Chapter 186 — The 73rd Demon King (4)

“Hey! What nonsense are you saying?” I shouted while hurriedly running towards Yoo Jonghyuk.

Aura started to emerge from Yoo Jonghyuk’s body as he held the piece of jade.

[The selected person is evolving into a demon king!]

The person who was selected by the jade would become the 73rd demon king.

-Can you promise not to give up on that goal, no matter what?

A few days ago, Yoo Jonghyuk had asked me a meaningful question about my goal. Was my goal to reach the end of the scenarios...

Don’t tell me...? No, it was impossible. I almost had a fit as I screamed, “Yoo Jonghyuk you son of a bitch!”

Then the sound of steel wire moving through the air was heard. Dozens of wires poured down towards Yoo Jonghyuk, one of them snatching the jade that was in Yoo Jonghyuk’s hand.

[The succession of the demon king is cancelled.]

A bewildered expression appeared on Yoo Jonghyuk’s face.

“Dokja-ssi!”

I looked back and saw dozens of threads stretching out from Yoo Sangah’s hand. As everyone was frozen, only she kept her mind. She tied up the demon king’s jade with Binding Thread and it flew to this side. Yoo Jonghyuk let out a huge burst of killing intent.

“Don’t interrupt!”

As soon as an intense wave of magic power was about to cover Yoo Sangah, I triggered Bookmark and Way of the Wind and blocked the magic power. It wasn’t easy to block, even with Way of the Wind at the maximum level.

This was the power of Yoo Jonghyuk, who had become a transcendent. I shouted through clenched teeth.

“Yoo Sangah-ssi! Hold it well! Never use it!”

“Yes!”

My party members were wondering what the hell was going on.

Han Sooyoung created dozens of clones and shouted, “I knew this would happen! Kim Dokja, I told you! Yoo Jonghyuk is someone who only thinks about himself to the end!”

Han Sooyoung kept shouting while I was unable to grasp the situation properly.

“Kim Dokja! We must stop him! This jerk is obviously going to become the demon king, kill all of us and clear the scenario alone...!”

Han Sooyoung’s clone blocked Yoo Jonghyuk and exploded instantly. Han Sooyoung’s main body was trapped against the wall of the hallway.

The other party members rushed in front of me.

“Master! What’s wrong with you? Kyaaack!”

“Yoo Jonghyuk-ssi!”

Lee Jihye and Jung Heewon as well. They couldn’t cope with Yoo Jonghyuk’s blow and fell.

Now Yoo Jonghyuk was serious. He was committed to defeating all those who interfered with his purpose.

I stepped past the party members while telling them, “You can’t deal with him!”

Yoo Jonghyuk’s eyes glared at me. “Get out of the way Kim Dokja. I will be the demon king.”

“What nonsense is this? Why all of a sudden?”

“Shouldn’t you know as well? There is only one way to clear this scenario.”

I glanced at the scenario window floating in the air.

+

[Main Scenario #10 – 73rd Demon King]

Category: Main

Difficulty level: SS+

Clear Conditions: You can choose one of two ways. Take possession of the throne and become the 73rd demon king, or kill the newly born 73rd demon king. The scenario can only be cleared by choosing one of these two methods and there is no other way to proceed.

Time Limit: 30 minutes

Compensation: 200,000 coins,???

Failure: Death and expulsion from the scenario.

+

This scenario was similar to the ‘sacrifice’ scenario. One person had to die for everyone or one person would live while everyone else died.

I bit my lips and asked, “Are you going to sacrifice yourself?”

“Hunt me and go to the next scenario.”

“Why are you doing something like this all of a sudden?”

“This is the right thing to do.”

There was no doubt that he thought this was the right answer. Yoo Jonghyuk spoke with his unique nuances. “I am used to the pain. Similarly, I am familiar with death. Don’t you already know this?”

He was certain that I knew all about him. However, Yoo Jonghyuk was wrong. I didn’t know Yoo Jonghyuk. The Yoo Jonghyuk I knew would never do this.

It seemed like there was room to talk so I decided to calm down this damn sunfish.

“I know what you are saying but you don’t have to sacrifice yourself. You are a regressor but you don’t have multiple lives. I have resurrection on my side. That’s why you’re not the one suitable to become the demon king.”

“Resurrection. It is a good ability. However, do you think it will work in this scenario? If you have seen the scenario failure, can you be certain that resurrection will save you?”

I had forgotten for a moment. Certainly, Yoo Jonghyuk was right. This scenario didn’t just end with ‘death.’ This jerk... had he calculated it and moved?

“Get out of the way Kim Dokja.”

My Unbroken Faith cried out while his Heaven Shaking Sword pointed at me. In this stubborn confrontational state, I desperately thought about it. How could I persuade this person?

No matter how much I squeezed my head, I couldn’t come up with a method. If this continued, this jerk would become the demon king and take the damn regression route.

[The exclusive skill, ‘Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’ stage 2 has been activated!]

I started to soak up his thoughts like a sponge.

「 The cost of failing this scenario is expulsion from the scenario. 」

「 There is no one who can survive being expelled from the scenario. Then Kim Dokja’s resurrection ability is meaningless. 」

「 Perhaps this is the death that his fate is pointing to. 」

「 If Kim Dokja becomes the demon king, he will die here. 」

My heart was heavy as I received the waterfall of thoughts.

「 Thus, it is me who should sacrifice themselves here. 」

This guy was really going to sacrifice himself. The arrogant and aloof Yoo Jonghyuk. It was for the sake of others, not himself.

Suddenly, unknown emotions rose inside me. “Then you? What about you? If you die here, what about your damn goal?!”

“You will do it for me.”

“What?”

Yoo Jonghyuk watched our companions behind me. “The one who can save the world... it might be you, not me.”

Lee Hyunsung, Lee Jihye, Shin Yoosung, Lee Seolhwa...

There was deep regret in Yoo Jonghyuk’s eyes as he gazed at every single person. I seemed to know what he was thinking.

「 There have never been so many people who made it to here. And maybe it won’t happen again in the future. 」

This was the Yoo Jonghyuk who had experienced several lives and received advance information from the 41st regression.

There were no cases like this regression. This fact caused Yoo Jonghyuk to shake.

My mind worked quickly. How could I persuade him...

“Get out of the way. There isn’t much time left.”

He used Giant Body Transformation and started to swell up dramatically. He had either grown stronger in three days or the party members were frozen by the energy he was emitting. Yoo Sangah was terrified and Yoo Jonghyuk approached her step by step.

I eventually activated the Blade of Faith. “Stop! Stop it you son of a bitch!”

The white ether sword collided with Yoo Jonghyuk’s Splitting the Sky. Of course, it was my side that suffered one-sided damage. I had to use at least Electrification to deal with this guy.

...I couldn’t let him take the path of regression. The moment I was about to activate Bookmark, Yoo Jonghyuk asked me,

“Are you concerned about what will happen to this world after I go back?”

“What?”

“You must be afraid. The moment I disappear, this world will disappear. Isn’t that right?”

I was so surprised that I was lost for words. How the hell did he know this? I started to wonder if he was the one with Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint instead of me.

Then I forgot even this thought.

“There’s nothing to worry about. I already asked my sponsor.”

...What?

“This world won’t disappear if I regress. This world won’t end or be upset if I die.”

Yoo Jonghyuk easily suppressed Yoo Sangah and reached for the precious jade. As if it wanted him, demonic energy stretched out from the jade and tangled around Yoo Jonghyuk’s fingers.

“Continue to live, Kim Dokja.” Yoo Jonghyuk looked at me with the face of a stranger. “Now you have to save this world.”

***

Thunder struck the sky on the second floor of Dark Castle. It was a sinister thunder, as if suggesting the collapse of Dark Castle.

Lee Sookyung gazed at the sky as she moved with the wanderers. Her son was probably beyond this sky.

“Hulhul, you look very worried these days.”

It was Lee Boksoon who spoke. She handed her Dark Castle rankign to Jung Heewon and chose to stay here. Lee Sookyung glanced at Lee Boksoon for a while before replying, “I guess I’m not familiar with being a mother.”

“Do people get used to it? You will never get used to it in your life. Me too...”

“You aren’t going to bring up the story of raising six siblings again are you?”

“Hulhul, you knew?”

Lee Boksoon chuckled. There were no wanderers who didn’t know the story of the six siblings raised by Lee Boksoon.

Lee Boksoon patted Lee Sookyung’s shoulder and spoke in a friendly voice. “He will surely come back alive. Don’t worry too much.”

“I wish but... fate says differently.”

“You don’t think that fate can be overcome? To me...”

In the end, Lee Boksoon retold the story of how she raised her six siblings through all types of hardships. Lee Sookyug smiled bitterly. No one would’ve suffered if fate was so easily overcome.

「If he doesn’t go to the next scenario, Incarnation Kim Dokja can live. 」

Lee Sookyung sacrificed 20 years of her life and read this sentence from ‘fate’.

Kim Dokja could live if he didn’t go to the next scenario. In other words, Kim Dokja would surely die when he went to the next scenario.

‘...Dokja.’

However, Lee Sookyung didn’t give up even when all indicators pointed to the death of her son. She couldn’t let go.

There was the sound of falling sound and Lee Sookyung looked down at her fingertips. Her body was still crumbling because her recovery was slow and incomplete. It was all due to the aftereffects of entering the Fourth Wall.

Lee Sookyung remembered the moment she was eaten by the Fourth Wall. It was a terrible experience, as if her being itself was breaking down into morpheme units.

Perhaps she died at that time. Like a broken story, she was sucked into the wall and experienced something no human ever had before.

She was shocked that there was such a ‘wall’ inside her son. She also shuddered at the fact that someone was living inside the wall.

‘...What the hell is it?’

There, Lee Sookyung confronted the presence inside the wall. Her existence was crushed and recreated so there weren’t many accurate memories left.

The exact structure of the interior of the wall... she didn’t remember. Still, there was one thing she remembered. It was the answer to a question.

「 What is the way for my son to survive? How can he get rid of that damn fate? 」

Lee Sookyung asked this even when her existence was fading away. The being inside the wall laughed like it was having fun.

「 There is only one way to escape from fate. 」

There was a strange smile, as if this whole situation was a joke.

「 Kim Dokja already knows how to do it. 」