“…”
Dohyuk speechlessly looked down at the boy.
“It doesn’t have to be his heart. I can do it on anyone if you want. If you…”
‘Just let me kill Jung Ilgyu.’
Sunghyun gritted his teeth as he spoke.
“That is the condition. That… that son of a b*tch… I will kill him with my hands. I have to do it.”
Dohyuk believed him. Sunghyun was honest when he said he’d pull out anyone heart if he was just given the chance to kill the Tyrant. However, that also meant that if that was not fulfilled, he would not let Dohyuk utilize his Nature.
The boy was very clever. He probably expected what might happen to him when he spoke to the Tyrant, but he still resisted and withstood the torture.
It was uncertain as to how the boy had died in the previous life so early, but it seemed like he was much more manly than his brother.
“…What do you think?” Sunghyun asked Dohyuk. “Will you do it? Or…”
“Are you okay with anyone’s heart?”
“Of course! I’m not lying!”
“Even if the person is like you or me?”
The boy’s face became dropped. There was another reason why the boy did not pull hearts other than his opposition against Jung Ilgyu.
“There are a lot of people who deserve to die like Jung Ilgyu.”
Yet, there were others who did not deserve to die.
“If I ask you to pull the heart of someone who is the same age as you, or someone younger, or someone that is innocent, can you do it?”
“…”
“I’m serious,” Dohyuk said. Sunghyun felt his mouth going dry. He had to answer that he can and will do it, but he couldn’t say it so easily. After straining himself for an answer, Dohyuk spoke.
“It’s okay.”
He tapped the boy’s shoulder.
“O-okay?”
“It doesn’t matter what you say right now. The situation might change. If it really comes down to the point where I have the power to let you finish Jung Ilgyu, I will ask you again then.”
“I-I can! I can do it! Let’s just-”
“Isn’t it messed up?”
“What?”
“Your feelings. I think I know that much.”
“…”
He couldn’t understand. What was he saying? Were his feelings messed up right now? Of course they were. If he wasn’t given this second life, he wouldn’t have had to witness his brother’s death. How was it not messed up? He had no way to fight back as power and savagery destroyed everything he had.
“Yeah. It is messed up.”
“I know. That’s why.” Dohyuk agreed as he turned. “Once you feel better, you might have a different answer.”
‘Bullsh*t. That’s impossible.’ Sunghyun thought of it, but he didn’t say it out loud since he feared Dohyuk.
“Follow me if you want.”
He was becoming more curious about Dohyuk.
“If I follow you… what’s there?” Sunghyun asked.
“You can see for yourself.”
Dohyuk answered, “I’m not sure if it will make you feel better, but it will cool you down for sure.”
As Dohyuk walked out of the hotel with Sunghyun, hundreds of voices swarmed him. They were waiting outside to ask Dohyuk about what to do with the situation.
“It won’t be much of a problem, right?”
“Should we hide somewhere?”
But they weren’t panicking like Dohyuk had expected. They trusted Dohyuk. He was the one who brought a great change to their quality of life in just a few days. It was fortunate that they weren’t in disorder due to fear at least.
Without answering any the questions, Dohyuk clapped. People stopped speaking instantly.
“Listen everyone, and tell the people who are not here what I will say.”
What he said was simple.
“Everyone, go up to the highest building near the city wall and position yourself where you have a good view of the outside wall. If you are worried about your own safety, you can hide somewhere else, but I suggest you follow my request.”
People scattered instantly.
“Let’s go.”
Dohyuk then spoke to Sunghyun who was watching him dumbfoundedly. People of the city followed Dohyuk’s request wholeheartedly and were so quick that when Dohyuk was at the top of the city wall, the people were already near the wall.
“Did you order them to come?” Giwon asked as he approached Dohyuk. He was panting had been running around to multiple places.
“Yeah.”
“…”
Giwon wanted to say something else, but decided not to. What he was ordered to do was to give a report on the situation to Dohyuk.
“As you can see…” Giwon turned to the outside of the wall, “There are a lot more of them than what we heard from the first time.”
There was no need to listen. The first report heard said that there were about a hundred of them. As Dohyuk got closer to the wall, the number had multiplied by a hundred.
“It seems like… he’s brought ‘everything’ he has.”
The man didn’t just bring his warriors. There were slaves and even his thirty thousand offerings that he was going to sacrifice to Sea God Degova. Countless people had gathered around the perimeter of Dohyuk’s region and the land of ashes.
“I guess there was a chance for offerings to run away and so he brought them here… but why even those belongings…”
“Maybe that port wasn’t his departure location.”
“What?” Giwon turned to Dohyuk.
“I heard the offerings are given up to the Sea God.”
“Yes. That’s…”
“And the port he controls isn’t owned by that Sea God.”
“…!”
Dohyuk remembered clearly from the God of Steel, Mayhab. The ‘port’ that Giwon was talking about was the region that Dohyuk first tried to get his hands on.
Luckily, his plan did not come into fruition. Since the region had plenty of minerals and ores, Jung Ilyu was already there to create a ship to sail across the sea.
“But that’s when he found unexpected information.”
Dohyuk also heard directly from Jung Ilgyu when he visited GIwon in his hideout. Sailing across the sea by offering humans lives didn’t have anything to do with what Ilgyu had been preparing all this time.
It probably meant that he did not need the port anymore. Or maybe…
“The port is owned by a master called Mayhab. Wouldn’t it be unwise to sacrifice tens of thousands of people for another god within the region?”
“R-right. That is…”
That was a very logical explanation indeed. However, Giwon still had questions. If that was the case, he could sacrifice them elsewhere on an empty piece of land. There was no reason to bring them all the way here.
Giwon then realized why and froze. Dohyuk smiled. “You seem to have come to the same answer as I did.”
Dohyuk was also shocked by Giwon’s ‘theory’ as he saw the incredible amount of people.
‘Sacrifice the people, and the Sea God allows movement across the sea.’
Dohyuk remembered that Ilgyu never said a word about a ‘ship’.
It could still be a ship, but there were probably other methods to travel across the sea. Teleportation methods were available and even Dohyuk was sent down here from Seoul in a way…
“Everyone knows that this region came down here from the sea. It was visible from everywhere.”
“…”
“It has a good view, it’s wide, and whatever is in it is well-equipped. It’s probably better than any ship you could think of.”
Thirty thousand. Perhaps that was the price that had to be paid to put this region out on the sea again.
“Maybe that’s why no one attacked this place until now.”
If Jung Ilgyu had decided to make this place his final destination from the beginning, he wouldn’t have had to do anything beforehand.
“So, are there any other reports?”
“…Well, I don’t see any siege weapons that might work against the city wall. As far as I know, there are very few above the Three Circle level that have long-ranged abilities that can destroy the wall.”
Giwon continued his report.
“If they try to do so it will be a matter of time for them to bring the siege weapon… but since they do not know the rule yet, they will probably just charge in first. It will buy us some good time and with luck, we might thin out their numbers a bit.”
Regardless, it wasn’t all that great either. Giwon turned to the area right below the wall.
“Of course… we’ll have to give up a few things in exchange.”
There were Bermuran tents and crops that the people had worked on. Everything inside the walls was safe for now, but the outside wasn’t.
“But I think it’s worth it to give it up.”
“…”
“In my opinion, we’ll hold back for now and when they make a move, we attack with the catapult. Most likely, the Tyrant won’t hit us with the long-ranged weapon. Instead, he’ll try to overwhelm us with numbers.”
Dohyuk agreed. “Okay, we’ll go with the plan.”
“If you go find Heeyun, she’ll take care of setting up the catapults. She’s been training people these past few days on how to use the catapults.”
“…! I got it.” Giwon sighed briefly. The only thing left was for Dohyuk was to increase his power. He now had a treasure storage, so there was a chance for them to become stronger with the brief amount of time the had. That’s when Giwon turned to Sunghyun who was standing behind Dohyuk.
Heartdigger. The boy who was lying in bed at a hotel.
“I think this is good enough.”
Giwon heard Dohyuk speaking to the boy clearly.
“Watch from here.”
Watch from here?
‘What is he…’
Giwon decided to directly ask Dohyuk, but he couldn’t as Dohyuk had already jumped off from the edge of the wall toward the outside of the city.
“N-no!” Giwon shouted, but Dohyuk was already falling to the ground, much farther than the area just below the city wall. As he landed, the ground caved around his feet and dust rose into the air.
Other than that, it was dead silent – perhaps everyone was just at a loss for words, or maybe he was too far, but it didn’t matter.
Dohyuk took in a deep breath.
“JUNG ILGYU!!!” he shouted.
“COME OUT, YOU B*TCH!”
