Chapter 457: 457

The time limit for the scenario was until midnight today . It was already nine PM, so there were less than three hours remaining .

… . How did the time fly by so quickly, anyway?

I heard that happy moments would pass you by really quickly . It must’ve been true .

⸢Four complaints still need to be answered . And only three hours remain . ⸥

No matter what, I was cutting it real close . From the beginning, solving five of such difficult missions was clearly forcing it .

In the end, I decided to resort to ‘that’ .

“Biyu-yah . “

Dokkaebis had jurisdiction over sub scenarios, so she should be able to control one just fine .

Also, since the failure penalty was not ‘death’ but ‘death(?)’, I was thinking that they wouldn’t kill me for real, and . . . . Biyu wasn’t answering .

“Where are you, our cute little Biyu?”

[Constellation, ‘Abyssal Black Flame Dragon’, is cackling at your ill fortune . ]

[Constellation, ‘Queen of the Darkest Spring’, is urging you to seriously carry this scenario out . . . . ]

Seeing that the channel was open, Biyu must be nearby for sure, but . . . ?

I decided to pull out the hidden trump card .

“Ba-aht . “

That caused the empty air to quiver a little, then a ball of cotton with a small horn attached on top rose out from there .

[Aba-aht . ]

Biyu popped out with a “Poof!” and began giggling away .

I didn’t smile back, though . “Biyu-yah . I’m sorry about this, but can you, like, cancel this scenario . . . . ?”

[Eh-oh-bah-aht . ]

I couldn’t tell whether she was trying to say ‘eva’ or ‘over’ .

[Constellations agreeing with the applicable scenario’s Probability are rejecting the scenario cancellation . ]

… . Hang on, could this be a bounty scenario, instead?

[Constellation, ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’, is arguing that this scenario is a necessity for you . ]

[Constellation, ‘Abyssal Black Flame Dragon’, is criticising you, telling you not to use a cowardly method . ]

[Constellation, ‘Bald General of Justice’, is saying that if you’re a true comrade to them, then you should use your valour and tenacious spirit to . . . . ]

[Constellation, ‘Goryeo’s First Sword’, is simply denying the cancellation . ]

… . They are in sync with each other only in times like this, aren’t they?

” . . . . Yes, yes . I get it now . “

[Constellation, ‘Most Ancient Liberator’, is cheering on his maknae . ]

I couldn’t really get used to the new Modifier for the Great Sage Heaven’s Equal . We parted ways right away after the ‘Journey to the West’ scenario came to an end, but I knew we’d get to see each other soon enough .

In any case . . . . Who should it be? Who should I speak to next? It should be someone holding the highest amount of complaints towards me, right?

I studied my companions one by one, leisurely sitting around together after that fulfilling supper . That was when the [Midday Tryst] came flying in my way .

– What are you looking at?

Okay, let’s skip Han Su-Yeong for now . Her problems weren’t on the level that I could fix anyway .

– You making fun of me?

I continued to search for the next candidate . The next two I spotted were Yu-Seung-ee and Gil-Yeong-ee . While looking at the two lying side by side and patting their slightly bulging tummies, it almost felt as if the [Fruit of Good and Evil] was whispering to me from deep inside my mind .

⸢If it’s their troubles, can’t I easily solve them?⸥

Even if I set aside the cowardly reason for now, I still needed to have a serious talk with Gil-Yeong-ee .

[Constellation Yi Gil-Yeong’s Sponsor is staring at you . ]

Although he looked the same on the outside as before, Yi Gil-Yeong’s Status had a faint trace of demonic aura permeating it . Would it be okay to talk to him now? However, wasn’t it too open here?

[Constellation, ‘Master of Sky Walk’, is observing your actions . ]

[Constellation, ‘Lily Blooming on Aquarius’, is focusing her attention on you . ]

Not only that, Constellations were watching us, too . I couldn’t really imagine how the channel’s Constellations would react if I went and carelessly got in touch with ‘that side’ now .

Even then, I should at least talk to him . . . . .

[Currently, ‘Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’ 2nd Stage is in activation . ]

… . The inside of my head rang with a “Bzz!” and the skill was activated forcibly once more . This was happening rather often lately . I wasn’t sure whether it was because I read the ‘Ways of Survival’ too much, or due to some other reason, but . . .

⸢Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump⸥

Their voices soon entered my head .

⸢Dok-Ja hyung will come and talk to me, right?⸥

⸢Is he coming over now?⸥

… . Ng??

⸢I better tell him about a biiiig problem . ⸥

⸢I must tell him something really shocking . ⸥

⸢ . . . . What if Shin Yu-Seung talks about something bigger than mine?⸥

⸢I definitely must say something more shocking than Yi Gil-Yeong . ⸥

My steps came to a halt .

… . It was not because I was scared of the kids, though . Anyways . I shifted my gaze to the person crouching next to them, instead .

⸢ . . . . I miss them . ⸥

Yi Ji-Hye with a sad expression was looking at the distant sky . She was an energetic chatterbox usually, so it was rare to see her make such face .

I could guess who she was referring to when she said she missed them .

The first scenario would’ve been a nightmare to everyone, but it must’ve been especially worse for her . Even if the was here for her, one person couldn’t really substitute for someone else .

I wordlessly approached her and lightly poked her on the shoulder . Yi Ji-Hye looked behind at me . “Uht? what’s this, ahjussi? You finished with the dishes?”

“Yeah . “

“H-mm . . . . Wait, did you come here because of the scenario?”

“It’s not entirely about that . But . . . . “

“I don’t have any particular complaints, so you don’t need to talk to me, though? Why don’t you speak to others first?”

Even now, she was worried about others . No matter how badly she was hurting, she was still thinking of other people’s pain first . Yi Ji-Hye from Chungmuro grew up like that . And she grew up into an adult like that, too .

“You can talk to me any time . If you don’t want to talk to me, then it’ll be fine with someone else, too . But you don’t have to huddle in a corner and let it fester inside you . “

Maybe she didn’t expect me to say something like that, because Yi Ji-Hye began blinking her eyes next .

“Ahjussi, don’t try to act cool, okay?”

She smirked and punched me in the shin with her sturdy fist . I thought my bone was broken or something .

[You have currently resolved 1 complaint . ]

A simple chat on this level couldn’t resolve Yi Ji-Hye’s troubles . Even then, I still had to speak to her .

She lightly shook her beer glass around and while standing up, spoke to me . ” . . . . Alright, then . Since I’m full, I should go and stretch my limbs for a bit . “

“You shouldn’t exercise after drinking, you know . “

“I feel fine, though?”

Seeing her swing her sword about like that, she definitely was her master’s student, alright .

… . Hang on a bit . Now that I thought about it, there was one guy who should be the most dissatisfied by me around here, wasn’t there?

I quickly scanned the campsite, but strangely enough, I couldn’t locate that idiot no matter how hard I looked .

“Hey, you deaf?? When someone is calling you, you should . . . . . “

Along with a resounding ‘Slap!’ someone smacked me in the back of the head .

I looked behind and spoke to the culprit . “Hey, Han Su-Yeong . . . . “

“What now?”

“Where is Yu Jung-Hyeok?”

“Yu Jung-Hyeok? He was over th . . . . Uh?”

Only then did she realise it, too . Honestly speaking, that guy usually acted on his own and often disappeared on us without warning, so this shouldn’t come across as all that surprising . The problem had to with the fact that he didn’t disappear alone this time .

Han Su-Yeong looked into the wide-open rear door of the [X-grade Ferrarghini] and spoke up . ” . . . . . The ‘Secretive Plotter’ is gone, too . “

*

The ‘Secretive Plotter’ surrounded in the transparent Sealing Sphere landed on the ground with a thud and roughly rolled around in the dirt . He was still unconscious . Yu Jung-Hyeok quietly looked down on him, then slowly unsheathed the [Dark Heavenly Demon Sword] and addressed the Plotter .

“I know that you’re already awake . “

The Secretive Plotter slowly opened his eyes . Accompanied by faint sparks, energy from a Fable surged throughout his body . For a moment there, his Fables were returning to him .

[[You don’t seem to know how to enjoy these brief moments of peace . ]]

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“I don’t have a habit of enjoying my peace with an enemy near me . “

[[Are you planning to kill me? That is indeed a wise move . However, you should know by now that you can’t really kill me . ]]

That was true . The ‘Secretive Plotter’ was another Yu Jung-Hyeok . Killing him simply meant the creation of another world-line .

Even then, Yu Jung-Hyeok didn’t let go of his [Dark Heavenly Demon Sword] . “It’ll be far better than watching you mess up this world-line . “

The Plotter laughed . They were both Yu Jung-Hyeoks . They may have lived two different lives, but their nature as Yu Jung-Hyeok was the same . And that was why they could understand each other’s thought process the best .

[[Do you believe that your power alone is enough to kill me? Without Kim Dok-Ja’s Fable, the current you can’t fight against an ‘Outer God’ . ]]

“That might be the case, but killing you will be rather simple . I only have to shatter that [Sealing Sphere] . “

A faint trace of unrest flitted in and out of the Plotter’s expression .

Currently, the ‘Secretive Plotter’ was inside the unstable [Apocalypse Dragon’s Sealing Sphere] created by the 999th turn’s Uriel .

“You’re deliberately not removing the [Sealing Sphere] . If you break it, then the ‘Hounds Chasing After the Abyss’ will appear from the gap in space and time, that’s why . “

It only had been for a brief moment, but still, Yu Jung-Hyeok got to steal a glance into the memories of the 1864 regression turns engraved into the ⸢Hellscape of Eternity⸥ . That’s where he got to learn partial information on ‘Outer Gods’ . The Hounds that chased after the Abyss – he learned about the Hounds of Tindalos during that time, too .

They were the cleaners capable of detecting the distortion in a world-line .

“They can only intrude from where angles below 90 degrees exist . The normal you wouldn’t be troubled by something like a few Hounds, but with how weakened you are, the story should change greatly . “

The flow of Status loaded onto the [Dark Heavenly Demon Sword] grew thicker . Yu Jung-Hyeok too hadn’t fully recovered from his wounds, so fighting the Plotter head-on was impossible .

However, shattering the Sealing Sphere shouldn’t pose a challenge .

The Plotter’s expression changed, perhaps after figuring out Yu Jung-Hyeok’s intentions . It was the face of a man who had accepted ‘something’ .

And so, just as Yu Jung-Hyeok’s [Dark Heavenly Demon Sword] was about to make a move . . .

“Oppa . “

Someone’s head poked out from the bushes .

“What are you doing?”

Yu Jung-Hyeok was taken by surprise and while turning his head towards her, shouted out . “Yu Mi-Ah! Don’t come closer!”

Dismay brushed past his expression next . Because he had focused all of his perception on the ‘Secretive Plotter’, he ended up making such an egregious mistake .

“Go back to where our companions are! This place is dangerous!”

“Don’t want to . “

She replied in a cold voice, something she had never used before .

Yu Jung-Hyeok replied in stupefaction . ” . . . . What?”

“You don’t even come back to Earth all that often anyway, so stop nagging me . You promised to stay with me for a few days, didn’t you? Both Su-Gyeong ahjumma and Gyeong-Ran ahjumma are always busy, you know? And I’m tired of listening to Grandma Bok-Sun’s stories of the past, too!”

Yu Mi-Ah clearly enunciated every single word as she strode forward . Yu Jung-Hyeok’s judgement blurred for a moment then .

She seized that opening and quickly ran towards the front of the ‘Secretive Plotter’ .

“By the way, he looks exactly like you, oppa . Who are you exactly?”

Before long, she was within the touching distance of the Plotter . Yu Jung-Hyeok grew anxious . He wanted to swing his sword right now and shatter the [Sealing Sphere], but his little sister might get swept up in the air current if he made the slightest mistake here .

As he began deliberating on his options, she placed her hand on the transparent [Sealing Sphere] and innocently asked the figure inside . “Are you trapped in this thing? You want me to help you get out of there?”

Yu Jung-Hyeok dearly wanted to move and pull her away from there right now . But for some reason, he couldn’t .

The ‘Secretive Plotter’ was staring at Yu Mi-Ah .

His eyes were trembling from a very powerful agitation . Even Yu Jung-Hyeok was surprised to see such an expression appear on the Plotter’s face, someone who had lived through an untold amount of time .

Yu Mi-Ah pressed him further in the meantime .

“Come on now, answer me . “

Fin .