Chapter 251.

[Central Africa, Orden’s Underground Kingdom]

A dark kingdom in Central Africa inhabited by monsters .

Here, Monster King Orden was receiving his servant’s report .

—…Is that so?

—I have no excuse to offer, Your Highness .

Unlike his servant, the King appeared calm . He even seemed to be enjoying this situation .

—We dispatched monsters to protect Yoon Younghwa, but they were not enough .

—You do not need to worry . Who could have known that this Black Lotus would interfere with our work? We only need to prepare better bodyguards next time .

The King said and gestured with his hand . Immediately, a bipedal rabbit emerged from the darkness behind the throne . The monster had the body of a man and the head of a rabbit .

—Gato, it is finally time for you to act .

The rabbit called Gato nodded without a word . He was Orden’s second masterpiece, slower than Kurukuru but by no means less powerful .

—Protect our allies and crush Black Lotus .

Gato’s eyes glowed red at the King’s command . His eyes were thirsting for blood and death . Gato bowed down once and disappeared . He was as fast as the wind .

—…I apologize again, Your Highness .

The monster servant, who had been watching the whole scene from behind, bowed low in front of Orden .

Orden looked down at the servant and gave his next order .

—We need to put aside the carrots and move on to the stick . Lead the monsters of Africa to the north . I shall present the disobedient humanity with their first calamity .

—Yes, Your Highness!

—You may leave now .

The servant disappeared without ever showing his back .

Monster King Orden slowly closed his eyes . The disaster that his servants would bring forth unfolded before him .

This was only the beginning of Orden’s grand ambition .

**

—…You must remain resolute, Your Highness .

This was a memory from a distant past . In a world where four seasons vanished and only winter remained, the old servant urged me to make a decision amidst the familiar cold . I looked down at him from the throne .

—…You must punish the louse and treacherous Kindspring .

The old servant took advantage of my silence and continued . Other servants concurred . Their voices resonated in union .

—…Kindspring is a petty man without a sense of priority, who failed to consider the greater cause due to personal feelings .

Thinking back now, Kindspring was a loyal servant . He wished to remain honest and moral even when the future of the continent hung in the balance . He wished to punish a noble knight for plundering his people .

But the knight was a ‘Sword Master’, destined to become an important asset in the war, whereas Kindspring was not .

—…Raylen only wishes for the punishment of Kindspring . He is a knight who pledged his allegiance to the royal family . Please desert the traitor and embrace your loyal servant, Your Highness .

I was thirteen at the time . Despite my tender age, I was the ‘Queen’, not a young princess, and I carried the responsibility of ruling my kingdom and seizing control of the war .

I recalled the face of my very first servant . His pledge of everlasting loyalty and my acceptance of his pledge clashed with each other in my mind .

—…Your Highness, please punish the louse and treacherous Kindspring .

At that time, I thought I didn’t have any other choice .

But was that really the case? Did I really have no choice but to abandon my most loyal servant?

No, that wasn’t true .

As the Queen, didn’t I wish to abandon him? Didn’t I secretly consider him useless, for he never managed to become strong?

—…I understand . I shall deprive Kindspring of any and all rights as of today . Lock him up immediately .

“…!”

Jin Sahyuk, who was no longer the Queen of Plerion, woke up in her bed . The breath that she had been holding back broke out . Jin Sahyuk gasped for breath as she grabbed her chest . Her heart was beating violently . For a while, she stayed in her bed trying to catch her breath before finally raising her upper body .

“…Haa . ”

Another dream of the past . Did her seal over her memories weaken? Or maybe she was just too shaken up by that damned Kim Hajin . The memories that she had buried beneath her consciousness were leaking out like sand .

“Damn it . ”

With yet another sigh, she realized her body was covered in sweat . She threw off her bothersome pajamas, and then injected a portion of her magic power into her head . Only after she finished tightening the memory seal did she crawl out of her bed .

“… . ”

It was early morning . Jin Sahyuk was changing into her uniform when she suddenly looked at herself in the mirror .

In the mirror was a certain woman who resembled the princess . But at the same time, she looked nothing like her . The strange sense of disharmony overwhelmed Jin Sahyuk .

“…This is all because of that little shit, Kim Hajin . ”

Her confusion easily transformed into anger . Jin Sahyuk cursed out loud at the thought of Kim Hajin . Just thinking about him made her want to puke . She again pledged to herself to end his life with her own hands… .

Jin Sahyuk grabbed her uniform roughly . She carelessly put it on and stepped outside her mansion . The first thing she saw was a cozy and beautiful garden . Soon she spotted a horde of knights approaching her way from a distance .

“…We humbly greet you, Commander Shin Jahyuk!”

The knights were all dressed in [Lv . 7 Atalos Platinum Armor], provided to them by the Royal Knights . They were here to greet their Commander . Princess Araha’s guard, Rachel, was also among them . Rachel spotted Jin Sahyuk and gave a small smile .

“Good morning . ”

“…What’s the Princess’ knight doing here?”

Jin Sahyuk replied rather gruffly . Still, Rachel did not appear offended at all and said in a small voice .

“Um, Fenrir will be coming to the Castle . ”

“…?”

Jin Sahyuk’s face warped into a frown . ‘By Fenrir, she must mean Kim Hajin . But what’s that gotta do with me? …Is she seriously still thinking I’m his fan?’

“Would you like to come along? You could, if you want to . ”

“…N-no . It’s okay . ”

Jin Sahyuk shook her head . She had no reason to meet him, nor did she want to meet him . And it was definitely not because he threatened her to ‘never again appear’ before his eyes . It’s just that… she didn’t want to see him, definitely .

“There’s no time . I’ll be leaving to conquer the 9th floor soon . ”

Hearing this, Rachel put on a regretful expression .

“Then would you like me to deliver a message to him on your behalf?”

“Message?”

Even Jin Sahyuk couldn’t decline this offer .

‘Message… . ’

Jin Sahyuk looked at Rachel .

“Ask him if he’s ever heard of Kindsp… no, ‘Prios’ . ”

“Prios?”

“Yeah . ”

Mentioning Kindspring seemed too obvious . Instead, she chose to put forth the name that anyone who was once blessed with the greens of Plerion would know . Prios, the name of her father .

“Ah, wait . No, not that… . ”

But on second thought, that didn’t seem like a very good choice either . If she used the name of someone who everyone knew, she couldn’t narrow down the suspects .

‘Is there a name recognized by only a handful of people?’ Jin Sahyuk pondered . Suddenly her body flinched violently . ‘I met Kindspring when I was little, and he knew all my secrets . That means… . ’

“Puharen . ”

“…Puharen, you say?”

“Yeah . ”

Jin Sahyuk nodded calmly .

“Oh, so you were here~”

Suddenly, a cheerful voice called them . Jin Sahyuk and Rachel turned to where the voice came from .

The Duchess of the West, ‘Tomer’ was there .

“Long time no see, Knight Commander . And Rachel . ”

“… . ”

“Yes, it’s very nice to see you . ”

In contrast to Jin Sahyuk who looked at Tomer with discontent, Rachel gave her usual distant yet benevolent smile .

At first, Rachel was surprised to see Tomer here, too . The Cube alumna had shown up unexpectedly and introduced herself as the Duchess of the West .

But Tomer’s explanation easily cleared up Rachel’s confusion .

And recently, the two had become very close . After all, Tomer was the first person who had told Rachel that Kim Hajin liked her during her Cube years .

Tomer scanned the knights quickly .

“Everyone knows that we’re going to the 9th floor tomorrow?”

“Yes, of course!”

The knights answered lively . Jin Sahyuk didn’t like that they seemed to like Tomer more than her . Tomer looked at Jin Sahyuk and gave her a big smile .

“Well then, I’ll be leaving now . I’m scheduled to meet with someone . ”

With a smile, Rachel used a return ticket .

…With Rachel gone, a competitive atmosphere filled the space between Tomer and Jin Sahyuk .

**

I left Korea and arrived in England . I wasn’t here for vacation, of course, but to meet Evandel .

“…Invitation?”

“Yes . Anyone who is not a royal needs an invitation to enter . ”

But when I tried to enter the Buckingham Palace, a ‘knight’ stopped me .

England was one of the few countries in this world that acknowledged the profession called ‘knight’ .

Knights were similar to Heroes but different in that they were required to use swords and pledge allegiance to the ‘Royal Family’, instead of the Association or a guild .

“I don’t have anything like that . Excuse me for a second . ”

I remembered I could enter the Palace without any restriction in the past when I was working as Fenrir . Well, I hadn’t paid a visit recently because I was busy climbing the Tower . It wasn’t too surprising that they forgot about me .

I took out two ID cards from my pocket . One confirmed my identity as Jeronimo Mercenary’s Fenrir and the other as the ‘Technical Adviser to Essential Dynamics’ .

“Here you go . ”

“…”

The Knight solemnly received my cards .

[Essential Dynamics Technical Adviser — Hajun Kim]

But the moment his eyes landed on the card, all weight was lifted and his eyes widened frivolously .

“Ah, I also contacted Rachel beforehand . You can ask her . ”

Through Spartan, I had sent a note to Evandel, who probably delivered it to Rachel .

Gulp— The knight swallowed his saliva and carefully asked me .

“By Rachel, do you mean…?”

“You know, the Princess . ”

The knight made a call right away .

After the call, which lasted for about 3 seconds at most, the knight gave a polite bow and stepped aside .

“Sir, I apologize for not recognizing you!”

“No, it’s okay . Your Korean pronunciation is great, by the way . How long have you spoken Korean?”

“I’ve been learning Korean at a Korean school since I was three . ”

“Ah… . So they have something like that . ”

‘Korea has English schools too . ’

I patted the knight on his shoulder a couple of times and entered the Buckingham Palace .

I assumed the Palace would be filled with servants and maids, but it was mostly empty to my surprise . Instead, tadadada— I heard the sound of someone running towards me . With a big smile on my face, I turned to the side . The sound was, of course, from Evandel .

“Hajin~”

I picked Evandel up from the ground . With the child as light as a feather in my arms, I rubbed my cheek against hers .

“I missed you~”

“Sorry, I came a bit late . ”

I walked over to the reception room with Evandel in my arms .

Surprisingly, the reception room was crowded with guests . Not only Ah Hae-In and Hayang, but also Haeyeon and Yun Seung-Ah were here as well .

I approached them, slightly confused .

“Oh, Hajin . Hi~”

“Hello . ”

Yun Seung-Ah and Ah Hae-In greeted me, respectively .

I nodded and sat down on an empty chair .

“Um, I understand why Teacher Ah Hae-In is here, but why are you, Yun Seung-Ah-ssi…?”

I tilted my head questiongly and asked . Yun Seung-Ah scratched the back of her neck in slight embarrassment .

“Ah, just because I couldn’t get any sleep . Suho is fighting the Demon King on the 30th floor . ”

“Ah, right . ”

These days, the news that Kim Suho was about to complete the Tower of Wish was all over the place .

His journey lasted for roughly three years, or strictly speaking, two and a half years . The media was only talking about Kim Suho at the moment . There was even a bet over whether or not he would succeed in defeating the Demon King .

The current excitement over Kim Suho was similar to that of the World Cup from the Earth I came from . In other words, Kim Suho was at the center of global attention right now .

“Our stock prices shot up and investments have resumed thanks to him . But all I can do for him is pray . ”

Yun Seung-Ah said with a bitter smile .

“Hajin~ Hajin~ You smell nice~”

Evandel suddenly started to sniff me .

At that moment, the door slid open, and the woman I hadn’t seen in a long time appeared .

Rachel approached us with a big smile on her face .

“You came?”

“I did . It’s been a while . ”

I stood up and welcomed Rachel . She smiled happily and greeted me, too .

This was the first time we got together in a long time . We enjoyed our teatime together in the reception room .

The main subject of our conversation was definitely Evandel .

Ah Hae-In spoke of Evandel’s achievements . In terms of quantity, Evandel was already even with Ah Hae-In, and in terms of quality, Evandel was very close to the 7-star level .

Surprised, we complimented Evandel . Evandel squirmed with joy .

“Ah, right . Hajin-ssi, do you know Knight Commander Shin Jahyuk by any chance?

Rachel asked, as if the question suddenly sprang up to her mind .

“Shin Jahyuk? I do know her . Why?”

Jin Sahyuk’s alias . I had actually seen her with my own eyes, too .

“Ah, it’s nothing . She said she’s your fan . ”

“…My fan?”

That was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard .

While I was at a loss for words, Rachel continued .

“There’s something she wanted me to ask you . ”

“What is it?”

“She asked if you knew ‘Puharen’…?”

But everything started to make sense the moment I heard that question .

I nodded, trying to suppress my laughter . Jin Sahyuk was up to something, with Rachel serving as her stepping-stone .

“So, do you know who Puharen is?”

“Huh? Um . ”

I began to think . This had to be some kind of test… .

“I don’t know . I think I’ve heard that name in a movie . He was an incarcerated royalty, if I remember correctly . ”

As the original writer, I was fully aware of Jin Sahyuk’s backstory . What kind of prince, no, princess she was; what she did to become the queen; and how exactly she met her end .

Puharen was one of the members of the royal family who were incarcerated by Jin Sahyuk, the 5th Prince— no, Princess .

However, because Puharen was carrying a Devil’s Seed, just banishing her ended up becoming the reason Jin Sahyuk fell from grace .

Though, truth be told, Plerion would have fallen even without Puharen .

[Plerion was destined to fall from the day Jin Sahyuk became its ruler . ]

After all, that was my official setting .

A kingdom ruled by a young queen who was easily influenced by her vassals . Its end was obviously never meant to be good .

Rachel tilted her head and asked .

“Incarcerated royalty?”

“Yes, you should tell her just that . But that’s not really important,”

I quickly changed the topic .

“Didn’t you say you want to install the Essence Barrier?”

We switched topic to the Essence Barrier .

This was the reason foreign countries were recently sending diplomatic envoys to Korea one after the other .

“Yes… Not only that, but other defensive devices as well . ”

Rachel’s face was grim . It seemed England only had a little prospect of securing defensive devices .

“We’re trying our best, but our connections don’t extend far . China and the US are very aggressive . The order will be China, US, Japan, Germany… . We’ll probably come in fifth at best . ”

“Is that so?”

“Yes . But that’s okay . We have a few interests in the Tower of Wish that we can use for negotiations… . ” Rachel said in a sullen voice .

I wasn’t surprised, since the English Royal Court’s investments in the Tower of Wish were much more valuable than a mere barrier . But she couldn’t simply ignore the complaints and the anxiety of her people .

The number of monster attacks had recently skyrocketed . In other words, she had few choices .

“No, there’s probably no need for you to go that far . ”

I gave a confident smile .

In reality, Essence of Strait already possessed enough facilities to manufacture ample amount of Essence Barriers . Yoo Yeonha was simply playing hard to get in order to attract more lobbyists .

“Don’t worry . ”

But England definitely needed a Essence Barrier .

“I’ll…”

I, Kim Hajin, was about to exercise my right as the ‘Essence of Strait’s Technical Adviser’, when the reception room’s door swung open .

Thud—

A number of men in suits suddenly flooded into the room .

“D-Dad?”

“Pardon? Dad?”

“I, I mean, Father… . ”

Even Rachel’s father was there .

Amidst our confusion, the men in suits started to introduce themselves politely and respectfully . The group was comprised of the Minister and Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, members of the House of Lords, etc… .

Their introductions were all directed to me, and I realized their intentions soon enough .

“As representatives of this nation, we would like to welcome Sir ‘Hajun Kim’, the Technical Adviser to Essence of the Strait . We have a sincere favor to ask of you . Currently, the citizens of England are suffering from the greatest surge of monster attacks in history . The number of low-rank monsters have increased dramatically in urban areas, and… . ”

As expected, they were asking me to help them secure an Essence Barrier to place around England .

On a side note, ‘Hajun Kim’ was my alias .

“…Excuse me, Hajin-ssi? What is… happening?”

‘Essential Dynamics Technical Adviser’ .

Not only Rachel, but also Ah Hae-In and Yoon Seung-Ah were oblivious to my position . The trio looked at me in a daze, and I let out a bashful smile .

**

[4 hours later, Seoul, South Korea — Yoo Yeonha’s Mansion]

…Last night’s events unfolded in my head once again .

—Dead? What do you mean?

Chae Nayun, who screamed in misery, and me, who couldn’t answer her despairing screams .

—D-Dead, so suddenly? He can’t be dead . He can’t be dead! It doesn’t- it doesn’t make any sense! He’s really, really strong!

I showed her the video . Kim Hajin was definitely in it . His body was cut in half by a being moving at an undetectable speed . His eyes lost all signs of life and faded into an ash gray color . It was death without a doubt .

—This can’t, this can’t be . How can this be Kim Hajin, how… .

That’s when Chae Nayun completely lost it .

She tore her hair out, bawled like a child, hit the floor with her fists, and agonized over his futile death .

—Ah, aaah . Why, why, why… . Why…!

In the face of his death, Chae Nayun regretted everything she had ever done .

“I shouldn’t have been so mean to him the last time we met . This wouldn’t have happened if only I was smarter . Please, please, please… . ” She wailed miserably .

Watching Chae Nayun in pain, I…, I… .

“Hey, wake up . ”

I said, ‘Hey, wake up . ’

…No, wait .

That’s not right .

“Uuu… . ”

A frown spread across Yoo Yeonha’s face amidst the nightmare . The tip of her nose and the space between her eyebrows trembled slightly as she continued to wander in her nightmare .

“…Wake up . ”

However, Kim Hajin didn’t intend to let her suffer any longer .

He tapped Yoo Yeonha’s forehead lightly . Yoo Yeonha shook her head . Yet another nightmare seemed to have taken over her .

Left with no other choice, Kim Hajin infused his magic power into Yoo Yeonha’s head .

“Haauuuu… . ”

A strange moan flowed out of Yoo Yeonha’s mouth . The Stigma helped release her from her nightmare, and she finally opened her eyes .

But her gaze was still fixed at the empty space above .

“You’re finally up . ”

Kim Hajin spoke, smiling .

“…?”

Yoo Yeonha turned her head to the side and faced the man talking to her .

“…Huh?”

She blurted out a single exclamation in a daze .

Kim Hajin was in front of her . Kim Hajin, who was already dead, was lit up by the sunlight .

‘This must be a dream too,’ she thought .

“It’s not like you to fall asleep during the day . ”

Kim Hajin, who appeared too real, muttered .

…Still Yoo Yeonha didn’t say a word .

“Ah—”

Suddenly, her eyes rolled back and she lost consciousness .

She currently lacked the mental strength to deal with this kind of situation .

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