Chapter 374. The Story That Shouldn’t Have Existed (9)
Kim Suho reacted calmly to the New Evils’ attack.
In fact, there was no need to overreact. No demon could withstand the Authority of the Sword Saint. All he had to do was swing his sword and cut them apart.
Every time the Misteltein flashed, dozens of enemies met their end.
“Oi, Kim Sukho, did you call these guys too?”
“No, it’s not me!”
Heynckes and Kim Sukho’s voice rang out from the middle of the battlefield. Kim Suho glanced at them as he swung his sword.
“If it isn’t you, then who called them?”
“You idiot! Both the time and place of the party were recorded in the invitation. I’m sure they figured out when and how to attack by themselves!”
Kim Sukho roared, but Heynckes looked doubtful.
“Mmm…. Well, it doesn’t matter. You’ll end up taking the blame anyways.”
“W-Wh, what did you say?!”
It was a scene of poetic justice.
Kim Suho took his gaze off them and looked out front again. There were still many enemies left. A demon with multiple arms and legs shot towards him.
The demon released several thin, sharp strings of magic power. Like a spider, it tried to bind its target, but Kim Suho unleashed his magic power and incinerated the strings. He then pierced the demon’s heart with his sword.
“Oi.”
As the demon’s black blood splashed on his forehead, Jin Sahyuk called his name. She looked completely at ease.
“What?”
Kim Suho shouted back as he sent sword strikes flying. Jin Sahyuk chased Kim Suho’s lightning-speed Misteltein with her eyes. He brandished his sword to the right and calmly reacted to a sudden attack from the left by a member of the New Evils.
But Jin Sahyuk’s attention wasn’t on his swordsmanship but on his ‘sword’ itself.
“That sword, who gave it to you?”
“What do you mean… huup!”
With a short spirited shout, a fierce gale shot out from his sword. The demons encircling him were blown away in an instant.
Kim Suho immediately shot towards the closest demon. After destroying their formation with the gale, he was taking care of them one by one.
Jin Sahyuk asked.
“You didn’t receive it from someone? Then did you obtain it alone?”
“…Why are you asking me that!?”
Kim Suho shouted as he swung his sword to the front.
“Because I just don’t think this is right.”
Rubbing her chin, Jin Sahyuk stared at the back of Kim Suho’s head. She seemed to be thinking, ‘Just what the hell is inside his brain?’
“What!?”
“…No, never mind. It looks like you won’t remember for the rest of your life.”
But I should try just in case…. Jin Sahyuk murmured and transformed into a cluster of energy. Then, she flowed into Kim Suho’s body. She had been making good use of this ‘inner body infiltration’ technique ever since she developed it.
“Wait, you….”
Kim Suho didn’t have the time to resist. Taken off guard by Jin Sahyuk’s sudden infiltration, Kim Suho stopped. He felt like something sharp was rummaging through his head.
“Jin Sahyuk, what are you doing—!”
He wanted to scream at her to get out, but the fight wasn’t over yet.
“Auuk!”
A demon appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Kim Suho’s head.
KWANG—!
The demon smashed Kim Suho’s head into the ground. A powerful shock struck his brain.
And this shock allowed Jin Sahyuk to explore Kim Suho’s brain more easily.
**
“Ee, eek—!”
Kim Sukho screamed as he was being taken into custody by Heynckes.
He released his magic power desperately. His aged, worn-out magic power pushed Heynckes away, and Kim Sukho took this opportunity to escape.
“Kua, kuaaa.”
He ran as if his life depended on it. He seemed to think his safety was guaranteed if he could just escape the party hall.
“Tsk.”
Heynckes simply watched Kim Sukho run. He didn’t even consider chasing after him. Rather, he sent the frantically-escaping Kim Sukho a look of pity.
“Hua, hua, hua….”
As a result, Kim Sukho left the party hall without any hindrance and ran through the hallway.
“Uek!”
But at one point, he tripped on something. Kim Sukho flew up in the air before disgracefully falling down.
As most people subconsciously did, he turned around to see what had tripped him up.
“…?”
His face became dazed.
“Uh… uh… you….”
Strange sounds escaped his mouth as if his tongue were paralyzed. His head hurt, and he couldn’t continue his thoughts.
It was because someone who shouldn’t be here, no, someone who couldn’t be here was standing in front of him.
“It’s been a while, President.”
A calm voice echoed out. The memories he had forgotten about surfaced from the deepest corner of his mind.
It was Jin Younghwan. He hadn’t aged a single bit and looked just like he did in the past.
“You, you….”
Kim Sukho pointed at Jin Younghwan with his finger. His body was shaking as if he were experiencing an earthquake.
Jin Younghwan spoke with a grin.
“It’s nice seeing you again. You thought I was dead, right? Ah, I might have been. Who knows… maybe I am an illusion created by your guilt. Well, then again, I doubt you have any feelings of guilt left in you. That must mean I am real.”
Kim Sukho’s face was dyed with shock and astonishment. Cold sweat dripped down, wetting his disheveled hair.
Kim Sukho stared at Jin Younghwan with a dazed face.
“Now then, why don’t the two of us have a little talk?”
Jin Younghwan still had things to say, but Kim Sukho was completely out of it.
“Eeeek….”
He eked out a strange screech before collapsing with his eyes rolled back. He even foamed from his mouth.
Looking at this scene with a dumbfounded expression, Jin Younghwan raised his eyebrows.
“What a coward.”
How could someone who killed so many people be such a coward? Did he kill people without fearing the act coming back to bite him?
Jain kicked the fainted Kim Sukho’s stomach before turning around. Then, she jumped slightly in a startle.
“Oh, you were watching?”
Jin Seyeon was standing there, staring at her father with bitter eyes. Even though she knew he was just Jain in disguise, sadness and reminiscence filled her heart.
Jin Seyeon spoke.
“…Please cancel that disguise now.”
“Hm? Oh, okay.”
When Jain undid her disguise, Jin Seyeon continued with a deep breath.
“Yun Seung-Ah is looking for you.”
“Oh, yeah~ I’m sure she is~”
“…Are you not going to see her?”
“Nope, of course not.”
Jain smiled brightly. Jin Seyeon glared at her dumbfoundedly.
Jain slicked her hair back and added.
“She probably knew I wasn’t going to come back when she let me go~ Mm, I guess you can call our relationship a MacGuffin. Besides~ I still have important things to do~”
Just as Jin Seyeon was about to criticize her with the words, ‘That’s an excuse’…
Dudududu—
The sound of helicopters resounded above.
Wiing— Wiing— The sound of sirens also became clear.
“Mm, hear that~? It’s time for us to run~”
Jain spoke with a bright smile.
Without any other choice, Jin Seyeon sighed.
About 10 minutes after the start of the New Evils’ attack, outside reinforcements had finally arrived.
**
—This is an unprecedented exposé of corruption. The fact that the chairman of the Hero Association and the former president of Korea colluded with Djinns is taking the world by storm. Yoo Jinwoong and Chae Joochul’s confession and whistle-blowing has led to the confirmation of the Association’s executives having secret trades with the Djinns. Naturally, the Hero Association has fallen into chaos. A retired Hero, Yoo Jangwon, also stood out in this incident as a whistle-blower….
Pantheon, a subsidiary group of the Temple of Justice, was normally a resting place for the Temple of Justice’s Heroes. But starting from today, it was given the role of an investigative agency and headquarters.
Due to the sheer scale of this scandal involving countless Heroes, governments around the world realized a thorough investigation was needed and designated the Temple of Justice to be the investigators.
Although the Temple of Justice was also a part of the Association, the public did not oppose the choice. It was because their leader, Aileen, was far from the image of corruption in their eyes.
“…Hm.”
On the other hand, Chae Nayun was sitting on a couch in the Temple of Justice’s lobby, fiddling with her necklace.
The New Evils had been suppressed, and the corrupt members of the Association, including Kim Sukho and Yi Yukho, had all been arrested. All this had only taken half a day.
Yoo Yeonha had told them, “Finish this without dragging it on. If we don’t end things within 24 hours, they will launch a counterattack.”
The plan had succeeded.
…But for some reason, Chae Nayun didn’t feel refreshed.
If anything, she felt stuffy.
It wasn’t because the Chae family was involved in the corruption. She was resolved to this fate the moment she found out about what really happened with Chae Jinyoon.
The thing was, she felt like she had forgotten about something important.
And every time she felt this way, she subconsciously fiddled with her necklace.
However, this sense of disharmony only grew stronger as she touched the necklace.
Someone had given this necklace to her. She had to give it back, but she just couldn’t remember who she had to return it to. Every time she felt like she was going to remember, an unpleasant forgetfulness swept through her mind.
—Kieeeeek!
“Ah, geez!”
At that moment, a shriek rang out. Startled, Chae Nayun raised her lowered head. Rachel, who was sitting in the same room as her as a testifier, made a shocked expression.
The shriek had come from Spartan who was sleeping on her lap.
—Kieeeek! Kieeeek!
“S, Spartan? W-What’s wrong all of a sudden…?”
—Kieeeek! Kieeeeek!
He was almost having a seizure.
“H-Hey! Do something about him!”
The other Heroes, who were also present as testifiers, furrowed their brows. Yoo Sihyuk, who was a close friend with Yoo Jinwoong, scowled especially hard.
“Spartan- Spartan-!”
—Kiee….
When Rachel grabbed his wings and whispered, Spartan stopped. But then, he began to peck Rachel’s smartwatch. What first started out as tk- tk- tk- quickly transformed into tududududududu-!
It was as if a woodpecker had evolved into a power drill.
“W-What now?”
Taken aback, Rachel turned on her smartwatch, wondering if she was missing something.
But she couldn’t find anything unusual - only a message from a connection who was set as a VVIP friend.
Right, the message was from Yoo Yeonha.
Chae Nayun, who was watching curiously, asked.
“…What is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“It looks like that woodpecker wants you to check your smartwatch. Did you get something?”
“I received a message from Yeonha, but that’s it….”[1]
“…Yo, can you choose between polite speech and casual speech instead of mixing the two together?”
Rachel blinked her eyes as she often did and stared at Chae Nayun. Then, she lowered her gaze without a reply and read Yoo Yeonha’s message.
In the next instant, her face stiffened. It wasn’t just her face, though. Her body became as hard as a rock, almost as if she fell into deep thought.
Chae Nayun perked up her eyebrows and asked.
“What? What is it? Did something happen?”
“…”
Rachel didn’t answer.
“Hello? Can you hear me?”
She ignored Chae Nayun no matter how many times Chae Nayun asked.
Slightly offended, Chae Nayun furrowed her brows and turned on her smartwatch.
She had countless new messages.
Among them, Yoo Yeonha’s message stood out.
Chae Nayun clicked on it without much thought.
Immediately afterwards, Chae Nayun made the same shocked expression Rachel had.
Her thoughts stopped, and so did her body.
Only her eyes slowly moved up and down, reading a ‘certain word’.
“….”
The ‘certain word’ was an ordinary name.
But at the same time, it wasn’t so ordinary.
The text message Yoo Yeonha sent had someone’s name on it.
Chae Nayun didn’t remember this name.
However, it felt familiar to her eyes.
Chae Nayun subconsciously clutched her necklace. Then, she slowly raised her head. Rachel, who seemingly received the same message as her, was staring back.
When their eyes met, Rachel asked.
“…This Kim Hajin… who is he?”
Chae Nayun couldn’t answer.
They both needed time for deep reflection.
**
—A month has passed, yet the trial is still ongoing. Kim Sukho and Yi Yukho are still claiming to be innocent, receiving criticisms from the public. On the other hand, Yoo Jinwoong has admitted his wrongs and has been convicted of multiple charges. Chae Joochul stands at a slightly unique position. Taking into account how he was one of the whistle-blowers in this case, the contributions he made during the war against Orden, and his worsening physical health due to his age and participation in the Great Devil War….
“…Things sure are changing quickly.”
I was still staying in my cabin by the Alps’ cliffside, watching TV as I munched on some cereal.
The month-old [Hero Association Corruption Gate] had yet to die down in the news cycle.
“Huu.”
In any case, it didn’t feel so bad looking at a world progressing towards a ‘story that shouldn’t have existed’.
In fact, I was quite happy. Not only did this world escape from the adversity known as Baal, but it was also on the brink of eliminating the cancerous tumor that was the Hero Association.
But this setting that the Association’s executives colluded with Djinns to maintain their authority….
No.
I should stop referring to things as ‘settings’. I shouldn’t even use that word.
After all, it only made me sad.
Tok, tok—
At that moment, someone knocked on my door.
A guest?
I turned the smartwatch off and got up from my chair.
Although the world was turning rather rapidly, I was still living a life of leisure.
Tok, tok—
Today’s first guest seemed to be quite impatient.
I was about to open the door but paused for a moment. With my hand tightly holding onto the doorknob, I let out a faint breath.
I couldn’t help but think, ‘Could it be?’ But soon, I laughed and shook my head.
I was mocking myself.
For the past month, I had been anticipating something in the corner of my mind.
That they would remember me and come find me — an empty hope.
But now I knew that wasn’t possible.
So, I opened the door, not expecting much.
Kiik—
The wooden door creaked open, revealing two people standing beyond it. They were blonde, blue-eyed women. As expected, they were strangers.
The woman on the right gulped before opening her mouth.
“Ah… um… are you… the Cliff’s End Pharmacist?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
I spoke casually on purpose.
It didn’t seem realistic or charismatic for a mysterious pharmacist living on the edge of a cliff in a rough mountain to speak politely.
“Ah, I see! Wow, really, we finally….”
The two women cried while hugging each other.
“I’ll chase you out if you keep crying.”
“N-No! We’ll stop crying!”
I led them inside as soon as they stopped crying and asked about the symptoms of the patient.
They said it was poison from the venomous Albahara Snake.
Even in this world, where both scientific and magical knowledge of medicine existed, the Albahara Snake’s venom was an untreatable poison that led to unavoidable death.
Although the death wouldn’t be instantaneous, an afflicted victim would suffer for 3 to 14 days before finally dying.
To my knowledge, there wasn’t an antidote.
“Do you have that snake’s venom or its tooth?”
“Ah, yes, just in case.”
The duo were well-prepared. From their bag, they took out the snake’s venom, multiple teeth, and even its scales.
“We canceled our qi reinforcement after killing its mother and was ambushed by the baby that was hiding nearby. We let our guard down.”
“I see.”
“Yes. The Albahara Snake has weak teeth, so as long as you maintain your qi reinforcement at all times—”
“Yeah, yeah. Alright, you can leave.”
“…Pardon?”
I retrieved the materials and sent them outside.
“I don’t like showing people the manufacturing process.”
“Ah, yes, understood!”
As soon as I saw the two women leave, I swallowed the Albahara Snake’s venom.
In truth, detoxification happened automatically if I analyzed poison. Detoxification was one of the simplest ways of utilizing the [Medicinal Memory Physique].
“…Auu, it hurts.”
After about three minutes, the [Medicinal Memory Physique] stored the Albahara poison’s antidote. I immediately materialized the antidote in the form of a pill.
Holding the pill in my hand, I shouted loudly.
“Oi! Come in.”
The two women quickly came in, and I handed them the antidote.
They didn’t doubt my pill in the slightest. They simply cried and handed me an expensive jewel - a blue diamond.
““Thank you!””
After bowing 90 degrees, they left my cabin.
“…Yeah, take care.”
After sending them off, I sat back down on my chair and turned on my smartwatch.
—On the other hand, Essence of the Strait’s Chief Officer Yoo Yeonha announced her retirement, but the guild’s Heroes’ fierce dissuasion has made her retract her statement. Many people are sending Yoo Yeonha and Yoo Jinwoong’s family words of encouragement and sympathy….
The watch had a TV projection functionality.
But the news wasn’t all that interesting.
I stared at Yoo Yeonha having a press conference before changing the channel.
—The Kwang-Oh Incident is a key subject in this matter….
“Ah.”
I immediately turned the watch off.
Kwang-Oh Incident.
To be honest, I was hoping that the Kwang-Oh Incident would help me. Although the memories of me were wiped from everyone’s minds, I was hopeful that someone would regain their memories once they heard the Kwang-Oh Incident. But that didn’t happen.
A month passed, but no one came to see me.
But that goes without saying.
It was proper for false relationships built up through the power of the author to disappear.
After all, this world wasn’t a novel anymore.
I was no longer the novelist Kim Hajin, but an insignificant Kim Hajin.
“…Ehew.”
Tok, tok—
As I sighed, another knock rang out.
It was already the second visitor.
“Lots of visitors today, huh.”
I got up from my chair and walked to the door.
The visitors this time seemed even more impatient than the last. Or perhaps, they were more urgent than the last ones.
“Alright, alright…”
Thinking this, I opened the door without hesitation.
Whish—
Black hair fluttered in the Alps’ cold wind. A dazzling sunset shone down, and one person was looking down at me from the orange-colored sky.
The scenery was truly beautiful.
It was so unbelievably beautiful that I couldn’t think about anything.
1. Rachel mixes polite speech and casual speech here. The nuance doesn’t really translate to English.