The 31st Piece Turns the Tables
chapter-80

A horrible thing had happened in Twilight Town.

The townspeople there had become believers in a false religion and captured outsiders as offerings to their god.

Seol’s party might have killed all of them, but the incident caused Karen immense mental pain, which made her unable to react properly to an attack.

After that, the mastermind behind Twilight Town appeared to hunt down Seol. Seol, with only Jamad available to fight, chose to run away and was swept away by the current into Wet Fog Town.

‘He’s here.’

The ghost-like man who brought hell to Pandea.

He wasn’t particularly strong compared to the enemies Seol had fought so far, but the fact that he was able to paint a town in such negative colors was definitely something he had to be cautious of.

Because his malicious intent was, at least, the worst among the enemies Seol had fought so far.

‘How was he able to track us down? We didn’t leave any traces behind.’

It would be impossible for him to track them downstream. Seol would have also known beforehand if he applied a tracking spell to them too.

“Give…”

The monster’s head, that Karen cut off, continued to talk, trying its best to form a sentence.

The monster’s body was in tatters and was covered in a slime-like substance, but its face was still definitely human, which made it more unsightly to look at.

Seol looked at the monster’s face for a second before pausing.

“...Wait.”

“Why?”

Unravel.

Seol unraveled Chao’s scroll.

He looked at the man’s face on the scroll.

He then looked at the monster’s face beneath his own foot.

“...They look similar.”

“What? Let me see!”

Karen walked over and looked at the scroll too. She then nodded.

“You were right! It really does look like him!”

“Was this monster our objective then?”

- OMG… Karen burned the body though… What are you guys going to do?!

- She burned the fucking medicine RIP

- Where did he hide the medicine?

- His pockets!

- He has no pockets though???

‘No, something’s off.’

The more Seol looked at the monster’s face, the more similarities he found.

Even so, the odds of the Fog Ghost having the sleeping medicine were close to zero.

* * *

Translator - goguma

Proofreader - Karane

* * *

“Give…”

“The monster’s head is still trying to say something…”

“Shh, be quiet for a second.”

Seol got down on one knee and got closer to the head. And when he did, he could hear the words much more clearly.

“Give me back…”

Seol’s face froze when he heard the monster’s words.

“Why? What did it say?”

“He wants it back.”

“Wants what back?”

The head slowed down before completely stopping.

Seol repeated what he heard exactly back to Karen.

“He wants… his face back.”

“...Oh no.”

[The main contents of ‘Sleeping Medicine’ have changed.]

[‘Sleeping Medicine’ has changed to ‘Face Collector’.]

[Adventure 12-1. ‘Face Collector’

You have arrived at Wet Fog Town to do what Chao has requested of you. Though it seemed like all you had to do was simply find someone and take their medicine at first, the job that you had expected to go smoothly continuously went wrong.

The Fog Disease, which had been afflicting all of the towns in the surrounding area, has infected another person in Wet Fog Town, and not only that, you have also run into a monster near here, one that you faced in Twilight Town before.

The monster has a face extremely similar to the face drawn in the scroll and talks exactly like a human. With its dying breath, it was able to complete a single sentence.

‘Give me back my face.’

To reach the truth, you must find the one who stole this monster’s face.

Objective: Complete the objective written on the scroll.

Chao’s favorability toward you will drop upon failure.

Remaining Time [About 10 days]]

Acquiring the ‘Sleeping Medicine’ mentioned in Chao’s scroll hadn’t changed as the Adventure’s objective, but the majority of the contents had changed.

After meeting the monster, Seol continued to worry the entire day until nightfall.

“Do you really think that someone could steal someone else’s face?”

“It probably is true, judging by the fact that we weren’t able to find the person drawn on the scroll.”

“Damn it… How the hell are we supposed to find them now?”

Skid…

Karen grumbled and kicked a chair.

“It’s fine. We were able to learn something because of it."

“What?”

Seol continued while crossing his arms.

“Do you remember the first assumption we made?”

“That the person who has the medicine for it probably spread the disease? Or that the medicine itself could be the source of the disease…”

“And that if they made the disease, they would also likely have an antidote for it.”

“Definitely. People like them who look down on other people’s lives value their own lives way too much.”

“Exactly. If we can just find them, we can de-escalate the situation.”

Karen nodded in agreement with Seol’s theory.

Seol continued on.

“The problem is how we’ll find the bastard. Luckily enough, though, Chao drew his face for us.”

“But that was the monster’s face…”

“The monster that was asking for his face back, no? If it’s asking for their face back when they already have one, it must mean that…”

“It was switched!”

“Switched forcibly. Well, something like that at least.”

Karen excitedly nodded her head to Seol’s theory.

“And? What else?”

“Thinking about what Chao wrote down on the scroll, not only did she tell us to go to Wet Fog Town specifically, she also told us that our objective was that face.”

“That means she was confident they were in Wet Fog Town.”

"Yeah, we received the scroll from her about two months ago. So the time when she became aware of the objective must be much earlier than when she gave us the scroll."

“So the person’s face Chao saw then was that person’s face then!”

“Exactly.”

Karen slammed the table with her fist and immediately stood up.

"Then, in the end, our first assumption was true! They could still be here, just with another person’s face instead,” said Karen while looking at Seol.

“Yeah.”

“Still… shouldn’t the townspeople notice if someone’s face changed?”

“Who knows? They could be using illusion magic or necromancy… it could be another technique entirely too. There are a mountain of spells that could be used to prevent people from recognizing you, after all.”

Seol’s Eyes of Perception hadn’t activated in his time in the town.

‘It makes sense, though. Eyes of Perception isn’t all-powerful.”

Since Seol’s Eyes of Perception weren’t fully enlightened yet, it couldn’t catch everything.

Sure, he can see through simple spells now, but there was a high chance that he couldn’t look through higher-ranking spells, especially spells to disguise oneself.

‘How are we going to find them though? We don’t have enough time anymore…’

Since Seol had wasted almost two weeks already, he was in a dire situation. Still, he had been able to get to the core of the problem so once he found the solution for it, he could clear it quickly.

‘I don’t know whether I should gather all of the townspeople and just interrogate them all together, or…’

Knock, knock, knock!

As Seol thought to himself, his focus turned to the sound he heard from behind the door.

He heard a voice.

“...It’s Gunt. Are you home?”

“Ah, Dr. Gunt. What brings you…”

Creak…

When Seol opened the door, he saw Gunt with a wretched expression. The sadness in his eyes made both Karen and Seol uneasy.

“Sarah has… fallen asleep.”

“By asleep, you mean…?”

“Her conditions have worsened.”

“Then…”

“There are no other options now. Sarah would likely spend the rest of her life asleep. Even if… it was a short life… Anyway, please follow me.”

Seol and Karen followed Gunt to where Sarah was.

She was asleep on her bed, sleeping like the dead.

The townspeople who were healthy were all there to say their last goodbyes.

“Sarah, how could a bright child like you…”

“The gods are so cruel. How could they take this poor child…”

“She doesn’t even have any family to take care of her… I feel so bad for her…”

Gunt sat down next to the sleeping Sarah.

“Sarah, it may be a bit cowardly to confess this now, but I received a lot of strength from watching you,” said Gunt.

The people stood at a distance from Gunt while listening to his confession.

“Like you, Sarah, I was also an orphan. I despised the world and I blamed my own fate. I thought it was obvious. I also believed that because I was so unlucky, I had the obvious right to complain about life.”

Gunt then shook his head.

“But you were different, Sarah. Your existence itself made so many people happy and you bravely overcame your misfortune alone. With just your actions, you have taught me so much.”

Seol and Karen felt Gunt’s genuine feelings whenever he sobbed. It was more than the feelings of a doctor caring for their patient. It was like he genuinely appreciated her existence.

Draw…

Draw…

Next to Gunt, the youngest girl in Wet Fog Town was drawing a picture.

It was a picture of Gunt and Sarah.

“Are you drawing right now?”

“Yeah, Snowman.”

“Why are you drawing though?”

“Because I want to save it. I always draw a picture when people fall asleep to the disease.”

“You have a good heart.”

“Yeah. And if I do this, I can always remember them, even if I can’t see them anymore. I have a bunch of drawings like this at home already. I can show you if you come visit.”

The fact that she had so many drawings only implied that there were a lot of patients who fell asleep. Seol’s feelings were askew after hearing such a small child say that like it was nothing.

Draw…

Draw…

“Hm?”

“What’s wrong?”

“No… it’s just that… um… I’m having a hard time drawing.”

The young girl tilted her head and bit her pencil. After a moment, she started to draw again.

Her action caught Seol’s attention to the point that now he was only watching her complete her drawing.

“You’re really good at drawing.”

“Yeah! That’s why mommy told me she’d save up money to send me to Audenin. She told me that if I go there, I can learn properly.”

“She’s a good mother.”

“Alright, I’m done now! Do you want to see it?”

“Sure.”

Seol grabbed the girl’s drawing.

She drew a portrait of Sarah sleeping and Gunt crying in a grave, calm manner.

Though it hadn’t been colored yet, Seol felt a lot of things from this painting.

The first was awe. He was in sheer disbelief of the child’s talents as it was drawn expertly, to the point that he doubted that it was really drawn by her.

The second was disconnectedness. Even though it looked like Sarah was simply sleeping in the drawing, she was headed to death in real life.

And lastly… was a sense that something was off.

“...Huh?”

“Why? Let me see too?”

Seol handed over the drawing to Karen, hoping that this would help her from becoming even sadder.

“...Huh?”

And she had the exact same reaction as Seol.

[Insight activates.]

[The drawing is inconsistent.]

With Insight activating, Seol was confident that his feelings weren’t just his feelings.

It had a different face.

Gunt had a different face.

The face that they saw in the drawing was the same face as the one they saw earlier on Chao’s scroll.

Seol calmly put the drawing down and asked the child a question.

“Is this… Dr. Gunt?”

“Yeah!”

“Why did you draw Dr. Gunt like this?”

“Huh? What do you mean why?”

The child pointed at Gunt who was still crying and sobbing.

“He looks like that, no?”

Seol, with a still face, patted the child’s head and handed the drawing back.

He then delicately spoke to Karen.

“I guess we can get lucky from time to time.”

“Right? I was thinking that we would be unlucky forever too.”

The two then slowly headed over to Gunt, who was by Sarah’s bed.

Gunt was still crying, tears poured down his face as he heaved.

“Sarah, I hope that next time… Sob…”

“...Dr. Gunt.”

“It really isn’t… sob… e-easy sending off Sarah. P-Please j-j-just give me a bit more–”

“Dr. Gunt, I have a question.”

“Sob… Sob… Now’s not a good time. Why are you being so rude right now?”

Gunt swiftly turned his head and looked at Seol with a furious look in his eyes. He then had a cool expression once more.

“Why did you do it?”

“What…?”

“Karen.”

Fwoosh!

Karen swiftly wrapped Sarah in her bedsheets and pulled her in. And then, she softly laid Sarah down behind her.

The townspeople, not knowing their intent, shrieked at their rough actions.

“Kyaaaa! Wh-what are you doing to Sarah?!”

“Snowman?! Karen?! Why are you guys acting like this?!”

Gunt looked at Seol with a face completely drained of any expression.

“...What are you doing?”

“Why did you do this to Sarah, no, to the townspeople?”

“Sob… Are you… suspecting me?”

“Answer the question.”

Gunt buried his head and cried even more.

“Sob… Sob… Sob… Why… Sob…”

And then… his cries became eerie.

“Sob… Sob.. So-ehehe… Hehehehehehe! Why!”

Gunt suddenly stood up and glared at Seol.

Gunt’s eyes had turned red.

“Why did I get caught?”