Possessor #2 Just Wants to Fangirl Chapter 176

“Let’s start with the motive for the crime!”

“O-okay!”

Our Boram can’t endure complicated or boring stories. So I tried composing it as a detective case, but—

“This case starts around 4000 BC, in Greece. Nomadic invaders….”

“Ugh….”

I accidentally mentioned numbers. Because of that, Boram’s interest switch turned off quickly.

I need to raise engagement fast. Then….

“Invaders! Invaders came to the village! People on horses swinging swords, and the victims are all farmers! It’s not even a fight! Blood everywhere!!! Severed limbs!!”

“Kyaa!”

When I described a blood-soaked landscape matching Boram’s gore taste, life immediately returned to her eyes.

‘Right, let’s add some MSG!’

Hyeonmin is smart anyway, so he’ll filter that much himself. First, I decided to explain the cause of the goddess’s disappearance.

“The sword-wielding invaders shouted! ‘The thunder god is supreme! Stronger than the goddess!’ But when people didn’t believe them, they pulled out their trump card. The secret birth card!”

“Woaaaah!”

“Zeus is the goddess’s grandson! Actually, his life was in danger so he was secretly smuggled away as a child. Now that the grandson has returned, the very elderly goddess should entrust things to her grandson and retire!”

“Gr-grandma’s tired!”

When Junhwi explained the gods’ genealogy theory, I just went along with it, but directly conveying the situation makes it understandable.

“So the goddess was forcibly retired and forgotten.”

“Th-that easily? Sh-she’s a god!”

“Humans believe in gods because there’s something coming down. Nobody remembers retired gods. Humans are busy.”

“Ah…!”

“But! There were people who remembered the goddess! Right here! At this Lake Tritonis where we’re standing!!!”

“Woaaaah!”

“Their names were the Amazons and Gorgons! Tribes composed of female warriors who fought so well they weren’t conquered by the invaders. These people believed in the ancient goddess, and their queen Medusa was also a priestess who directly communicated with the goddess!”

“Amazing!”

“But ‘Zeus’s son’ came and killed Medusa, plundered the temple, stole the sacred objects and returned. We’re trying to find those sacred objects.”

“How did he win? Medusa fights well and has the goddess too!”

“Hmm, looking at mythological content, ‘Zeus’s son’ deceived Medusa’s sisters. And he cut her throat while she slept, so he probably didn’t face her head-on.”

“C-cowardly!”

“No, it’s wise. When your opponent is strong, stepping up to a frontal confrontation is stupid, right?”

“…!”

Boram’s values are clean, so I always need to be careful. The mindset that our side is unconditionally good and the other side is unconditionally bad isn’t good. Just as I was finishing the story while inserting ethics education here and there,

“Anyway, after Medusa died, there were no people who remembered the goddess, so the goddess was completely forgotten too.”

“D-did the goddess… d-die too?”

“Hmm… I don’t know. But even if she’s alive, if nobody knows, isn’t it similar to being dead?”

“Th-the goddess is… p-pitiful….”

That’s when it happened.

From Boram’s two eyes, countless tears rolled down like beads, then instantly waterfalls poured from both eyes.

“Sh-she’s here but nobody knows… uuu… nngh! Hwaaaaaah!”

‘This idiot!’

Only then did I realize my mistake.

Boram had been living in seclusion after dropping out of elementary school.

Alive but forgotten by the outside. It’s not just someone else’s story.

“Sorry, I messed up.”

“I-it’s not Sora’s fault… huuuuugh!”

I hugged the heartbroken crying Boram and patted her back. The child cried so miserably that even Hyeonmin was flustered and didn’t know what to do.

It’s all my fault. Boram has been so bright and happy lately that I forgot this child’s wounds and spoke without filtering.

“What’s wrong?”

Juwan, who’d returned at some point, was quite startled. But the moment Boram heard Juwan’s voice, she abruptly stopped crying and wiped the moisture with her sleeve.

“I…! Will find… the goddess!”

After that, throughout the entire tree-watering activity, we gathered clues about the goddess’s disappearance whenever we had time. And I came to realize a new fact.

‘I underestimated Boram too much.’

Until now, nobody had pulled Boram into data research. She’s a child with clean values plus no interest in studying.

But clean values also had tremendous utility.

“Wh-what’s the goddess’s name?”

“Name?”

“‘G-Gaia’ is Greek! I want to know the goddess’s real name!”

Boram asks questions nobody threw. She accurately pinpoints areas everyone assumes and passes over, blind spots in information.

‘Right, what we know wasn’t her real name.’

History is recorded by victors. Gaia (earth), Gorgon (terror), Medusa (queen) are the victors’ language.

Not the goddess and priestess’s real names.

‘Real name….’

Come to think of it, fantasy has the ‘true name’ setting. The concept that finding the real name unlocks original power… since it’s a novel world, trying it seems good.

Just as I was adding ‘find the goddess’s real name’ to my to-do list, Boram asked another question.

“B-but how did the Greek people know about Medusa? Th-they had forgotten!”

“Right, that’s what seemed strange to me too.”

They called Medusa a ‘monster.’

Sisters with two immortal snakes, so a monster.

They’d even forgotten the ancient goddess handled two snakes. Yet they came all the way to distant Africa on an expedition and plundered sacred objects.

‘Don’t know the goddess but know the sacred objects?’

Then there’s one reason to speculate.

Medusa used the sacred objects. The Greeks who saw that were led by greed to come.

Mythological clues can’t serve as reference. Because it says if you make eye contact with Medusa, you turn to stone.

Cases where people turn to stone in reality….

“…!”

Exist. I’ve definitely heard of it.

There’s a case all humans know.

“I need to go to Junhwi!”

Without evidence, it’s just nonsense.

I rushed the kids to move, and the moment I saw Junhwi, I immediately threw the question.

“Junhwi! Was there a volcanic eruption during Medusa’s era?”

I heard that after the Pompeii volcano erupted, people, buildings, entire villages turned to stone.

Cases where humans turn to stone.

Junhwi flinched in surprise for a while, but soon collected himself and explained.

“…There was. The Thera volcanic eruption.”

“As expected! That’s Medusa’s ability! Petrification! There’s lava too, right? This must be the sacred object’s ability!!!”

While I excitedly ran wild, Junhwi seemed to be calmly searching. Then after biting his lips for a while, he carefully opened his mouth.

“In the case of the Thera eruption, tremendous volcanic ash occurred bringing darkness. For months… no, possibly years the sun didn’t shine. Then temperatures would’ve dropped sharply too.”

“There’s that too! That’s also the goddess’s sacred object!”

If you obtain treasure, you can make light disappear.

But that wasn’t all.

“There were tsunamis too. Tsunamis would’ve suddenly spread throughout the Mediterranean. Even in places where the volcano wasn’t visible.”

“…?”

“To the people, it would’ve looked like a ‘sudden flood.'”

God’s judgment that people worldwide speak of.

The Great Flood.

Medusa’s sacred objects… can cause that.

* * *

‘Too much to do!!!!’

After that, we became so busy we couldn’t collect ourselves.

First, there’s the mission to give water to the tree. This just requires diligently hauling water from the lake.

‘Do we really just give water?’

We do.

This tree was The Giving Tree.

Before we knew it, the tree became a height about twice Hyeonmin’s height, and the leaves were so lush that standing under it felt like wearing a giant umbrella.

Glug glug glug—

This time Hyeonmin poured water contained in the silver snake skin bag.

Meanwhile, I thumped my tired legs. I don’t know how many dozens of round trips to the lake already. An unconscious action, but… Juwan caught me.

“Sora, you stay here.”

“No, I’m fine! I was checking the strength to see how sturdy my legs are! Not tired at all!”

I tried to jump up, but Boram grabbed my arm and pulled me back to the ground.

“S-Sora! We have to find the goddess!”

“No, I will absolutely never send Juwan alone….”

“I’ll go with him.”

“…!”

Meaning Hyeonmin and Juwan would perform the lake water-fetching mission just the two of them.

Also meaning the two people in charge of Yeon Sora’s shift surveillance are both leaving their posts at once.

‘Are expectations that high?’

I can tell from Hyeonmin’s eyes. Those aren’t eyes telling me to rest.

Eyes urging me to work.

“Got it! Boram and I will work hard too!”

“Y-yeah!”

After our tremendous results presentation, the research team split cleanly into two.

Gyeon Junhwi, Go Daesik, Seong Hayul are the common sense faction!

Han Boram and I are the non-common sense faction!

At a glance it seems like an unfavorable competition, but fortunately this worldview is far from common sense. Thanks to that, our performance is better.

Boram and my work method is simple.

“Asclepius! Th-this person! Uses a snake staff! Can revive even dead people!”

“Hmm, but why is there only one snake? Isn’t there a staff with two snakes?”

“Hermes! Z-Zeus’s messenger has it!”

“Again?”

“Th-Tiresias the prophet has it! Hit two snakes with a stick and turned into a woman!”

“Two snakes! Woman! The goddess! And prophecy!!!!!!! This is also the goddess’s sacred object!”

We just wildly make up stories as we please. We don’t need to consider if this is true. Junhwi filters it himself.

“So the goddess’s abilities estimated so far are… volcanic eruption, petrification, flight, healing, reviving the dead, prophecy, golden sword, but… this golden sword is ambiguous. There’s almost no record of what it does.”

“A-Apollo! Held a golden sword when he was born!”

“From birth? Hmm… then is it connected to the sun?”

Just as we continued working diligently like this,

“It’s about to start!”

Juwan’s shout came.

Meaning it’s time for the tree to give gifts.

Boram and I stopped all work and jumped up, dusting off our hands and clothes. Meanwhile, Junhwi, Go Daesik, and Seong Hayul who’d been translating the monument over there also came running.

“What will it be this time?”

“A golden sword.”

Now everyone’s familiar enough not to even ask.

We went through the same procedure on the 5th, 6th, and 7th floors.

Fwaaaaaash—

The tree emitted light.

At first I wondered if they installed fluorescent lights at the roots, but that light started from the roots and colored the tree trunk, branches, and even leaves.

Soon the surroundings turned completely white and nothing was visible.

Thunk—!

Amid that, a sound of something falling was heard.

After the light faded and we approached, a golden dagger had fallen on the ground.

My words hit the mark, but nobody’s surprised anymore.

We’re familiar with this too.

————————

【Viewing Side Quest <Tower’s Wish>】

…

☑︎ 4F: Harvest the ‘Goddess’s Seed’ (3 points)

☑︎ 5F: Give water to the ‘seed’ (3 points)

☑︎ 6F: Erect a ‘throne’ with golden branches (3 points)

☑︎ 7F: Harvest the ‘mask’ (3 points)

☐ 8F: Harvest the ‘Sunray Sword’ (3 points)

☐ 9F: (Information cannot be accessed)

————————

When I say the quest keywords, roughly similar items appear.

“Sora, you take this.”

Junhwi gave me the golden dagger, and I put it in my inventory. We obtained quite many items, but haven’t checked performance yet.

Because we need to make progress.

But….

“We stop here.”

“That’s good.”

“Why? Seems like we could go one more floor?”

“We can do that tomorrow.”

Both Junhwi and Hyeonmin announced the day’s end.

Time-wise we could definitely clear up to the 9th floor….

Come to think of it, both have somewhat stiff expressions for treasure hunters.

“Let’s go back and rest for today. Tomorrow we have the 10th floor too.”

Only after hearing Junhwi’s words did I understand why my babies were worried.

The 10th floor.

The zone Bang Haeun’s father manages.

They’re going to pass through there tomorrow.

The first battle with the masterminds has approached right before our eyes.