Two days had pa.s.sed since I started staying at Han Sooyoung"s headquarters.In the meantime, I had to concentrate on a few things. One was to reveal exactly what Han Sooyoung meant by "the death of Yoo Jonghyuk." The second was to find out what Han Sooyoung ultimately wanted to achieve through it.
Either way, finding out wasn"t easy. This wasn"t the only problem.
[It is really destroyed? Our Eden?]
I looked at Gabriel who was exuding a ferocious spirit.
"That"s right. Didn"t you hear anything about it from the third round Metatron?"
[...The scribe knows about the destruction of Eden?]
I nodded. "If you go back, ask him yourself. Of course, that"s if you can go back safely."
The stems of Gabriel and Jophiel started to shake. I thought they were angry with me but they seemed to be talking to each other. I pulled out the Uriel doll. She was caught by the Confinement of Good and Evil and couldn"t use her strength for the next five days.
「 The Fourth Wall is looking at you. 」
Maybe I could borrow the power of the Fourth Wall to give her memories of the third round. However, the idea that Uriel would be moved by my memories was just a fantasy. Maybe after seeing the memories, Uriel would say:「 ■■, so what? 」
The memories of the third round would sound like a novel to Uriel who had lived through the third round.
"Kim Dokjssi, are you going to hunt with us?"
I looked up and saw Lee Hyunsung standing there with steel gauntlets on. "Is it okay if I go with you?"
"Yes, well... there is no meaning in identifying a picked up bullet."
I smiled at Lee Hyunsung"s words. Whether it was the third round or the 1863rd round, the strange a.n.a.logies were still there. I calculated how many times Lee Hyunsung must"ve be confined in the guardhouse so far.
[Your understanding of the character "Lee Hyunsung" has increased.]
[The character "Lee Hyunsung" shows a weak liking towards you.]
I recalled the first scenario and suddenly felt a bit distracted. I added a sentence to alleviate Lee Hyunsung"s wariness. "Shouldn"t you be more vigilant? I am Yoo Jonghyuk"s companion."
"Um... Captain didn"t say anything and... as a matter of fact, I feel that Dokjssi isn"t a bad person. I guess this is the intuition I gained after 94 scenarios."
Throughout the novel, Lee Hyunsung"s intuition was mostly off the mark. Whenever Lee Hyunsung said this, I used to think that Yoo Jonghyuk would be stabbed in the back.
"Hey, you came? Let"s take a look at your skills."
Those who went out to hunt together were Kim Namwoon and Lee Jihye. Lee Jihye was covered with a big grey hood and looked at me in a displeased manner.
"Come quickly. We"re going to start."
I followed the party members out of the headquarters. The purpose of this hunt was to clean up the unnamed things around the headquarters and collect the items. Of course, I knew the real reason why Han Sooyoung ordered this hunt.
-There are two ahead of you. One is a tentacled species and the other is a composite species.
Han Donghoon"s message was heard and Lee Jihye pulled out her sword. She triggered Instant Kill to defeat all the tentacles and then Kim Namwoon burned the main body with his black flames.
I felt it when I read the original but the two of them were really well matched. There was a terrible scream as the monster turned to ashes and Kim Namwoon approached Lee Jihye.
"Nice attack."
Kim Namwoon raised his right hand towards Lee Jihye with a cool face. Lee Jihye aimed her sword at Kim Namwoon with cold eyes. The sword pierced past Kim Namwoon"s cheek and penetrated the tentacle that was wriggling around as the unnamed thing struggled with the flames.
Lee Jihye moved towards the next prey. Kim Namwoon chased after her. "Hey, let"s go together!"
Once Gilyoung and Yoosung grew up, would they be a duo like this? I might see such a scene if I went back.
"Dokjssi?"
"Ah, yes. I"ll take the other side."
I hurriedly pulled out Unbroken Faith and activated Way of the Wind. Some flying tentacles penetrated during an unguarded moment. It was a bit tricky to deal with the unnamed things when I deliberately wasn"t using Electrification.
"Kukuk, you"re weak?"
Kim Namwoon, who had the black flames in both hands, started to beat up the unnamed things with a careless smile.
"Watch and learn!"
Certainly, it was a great combat force. The present Kim Namwoon was able to draw out half the power of the Abyssal Black Flame Dragon.
I quietly cheered on Kim Namwoon. "You"re great. It is coming again."
"Hahahat, give it to me!"
"Wow, no matter how good you are, isn"t it hard?"
"What are you talking about? Hahahahat! Die!"
"Hey, there"s that one over there..."
Kim Namwoon belatedly noticed something and his eyebrows twitched. Lee Hyunsung standing nearby was smiling. In the distance, Lee Jihye caught a monster and clicked her tongue like he was pitiful. The moment Kim Namwoon"s expression distorted and he raised his fist towards me, I told him, "Lee Jihye doesn"t like pretentiousness."
Kim Namwoon"s face turned as white as his hair. His eyes shook like an earthquake had occurred.
In fact, the one who had the biggest reaction was Lee Hyunsung, whose eyes widened.
...This guy pa.s.sed through every round without noticing. Kim Namwoon glanced between Lee Jihye and I before stammering.
"H-How do you know that?"
"It would be strange if I didn"t know. Dye your hair first and get rid of the bandages. Replace them with half gloves on both sides. After the hunt, don"t say things like nice attack."
[The constellation "Abyssal Black Flame Dragon" hates you.]
"It will be more helpful if you act like the guy behind me."
Kim Namwoon blinked as he looked at the person behind me. Yoo Jonghyuk was standing there blankly. His coat was crooked and he hadn"t washed himself but he couldn"t hide his good looks.
"That person is "evil. Still, he looks cool."
Delusional Demon Kim Namwoon muttered. I answered with a smile. "He isn"t too bad. He has good parts."
"Hah, you must be talking about someone else. That reminds me, how did you end up as Yoo Jonghyuk"s companion?"
Kim Namwoon watched me suspiciously and Lee Hyunsung spoke up. "I heard that Dokjssi is from another world."
Maybe Han Sooyoung had talked about me. Kim Namwoon looked surprised and pointed at me. "Different worlds? Like... parallel universes?"
"It is similar."
I admired the fact that Kim Namwoon knew about parallel universes when he had no biology knowledge. Obviously, this round was different from the round I remembered.
"That"s why I haven"t seen you so far. So? Why did you come here?"
"You"re excited. Unfortunately, I can"t tell you."
"Sheesh, then what am I doing in your world? Am I a leader?"
"You"re dead."
Kim Namwoon"s face paled again.
"I"m joking. You"re building a gundam there. You are very happy."
"Gundam? Ohh..."
Lee Jihye came back and hit the back of Kim Namwoon"s head. "Why are you messing around? Pick up the items."
"Uh, uh."
I watched Kim Namwoon hurriedly picking up items after Lee Jihye and thought. Maybe I shouldn"t have killed him in the first scenario. Kim Namwoon, who was following Lee Jihye and picking up items, turned to me and whispered, "Excuse me. I have something to ask."
"What?"
"Can you lend me that coat for a minute?"
...What was I saying?
"I see you."
Kim Namwoon grumbled and started picking up the items again. Lee Jihye nagged him and Lee Hyunsung chuckled.
It was a peaceful sight. In the midst of this peace, I was strongly reminded of my world. There was no Jung Heewon here. No Yoo Sangah or Lee Gilyoung.
...Yes, Han Myungoh as well. Thus, I had to go back.
Not long after, we collected all the items around us. I looked at the items I collected and smiled. There it was. One of the five swords that were the key to clear the 95th scenario. Perhaps Han Sooyoung knew that one of the swords was in the vicinity.
However, I was surprised the moment I held the sword. "Excuse me, Hyunsung-ssi."
"Huh?"
"Did Han Sooyoung tell you to collect this sword?"
Lee Hyunsung glanced at the sword in my hand and replied, "Oh, that"s right. We are looking for that sword."
The 95th scenario was a scenario where "five swords" were the key. A scenario where the sealed Apocalypse Dragon was released through the key five swords. But this sword...
A sense of discomfort pa.s.sed through my head. I looked up at the sky and saw the Apocalypse Dragon"s Sealing Ball heading this way. Sleeping inside the dark sphere was the worst ruin dragon in Ways of Survival.
Originally, Yoo Jonghyuk was supposed to liberate the dragon and gain the giant story "Liberator of the Apocalypse Dragon", entering the final scenario.
「 At this moment, Kim Dokja realized how to kill Yoo Jonghyuk. 」
The hand holding the hilt trembled.
「 In addition, Han Sooyoung was thinking exactly the same thing as him. 」
***
Throughout the day, Kim Dokja read Ways of Survival again and again. He read the pages he had already read and checked if there were any lines he missed. Kim Dokja seemed to find something. Or perhaps he didn"t find it. He looked down at his smartphone, grabbed his head several times and even sighed. "...Noisy. Stop talking."
Sometimes, he scolded the Fourth Wall. In any case, Kim Dokja tried hard. It was an effort to change something, an effort that perhaps no one would understand.
Soon a small resolution filled Kim Dokja"s eyes. It wasn"t a resolution that could acc.u.mulate in one or two days. It was a resolution that only a person who had read a story for a long time could have.
With that resolution, Kim Dokja continuously read Ways of Survival. He read, read and read it again.
How many times did he read? Kim Dokja"s eyes, s.h.i.+ning like stars, dimmed little by little. Kim Dokja fell into a shallow sleep.
Yoo Jonghyuk stared at the scene with empty eyes. The back of the weary Kim Dokja. A snoring sound came out at regular intervals.
There were very small sparks as Yoo Jonghyuk"s eyes recovered. Killing intent filled the blank eyes and this killing intent was aimed at precisely one person. Yoo Jonghyuk quietly moved the Heaven Shaking Sword. He didn"t make a sound as he approached and aimed a sword at Kim Dokja"s neck.
「Ha ha do not do su ch a th ing. 」
Yoo Jonghyuk frowned. The Fourth Wall caused sparks to fly, as if going to wake up Kim Dokja straight away. Yoo Jonghyuk sent a message to the illusionary wall using Sound Transmission.
-Don"t wake him up. I will cut off his head straight away if you do.
「Hu um. 」
The sparks produced by the Fourth Wall rapidly reduced. Yoo Jonghyuk didn"t remove the sword and the Fourth Wall drew characters in the air.
「 Wh at do you wa nt? 」
Yoo Jonghyuk didn"t say anything. It seemed like he was finding his words or he didn" know what to say. At this time, the Fourth Wall let out bizarre laughter.
「 A ha, I under stand. 」
"..."
「 Are you cu rious? 」
Yoo Jonghyuk still didn"t answer and the Fourth Wall laughed like it knew everything. The letters of the Fourth Wall started to increase. Gold letters soon filled the room. Yoo Jonghyuk stared at the letters drifting around him and reached out for one of them. The letters seemed to respond to his hand and started to speak.
「 "My name is Dokja." 」
「 I usually introduced myself to people like this and then the following misunderstanding would
occur. 」
It was the story of a world he had never experienced. The Fourth Wall giggled.
「 Very in te res ting. 」
Yoo Jonghyuk quietly listened to the story. This last until the night was deep and then the faint light of dawn was seen.
.
.
.
By the time the sleeping Kim Dokja woke up, Yoo Jonghyuk was leaning against the wall with blank eyes.
"...I fell asleep, d.a.m.n."
Kim Dokja stood up with dishevelled hair and picked up his smartphone and sword. He looked out the window and saw the troops of the headquarters that had already gathered. They were gathered to clear the 95th scenario. At the centre of the party, Han Sooyoung in the white coat was looking this way.
Today was the day that "Incarnation Yoo Jonghyuk" would die.
TL: Rainbow Turtle