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Side Story Chapter 18: Temple of Truth (1)

’Fuck my life. Fuck getting fresh air. I should’ve just lazed around at home with Darling. Where are we even going?’

Kang-Woo had no idea because all he could see was golden light. He felt as if countless arms were pulling him in. He was falling, falling, and falling some m—

"Hurgh!" Kang-Woo opened his eyes as he coughed. He drew out his meager amount of demonic energy and looked around. "Where am I…?"

He was in a large garden filled with golden light. Seeing the white water pouring out of a giant fountain cleared his head.

"The hell? Did I die and go to heaven?"

The garden was so beautiful that Kang-Woo naturally had such thoughts.

’No.’ He shook his head. ’Think calmly. There’s no way I would go to heaven.’

Rather, he couldn’t even die.

"Then where am I…?"

Kang-Woo looked around and saw a giant building beyond the trees entangled like a maze.

"A temple?"

It was a grand temple that one would normally see in Indian films.

’Where the hell is this place?’

Kang-Woo frowned and clenched his fists. Just then, Kang-Tae-Soo, who had been unconscious near Kang-Woo, woke up.

"Urghhh, wh-where are we, hyung-nim?"

Kang-Woo leaped into the air without hesitation.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!!!"

"Kurgh!!"

Bash—!

Kang-Woo furiously kicked Tae-Soo’s chin with all his might. He then got on top of Tae-Soo, tumbling across the ground, and grabbed his collar.

"You should’ve just kept your fucking mouth shut if you didn’t know the answer!!"

"Kurgh! Urgh! I-I am sorry, hyung-nim! I-I made a mistake!!"

"How the fuck do you even make that kind of mistake, you fucking idiot?!"

"W-Well…"

"Who in their right fucking mind would want to be remembered for telling people to become famous by taking a shit?! Huh?!"

"But you would become famous, would you not?"

"That’s not the fucking issue, dammit!!"

Kang-Woo shook Tae-Soo by the collar in unrestrained fury.

Tae-Soo coughed as he shouted, "I am so sorry, hyung-nim!"

Boom!

He smashed his head into the ground so hard that it cracked the garden floor and burst into tears.

"I thought it was the right answer!!"

"..."

"Sniff. My… My brainless self ended up dragging you into danger!"

"I can’t argue with that."

’The shit you made is so big that I can’t say otherwise.’

"I am sorry! I am sorry! I am sorry, hyung-nim!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Tae-Soo slammed his head into the ground in tears. The stone floor caved in as if an excavator dug it. Kang-Woo reached out to Tae-Soo.

"Stop it Tae-Soo."

’You’re gonna make your idiot brain dumber.’

"Sniff!"

"Haaa," Kang-Woo sighed.

He knew Tae-Soo meant no harm but that did not quell his rage.

’But now isn’t the time to blame others.’

They needed to rack their brains on how to get out of this unknown temple.

"That aside, where are we?" Kang-Woo wondered.

"Who knows…?"

"Let’s take a look around first."

If this was where the Players who failed to correctly answer the Wikiholic’s questions were sent, there might be other Players here.

’There doesn’t seem to be anything dangerous.’

It was but a beautiful garden.

"Hyung-nim! There is something written on the fountain!" Tae-Soo shouted as he pointed at the fountain spewing white water.

Kang-Woo approached the fountain and saw a language he had never seen before. He placed his hand on the letters faintly glowing gold.

Whoooom!

The letters shone brighter once he placed his hand on them.

[Only those who have realized the Great Akart’s truth may leave this temple.]

"The hell is this?"

Kang-Woo frowned as the meaning of the message flowed into his head.

’That means there’s a way to get out of this place.’

He had no idea what it meant to realize the Great Akart’s truth, but they would be able to escape this temple if they fulfilled certain conditions.

"Let’s move, Tae-Soo."

"Understood."

They couldn’t dilly-dally now that they found out there was a way to get out of this place. Kang-Woo turned around and stared at the temple afar.

’I think we have to go there.’

However, Kang-Woo needed to do something before they moved.

"Abyss Summoning."

Wriggle.

Kang-Woo’s hand split and the black mucus that flowed out of it gathered on the ground.

[A-Arghh. I am… Wrath…]

"Hyung-nim, what is…"

"Think of it as a summon." Kang-Woo summoned Satan and then set out as he looked around. "Wait."

He was walking to the temple through the maze-like garden and then grabbed Tae-Soo, who was walking in front of him with his shield out, by the shoulder.

"Did you find something, hyung-nim?"

"The smell."

Kang-Woo frowned and pinched his nose. A putrid scent that couldn’t be imagined came from a heavenly garden wafted over.

"Urgh," Tae-Soo also belatedly noticed the scent and frowned.

Kang-Woo carefully walked to where the putrid scent was coming from.

"..."

He arrived to see corpses as if they had been ripped apart by something. The pieces of the corpses covering the garden floor were so small that Kang-Woo couldn’t tell how many people there were originally.

"Hyung-nim… This is the mark of the Onnuri Guild," said Tae-Soo as he picked up a bracelet on a severed arm.

The Onnuri Guild was one of Korea’s five great guilds.

"There… must be something in this garden."

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes and examined the corpses.

’Four… no, five.’

There were five bracelets among the pile of corpses. He also examined the floor and could not see any signs of resistance.

’Players from one of the five great guilds were killed without any chance of resistance.’

It was grave news.

"Satan."

[U-Urghhh.]

"Patrol the area. Come back here if you find anything."

Now that they realized something was in the garden, they couldn’t recklessly advance. Kang-Woo commanded Satan to scout the area.

[Found… corpses.]

Kang-Woo and Tae-Soo were crouched in hiding when Satan came back. Kang-Woo nodded and headed to where Satan discovered the corpses, where he once again found several torn corpses.

"Huh?" Kang-Woo and Tae-Soo’s expressions changed after examining the corpses. "They’re… not human?"

There were wolf heads and limbs covered in fur. Six corpses of what one would call werewolves were torn apart and covered the floor.

"Hyung-nim, could these beings have killed the Onnuri Guild members…?"

"No, I doubt it." Kang-Woo shook his head. "The injuries on the corpses are the same."

The shape of the injuries on the Onnuri Guild members and the werewolves were the same, meaning the same entity killed the two groups.

’Then where did these werewolves come from?’

Kang-Woo had never heard of Players with Traits that allowed them to transform into werewolves. Even if there were, it was almost impossible for six Players with the same ability to be dragged into this temple.

’Did the Wikiholic appear in Aernor as well?’

Kang-Woo couldn’t think of anywhere else but Aernor for werewolves to exist in.

"Though I’ve never heard of werewolves in Aernor…" Kang-Woo mumbled as he frowned.

Just then, he heard voices around the corner.

"A-Are you sure this is the right way?"

"We have to get to that temple no matter what."

Kang-Woo and Tae-Soo quickly hid behind a tree.

’Two men and one woman.’

Kang-Woo peeked out of the tree to check the number of people crossing the garden.

"Hyaaaah! T-Tae-Ho hyung! More corpses…"

"Shh. Stop yelling, Jung Hyun-soo," warned the woman, who was following from behind, at the scared man.

"Y-Yeah. I’m sorry, Eun-Hee noona." The man named Hyun-Soo lowered his head.

"Shit, how many does this make?" The man named Tae-Ho stomped his foot in irritation.

Unlike the slender Hyun-Soo, he was quite muscular with thick eyebrows. Just then, the woman flinched once she approached the corpses on the ground.

"Tae-Ho, these… aren’t human corpses."

"What?"

"Wh-What the hell? W-Wolf heads?"

The three-man party examined the corpses in confusion just like Kang-Woo and Tae-Soo had.

"N-No more! I-I can’t take this anymore! T-Take me back home!" shouted the panicking Hyun-Soo as he pulled on his hair.

"Stay still, dammit. Before I throw you to the monsters as bait," Tae-Ho said in irritation.

"H-Hyung…" Hyun-Soo flinched in surprise and then kept his mouth shut.

’Are they Players who were dragged in here by the Wikiholic?’

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes as he examined them. Just like him and Tae-Soo, they seemed to have been teleported to this garden after failing to correctly answer the Wikiholic’s question. He canceled Satan’s summon and poked Tae-Soo with his elbow.

"Go talk to them," Kang-Woo said.

"U-Understood, hyung-nim."

"And don’t call me hyung-nim in front of them."

They would only get more wary if Tae-Soo called Kang-Woo, who looked like a little boy at the moment, hyung-nim. Tae-Soo nodded and carefully approached the three-man party.

"Who’s there?!"

Crackle—!!

Tae-Ho, who noticed Tae-Soo’s presence, turned to Tae-Soo before he had a chance to greet them. Enormous blue lightning gathered on both of Tae-Ho’s hands, about to be fired at Tae-Soo.

"W-Wait, Tae-Ho! He’s human!" shouted the woman named Eun-Hee as she quickly grabbed Tae-Ho’s shoulder.

"Shit! Who are you?" he shouted even more aggressively, embarrassed by the fact that he was scared by a person.

Tae-Soo approached them with his shield and Kang-Woo followed from behind.

"My name is Kang Tae-Soo. I am a member of Guardians."

"Guardians…?"

"What’s that?"

"...?"

The three people tilted their heads in confusion. Seeing that, Kang-Woo frowned.

’They don’t know about Guardians?’

Every Player on Earth knew what Guardians was; after all, it was the organization that saved the world. It might have been understandable if one of them didn’t know, but not all three of them.

"I don’t know what Guardians is, but my name is Kim Tae-Ho. I am a seven-star apostle of Ishvalda."

"...?"

’Ishvalda? Seven-star apostle? What the hell does that mean?’

Kang-Woo and Tae-Soo also stared at Tae-Ho in confusion.

"What? You guys have never heard of me?" asked Tae-Ho in confusion.

His expression was not that of arrogance or vanity; he was genuinely confused as to why Kang-Woo and Tae-Soo did not recognize him, a seven-star apostle.

’Wait a second…’

Just then, Kim Si-Hun’s words popped up in Kang-Woo’s head.

- The outer worlds are… hmm… if we were to make a comparison to novels or comics, in a completely different universe.

Werewolves that didn’t exist on Earth, people who did not know about Guardians, and a rank of power known as a seven-star priest— there was only one answer that could be surmised from the information gathered.

’In other words, it’s not just Players of Earth…’

Kang-Woo looked at the werewolf corpses and then back at the three people.

’Beings from various outer worlds were dragged into this temple.’

The situation was far more complex than expected.