Part 1, Chapter 10, 29

?????

I lost consciousness.

To be precise, my consciousness was summoned by someone. Just before entering the Hydra’s belly, my consciousness went dark as if an electronic device had blown a fuse.

‘So where is this-‘

“……?”

My vision was different. Unlike Phoenix’s human form, my eye level was similar to when I was in my monstrous human form.

‘What is this?’

Is this the Hydra’s belly? It was too lavish to be that. A red carpet was laid beneath my feet, and at the end of the red carpet was a golden throne.

“Puhuhu.”

On that throne sat a king-no, a god. Unlike the priestly robes I usually wore, they were clad only in a white dress that subtly showed through, adorned with golden accessories.

At the end of the throne.

Azure Flame was waiting for me.

“Is it okay to call me at this timing? ……Hm?”

I unconsciously touched my mouth. An unfamiliar voice, one I had never heard before, came out of my lips.

“Uh, um, um…?”

“…….”

Azure Flame’s smiling lips subtly drooped. The way they scratched the armrest with a finger placed on it showed considerable impatience. I took a step forward.

Hwareuk.

Eagle statues on either side raised torches towards the sky. As soon as I passed the statues, blue flames erupted from the torches.

I was certain.

Azure Flame had cut off my consciousness and summoned me here. And of all times, it was right when I had decided to counterattack.

“Sorry, but.”

I raised my voice towards Azure Flame in the distance.

“I have a prior engagement with three others right now. I’ll come back after I beat those bastards to death.”

I immediately turned around and walked back along the red carpet. Whether it was a temple or a throne room, I felt that the opposite side of where Azure Flame sat was the exit.

‘As if I’d go just because someone calls me.’

Hwareuk.

Blue flames appeared in the empty doorway. The flames blocked my path, and an eagle-masked statue that had flown over blocked the door with a spear.

“Alright. Fine. I’m going, I’m going.”

“……Puhuhu.”

It was absurd that they bothered to make that distinctive laugh from so far away, but first, I had to address this.

“Hey.”

“……Hey?”

“Was it fun to flip the switch when I was in the middle of winning?”

“…….”

Azure Flame averted their gaze. I strode over and pointed a finger at Azure Flame, shouting.

“Let me out right now! I’m going back out there immediately and smashing those executives’ heads in!”

“You were getting your ass kicked!”

“I wasn’t! I was about to counterattack when I thought I had the upper hand! You interfered and I fell into the Hydra’s belly! By now, I’d be buried in the ground!”

“They can’t even touch my body with their power anyway! Who told you to treat someone else’s body so roughly?!”

“I fought in my monstrous human form!”

“That’s my body too! I just lent it to you for your exclusive use!”

Azure Flame and I were red-faced and huffing before we even greeted each other. Regardless of whether my body outside was being concreted and thrown into the river, I had to argue my point.

“Common decency dictates you should understand when I’m fighting in my monstrous human form! Huh! I was going to transform into a monster inside the Hydra’s belly and rip its body apart to get out!”

“Are you crazy? Do you want to make someone vomit? Isn’t Hydra a heroine? Do you really want to act like such a jerk by tearing open a heroine’s belly?”

“Act like a jerk?! If I don’t, I’ll lose! Me losing is the same as you losing, you idiot!”

“Idiot? Who are you calling an idiot?! You’re like a dry cracker who always frustrates me to no end!”

“Dry cracker? Are you disrespecting dry crackers now? Want to try eating ten dry crackers without water when I get back to my body?”

“Just eat strawberries like that! Damn it, ah, just shut up! Do you think I called you for this?!”

Azure Flame slammed a fist on the throne in irritation. Seeing them gnash their teeth and growl, I sighed deeply and raised both hands.

“Alright. I guess I should understand, since the person who never answered my calls invited me to their home. Why did you call me?”

“Are you going to keep being so prickly? Why are you acting so stiff, like a petty person? You used to say you loved me and couldn’t live without me.”

“That’s true. That’s true, but.”

I held up three fingers towards Azure Flame. My palm faced them.

“Considering what you did to me, I think we need to talk about this first.”

“Fine. I’ll listen with great magnanimity.”

Azure Flame spread their arms on the throne and tilted their head back.

“First, one. Why did you awaken the phantom dragon and then run off with the Cube?”

“……I gave it back to you just now, didn’t I?”

“What?”

“Your cultivation.”

“This?”

A voice that couldn’t be distinguished as male or female-is this my original voice?

“So, can I use my voice outside now?”

“No. You can only do it here. In this place, my ‘domain’ where I invited you.”

“Then it’s completely useless. When you’re done, send me out immediately. First, I’ll beat up those three executives, then turn them into Spirits, and then we can talk. How about that?”

“No. Who said you could leave as you please? Didn’t you know that coming in is easy, but leaving isn’t?”

“Did I come? You called me.”

“You arbitrarily entered my body. From the very beginning.”

It was true, so I couldn’t refute it. Azure Flame retorted my words one by one, getting angry. Since the conversation wouldn’t continue if we kept bickering, I backed down first.

“So why did you run off?”

I still hadn’t received an answer to my question. Azure Flame snorted, mocking me.

“How else am I supposed to talk to someone who openly says they want to have sex?”

“Someone who openly read all my memories should know even more than that.”

“Shut up.”

“Alright. You ran away because you were embarrassed. I admit it. Then there’s nothing I can do.”

Azure Flame seemed flustered, but it was the truth. If they didn’t like it, they shouldn’t have asked such a question.

“Then, next question.”

I folded my thumb. My index and middle fingers were extended. I folded and unfolded the two fingers, drawing Azure Flame’s attention.

“What’s the reason you called me like this when I was in the middle of winning?”

“Can’t I just say it’s because I missed you?”

This time, Azure Flame counterattacked me. But in this kind of fight, I had the advantage.

“Then there’s nothing I can do. Hydra? Fenrir? Azhdahak? I guess I’ll just tell them all to buzz off. So, you finally feel like having a myth with me?”

“No. Not unless I die and come back to life. I don’t feel like it right now.”

“If it’s ‘right now,’ then you might feel like it someday, right?”

“Depends on what you do. Of course.”

Azure Flame, in turn, held up two index fingers, mocking me.

“At that time, you’ll have two choices, though. Puhuhu.”

“Then we’ll see when that time comes. Again, what’s the reason you called me?”

“I told you, didn’t I? Because I missed you. Do you need a specific reason?”

“You wouldn’t just call me for no reason.”

“You need a reason, huh…. Fine.”

Azure Flame, in turn, held up three fingers.

“One is your voice. Only I can hear it, but someday, when the ‘time’ comes, you’ll be able to use your voice too.”

“Next.”

“……The other is because I thought you were going to lose. Your fighting, where you use your body so recklessly, is unsightly. Even if you can heal, don’t use it so carelessly.”

“Alright. Next.”

“Hey.”

Azure Flame dropped their formal speech and pointed a finger at me.

“You always go off on tangents whenever you say something, so why do you demand the next question immediately when I’m answering…?”

“It’s fine if you speak informally. It’s new, too.”

“Shut up… please.”

They switched to extreme honorifics. They must be sulking.

“Ahem. Look at this. When I ask a question, you deflect it with strange answers, so why must I answer you straightforwardly?”

“What’s the last reason?”

“Ah, damn it. Seriously. Are you going to keep doing this?”

“I am, aren’t I? Puhuhu.”

I deliberately imitated Azure Flame’s laugh. Azure Flame flinched and tried to get up from the throne, but barely managed to suppress their anger and sat back down.

I still hadn’t approached the throne closely. The heat from the illuminated statues still had a long way to go.

“Fine. I’ll just tell you. The third reason. That’s a secret.”

“Oh? Then that’s fine.”

“Aren’t you curious?”

“I’m curious about something else more than that.”

I folded my index finger. Soon, only my middle finger remained extended, and my palm was facing Azure Flame. Only then did Azure Flame see my hand and frown.

“You’re asking to die.”

“What I’m really curious about is something else.”

I extended only my thumb and pointed behind me.

“What kind of mess did you cause 20 years ago?”

“……It’s a secret. Women are supposed to have a few secrets inside them, you know. There’s no need to talk about it right now, is there? Don’t you agree?”

“So you want to make a deal? Alright, is the subject of this deal a Spirit, or a Cube?”

It seemed Azure Flame had definitely taken some measures before falling asleep 20 years ago-that is, before they went dormant.

“Did they anticipate that I would possess them and take precautions? Or were they waiting for someone else besides me? Or perhaps they gave a warning in advance, just in case I became ‘Kyaa, protagonist-nim is so amazing!’?”

“Do you really want to die? Why are you so teasing today?”

“Hey, you read my memories, so you’ll understand, right? The situation I’m in right now is this.”

I pointed back to the exit.

“It’s like my loving wife pulled the plug on my PC right before I won my promotion match. Huh? Do I look like I can calm down right now?”

“There’s always another chance for a promotion match anyway, and who’s your wife? Did we sign a marriage registration form? Did we even have sex in the original story? We just had a fling, that’s all.”

“Want me to write one?”

“You’re talking very presumptuously. Never mind. That’s not important right now.”

Azure Flame raised a hand, beckoning me to come. I had no choice but to stride forward and stand before Azure Flame.

“No matter what I say, you’ll do what you want, won’t you? This is entirely ‘your space’ after all.”

“Yes. Out of 100 units of mental space, this is the only 1 unit that remains. This is my home, which you couldn’t dominate.”

“You’ve decorated your home very lavishly. Is it some kind of temple?”

“Of course. I’m a god. A god-dess.”

“Yes, yes. Understood. O God, then I shall pray.”

I clasped my hands together and bowed.

“Please release me from this temple immediately so I can go beat up the other executives and capture Seongju.”

“Ah, come on. Why are you so impatient?”

“Hey, you foolish god. You and I can meet anytime as long as we have the Cube, but those guys can’t. Frankly speaking.”

I straightened up and took a moment to catch my breath.

“What if Hydra hides in the Earth’s core? What if Fenrir runs away by flying through the atmosphere? What if Azhdahak rotates every day and only moves around at night? Huh? I have to catch them all before they escape.”

“So, to catch Fenrir, you lit incense on a mint chocolate at the top of a clock tower to summon Fenrir? Honestly. If you had possessed someone else, you would have set a strawberry cake on fire to call me, wouldn’t you?”

“What nonsense are you talking about? Do you think I’m crazy enough to do that?”

“You’re saying this because you’re crazy.”

“Fine. I’m crazy. Happy now? Then tell me what you want to say.”

Tak.

My footsteps lit the last statue’s fire. I stood ten steps in front of Azure Flame, looking up at them from the bottom of the stairs.

“I’ll listen until I’m tired of it. So, what did you want to talk about that you called me in this situation?”

“Well, there’s a lot I want to say, but since it’s your first time here, I’ll put it this way.”

Azure Flame even cleared their throat and extended a hand to me with a solemn expression.

“Welcome to the Temple of Azure Flame, mortal. I am Azure Flame, the eternal, immortal sun that illuminates all under heaven.”

“…….”

“Uh, I really wanted to do that…. Did I read your memories wrong? Was the line incorrect?”

“……Hey.”

I read Azure Flame’s expression and couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.

“You didn’t call me just to do that, did you?”

“…….”

Azure Flame subtly averted their gaze.

“Heh, heheh, heheheheh.”

It seemed I would have to ‘talk’ with them a little.