Chapter 7
“An hour?”
It was a shocking result.
Strange. I hadn't realized so little time had passed.
It felt like I had spent nearly half a day meditating.
Besides, he had said it would take three days to begin with.
“I did it properly… right?”
I wrote a post first.
_____
Title: I Just Got a First Circle.
Author: ㅇㅇ(9F)
It took an hour… Is that okay?
And instead of a sea, something like drought-stricken land appeared…
I did obtain a circle, so there shouldn't be a problem, right?
______
Refresh.
[Comments]
ㅇㅇ(216F) : What? Why are you back already?
ㅇㅇ(341F) : ??? Did you actually do it?
ㅇㅇ(452F) : How does this make any sense…
ㅇㅇ(710F): This was basically just taking a nap;;;;;;;
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(351F) : For real, didn't you just doze off and confuse it with a dream?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(9F)(Author) : Nope. I can still see the circle inside me.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(621F) : This is fucking ridiculous… Did you really clear it in an hour?
They looked disbelieving that I had returned after only an hour.
It was only after I answered the gallery members' questions about whether I had actually used black magic several times that I managed to convince them.
ㅇㅇ(431F) : How is this real… damn.
ㅇㅇ(710F) : This is fucking absurd.
ㅇㅇ(621F) : Jealous jealous jealous jealous jealousjealous jealous jealous
ㅇㅇ(312F) : Is the newbie a talent monster, or is Colonoscopy an idiot? Isn't this normally supposed to take hardly any time?
ㅇㅇ(274F) : Who's Colonoscopy?
ㄴㅇㅇ(312F) : Captain Death Note.
ㄴㅇㅇ(511F) : LOL, I think he's just speaking from his own standards?
ㄴㅇㅇ(621F) : No… anyone who uses black magic knows the next circle takes at least a day, no matter how high your Intelligence is.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(451F) : Even a day at minimum is insanely fast. People using dragon-based magic take ten years per circle, lol. But one hour? LMAOOOOOOOO
ㅇㅇ(621F): At this rate, won't they be firing instant-death spells tomorrow? Let's go smash Floor 1000 right now.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(421F) : Voodoo practitioner apprehended.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(621F): They're such a talent monster it's kind of pissing me off;; Even the fact that they didn't see a sea seems special…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(211F) : For real lol.
Long reactions continued, but they were all just shocked comments.
There was no answer to my question.
I needed an explanation for the cracked earth I had seen.
I was attracting envy, but that was all I was worried about.
‘Where did Master go…?’
After waiting a little, the username I had been waiting for appeared.
데스노트대장경 : Congratulations! You may well be happy that you fished out a circle in such a short time. You possess the same peerless talent as I do!
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(9F)(Author) : Then did you see land instead of a sea too, Master…?
데스노트대장경 : Not quite.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F) : Then let's leave out the “same as me” part, shall we…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(671F) : For real lol.
Then what had I seen?
Master didn't seem to know either.
데스노트대장경 : You didn't see the Black Sea? How strange. I don't know this place called the parched land you visited. If you didn't retrieve it from the Black Sea, how did you obtain your circle?
To ask how I obtained it—obviously, I bent down…
ㄴㅇㅇ(9F)(Author) : I just picked one up off the ground. You said bigger was better, so I picked the biggest one…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(621F) : ???
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : That's not something you can farm like that…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(451F) : Circle adoption is a whole new kind of pacifist farming method, LMAOOOO
ㄴ 마카농 : Things lying on the ground are yucky.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : But now that I think about it, if it was land instead of a sea, you would have seen the circles scattered all over the ground.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(451F) : Did the newbie eat all the seawater so they would show up?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : As if that could happen… You must have sunk into a different type of space.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(621F) : …So the newbie went to an all-you-can-eat buffet alone?
A buffet, huh. I suppose that was one way of putting it.
Honestly, I had no idea what was going on. I just hoped it wasn't a problem.
The other comments buzzed for a while, then Master left a single comment.
데스노트대장경: You… chose the circle yourself?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(621F) : Dude.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : What are we supposed to do if even Master doesn't know…?
ㄴㅇㅇ(319F) : This is the first time I've seen him surprised lol.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(432F) : The self-proclaimed transcendent genius just had a mental breakdown LMAOOOOOOOOOO
It was the worst.
That meant nobody knew anything about what I had done.
ㄴㅇㅇ(9F)(Author) : Should I have come out and asked for advice? I picked the biggest one. But I didn't expect to get it right away either…
데스노트대장경: …No, you did well. As I said, the larger it is, the better the quality… How large was it, specifically?
ㄴㅇㅇ(9F)(Author) : About one meter in diameter.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : ????????????
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(315F) : Holy shit, that's enormous dddddddd
ㄴㅇㅇ(621F) : My 6.9-cm small circle is just going to kill itself, peace.
데스노트대장경: …Everything about you is a mystery.
It was definitely something extraordinary.
As the comments said, it was the first time I had seen Master speak like this.
데스노트대장경 : In the Black Sea, you cannot see beneath the surface, so you cannot choose a circle. Normally, you have to accept whatever the waves hand you. How peculiar… Was there anything else?
“…Ah, there was that.”
I had briefly forgotten because I had been fixated on the fact that no sea had appeared, but something else unusual had happened.
ㄴㅇㅇ(9F)(Author) : When I pulled the circle on the ground free, I heard a scream from the earth. It startled me so much I almost dropped it.
After I said that, Master did not leave a comment for quite some time.
As if he had been rendered speechless.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : What the hell is that supposed to be…
ㄴㅇㅇ(621F) : The circle screamed?
ㄴㅇㅇ(9F)(Author) : ㄴㄴ The scream came from the ground.
Soon, a reply came.
데스노트대장경 : …You took the circle of a living person.
“Hmm?”
“Huh?”
ㄴㅇㅇ(621F) : ㄱㅡ
ㄴㅇㅇ(355F) : LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WTF
ㄴㅇㅇ(249F) : Wait, did they just tear it out of a living mage?
ㄴㅇㅇ(351F) : The mage who got their circle stolen must be absolutely devastated lol.
ㄴㅇㅇ(605F) Just dead, aren't they? LOL
마카농: Ooooh… bad Reaper…
“That scream was… a human scream?”
No, it definitely had been a human scream.
‘I thought it was just a sound effect…’
데스노트대장경 : If I had to guess, the parched land seems to be a place where the circles of living mages are put on display.
데스노트대장경 : This is truly unprecedented. How did you sink into such a place…?
I had nothing to say.
I had no way of knowing how I had ended up there.
ㄴㅇㅇ(9F)(Author) : But aren't the circles retrieved from the Black Sea someone else's, too?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : Those belong to dead mages…
ㄴㅇㅇ(9F)(Author) : ?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : The Black Sea is a place where the corpses of dead mages' circles float around.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : That's why black magic doesn't require you to create a circle “yourself.”
“So that's how it is…”
It made sense.
The Black Sea was, so to speak, an animal shelter for abandoned dogs.
A place where you could pick up a puppy with no owner.
On the other hand, the parched land I'd gone to was more like a puppy kindergarten.
Kidnapping a puppy that was already being loved at the puppy kindergarten…
No… That metaphor was getting a little violent…
‘Ah, whatever. I'll just charge straight ahead!’
ㄴㅇㅇ(9F)(Author) : But is that really not allowed? Would it cause a problem?
ㄴㅇㅇ(710F) : It's not like you can't do it lol.
ㄴ 마카농 : Ooooh… psycho Reaper…
데스노트대장경: As far as I know, there is absolutely no problem with it. Black magic only requires that you fulfill the conditions of the shortcut.
ㄴㅇㅇ(9F)(Author) : By shortcut… you mean a shortcut?
ㄴ데스노트대장경: Correct. It's a lucky break. You simply use someone else's circle without creating one of your own. In your case, you seized a living person's circle, so you could say it conforms even more closely to the spirit of black magic. Excellent.
ㄴㅇㅇ(9F)(Author) : Thank you…
Humanity: failed. Demonhood: passed.
In the Demon King's Army, I could say I was becoming a valuable asset.
Well, a win was a win.
Besides, I would probably never even learn who that faceless mage was.
It wasn't as if we would ever meet…
Hmm…
“I have to hurry and escape above Floor 100…”
I decided to make more progress.
A mage with a circle that enormous had to be someone of considerable standing, if nothing else.
It was not impossible that he might somehow locate me…
I hurriedly asked. Now that I had a circle, it was time to learn magic.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(9F)(Author) : What comes next?
ㄴ 데스노트대장경 : Good, the basics are over. From here on, we begin proper training.
I was ready. Even if I wasn't, I was.
I swallowed hard and waited for the next comment.
데스노트대장경 : There is a gate you must pass through to awaken the Reaper's secret art and foundation—the instant-death ability.
“What is it??”
I was so curious that when I tried to type a comment, my voice came out instead.
But before I could even ask, this reply came back.
데스노트대장경 : You must die once by your own hand.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(9F)(Author) : Excuse me?
I doubted my eyes.
He wanted me to die?
ㄴ 데스노트대장경 : To reach the Reaper realm, you must take your own life and cross the threshold of death.
ㄴ 데스노트대장경 : Now, cut your own throat with that scythe!
My mind went completely blank.
It wasn't just me.
The entire gallery nearly fainted.
ㅇㅇ(432F) : He said it so calmly it almost sounds like no big deal lol.
ㅇㅇ(418F) : Isn't this old man fucking insane? Protect the newbieeee
ㅇㅇ(241F) : Hey, is this actually right? Can some Reapers weigh in, for fuck's sake;
ㅇㅇ(461F) : Is he trying to trample a budding talent monster?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(241F) : For real, it just seems like he's trying to kill the transcendent genius out of jealousy…
ㅇㅇ(621F) : Reaper black magic is fucking hardcore lol.
I was confused.
Cut my own throat?
ㄴ 데스노트대장경 : Do you know the true purpose of the enormous scythes the Reaper race is born possessing? It is not to cut down enemies. That scythe was designed to cut your own throat.
ㄴㅇㅇ(154F) : A silver dagger dddd
ㄴㅇㅇ(621F) : Is that for real? Reaper roleplay is fucking hardcore…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : It is, lol.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(9F)(Author) : But… if I cut my throat, won't I just die…?
ㄴ 데스노트대장경 : Correct. You will die.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F) : Ding ding ding, lol.
데스노트대장경 : While experiencing death, a Reaper can sink into the Reaper realm and consult the Great Stone Tablet. Find your own name—the name of the self you killed—and erase it from the Great Stone Tablet. Then you will gain the right to inscribe upon the tablet, and that is the instant-death ability. If you cannot do this, this is as far as you go.
‘The first thing you learn being an instant-death ability is seriously hardcore…’
The curriculum was bizarre.
I suppose that was because I was a Reaper.
ㄴ 데스노트대장경 : If cutting your own throat is truly too frightening, wait for the golden carriage. You can buy an anesthetic and swallow it.
So they sold things like that on the golden carriage?
I hurriedly typed a question.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(9F)(Author) : Guys, when did you say the golden carriage comes?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(505F) : Payday is in three days. The golden carriage comes then, too.
Three days.
My breath caught.
Wait three days?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(9F)(Author) : Ah, I can't wait three days. I'll just cut it now.
The gallery erupted.
ㄴ 펜리르 : You crazy bitch, stop!!!!!!!!!!!!
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(418F) : Hey hey heyX17
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(148F) : You're really doing it???
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(741F) : Did the need for speed melt their brain, for fuck's sake LOL
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(9F)(Author) : It should be fine, since this won't take any time anyway.
I roughly shut off the hologram panel.
Shing.
I picked up the scythe lying on the floor.
“Its name was… definitely Death Scythe, right?”
It was a fearsome-looking thing, now that I thought about it.
A long handle. And a black blade curved inward.
No matter how I looked at it, it wasn't for farming.
But who would have thought it was for suicide?
I reversed my grip on the scythe.
I brought it to the back of my neck.
I felt the cold metal against my skin.
It gave me goosebumps.
It wasn't a stethoscope, yet I could feel my pulse.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The pulse of the veins throbbing beneath my skin traveled through the blade
straight to my fingertips.
I swallowed audibly.
I drew a deep breath.
Then I opened my eyes wide.
I clenched my molars tight and…
“Kyaaaaaaaah!!”