WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Oblivious
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◈ The World Is Not a Game ◈
Chapter 11
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Hyeokjin answered before Chuck had even finished his question.
Chuck's eyes widened at his answer, and he followed up with more questions. Nikki, seated beside him, also watched Hyeokjin with curiosity.
With both of them looking at him for an answer, Hyeokjin let out a small sigh and spoke with a bitter expression.
“She said she wanted to run for governor of Texas this time and asked for my support. I told her not to run, but she kept insisting, so I took some action. She makes a living ripping off Korean refugees, yet there she was, going on about helping her one million fellow Koreans... I was so disgusted I couldn't even speak.”
“Ah, right. I've been getting requests like that lately, too.”
Nikki let out a deep sigh and nodded, looking as though she understood all too well. She was an American citizen now, but she was originally from Czechia.
Like Hyeokjin, she was a Closer who had fled to America after her homeland was swallowed by a shadow world.
Since they were in the same situation, she often went through similar things.
Perhaps remembering something irritating, she frowned briefly and muttered what sounded like curses in Czech. Then she looked at Hyeokjin and spoke.
“Hey, wasn't that a bit much, though? You stripped all the skin off her face. One of her eyes was completely ruptured. Looks like she'll need an artificial one.”
“Yes, I admit I went a little too far. But I had no choice. If I'd gone easy on her and left it at that, she would've used my name in her campaign. And sadly, there was a good chance it would work. I already saw what happened when my younger sister got into a position of power back in Korea. Someone like her shouldn't hold high office. This was for her sake, and for the people we have left. I suppose I'm just not capable enough to think of another way to stop her.”
Hyeokjin frowned and scratched his temple with his index finger.
Nikki watched him with a complicated expression, while Chuck, who had first brought up the subject, cleared his throat.
“Ahem. It seems my idle curiosity has opened an old wound.”
“It's fine. It's been almost twenty years now, and I've more or less learned to live with it. Besides, you must've wanted to ask who she was ever since you saw my sister earlier.”
“To be honest... yes. I kept quiet because I knew you wouldn't hurt an ordinary person without good reason, but I couldn't help being curious. Now, let's leave this bitter business behind us. You haven't seen my congratulatory gift yet, have you?”
As if trying to lift the slightly somber mood, Chuck spoke in a deliberately cheerful voice. He picked up a wooden box and set it in front of Hyeokjin.
At his urging look, Hyeokjin carefully opened it. Inside, nestled in black velvet padding, were a beautiful crystal decanter and two crystal glasses decorated with silver stags.
The sunset-colored whisky and the beauty of the decanter itself combined to make it glow like amber. Hyeokjin had once devoted himself to enjoying life and had bought and drunk plenty of expensive liquor, but he had never seen anything quite like this.
“...What exactly is this?”
“Dalmore 62. I bought it forty years ago for a hundred and eighty thousand dollars. Somehow, I ended up keeping it all this time without drinking it. I thought it would make a fine gift for your promotion.”
Chuck grinned as he answered, clearly pleased with himself. Hyeokjin turned back to the amber glow of the decanter and nodded.
“I've never heard the name before, but I can tell it's something very rare. It's a shame my body's like this. Otherwise, I'd open it and have a drink right now. In any case, thank you for the gift, sir. I'll keep it safe.”
“No, I brought it to drink with you.”
“...Sorry? But I can only drink purified water. You know what my body's like, sir.”
Almost all of Hyeokjin's internal organs had been removed to make room for a miniaturized alchemical engine.
The engine carried out the functions needed to keep him alive, so he had no particular trouble living. But without digestive organs, he couldn't eat food.
The only things Hyeokjin could consume were energy cubes processed with warp energy and thoroughly purified water.
And Chuck wanted to have a drink with him? At Hyeokjin's puzzled question, Chuck smiled.
“Of course I know. But surely those artificial organs inside you aren't so delicate that a little alcohol will break them? A drink or two wouldn't hurt them, would it?”
Hyeokjin lowered his gaze to his abdomen.
He knew the designs and operating principles of the machinery installed in his body inside out, so it didn't take him long to reach a conclusion.
As equipment made for a Closer, his energy absorption unit was as tough as they came. Even if all sorts of filth went into it, never mind alcohol, it would simply fail to digest it. It wouldn't break.
“No, that wouldn't damage it. It's a foreign substance in liquid form, so it'll be expelled naturally through my pores.”
“Right? Then let's all have a drink.”
“But I won't get drunk even if I drink it...”
“No, you won't get drunk on the alcohol. Our bodies work far too well for that. But alcohol isn't the only thing that can make you drunk. You can get drunk on the mood, too. And Dalmore 62 is more than enough to create the right mood. Most of your body may have been replaced with prosthetics, but you still have your senses of taste and smell, don't you? That's enough to enjoy yourself and mark the occasion.”
As he spoke, Chuck smoothly took the whisky and glasses out of the box. He set one glass in front of Hyeokjin, then put the remaining one in front of Nikki and stood up.
“We're a glass short. I'll get one from the sink...”
“No, I'm fine. You two drink. Maybe it's because I'm having coffee, but I don't really feel like it.”
Before Chuck could finish, Nikki waved the glass of iced coffee in her hand and pushed away the crystal glass with her other hand.
Her refusal broke the mood. Hyeokjin tensed, worried that things might turn unpleasant again, but Chuck only frowned slightly before giving a small nod and sitting back down.
“We can't force someone to drink if they don't want to. Well, then, let's have a drink, just us men.”
Chuck removed the stopper and poured the whisky, then handed a glass to Hyeokjin, who carefully accepted it.
Amber liquid filled the glass. The moment Hyeokjin caught the sweet scent of dried fruit rising from it, he felt a faint wave of dizziness.
'...What was that?'
He shook his head lightly to clear it, then frowned and stared hard at the glass.
One second? No, the dizziness had lasted only about a tenth of a second. An ordinary person might have wondered whether they were a little tired and soon forgotten about it, but Hyeokjin was a Closer.
And a Closer classified as quasi-S-rank, at that. He had withstood mental attacks that interfered with his brain's functions to cause fear and terror. For someone like him to feel dizzy was far from normal.
Now wary of Chuck, who had handed him the drink, Hyeokjin immediately activated his ability.
An alchemical engine connected to the olfactory nerves in his nose began working, amplifying the scent signals entering his brain thousands of times over. At the same time, the analytical artificial eye set in his left socket visualized the warp energy waves inside the whisky glass and sent the results to his brain.
...But there was nothing unusual.
The whisky contained no drugs or warp energy. It was simply ordinary liquor.
Seeing Hyeokjin scan the drink, Chuck gave a hearty laugh as he poured his own.
“Haha, an occupational habit, Hyeokjin? Scanning your drink?”
“Oh, I was just wondering what exactly it was...”
“Planning to analyze its ingredients and make a copy? Well, that wouldn't be a bad idea, either. Now, let's have a toast.”
Chuck raised his full glass. Reluctantly, Hyeokjin lifted his own and clinked it against Chuck's.
As soon as they had toasted, Chuck happily brought his drink to his lips. Hyeokjin, however, remained stiff, staring at the whisky in his glass.
Both the warp energy scan and the physical examination showed that it was perfectly normal liquor.
And with Chuck drinking it without hesitation, the chance of it being dangerous was close to zero.
It was possible that Chuck had done something to it, but he wasn't an enemy. He was a comrade who would enter an SS-rank dungeon alongside Hyeokjin, with humanity's fate at stake.
Hyeokjin understood that perfectly well.
And yet... he had a bad feeling.
A powerful sense of revulsion filled his mind, so strong that he would rather have swallowed a neurotoxin.
Had Nikki refused the drink, even at the risk of a falling-out with Chuck, because she had sensed something, too? Was there something else he didn't know?
As Hyeokjin hesitated with the glass in his hand, his instincts warning him not to drink it, Chuck took a sip and smiled in satisfaction.
“Excellent. It's a shame we don't have any ice, but the whisky's so good that it's fine as it is. Go on, try it. It's wonderful.”
Unable to refuse Chuck's urging, Hyeokjin removed the breathing apparatus covering the lower half of his face and set it on the table.
Without it, the whisky's scent grew even stronger. Another wave of dizziness swept over him, but Hyeokjin tipped back his glass and drained it without hesitation. After swallowing the liquor, he frowned, then relaxed and let the corners of his mouth rise. Just as he'd thought, nothing was wrong. That bad feeling had only been his imagination...
'...Huh?'
It felt as though his mind had exploded. Darkness rushed in at the same instant, and Hyeokjin's head dropped before he could resist.
* * *
After Hyeokjin drained his glass in one gulp, he lost his balance and began to collapse. Nikki quickly caught his upper body.
He had gone completely limp. His eyes were still half open, but they were unfocused.
Seeing that he was completely unconscious, Nikki straightened him up and put the breathing apparatus from the table back over the lower half of his face. Then she frowned at Chuck.
“That's seriously creepy. A quasi-S-rank Closer who could drink a whole bowl of neurotoxin without blinking, dropping like that after one glass of liquid. What the hell is that stuff? Some new kind of warp energy poison?”
Her gaze was cold with disgust. Reacting to her emotions, warp energy naturally poured out of her as an oppressive presence.
An ordinary person would have felt as though they were standing before an enormous venomous snake, frozen in terror. But the man facing her was an S-rank Closer, just like her. As though it were nothing, Chuck gently swirled the whisky in his glass, moving it in circles to mix the liquor with air and release its aroma, and shook his head.
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