Ch.282The situation isn’t looking too good. (2)

# Chapter 282: The Situation Isn’t Looking Good (2)

“Arrrrggghhh!”

The Orbital Defense Command facility is larger than I expected.

But it’s still just a ‘facility.’

Slightly bigger than the Diplomatic Enforcement Headquarters where I usually stayed.

No, compared to my previous life, it’s about the size of a typical Korean division headquarters, or maybe a bit larger.

But now, a massive space monster the size of Russia is latching onto the Orbital Defense Command?

At this point, it’s not even latching on—our facility is practically “falling” toward that insane monster due to its own gravity.

Of course, as we were falling toward that thing, tentacles extending from those massive claws wrapped around us and seized us completely.

Our situation became like a single grain of sand picked up from a beach—utterly insignificant.

‘Damn it, if I’d known this would happen, I should have just left the Imperial Crown on the planet.’

But if I had done that, this crazy thing would have disregarded all damage, used all its strength to break through the planetary defense shield we created, and then crashed its sturdy, overwhelming mass straight into Kazan’s surface.

Like some blonde, slicked-back hair pedophile who’s searching for his mama and loves dropping colonies.

Anyway, while I was lost in these thoughts, unconsciously fingering the Imperial Crown hidden in my pocket—

-“Let us make a deal, Player.”

I flinched at the familiar voice speaking directly into my head and looked up.

“…First Emperor?!”

-“Indeed.”

At the First Emperor’s words, I could feel my mind freezing momentarily.

‘A deal? What does he mean by a deal?’

As always in situations like this, I activated Time Pause.

[Time Pause]

I tried to calmly organize my thoughts and contemplate his sudden offer.

-“…I believe I told you that doesn’t work on me?”

‘Oh, for fuck’s sake.’

That crazy bastard was breaking through my Time Pause again.

The only consolation was that while the blood flowing from his skin, the writhing tentacles, the flashing eyes, and the pulsing blood vessels on his skin had all stopped moving, it seemed he couldn’t move freely like when he possessed Riel last time.

So I decided to use this paused time, when he couldn’t take any action, to respond to his deal, but…

-“What a futile act.”

[Time Pause Canceled]

‘What?’

The First Emperor still couldn’t move within the Time Pause, but he was using some function—whether as a Player or Administrator or whatever he was—to cancel my Time Pause at will.

“Minister! T-the First Emperor is trying to crush us!”

“…Calm down first, Riel.”

“You should calm down too, Minister! The fleet and the Emperor and the Saint are surrounding us to save us!!”

“That’s why I’m asking you to stay calm.”

After calming down Riel, who was panicking at the situation that had unfolded instantly from her perspective, I looked up at the First Emperor and activated Time Pause again.

[Time Pause]

‘Whatever you’re doing, should we just talk like this?’

While speaking, I gazed at the monster’s form through the Orbital Defense Command’s characteristically wide observation windows and monitors, lost in thought.

On the surface, it seemed like he was using the orbital command where Riel and I were trapped to take me hostage and threaten our allies, buying time to catch his breath after being pushed back by our overwhelming numerical advantage and concentrated attacks.

[Time Pause Canceled]

-“…Let that be the end of your insolence, insignificant player.”

But as I could see from what he was doing to me now, his real purpose was to make a deal.

If his goal was just to buy time, he wouldn’t have prevented me from using Time Pause, which would help me recover from mental damage.

And while I was thinking this, the First Emperor continued speaking.

-“Then I shall specially inform you of the terms of the deal. I already know you have the Imperial Crown.”

“Oh no.”

As I was wondering how he knew, at that moment—

-“Activate it. If you just activate it, both you and I can be happy.”

He was telling me to activate the “Imperial Crown,” the trigger for the Dimensional Fission Bomb, with my own hands and blow up this galaxy.

Of course, I wasn’t going to fall for such talk.

“Ha, what are you talking about?”

There’s a limit to how absurd a story can be.

This is essentially like asking me to press the game over button with my own finger in a game I’ve already won.

“That’s right! Why would the Minister follow such crazy talk?!”

See, even Riel beside me was calling him out.

And what was most ridiculous was…

“Wasn’t this Imperial Crown and Dimensional Fission Bomb made by you in the first place? The bomb belongs to you, so why should I?”

-“…”

“Even if I activate the Crown, when the bomb goes off, everything will work out according to your plan. Why would I be crazy enough to do that?”

It’s obvious that if I press it, the game will end as that damned First Emperor wants, and only he will be happy.

Who would accept such an offer?

Besides, there was another important issue.

-Ding!♪

[Time Pause]

[Event: The First Emperor’s Deal]

[The First Emperor has proposed a deal to you regarding the activation of the ‘Imperial Crown.’]

[He speaks as if he doesn’t even know whether you can activate it or not.]

[Time Pause Canceled]

As the brief event message without choices or rewards indicated, I didn’t even know how to activate the “Imperial Crown” in the first place.

‘I don’t know either, you bastard…’

Of course, if I revealed this openly, we might be crushed by that shameless First Emperor, or turned into dried fish by his insane psionic abilities.

So I kept that to myself and responded to his words with the coldest attitude possible.

But when I heard the next words from that scumbag First Emperor, I found it difficult to maintain my composure.

-“I will yield the opportunity for ascension to you. If you just use the Imperial Crown to activate the bomb, you can ascend as the winner of the game.”

“…What?”

The “ascension” that he was so obsessed with.

Setting aside his desire for revenge, he’s telling me to activate it?

I truly understood what it meant to have common sense leave your brain.

I really couldn’t understand why the First Emperor was acting this way.

‘What’s with all this talk about me ascending instead of him? What happened to his boasting about destroying countless parallel universes?’

And now he says this?

After wasting the Scourge he brought along and being pummeled by concentrated attacks, he takes me hostage and threatens me in such a pathetic state?

Faced with this embodiment of “ugliness,” I questioned the First Emperor with an incredulous attitude.

“You expect me to believe that?”

“That’s right! You’re just threatening the Minister’s life because you’re getting beaten!”

In response to Riel’s and my words, the First Emperor looked around at the numerous fleets surrounding him, but kept one giant eyeball fixed on us as he spoke again.

-“Time is abundant for me. After you ascend… I can simply repeat the same act in another galaxy, or somehow find a new parallel universe to cross over to and ascend there.”

In other words, he would get rid of me, the most troublesome obstacle in the current situation, then take his time to find a new universe and repeat the same actions.

It sounds insane at first, but considering he’s remained intact even after tens of thousands of years in this universe, I thought his words might be theoretically somewhat plausible.

Of course, the moment I had this thought—

“Minister, that’s bullshit. The First Emperor made the Imperial Crown in the first place, so pressing it will only give him a happy ending.”

“…Any rebuttal to that?”

In response to fact-checking Riel’s words, the First Emperor’s telepathy continued with what seemed like urgency.

-“You believe the words of a mere mechanical doll? This Dimensional Fission Bomb is the ultimate solution I created!”

“…”

-“If I die, this bomb will disappear, and then you too will never be able to return to your original world and will rot in this world forever! Have you forgotten that?”

After long deliberation over the First Emperor’s urgent words, I decided to reach a conclusion.

Or more precisely, since this wasn’t Time Pause or anything similar, it was just a long deliberation in my mind.

In reality, after a long deliberation (subjectively 1 second), I opened my mouth toward the First Emperor.

“Fuck off.”

As if declaring that I would kill him.

—————————————-

But the First Emperor’s subsequent reaction filled me with despair.