Chapter 359: Japan (6)

I couldn’t believe the story Lee Hyung-jin told me. I had always thought about it. I had already died in my room, and everything I saw, heard, and experienced could have just been a dream. So, I vowed not to be too confused if I realized everything was fake one day.

However, I couldn’t accept what Lee Hyung-jin said. Lee Hyung-jin tried to explain as much as he could, but the meaning was clear. I was just a fake made for the stage, and the real Lee Ho-jae was already up on the 60th floor. I wondered if this was the theme of the 17th floor.

Kirikiri said the 17th floor would end easily and quickly. But for a story that was improvised to clear my mind, it was too much of a coincidence.

Lee Hyung-jin tried to persuade me to go up with him.

Of course, I refused. I had no other choice if what he said was false. He could only get out of the 17th floor and up to the 18th if he killed me.

But if what he said was true. If it is true…

There was a brief pause.

In the end, my knife, which tried to cut Lee Hyung-jin’s neck, lodged itself in his heart.

Looking at Lee Hyung-jin, whose blood spread all over the place, I agonized over whether to relieve his pain by twisting a knife in his chest or feed him a potion.

Then, I heard a voice.

[Listen to me.]

Surprisingly, a voice came from Lee Hyung-jin’s necklace. My confused mind calmed down at once. I came to think of just two things: to grab that necklace or not to grab it.

[I’ll answer your question.]

[All your questions.]

I thought about it for more time. Eventually, I grabbed the necklace.

And that’s where MY story began.

* * *

[Hisano Okabuchi.]

She was having an incredible day.

Ever since she was invited to the Tutorial and became an Awakened, she had never seen anything so unrealistic happen.

She was an S-level Awakened with the ability of detection.

Although she did not fight directly on the front, she was doing her part at the Operations Headquarters a little further from the front.

She took part in all the waves, and every time she took part, she faithfully played her role. Everyone in the Operations Headquarters trusted and relied on her. But now, she was betraying everyone’s expectations.

“I don’t know.”

“…really?”

Stop doubting me already.

Hisano wanted to spit out a string of curse.

Why do you think you know everything?

People’s blind faith was unsettling. A massive black sphere floated on the east coast.

It was bigger than a city, swallowing up all the Awakened who were blocking the wave on the shore. They couldn’t scratch it, even with the ability of the Awakened.

Relying on Hisano’s power, Chen Ching could not find any information.

“…maybe it’s because they’re from Korea.”

Hisano guessed as much.

Awakened people from Korea were beyond common sense. They manipulated monsters with strange powers. They lifted the sea up and destroyed the gates beneath it.

But Hisano didn’t want to suspect those who came to help them and blame them without evidence. But it occurred to her that if it weren’t for them, there wouldn’t be such an unheard-of phenomenon.

Then she heard an unknown voice.

The voice called her name.

‘Hisano.’

At the moment, she thought it was a hallucination, but she crossed out the idea soon after.

The voice felt like the power she had.

“…are you the God of Balance?”

Watching Hisano mutter, her colleagues at the Operations Headquarters looked at her strangely.

Hisano put a calm look on her face and ignored them.

‘Yes, I have something to tell you.’

“What’s going on?”

The God of Balance had a deep connection with Hisano. The god had already given Hisano powers. On stages, the God of Balance paid attention to Hisano and showed a positive response.

The god offered her a position as an apostle, and she thought she would be an apostle after she met every requirement.

On the 79th floor of Hard Difficulty, she met the god in person and talked.

But on the 79th floor, the God of Balance told Hisano, You’re not good enough to be my apostle.

And the God of Balance cut his ties with Hisano.

After clearing the Tutorial and returning to Earth, Hisano naturally forgot the God of Balance. So this situation, where the God of Balance reached out to her first, was even more surprising.

‘First of all, I apologize, Hisano. I had a desire that I couldn’t bear to let go of.’

Naturally, Hisano couldn’t understand what the God of Balance was saying.

So she decided to ask questions right away.

“Is it fine for you to talk to me like this?” The question included another one, “Why didn’t you say anything to me before?”

The God of Balance replied, ‘There are no regulations on the planet now. Of course, he will not take too kindly to it, but I intend to give him a reasonable reward and apology.’

“I don’t know what that means…”

‘There’s no more time to explain! You have to run away from there right now.’

Hisano still couldn’t understand the god’s words, but she could understand the urgency and danger in his words.

She ordered her colleagues to prepare for withdrawal immediately.

“What’s going on all of a sudden?”

Hisano wondered if she could tell her colleagues that a god said there was danger here. She decided that it was better to lie.

“That black hemisphere is about to explode.”

The God of Balance urged her to leave quickly, even by herself, saying she should get out of there. But she remained at headquarters until the end to help with the withdrawal.

And not long after, the danger warned by the God of Balance was visible. On the enormous black hemisphere, a colossal sword floated.

It was an unbelievable sight even though she could not see it properly with her eyes.

‘At least, run away now.’

“I think it’s already too late. Can you explain to me what that is?”

‘…two gods will soon clash there. The two gods that will be at the top of the world.’

At the God of Balance’s explanation, the Great Sword floating like a mirage in the sky began to fall.

* * *

“Damn it. It’s not a game of tag,” Hochi grumbled.

He thought he’d be able to win since Yong-yong appeared. But soon after, the God of Hope popped out from nowhere.

Hochi was unsure if it was because of the God of Hope, but Yong-yong couldn’t help Hochi at all.

It was a relief that the God of Hope could not interfere with the fake Ho-jae and Hochi.

“Sied’s shield!” Hochi used his power again to block the fake’s attack.

The most significant advantage of this power was that it did not consume much power after it was activated once. After deciding to hold out, Hochi saved his strength as much as possible.

Of course, he wasn’t only defending himself. While the fake prepared to attack again to break through the barrier, Hochi exclaimed, “Go, Lee Joon-suk!” thunderously.

Then he summoned Lee Joon-suk, who was in the subspace, near the fake. As soon as he was summoned, he used his ability in all directions without asking or questioning.

The fake was startled but immediately swung a knife at Lee Joon-suk.

“Come back!”

With Hochi’s words, Lee Joon-suk was moved back into space.

The fake’s sword split the air in vain again.

“Hahaha, this is fun.”

Lee Joon-suk, who acted as a dummy target every time he was summoned would never have willingly agreed to this.

Hochi was having a lot of fun in this situation.

“You bastard! How long are you going to be playing around!” The fake seemed not to have liked it very much.

He flew towards Hochi. Hochi started running away again, avoiding him.

[Mayday, Mayday.]

A sudden voice stopped Hochi from moving, momentarily.

The same was true of Yong-yong and the God of Hope, who fought over there with the fake.

Kwaang!

With a roar, the sky broke, and a massive sword penetrated the space. The sight of it made Hochi relieved.

“Seregia! Why did you come so late… Aah!”

“Welcome me first, not Seregia, you little bastard.”

A man appeared, hitting Hochi on the back of his head, who was delighted to see Seregia in the form of a blade in the sky.

It was Lee Ho-jae.

* * *

[Lee Ho-jae]

That’s me, huh?

Interesting. It wasn’t just someone who looked like me. It was really me. It wasn’t a clone.

It was quite interesting to see that I grew in a different direction from where I was now. Hochi and Yong-yong came to me.

“Daddy!”

I hugged Yong-yong, who ran to me.

“Great work. Did you get hurt anywhere?”

“It’s torn.”

When I followed Yong-yong’s finger, I saw that his clothes were badly torn. There were no scars, which was a relief.

“You’ve done a good job, too. I didn’t know you would be this good. You did great. See, you say you don’t usually do well, but I knew you would.”

That was what I told Hochi. In fact, I thought Hochi would come back to Seoul. But seeing him stick with Yong-yong until the end made me grateful and a little sorry at the same time.

“Huh? Um…mn… Yeah.”

Hochi looked a bit dazed. I wondered if I was too stingy with compliments. I made up my mind to praise today for a long time into the future.

“What about Lee Joon-suk?”

“I put him in the subspace.”

What a relief.

I thought he was dead. Looking around, I could tell that Lee Joon-suk put in a lot of effort. The marks alone show that he was a man with good destructive power. The problem was that he was an idiot who didn’t know how to handle his own power.

If he just filled in his shortcomings, he could do more than just pay for his meals.

“…My Liege.”

[Yes, turn around and go as planned. Don’t worry too much. I will always be with you.]

The fake and the God of Hope talked to each other. I wondered at the sight.

“The God of Hope, what’s wrong with the way you’re talking?” He was using a weird way of speaking.

As soon as I questioned, the God of Hope spoke to me.

[The way you speak is different depending on how you’re imprinted on the believer. It’s quite basic information. Though, I forget, you’re new to this.]

It was a voice that was sent only to me personally.

It was a relatively light, mean voice worthy of the appearance of a flying bug.

Interesting.

‘No matter how fake it is, it wouldn’t have been easy to convince me.’

[Hahaha, do you think so?] The God of Hope laughed and explained, [I can’t compare you from back then to you now. You were very sensitive and fragile then. Like a newborn baby. Do you know how easily the act of listening and empathizing shook that stupid thing?]

Did I?

That’s true. That would have been the case at the time of the 17th floor.

The next floor on the 17th floor was the 18th floor.

I could easily recall how much I was shaken at the time. It was a time when there were not even clear goals.

In addition, the necklace that the fake is wearing. It had the God of Hope.

I didn’t know when Hyung-jin was holding it before, but that was very… It came off as a bad thing.

It would have been more beneficial to crush the necklace rather than to keep it around.

[I should have recruited you, not this fake.]

The first time I met the God of Hope was on the 49th floor.

I didn’t even think to rely on the gods then.

It would have been impossible for the God of Hope to bring me in.

[No, no, not the 49th floor, but the 60th floor. Do you know how much fun I had watching you flounder in despair back then?

[Hoping someone would save you, wishing that someone would come to help you. It was so funny how you wished for it. I had a chance to recruit you, but I had decided to put it off… But eventually, you grew enough to cut off the connection. You grew to overcome your depression.

[It was the most enjoyable part of my day to see you hurt and cut yourself every day and night.

[Do you know how sad it had been for me when you decided to stop?]

I decided one thing after hearing the God of Hope giggle annoyingly.

“It’s confirmed. You’re dead to me.”