa!”

“Zzzzz…”

As the 99th Tentacle, the Body Pillow Tentacle, pounced on him, the servant fell into a deep slumber.

After descending from the ceiling, I took his clothes and checked the name on his belongings.

“Sae Chim-han?”

『Fear not?』

“What a coincidence.”

Were we from the same orphanage?

I didn’t know for sure, but anyone born in Ground Zero who managed to become a servant for the Yoo family must have put in immense effort.

To ensure I didn’t tarnish his reputation, I shifted my face to match his exactly, picked up the basket, and opened the door he had been heading toward.

Inside, a middle-aged woman in a supervisory position shot me a sharp look.

“You’re late, Chim-han. I told you to get more flowers from the gardener, so where have you been?”

“I’m sorry. The young lady asked me to tidy up the secret library…”

“What!? You didn’t tell her anything, did you?”

“Tell her? Tell her what?”

At my confused response, the woman shook her head and beckoned me inside quickly.

“Ugh, never mind. Just come here and help make these bouquets.”

“Yes, ma’am. Understood.”

I didn’t quite know what was happening, but for now, I blended into the group naturally.

The servants were crafting wreaths as if they were preparing for a wedding.

But why were they gathered in such a cramped space to do this?

While playfully tucking a tentacle or two into the bouquets, I casually struck up a conversation.

A moment later, I received an answer that felt like a bolt from the blue.

“It’s because of the young lady, obviously.”

“The young lady?”

“Lady Se-byeol. She’s having an arranged marriage meeting with an envoy from the White Lotus Union.”

“What!? Why?”

It was a considerable shock.

When your hands are moving, your mouth usually wants to follow suit.

Leaving me frozen in place, the servants continued their gossip.

“Not long ago, our national raid team was attacked by those Black Shadow Society bastards inside the Thirteen Palaces of the Void. What’s the best way to keep them in check? Allying with the Baek-do-ryeon.”

“Coincidentally, they also need help dealing with monsters on the mainland. The Special Unit is a foreign government force, so they’re hesitant to request a deployment, but The Old Gods’ Wound is a guild.”

“S-so in exchange, Deputy Commander Yoo Se-byeol… no, I mean, the young lady is being sold off?”

“Sold off? Watch your mouth! Say she’s getting married. And today is just the first meeting.”

“I heard the match is from a great family, too. You know, the son of the Blade Emperor Du Fu-ming… they call him the Blade King…”

I couldn’t care less about the Blade Emperor—one of the three Awakened to watch out for in the Sea of Decay, a powerhouse who had reached the Upper Level in China, a swordsman like Yoo Se-byeol, and a man with a very memorable laugh.

I forced strength into my trembling legs and stood up.

“Don’t go spreading rumors. This is all happening because of the Old Master in the hospital… Hey, Sae Chim-han! Where are you going!”

“I’m going to the restroom for a moment.”

“This kid, choosing now of all times…”

I barely managed to stumble out of the room.

Yoo Se-byeol was getting married?

And to a famous Awakened family from China, at that?

I couldn’t breathe properly.

My racing heart wouldn’t calm down, and I collapsed in the hallway before I could even reach the restroom.

『Fear not?』

Mala-nim must have been quite surprised as well, for she popped out of my sleeve.

Despite the risk of being seen, she tried to comfort me.

She told me it was okay, that it wasn’t too late.

She said that while she didn’t like that ‘alley cat,’ she hated seeing me suffer like this even more.

I asked her in a trembling voice.

I felt like I was going to burst into tears with just a single sentence.

“It… it is, right?”

『Fear not!』

“You’ll help me…?”

『Fear, fear not!』

Encouraged by Mala-nim, I finally managed to push myself up.

I wiped the tears from my eyes and nodded.

“I’m glad it’s not too late.”

『Fear not!』

“I can’t let Deputy Commander Yoo Se-byeol leave like this. How can she try to escape this country all by herself when the birth rate is only 0.03?”

『Fe…?』

For a moment, Mala-nim froze as if time itself had stopped.

She knew everything about me, so even if she were caught in Karmic Recognition, she shouldn’t have stopped moving. It was strange.

“Besides, the opponent is the leader of the White Lotus Union, China’s greatest Awakened group? Absolutely not. At the very least, she has to take me along as an attendant.”

『Fear not?』

“You’re asking if I wasn’t opposing her marriage? Of course I am. If anything, I should be the one marrying the Blade King.”

Should I try to seriously seduce him?

At those words, she couldn’t say anything more.

She merely retreated back into my sleeve, trembling and muttering that the ‘Hayan’ she knew wasn’t really Hayan.

Of course, I didn’t truly mean it.

As an Apostle of an Outer God with a hundred faces, hooking a man would be trivial if I put my mind to it, but there was no reason to go that far.

However, it was true that I felt a sudden surge of repulsion at the news of Yoo Se-byeol’s potential marriage.

I didn’t know the reason.

It was a complex emotion, different from a child throwing a tantrum.

Was this how it felt when my parents abandoned me?

At the sudden memory of my childhood, I shoved a finger into my ear.

A tentacle slid in, rupturing the eardrum and tickling my brain, cleanly washing away my thoughts with pain.

I decided I should visit Division 6 for treatment once I returned to the Special Unit, and I began to ponder my next move.

If I thought about it carefully, there were strange points here and there.

“If it were such an important event, the Sword Immortal or Seol Si-heon wouldn’t be absent, even if it wasn’t being publicly announced.”

The servants’ behavior was also suspicious.

If it was an arranged marriage meeting, then so be it, but why were they making wreaths in a back room?

Most of all, while Yoo Se-byeol had been surprised by my arrival, she hadn’t seemed particularly embarrassed.

Knowing her personality—how she would flee in disgust whenever dating rumors circulated in the unit—I was certain.

She had the attitude of someone truly meeting a business associate.

In fact, she had seemed more emotionally shaken when I asked about the basement next to the secret library…

“In any case, from the perspective of having to collect Star Scars, Commander Yoo Se-byeol going to China right now is not desirable. I need to find a way.”

Was there something I could do?

A way to save the young master of the White Lotus Union from her clutches… no, I mean, a way to save her from the clutches of the White Lotus Union.

While I was agonizing over it, my other sleeve wiggled.

“Kkiiieeek~!”

“You, Digestion?”

Digestion had been quite assertive lately.

The creature was telling me that it had a great idea.