episode_0321

For a short time, calculations rolled through my head faster than ever before.

Kim Min-hyuk.

Yeah, that was my name.

My name when I was living in reality.

But how do you know this?

It’s impossible.

There is no way to know.

Because I didn’t live as Kim Min-hyeok. I only lived as Karsain Bagrand.

It was impossible for the mention to even come up.

The power of a prophet? That’s not something you can figure out. Even though he was said to have a high status as a prophet in the Western Empire, he lives in a different world.

System? I guess it’s possible. But it knows my name, but it can’t possibly tell me. How on earth would a system that only works for me? How could it do that?

There is a slim hope that Pollux knows the name and can pass it on. However, that is unlikely. I have already figured out how tight-lipped he is.

In other words, it is impossible.

There should be no way that Veneris could know my real name for any reason.

But, because this impossible thing happened, I gained another confidence.

“Yeah. That’s right. You were the same.”

“…What do you mean?”

“There’s no need to be picky. We’re in the same position, right?”

A three-character name written boldly in Korean.

Unlike Pollux, it is not a new or awkward name at all.

There is no other way to resolve this great contradiction.

“This is possible because you are Korean. This is possible because you have been reincarnated into the world of this game. Am I wrong?”

“…Well, I don’t know.”

“Ha, you’re going to pretend like that? Then let me show you the evidence. The Kingdom of Wederos has already been destroyed for a long time. However, a prophet suddenly appeared and has the power of the Kingdom of Wederos. Thanks to that, a weather forecasting device that would never be used here is being used. What do you think about this?”

“…”

“If it was solved by prophecy alone, we wouldn’t have created a tool to help predict the weather. Just tell us the weather.”

As I pressed on, driving the wedge in firmly, Benellis looked at me intently and said something meaningful.

“Those eyes… I see. It seems like you’ve had a tough life too.”

“What?”

“I used to have those eyes too. It’s not someone else’s problem.”

I thought you would just admit it.

Why are you suddenly saying something so out of the blue?

“The world must have been hell. People around you were deliberately harassing you, and you were being falsely accused of everything, but no one helped you, and the people who were by your side were disappearing one by one, but the people closest to you were the ones who made you the most miserable.”

“…!”

“Being a loner, you would have been anxious to live alone. So you would have relied on calculations, and something inside your body would have gradually become numb. But if you go through this twice, it is natural for a person to become more damaged.”

My head feels slightly dizzy.

This is actually a sign that it is true…

“…Tsk. Is that it?”

He smiled bitterly as he spoke. His eyes were looking into the empty space, not at me. It was… a gaze that seemed to be looking at a status window.

But Veneris herself denied this.

To my pointed questions, he didn’t give a positive answer, but instead said he didn’t know or gave an ambiguous answer.

‘Ha. Is that so?’

I noticed the reason for the conflicting attitudes.

In that case, there is only one.

The status window is sending a warning.

In that case, I guess I should just change the subject a bit so as not to offend the system.

“Veneris. How many years have you been active in the Empire longer than me?”

“…That’s right.”

“Then you must have found out something first?”

Veneris looked into the air for a moment and then turned her gaze back to me.

“Yeah.”

Oh my.

Is that so?

I have never directly used specific words like ‘ice’ or ‘player’.

In other words, it is entirely possible to have a conversation like this, blurring out only the words that need to be noted.

First of all, slowly.

I think it would be best to start by asking the question that interests you the most.

“But before that, I have something to tell you in advance.”

“Huh?”

“First, I have to tell you that you don’t have time. You can’t go back to where you were staying. The search has just begun.”

“…!”

“According to the prophecy, it seems that asking only one question is the limit. It would be better to use your time carefully.”

-Tiring!

▶Warning! One of the players chasing you has found your tracks!◀

▶The chase event is activated. The village of Ileor begins to be searched.◀

▶We are summarizing the episode progress information…◀

…

…

Because so many surprising things happened one after another, I forgot about it.

Yes. I was trying to check the clear conditions additionally and came in to fill up the achievements.

Before that, Cold Week was approaching and I was thinking of leaving the place because I was running low on money.

It was a situation where it wouldn’t have been strange for a chase to occur anytime, anywhere.

‘I guess this is why I have time.’

▶A state of high intimacy among laborers. Due to friendly relations, the pursuit speed is slowed down.◀

[ Pursuit speed reduction rate: 10% ]

▶The intimacy with the key figure, Monen, is high. The rate of reduction in pursuit speed increases.◀

[ Pursuit speed reduction rate: 25% ]

good.

In that case, we must obtain as much information as possible from here.

“I, Veneris, am the prophet of Wederoth, and I will tell you what you want. Ask.”

***

There was so much to ask, but it was too much.

To put it simply, how do you escape a situation where you are being chased?

How to dodge the chase event and what choices to make to avoid being caught by your family.

In order to meet the survival conditions of Chapter 4, asking each and every one of them would not be enough.

But you shouldn’t be fooled by what you see before your eyes.

You have to catch the biggest one.

I had to get all the answers with just one question.

To do that.

This question should not be left to Chapter 4.

It was a two-time experience.

Two experiences: reality and the game.

As Veneris said, the world was hell.

The fact that he was a child picked up in reality or in a game remained unchanged.

The child, who was not related by blood, was lucky enough to be picked up by his mentally ill mother and raised in a wealthy family.

But the reality we face is extremely miserable.

Because the blood didn’t flow.

So, I had to endure even more contempt and hatred.

I couldn’t receive any affection from my family. At some point, even my mother, who was the only one who cared for me, turned away from me.

Then, an unexpected incident occurred within the household.

I had to endure bullying, discrimination, and false accusations.

Expressing my grievances brought me even more in return. The more angry I got, the bigger the mistake became, like a balloon blowing up.

Sometimes, I would get my body slapped more than once or twice, and when I was bored, I would live with being cursed at.

Even though we are family.

Does that mean it was okay outside?

It wasn’t much different.

I had to endure all kinds of bullying.

I had to endure discrimination that was different from others.

A normal life was impossible because of the persistent tag that followed me.

There was no difference between the society of school and the aristocratic society.

If you decide to harass someone, you will suffer.

If I was falsely accused, it had to be my fault, and I couldn’t even express my anger properly because I was swayed by public opinion around me. Even though I was living a comfortable life in an equally wealthy family.

Someone to help? No way.

If only powerful families had intervened, this would never have happened.

The level of bullying increased when he realized that even his family was not helping.

As my anger built up and built up, at some point it cooled down.

At some point, my attitude towards them became dry and I became accustomed to being treated like that.

I didn’t think of the authors as family.

I didn’t think of the place called home as home.

They were devils.

This place was hell.

In order to survive in a place where even family cannot be trusted, one must live the life of a loner.

Just to survive.

I let go of all contact with others.

I picked up a pen and calculated and calculated endlessly.

I just feel the cold blood flowing.

“…Are you done calculating?”

“Yeah.”

A conclusion derived from endless calculations without even using a single formula.

Ultimately, it boiled down to one question.

“I’ve experienced it twice. So most of the information was similar. Starting with the background of the Peselos Empire and the Bagrand Dukes, and even the overlapping elements of certain characters, the level of events that were copied, and even the answers and process through the object called Memorial, everything was the same.”

-widely.

Karsine struck the ground here with his scabbard.

“Except for one thing.”

“…”

Veneris, who had been staring at the land that had been hit, turned her gaze to Karsain.

“The Kingdom of Wederos. This one doesn’t overlap. In no world has this been related to me. And you’re clearly not the main character. So how did we end up in the same position? How did you and I end up having the power of the Kingdom of Wederos, which has been destroyed for a long time?”

“…”

“You know very well that this is not all, right?”

Simple in-game settings?

There are too many loopholes for that to be true.

So, the question leads down one path.

“What on earth is the identity of this Kingdom of Wederos?”

Kingdom of Wederoth.

This in itself contains the greatest contradiction.

If everything up to now has overlapped with reality, this is the only thing that does not overlap.

Karsain… no, Minhyuk was convinced that this unnecessary element was the way to clear the game.

A brief silence followed.

Benellis answers with a smirk.

“You already know the answer. Didn’t you already find out from Pollux?”

“To Pollux…?”

Karsine tilted his head.

“When did that happen…”

– So I thought about this. Veneris, and you too. Maybe the power you had in the Kingdom of Wederos was a bridge to get here.

“No way…”

“That’s the truth of this world.”

A prophet never makes a mistake.

The only difference between the two worlds where everything overlaps is the Kingdom of Wederos.

The power of the Kingdom of Wederos is merely a bridge. It is not a setting in the game, but is used as a means to transmute real-life humans into the game.

“Ha, but…! It doesn’t make sense for them to overlap like this?!”

“You might think that you are experiencing the same thing, but if the same thing happens repeatedly, it is not a coincidence.”

“…what?”

“Kim Min-hyeok, there was a reason why you entered Karsain’s body. In other words.”

-Palang.

A piece of paper with the three letters “Kim Min-hyeok” written on it falls limply.

“That also means you came here for a reason. Just like I did.”

“Wait, what is that…!”

Veneris turned around abruptly.

“Now get out of here. It’s time for the pursuers to come. If you get out of here to the back, you’ll have a way to escape. And if the prophecy is true, there will be people waiting for you.”

“…!”

-Tiring!

【Your choices will determine the fate of someone else in this world.】

【You failed to save someone in the past, and that person ended up dying.】

【 This time, can I save you? 】

【Your death brought despair to someone. This despair spread like an epidemic and laid that person’s soul here.】

【 It’s not too late, Kim Min-hyuk. 】

▶Additional secrets of the world are added.◀

【 It was inevitable. Coming here, and being possessed by Karsine’s body. 】

I’d like to ask more, but I don’t have time.

I had to run away for a while to avoid the pursuers.

At this time, Veneris left her final advice.

“It would be a good idea to look around a bit more.”

Look around…?

Karsine thought about those words over and over again.