Chapter 12: Do it if you can (3)
Translator: miraclerifle
Yes, one thing was different than in his memories.
“Mommy! What is this place?!”
“What is going on?! Let me out of here!”
It was the people who got caught up in the tomb with him. He had not paid much attention because he was looking around the tomb at first, but it was quite chaotic nearby.
“Get lost motherf.u.c.kers! Don’t stand behind me!”
“Who do you think you are to touch me! You"re nothing!”
There were people crying on the ground, as well as people going wild and fighting each other like bulls.
There were also debris from the Yeongdeungpo station shops probably because they were damaged by the Evacuation-Grade Tomb Appearance. The sight of the mannequins looking like human corpses looked grotesque as well.
“d.a.m.n it, how the h.e.l.l did I end up in here when I was just shopping for new clothes?! Did we fall underground or something?”
“Please get me out of here!”
There were about 50 people around him.
They were crying that they suddenly ended up in a weird place, however, it was understandable.
Tombs at the Evacuation-Grade or higher had tendencies to gobble up people without dealing with an entrance. It was because those artifacts wanted to see as many people die as possible.
It was one of their terrible hobbies.
‘This tomb and the test by the artifact is at the level of the Saw movies.’
And lo and behold.
[A heinous aura has been detected. The artifact’s malice toward rulers has been detected.]
[Injury danger. The artifact’s heinous aura is p.r.i.c.king at your body.]
[You must protect your body.]
A warning message appeared in front of his eyes. Ju-Heon laughed while looking at that.
‘It’s already started.’
Violent artifact b.a.s.t.a.r.ds had a tendency to only attack rulers, aka artifact users.
They had many different methods they used, but the most common of them was by causing illnesses.
These d.a.m.n artifacts seemed to understand that one of the things humans feared the most was being sick.
Proof of that was how the people who had entered this tomb in the past had ended up with skin cancer. Not only that, it was a strand of skin cancer that could only be cured by healing artifacts.
Lo and behold, Ju-Heon also felt some p.r.i.c.kling pain on his arm. Small cuts that resembled papercuts started to appear and get infected on his arm.
Ju-Heon who saw that realized he forgot about something.
‘I’ll be in danger too if I take too long.’
Ju-Heon who knew that was the case quickly started to look around. Time was of the essence in such tombs but there was nothing that should cause any problems.
He already knew about the artifact inside this tomb.
The area was filled with weapons as Ju-Heon expected.
There were broken blades stabbed into the walls and old weapon handles scattered on the ground.
Those blades were in many different shapes such as spears, daggers, etc, but none of them looked to look created in the Western style.
Eastern style.
The shape of the hilt and the design of the blades revealed they were j.a.panese.
He was certain of it based on his experience.
‘Muramasa.’
People may wonder why a j.a.panese artifact would show up in Korea, but it wasn’t weird.
Artifacts appeared around the world at random.
That was why there were a lot of national disputes over the rights to different artifacts.
One of the major ones had been...
‘It was quite the spectacle when an Islamic artifact appeared in the US.’
Some of the Sunnites talked about how they couldn’t let some American dogs use their sacred Islamic artifact. It led to them killing the artifact user and committing terrorism in the US.
That was just one example of how nationalism or religious belief could cause the world to go wild depending on the artifact.
There was someone like that in this tomb as well.
“Don"t move.”
A vicious voice ordered Ju-Heon from behind.
Ju-Heon peeked back after hearing a familiar voice. Standing behind him was Abe who was swept up into the tomb after having chased after Ju-Heon. It looked as if he had lived up to his status as a soldier and quietly snuck up behind Ju-Heon.
“You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, I got you now.”
Ju-Heon then felt something stiff on his back.
Ju-Heon thought he could tell what it was even though he couldn’t see it.
It was a gun.
Abe looked at the backpack over one of Ju-Heon’s shoulders and started to speak.
“You, open your backpack.”
Abe was hoping for something. If this was the b.a.s.t.a.r.d who took the gold axe silver axe artifact, it was possible that he brought it with him into the tomb.
Ju-Heon’s eyes curled up as he smiled.
‘I guess that seer made him suspect me.’
Although it would not be weird for Ju-Heon to run away having realized that fact, he seemed to have no issues showing Abe what was in his backpack.
The contents were simple camping equipment.
Abe was shocked at what he saw. The item he had expected to see in there was missing.
‘I don"t see the gold axe silver axe artifact......?’
There was an X knife and a shovel used for camping but those were general items that could be bought anywhere.
Abe looked back and forth between Ju-Heon’s back and the backpack before getting anxious. The prophecy had said that he might be able to encounter the gold axe silver axe artifact again.
‘Is it not this b.a.s.t.a.r.d?’
Abe clicked his tongue in the end.
“Enough. Slowly turn around because I have some questions to ask you.”
Ju-Heon could see Abe pointing the gun at him as well as the civilians who ended up in the tomb as well.
They were shaking after seeing the gun in Abe’s hand. How could they not be scared when they ended up in a weird place and there was a monstrous man holding a gun?
However, Abe found it more important to confirm this b.a.s.t.a.r.d’s ident.i.ty.
‘I need to get rid of him if this b.a.s.t.a.r.d really is the Tomb Raider mentioned in the prophecy.’
Otherwise, he might even get the artifact from this tomb taken away!
Abe already knew that the artifact in this tomb was Muramasa. It was thanks to the seer. The j.a.panese government also considered Muramasa as one of the representative blades of j.a.pan and an item that was connected to the Samurai mindset.
j.a.pan would be angry and find it shameful if a foreigner was to take such an artifact and use it.
‘We can’t lose it to any other country.’
If that were to happen, the j.a.panese Prime Minister and the executives would never forgive Abe.
He had been selected as a member of the excavation team from the large number of JSDF soldiers because he was able to use artifacts.
A lot of responsibilities came with such a position.
That was why Abe bit down on his lips.
“Hey Korean, answer if you don"t want to die.”
"Answer what?”
Of course, unlike the serious Abe, Ju-Heon looked very relaxed and picking his ear.
Abe had to suppress his anger as he asked in j.a.panese.
“Where were you around 7pm two nights ago?”
Ju-Heon’s scoff echoed inside the tomb.
“Are you a cop?”
“What?”
“Are you a cop? I don"t think I have any reason to answer that question.”
Abe scoffed at Ju-Heon’s cheeky answer.
‘This cheeky b.a.s.t.a.r.d.’
He pointed the gun at Ju-Heon and opened his eyes wide.
“Hey. Can’t you see this?”
“I can? It"s a gun.”
Ju-Heon then started to laugh. There was no way someone would respond like this unless they had gone crazy.
“Answer me if you don"t want your head blown off.”
Ju-Heon who had been picking his ear snorted before responding like this.
“Oh is that so? You’re going to fire the gun?”
“Hey, Korean. Use your head. I just need to kill you and all of the witnesses inside the tomb.”
“Mm, it probably won"t work so you shouldn’t fire it.”
"What did you say?”
‘Is he really crazy?!’
Abe who had veins popping out of his forehead started to laugh viciously.
“Fine, I guess a b.a.s.t.a.r.d like you needs to lose a leg to come to your senses!”
Abe could not hold his anger back anymore and caused an incident. He had pulled the trigger toward Ju-Heon.
Bang!
The people around them screamed after hearing the gun go off. They were waiting for Ju-Heon to start screaming as well.
Why would anybody mess with someone holding a gun?
However, something unexpected happened.
“Aaah!”
The one to scream was Abe and not Ju-Heon.
The gun had exploded as soon as Abe pulled the trigger and injured his hand.
“Ugh!”
Abe clenched his bloodied hand before falling down. Ju-Heon watched him fall to the ground and started to scoff.
“I told you not to fire it. You stupid idiot.”
“You!”
Ju-Heon peeked at Abe"s hand and clicked his tongue.
“Well, you should feel lucky that it ended with just that even though you are inside a tomb.”
Ju-Heon said that and then kicked Abe"s b.u.t.t as if telling him to get out of the way.
The reason Abe’s gun exploded was simple. They were inside a tomb. No modern weapons would work inside a tomb.
That wasn’t the only thing.
Artifacts were b.a.s.t.a.r.ds who would destroy any item that might cause them harm, even if it was just a cellphone.
That is why anybody who used a weapon inside a tomb controlled by an artifact would end up like Abe.
‘This is the reason the only way to fight inside tombs is by using artifacts or martial arts.’
On the other hand, Abe who did not know about this could only shake as he held his hand.
‘I guess this b.a.s.t.a.r.d really is the b.a.s.t.a.r.d from the prophecy!’
It would be weird if he didn’t find Ju-Heon to be suspicious especially after seeing how knowledgeable he was about tombs.
Abe started to grind his teeth.
“Were you the one who took the gold axe silver axe artifact?!”
Ju-Heon patted Abe"s shoulder and laughed.
“Yes, you idiot. How can you not realize it when it is right in front of you?”
Ju-Heon took something out of his backpack. It was the camping axe that Abe had not paid any attention to.
Abe was shocked after seeing it.
“That!”
Ju-Heon used his dominance on the gold axe to activate it. This caused the generic-looking axe to glow from end to end before it changed into a gold color.
Abe could not close his mouth in shock as he watched.
“......It was clearly a generic axe so how did that?!”
Ju-Heon scoffed after the gold axe regained its original appearance.
"What is it? I guess your talented seer-nim doesn’t know how to disguise artifacts?”
“!”
Ju-Heon then gave an order in a low voice.
“Find the treasures. Gold axe.”
Ju-Heon smiled as the axe started to sparkle. The axe started to resonate with a single item in the mountain of weapons.
‘I guess Muramasa is over there.’
Ju-Heon started to run after realizing that fact. Abe who confirmed this was about to foam at the mouth.
"d.a.m.n it, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d!’
He could not let this b.a.s.t.a.r.d take Muramasa!
‘I have no choice.’
Now that things were like this, Abe had no choice but to also use an artifact to track him down.
He would get rid of the other people after that!
Abe then clenched his injured hand and rummaged through his pockets.
However.
“!”
The artifacts that should be in his pocket were missing. Both of the artifacts he had stolen in Korea were gone!
They were definitely there when he entered the tomb!
“d.a.m.n it, where did my artifacts go?!”
His shout echoed throughout the tomb.
Of course, there was no reason to find this to be odd.
It was just that this soldier did not know about it.
The Korean person inside the prophecy was someone with a wicked habit of stealing things.