840 Episode 44 Evil Sophist (3)

Killer King Cha Sungwoo, who had been sitting blankly, suddenly hit his head hard. Ji Eunyu, who was watching from the side, asked in surprise.

"What are you doing?"

"I was checking if my head was properly attached."

"Suddenly?"

"My head has hardened these days, so I can't remember the contents of the Book of Revelation well."

"You said you've read it a hundred times."

"Should I have read it a hundred and one times?"

Cha Sungwoo looked up into the air with strange eyes, then muttered in a voice that seemed to be intentional.

"Or... is it because that guy isn't here?"

Of course, Ji Eunyu knew who 'that guy' Cha Sungwoo was talking about.

With a light sigh, he looked around, and saw Lee Dansoo, Kyung Sein, and Cha Yerin all staring into the air with the same eyes.

As expected, they all had expressions thinking about 'that guy'.

"Is he okay?"

Kyung Sein said a word. "No matter what anyone says, it’s 'Kim Dokja'."

Cha Yerin then chimed in.

"Kim Dokja dies easily."

The group’s expressions turned pale for a moment.

"Well, he comes back to life, doesn’t he?"

"He must have the resurrection trait, right?"

"I don’t think he had that trait…"

A deep sigh filled the room.

It’s already been three months and ten days since their leader, the writer, Cheon Inho, or Kim Dokja (the title hasn’t been unified yet), went missing.

"How’s the damage situation for this scenario?"

In the meantime, the group of readers finished another scenario.

It was a ‘Monster Wave’ type scenario where powerful 3rd-grade monsters appeared.

"It’s not bad. We’ve become much stronger now."

Even though it was a '20th-level scenario', the group was now able to clear the scenario without difficulty. It was all thanks to the spec upgrade at the 'Recycling Center'.

"There were no rumors that Dokja-ssi had returned, right?"

"This time, I didn’t see the Kim Dokja impersonator. According to Hyunwoo—"

With a squeak of the hinge, someone entered the room.

It was Ye Hyunwoo.

"Are you all doing this again? We’re not like <Kim Dokja’s Company>."

Lee Dansu answered with a laugh.

"You never know. If you think like this, you might meet Inho-ssi…"

"Right. Inho-ssi has [Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint]."

But no matter how much the group thought of Cheon Inho, they couldn’t hear his voice.

"He’s not really dead, is he?"

"No way."

"Then where is Inho-ssi right now?"

At Kyung Sein’s muttering, everyone’s eyes turned to the two.

The only two people in this room who had read the 'Book of Revelation' over a hundred times.

Ji Eunyu, who had caught their attention, spoke first.

"I think… he probably went to where the 'Time Fault' is."

Cha Sungwoo nodded as well.

"I think so too."

"Writer… no, Dokja-ssi is being chased by Nebulae right now. He had to find a way to get stronger while running away from the Constellationss."

"There’s no other way than to become a Transcendent."

Kyung Sein nodded as if he understood, and Lee Dansu let the words slip away.

"Then how about we go find Dokja-ssi?"

Cha Sungwoo was the first to raise his head at those words. Ji Eunyu, Cha Yerin, and Kyung Sein followed suit.

However, there were those who shook their heads instead of raising their heads.

It was Ye Hyunwoo.

"Sir, realistically, that’s difficult. No matter how strong we become, we’re not strong enough to go to the 'Time Fault'. If we go, it’ll just be a burden."

"Why don’t we just borrow the strength of the characters?"

"They won’t help us."

At Ye Hyunwoo’s words, the group recalled the last words they had heard from Lee Jihye.

Lee Jihye, Lee Hyunsung, and Shin Yoosoung’s backs turned as they walked away with somewhat lonely and sorrowful expressions.

'Don’t die.'

How nice it would have been if they had such instructions.

After Kim Dokja disappeared, the group felt like a compass with a broken needle.

"Can’t we go by ourselves? Heewon-ssi left like that too."

Jung Heewon left the group a month ago, saying that she would find Cheon Inho at all costs.

"We’re not Heewon-ssi. And I’m worried about her too. She’s the strongest of us all, but..."

Ye Hyuwoo’s expression suddenly hardened as he spoke. It was because he had noticed a huge group of dark clouds hanging over the window.

Tsk tsk tsk tsk!

An untimely spark was striking the clear sky of the Korean Peninsula. A huge hall slowly forming its outline around that spark.

Cha Sungwoo muttered, jumping up from his seat.

"Great Hall?"

Why is the Great Hall suddenly opening now? The 'Calamity' scenario had already ended, and there was no sign of a scenario related to 'Divine Power of the Other World' for the time being.

But the fact that the 'Great Hall' was observed...

"It seems like something has happened."

In reality, the Constellationss that resided on the Korean Peninsula were running around, issuing warnings to the group.

…

They didn't know what was happening, but if the Constellationss were that nervous, it seemed like something would happen in the scenario soon. Ye Hyunwoo, who was in a hurry to contact someone, said.

"I just got a call from the US and Japan, and they are observing the same 'Great Hall' there."

"So the 'Great Hall' is opening all over the world at the same time? What, the second half of the scenarios hasn’t even started yet—"

Amid the confusion in the crowd, only Cha Sungwoo muttered without losing his composure.

"It seems that Kim Dokja is alive."

Ji Eunyu tackled the confident voice.

"How does that connect to that?"

"I can tell."

"Please stop saying that while smiling."

"Kim Dokja, what on earth are you doing?"

"I told you not to say that while smiling."

Ji Eunyu also looked up at the 'Great Hall' with anxious eyes, looking at Cha Sungwoo’s snickering expression.

In fact, even though she said that, Ji Eunyu also agreed with Cha Sungwoo’s words.

In this world line, and at this point in time, no one could have caused such a large-scale migration other than 'that person'.

'Author, what on earth are you doing?'

What was a little reassuring was that 'Yoo Joonghyuk' from this world line went with him.

'Are you okay?'

Ji Eunyu tried to recall Lee Hakhyun's face, which was now starting to blur, once again. The Lee Hakhyun in her memories just smiled silently, and didn't respond.

Ji Eunyu thought with her usual bitter smile.

'It's okay.'

No matter how much I tried to be okay, it couldn't be okay.

Why on earth is there a Yoo Joonghyuk head keychain on my waist?

I had to ask myself this question over and over again to accept reality in my head.

"Wait a minute, Blood Demon. I'm a bit confused right now, so I think I need to sort things out. So please hold off on attacking for a minute."

"What nonsense are you talking about—"

Fortunately, Cheon Inho's appropriate trait helped me out. When 'Supercognitive Acceleration' activated, the surrounding movements temporarily slowed down. To be exact, it wasn't the surroundings that slowed down, but my thinking sped up.

Anyway, I took advantage of that time to synthesize the information I had obtained.

One, 'Yoo Joonghyuk' from the 40th Round was already dead (i.e., he had regressed).

Two, <Olympus> was storing the dead Yoo Joonghyuk's head, and I stole it.

Listening to this, there's not much to synthesize. The latter information was even a bit strange.

Why on earth was <Olympus> storing Yoo Joonghyuk's head? No, was the 'dead Yoo Joonghyuk's head' something to store in the first place?

If my head and fingers remember correctly, Yoo Joonghyuk never left a corpse after he died in the main story.

When my thoughts reached that point, my head started to throbbed for a moment and memories came to mind. I realized whose memories they were.

This was 'Cheon Inho's' memory.

It was a series of events that had happened to Cheon Inho since I had last visited the 'Time Fault'.

The moment I heard the voice in my memory, my heart pounded again.

I wondered if what I had done had any effect on the actual 40th Round.

However, I shook my head as I confirmed the scene that continued in my head.

Of course, the two of them did not become comrades. That's understandable. One side is the worst villain of the Ten Evils, and the other is the savior of the world.

They are beings who have no reason to join hands rather than oppose each other.

The two killed each other's comrades, and eventually stood on a single-log bridge that could not be avoided.

After that, it was history as I knew it.

As confirmed by Anna Croft's [Past Sight], the two fought their final battle. And at the end of the battle, Cheon Inho exhausted his hidden resurrection trait and survived alone.

In the end, the Instigator Cheon Inho succeeded in defeating King Yoo Joonghyuk.

However, Yoo Joonghyuk, who was about to answer that question, had already left this round.

The problem was what came next.

The moment Yoo Joonghyuk's body was engulfed in a bright beam of light, a group of Constellationss appeared from somewhere and aimed for Yoo Joonghyuk's incarnation body.

They precisely cut off Yoo Joonghyuk's head and stole it.

A burning sensation spread through the scene before my eyes.

That was the extent of my memory.

Is that so?

The reason Yoo Joonghyuk's head was preserved in its original state was because of <Olympus>. I thought that perhaps they had prevented his head from disappearing by using skills like [Special Preservation] or [Complete Stuffing], but I just found out that skills could be applied in that way.

Why on earth did <Olympus> want to preserve Yoo Joonghyuk's head?

Maybe they wanted to look into Yoo Joonghyuk's memories, or maybe they thought that the secret of his regression was hidden in this head like that Blood Demon.

So… damn it. If I delay any longer, my body will be torn in two.

"Wait a minute!"

The Blood Demon's Fearsome blade grazed my shoulder. If I could only use [Incite], he was a guy I could have subdued with a flick of my tongue, but this is really unfair.

"I'll give it to you! I'll give you Yoo Joonghyuk's head!"

The Blood Demon's blade hesitated for the first time.

"Are you going to give it to me?"

"Yes!"

"But why are you looking inside?"

I smiled brightly.

Why did I search inside my coat?

Of course, Cheon Inho would have hidden an item like this.

"Take it!"

I threw the magic bullet in my coat with all my might.

While the great Blood Demon and his subordinates hid themselves between the nearby shelters, I moved my weak body and started to run away in a hurry.

Kwaaaaaaaang!

A loud noise erupted and my weak incarnation body rolled on the floor. I swallowed a cough and crawled away.

I can't die here. And for some reason, I couldn't let Yoo Joonghyuk's head be taken away here either.

"Chase him!"

More than anything, one certain sense made me move.

Right now, the Second Kim Dokja is looking at me. He's wondering about the story of this 40th Round, after stopping that damned doomsday banquet.

That's why I had to live. I had to somehow escape. I had to ask for help.

I let out a bitter laugh.

I'm Cheon Inho of the 40th Round.

With the damned Ten Evils, who on earth could I ask for help from? There's no way Cheon Inho would have any colleagues right now.

That's when someone's shadow appeared above my head.

"The signal was too late. The One who Deceived the Stars. Is that the head of the tyrant?"

I doubted my eyes for a moment as I looked at the fluttering coat on the hill above my head.

I couldn't understand.

How does this human exist in this 'Time Fault'?

"Kill... no, Kang Ilhun?"

No, wait. How could this human be Killer King? There's no way there's a Killer King in the 40th Round. Upon closer inspection, his unique rude smile and speech were somewhat different from Killer King's.

But my thoughts couldn't continue. Because the words that came out of Kang Ilhun’s mouth were more shocking than the fact that Kang Ilhun was here.

"Yes, now I can revive the tyrant."

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