The Vending Machine at the Ruined Wall

OZ took me to the highest point of the crumbling fortress ruins.

It was a precarious place where a single misstep would send you plummeting straight to the ground below.

‘The wind is cold.’

Maybe it was because we were so high up, but the snow hitting my cheeks felt even colder.

‘…….’

Or perhaps it was the danger of the location.

Or maybe it was the thing standing before me……

“What were you thinking, sneaking around my territory? Even if you don’t want to talk, you’ll have to spill it…….”

Right.

To be honest, that bastard was more dangerous than the location itself.

Before OZ could even finish his threat, I spoke.

“I surrender.

Ask me anything and I’ll answer within three seconds.”

If my hands and feet were free, I would’ve gladly raised both of them, but unfortunately my arms were tied.

“Please think of me as a vending machine that gives answers when you insert a coin.”

Jingle. Jingle.

I could feel OZ staring at me.

Ah, come to think of it, besides the tattoos, there was another part of OZ’s body that wasn’t black.

The whites of his eyes.

“Wow, this is f*cking ridiculous.”

Muttering to himself, OZ crouched down in front of me.

[R: The back of my neck was soaked with cold sweat. Instinctively, I realized that I had just barely escaped death.]

“Vending machine.”

“Yes.”

“Since when did we get so close that you’re speaking politely, you little shit?”

Since when did you start speaking casually, asshole.

……Whatever.

I didn’t come here without knowing he was crazy.

I just needed to accomplish my goal quickly and get out.

“Why did you call the vending machine?”

“If you lie, don’t expect to walk back with all four limbs intact.”

I shrugged to show I understood.

Four limbs?

I’m a two-legged upright creature, though.

“First of all, why the hell won’t this damned bear skin come off?”

If it were someone else—say, Lee Mok—he would have first asked why I infiltrated his territory or how much Jeok-o had influenced me.

But OZ’s first question was absurd.

“Ow, ow.”

“Stop playing hard to get and take it off. I’ve been curious about your bare face from the start.”

“Don’t pull it, don’t pull it! It won’t come off!”

“It won’t come off?”

I nodded.

“A curse?”

I nodded again.

OZ slowly circled around me as I knelt, observing me.

I could hear his muttering.

“If I slice it thinly or melt the parts where the bear skin touches…… after that, whether you’re ruined or not isn’t my problem……. Ah, but if I still can’t see your original face, then it’s just a waste of time.”

I thought he was just talking to himself, but it seemed he was measuring whether he could break the curse with his power.

I felt a chill run down my spine, though I pretended otherwise.

Eventually, OZ clicked his tongue.

“Forget it. If it’s a curse, you’ll have to live wearing that bear head until the day you die. That’s basically your real face, you bastard.”

Then he grinned.

“And you might die right now anyway.”

“……I have no intention of dying.”

“That’s not something you get to decide.”

OZ mimicked my tone mockingly.

That was oddly irritating.

I should try that on Jeok-o next time.

“You said you’d tell me anything.”

“What would you know even if you figured it out?”

“I know quite a lot.”

It wasn’t a bluff.

The problem was that I knew too much—things I shouldn’t reveal.

You have to know your limits.

Even in myths, prophets who couldn’t play politics were persecuted.

“For example?”

As he asked, staring at me, I quietly studied his face.

Then I slowly opened my mouth.

“First, the post-apocalyptic creatures outside the wall only attack the wall itself.

Second, the creatures outside the wall cannot recognize humans.”

“Everyone knows that except brain-dead idiots.”

Sorry for having an empty head, asshole.

“The wall—or more precisely, the stones that make up the wall—aren’t the problem.”

Swallowing the insult, I continued.

OZ’s eyes gleamed.

Not metaphorically. Literally.

‘Is he really some kind of beast?’

At least his brain didn’t seem to be on a beast’s level.

“The stones themselves aren’t the problem. Then the problem must be the force moving the stones.”

His hypothesis was accurate.

The stones that move on their own to build the wall.

The post-apocalyptic creatures attacking those stones.

At first glance, it might seem like they’re attacking the stones.

But that wasn’t it.

“Then the invisible force moving the stones must also belong to the post-apocalyptic creatures.”

“Probably.”

As I said before, the creatures outside the wall currently cannot recognize humans.

So the force they attack cannot be human either.

“Creatures attacking creatures. Guess there’s a nail sticking out over there too.”

OZ easily accepted that the current situation wasn’t humans versus creatures, but creatures versus creatures.

Naturally, the next logical response would be to ignore the creatures’ internal conflict and build the wall inside the force’s range.

“…….”

Suddenly, I remembered when I told Caliburn I was going to seek OZ for the ‘Wall-Building’ sub-quest.

The moment he heard it, he looked puzzled.

〈What are you doing?〉

Then he suddenly placed a hand on my forehead.

〈Haha, darling. You don’t have a fever.〉

〈I’m not crazy from a fever. Listen, there’s a reason it has to be OZ.〉

〈It has to be OZ? Not just that he’s ‘suitable’?〉

〈Right.〉

It had to be OZ.

If not, I wouldn’t have gone this far.

“Creature. Creature. Creature…….”

That was when it happened.

OZ, who had been muttering to himself in thought, suddenly turned around sharply.

I hurried after him, stumbling slightly because my arms were tied in front of me.

“Where are you going?”

“I’ve lost interest.”

“What?”

[R: The classifications of good and evil are entirely human standards. Perhaps we cannot impose such standards on non-human beings. But humans have grown accustomed to judging other beings by their own criteria—and that applied to the ‘post-apocalyptic creatures’ as well.]

Without even looking back, OZ waved his hand dismissively.

[R: The creatures that lend power to survivors after the apocalypse through sigils are often classified as ‘good’ creatures. From that perspective, both OZ and the creature lending him power were unusual beings.]

“I’m not done talking. Listen. If the target being attacked is the force building the wall, then we just need to build the wall outside the range that force can reach.”

“I know.”

“We need to build the wall. Only then will the area inside become safe from the creatures’ attacks. Without a safe zone, we’ll definitely struggle later.”

All the previous quests had been like that.

They all had meaning.

They were necessary for what comes next.

‘Besides.’

Strangely enough, if we fail to build the ‘wall’ at this point in the sub-quest, it becomes much harder to build one later.

‘Is the system designed that way?’

A suspicion arose.

If this were a predetermined story, I’d assume some kind of suppressive force was at work—but it wasn’t like that.

No.

This isn’t the urgent issue right now.

“The other candidates might have figured this out too.”

“Now I get it.”

I had to persuade OZ.

But before I even reached the main point, he cut me off.

“I was wondering why someone would send a spy after a guy with no faction. So that’s what this is.”

[R: OZ was dangerous. The other Five Stars were equally cruel, but at least they had a minimal sense of position or reason. Depending on the pros and cons, they might not kill you immediately even if you annoyed them. But OZ…….]

“You ran away from that red crow bastard, didn’t you?”

[R: OZ. The only candidate among the Five Stars who moves alone. There was a reason no one lived in his territory, Jungju. No one could endure being around him.]

“People said 13 was the red crow’s strategist, but I guess that wasn’t true after all. Haha. Hahahahaha.”

[R: At best, he was like an unsocialized child. Someone who neither understands nor cares to understand why harming and killing people is wrong. He acts only according to what he feels like doing.]

“We’re on the same wavelength! I hate that bastard too. Was it obvious? Of course it was. That’s why you came to find me, right? Curious how much I hate him? I want to hang him up and slice off his flesh. He hates the color red, so I’ll make his whole body bright red so he can’t even argue.”

[R: Whether his impulses benefit or harm him doesn’t matter to him. Not even a little. And so I…….]

Character ‘OZ’ has low affinity toward you.

When OZ’s affinity was sufficiently high and you surrendered to him, OZ would accept the ‘player.’

All because he wanted to screw over Jeok-o.

Character ‘OZ’ has low affinity toward you.

But now?

OZ, who had been muttering, suddenly fell silent and turned back to me.

His eyes narrowed.

“Let me ask you one thing, vending machine. Spit out the answer.”

“……Ask.”

“I’m on my way to tear down the walls those other bastards built.”

“I’m pretty sure I just advised you that now is the time to build your own wall.”

“What do I care? I want to screw those bastards over. Every single one of them pisses me off.”

“So you didn’t come here to become king?”

His narrowed eyes no longer looked like a smile to me.

Even though I knew that’s how he smiled when truly excited.

“Why not? It’d be nice. If I become king, I can do whatever I want.”

“Then right now, you should be building a wall.”

“But right now is a perfect chance to legally screw over those annoying bastards. Opportunities like that don’t come often.”

“You…….”

I started to sigh, but stopped.

“It seems like you don’t like that.”

But it seemed I was already out of OZ’s favor.

“Then let’s hear your answer. Vending machine. You don’t like what I’m about to do?”

“If I say I don’t, you’ll kill me, right?”

Instead of answering, OZ bared more of his white fangs.

A beast wearing human skin.

Not metaphorically. Literally.

I carefully stepped back.

“First, you’re right. I came to seek your protection. If you accept me, I’ll be of great help to you.”

“Then your answer is, ‘I like what you’re about to do’?”

At first glance, that would have been the correct response.

“Ha. f*ck. You think I’d say that?”

I raised both middle fingers at OZ.

“What does it matter what I say? You’re going to kill me anyway, you crazy bastard.”

OZ’s mouth widened further.

“Correct.”

Thud!

At the same time he spoke, his foot slammed into my chest.

With my arms tied, I couldn’t properly resist and fell from the wall.

As I turned to check the ground below, I heard OZ’s voice.

“Jang-in, feed.”

A gigantic hand burst up from the ground, grabbed me, and swallowed me whole.

The world went black.

The sound of the monster OZ summoned swallowing me came a beat later.

Gulp.