"So what exactly are you trying to say?"
"Wait a second."
"You called me over and now you're telling me to wait? Ridiculous."
"No, no, think about it. Those bastards who are always lurking around us, spying on us."
[The Constellation 'Goddess of Love and Beauty' is drooling as she watches your secret meeting.]
[The Constellation 'Demon King of Wrath and Lust' is smiling slyly as he watches your secret meeting.]
Even if the filtering kicked in, I didn't want to talk about something confidential while someone was watching.
And as it happened, I had a way to deal with that.
[Me: Bihyung, you there?]
[Bihyung: Why?]
[Me: Close my channel and Yoo Joonghyuk's for a bit.]
[Bihyung: What?! No! Absolutely not!!]
[Me: Just do it. You got a ton more subscribers thanks to me and Dokja anyway. If you close it for a little while, they won't leave. They'll probably just go watch Dokja instead.]
There's a simple reason the term "just trying a game out" exists.
Because there are plenty of other games to replace it.
But we couldn't be replaced. That was the biggest point.
On the surface, it looked like the Constellations were the ones in power and we were the ones beneath them... but in reality, me, Dokja, and Joonghyuk were the ones with leverage, and the Constellations were the ones who had to bend.
First, we hated the Constellations enough that we had no reason to curry favor with them in the first place.
Second, while there were countless Constellations willing to sponsor us, there was no Incarnation who could replace us perfectly.
To be honest, replacements could be found even in Seoul Dome.
For me, there was Jung Heewon, who usually acted easygoing but showed overwhelming combat power in battle.
For Dokja, who usually showed herself making all sorts of plans, there was Yoo Sangah, who normally gave off an intelligent impression.
For Yoo Joonghyuk, who showed coldness and overwhelming combat ability, there was her disciple, Lee Jihye.
But they couldn't replace us "perfectly."
The performances we'd shown were too overwhelming. No matter who they watched, they'd end up comparing them to us...
The side with regrets is always the one that has to bow first.
The Constellations could complain all they wanted, but in the end they'd have no choice except to follow what we wanted.
[Me: So hurry up and close it. It's only for a moment.]
[Bihyung: Ngh! Just you wait!!]
bzzzt
There. Closed.
From the moment I signed the stream contract, I was the one with the upper hand. What were they going to do about it?
"Now then, shall we continue?"
"...Yeah."
"You noticed too, didn't you?"
"What?"
Would you look at that?
She already knew, and yet even over something this trivial she still wanted to put herself in the superior position.
Mm. That rotten attitude.
Yeah, this was Yoo Joonghyuk all right.
"That Dokja isn't really a 'prophet.'"
"...Yeah."
"From your point of view, this round must be full of too many variables. Me, Dokja... and others besides."
"Get to the point."
"What are you going to do now?"
"..."
A brief silence.
There was a lot packed into what I'd asked.
Would she exclude us, the variables?
Or would she use us?
How would she deal with the variables to come from here on out, and so on...
Yoo Joonghyuk seemed to understand that too, because she looked like she was thinking it over for a moment.
"...I'll watch."
"I'll watch," huh... I didn't know whether she meant she'd watch us, or watch variables like us.
Still, it was a satisfying answer.
[Bihyung: Hey! The Constellations are going crazy!!]
[Me: How much time is left?]
[Kim Dokja: Soon.]
[Me: You can open the channel again now.]
bzzzt
thud
"So you're not completely clueless after all? If you'd said you were going to get rid of us back there, I would've cut you down on the spot."
[Most of the Constellations are expressing confusion over what just happened.]
"Keep wondering."
The reason I called Yoo Joonghyuk over was to secure Dokja's safety.
I wanted to force even an oath out of her, but that felt like it would make us outright enemies.
From the outside, we might look like [WWE]... but in reality, this was [UFC].
Our relationship was already hanging by a thread. I didn't want to be the one to ruin it on purpose.
To begin with, if it came to that, Dokja would be the first one to suffer.
"But... don't you think you've forgotten something?"
"...What?"
ding
[A sub scenario has arrived!]
[Sub Scenario - Selection of a Representative]
Category: Sub
Difficulty: C
Clear Conditions: Claim the 'white flag' installed in the center of the platform.
Time Limit: 30 minutes
Reward: 1,000 Coins, Representative of Chungmuro.
Failure: —
* The representative of the station can exercise powerful authority over their subordinates.
"!!!"
"That's one of my goals."
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' smacks his forehead at your scheme!]
Making sure Dokja could claim the flag without interference from Yoo Joonghyuk.
['Kim Dokja' has claimed the 'white flag'.]
[If the owner of the white flag does not change for the next 5 minutes, Chungmuro Station will fall under her control.]
[If the flag is taken, ownership will change and the 5-minute timer will reset.]
For those five minutes, I had to stop Yoo Joonghyuk myself.
"You bastard...!"
And there was already an axe in my hand.
Bam!
"Kgh!"
"Why don't you sleep it off and cool your head a little?"
thud
Yoo Joonghyuk took the full blow of my axe without any preparation and got smashed in the head, collapsing without any resistance.
"Kill—!"
"Sleep tight. You know what they say."
"Beauty sleep is real."
Only after teasing Yoo Joonghyuk properly to the very end did I finally feel a little better.
[The Constellation 'Goddess of Love and Beauty' is pleased by the subtle tension between you two.]
[The Demon King 'Demon King of Wrath and Lust' is smiling slyly, saying she likes either side.]
[2,000 Coins have been sponsored.]
Maybe because the overwhelming performance I'd shown at the start had dropped off a bit, even the Coin firepower had gone down.
Still, I was getting more than the others, so I should be satisfied with that—
Yeah right!!!
"...The Coin firepower dropped? What, did you all run out of Coins and fall off so hard your Fables dried up too?"
[Many Constellations are enraged by your provocation!]
[A few Constellations are trying to stop them, saying this is just a trick to make them sponsor you!]
[Many Constellations shake off those restraining hands and sponsor you anyway!]
[5,000 Coins have been sponsored.]
Now this was what a proper system window looked like.
And those were proper Constellations.
Most Constellations were inferiority-ridden lumps stuffed full of nothing but pride, which was exactly what made them so nice.
Scratch them just a little, and the sponsorships came pouring in.
Still, I had to be careful.
Those crafty bastards were never idiots.
"Then I should go back to Dokja now..."
[The Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is fuming, saying you mustn't leave a lady in a place like this.]
"Yeah, yeah. I should listen when absolute good speaks~"
drag drag
"Looks like she actually takes care of herself. She's really light."
Life was unfair.
I mean, sure, she was the protagonist of a novel, but still. Figure, face, strength... she was a winner, through and through.
"...Mister? Why is Master..."
"She just collapsed."
Why was Lee Jihye still here?
Hadn't she gone down already?
"...There's a huge bump on her head, though?"
"Yeah, she started acting up, so I knocked her out."
"At this point that's just attempted murder."
Sure, there was a little blood where I'd hit her, but when it came to Yoo Joonghyuk, this counted as self-defense.
We'd come all the way up here because of her, for god's sake.
Besides, considering she punched a hole in my stomach, even this was going easy on her.
...Now that I thought about it, I was getting annoyed again.
Should I hit her a few more times while I'm at it?
"No, if I hit her any more here, it'd just be venting."
Then this lump of baggage...
"What are you looking at?"
"You take care of this for me."
"What?"
"Thanks, I'm heading down~"
"Mister, wait!!"
Once I'd handed her off, that was that.
"You old bastard!!!"
I thought I heard a high school girl screaming behind me, but I didn't care.
She'd said herself she wasn't some little kid, so she could handle looking after an injured person.
.
.
.
kiiiing!
kiiiing!!
"What the hell is going on here?"
"!!!"
Looks like I arrived right in the middle of a standoff.
"Move, you sons of bitches. I'm busy!"
shuffle
The people of Chungmuro slowly opened a path for me, either not realizing my body was in bad shape or simply not caring.
Even in this state, the fact that I could beat every last one of them was only natural.
"Gong Pildu, turn that off. Unless you want to die."
"...Damn it."
shhhk
The turret vanished.
"This is kind of unfair, you know? I had to make a contract to get command authority, but Oppa just ends it with one sentence?"
"If you're jealous, then beat Yoo Joonghyuk like I did."
"How did you deal with Yoo Joonghyuk?"
"I just smacked her with an axe until she passed out."
At my words, the whole area fell silent.
"What?"
"Can you handle the consequences?"
"Do you think I can't?"
"...Yeah."
It was still 1:3.
Dokja had helped, so I was taking her out of the score.
So if they came at me head-on, that was fine by me.
"...Dokja-ssi."
"Please don't say anything. I'm starting to hate the fact that that lunatic is my brother too."
That was harsh.
A lunatic?
I was perfectly normal.
A true "normal person" in a ruined world, the kind you'd be hard-pressed to find a second of.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register