WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Damned Transmigration ◈
Chapter 82: Glutton 1
──────
The next day.
Estor left the lodging early that morning, saying he had to visit the Habert Mage Tower and the Sect of Earth’s temple. Yuri and Haryeong arrived at the exhibition hall after noon.
“Today, we’re not splitting up. We’re staying together the whole time.”
Haryeong shot him a sidelong glare, apparently still upset over yesterday. She had called him pathetic and said plenty of other harsh things, but Yuri could not exactly defend what had happened yesterday, so he quietly nodded.
“...”
He had looked through the catalogue beforehand, so they did not get lost in the vast exhibition hall. Still, they had barely looked around before stopping.
They had run into Lacey.
He had expected this might happen, but actually encountering her made him hesitate for a moment.
“It’s been a while.”
He had been planning to avoid her as though he did not know her, but Haryeong spoke first.
Lacey was not alone. A short, chubby man blinked his round eyes, looking between Yuri and Haryeong before turning to Lacey.
“Do you know them?”
Lacey apparently had not expected Haryeong to approach first either. She looked flustered for a moment, then quickly composed herself.
If possible, she did not want anyone to learn that she had met Yuri, but those two had become far too famous. Rumors that Cloud Dragon had come to Alderan with Sword Dragon and Dark Blossom were already circulating among Alderan’s influential figures.
‘Well... It’s not like we met alone...’
She did not want to create a situation where Elena could misunderstand, but there was nothing she could do now. Lacey cleared her throat and spoke.
“They’re Cloud Dragon and Dark Blossom.”
“Ah...!”
The man’s already-round eyes grew wider.
“Th-the famous ones lately?”
“Yes.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Fabian Bazet, disciple of Guzel Havert.”
Yuri was slightly surprised by the cheerful introduction. The Iron Fortress, master of the Habert Mage Tower. He had never heard the name Fabian Bazet before, but if Fabian was the Iron Fortress’s disciple, he was the person Estor had mentioned several days ago.
‘Silver Wood.’
Habert Mage Tower’s prized prodigy, who was already approaching the late fourth tier at twenty-one. It made sense that he would be with Lacey.
‘Is he a transmigrator too?’
It was not a question he could ask openly. If Lacey protected Yuri’s secret, Yuri had to protect hers as well. He had no desire to turn against Lacey just yet.
“It’s a pleasure. I’m Yuri.”
“I’m Haryeong.”
After introducing herself, Haryeong stared directly at Lacey.
“Are you going to ignore my greeting?”
Something about her sharp attitude made Lacey’s eyebrows rise slightly.
“Of course not. I was only startled because I did not expect to see you here. Um, it’s been a while, Haryeong.”
“I heard you met Yuri yesterday. You did not expect to see him today?”
Haryeong remained sharp, her voice cold and her expression blank. It was not quite hostility, but it was close enough to feel like it.
“...”
Lacey naturally knew what had prompted this, so she did not answer immediately and glared at Haryeong for a moment. Haryeong did not avoid her gaze.
That only made Yuri and Fabian uncomfortable.
“Please give my regards to the young lady.”
Haryeong was the first to back down. Though calling it backing down was not quite right. It was more like she had stabbed Lacey with a dagger.
“Are you even close enough to exchange regards?”
“Of course. The young lady and I are friends.”
“Friends?”
Lacey’s brow twitched. A flood of words rose to her lips, but she took a breath and swallowed them all. Even so, she did not stop glaring.
“We’ll be going now.”
Unable to watch any longer, Yuri stepped in. Lacey clicked her tongue and finally looked away.
‘What? Is she really some kind of homewrecker?’
The thought came naturally. Until yesterday, Lacey had not thought deeply about why that assassin, Haryeong, had gone looking for Yuri. In the first place, Lacey did not know much about what kind of person Haryeong was.
But seeing her attitude now...
‘Could she be Cat Panties?’
The pieces clicked together in Lacey’s head. A chill ran down her spine, and she hurriedly used magic to speak to Yuri.
[Is that woman Cat Panties?]
What kind of absurd, bewildering bullshit was that? Yuri, who had been walking past Lacey with Haryeong, turned around in sheer disbelief.
[What is Cat Panties?]
He did not ask who that was. They both knew the other was a transmigrator, but Yuri had never directly admitted that he was one.
[You’re still pretending not to know? You’re shameless...! She’s Cat Panties, right?]
[Lacey, saying something like that out of nowhere is extremely confusing. Not just panties, but cat panties? What kind of panties are those supposed to be?]
[Well...]
[I do not understand what kind of metaphor it is to look at a perfectly normal person and call them panties. So, does Haryeong look like cat panties to you? Do I look like panties too?]
[W-wait, that’s not what I mean!]
[Looking at people as panties, what kind of... bizarre condition is that? I’m serious, Lacey. You should go to a hospital. No, forget that. Someone like you can probably meet a priest, so go see one instead.]
He barraged her with Voice Transmission without even giving her time to explain. Lacey’s face turned bright red, and her shoulders shook. If Fabian had not been beside her, and if they had not been in the exhibition hall, she would have screamed at the top of her lungs...!
[I pray that you will have treated that... illness of the mind by next time.]
[W-wait...! Don’t misunderstand me!]
[By the way, is that Silver Wood beside you also a transmigrator?]
The sudden question blanked Lacey’s mind for a moment. Still, she refused to let herself be played for a fool and answered quickly.
[No.]
[Then is he your boyfriend?]
[Don’t say something so horrible!]
Lacey screamed in genuine disgust, and Yuri did not ask any more questions. That ended their conversation.
“Hoo... Hoo...”
Lacey steadied her breathing as she glared at Yuri and Haryeong’s retreating backs. She was relieved Yuri had not questioned her further about Fabian.
Fabian was a transmigrator. Yet Lacey could not reveal that fact. Relationships between transmigrators had to be handled carefully and delicately.
“What in the world was that about?”
Fabian asked with a blink of his round eyes, but Lacey could not explain anything to him.
“Why did you do that?”
Yuri whispered to Haryeong.
“It slipped out.”
Haryeong answered without looking back. Her lips pressed together for a moment before she spoke again.
“Was that shit sack beside her a transmigrator too?”
“A sack of... what?”
“A shit sack.”
“That’s a little harsh.”
“So, was that shit sack a transmigrator?”
At that moment, Habert Mage Tower’s prized prodigy, Silver Wood Fabian Bazet, unknowingly gained a new nickname.
“She says he isn’t.”
“Really?”
“Probably.”
They belonged to different Mage Towers, but both were favored by their respective Tower Masters. It was not strange for Lacey and Fabian to know one another, but Yuri had already decided Fabian was a transmigrator.
Which raised a new question. Who was Fabian?
Fabian was twenty-one. If that shit sack really was a transmigrator, he was the youngest one Yuri had identified so far.
‘It seems the age people transmigrate into is random.’
The body Yuri, formerly Lee Su-hyeok, had transmigrated into was twenty years old. He did not know exactly how old Lacey had been when she transmigrated, but she had joined the Dersia Mage Tower in her early to mid-teens.
Even considering that transmigration age was random, Fabian had to be the newest transmigrator.
‘The person ranked first before me stayed there for half a year. Could that bastard be him?’
His username had been HeavenGuard.
He was a newbie who had joined near the end of the community, but he was clever and persistent. Yuri had found it admirable how desperately the guy tried to reach first place, so he had written several posts and comments for him. Yet that newbie had not simply taken what was handed to him. He kept grinding away on his own.
‘Could it be him?’
Yuri had not had in-depth conversations with either HeavenGuard in the community or Fabian, so he could not be certain. He put those thoughts aside and glanced at Haryeong walking beside him. Her expression looked the same as always, but she seemed to be in a slightly better mood than before.
“Were you angry because of me?”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Didn’t you get worked up over what happened to me yesterday?”
“You think too highly of yourself. The truth is, I have disliked Lacey Yuzha since we were in Rutlan. That’s the only reason.”
“I don’t think that’s it.”
“Why would I get worked up over you? Don’t say ridiculous things.”
“Yesterday, you said it would be better for my future to eliminate the problem. You were talking about whether to kill her or not.”
“I didn’t mean it. Look, didn’t I gain a great deal of your favor by saying that? That’s why I said it. I’m such a calculating assassin.”
Haryeong spoke quickly without even turning her head. There was no point asking further. She did not seem likely to admit it.
“Yes, I see.”
Yuri snickered and nodded. Whatever the truth was, it did not feel bad to know that someone could get angry on his behalf.
“Why are you smiling? Nothing is funny.”
Just as he was about to answer her pointed remark and sideways glare...
ㅡThud.
The exhibition hall shook violently.
The sudden tremor rocked Yuri and Haryeong. Several mages in the hall lost their balance and collapsed.
“E-earthquake?”
A nearby mage cried out in alarm. The shaking did not stop after one impact. Thud, thud, thud...! As the tremors intensified, more people fell, and quite a few mages floated themselves into the air to keep their balance.
“What the hell is this?”
Mages browsing the booths screamed as well. Nothing like an earthquake of this magnitude had ever occurred in Alderan’s history, and this building was fitted with all manner of disaster-prevention magic.
‘The ground isn’t shaking.’
Startled, Yuri looked down.
The building itself was shaking as though a giant had seized the exhibition hall and begun shaking it.
“Above.”
After swiftly scanning the surroundings, Haryeong spoke. Yuri immediately looked up.
Someone stood beneath the high ceiling at the center of the hall. The figure had not been there moments ago and had not risen from the crowd. The figure had suddenly appeared there and was looking down at the hall.
Their face was hidden. They wore the hood of an enormous robe and a mask with a mouth split wide open.
The unknown freak slowly raised both arms. Wide sleeves slipped down, revealing muscular forearms and a bracelet set with a golden jewel around the right wrist.
‘A cultist?’
The thought came the instant Yuri saw the mask and bracelet. Even if the freak was not a cultist, hovering in the middle of a violently shaking hall while wearing such a grotesque mask was a blatant declaration that they were behind this.
Yuri did not hesitate to throw Black Fang. Haryeong reached the same conclusion. Black Fang and several daggers rushed at the freak.
Lacey made the same decision. ㅡCrackle! A bolt of lightning shot toward the freak, while other mages unleashed attack spells as well.
“Hah.”
A sneer slipped from Agwi’s mouth. ㅡThump! It sounded as if a vast, invisible heart had beaten. At the same time, the air shook violently and a wave spread outward.
The wave first nullified the magic, then stopped Yuri and Haryeong’s daggers.
“So it was you two.”
The light in Agwi’s black eyeholes fixed on Yuri and Haryeong. When Agwi flicked a finger, the suspended daggers spun around and shot toward them.
He had only flicked one finger, but the returned daggers carried considerable force. Even after raising protective force aura, Yuri and Haryeong were pushed backward. Yuri hurriedly caught Black Fang and supported Haryeong around the waist.
They had not truly exchanged blows, but the power carried in those daggers was enough to judge the opponent’s strength. At least as strong as the Withered Crone, a sixth-tier mage. That meant stronger than a bishop. What did that golden bracelet mean? And that mask? When Agwi had said, “So it was you two,” his gaze had been directed precisely at Yuri and Haryeong.
[Yuri.]
Before Haryeong could even use Voice Transmission, Yuri gripped her waist and pulled her backward. Thud, thud, thud! The invisible heartbeat and the hall’s shaking were becoming increasingly violent. Something was about to happen here.
At the sign of disaster, people throughout the hall shouted as they tried to escape. Yuri and Haryeong also prioritized getting out.
Agwi twisted his lips behind the mask and formed a hand seal with both hands before his chest.
This was not a diocese. There were no followers, nor any preparations to amplify divine magic.
Even so, it was enough to swallow an entire exhibition hall. Divine power gathered over years to overthrow a city manifested in black light.
If slaughter had been the only goal, there would have been no need to construct a Pseudo-Sacred Domain.
Yet Agwi was constructing a Pseudo-Sacred Domain to create a Rift centered on this place.
ㅡBzzzzzt!
The black light spreading from Agwi instantly covered the ceiling. Darkness swallowed the lighting, plunging the hall into blackness as though the power had gone out. The darkness clinging to the ceiling looked less like an indoor ceiling than the night sky above.
Something appeared above Agwi’s head, at the heart of that artificial night.
It was a huge, pallid finger.
The bones bulged at its knuckles. A long, sharp nail extended from its tip, dark as though it had been steeped in poison.
The instant they saw the finger, chills ran through everyone in the hall. It was neither martial arts nor magic. It was something entirely different, and it was no illusion. The darkness covering the ceiling was a doorway connected to another world, and a single finger had descended through that doorway into this world.
It was only one finger, but simply looking at it filled Yuri’s chest with nauseating dread.
He could feel Haryeong trembling. When he glanced at her, her face had gone pale and cold sweat ran down her forehead.
Still holding the hand seal, Agwi raised blissful eyes toward the finger.
Then it moved.
The finger slowly bent.
ㅡScreeeech!
The nail dragged through the air.
That was the last thing Yuri saw.
.
.
.
“Ugh.”
The moment I opened my eyes, a pounding headache hit me.
I sat upright and grabbed my sweat-soaked hair with both hands. My hair was not the only thing wet. My body was drenched too, and the short-sleeved shirt and shorts I wore to bed clung to me.
“Ah, fuck...”
Had I had a nightmare? I tugged at my sweat-soaked hair, then dragged my sluggish body upright. My mind slowly began to wake up.
A dream... I thought I had had a dream... but I could not remember it. Maybe I would remember a little more if I had stayed in bed. Dreams were like that. Once I got out of bed, the memory faded.
What was it?
I thought about it for a little longer, but nothing came to mind.
A glance at the clock showed that it was nearly eight in the morning. I did not have time to lie around in bed.
I got out of bed. The sound of the TV and cheerful conversation came from the living room beyond the closed door. Soon, there would be a knock at the door.
“Son? Are you still asleep?”
“Are you going to school without breakfast?”
My mother’s voice would say that.
I turned on the phone beside my wet pillow. The lock screen showed a family photo taken a few months ago. There were quite a few KakaoTalk messages from while I slept. Instead of replying immediately, I turned on the light first.
A large bed, tidy furniture, a good computer.
Woof, woof.
Our dog, Namgung Jin, sure had good ears. Namgung Jin must have heard me already.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
The dog frantically clawed at the door, making a fuss for me to open it.
“Woof!”
When I opened the door, a brown Pomeranian looked up at me with black eyes.
I patted Namgung Jin’s head as the dog panted with its tongue out, then looked up.
“Huh? You got up on your own for once?”
My father was watching TV on the living-room sofa.
“Son, did you sleep well?”
My mother was setting a pot of stew on the dining table.
Woof, woof! Namgung Jin circled my feet as if asking for more pets.
“Uh...”
Throb.
It should have been a familiar morning, but something about it felt strange. Was I still not fully awake? I blinked my dry eyes a few times, then bowed slightly to my mother and father.
“Did you... sleep well?”
“Why are you greeting us like you never do?”
“Come eat breakfast and get ready for school. Don’t keep Elena waiting.”
Elena... Elena?
“Ah, um... okay.”
I could not even immediately remember the name of my only childhood friend. I really must not have fully woken up yet.
Buzz.
My phone rang while I was eating breakfast.
[Still asleep?]
It was Estor.
[Nope, I’m up.]
After replying, I picked up the bowl I had been using and stood.
“Leave it in the sink. Dad will wash the dishes.”
“Ah... okay.”
“Son, you’re acting strange today. Why are you so stiff?”
I did not know. Why was I like this?
Woof!
Namgung Jin barked at me again while holding a chew stick between its front paws. My head no longer hurt, but something... My mind felt foggy.
I should wash my face. No, I had sweated too much in my sleep, so I felt gross. I should shower. Today... What was first period today? School? Right. I had to wear my uniform to go to school.
I showered.
Dried my hair.
Changed my underwear, then put on the uniform hanging in my room.
“I’m off.”
I said that, opened the front door, and stepped outside.
“Why do you look like that?”
I met Elena.
She was a childhood friend I had known since we were little because our parents were friends. We had gone to the same kindergarten, elementary school, and middle school, and now attended the same high school. Friends who knew our history often teased us.
“Aren’t you two going to end up attending the same university too?”
Yes. Elena Heinderga and I were that close.
“What’s wrong with my face?”
“You seriously have to ask?”
The moment I asked, Elena’s white hand reached out, and her cool palm touched my forehead.
“You don’t have a fever.”
Elena muttered. I blinked in surprise, and she tilted her head while staring closely at my face.
“Are you really okay?”
Before I could answer, Elena spoke again.
“Yuri.”
Yuri.
That was my name. My surname was Lee, and my given name was Yuri.
Was that really my name?
The throbbing that had faded began again. My chest churned. No, it burned as though there were a fire inside it.
“L-let’s go.”
My chest was still hot, but I did not want to think about it any further. It felt like everything would end if I learned what that heat came from.
So I forced my feet forward.
“Let’s go together!”
Elena, wearing a puzzled expression, quickly came alongside me.
I pressed the button and waited for the elevator to come up. A scent of an unfamiliar flower drifted from Elena beside me. When I glanced over, I saw the blue flower-shaped hairpin in her hair. Beyond her neatly arranged blond hair, I could see her pale skin and blue eyes gleaming like the hairpin.
“What?”
Perhaps noticing my gaze, Elena turned toward me and smiled. I could not answer, so I only gave an awkward smile and looked ahead.
The elevator arrived, and its doors opened. A mirror stood directly inside, reflecting Elena and me side by side.
“Aren’t you getting in?”
Elena, who had pressed the button for the first floor, turned toward me.
It was hard to move.
The person in the mirror did not feel like me.
My chest burned as though it were being seared by fire.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
