Part 1 Chapter 11-3

My and Deokbae’s explanation was partially finished.

There was still a lot more explaining to do, but too many people looked like they were about to go crazy with curiosity.

“Excuse me, only those who absolutely must ask a question, please raise your hands….”

No one lowered their hands. I put a little more mana into my voice.

“Everyone, lower your hands, except for those who would die if they couldn’t ask a question.”

A few people subtly lowered their hands, but most were still holding them up.

“I guess there’s no choice. I’ll designate a few people to ask questions.”

First, I pointed to Gawain, who was particularly restless among the Round Table members. Everyone’s attention turned to Gawain.

“Ahem.”

Gawain seemed awkward in this situation, cleared his throat, and asked me a question.

“Is that Seongju person truly the nemesis of our Round Table, in Darkness?” “Yes.”
“Hmm…….”
Gawain was silent for a moment. I switched the screen to the materials I had prepared in advance to explain the necessity of the Azure Syndicate, the Round Table, and the Heroes fighting together.
* * * in Darkness. Their alias is quite long, and I can’t directly call them by their real name. So instead, we call them by the shorter name, Star Lord, or Seongju(星主). They are also the mastermind behind the massacre by seven monsters that occurred for about a week starting from December 25, 1999, known as the Blood Week. Additionally, the perpetrators of that commotion were said to be the executives. Brainwashed executives.
Yes. I was the same, and so were the other executives. Anyway, the executives who had rampaged like mad needed rest because their mana was completely depleted, and each executive fell into a deep sleep where they had been rampaging. I, uh, I mean, probably in magma?
I caused a volcanic eruption in Hawaii, crossed the Pacific, fought Unjang in China, got hit by a missile, and landed in Incheon.
Assistant 2, you really summarize things well. Although there are some parts that are a bit unpleasant to hear. Anyway, each executive resumed their activities after being asleep. So why did that Seongju person not come forward directly and instead fled? That’s deeply related to the Round Table-the first generation of the Round Table, which existed before the current one.
They say they caught Seongju, who had come to Earth alone.
Battle Ghost, an ability user who would later be called War God, inflicted significant damage on Seongju. They destroyed a divine artifact (神物) that could summon an alien god capable of destroying other worlds. What that is, is a secret. We’ll tell you once we’ve built more trust.
They’re just afraid you might harm them with it, so just let it go.
Damn it. So Seongju fled to the Ark for recuperation, and instead opened a dimensional gate and sent the executives. That’s the background and secret behind the creation of the Round Table. Gawain, left alone after only a few years, created the current Round Table to prepare for Seongju’s reappearance, as per the prophecy.
And at the same time, to keep these executives in check. Though it seems they didn’t expect one executive to break free from brainwashing and wander around.
* * *
“Wait. Why are you adding unnecessary remarks? I was going to talk about that later.”
“What’s the big deal? It’s easier for people to understand if we tell them in advance.”
“Alright. I won’t take any more questions. Next, Miss Baek Heea, the Executive.”
Baek Heea, called by name, even stood up, ready to ask her question. Her eyes still seemed full of confusion.
“So you were trying to save the world… and committed those acts in the process….”
“Is that a question? Yes, that’s right. Then next-”
“Wait a minute! That’s not what I want to ask!”
Baek Heea interrupted me and continued her question.
“If such a dangerous entity truly existed, why did we know nothing about it?! Seongju, Dark Legion, whatever, I’m hearing about all this for the first time in my life!”
“Uh….”
Only then could I understand the people’s confusion.
“You didn’t know?”
“Of course not!”
“……Excuse me, Gawain-ssi. Wasn’t the Oracle’s ‘prophecy’ supposed to be revealed to the public?”
“……According to your words, the part about Seongju was kept strictly secret. And for good reason.”
“What would happen to the world if they heard that the world would end in 5 years and 5 months?”
Deokbae shrugged his shoulders. True to form for a rude guy who sometimes talks back even to Ryu Cheon-seong, he was incredibly arrogant.
“Oh dear, humanity! We must all unite to stop Seongju! Do you think it would be like that?”
“Of course! With destruction looming, how could we just stand by?”
“Uh.”
Deokbae pointed at me with his thumb, refuting Baek Heea’s words.
“According to them, yes.”
“……It would be fortunate if they just stood by; instead, the number of those who sympathized with the destruction and acted like outlaws increased. Yes, by becoming monstrous humans.”
“I have one question.”
Yoo Young-ho, the , who had been silent, raised his hand. As the representative of the association and a ‘higher-up’ present at this meeting, he interrogated me with sharp eyes.
“Why do you talk as if you know the future?”
“Did you feel that way?”
“Uh. How should I put it, it’s hard to explain logically, but it feels like you came from the future to the past.”
“That’s right, that feeling.”
I took this opportunity to nail down the part that others would also be curious about. Eun Yuha seemed a little disappointed, but I began to formally recite my ‘setting’ that I had prepared in advance to the people.
“I, Azure Flame Phoenix. I lost my loved one in the future of 2025 and returned to the past.”
It was the beginning of a full-fledged lie.

As expected, people’s expressions became extraordinary again.
* * *
2025.
The Round Table couldn’t even defeat the Dark Legion, which had even surfaced, let alone the executives. Earth had turned into a battleground between humanity and monstrous humans.
Amidst that, a ray of hope emerged. A man who would later be called the hope of humanity visited the land of Korea.

Ah, not that man. For convenience, I’ll call him the

. The Priest nested in Korea and, with the help of various ability users, created a massive force. The Priest’s own abilities were also considerable. Even more so than the Praetor present here now. To what extent? To the extent that four C-rank or lower ability users managed to capture an S-rank monstrous human-an executive.
It sounds like a lie, doesn’t it? It’s true. And that captured S-rank monstrous human was the Gale. The Priest’s party began by capturing Fenrir of the Gale and then proceeded to capture the executives one by one.
Azhdahak, Hydra, Karna.
After capturing four, and then an executive named ‘Chaos Illusion Dragon’ in China, the Priest’s party set out to find the whereabouts of the sixth Spirit.
Never dreaming that the sixth Spirit was already in Korea.
* * *
“That sixth Spirit is Seolhwaryeong, Seok Harang.”
“Nice to meet you, everyone. I am Seok Harang, the second generation of the Snowy Night.”
The Heroes were astonished by Seok Harang’s true identity. They had heard she was an S-rank genius, but surely not-
“Harang, were you an alien?”
“I always thought you were a bit peculiar since you were young.”
“No, I’m not! Don’t say strange things. If you really think about it, I’m only half-alien, no, a Spirit!”
Seok Harang retorted, correcting her racial identity. For those who couldn’t understand that Seok Harang was a water-elemental Spirit, I explained the truth while hiding information that Seok Harang would be sensitive about.
“Rusalka of the Snowy Night, that is, Seok Harang’s mother, arrived in Korea without being able to fall asleep. A young man rescued Snowy Night, who had collapsed in the East Sea. And that young man succeeded in melting Snowy Night’s ice-cold heart, leading to the fruit of their love-”
“That young man and the water-elemental Spirit hooked up and had a child, and that child is Seok Harang.”
Thwack!
An ice shard and a golden sword were plunged into Deokbae’s heart. The Heroes hastily stood up at the sudden murder, but to calm them down, I quickly revived Deokbae.
“Azure Flame Manifestation!”
“Ugh?!”
Deokbae was revived. The Heroes turned pale at the power of being brought back from the dead.
“If you become a monstrous human, revival is possible. Anyway, what I’m saying is that Seok Harang is a being who inherited the Spirit’s power. Even though both her parents have passed away.”
“Ah…….”
The atmosphere in the meeting room became solemn. I responded to the three family members who sent me a thankful glance by giving a small nod.
Even so, as someone said, it felt quite sorry to orchestrate an unannounced reunion of separated families in such a place.
“That’s why I awakened the second generation Snowy Night, Seok Harang, as a Spirit.”
“Then, why did you kill Gwanggeom? Wasn’t the situation one where you needed to bring Seok Harang in as an ally? So why did you kill Gwanggeom-nim, who was Harang’s master?!”
Lee Seung-hyung shot up from his seat. I hadn’t given him permission to speak, but everyone seemed curious.
“……Gwanggeom possessed the power of the monstrous human Rusalka. They were living while suppressing its rampage.”
“Only after Gwanggeom died could Seok Harang awaken.”
Deokbae and I only revealed a very small part of the truth. Those who knew the full story-especially one couple and Eun Yuha-kept their mouths shut, and the Heroes began to exchange opinions with those next to them.
“Then did Gwanggeom-nim intentionally approach Harang…?”
“They might have tried to steal that Spirit’s power. Tsk, that friend. Really.”
“Or perhaps they truly intended to teach her as a master. To guide her to become a Hero, not to grow into a Villain.”
All sorts of slanders ran rampant, but I did not reveal the truth. Explaining the mechanism by which Gwanggeom possessed the power of the monstrous human Rusalka, and how Seok Harang awakened as a Spirit by killing Gwanggeom, would mean.
‘It would be like advertising that Seok Harang is Gwanggeom’s daughter.’
Furthermore, the fact that Gwanggeom, who had lived his entire life as a bachelor, was actually a married man who had a child at 20 and left them in an orphanage, would be revealed to the whole world.
For the dignity of the three families present here, I guided the situation so that only Gwanggeom would suffer reputational damage. He himself remained silent, as if he knew the sins he had committed.
“Now, now, it’s nothing big. Ability users are all unique people, aren’t they? I’m just a little more unique than others. I’m a human, a human.”
Seok Harang even clapped her hands, appealing to her identity. As she had lived as a human for longer than the moment she realized she was a half-spirit, Seok Harang was merely a human ability user who fully utilized the Spirit’s power.
“So, the Priest, who awakened the second generation Snowy Night, and their party then awakened the last executive and Spirit, the Phoenix. However, even with that power, they couldn’t defeat the mastermind behind Seongju-the Otherworld God.”
I drew an arrow on the graph on the screen.
“That’s why I returned to the past. With future knowledge up to 2025.”
I decided to lie about being a regressor. This was far more convincing than saying I had played the original game and then reincarnated into a heroine in the past.
“The Phoenix returned from the future to the past. They broke free from brainwashing, but due to several restrictions, they can’t exert their full power.”
“……’Full’?”
The expressions of those who had fought me at least once, or had indirectly experienced my power, became awkward. Especially among the executives, their expressions turned serious.
“What happens if someone who can blow up the sun becomes even stronger than that…?”
“I don’t know. Just listen.”
“……Excuse me. Commander-nim?”
Hikari raised his hand. Despite being the youngest, I called on Hikari at his bold gesture of raising his hand while wearing a white gown.
“Yes. Speak.”
“How did you return to the past?”
“……There’s an all-purpose item, isn’t there? The one I gave you to research.”
“What?!”
Hikari shrieked. There were those who knew about the Cube and those who didn’t, and there were also those who knew the Cube’s limitations and truth, and those who didn’t.
“Then, while we’re at it, I’ll tell you about the Cube.”
I cleared my throat to gather attention, then concluded the explanation.
The Cube’s potential and its dangers.
I believe that those present here would never covet the Cube, but just in case, I had prepared a safeguard.
“The Cube, you see, grants immense power to its user, but at the same time, it’s a kind of beacon that brings about destruction. If Seongju uses it, it summons the Otherworld God, and even if it’s not Seongju, the Otherworld God will come. So….”
If even one remains in this world, the Otherworld God will eventually come.
“We have to find them all and destroy them. And I am the only one who can destroy them.”
Thus, I secured the justification that would prevent them from easily antagonizing me.
“Well, it seems like all the important explanations are pretty much done. Who wants to go hunt down executives with me?”
No one raised their hand.
After that, I sincerely answered the questions about my actions. But in the end, I couldn’t recruit anyone, and everyone left, only saying, ‘We understand your opinion well, but we need time to think.’
In the end, nothing had changed.
Other than revealing stories related to myself to those who could become potential enemies.
“Uh…. Everyone will help, right? They’re Heroes, after all?”
“Like hell they’d believe a Villain’s blabbering. I don’t know if they’ll become allies or enemies.”
“……Then there’s only one method left.”
I fiddled with the Core in my pocket.
“If they’re allies, I’ll nurture them, and if they’re enemies, I’ll just kill them and turn them into monstrous humans.”
It was a clear answer.