Chapter 9. The Metal That Kills Wishes
Inside the cargo hold of the old shipwreck beneath the sea.
Among wood that looked hundreds of years old and rusted metal, only one box was giving off a blue glow.
Standing in front of that box, I looked down at my arm for a moment.
Blood was flowing.
It was the first real wound I had seen since receiving my wishes.
"This..."
To be honest, I was a little scared.
Until now, bullets hadn't mattered.
Knife wounds healed instantly.
Even getting caught in an explosion left my body perfectly fine.
At some point, I had started taking it for granted that I simply couldn't die.
But now it was different.
There was a clear hole in my arm, and the wound was regenerating much more slowly than usual.
This is dangerous.
The Chairman standing across from me smiled.
"Can you feel it?"
I pressed a hand against the wound and glared at him.
"Feel what?"
"Fear."
"No."
I shook my head.
"Annoyance."
I meant it.
Until now, at least I hadn't needed to worry about my body.
Whether I got shot or stabbed, I had been certain I would eventually recover.
But that blue metal was different.
It was weakening my abilities.
"Bob."
I called the Genie inside the lamp in my mind.
"What the hell is this?"
After a moment, the familiar voice echoed in my head.
"It is an ancient metal."
"I know that much."
"More precisely, it is a metal that rejects the power of wishes."
My eyes narrowed.
"What?"
"You humans like giving such materials names like Orichalcum, Adamantium, or Divine Metal."
"So which one is it?"
"It is none of those."
The Genie's voice lowered.
"This is a metal that denies wishes."
Denies wishes.
Something about that phrase bothered me.
"So that's why my powers are getting weaker?"
"Correct. It interferes with the power of wishes itself."
"You could've told me earlier."
"You never asked."
"You bastard..."
I seriously wanted to punch him.
Of course, I had no idea what would happen if I punched the lamp, so I held myself back.
Apparently thinking I was muttering to myself, the Chairman sneered.
"Looks like you're afraid."
"I said I'm not."
I checked the wound again.
It was slow, but it was still healing.
The metal wasn't completely nullifying my abilities.
In that case...
This was still manageable.
"Calculation complete."
The Chairman frowned.
"What calculation?"
"Looks like this isn't enough to kill me."
At that moment, the three divers moved at once.
Harpoons made of blue metal cut through the water toward me.
This time, I had no intention of simply taking them.
I twisted aside.
One barely missed me and slammed into the shipwreck wall.
CRACK!
The ancient wood shattered instantly.
Those aren't ordinary weapons either.
I immediately kicked off the floor.
BOOM!
The water split apart like an explosion as my body shot forward.
In an instant, I reached the first diver and grabbed his wrist.
This time, instead of attacking the man, I went for the weapon.
Creeeak!
The harpoon device crumpled in my hand.
The diver's eyes widened.
I ripped the weapon away from him and pushed him aside.
He slammed into the wall and went limp.
At that moment, the second man thrust an electrified spear from behind.
I raised my arm to block it.
BZZZZT!
Blue electricity raced across my entire body.
"Ugh!"
It hurt.
This time, it really hurt.
My muscles stiffened instantly, and my body stopped obeying me for a moment.
The third man rushed in, taking advantage of that opening.
Good judgment.
The problem was that his opponent was me.
I gritted my teeth and forced my body to move.
The electricity made me slower than usual.
But even then, I was still moving far faster than an ordinary person could follow.
I grabbed the man's helmet.
Then twisted.
Spin.
The diver rotated through the water and went flying.
BOOM!
One side of the cargo compartment collapsed.
"Huh?"
I was the one surprised this time.
"Did I throw him too hard?"
The diver wasn't moving.
Still...
He was probably alive.
Probably.
The Chairman, now the only one left, took a step backward.
For the first time, his relaxed expression disappeared.
"Monster."
I chuckled.
"Middle-aged man."
"You're not human."
"That's for me to decide."
The Chairman's expression hardened.
He stared at me for a moment, then pulled a small disc from inside his suit.
It was made from the same blue metal that had weakened my abilities.
"What are you planning?"
The Chairman didn't answer.
He threw the disc toward the metal box.
The box reacted instantly.
WOOOOOM!
The blue light became several times stronger.
The entire shipwreck shook.
Even the lamp inside my bag began rattling violently.
"Hey!"
I called the Genie in my mind.
"What the hell is that bastard doing?"
"The seal is becoming unstable."
"Seal?"
"That box is not merely a treasure chest."
"Then what is it?"
A short silence followed.
Then the Genie answered.
"It is a place where beings like me sleep."
I froze.
"What?"
"There is more than one lamp."
A chill ran down my spine.
Did that mean there were more people like me?
No.
It meant there were more beings like the Genie.
"No way..."
"Many lamps once existed in this world."
"Once?"
"Most are gone now."
At that moment, the light pouring from the box grew even stronger.
The Chairman stared at it and smiled.
"Finally..."
I glared at him.
"You knew about this?"
"Of course."
There was a madness in the Chairman's eyes that hadn't been there before.
"I searched for twenty years."
"Twenty years?"
"I searched countless records. I smuggled goods, bribed people, even killed."
His gaze remained fixed on the glowing box.
"And at last, I found it."
I honestly couldn't understand.
"You did all that for what?"
The Chairman looked at me.
"Power."
One short answer.
"The power to move the world."
I sighed.
People like this were always the same.
Money.
Authority.
Immortality.
And the power to rule the world.
"That doesn't sound very good."
The Chairman's face stiffened.
"What?"
"Power. It's more troublesome than you'd think."
I meant it.
I didn't need to breathe.
Bullets didn't work on me.
I could even teleport.
It was obviously useful.
But ever since getting those abilities, smugglers had started chasing me.
I'd dealt with kidnappers.
And weird people kept appearing one after another.
The Chairman looked at me as though he couldn't understand.
"You have that power, yet you do nothing with it."
