“….Han Su-Yeong?”
I thought I heard her voice, but her aura disappeared rather quickly.
[Great Fable, ‘Kaixenix Archipelago’, cannot acknowledge your selection!]
[Worldview is displaying an abnormal reaction.]
Yuri di Aristel, inadvertently now holding [Unbreakable Faith], began trembling and shouted out loudly. “You d-dare to do something like this….!!”
[You’re a suitable heir to the crown of Grunsiad Archipelago.]
[Your throne is being handed over to the character ‘Han Su-Yeong’.]
[Worldview cannot understand your choice.]
Rays of bright light began leaking out from Yuri di Aristel’s body.
Those were Fables that didn’t belong to her; indeed, they were Han Su-Yeong’s, stuff that I knew very well.
Yuri di Aristel hugged her shoulders as if she didn’t want to let any of those Fables to slip out of her.
“I won’t let Su-Yeong go like this!”
Tsu-chut, chuchuchut!!
“Be still! I told you that I’ll take full responsibility, didn’t I??” She wasn’t speaking to me right now. “I didn’t want this sort of development, either! I, I only thought that, if you continued to stay in this island….!”
I could guess who Yuri di Aristel was talking to, and what the topic of their conversation right now was.
[Exclusive skill, ‘Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’, has activated.]
The time Yuri di Aristel and Han Su-Yeong had spent together was flowing by like a river of fragments.
⸢”You said that you’ll stay with me! You said that you’ll become my guardian, didn’t you?! I really loved the scenario you’ve shown me. I can’t let you go like this! I….!!”⸥
⸢”My bad, Yuri.”⸥
Blood bubbled out of her mouth and she staggered unsteadily before collapsing on the ground. I hurriedly held her in an embrace. Most likely, there was a war being fought between Han Su-Yeong and Yuri di Aristel inside this body right about now.
[Great Fable, ‘Kaixenix Archipelago’, is….]
[Great Fable, ‘Torch that swallowed the Myth’, is….]
Great Fables were bitterly fighting against each other in order to take over her body.
The surrounding folks also fell into a pit of sudden confusion as well.
“Our king has changed?”
“But, with a method like this….?”
“So, does this mean that the legitimate king has appeared among us?”
The royal guards and the kingdom’s citizens were exchanging glances with complicated eyes and whispered amongst themselves.
“In that case, what about our world’s genre….”
“Shh! Have you forgotten that such words are still prohibited? Just focus on sticking to your role!”
Then again, I’d also form an expression similar to theirs if I heard that this world’s genre had suddenly become [Kim Dok-Ja’s Company].
Yu Joong-Hyeok standing next to me spoke up. “Kim Dok-Ja, we acted too rashly.”
“I know.”
“This archipelago isn’t prepared enough yet to accept Han Su-Yeong as its ruler.”
“Since she had built up a good foundation already, I thought it was doable, you know. I mean, she was the queen of this place up until a few moments ago.”
“She wasn’t its rightful ruler. Because there is a faction unwilling to acknowledge her that we still have the ‘revolutionaries’.”
A forceful change of the throne would always lead to a great deal of birthing pain. For instance, Yuri di Aristel’s ‘throne usurpation’ during this scenario was not a part of the original ‘Kaixenix Archipelago’ scenario.
The queen’s unpredictable action, and our subsequent actions, were completely foreign events to the Reincarnators of the ‘Kaixenix Archipelago’ who had repeated the exact same scenario over and over again.
[Genre selection has been completed.]
[Applicable genre’s clear conditions have not been met.]
This world was not yet ready to accept the brand-new genre that we had created.
*
[<Star Stream> is discussing the topic of the applicable scenario’s clear condition.]
“Things have become complicated.”
Yu Joong-Hyeok and I were looking at Han Su-Yeong lying on top of a luxurious bed.
From a while ago, the sounds of chaotic explosions continued to ring out from beyond the royal castle’s walls. All the ruckus was made by two factions fighting a bloody battle, one agreeing to the ascension of their new ruler, and the other being the citizens who rejected her.
“Yuri di Aristel’s rule was bound to fail in the end,” said Yu Joong-Hyeok in a critical tone of voice. “As for us, we should’ve tried to gather the king’s flagbearers scattered around the powerful families in the kingdom. After that, steadily erode away the king’s influence, and unveil the [Unbreakable Faith] to complete the task. If that happened, the archipelago wouldn’t have fallen into chaos like this.”
“Right, that would’ve been the best-case scenario.”
“If you knew that, then why….”
“However, had we stuck to that plan, then….” I stopped there for a bit and observed Han Su-Yeong’s face. “….Her 50 years would’ve become even longer, you know.”
“…..”
“I didn’t want to extend her 50 years by even one minute if I could help it.”
I was being serious here.
The moment I arrived in this world and realised that Han Su-Yeong had to spend 50 years here, I just couldn’t escape from this one overwhelming emotion.
Someone was sacrificed again because of me.
Han Su-Yeong who had to endure the time frame of 50 years – could she still maintain a normal, functioning mind?
Was she able to maintain the ego of the Han Su-Yeong that I know of?
“This is all because I made a deal with the ‘King of Reincarnators’.”
⸢It ‘d b een be tter if I sac rificed myself ins tead.⸥
I turned my head to discover Yu Joong-Hyeok glaring at me as if I was a pathetic fool. His lips bobbed up and down several times, but then, squeezed his eyes shut as if to suppress his anger and leaned his back against the couch’s cushions.
“I’d like to say something, but it seems that someone else will do that for me, instead.”
“What?”
Right in that next instant, fiery pain shot up from the back of my head.
“Hey, Kim Dok-Ja!”
I looked back to find a familiar grinning face waiting for me.
“Everything’s screwed up because of you!”
Han Su-Yeong brushed her hair lazily and sat upright, before smacking me in the head once more.
*
Once Han Su-Yeong woke up, we immediately dove into an emergency meeting. Other than her pale complexion, she was in pretty high spirits.
“I left behind methods for you to follow, didn’t I? How come you lot can’t even do what’s in the manual?! You guys are even worse than Yi Hyeon-Seong! You hear me?!”
I spotted Yi Hyeon-Seong, guarding the door to our room alongside Jeong Hui-Won, peek his head inside through the open gap for a moment there.
“Kim Dok-Ja. Recite to me the three methods I wrote down.”
“First method, ‘Fusion Fantasy’ route.”
“And what did it say?”
“Borrow the powers of the Outer Gods and clear the scenario…. Hey, you. That’s a stupid idea from the get-go, isn’t it??”
“Okay, then. The second one.”
Even though I felt this inexplicable sense of unfairness, I nevertheless continued to read Han Su-Yeong’s book like a school textbook.
“The second method, ‘Fantasy’.”
“The contents?”
“Start a revolt and kill the king. Hang on a sec, why am I reading thi…..”
Her palm smacked me in the back of the head again.
God damn it, this punk….
“The third method, ‘Romance’.”
“And its contents are?”
“Marry Yuri di Aristel.”
“And just what did you choose?”
“The third method?”
“And are we currently married?”
“Nope.”
“And why the hell not?!”
I quickly evaded her flying smack and cried out. “Hey! There’s no freaking way that these are the correct methods! Did you write these down while seriously expecting us to carry them out?!”
“You think I wrote them for your entertainment, then??”
Han Su-Yeong breathed heavily like an angry bull and began wagging her finger at me.
“If only you accepted the marriage proposal, everything would’ve been resolved by now! If your legitimate claim to the throne was united with Yuri di Aristel’s martial prowess, the archipelago wouldn’t have fractured into pieces like right now!”
“But, if I did that, then you’d have ended up stuck…..”
“I could’ve easily convinced Yuri! My original plan was supposed to begin properly only after you got married to her!”
“…..You were busy praising me for finding a solution on my own earlier, though?”
“I was merely impressed by your stupidly bad interpretation of the situation.”
Damn it, that’s how it was?
Han Su-Yeong spat out a groan and continued on. “So? What are we going to do now?”
The revolutionaries, or the royal guards – didn’t matter which side we pick, the situation would quickly descend into the worst situation imaginable.
[Error has occurred in the scenario.]
[Worldview cannot accept the conclusion to the applicable scenario.]
[Worldview is uncertain whether the character ‘Han Su-Yeong’ possesses the qualifications of the ruler or not.]
[<Star Stream> is discussing the topic of the applicable scenario’s clear condition.]
Citizens were fighting amongst themselves, and we were unable to leave the scenario.
I looked at Han Su-Yeong and spoke. “I’m really sorry for being so late.”
She shrugged her shoulders and replied. “Yup, it’s been long, these past 50 years.”
I couldn’t find the right words to reply to her relaxed attitude.
As if wanting to lighten my load, she continued on. “Actually, I can’t remember all that well.”
“But, that doesn’t sound right.”
“Do you honestly believe that I’d really live out those 50 years, just like that?”
“What then?”
“I forgot most of them. More correctly, I erased them deliberately. If I did remember them, I’d probably have gone crazy by now.”
Only then did I finally realise what her situation was. She possessed the skill [Avatar]. And it was a pretty useful skill in erasing her memories, depending on how it was utilised.
“The reason why I left that book behind was to preserve the stuff I’d forget.”
“You made a wise decision.”
“It was a cowardly method, you know. Not something to be praised, anyhow.”
Han Su-Yeong glanced at the corner of the room and spoke up. “Well, there is a monster in the world who had lived far longer than I have and chose not to forget a single thing, after all.”
She didn’t have to say who it was for me to know who she was referring to here.
In order to lighten the awkward atmosphere, I resorted to making exaggerated gestures while raising my voice. “Okay, let’s not worry about that and think up of a solution from now on. Speaking from the perspective of a reader, the next portion of the story should be…..”
Han Su-Yeong realised what I was trying to do and quickly butted in. “Nope. Judging from the perspective of a writer, the things we need to do right now are…..”
Han Su-Yeong and I began yapping amongst ourselves with whatever we could think up. Such as, summon a Dokkaebi and lodge our complaints, or summon a low-ranked Outer God we are confident of dealing with, or even smashing apart whatever was in our way, scenario or not, and try to escape from here…..
“Both of you, shut up.”
….And both of us did shut up after hearing Yu Joong-Hyeok’s words.
Han Su-Yeong studied his mood for a bit and stuck to my side while muttering out loudly. “Well, it should be fine to trust the instincts of the protagonist every now and then.”
I nodded my head in agreement.
Yu Joong-Hyeok opened his mouth in the meantime.
“Later, today in the afternoon, the flagbearers of the archipelago will gather at the royal palace. That’s when we fight.”
“A bog-standard tactic, then.”
“That’s the only method.”
Yu Joong-Hyeok was right, though.
Sometimes, the standard way of handling things was the best solution available.
*
Night came knocking pretty quickly. Nobles dispatched by the influential families had gathered in the audience chamber; we hurried our steps towards there as well.
The whole of the archipelago was boiling over with this unidentifiable hostility.
The faction arguing to distinguish the legitimate king; another faction who sympathised with the Dark Magician; and finally, a faction utterly hostile towards our entire group.
As we walked in the hallways filled to the brim with chaotic aura, Jeong Hui-Won muttered to herself. “…..If only the kids were with us, it’d have been so much better. How unfortunate.”
True, if the kids possessing taming skills were here, or even Yi Ji-Hye with the ability to fight in a large-scale battle, we wouldn’t have felt this much pressure.
“They have things they must do by themselves. Most likely, they are in the middle of their own scenarios.”
“What about Ha-Yeong-ssi?”
“Technically speaking, Ha-Yeong isn’t a member of <Kim Dok-Ja’s Company>, so she should’ve been summoned to a different scenario from ours.”
If things were going according to the original storyline, then Jang Ha-Yeong should be performing her own role somewhere else. And that was something I couldn’t help her with.
I walked faster through the hallways under the protection of Jeong Hui-Won and Yi Hyeon-Seong.
In front of us, Han Su-Yeong and Yu Joong-Hyeok were competing in a mini foot race to see who could stay ahead. It felt like I was watching a stork and a crow-tit compete against each other. (TL: An old Korean idiom. Basically, it means don’t bite off more than you can chew.)
Jeong Hui-Won watching the same spectacle as me sneaked closer to whisper something in my ear. “Dok-Ja-ssi?”
“Yes?”
“I might be overstepping my boundary here a bit, but I think you should know about this.”
“Regarding?”
She locked her gaze on the backs of Yu Joong-Hyeok and Han Su-Yeong, and hushed her voice even further.
“In regards to those two’s relationship.”
< Episode 72: Three methods (4) > Fin.
