804 Episode 39 Rumor (3)
We were locked up in Namgung Sega's Brain Jade.
To be honest, I wondered if it made sense to lock us up for badmouthing their own dumplings, but the group called Odae Sega was no ordinary group.
As soon as we entered Brain Jade, the first thing that greeted us were the existing prisoners.
"Hahaha, it looks like another newcomer has come in."
From the big bosses of the Gumurim generation to the criminals of the Shinmurim. The prisoners who found Yoo Jonghyuk were glued to the bars and licking their lips.
"What a soft little brat."
"You were unlucky, brat. Your life is obvious now that you've come this far."
"What a chubby little brat, should I boil it or roast it—"
Yoo Joonghyuk looked at the prisoners with indifferent eyes and then picked out the two men who seemed to be the best among them.
"In-soo Electrode. Na-tae-geom Lee Cheol-gun."
The men who had been called by nicknames by Yoo Jonghyuk opened their eyes wide and muttered.
"Huh, how did our nicknames…?"
"You will die in the 'Terror Expedition' in 28 days."
A sudden silence spread through the prison at Yoo Jonghyuk's death curse.
A middle-aged man who had been locked up in the opposite prison woke up belatedly.
"You bratty brat, you've really lost your mind!"
"Baeksalgeom Mahyung."
Baeksalgeom Mahyung, whose name had been called, glared at Yoo Joonghyuk with his eyes wide open.
Yoo Jonghyuk looked at him for a moment and then declared.
"You will die now."
"What? Keuhahaha—"
Baeksalgeom Mahyung laughed for a long time, saying "Keuhahahaha," as if he had heard a lame joke. And after a while, Mahyung grabbed his heart, knelt down, vomited blood, and died.
"Wh, what's going on! What the heck!"
"Mahyung?"
"What happened? Are you kidding me?"
"Guard, where is the guard!"
A while later, a guard who had been hurriedly dispatched confirmed the death of Baeksalgeom Mahyung. It was a heart attack of unknown cause.
"If there's anyone else who wants to know their lifespan, come out."
With that, the prisoners' mockery disappeared.
I asked inwardly, amazed.
—How did you do it? Did you kill him with a skill?
—I just saw a guy who was about to die. That's all.
The 41st round’s regressor. He's scary.
Of course, not everyone thought Yoo Jonghyuk was scary.
"Are you really the disciple of Breaking the Sky Sword Saint? You're so amazing."
The guards seemed to find Yoo Jonghyuk's talent amazing and did not spare their praise.
"Did you really foresee Mahyung's death? I heard that even Breaking the Sky Sword Saint had the power of foresight..."
"By the way, he really is a handsome kid."
Looking at the guards who couldn't stop admiring Yoo Jonghyuk's appearance, I remembered reading a study that said that 'good-looking prisoners' were more likely to receive a lighter sentence in the courtroom.
"Just hold on here for a bit. Food will be served on time. The food in our brain prison is better than you think."
"..."
"Don't worry too much. If you just apologize well, the lord will soon release you. Namgung Sega isn't that vulgar."
Isn't this guy Yoo Jonghyuk just living his life in easy mode because he's handsome?
Well, anyway.
—Alright. Since we've come this far, we should be safe today.
Just in case, I tried using the story fragment 「A Bird Listening to Daytime Talk」 again, but I didn't detect any beings watching us like before.
Namgung Sega has a few masters who have reached transcendence, and there are also incarnations that appear in higher scenarios.
Even this brain prison is designed so that even the most high-ranking constellations can't easily enter and exit.
As long as we're in the martial arts world, it's hard to find a safer place than this.
I took advantage of the absence of guards to quietly release 'Thoughts'.
—You're doing something dangerous.
—There's no choice. There's a time limit for transformation.
Although there were suddenly two prisoners in the cramped cell, I couldn't maintain 'Thoughts' forever.
And I had a plan in case I got caught.
[Item 'Deodorizing Spray' was used.]
[Item 'Travel Bed' was used.]
[Item 'Someone's Old Blanket' was used.]
[Hidden item combination completed.]
[Special option 'It's Dangerous Outside the Blanket' is activated.]
It was a 'Honeymoon Item' combination that Kim Dokja had told me about some time ago.
The completed blanket tent naturally blended into the background of the prison.
I warned Yoo Jonghyuk, who was looking at me with a dumbfounded look.
—Don't talk to me, I'm going to do something important from now on.
I curled up in the blanket and immediately turned on Kim Dokja's sacred relic, the smartphone.
「 Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World. 」
[There is an unopened 'bookmark' in the file.]
[Would you like to move to the bookmarked page?]
As expected, there was a bookmark marked by the 'Demon King of Salvation'.
It must be a page with information necessary for the current situation.
Flipping through the pages, I checked the tasks that were currently facing me.
One, find a way to repair the incarnation body.
If I don’t repair the incarnation body within three days, I will die.
Two, enter the new main scenario.
Even if I repair the incarnation body, if I don’t enter the 'main scenario' and escape my status as an exile, I will still die.
Fortunately, I could somehow find a solution to these two tasks if I just met 'Breaking the Sky Sword Saint'.
The problem was the third.
Three, find 'the second Kim Dokja'.
The Demon King of Salvation said.
'The second Kim Dokja' is somewhere in this universe. However, for some reason, contact has been lost.
Fortunately, the Demon King of Salvation knew the last location where 'the second Kim Dokja' was detected.
The problem was that the 'entrances' to that location in this <Star Stream> were extremely limited.
「 Read the 999th round. You’ll probably be able to get help. 」
I slowly turned the page while checking the note left by the Demon King of Salvation.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and I couldn’t leave to meet the second Kim Dokja right away. For now, the best thing to do was to reread the given 'Ways of Survival' and check the roadmap.
I calmly began reading 'Ways of Survival' sentence by sentence.
I knew that the length of one 'Ways of Survival' was strangely long, but I was surprised once again.
This kind of writing is not in the right mind of the writer or the reader.
「 The items that can be obtained in 'First Murim' are as follows. 」
Sentences that were so boring that even someone who was stuck on a deserted island and had nothing left to read would probably hesitate.
「 How to obtain the Book of Extermination’s Martial Arts… 」
Excessively extensive settings and detailed descriptions.
「 So the Transcendent Seats finally decide to elect the 'King of the Transcendent Seats'. 」
「 The basic materials for producing the Dark Moon Theater are as follows. 」
As I read the dry sentences, I couldn't help but think about the person who pressed down on each and every word of those sentences.
Han Sooyoung really wanted to save Kim Dokja.
—Is that important?
When I raised my head, little Yoo Jonghyuk, who had lifted the blanket, was looking down at me as if I was pitiful.
—It is important.
—What are you doing?
I thought for a moment and decided to be honest.
—I'm reading a novel.
I thought there would definitely be sharp criticism, but unexpectedly Yoo Jonghyuk sighed quietly and sat down.
—You should get some rest too. There aren't many times when we can rest comfortably like now.
Yoo Jonghyuk started his morning meal while being greeted by the moonlight seeping through the bars of the prison. I thought he was a bit weird because he said resting was like eating breakfast, but even that was typical of Yoo Jonghyuk.
In a situation where it wouldn’t be strange if he died tomorrow, one person ate breakfast and the other read a novel.
「 When does the captain rest? 」
It was the scene where Lee Hyunsung asked Yoo Jonghyuk in the 999th round.
「 When the old dream stops. 」
I thought while watching Yoo Jonghyuk who was constantly working hard.
Will he, who was born as 'Yoo Jonghyuk', really be allowed to have a proper rest? Will his old dream finally end when he reaches the end of this forgotten world line?
I don’t know.
Maybe Kim Dokja or Han Sooyoung don’t know either.
In a sense, the 41st round is just being written.
What we can anticipate right now is not the distant future, but tomorrow.
—That beating must hurt a lot.
The next day, Yoo Jonghyuk wasn’t beaten. He was even released from the prison.
I had an ominous feeling. Could it be that the Emperor Sword Namgung Jincheon was trying to make Yoo Jonghyuk’s insults disappear?
If that’s the case, then all the plans I’ve made so far will be in vain.
More than anything, if Namgung Se goes out, our safety will not be guaranteed.
"Treat him with utmost respect. He is an honored guest."
While being guided by the servants, I had no idea how the situation was going.
Did he go from being a prisoner to a VIP overnight?
—Did Breaking the Sky Sword Saint come visit?
—I didn’t get that feeling.
Breaking the Sky Sword Saint didn’t even come, but the way we were treated changed?
This was a situation where anyone could see that there was an ulterior motive.
—Your plan seems to have been successful.
—I don’t know if I should call this a success.
The VIP room of Namgung Se, where only the elders of the Gupaebang and the famous masters of Murim can stay.
Foods prepared by trained masters were being arranged on the table in front of me. Every time I think of Murim, I only think of chicken soup, noodles, and Murim dumplings, but I was surprised that there were so many foods.
Dongpa pork and Ojangyuk that melted in your mouth. And even Peking duck.
Since I was a dwarf with 'thoughts', I couldn't eat all these foods to my heart's content, which was a shame.
On the other hand, Yoo Jonghyuk was eating well.
—But can you eat that?
—What?
—You don't eat food made by others.
—What are you talking about?
Yoo Jonghyuk, who had stuffed his cheeks with food, glared at me with an expression that said, "What nonsense are you talking about?"
Oh, you idiot.
Did you forget that you couldn't eat 'food made by others'?
—No, just eat a lot.
I thought it was better. Also, in that situation, he would have had to eat dirt.
The situation was a bit strange, but it wasn't easy to find a situation where he could eat his fill and rest comfortably.
[The story fragment 'The Man Who Eats Eight Meals a Day' begins its storytelling.]
The story fragment seemed to be intrigued as well, encouraging Yoo Jonghyuk to binge eat. While watching little Yoo Jonghyuk's stomach swell in real time, I also occasionally picked up some food to eat.
A whole day passed while we enjoyed eight meals, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Breaking the Sky Sword Saint did not come to find us.
Instead, it was Jewanggeom Namgungjin who came to find us.
"It feels good to see the boy eating well."
Namgung Jincheon, who came with his characteristically good-natured smile, nodded his head in satisfaction as he looked at Yoo Jonghyuk's chubby cheeks.
"It really hurt when the boy spat out our dumplings."
"They were trash."
"I admit it. It didn't bring out the true taste of Murim dumplings."
Unexpectedly, Namgung Jincheon readily admitted it.
Since ancient times, in Murim, you have to be careful when your opponent is humble. That means they clearly want something.
"Is the boy really a disciple of 'Breaking the Sky Sword Saint'?"
"If so?"
"Can you prove it?"
Yoo Jonghyuk rolled up his chopsticks as I had mentioned before and slowly recreated the first move of [Breaking the Sky Sword Saint].
Was it because it was a first move swung by a kid with no magical power and a chubby belly? It looked like a swordsmanship that wouldn't even break a rice bowl, let alone the sky. Wait a minute.
Did this human forget [Breaking the Sky Swordsmanship]?
"Don't reveal that martial arts to the outside world. It'll definitely cause a fuss."
Namgung Jincheon nodded, but I couldn't read his thoughts at all.
Are you really going to believe that?
Do you have no eyes for martial arts?
"This is the first time a disciple of Breaking the Sky Swordsmanship has come to Namgung Sega."
Jewanggeom looked at Yoo Jonghyuk with a serious look and continued.
"The martial arts world, including our Namgung Sega, owes a great debt to Breaking the Sky Sword Saint for generations. If there's anything you want, just tell me."
What's his intention?
While I was thinking for a moment, Yoo Jonghyuk spoke first.
"We need a doctor who can repair the incarnation body."
Yoo Jonghyuk's judgment was not bad. I don't know what their scheme is, but at this point, using Namgung Sega was the best way.
"I'll call for Shinui through my family."
Shinui. If we could call them, it was one of the best options for now.
Because 'Shinui' was one of the few 'Story Experts' who could repair stories in the 'First Murim'.
"And also..."
"But why are you looking for a doctor? The boy doesn't seem to have any internal or external injuries."
For a moment, he thought he had leaked too much information. Yoo Jonghyuk's expression hardened, and just as he was about to say something,
"Is it you who needs a doctor, or is it the friend hiding in your pocket?"
I had no choice but to admit it. We underestimated the Emperor's Sword too much.
Still, it was a group of incarnations that could block 'high-ranking constellations', and I thought they wouldn't find out about my existence.
Before Yoo Jonghyuk made a mistake, I got out of Yoo Jonghyuk's pocket and released 'Thoughts'.
"I was rude."
Watching me bow, the Emperor's Sword Namgung Jincheon slowly got up from his seat. A strange color flashed across his eyes.
If it had been the case, it would have been a welcome sight, but it wasn’t like that now.
"I know you."
Damn, as expected.
"Your story is famous even in this 'Murim'."
Honestly, I was afraid of what kind of story would spread. However, the expression on Jewanggeom’s face as he opened his mouth wasn’t all that bad.
"The story of you persuading Cheongae of the Dragon Head and sending them back to the sky made the whole of Gangho buzz."
Cheongae of the Dragon Head.
It was a name I hadn’t heard in a long time.
Had the scenario from Seoul Station already spread here?
"It hasn’t been widely known yet, but I also know that you recently had a fierce battle with the 'Master of the Spear' at the Recycling Center."
Something came to mind belatedly.
'Master of the Spear' was once the patron saint of the Namgung family. And I killed him at the 'Recycling Center'.
However, Jewanggeom seemed happy about that fact.
"I’m grateful to you."
That made sense. The 'Master of the Spear' was the first constellation to run away when the 'Outer God Incident' broke out.
Namgung Sega still hadn't forgotten the grudge from that time.
I nodded and answered.
"I'll accept your thanks. But I don't think you came here to talk about that."
"You're as sharp as I've heard."
The expression on the Emperor Sword's face, which had been slightly smiling, became even more serious.
"I know that the constellations of the Great Nebulae are looking for you."
I squinted my eyes and swallowed my tension.
Honestly, if the Emperor's sword were to report us to <Asgard> or <Olympus> right now, there was nothing we could do.
"I have something to ask you."
However, if that was his purpose, the Emperor's sword wouldn't have come to us separately.
"Are you, in front of me now, the incarnation 'Kim Dokja', or the constellation 'Demon King of Salvation'?"
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