Chapter 135

As soon as my negotiation with Bihyeong ended, the Judge hurried me along.

[Now that you're finished, you should be heading back.]

I wondered why he was pushing me so hard, but the Judge kept licking his lips as he stared at my bottle of liquor. It looked like the drink I had given him earlier hadn't been enough...

Wait a second. Come to think of it, didn't he say Hades and Persephone weren't in the underworld right now?

"Excuse me, Judge-nim. I have one more favor to ask."

[I don't know what it is, but this time it will be difficult...]

"I'll give you a whole bottle of liquor."

The Judge's eyes went wide at my words.

"Please take me down to Tartarus one more time."

* * *

Since I didn't have much time, I went down to Tartarus and came right back up. I thought I had only been gone for a moment, but in that short span the Judge had already become dead drunk.

[Is your business finished?]

"Yes."

The fact that Hades and Persephone were away from their places was heaven-sent luck for me. I had only dropped a tiny hint, but if it was quick-witted Kim Namwoon, that alone would be enough to bring about a major change.

It was the kind of moment that made me look forward to the day <Gigantomachia> arrived.

[The Queen left a message for you.]

"The Queen did?"

[That's right. I shall recite it for you directly.]

The Judge delivered Persephone's words in a grave voice.

[Incarnation Kim Dokja, you have been accomplishing your tasks in a very interesting way.]

"..."

[Many nebulae of the Star Stream are now watching you. And quite a few among them find you ominous.]

In truth, this Scenario had drawn a little too much attention from the Constellations.

[It would be best for you to prepare.]

Hearing that made me a little uneasy.

...Could Hades and Persephone's departure also be because of me? The reactions from the other Great Constellations had noticeably lessened lately as well. Especially Uriel, and... Uriel. For the record, Uriel also belonged to the nebula Eden.

[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband is disappointed in you.]

[The Constellation Secretive Plotter is comforting Prisoner of the Golden Headband.]

So those two were still around.

[Then farewell.]

I nodded. Still, there was no point worrying now. What mattered was not scattering the story I had been building up step by step all this time. Even if the nebulae disliked me, it wasn't as though every last one of them felt that way.

After a distant whirlwind swept through, my vision gradually cleared.

When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the living world.

"Dokja-ssi."

There was a strange tension in the voice. I forcibly slapped my cheeks to pull myself together.

Soon, Lee Hyeongseong's worried face came into view.

"...What's happened?"

The crowd around us was buzzing. Lee Jihye and a few other Allies were mixed in with them, and all of them were gathered in a circle around one spot. Up in the air, a small vortex was twisting out of shape and fading away.

A portal.

The passage the rest of my companions and I had come through. Why was that open? Had the Scenario ended?

"Additional reinforcements came through the Korean portal."

Additional reinforcements? At this point?

"I'm not entirely sure either, but..."

The delay in the additional deployment had been odd to begin with.

Ordinarily, the second and third deployments would begin less than a week after the first, but this time reinforcements had been slow to arrive right up until the end of the Scenario. It stood in stark contrast to Japan, where the third and even fourth deployments had come in rapid succession.

Lee Hyeongseong and I pushed through the crowd and approached the portal's point of emergence.

"Ajussi, over here!"

When I headed toward the sound of Lee Jihye's voice, I found a man who seemed to have just come out of the portal. His entire body was burned, blackened like a lump of charcoal.

"Uhh..."

It was someone I knew. I asked in shock,

"Minseop-ssi? What on earth happened to you...?"

Jeong Minseop. He was one of the very few Renouncers who had taken my side when I fought the prophets. After the War of Kings ended, I hadn't seen him for quite a while, so I had assumed he was dead, but why was he here like this...?

Lee Seolhwa arrived a moment later and began treating Jeong Minseop after checking his pulse. But it was already too late. In his final moment, Jeong Minseop met my eyes and muttered to me,

"You... mustn't... come back..."

Those were Jeong Minseop's last words.

* * *

[You have protected the peace of Peace Land.]

A gigantic string of text glowed in the air like a cube. The sky still looked festive, but my companions' expressions did not. Lee Jihye spoke in a confused voice.

"...What the hell is going on?"

Since the Scenario hadn't completely ended yet, it wasn't strange for additional personnel to be dispatched. But for that additional person to appear already in critical condition from the start...

"Did anything like this happen in Japan too?"

At Lee Hyeongseong's question, Asuka Ren shook her head.

"Could something have attacked them while they were crossing the portal...?"

"Isn't that unlikely?"

Of course, there were cases where dimensional species lived inside portals. But not in the early Scenarios. Then Lee Jihye offered her opinion.

"Then maybe the people left behind are fighting each other?"

It sounded far-fetched, but that still seemed the most realistic guess. Asuka Ren nodded and added,

"You said there is no Absolute Throne in Korea, right?"

"Yes."

"Then it isn't impossible."

Japan was now in the same position too, but in countries where overwhelming authority like the Absolute Throne wasn't guaranteed, the leading faction often changed hands. There had been several cases like that in the TWSA I knew as well.

Even so, this time was a little unexpected.

The Scenario was still in its early phase, and even if the alienated banded together, they would still amount to little more than alienated fighting power. Besides, I had already arranged safeguards in Seoul. Yu Sangah and Jeong Huiwon, and on top of that, my mother, the King of Wanderers.

Unless a force capable of overwhelming them had been assembled, it should have been impossible for a new leading faction to appear. Unease spread across my companions' faces.

"Surely... that can't be it, right?"

None of the scheduled reinforcements had arrived, and only Jeong Minseop had made it here in a half-dead state. On top of that, he had left behind a message telling us not to return. There were a few possibilities that came to mind given the timing, but...

"We won't know for sure unless we go and see."

I didn't know when he had appeared, but Yu Junghyeok was already right beside me. I nodded too.

"That's right. Let's go back and confirm it first."

That was when the Scenario message rang out.

[Additional rewards have arrived for the major contributors.]

[Major contributors: Kim Dokja, Yu Junghyeok.]

At last, the additional rewards for the Main Scenario had arrived.

[Would you like to check the reward details?]

I nodded.

+

<Reward List>

1. Moon Wave Folded Fan (SSS-grade)

2. Blue Dragon Sword (SSS-grade)

3. Magic King's Bracelet (SS-grade)

4. Choose one A-grade skill

+

There were four items in total.

As expected of such a high-difficulty Scenario, the reward list was substantial.

First, treasures like the Moon Wave Folded Fan and the Blue Dragon Sword were items that, if steadily reinforced, would eventually display power on par with a constellation artifact. There was no downside to possessing them.

Then there was the Magic King's Bracelet.

It was an excellent item capable of defending against low- and mid-level magic used by magic returnees. But since I had already obtained the Grass-Cutting Sword in this Scenario, the first two items didn't offer me much appeal, and while the Magic King's Bracelet was tempting, it wouldn't be especially useful unless I ran into a magic returnee in the near future.

So the answer had been fixed from the start.

"I'll choose number 4."

A list of skills appeared before my eyes.

Perhaps because the reward grade had gone up compared to last time, most of what appeared were skills from the Murim line.

+

Myriad Forms Return-to-One Divine Art

Lesser Yang Sword

Taiyi Bewildering Palm

...

+

I even saw Shaolin's secret arts, Kongtong martial arts, and famous techniques from Mount Hua such as the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique. Every single one of them was tempting, but since I could choose only one, I had to be careful.

As I mentioned before, regardless of a skill's grade, some are abnormally difficult to obtain. Murim skills might present another chance someday, but some skills could never be acquired again if I let this choice pass.

For example, a limited-edition A-grade skill that could be obtained only here in Peace Land.

"I choose the A-grade skill Miniaturization."

Lee Jihye, who had been watching my selection with gleaming eyes, let out a shriek.

"Ajussi, are you crazy?"

"Why?"

"No, why would you pick something like that? I'm already stressed to death because I got smaller... You should've chosen the Blue Dragon Sword and given it to me instead!"

Lee Hyeongseong also looked taken aback. The kids were too busy bickering among themselves to pay much attention, and the little people wore strangely moved expressions. They probably thought I had chosen this skill so I could remember them.

[All right, now that you've received your rewards, it's time to return. You've probably grown attached while you were here, so say your goodbyes.]

At the dokkaebi's notice, a huge portal appeared in the air. The little people, led by Gillemium, gathered around us in a cluster.

"Please return safely!"

"Thank you. We'll definitely remember you!"

"See you next time, Dokja-ssi!"

The little people sang a farewell song to those of us who were leaving.

Asuka Ren's eyes reddened. Starting with Michio Shoji, who waved broadly, the Japanese group disappeared into the portal one after another. Our party was the last to go. The little people's song continued.

The longer I listened, the more it felt as though I could understand the lyrics.

The hero who saved Peace Land

His name

Neither Tokuza nor Dogeza

But Dokja

Oh, Dokja

...Goddammit, who came up with lyrics like that?

[The beings of Peace Land are chanting your legend.]

[This achievement can be viewed after you ascend to Constellation status.]

On the bell tower of the inner fortress stood Kyrios, the one who had taught me martial arts. I had expected him to come charging over the moment the Scenario ended and heap all kinds of threats on me, but he only watched in silence.

"I think he's grateful to you."

"Huh?"

"That's just the feeling I get. I'm not really sure."

Asuka Ren said that with a smile. Even if she had lost the qualifications of a creator, perhaps an author was still a reader as well.

"Let's meet again alive, everyone from Korea."

Asuka Ren gave a small bow and disappeared beyond the portal, and we entered it as well. My vision lurched again, and when I came to my senses, my feet were on solid ground. Maybe because I had already experienced it once, the dizziness wasn't too bad.

[The Main Scenario has ended.]

It was Seoul, a sight I hadn't seen in quite some time. When I looked around, the only person who had come with me was Yu Junghyeok. Even though we had entered the same portal, the exits seemed to be different. Even so, why did it have to be this bastard and me...?

"Move."

At Yu Junghyeok's word, the ground beneath my feet exploded. Mana bullets flew in from all directions, tearing apart the place where we had been standing.

"It's the Supreme King!"

"Don't panic! Fire!"

"Those bastards aren't on the same side anyway! Leave the Supreme King alone and aim for the King of No Killing!"

Boom!

Boooom!

In a sense, it was an ambush I had expected. Through the hazy cloud of dust, dozens of figures came rushing in. Even at a glance, they had remarkably high-level equipment and Patron constellations. Were they Incarnations belonging to the other nebulae Persephone had mentioned?

"He can't kill people! The King of No Killing has a no-killing penalty on him! So don't hesitate and take him down!"

"There's a chance he'll come back to life by collecting points. So don't miss the timing and kill him the moment he regenerates!"

...When had that information leaked out? To think they even knew about the King of No Killing. A moment later, someone who appeared to be the leader shouted from within the dust.

"Kim Dokja! Slowly put away your weapon and come over here!"

I obediently did as he said. Up close, I could clearly see the nature of their equipment. Every last piece was close to A-grade, and each individual's overall stats were outstanding. It was a force that wouldn't lose to the Wanderers faction led by my mother.

Where the hell had people like these come from?

As if it were already over, the one who seemed to be the leader was grinning at me.

I smiled back and asked,

"Where did you pick up information about me?"

"What would you do even if you knew?"

"There's one thing you've got wrong, so I thought I'd let you know."

"What?"

[You have activated Blade of Faith!]

Slash!

The Blade of Faith I drew in an instant cut through the man and the surrounding fighters in a single stroke.