3.
I carried out a operation.
"Hello, brother. Do you by any chance know the way?"
You might think this is nonsense, but any nonsense in the world can make sense if you say it yourself. And the person who just said this was none other than me, so it could be said that it made perfect sense.
"Huh? …What kind of nonsense is this all of a sudden?"
Of course, the merchant, who was suddenly asked if he knew the way, frowned.
In the port city, a fairly large general goods store. Even now, in broad daylight, there were quite a few customers. There was even a regular customer playing chess with the owner.
In a shop filled with various antiques, the street vendor put down his chess piece and swiftly lifted his monocle.
"I don't deal with nonsense. A perfectly healthy young man engaging in such lowly tricks. There's nothing for you to scavenge here, so scram. Shoo, shoo."
"In my opinion, elder brother, you seem like someone who should know the way. Have you ever heard of a deity called [The Eye Living in the Labyrinth]?"
"It's as if dogs were meowing and cats were barking...."
I was curious what that meant, but the curiosity I wanted to address right now was elsewhere.
'Hey.'
I tapped the thread snake wrapped around my wrist.
The thread snake cried out sadly, keeek.
'Reveal a secret between the merchant in front of me and the regular customer. Anything will do. As long as it's a fatal secret.'
'[The Eye Living in the Labyrinth] mourns that it, being one of the twelve zodiac gods, doesn't know how it has fallen so low….'
'Shall we make a sad life even sadder?'
"[The Eye Living in the Labyrinth] manifests its power…."
While the thread snake was fulfilling its role, the street vendor clicked his tongue and turned his gaze back to the chessboard. However, the regular customer he was facing was different. After examining my face carefully, he tilted his head in confusion.
"Um? This guy, on closer look, seems like that hot piece at the dock everyone was talking about."
"Hot piece ? What hot piece are you talking about?"
"You've been cooped up in your store so you wouldn't know, but it was quite the commotion. A new young man, not only a total pushover but also supposedly having a very tasty soul? So, everyone was out to skin him alive."
"That skinny kid? Really?"
"Indeed, they said it was absolutely delicious."
The eyes of the street vendor and the regular customer were filled with greed as they looked at me. Their gaze scanning me from head to toe was like a tiger eyeing a pig.
[Expose.]
['The Eye Living in the Labyrinth' reveals a secret to you.]
Who exactly was the tiger would have to be seen.
+
Name: Servados Zenyamillia
Previous World: Tower of No Name
Afterlife World: Port City Levanta, Golden World
Secret: Owner of the general goods store. The regular customer playing chess with him actually has a boil on his buttock, caused by the tea that Servados keeps recommending. Anyone who drinks this tea gets a boil on their left buttock. The regular customer always has to buy medicine for it, and the person selling that medicine is also Servados.
Mental State: 'Even if I lose at chess, I've won in trade, thus it's a technique of losing the battle but winning the war! I shudder at my own genius….'
+
I smiled broadly.
And then I said to the regular customer.
"The reason you have a boil on your left buttock is because of the tea you're currently drinking. This gentleman is deliberately playing chess and recommending tea to you, trying to exploit you."
"Servadosssssss!!"
The regular customer suddenly stood up and grabbed the street vendor by the collar.
"I knew something was off! Why would a mere antique store owner keep procuring butt treatment medicine? It was your plot all along!"
"Wait, just a moment!? It's a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding, I tell you! Do I look like the kind of person to do that to you?! Are you saying you trust some unknown hot spot that popped up out of nowhere more than a friend you've known for decades!"
"Of course! Everyone who owns a store in Levanta is a swindler!"
"Even if the whole world is full of swindlers, I alone would be a faithful friend..."
A commotion broke out in the store. Customers browsing the displays looked over, wondering what was going on.
But this was just the beginning.
'Thread snake.'
I pointed at another customer.
'Next.'
[Expose.]
['The Eye Living in the Labyrinth' reveals a secret to you….]
Letters wriggled before my eyes.
+
Name: Sackspinner William Tell
Previous World: Ring World
Afterlife World: Port City Levanta, Golden World
Secret: A regular customer of the general store. This person has long known that the store owner has been giving him tea laced with poison. Sackspinner turned it into a sort of trade, having an acquaintance steal items from the store whenever he drank the tea. Right now, if you look behind, a red-haired man in the left direction is secretly stealing an antique.
Mental State: 'Sorry, friend. Someday you'll realize for yourself the truth that there's always a bigger fish, I'm just holding back my tears….'
+
"In fact, this person knew you were up to something and went one step further by engaging in a cat's trick. If you look behind you now, to the left, there's a red-haired man who has been stealing antiques every time."
"Sackspinnerrrrr!!"
The store owner sprang up and grabbed the regular by the collar.
"I wondered why every time you came around, something always seemed to be missing! You thieving bastard!"
"And you have the nerve to accuse me after poisoning the tea!?"
And so, a real mess began in the store, but I'm sorry to say it was far from over. I pointed out each customer in the store, one by one.
"This person pretends to cooperate with you but is actually documenting all your illegal transactions and waiting for the right moment to report you."
"Dante Leggggg!!"
"The reason you got food poisoning from eating double pork steak the day before yesterday is actually because of the pepper this person gifted you. This person soaks the pepper in his saliva, dries it, and then gifts it to people, laughing at them for happily accepting his 'saliva pepper' as a free gift, thinking, 'Haha, fools, enjoying the pepper I've laced with my saliva!' and profits from the transaction."
"Manduke Churrrrrr!!"
"The toilet paper in this store's bathroom is actually coated with a hemorrhoid-inducing agent. Every time you use the bathroom, this person derives a secret satisfaction."
"Servadosssss!!"
Thus, a store in the port city exploded, but of course, there was still plenty of time left for revenge.
[Expose.]
[Expose.]
[Expose.]
I kindly revealed secrets as I visited stores in the streets, one after another, in order. Soon, screams erupted, collars were torn, and shouts and yells beautifully decorated the port town.
"Kill that swindler!"
"And you've swindled me too!"
"Ah, ever done business? The one who gets deceived is the bad one!"
"Let's see you get beaten up by a bad guy!"
"Save me! Somebody save meeeeee!!"
I hummed a tune as I set fire to the districts of the city.
Not a physical fire, but a fire of the heart.
The residents of the Golden World were fundamentally swindlers and thieves. There seemed to be no end to the secrets that flowed like honey to be revealed.
[Expose.]
[Expose.]
[Expose….]
It took less than half a day before those who had chased me, calling me a 'hot piece,' were kneeling, begging for mercy.
"Please, I beg of you..."
Before long, those who had their secrets revealed began to prostrate themselves before me.
In the square, centered around the fountain, lay hundreds of people prostrate. At the very front, the mayor of the port city had his forehead firmly pressed to the ground.
Incidentally, he had been thoroughly beaten by the townspeople after the revelation that he had been tampering with taxes. It had been a while since the mayor's face had transitioned from flesh-colored to a bruised hue.
The mayor was a fashionista in his own right. He had a unique sense of color. Truly a trendsetter in fashion.
"We humbly and fully acknowledge that we were fools compared to you...."
However, the mayor didn't seem to have any intention of changing his current occupation to that of a fashionista. He pleaded pitifully, tears wetting the stone ground.
"We will bow our heads and admit defeat, hoping you will not starve but to feel satiated for the next hundred years, taking this opportunity...."
"Hmm."
"So please, I beg of you, could you please just leave our city, plague god...?"
I solemnly nodded my head like a benevolent conquering monarch.
"I grant you permission."
At that, the citizens of the port gathered and prostrated themselves deeply.
"Your grace is boundless...."
[The deal is concluded.]
[The deal is concluded.]
[The deal is concluded.]
[The deal is concluded….]
Hundreds of messages popped up in succession.
I graciously decided to leave the city, and they were to send me off. Was this not a splendid deal?
[The other parties are very dissatisfied with this deal.]
[You are very satisfied with this deal.]
[You alone have gained tremendous benefits!]
Amidst the endless wave of messages, I raised my right hand. Hundreds of shoulders twitched simultaneously.
"Don't worry. I will indeed keep my promise and leave. But I'm curious about something."
"What, what might that be?"
"I understand that this isn't the only city here. As I intend to visit the next city, provide me with a map."
The mayor convulsed.
Thanks to the thread snake revealing information, I could clearly see what the mayor was thinking. He realized my intention to not only wreak havoc here but to turn every city in this world to ashes, and he shuddered at the catastrophe.
"Of course. Please wait a moment, plague god! I will bring it to you immediately!"
Of course, it was a thrill of joy.
One cannot simply doom themselves alone, right?
There was no reason not to welcome someone who volunteered to trample upon the other cities of this world themselves. The mayor mobilized all the servants of the mansion to gather every map they could find.
"We have brought only the newest and most accurate maps available in this city, hoping that they will suffice for you, plague god!"
"Not bad."
"May glory accompany you on your journey! Long live! Long live the plague god! May you, the monarch who will set this world ablaze, traverse the world and raise the average temperature of the entire world!"
The citizens followed, shouting "Long live! Long live!".
Tears streamed down their faces, a look of radiant glory, a voice sending off a savior, specifically, a desperate claim that now, not only us would be stuck in the gutter, which was indeed fortunate.
"Hmph."
I secured the map under my arm and turned away.
Flutter.
My long coat danced, kicking up a cloud of dust, like a gunman exiting a Western movie. And then, loud enough for the hundreds of citizens to hear, I flicked my fingers as if tipping an unworn hat.
"—-Adieu."
At that moment, messages exploded.
[The other party is even more dissatisfied with this deal!]
[The other party is even more dissatisfied with this deal!]
[The other party is even more dissatisfied with this deal!]
[The other party is even more dissatisfied with this deal!]
[The other party is even more dissatisfied with this deal!]
A brilliant sense of satiation drenched my stomach. It was a truly magnificent and breathtaking scene. The satisfaction of the finest steak melting away in my mouth filled my belly, akin to the pleasure of its juices flowing within me. The sky had turned red just in time, as if it were the juices running in my mouth.
-Poor things….
Bae Hu-ryeong looked at the citizens with a pitiful expression.
-Why did they have to mess with such a calamity of this world….
I left the city behind and leisurely walked through the wilderness.
Spreading out the map, I found the world to be vast and the seas even vaster. It was a world mostly made up of sea. But what difficulty would that pose? It had been a long time since I had mastered the ability to walk on water, so the sea could hardly stand in my way.
Wait for me.
This world will meet its end by my hands.
['The Cat that Bit a Gold Coin' urgently requests a conversation.]
At that moment, a Constellation sent me a message. The Cat that Bit a Gold Coin. It was the Constellation that ruled over this world, the Golden Heaven.
['The Cat that Bit a Gold Coin' earnestly asks the following:]
[What the hell is wrong with you??]
No.
The only thing I truly want to burn is this rotten world, that's all.