WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
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◈ A Gacha Addict's Life in Fusionpunk ◈
Chapter 65: A Fateful Encounter (2)
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1.
There was something gukbap, jokbal, budae-jjigae,[1] and the True Progenitor had in common.
The originals were different.
So far, I had experienced fake Progenitor Fear twice.
According to Boksun, fake Progenitor Fear was a kind of hypnosis.
Magic that exaggerated the fear prey felt toward a predator.
The reason I had pissed myself like a country mutt meeting a dog catcher and become Boksun’s loyal servant last time around was not because it was powerful hypnosis in itself. My brain had been scrambled by my certainty that, This one’s the True Progenitor!
But...
The real, original Progenitor Fear was different.
The moment I met those flashing red eyes...
“...Ugh.”
I couldn’t move even one finger.
It was a restraint so absolute that if the True Progenitor told me, “Stop your heart and die,” it felt like it would happen.
“Come closer.”
As if pulled by invisible strings, my body moved on its own.
“Ugh... N-no... Stop...”
If I touched the Universal Coins, Kisara would come!!!
Fortunately, my body stopped just before I reached them.
Slice.
The True Progenitor’s hand blurred, then my cheek burned.
Drops of blood hung from the tip of her nail.
She licked the blood with her tongue, bared her fangs, and smiled.
There was none of the goofy side Boksun had when I used to go nom nom nom on her.
“Your blood is good.”
Ugh...
This wasn’t Boksun.
My Boksun wasn’t this vicious!!!
More importantly, why?
I knew the True Progenitor was alive.
Boksun had said the True Progenitor gained perfect immortality in exchange for a Commandment.
But walking around with both eyes wide open was another matter entirely.
I desperately pieced together what I knew.
Twilight Resource Development had sealed the True Progenitor.
They were carrying out Project Z and fake Progenitor experiments to control her blood.
And Overnus Pharmaceuticals was almost certainly involved in those experiments too.
Had it all been a lie?
No.
It couldn’t be.
Too much circumstantial evidence pointed to the True Progenitor being sealed.
I moved my eyes and looked around.
The suspiciously abundant sacred ropes and Universal Coins.
The True Progenitor, who didn’t cross beyond the sacred rope and stopped in front of it.
Most decisively, the notification that had appeared when I entered this world.
[ This is the most noble prison, “Depth 0: Red Moon Shrine.” ]
“Ugh...”
My numb tongue made my exclamation slurred.
I got the general idea.
No, fuck...
They said Twilight Resource Development had sealed her, so I thought she’d be in some laboratory...
She was just under house arrest?
Twilight Resource Development, can you handle your damn jobs properly?
If you’re going to seal someone, put them in a test tube or something!
At least put up a Beware of Dog sign!!! Someone’s going to get bitten!!!
My mind raced.
And what did she mean by, “So you are the one who carried off that half-baked little thing”?
It sounded like the half-baked little thing was Boksun...
But how did the real Progenitor, trapped in here, know that?
Then...
“Lady Tsukimiya, what is the matter? The barrier reacted... Huh?”
I sensed someone beside me.
When I rolled my eyes, a well-dressed person in a suit stood there, looking flustered.
That was Twilight Resource Development attire.
“How did an outsider get in here?”
Hello?
I’m also very confused. Would you hear me out first?
“Uhh? Uh, ah... Ugh... Wuh?”
I tried my hardest to say that, but apparently my sincerity didn’t get through.
The suited person came straight toward me, face turning pale.
“You rat! Who do you belong to? How did you get in here...”
Squish.
A grotesque sound, like meat crushed in a hydraulic press, erased the person’s bewilderment.
Warm blood splashed across my face.
It was the blood of the suited person, now reduced to a handful of bloody slurry.
“Ugh...?”
“Pay it no mind. They were my errand runner.”
The True Progenitor spoke casually, releasing scarlet mana.
No... I minded.
The errand runner had become something that used to be an errand runner...?
I’d thought no Mage was quite sane, but this bitch was seriously nuts too.
Then...
Rumble.
The sacred ropes throughout the shrine trembled.
Complex strings of text, like verses from scripture, extended from the ropes.
Thousands, tens of thousands of those glowing lines instantly wrapped around the True Progenitor’s body like a spiderweb.
“Always so troublesome. I barely moved.”
The True Progenitor’s brow furrowed slightly.
When she lightly twisted her shoulder as if throwing a tantrum...
Creeeak.
The thousands of lines binding her stretched taut with a scream.
As the strings burned, the air rang with a vibration like a bridge on the verge of collapse would make.
Overwhelming power. A clash with the restraints holding it down.
Okay.
I understood for sure now.
The True Progenitor really was imprisoned.
She was just an existence beyond all standards, one who could still pop my head like a raspberry even while imprisoned.
“There isn’t much time for a long conversation.”
She looked down in distaste at the golden words wrapped around her arm.
Then she turned her gaze back to me.
“There is something I wish to ask you.”
The True Progenitor made a vague gesture with her hand, and the pressure faded.
I still couldn’t move my body, but I could speak.
“The one and only Red Moon! House Head of the Tsukimiya Family! This insignificant creature humbly greets the True Progenitor!”
I didn’t fully understand what was happening.
So I’d just butter her up! Kiss the True Progenitor’s ass as hard as I could!
“What grand words. Stop that. Would it not be nothing but mockery toward one trapped in a cage?”
The True Progenitor gave a self-mocking laugh through her nose.
“How did you come to this prison?”
“Yes! I touched a strange rock in the Old Sewers and was transported here!”
“A rock? Ah, do you mean the Keystone?”
“I don’t know what a Keystone is, but it was a boulder tied up with rope!”
“Ah, come to think of it, there was one of those. I remember it.”
Huh?
She didn’t seem as hostile as I expected.
And unlike my first impression, we could actually have a conversation.
After seeing what she did to her errand runner, I’d been prepared to accept ending this iteration if things went south.
“You were also the one who ran off with my replica, were you not?”
“Y-yes.”
That was fortunate.
Those red eyes, layered with interest and curiosity but even more heavily with boredom, seemed to show me some goodwill.
No.
That was an illusion.
“Then which side are you on? Twilight Resource Development or Overnus Pharmaceuticals?”
Her tone was ordinary, but having died so many times, I could tell.
The answer to this question would determine whether I lived.
Ah... Fuck, Boksun.
When I get back, I’m going nom nom nom on you.
Can’t you manage your mother properly?
I’d give Boksun, who looked exactly like the True Progenitor, a hundred belly raspberries.
First, I had to make it back alive.
“Please don’t associate me with those filthy traitorous bastards!!!!”
“Oh?”
“I belong to neither the Twilight Party nor the Overnus Party! I’m independent!”
That answer was both true and the obvious choice.
Think about it.
It was clear the True Progenitor held a grudge against both Twilight and Overnus, who had brought down the RCD Foundation.
Even more so if she had been trapped here like this.
“If you belong to neither, why did you steal my replica?”
I had passed the first hurdle.
The True Progenitor crossed her arms, as though willing to hear my reason.
“The reason I stole her is...”
The second crossroads had come.
Try to muddle through with a vague answer.
VS
Tell the True Progenitor the whole truth and explain that I had nothing to do with the two groups.
The latter seemed better than trying some half-assed scheme...
But could I really say it?
The True Progenitor was trapped.
Wouldn’t I put myself in danger too?
“Speak. There is no one listening, is there?”
I glanced at the pool of blood.
Well, it wasn’t as though I had a choice anyway.
“To save my sister.”
“Your sister?”
“She has an illness that can’t be cured without servant conversion. I secretly took the one stored by the Gold Carp Family so I could use the Doll for servant conversion.”
“You cannot make a servant with that half-baked thing alone, can you? Even if you did, the half-baked thing would die.”
“Yes! To create a servant without killing the clone, I need the Ruby...”
I briefly explained the situation.
The True Progenitor listened with a faint smile, then her eyes curved into crescents.
“How comical! How comical! Both factions will be toyed with by the schemes of a mere commoner!”
The True Progenitor giggled, smiling seductively in a way Boksun could never imitate.
“It has been a long time since I have seen such delightful clowning.”
This was safe... right?
The True Progenitor reached behind her head and fidgeted.
Her long hair flowed loose.
“Take it.”
I caught what she casually tossed at me.
It was a butterfly-shaped hair ornament adorned with every kind of jewel.
“Th-this is?”
“Payment for your clowning. Remove and sell the jewels alone, and you will easily receive a fortune.”
Uh, it certainly looked that way.
Even with my untrained eye, I could tell this was worth no ordinary amount.
What was this?!
Not safe. I’d hit the jackpot?!
“Go and make fools of them to your heart’s content.”
“Stirring up shit is my specialty.”
I gave my client a spirited smile and answered their request.
2.
After finishing our brief conversation...
I turned around and ran to the Keystone.
It was a shame there hadn’t been more time.
There was plenty more information I wanted to dig out.
There had been an unexpected incident.
But I had achieved my original goal.
Either way, the treasure hunt was a success!
I didn’t know whether everything afterward would be wrapped up so neatly.
Still, the True Progenitor said it wasn’t the first time she had killed an errand runner, and since nobody would know I had come here, she would handle what came after.
What else could I do?
It wasn’t like I could ask for a guarantee.
I had to trust her.
I put on the diving suit as quickly as possible and touched the Keystone.
“Log out!”
Gurgle.
Just as when I came, I returned to the bottom of the sedimentation tank.
I quickly untied the weight bound to my ankle, and my body floated upward.
“I’m back!!!”
“Master!”
Boksun, who had been anxiously waiting for me, greeted me with a blooming smile before her eyes narrowed.
“You wretch! What were you doing that took you so long? What if I had been taken by the Cleaners!”
The moment I took off my diving suit, Boksun began pounding me with cute little fists.
Honestly...
It was hard for two people who looked so alike to be so different.
“Did you not say you would return quickly!”
“Now, now, look over here.”
“What did you do... Huh?”
“I found the treasure.”
Boksun’s eyes went wide at the sight of the True Progenitor’s butterfly brooch.
“Wow...!!!”
“Boksun!! We’re rich now!!!”
“Master! Is Master a genius?! Amazing! Was it really down there?!”
We may have started as an uncertain alliance, but we had suffered through hell together.
We hugged each other in delight, jumping up and down.
“So where and how did you find it?”
“Trade secret, brat.”
“Why! I wish to know as well! I am curious!”
“I’ll tell you slowly later. I’m exhausted from decompression sickness.”
I had thought about this.
The fake Progenitor kept insisting she was the True Progenitor.
Even when I mocked her as a fake Progenitor, she held firm.
But if I told her I had met the real Progenitor imprisoned down there, she would probably get all mentally unstable and go, “Ugh, then am I really a fake...?”
Taking care of a mentally unstable woman was seriously annoying.
I already had to figure out how to safely cash in this hair ornament.
Well.
I’d tell her little by little later.
“Boksun! We’re having a drinking party today! Take as many rice cakes as you want!”
“Then I shall eat one hundred! One hundred!!!”
“You can eat two hundred!”
“Two hundred!!!”
For tonight, it was enough to drown ourselves in victory wine.
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Footnotes:
[1] Gukbap, jokbal, and budae-jjigae: Korean dishes, respectively rice soup, braised pig's trotters, and spicy “army stew.” The narrator jokes that the authentic original is distinct from an imitation.
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