Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 251

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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「Hoho, with this I can set which of the Barrier Walls scattered across various locations can be repaired. My, what fascinating ancient machinery.」
“Does the Machine King’s woman understand all of it?”
「Ah, I translated the documents Master gave me! I know most sentences!」
A useless skill to have acquired. Since no country uses English anymore, I made a cold assessment, and Makina responded by swinging a chainsaw around with a whoosh, asking who he thought he had to thank for learning it.
The spinning blade grazed my neck before bouncing away with a twang.
「Tsk!」
“Testing whether I’d actually die this time, were you?”
I needed to punish him. I rummaged through the nearby drawers, found a screwdriver, and completely unscrewed the Machine King’s bolts. With his exterior panels stripped away and his power core and wiring exposed, Makina wailed in a pathetic voice, cursing me as cruel.
“Stop fighting, you two. Don’t forget we need to leave right after we finish this.”
「Tch, I hope the Master gets all his mana drained and dies.」
“Oh my! Words have power!”
Apet scolded the Machine King to mind his words, then stuck close to my side and continued casting Condition Recovery on me.
After locating the cracked Barrier Wall near the Land of Death, Makina asked if I was ready. I placed my hand on the square panel attached to the tuning fork-shaped device. Given the palm print etched here, it seemed mana was drawn through this point.
「Alright, let’s begin! Prepare yourself!」
Thunk!
Extracting the mana needed to repair the Barrier Wall didn’t take long. Rather, it was incredibly fast and intense.
My hand stuck to the device as if magnetized, and then a tremendous shock followed as all the mana in my body was violently drained. Once everything extractable was gone, there was a thunk sound and I was ejected from the machine. It was as if I were discarded like a used component.
“You! Are you alright!”
“Wow, this doesn’t even give the old man time to heal me.”
Regardless of whether Apet kept casting recovery spells beside me, the device drew exactly what it needed in one go, and my mana, mental fortitude, and stamina were completely depleted at once.
“Cough.”
It had been a while since I coughed up blood. This too was proof that Apet’s constant recovery wasn’t effective. I’d just had all my mana and mental fortitude drained at once, resulting in a one-hit knockout.
“Goodness! That’s why I told you not to do this!”
“I only coughed blood once. That means I still have stamina left.”
See, I told you I wouldn’t die. I spoke confidently, but Apet grabbed both my twin tails and yanked them, asking what I was so proud of.
The old man seemed to have developed a hobby of pulling my hair lately.
“Anyway, done! The Land of Death is resolved! Don’t come near this area again!”
“There’s still work to be done.”
“What now!”
Why was the old man so temperamental? I informed him of Cha Cha’s current condition as I’d heard from the answering machine, explaining that I needed to bring him out of the Underworld quickly and preserve what remaining lifespan he had. Apet suggested that if that were the case, I could simply contact the Machine King’s woman and tell him to come to the Surface World, but life isn’t always that simple.
“That child lived ten thousand years underground without knowing why. The Underground was actually contaminated, requiring Cha Cha as a purification means, and now that his lifespan is exhausted and he can no longer fulfill that function, he’ll find it difficult to accept the truth that he must leave the Underworld.”
The Underworld King, said to receive the greatest love from the Mother Goddess, has no reason to remain underground now that his purpose as a tool has been exhausted. I can’t even imagine what tragedy might unfold if I simply told him this fact over the phone.
“Sigh… this is… quite something.”
“Call it the Mother Goddess’s arrangement.”
“I don’t know anymore either.”
What is certain is that, just as the child Cha Cha said, the Mother Goddess didn’t simply devise the Underworld immigration plan with the concept of humanity just to make Cha Cha a friend. Even though Cha Cha can no longer live in the Underworld, she’s forcing a countdown to humanity’s extinction upon me.
“Then we have far to go. Best hurry. Even by train it’ll take a full day.”
“My legs are faster.”
“I hate that. It makes me dizzy.”
Apparently the ride quality wasn’t great. I’d planned to sprint the rest of the way once we disembarked at Serpent King’s Tower after taking the boat.

During the train ride, I played with Grandfather and Makina, marveled at how nice the sleeping cars were, sprawled out and napped, and the atmosphere was warm and cheerful. Our mood darkened the moment we entered the Land of Death.
The sluggish Underground Tomb would still be in the state I’d destroyed it, so Cha Cha would still be down there beneath the Land of Death. The thought that I’d soon have to meet him and explain everything made my feet heavy.
「But I’m family. Wouldn’t it be better if I told him and took his anger?」
“By that logic, it’d be better if I told him—I’m both a priestess and a medical professional. I’ve given terminal diagnoses to patients plenty of times, so I’m used to this sort of thing anyway.”
“I already asked Mother Goddess about it. It’s right that I take responsibility.”
And so we all volunteered to be the one to give Cha Cha his death sentence. We were trying to shield each other from the fallout. Despite everything, they were good people.
「Here we are at the Well already.」
“What are we going to do about this? Such a young life with so much ahead.”
“If you’ve lived 10,000 years, you’re not young. But you’re still a kid, that’s true.”
We took deep breaths and rang the doorbell. Cha Cha must have been waiting in case anyone fell into the Well, because he opened the door immediately.
“Whoa! Evan! What wind blew you here to visit so suddenly?!”
A tall kid in a white coat came bounding toward me with a flutter. I caught Cha Cha in a princess carry and spun him around before setting him down.
“Oh, so Makina’s here too—you came to fix the Underground Tomb, didn’t you?”
Watching Cha Cha grumble that I hadn’t come just to see him made my throat tighten even more. God… how was I supposed to say this?
“Listen, steel yourself and hear me out. It’ll take time to accept, but…”
Grandfather seemed experienced at this. The way he stepped forward so readily.
But I didn’t want him to hear about his remaining lifespan from a complete stranger. If Makina had broached the subject first, maybe, but seeing him spinning in circles on Grandfather’s shoulders, it seemed like he was at a loss too.
“I’ll do it.”
I cut off Apet’s words and took Cha Cha’s hand. We walked to the stairs leading up to the Surface World, and Cha Cha asked me what was going on. I didn’t let go of his hand as we climbed.
“Ow! Let go, Evan! I’m going to bump into something! It’s going to hurt!”
A grown man talking like that. I sighed inwardly and climbed the stairs quickly. When the Barrier Wall didn’t stop him, Cha Cha looked confused.
“Cha Cha. Your growth means your lifespan has ended.”
I warped out of the Well and delivered the truth to Cha Cha. He was amazed that the kid could breathe outside without equipment, but then his face went blank at my words.
“You were the being that purified the Underworld’s toxins. Your growth means your lifespan is over, and Mother Goddess wanted you to spend your remaining days in a safe place.”
I didn’t want to just recite what the automated voice had said. That would make it sound like Cha Cha had only ever lived as a tool.
“Huh? What? I’m dying?”
There was no shock or sadness in Cha Cha’s response. The kid just looked confused.
I simply waited. There was nothing more to say. No way to comfort him. Apet and the Machine King, who had just come up to the Surface World, felt the same. We waited for Cha Cha to accept this situation, and after a long while, the kid let out a long sigh.
“You know, you know, Evan.”
Cha Cha gripped my hand tightly. For how tightly he was holding it, there was no strength in it, so I squeezed his hand harder in return.
“At first, I really just needed a friend. In that dark underground, I kept wishing my friends would come soon, waiting every day.”
The kid’s voice trembled, but no tears fell. Instead, he looked sorrowful. Like he was searching for someone to blame, someone to resent.
“If I’m going to die like this, why was I even alive? All this time, why did I live?”
If I left it like this, things would get worse. I called Apet and Makina, took their hands, and shouted for us to return.
Once we arrived at Serpent King’s Tower, I asked Gerth if my room was still available, said we’d talk later, and took the kid into my room.
Once we were alone, Cha Cha finally broke down. Tears and snot streaming, the kid wailed as if the world was ending, clinging to me tightly and letting out a sound that was almost a scream.
“It’s unfair! It’s unfair, Evan Laef! I, hiccup, I really, truly am being treated unfairly!”
“Don’t act like the world has ended. Nothing is finished yet.”
“It is finished! My life is completely over! Wahhhhh!”
Nothing is truly finished until it’s really finished. It’s the same as my terminal diagnosis. Cha Cha is still alive, and I still have time remaining.
I comforted Cha Cha until he cried himself to sleep, then descended to the lobby of Serpent King’s Tower with Apet. Stepping outside and entering the massive shelter Samryong had constructed, I could see the enormous dragon still sleeping soundly, snoring away.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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