Chapter 126

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Kim Sol-eum’s body ran down the studio hallway, which was as long and confusing as a maze.

Rumble.

Lee Ja-heon once again traversed the narrow indoor space, which was shaking with booming sounds, at an unbelievable speed.

It was a speed and bold movement that made even the owner of the original body, who was watching through a CCTV-like field of vision, hold his breath and sweat.

And not long after….

“It’s the door.”

Filming in Progress

A double door with a sign attached was visible. Manager Lee Ja-heon broke the lock of the door without hesitation and entered.

Clang!

Beyond the door he kicked open.

-…!

An astonishingly vast studio set appeared.

A space so massive that it felt pressuring in itself.

However, the main talk show stage set in the center was…….

already in a state that looked like it couldn’t function properly.

-…….

The ceiling, where lights had sparkled, was already half-collapsed. The half-destroyed lights, debris of steel frames, and powder dirtied the furniture on the stage and the floor messily.

And even through those gaps, the Holy Fire Bombardment poured down endlessly.

The audience seats buzzed in confusion. Unable to leave their seats, they found this entire situation amusing due to the pollution, but it seemed they would soon scream for help.

Kim Sol-eum suppressed a groan.

-…It seems the live broadcast is completely ruined.

The traces of the ruined variety show lay there….

And.

[Oh.]

An entertainer standing alone on the half-destroyed stage.

[To come on your own feet.]

The host.

He merely stood leaning against the desk, using the Holy Fire shells that fell like shooting stars in the ruins of the half-destroyed studio with the lights off as illumination.

He seemed to already know who dared to destroy the set. Yet he did not shout in anger.

He merely stared quietly at Kim Sol-eum, who had burst onto the set.

As if he already knew that the one moving that body was not his friend, but a mercenary possessing him via the emergency pager.

-…….

Feeling as if his eyes met the host beyond the field of vision, Kim Sol-eum swallowed his saliva.

-Group Leader.

“Yes.”

-Probably from now on… something absurd will happen.

The host extended his hand.

He proceeded, as if still hosting the talk show.

[I happily introduce you. The culprit of this situation!]

Pik.

A single remaining spotlight that wasn’t destroyed illuminated Kim Sol-eum.

[The one who destroyed the talk show set and caused chaos during the live broadcast… Oh, surprisingly, it’s the audience member who attended the last broadcast!]

[Please welcome him with applause. Ah, booing is also a fine choice!]

He recognized the identity of Manager Lee Ja-heon, who was controlling Kim Sol-eum’s body, in an instant.

[For a criminal who committed such an atrocious act, shouldn’t there naturally be appropriate hardships, challenges, and… punishment!]

The stage grew darker and darker.

[Right, they say executions were festivals in the Middle Ages. Of course, our talk show doesn’t do boring things like hangings, though!]

[Today, we get to introduce a surprise new segment! Namely….]

The silhouette of the host raising both hands in the dark,

grew larger and larger.

Like a shadow cast behind a wall.

Even more, even more giant.

Thud.

The set walls enclosing the surroundings disappeared into the darkness.

On the stage that seemed to float in midair,

a giant old-style TV head landed.

Thump!

The old-style TV, which grew as large as the stage.

The head landed, crushing the guest door in the center, as if replacing the background wall of the studio.

A giant gloved hand of the host propped up the bottom of the TV as if resting his chin, and the other hand pointed precisely at Kim Sol-eum’s body as if shooting a gun.

[Amazing feats! Dizzying dangers! Terrifyingly fun and chillingly thrilling… Punishment Acrobatics!]

On the TV screen, a new sign sparkled, glittering with dozens of ecstatic light bulbs.

Brown’s

Exciting Punishment

Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump….

A drumroll echoed.

The knuckles of the gloved host were tapping on the set.

Drumbeats like those right before a circus feat.

-…Surely, he won’t try to kill you right away.

Lee Ja-heon raised his head while listening to the advice of the body’s owner.

-Because it is still in the middle of a live broadcast.

The black TV screen.

poured down.

[Now starting!]

Thud.

It swallowed Kim Sol-eum’s silhouette.

…….

…….

[Now….]

The old TV raised its head again.

Now, Kim Sol-eum’s silhouette was trapped inside the screen.

The audience, excited and amused by this strange magic trick, applauded.

[Then, shall we watch your trick?]

The lights sparkled.

Subtitles appeared.

Punishment 1

Happy Ending Teddy Bear

Inside the TV, countless teddy bear-shaped monsters with bared teeth poured toward Kim Sol-eum, trying to skin him.

Just as they had done to the former owner who mistreated them.

However, Kim Sol-eum’s body exerted amazing physical strength, grabbing the teddy bears’ snouts to make them bite each other, escaping the danger.

He ran.

TV screen shifted, and a background suddenly appeared.

City night. An alleyway.

A manhole on the ground.

Punishment 2

Arms of the Manhole

Treading on the strange arms surging from the manhole, Kim Sol-eum climbed up, hanging on a lamppost like acrobatics.

A long, skeletal arm narrowly brushed past him from behind.

Punishments taking the forms of the guests Kim Sol-eum had chosen to recruit until now.

Though they tried to ruthlessly and humorously drive Kim Sol-eum into a dead end….

[Oh dear.]

Kim Sol-eum broke through everything by a narrow margin.

Even if his left arm was fractured and his forehead split, he did not get caught, preventing the punishment from ending.

But as the number increased, the punishments gradually became more violent and horrific.

Punishment 3, Punishment 4, Punishment 5….

Clank!

Losing a portion of his hair instead of his head, Kim Sol-eum slid and escaped from under the knife of the delicacy restaurant that cooked sentient beings….

And.

Punishment 6

Red Scarecrow

A vast cornfield.

Between the densely grown stalks and leaves, a grotesque figure with numerous limbs wrapped around the surroundings and chased Kim Sol-eum like a centipede.

By this point, escaping had become difficult to the point of impossibility, but….

The one controlling Kim Sol-eum’s body was a named field exploration staff from the Records of the Dark Exploration, Employee D.

Evading as if doing acrobatics, he counterattacked. The flashing vampiric knife.

Slash, he cut off three or four of the scarecrow’s arms. Gasps burst out from the audience.

However, it was only a matter of time.

One cannot defeat the monster in the cornfield ghost story with pure force instead of gimmicks in the cornfield.

There was clearly a limit to the body that was already injured….

‘…Is this a punishment designed with the expectation that I would die here?’

Kim Sol-eum waited.

Waiting and waiting… the moment the scarecrow rushed in as if to pounce.

-Now!

Lee Ja-heon turned the direction at a right angle according to Kim Sol-eum’s advice.

And began to run at a terrifying speed.

Toward the TV screen.

“Uh!”

“It’s growing!”

And.

[Oh!]

He succeeded in bursting out of the TV.

Kim Sol-eum’s body rolled on the floor, and Lee Ja-heon landed the body using a breakfall.

Waaaaah!!!

This is crazy!!

Cheers from the audience poured down.

[Amazing! Good heavens!]

The host seemed to have forgotten his anger before long.

As if the only thing that mattered was that a good show was completed, a smiling emoticon appeared on the TV along with a bright voice.

[Passing up to Punishment 6, it was truly a sweat-inducing thrill! Ah, really wonderful. Was everyone entertained?!]

Yes!!

Cheers and answers came from the audience seats.

And the host also responded in a soft voice from inside the giant TV.

[Well, then….]

[Go back in and receive Punishment 7.]

The TV head drew close again.

[The cheers of the audience were sweet, right? You must repay that enthusiastic clamor. Oh, since the reaction is this good, we can’t end it. Continue. Continue….]

At that moment.

A faceless staff member, who barely managed to pull out a sketchbook from the collapsed debris, held it up from below the stage.

Emergency Notification.

[…Aha!]

The TV stopped.

[It’s commercial break time.]

Disappointed shouts from the audience.

[Haha, it’s a pity for me too, but I must wrap up this surprise segment here. Instead, a splendid ending to the show awaits you!]

[The short commercial before that will rather raise expectations!]

The smiling emoticon inside the giant TV bowed.

[Right. When the camera is turned off, the gaze of the audience vanishes, and the lights on the stage go out….]

To the figure of Kim Sol-eum.

[Who indeed can guarantee what wonderful thing will happen to the performer of the finished segment.]

“…….”

[To be continued in a moment.]

Click.

The camera light disappeared.

The staff members did not come up to clear the half-destroyed stage.

On the dark stage where the buzzing sounds of the audience could be heard clearly.

The host raised his hand.

Staring at the performer of the surprise segment whose given time was over and whose usefulness had run out.

Toward the ruffian who dared to destroy the set and smash his friend.

And, as giant fingers slowly clashed to make a sound…….

“Brown.”

The hand stopped.

“Did you incinerate my ‘cotton-filled body’?”

…….

[Aha, you returned there.]

[Are you perhaps here to request help? How shameless. But that too is a virtue of broadcasting….]

“No.”

Lee Ja-heon recited what Kim Sol-eum said impassively.

“There was something I wanted to ask.”

The emoticon disappeared from the TV head.

‘As expected.’

Kim Sol-eum was certain.

Right now, Brown could not look into his inner thoughts.

That was because the one standing at the forefront and talking with Brown right now was Lee Ja-heon.

Just because someone read a script didn’t mean one could read all the thoughts of the person who wrote the script.

And he was the same.

‘I am not over there.’

Since he was seeing and hearing everything indirectly.

Originally, situational factors also have a large impact on persuasion.

But since the amount of information entered in a refined manner solely through the screen and dialogue, Kim Sol-eum could also hold out without helplessly falling for the great host’s ‘persuasion’.

If so, a conversation in the true sense was possible.

A ‘conversation’ where, despite not knowing what each other was thinking, they listened to what the counterpart was trying to say, grasped the meaning, and made an effort to understand.

“Will you listen first? I think it’s a question you didn’t expect either….”

[Ah. On stage, bluster also has substance sometimes.]

[But that is something that only works for those who are not entertainers.]

The owner of the talk show ghost story stared at him without eyes.

[To this Brown! If you think the idea of resolving the situation by impressing me with some obvious script, dialogue, urban legend, or talk you heard somewhere will succeed, that is a truly regrettable delusion….]

But.

“It’s not that. It’s just a personal question.”

The voice was calm.

[‘A personal question’?]

“Yes.”

Kim Sol-eum’s mouth opened.

“Was it very stifling to be a Good Friend?”

[ ]

TV screen stopped moving.

But a smooth voice still came out.

[An entity that finds the given mask stifling has no qualification to step on stage.]

[In that sense, this Brown also has no history of considering the mask stifling….]

“So that was it. I found it quite stifling and scary while being a stuffed doll earlier. I wondered if you felt the same.”

[Oh, formation of sympathy and empathy. Typical. You made an obvious and cliché judgment.]

[Go ahead and babble at length about the reason why I should not incinerate you and that swordsman entirely.]

[Before the commercial time ends.]

“…….”

Kim Sol-eum thought.

He was certainly standing here with a betting mindset, due to the fear and prediction that escaping just like that might lead to a more horrific end in the near future.

But one can only make a bet when there is a possibility.

Kim Sol-eum, he also did not place a bet on this spot without any basis.

The possibility he grasped was this.

“Then, was it enjoyable being a Good Friend?”