Chapter 16. Night of the Ghost Train (1)
“How is it?”
“It’s no use. It won’t budge at all.”
“No matter how much I hit it, I can’t even leave a scratch. Looks like this place was made so that escaping is absolutely impossible.”
“The windows not breaking is definitely strange too.”
Seok Taejun wiped the sweat from his forehead and stepped away after struggling to open the door leading outside the train.
Watching him, Kang Yujin let out a sigh as well.
“This is troublesome.”
Right now, Kang Yujin and Seok Taejun were standing in the connecting section between train cars.
At first, when they tried opening the door behind them, it wouldn’t open at all.
However, when they fled from the Ghosts and tried opening the door in front of them, it opened without any problem.
After crossing into the connecting section and shutting the door behind them, the Ghosts did not follow.
Despite being ghosts, it seemed they couldn’t pass through the door.
“Does this mean we’re supposed to keep moving forward?”
“Probably. The rear door won’t open, but the front door does.”
“Maybe if we reach the driver’s cabin at the very front and stop the train, we’ll be able to escape?”
“I think I’ve read a novel with something like that before.”
The car Kang Yujin and Seok Taejun had originally boarded was Car No. 8, located at the very back of the train.
That meant they had to pass through seven more cars before reaching the driver’s cabin at the front.
“We have to break through those ghosts seven more times?”
Until now, Kang Yujin had fought even gigantic monsters without fear.
But this time was different.
“My attacks don’t work on them at all.”
“Ghost-type monsters are normally completely immune to physical attacks. They’re ghosts, after all.”
“But they can attack us just fine.”
As he said that, Kang Yujin touched his forearm.
The moment one of the Ghosts touched his arm, it had suddenly felt as though all the strength had been drained from his entire body.
There wasn’t even a visible injury.
Only his stamina had been consumed.
“I only got grazed a few times, but my condition is already terrible. If it gets worse, I’ll probably just die, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Then why are you fine? You got hit more than I did.”
At that question, Seok Taejun made an awkward expression.
“Maybe it’s because of the S-Rank Stamina Enhancement Engraving?”
“Enhancement Engraving?”
“Since I received an S-Rank enhancement, my stamina increased by a lot. Maybe my stamina is now higher than yours, Kang Yujin. That could be why the Ghosts’ attacks don’t affect me as badly.”
“Ah, is that it?”
“I’m not completely fine either. I’m still feeling pretty exhausted.”
Seok Taejun had always possessed better stamina than his other companions.
Even so, he had never been comparable to Kang Yujin, whose body had undergone all kinds of modifications.
But after receiving the S-Rank Stamina Enhancement, his stamina immediately surpassed Kang Yujin’s.
The effect of an S-Rank Enhancement Engraving was truly incredible.
This is all thanks to the blessing of the Nameless One.
Thinking that, Kang Yujin nodded.
“Anyway, looks like our only choice is to keep moving forward.”
“Wait.”
At that moment, Seok Taejun raised his hand.
“Why don’t I try using my awakened Skill right now?”
“Your awakened Skill?”
“My [Hidden Insight] can obtain information about hidden pieces in events and quests, right? Then maybe it can also tell us the event’s completion condition.”
Seok Taejun’s [Hidden Insight], just like Kang Yujin’s [Complete Destruction], was an awakened Skill obtained through Fundamental Awakening.
Even the Chimera currently resting beside Seok Taejun had been acquired through that Skill during the previous Echidna raid.
“Really? Then let’s try it.”
“The cooldown is twenty-four hours, so if I use it here and suddenly need it tomorrow, we might be in trouble...”
“Our current situation is more urgent. Let’s try it.”
“You’re right. I should use it now.”
After nodding, Seok Taejun closed his eyes and began concentrating.
“...Huh?”
A moment later, however, he opened his eyes with a shocked expression.
“What is it?”
“Wait, this is...”
“What appeared?”
“The event completion condition isn’t showing up.”
Seok Taejun’s face turned pale.
“Looks like it doesn’t count as a hidden piece.”
“The completion condition is listed as unknown, right? Doesn’t that mean it’s hidden?”
“A hidden piece is something you could completely miss even after clearing the event... so maybe the event completion condition is considered something separate.”
That was troublesome.
“We can’t do anything about it. Let’s move forward for now.”
Kang Yujin started getting up, but Seok Taejun quickly raised a hand to stop him.
“But Kang Yujin, take a look at this.”
“What?”
“I’ll make the messages on my side visible to you as well.”
Seok Taejun manipulated something in the air, and messages began appearing before Kang Yujin’s eyes.
[Information about Hidden Pieces has been obtained.]
[Please find the body of the pitiful victim in the luggage compartment of Car No. 7.]
[When you find the body, you will obtain a means of protecting yourself from the ghosts.]
[Please help the ghost lamenting in the men’s restroom of Car No. 6 pass on.]
[When the ghost passes on, you will obtain the wealth it left behind.]
[Please speak to the ghost standing still in Car No. 5.]
[If the ghost takes a liking to you, you will gain a new companion.]
[Please check the inner storage compartment of the mini café in Car No. 4.]
[If you discover the item hidden inside the storage compartment, you will obtain various items.]
The messages continued even further below.
“What is all this?”
“Kang Yujin, this Ghost Train might be...”
Seok Taejun spoke with a tense expression.
“A treasure chest absolutely packed with hidden pieces.”
“No. 49, it’s still not too late. Go down to the human world and handle the event broadcast navigation.”
“Y-Yes, understood!”
After sending No. 49 away, I clasped my hands together and stared at the observation screen.
On it, Kang Yujin and Seok Taejun were standing face-to-face, talking.
The Ghost Train.
The train they were currently riding was not an ordinary train.
It was the kind of ghost train found in supernatural stories all over the world—a train that ran without passengers.
Of course, what they were experiencing wasn’t a pure supernatural phenomenon.
It was an event deliberately set up by someone.
There were all kinds of ghost stories about it.
Very few people knew exactly what kind of event the Ghost Train was.
There were countless rumors, but finding someone who had actually experienced the event was difficult.
Partly because no one knows when or where it will appear... but also because surviving the event itself is difficult.
Just as Kang Yujin and Seok Taejun had been caught off guard, this event appeared completely by chance.
And because the enemies were Ghosts that physical attacks didn’t work against, a Contractor could easily die without being able to do anything.
On top of that, no clear completion condition was given.
For Contractors who had simply intended to relax and travel by train, it was truly like a bolt from the blue.
But it isn’t an impossible event to clear.
Of course, I had never personally boarded the Ghost Train.
An event like this wasn’t something a bottom-tier Contractor like me could challenge and survive.
But I knew information about this event.
Because I had once known a Contractor who escaped from the Ghost Train alive.
No.
More precisely...
I knew a Contractor who escaped from the Ghost Train, only to die afterward.
It was a truly bitter experience.
He had been attacked by countless Ghosts inside the train, and nearly all of his life force had been drained away.
He barely managed to escape the train, but in the end, he died only a few days later.
And I was the one who stayed by his side as he drew his final breath.
He told me there were all kinds of things hidden inside the Ghost Train.
The contents of events occurring in this world varied wildly.
But there was one almost universal rule.
The harder the event, the greater the rewards hidden within it.
Even if the visible completion reward was small, major benefits would be hidden among the secret pieces.
Think back to the previous Echidna raid.
The reward shown in the event information was poor.
But there had been a hidden piece allowing Seok Taejun to tame the Chimera.
Meanwhile, in the Cursed Village event, they had defeated the giant undead dinosaur hidden piece but received no particularly impressive reward.
That was because the event itself had been designed for beginners.
The Ghost Train is fairly difficult. There has to be a lot to gain here.
Back then, that Contractor had regretted not being stronger or better prepared.
He said that if he had been, he could have saved his own life and gained enormous rewards as well.
I carefully remembered that information, thinking I would use it someday if I ever encountered the Ghost Train myself.
But in the end, I died without ever even seeing it.
Though even if I had boarded the Ghost Train as a Contractor, I probably would have died from lack of ability anyway.
An event filled with countless rewards, but one an ordinary human could never survive.
That was the true nature of the Ghost Train event.
But...
I stared at the observation screen.
On it, Kang Yujin opened a door and entered Car No. 7 together with Seok Taejun and the Chimera.
My Contractors will be fine.
I knew how to escape the Ghost Train alive.
In other words, I knew how to clear it.
But I had no intention of using No. 49 to tell them the completion condition.
It wasn’t because blatantly telling them the answer as a Constellation would violate the rules.
It was because I didn’t want my Contractors to focus only on escaping the Ghost Train.
They need to collect every hidden piece.
Seok Taejun possessed the awakened Skill [Hidden Insight], which allowed him to discover hidden pieces.
With that Skill, they should be able to uncover every hidden element inside the Ghost Train.
Escaping could come afterward.
Other Contractors might not be able to do it, but those two can.
Kang Yujin and Seok Taejun.
Those two were more than capable.
[A Blessing (Defense) descends from your contracted Constellation ‘***’.]
[All damage you receive is slightly reduced for five minutes.]
[Seok Taejun’s contracted Constellation ‘***’ grants him a Blessing (Defense).]
[All damage Seok Taejun receives is slightly reduced for five minutes.]
The moment they entered Car No. 7, the Constellation’s blessings descended upon them.
Thinking that the Nameless One was supporting their decision to force their way straight through, Kang Yujin advanced together with Seok Taejun and the Chimera.
The Ghosts in Car No. 7 charged toward them, but they gritted their teeth and endured.
Their destination was near the middle of Car No. 7.
“Kang Yujin! This is it!”
