World of Masks

World of Masks – Chapter 16

Translator: Seven

Editor: Ana_Banana

Jin-suk looked around. 

As if it had just rained, the plants in the surrounding forest glittered with droplets of water, and puddles had formed all over the muddy road which was covered by wheel marks from what could have been a carriage or a cat. 

In other words, it was a typical dirt road.

Maybe it was because this place was frequently traveled, but the road was made wide enough to accommodate two carriages at the same time.

In the distance, he could see a huge city wall. The sight of the heavy grey stone blocks which had become smooth over time was quite spectacular. 

And behind the wall, he could see pointed spires with bells within them as if a large church was sitting there.

Jin-suk was momentarily mesmerised by the sight which seemed to have been taken out of a movie. It was a scene deserving of admiration.

“Should I head over there first?”

This unkind game had only given him a welcome window and didn’t give him any information, as if it was to say that he had to figure it out on his own.

While grumbling that this was truly an unfriendly game, Jin-suk took something out of his bracelet.

It was a mask. An item which served as a mark of identification for the players, and which had given this world the name ‘World of Masks’.

Jin-suk decided to put on the mask because he knew that he would be meeting other players before long.

‘It’s not so bad.’

He could feel the foreign object on his face, but surprisingly, it wasn’t much of a problem. He didn’t feel like his vision was obscured at all.

After completing his preparations, Jin-suk walked carefully in order to avoid splashing muddy water on himself, but he soon gave up that thought after looking down at the clothes he was wearing.

‘I should go buy some clothes first.’

Jin-suk’s clothes, which were covered in his sweat and body odor, not to mention the blood of monsters and the villagers, were in such terrible shape that it was almost impossible to tell their original appearance.

Although he had washed them as much as he could, there was no detergent or washing machines in this world that could’ve washed them properly.

He’d bought new clothes at the general store, but the only clothes sold there were farmer clothes which was part of the reason why they were able to last until he left the village.

With the thought that it didn’t matter if they got dirtier, Jin-suk began to walk casually. Despite the feeling of mud sticking to his calves and the sound he made while walking being unpleasant, Jin-suk disregarded everything and simply told himself that it was his first time experiencing something like this.

While he was walking, he noticed that the distance to the city walls seemed to not reduce at all, making him feel like it was much further than he expected. For a long time, the only things he could see were the city walls in the distance, and the greenery on each side of the road. 

Nevertheless, Jin-suk continued to walk at a leisure pace as though he’d only come on a sightseeing tour.

Bshk.

Along with the sound of the bushes being pushed aside, two humans stepped into the road to block Jin-suk. 

The bushes and grass on both sides of the road made it perfect for setting up ambushes.

“Hey, Mr. Traveler. How’s your trip going?”

The sarcasm and sloppy attitude, together with the fact that they were both wearing crude leather armor and wielding daggers, showed that they hadn’t come with good intentions.

Bshk. Bshk.

Jin-suk looked back when he heard the sound of bushes moving behind him. The two men who had appeared behind him dressed in the same way as those in front of him chuckled menacingly when Jin-suk looked at them.

Naturally, these two men also had daggers in their hands. 

The bandits had completely blocked his front and back. And the only thing at his sides was dense forests.

In other words, Jin-suk was completely surrounded.

“Who are you?”

Nevertheless, he still asked them to identify themselves.

“Kikiki. Ah, us? Well we… are kind-hearted bandits who’ve come to help you.”

“It’s a man this time? Tch. I’d hoped that it would be a woman like last time.”

“You want to play with a bitch whose face you can’t even see because she’s wearing a mask?”

“Don’t pretend like you haven’t. I know you did it before. You took off her clothes, and even when you couldn’t take off her mask, it didn’t stop you from pressing her down.”

“Well. She still cried and begged when I pressed her down just like the other bitches.”

The bandits completely ignored Jin-suk and chatted among themselves. Looking back, it was obvious that the ones behind him were only carelessly holding their daggers. 

Jin-suk slowly straightened up and relaxed his muscles.

“Well, that’s good. Just stay still and let us kill…”

As soon as the bandit noticed this and spoke up, Jin-suk leapt forward. 

As though he hadn’t expected Jin-suk to take the initiative, the bandit on the right could only let out a soft ‘huh’ as he recklessly swung his dagger in a flustered manner. 

Jin-suk easily avoided the sloppy attack and took the short sword out of his bracelet before stabbing it into the bandit’s neck.

Puk.

Maybe it was because he had almost four times the strength of an average man, but the dull short sword dug deeply into the bandit’s neck. 

Jin-suk, who didn’t even glance at the bandit who fell over with a short scream, let go of the short sword which was stuck too deeply in the bandit’s neck to be easily removed, and shot towards the bandit on the left, who had not yet reacted, before unleashing an uppercut with his right hand.

Crack.

The sound of jawbones breaking and a scream of pain sounded from the bandit’s mouth. 

Jin-suk grabbed the bandit before he could collapse to the ground and immediately spun around. 

The two remaining bandits were charging towards him with loud shouts. 

Without hesitation, Jin-suk pushed the bandit with the broken jaw to the ones who were charging at him.

Puk. Puk.

The eerie sound of flesh being torn echoed. The bandit, who had been used as a human shield by Jin-suk and ended up being stabbed by his teammates, convulsed.

Jin-suk looked over his human shield to the two bandits, and upon seeing them panic at the fact that they’d stabbed one of their companions, he stomped the bandit he was using as a shield, sending him crashing towards them.

“U-, uaak!”

“Aak!”

This caused the two bandits to collapse into a pile together with the human shield kicked by Jin-suk. 

Jin-suk then gently pulled the longsword from his bracelet before swinging it to the right arm of the bandit who had gotten out of the pile and was trying to help his other teammate.

Shuk. Shuk.

“A-, aaaaaak!”

“My arm! My arm!!!!”

Jin-suk looked down in satisfaction at the longsword, which had cut off a third of both bandits arms without much resistance, feeling that it was well worth its price. (TL: which he didn’t pay…)

Then he kicked the bandit who was rolling around on the ground and clutching the stump of his arm, and the other bandit, who was being helped up by his teammate, had collapsed back to the ground.

Briefly looking away from these two bandits, Jin-suk looked at the other two.

The bandit who had been stabbed in the neck was already dead. And the guy who had been stabbed by his teammates was gasping for breath. 

Jin-suk walked up to him.

Looking down at him, he couldn’t help but let out a laugh when he saw the pitiful expression the man was making.

Puk.

Jin-suk stabbed his sword into the man’s skull. His muscles tensed up and twitched a few times before going still.

After killing him, he turned back to the two living bandits.

These two bandits, who had lost their daggers and become unarmed after their arms had been cut off, were looking at Jin-suk with fearful eyes while holding onto the stumps of their arms. 

Jin-suk casually placed the longsword on his shoulder before walking towards them. As he approached, the two bandits tried their best to move away from him, but their crawling speed could not compare to his walking speed.

Jin-suk walked up to the bandits and stabbed his sword in front of their faces.

“Hiiik!”

“Sp-, spare…”

Jin-suk squatted in front of these men who were crying and begging with tears and snot running down their faces, and eyes filled with fear. He held onto the sword which was stuck into the ground with his right hand and looked them in the eyes.

Seeing the terrified gazes of the bandits, Jin-suk’s eyes subconsciously curved like crescent moons.

“Do you want to live?”

When Jin-suk asked this question in a soft voice, the bandits nodded their heads desperately.

“Good. Then I’ll make a deal with you. I have a lot of questions because it hasn’t been too long since I arrived here. If you can give me the information I want, I’ll spare you. That’s not a bad deal, is it?”

Jin-suk’s voice was soft as though he wasn’t threatening them at all. 

Maybe it was because he saw the hope of surviving, but one bandit nodded passionately. 

Just as Jin-suk smiled widely at the satisfactory response from the bandit…

“H-, hang on.”

The other bandit, who hadn’t responded to Jin-suk’s question, grabbed his companion’s shoulder as if to restrain him.

“W-, why should we believe you? You could just kill us after you get the information.”

Hoh. It seems there was a smart one among them. 

Jin-suk felt a bit of admiration. 

Perhaps because his teammate’s words had increased his suspicion, the bandit who had already nodded raised his guard again.

“Hmm. I guess that’s true. But it’s true that I need information. And…”

Jin-suk stood up. Then, he pointed his longsword to the bandits, who scurried back.

“Are you forgetting who is the one that holds the blade? Do you think that I won’t kill all of you if I don’t get what I want?”

His voice was still soft and gentle like before, but when combined with his words, it sounded extremely eerie.

“I, I know. I’m not saying we won’t give you the information. We just want to guarantee our survival. I, I have a way.”

Pok.

“Kuk!”

Jin-suk kicked him without hesitation. 

A pink, diamond shaped, metallic jewel flew out of the man’s hand. The piece of metal bounced a few times before coming to a stop.

Jin-suk picked up the jewel after it came to a stop. 

“You know that you won’t survive if you do something stupid, don’t you?”

“I-, it’s not stupid! We need that to guarantee our survival!”

Jin-suk looked down at the jewel in his hand as the bandit desperately made excuses. The surface of this jewel which was only about half his palm in length, was covered in many esoteric patterns.

“It’s a magic item called a Contract Jewel! All contracts made using that jewel must be followed. Or else the contractors will die!”

“Hoh?”

Jin-suk made a sound of admiration. 

He didn’t expect this pretty stone to have such a function.

“That’s surprising. But this looks much too expensive for a bandit to be carrying around.”

“…sometimes, there are rich people who say that if we let them live, they will pay us even more.”

“I see. So you carry them around to force people into contracts to get more money? Well, it does seem to be worth investing in.”

Jin-suk clicked his tongue as he briefly sympathised with the rich people who were captured by these bad guys.

“So? What contract do you want to make with this jewel?”

“We will give you the information you want. And you will spare our lives.”

“And if I refuse?”

“We won’t tell you anything!”

Jin-suk smirked.

In all honesty, he knew that if he were to swing his sword a few times, they wouldn’t dare say such insolent things. But it was always better for someone to reveal information of their own accord, and if he really went through with this, he’d be able to confirm the accuracy of the information.

“Good. Your brain is much better than I expected. If you hadn’t offered this condition…”

Jin-suk paused for a moment before turning to look at the bandit, not the one who was trying to make a deal with him, but the one who was shivering beside him.

“…I would have killed you after receiving the information I wanted.”

“Hiiik!”

Jin-suk looked at the squealing bandit before turning to look at the one who wanted to make a deal with him again.

“But your sudden attack pissed me off. So it would be difficult to spare both of you. Let’s do this. You just need to answer my questions without lying to me. I will then judge the usefulness of your answers and spare only the one who gave me the most useful information. What do you think? That way, at least one of you will survive.”

“That’s not fair…!”

“If you don’t like that!”

Jin-suk shouted, causing the bandit to stop talking. Then he looked at them with a dark gaze.

“Then both of you can die here. After all, there are still other places where I can get information.”

The bandits were stunned by Jin-suk’s gaze. The instinctively realised that this man meant what he was saying.

“Now, this is the best concession I will make. What do you think?”

“…I, I will do it.”

“…I will do it too.”

The bandits, who had become wary of each other because of Jin-suk’s words, soon nodded. 

Their loyalty to each other had never been high in the first place. After all, if they were the type to loyally defend their comrades, they wouldn’t have become bandits in the first place.

“Good. Then shall we use this first?”

Jin-suk held up the jewel in his hand.

“Tell me how to use this thing. But!”

Jin-suk pointed his sword to the throat of the bandit who’d offered the deal.

“I’m sorry, but if I have a lot of doubts. If I believe the method of invoking this jewel goes against the name Contract Jewel, I will not hesitate to put a nice new hole in your neck.”

The bandit who had a sword to his throat gulped nodded. He nodded slowly because the sword was so close to his neck that he would be cut if he moved too much.

“Now then. This gem. How do you use it?”

“…we each reveal our terms before saying, ‘I swear on the Contract Jewel’.”

“It’s surprisingly easy. Then let’s try it. My terms are, ‘I will let only the person who gives me the most useful information go’. That’s it. In other words, I’m sparing only one person. Your terms will be ‘You will give me useful information accurately and without lies’. Is that enough?”

The two bandits nodded.

“Good. Then you swear first.”

“I swear on the Contract Jewel.”

“I swear on the Contract Jewel.”

When the two bandits said those words, the jewel in Jin-suk’s hand lit up faintly. Jin-suk admired this beautiful phenomenon for a bit before reciting his own oath.

“I swear on the Contract Jewel.”

The light from the jewel shined brighter until it enveloped the three people. 

After the light disappeared, Jin-suk smiled brightly and stabbed his sword back into the ground.

“Now then! I’ll start asking questions.”