WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ Damned Transmigration ◈
Chapter 140: Black Rabbit Society 1
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Gang Yu Village was not as bustling as Logos, but it was still fairly lively.
The people staying in this village were far more skilled than those in Logos.
Unlike Logos, where low-tier adventurers, martial artists, and mages swarmed, the Rift of Kang Yu was of a higher grade, and its proliferating monsters were ferocious and dangerous.
With the average tier being so high, there were fewer people than in Logos, and even the atmosphere was different.
Those staying in Gang Yu Village were not greenhorns seeking experience or middling adventurers trying to put food on the table. They were true professionals, most of whom sought monster inner cores.
That naturally made the village far more tense than the lively town of Logos.
Aside from those staying for personal gain, there were also dispatched forces stationed in the village to prevent Rift rampages and monsters from overflowing from it.
Clergy dispatched from Union in the west, mages from the Mage Tower who maintained the Rift's barrier, and elites dispatched from nearby sects.
Since such skilled individuals had gathered here, Yuri's party naturally drew attention as well.
“It is a pleasure to meet such young heroes.”
The one who showed particular interest in Yuri's group and invited them over was a clergyman from the Sect of Earth.
“I am Sang I-hwan, a priest who serves the God of Earth.”
Wearing yellow clerical robes and with his head shaved clean, Sang I-hwan was a paladin carrying an unusually large shield for someone from the East.
The representative of the Sect of Earth clergy dispatched to Gang Yu smiled, his scarred lips curving upward.
“If you ever need help, please feel free to tell me. The Sect of Earth has not forgotten the kindness it received from you.”
“It was nothing that warrants calling it a kindness.”
“Haha, there is no need to be so modest. Had it not been for your efforts in Alderan, Yuri, the Sect of Earth would have suffered a great setback.”
Despite his fierce appearance, Sang I-hwan shook his head with a gentle smile.
“Our Sect of Earth has yet to repay you. The Mabeld Family Head notarised that promise, so you may demand repayment from our sect whenever you wish.”
Was it just Yuri's imagination? It felt as though Sang I-hwan wanted him to demand something quickly and settle the debt.
“I do not have anything to ask for right now.”
“Please feel free to say so whenever you do. By the way, what brings you to Gang Yu?”
“A Rift is a place where the divine power of an ominous, evil god, one that should not exist in this world, has pooled.”
“Yes, that is so.”
“I know that the God of Chaos is an evil god that should not exist in this world. If we defeat monsters here, would that not help the world, even a little?”
That was not why they had come, but hearing Yuri say it made emotion fill Sang I-hwan's eyes.
“Ah, is that so? It seems the Calamity Star's eye for people was not wrong after all.”
Yuri had expected him to be moved, but he had not expected the Calamity Star's name to come up. Still, the circumstances were not difficult to understand.
“You flatter us. We merely wish to do our part in cleansing away even a little of the evil that throws the world into disorder.”
“I, too, received instruction from the Calamity Star when she visited the Earth Paladin Order while I was an apprentice paladin in Union.”
Remembering a time more than twenty years ago, Sang I-hwan rubbed his ribs.
“Much time has passed since then, and many things have happened, so our sect has grown distant from the Sect of Order. But when we were both in Union, our Grand Temples were close together, so we occasionally interacted.”
So Lorelia had come as a sort of visiting instructor.
“I was grateful that the Calamity Star personally sparred with even insignificant apprentice paladins like us and taught us the proper mindset for facing evil.”
So she had beaten them up.
“Decades have passed, yet I have never forgotten those teachings carved deep into my bones. Even now, I sometimes dream of that time.”
So he had nightmares.
“They are precious memories to me. I hear that the three of you received the Calamity Star's instruction for an entire year. I can only envy you.”
Sang I-hwan's bald face looked intimidating, but the broad smile across it seemed sincere.
‘Is he a pervert...?’
Yuri did not say it aloud, but that was what he thought.
“If the three of you have come to stand against evil, then apart from the repayment the Sect of Earth promised long ago, I, Sang I-hwan, would like to offer you something small as a clergyman.”
Sang I-hwan approached and handed them a bottle of holy water. Lowering his voice as though worried someone might overhear, he continued.
“This is holy water from the Sect of Earth. Please accept it, and use it only when it is truly necessary, where others cannot see.”
At Uicheon Sword Gate, Lorelia had used the Sect of War's holy water as casually as ordinary water. But holy water was not normally something one could use so freely.
Even within a sect, it was supplied only to clergy with clear standing and power. Otherwise, it was a rare commodity provided only to devotees or patrons who had made large donations.
“Can you really give us something this precious...?”
“Though we serve different gods, you follow the noble mission of standing against evil gods. Please tell the Calamity Star someday that Sang I-hwan of the Sect of Earth wishes to meet her again.”
That made the holy water somehow seem suspicious.
Did wishing to meet Lorelia again after being beaten by her not mean he wanted revenge? Yuri recalled Yeonri Sanga being dragged down a winter mountain after receiving a thorough beating...
“Um... I do not know when we will meet again, but I will make sure to pass that along.”
It was suspicious, but holy water was valuable, so Yuri put it away.
“Sang I-hwan, we would like to hire a guide to help us explore the Rift of Kang Yu. Is there anyone you would recommend?”
“A guide?”
Sang I-hwan's eyes widened. After considering it for a moment, he continued.
“It is difficult to find guides in Gang Yu. It is so dangerous, and because there are many competitors, there have been many ugly incidents. Even the guild no longer arranges guides.”
The monsters that appeared in the Rift of Kang Yu had a low chance of possessing inner cores.
Tier Five was considered the limit an ordinary person could reach. After spending years stuck at such a level, anyone would become sensitive.
They came all the way to Gang Yu and slaughtered monsters, desperately grasping at any straw in hopes of surpassing their limits, but whether an inner core appeared was ultimately a matter of luck.
There were many who wanted them and few that appeared. Naturally, people began to keep one another in check.
As a result, professional guides had practically vanished from Gang Yu. There were no shortage of cases where someone hired as a guide stabbed their employer in the back inside the Rift.
“Then must we wander through the Rift without a guide?”
“There may be no guides who know every path and lead the way, but you can acquire maps.”
Sang I-hwan shook his head.
“For the past three years, there has been a group that makes maps by personally traveling through the mountains whenever Gang Yu's terrain changes. Newly made maps are rather expensive, but they are quite accurate. Since finding the path every time is difficult and bothersome, they have become well established. Every adventurer in Gang Yu now uses those maps.”
Chuckling, Sang I-hwan pulled a rolled-up map from his robes. It was no ordinary map, but a magic item.
When he unfurled it, the faint image of mountains that appeared resembled a game minimap.
“Compared with a guide, I find this more comfortable. Even with a contract, it is difficult to trust a complete stranger in a Rift where anything could happen.”
Not having a map or a guide did not mean they would definitely become lost in the Rift. But once someone had used one of these, it was difficult to return to the inconvenient past.
“I am sorry, but I only have one of these maps myself, so I cannot give it to you. Instead, I will tell you where to buy one.”
“Where?”
Black Rabbit Society.
“...”
The imposing calligraphy on the signboard left Yuri speechless.
His head had spun and his voice had failed him when Sang I-hwan first told him that name. Now, standing before the Black Rabbit Society and looking at its sign, an indescribable feeling crept up inside him.
‘What the hell is wrong with that woman?’
Black Rabbit Society. Literally, it meant a group of black rabbits. To those unaware of the circumstances, it would not sound particularly strange. But to Yuri, who knew, it went beyond strange and became absurd.
“Yuri.”
Haryeong, who had been standing beside him and staring blankly at the Black Rabbit Society's signboard, spoke up.
“Yes?”
“Of your old friends, I have only met Moonlit Reveller in person, so I hesitate to say this.”
“What?”
Yuri did not expect anything pleasant, so he asked flatly. Haryeong looked at him with indifferent eyes.
“I am beginning to think there is a reason people say birds of a feather flock together.”
“...”
“Like attracts like.”
“What did I do?”
Yuri asked in genuine indignation. Unlike Chuk-sin-doo and USAUSAMI, who brazenly revealed who they were and behaved bizarrely, Yuri had struggled desperately to hide who he had been before transmigrating.
“And I am not friends with those two.”
“Yuri, drawing such a hard line just because they are not here is not the right attitude. Keep acting that way, and you really will have no friends someday.”
Estor, who had quietly listened until now, spoke with a serious expression. It was too correct a statement to refute, so Yuri obediently closed his mouth.
“If they are not your friends, why did you come all the way here and put yourself through this? Liar Yuri. Will you later claim you are not friends with me either?”
Haryeong did not stop. She took this chance to tease Yuri.
“Then again, strictly speaking, I’m your noona, so I’m not your friend. Yuri, try calling me noona.”
“I am friends with them, but, uh, not everyone is an idiot like that.”
FS, at least, was apparently living normally without revealing that they were a Transmigrator. Chuk-sin-doo and USAUSAMI were simply unusual. In fact, FS was the one Yuri found most surprising.
In Yuri's opinion, if anyone in this world were going to do something trashy or commit a crime, it would be FS.
When he heard that the Raspion Family had been massacred, Yuri had even wondered whether FS was the culprit.
He naturally ignored Haryeong's nonsense.
He looked back at the Black Rabbit Society. Despite its impressive signboard, it looked like nothing more than a shop in an ordinary building.
Could that blatant name really be a coincidence? It was difficult to think so.
If it had been anywhere else, perhaps. But this was Gang Yu, where USAUSAMI had been active six years ago.
They had come to Gang Yu to trace USAUSAMI's path, since she might have died after falling from the cliff at Nakseong Cliff... So what was this Black Rabbit Society, and what were these maps?
“Let us... go inside first.”
They would not learn the truth by standing outside and thinking. Yuri steadied himself and opened the door to the Black Rabbit Society.
“Welcome.”
“...”
At the immediate greeting, Yuri turned his head and found himself speechless.
‘What is this...?’
The man standing behind the counter with his arms folded was massively built, his muscular frame not much inferior to Hwangbo Jin-cheol's, and his arms were unusually long. On his head, he wore a black rabbit mask.
It really was a rabbit mask. Its ears stood upright... The mask covered only the upper half of his face, leaving the man's square jaw and thick beard exposed. It made facing him deeply uncomfortable.
‘N-No, it cannot be...’
According to The Pointing Flame, USAUSAMI, Myou-hee, was a woman.
There was no way The Pointing Flame had lied about Myou-hee's gender, and no way something absurd had happened to Myou-hee's body over six years and turned her into a muscular man. That man could not be USAUSAMI...
“Are you here for a map?”
The rabbit mask was exceedingly cute, but the man's eyes visible beyond its holes were not cute at all. Beyond regret, there was something like resignation in them.
In truth, Yuri could roughly guess the reason just by looking at the mask the man wore.
“Uh... yes. We did come for a map, but...”
Yuri answered haltingly as he looked the man over again.
“Are you the owner of this shop?”
“That is correct.”
“Then are you the Black Rabbit Society Leader?”
“I am not.”
He was the shop owner but not the Black Rabbit Society's leader? Yuri tilted his head and asked again.
“Then what exactly is the Black Rabbit Society?”
“Why did you suddenly come here and start prying into our Black Rabbit Society?”
The man narrowed his eyes and glared at Yuri. Yuri really was being rude by barging in and acting like this.
If not for the rabbit mask, that was.
“W-Well, your appearance is so bizarre and unusual. I could not contain my curiosity.”
“...Hm.”
The man stopped narrowing his eyes and cleared his throat.
“The Black Rabbit Society is... simply the Black Rabbit Society. I wear this mask solely because of our leader's taste.”
“Taste...?”
“Well, rabbits are... cute, are they not?”
Complex emotions flickered through the man's eyes as he said that.
“In any case, I am not the Black Rabbit Society's leader. Do you have business with our leader?”
“Not exactly.”
There was no guarantee that the Black Rabbit Society's leader was Myou-hee, so Yuri did not want to openly say he wished to meet the leader here.
“Rather, making maps of the Rift cannot be an easy task. And the masks are unusual. That was why I was curious.”
“It is difficult work.”
The man let out a short sigh and nodded.
“I have heard that our leader stayed in this Rift years ago. They suffered greatly at the time, but received an even greater kindness. The Black Rabbit Society was established to repay that kindness.”
“Is that... so?”
“We have made and sold maps for years, but that is not all the Black Rabbit Society does. To make maps, we must run constantly through Gang Yu's harsh mountains. As we do, we sometimes find adventurers in trouble, injured adventurers who have fallen behind, or bodies and belongings that have not been recovered. When the Black Rabbit Society encounters such things, we do not simply pretend not to see them.”
Listening to him, Yuri began to wonder whether the Black Rabbit Society's leader really was Myou-hee. The Myou-hee he had heard about from The Pointing Flame did not seem like someone who would do something so kind.
“It is strange that someone with such good intentions is not more famous.”
“Our leader hardly acts publicly and does not care for fame, so that is only natural. So, will you buy a map now?”
“Yes, please give us one.”
As Yuri answered, he activated Transcendent Sight. He wanted to assess the man's skill, something he could not tell from appearances alone.
He could not accurately grasp the Black Rabbit Society's size, but since its members traveled through the Rift of Kang Yu to make maps, they had to be highly skilled.
‘Even by a low estimate, he looks above Tier Four.’
Would it not be dangerous for someone of that tier to travel through the Rift alone? Yuri wondered that, then looked at the man through Transcendent Sight. His shoulders twitched.
There was an unfamiliar power in the man's body, different from vital energy and inner power.
It did not overflow outward, but remained pooled in his dantian. Looking more closely, Yuri saw that a power linked to the bracelet on the man's wrist was wrapping around his dantian.
‘Veil of Deception?’
That name suddenly came to Yuri's mind. The Veil of Deception, which was said to have been created from the Burning Flame Suppression Lock, was an item used by Demonic Cult members to conceal demonic qi.
If that power pooled in his dantian, unlike vital energy or inner power, was demonic qi... was this man from the Black Rabbit Society a member of the Demonic Cult? Did that mean the Black Rabbit Society's leader was one as well?
‘Is Myou-hee part of the Demonic Cult?’
USAUSAMI had been a Japanese black-company employee who worked unpaid overtime every day, was sometimes called in at dawn, drank coffee several times a day, and drank alcohol after work... Had she become Myou-hee, a Demonic Cult member, and thrown herself into the Demonic Cult?
Footnotes:
The Black Rabbit Society's Korean name uses the character for “rabbit,” though its pronunciation resembles “black cat.”
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