Chapter 121: Nightmare (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 121: Nightmare (7)
The succubi, disguised as Ju Ri-ra and Oh Yoon-ha, fired demonic energy at me, casting buffs—which were actually debuffs in disguise.
On the surface, the effects looked flashy and grand, but in reality, they were closer to curses.
When the nun—a succubus wearing a mask—fired holy-looking demonic energy into Woo Jae-hee’s sword, the Holy Sword began to glow brilliantly while taking on properties of poison and acid.
What a mess.
Well, no. If this was a trap, it was certainly a well-laid one.
I wasn’t sure if the dream itself assumed I couldn’t resist because I’d played along so far, or if it judged that Woo Jae-hee could defeat me with the succubi’s help.
Actually, it was a fairly plausible plan.
If the dream continued this way, Woo Jae-hee, the protagonist of this dream, would likely win, and I would meet my death. Even if I resisted, they probably thought they could suppress me with the succubi’s assistance as long as we were within the dream.
Well, everyone has a plan.
Until they get punched in the face.
The moment the hand of the heart gripped my heart tightly, a metallic pang of pain shot through me. Simultaneously, my Authority manifested, and the boundary between the dream and myself became absolute.
My embarrassing appearance as a Demon King began to peel away like a shell, and I slowly reverted to my original self wearing the academy uniform.
“Wh-what!? Are you planning to attack me using the form you had back when I feared you? Such psychological attacks won’t work on me!”
…Shut the hell up, seriously. Jae-hee, you are really asking for a beating.
The sensation was clear now.
The succubi, who had been clinging to my arms, stared at me with dazed expressions.
“…What are you looking at?”
When I spoke to them irritably, their faces flushed strangely, and they pressed their chests against me even harder.
“Huh? Oh. No, your height is a bit disappointing, but you’re way more handsome now than you were as the Demon King.”
“Wait, how are you moving so freely in someone else’s dream? More importantly, your soul smells so good. Want to do something fun with us?”
“…Are these girls insane?”
Well, they were succubi, so maybe it was just their version of asking if I wanted to grab a meal, but it was still off-putting.
“I don’t know what trick you’re pulling, but—!”
First, let’s get rid of these succubi. Since they were spiritual entities, the Touch of the Devil would be more effective than Ruyi.
The moment I pulled off my glove and revealed the mark, not only the ones clinging to me but also the one behind Woo Jae-hee—who had been watching the other two with an envious face—began to tremble violently.
Good, good. I tried it just in case, and the effect was certain.
“Stop right there…!”
Watching this, Woo Jae-hee rushed at me, swinging his sword as if having a fit.
I suppose I should expect this much since it was his dream. He was faster than his real-world self, and his somewhat clumsy posture was compensated for by the dream’s logic, turning his strikes into sharp, lethal blows.
‘Within the limits of what he could imagine,’ that is.
The best he could imagine didn’t even reach a fraction of the speed of the War Demon’s fists.
The moment his sword cut through the air, I poked his armor with my knife. The curse spread instantly, corroding his gear.
“Ugh…!? Are you planning to toy with me!?”
“Yeah, I’m going to toy with you while I beat the shit out of you, you bastard. Even if you’re going to have delusions about someone, there’s a limit. How could you turn me into something like that?”
However, perhaps his talent as a tanker was something even Cheon Yu-hak had to acknowledge; his evasion and defense, bolstered by the dream’s buffs, were quite impressive.
He blocked my kicks accurately with the guards on his knees and stayed hyper-focused on avoiding the knife, sensing the danger it posed.
Though he was letting out screams of pain, it seemed I wasn’t able to deflect all the impact.
“Catch him, Ruyi.”
“Do you think I’ll fall for the same trick twice!?”
He even used teleportation to dodge Ruyi’s binding before the bars could even form.
…So you can teleport in your dreams, too?
“…Why are you doing this when you have such power?”
“Well, first of all, I didn’t do any of this, so I can’t really give you an answer. If you don’t wake up soon, I’m going to hit you even harder. I don’t feel sorry for you at all, so I can beat you up as painfully as I want, okay? Just give it up and wake up.”
“You’re the one who needs to snap out of it…!”
He rushed at me again, radiating fighting spirit.
He just wouldn’t listen.
“Fine, then just keep getting hit.”
The fight was one-sided.
Despite the advantage of being in his own dream, his utter lack of offensive talent meant he couldn’t land a single blow. He defended well enough, but as time passed, fatigue and damage accumulated. Eventually, his movements slowed, and he collapsed the moment I landed a clean hit.
But he stood up again.
I knocked him down once more, and he fell without much resistance, yet he stood back up every single time.
However, it wasn’t as if his mental strength was taking no damage. With every fall, the dream began to lose its shape.
The first to vanish was the crowd cheering for him.
Next, the Holy Sword he was using snapped and crumbled into dust, and his equipment began to disappear piece by piece.
“Hey, Woo Jae-hee. Why don’t you just call it quits?”
“Again.”
As he rolled across the ground once more, the scenery itself began to vanish.
Actually, it didn’t exactly vanish. We had been fighting in some kind of fortress, but behind the cracking scenery, a crude cave began to reveal itself.
Honestly, this was getting tedious.
It wasn’t like Jae-hee was some incredibly important character. I only came here thinking I’d see the mastermind if I walked into the trap, but the mastermind was nowhere to be found.
Why do I have to deal with this guy? It’s a waste of time.
“Listen, this is a dream, and you’re being manipulated by succubi. I know it’s useless to tell you, but can’t you just snap out of it and stop?”
“Here I come again.”
As if he hadn’t heard a word, he took his stance again. This time, instead of the broken sword, he held his shield. Was he planning to focus on what he was best at?
…What is this? Is this some kind of awakening event for Woo Jae-hee? Who is the target audience for this, and what do I gain from helping him through it?
I thought about just knocking him out cold, but Jae-hee’s expression was far too serious for that.
“Hey, snap out of it. We don’t have time for—”
“I snapped out of it a long time ago.”
“Right, so just… huh?”
“I said I snapped out of it. I realized this was a dream around the time my armor broke.”
“…Then why the hell are you still attacking me?”
I hadn’t expected him to keep coming even after regaining his senses.
“Because I have to save them.”
“…Who?”
“Ri-ra, Yoon-ha, and even that girl bowing her head behind me.”
“Wait, was that ‘I snapped out of it’ part a total lie? I’m pretty sure I told you those things are succubi.”
“I know. I know everything. I’m aware.”
Has he lost his mind? He knows, but he’s still doing this?
“But even if I know, I can’t help it. I can’t run away right now.”
No, seriously, I don’t get it. What is wrong with this guy?
“What if I can’t beat you even in a dream and I run away? What if a villain as strong as you takes Yoon-ha or Ju Ri-ra hostage? I’m a tanker. Am I supposed to just abandon my party members and run?”
“Hey, that’s not what this is about. You’re being tricked. Those villains are them.”
“I decided never to run away in front of a woman again. I decided that even if it’s pathetic, I’ll stand up and fight.”
It seemed he had no intention of listening to me. And this wasn’t because of brainwashing?
“…So you’re going to keep doing this with me? Why exactly are you refusing to run? If you’ve really snapped out of it, then explain yourself.”
At this point, I was actually curious. Why was he like this?
“…Back in middle school, there were two girls who liked me.”
This crazy, deceptive bastard. He’s been acting like an unpopular character all this time? I actually feel a bit betrayed. This is going to be controversial.
“I was pretty big for my age, had a serious personality, and was in the sports club. So, well, I wasn’t exactly unpopular.”
“Listen to this guy talk nonsense just because it’s a dream. You definitely haven’t snapped out of it.”
“…I used to have a serious personality. I wasn’t obsessed with harems like I am now.”
So he is aware that his current self is weird.
“But back then, I was much more of a novice. I rejected both of their confessions.”
“…Wow, I can’t even imagine that. So?”
“And because I rejected them, both of their lives were miserably ruined.”
“Huh?”
“One was our club manager. Hurt by the rejection, she was deceived by an upperclassman into a bad relationship and eventually disappeared.”
…He put it very mildly, but given the state of this world, it definitely wasn’t just a ‘bad relationship.’
Right, come to think of it, the person in front of me wasn’t just the character Woo Jae-hee, but the human Woo Jae-hee. I just hadn’t been interested, but he’d lived his own life, so it wasn’t strange for him to have a past.
“What about the other one?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen her since she transferred, but until then, she stopped coming to school altogether.”
…That’s a bit extreme.
“I kept getting confessions after that.”
…I have a bad feeling about this. And?
“By some coincidence, I was confessed to by two girls again. After much agonizing, I decided to date one of them.”
“…And?”
“The one I turned down committed an assault. She ambushed us with a knife on our way home from school.”
…That’s way beyond a joke. What is wrong with your luck in love?
“I ran away like a coward. Since I ran, it was only natural that I was dumped, and the one who caused the incident was arrested.”
It was a sad story, but there was something I didn’t understand. If all of this was true, what kind of thought process led this guy to become a harem seeker?
“…And you still want to date after all that?”
“Because I kept getting confessions even after that.”
“You were a total socialite. Anyway, was it two people again this time?”
“It was three. They were three friends, and they said they gathered their courage to confess to me at the same time.”
…Wait. Don’t tell me.
“So I said I’d date all three of them. Naturally, I was insulted and dumped. But after that, I was the only one being called trash, and the friendship between the three of them didn’t break.”
He’s romanticizing it like this? To avoid being loved, and to protect others even if he has to sacrifice himself and become a clown…
“And then I realized. That I was born to have a harem.”
“The conclusion is all wrong, you crazy bastard! I almost felt bad for hitting you because I was slightly moved!”
“Let me ask you instead: what’s wrong with a harem? It’s different from cheating. If everyone wants me, what’s wrong with trying to make everyone happy? I’ve thought about it long and hard. My experiences have told me. A harem is the perfect answer.”
…Why is he so confident? I almost got persuaded for a second.
“That’s why! I will not hesitate in front of a woman! The idiot who did nothing but run away during that assault is gone! Whether it’s a dream or reality, or if the opponent is trying to brainwash me! I cannot run away in front of a woman!”
You really have a talent for talking absolute bullshit while making it sound cool.
Jae-hee, you’re a total dumbass, but you’re a dedicated one!
-I’m going to reach a conclusion soon too, you bastard.
-I’m still not even sure if Yu-na likes me.
-What am I supposed to say to a guy who doesn’t even have certainty in his own heart?
…Wait.
Looking at it this way, it felt like me, Lilac, and Cheon Yu-hak combined were still less of a man than this guy.
“So, are you going to stay here and keep doing this with me until the end?”
“I can’t do that. I’m going to defeat you and then persuade them.”
“The succubi?”
“Yeah. I’ll ask them if they want to join my harem.”
“Do you even know how many of them there are, you lunatic? You’ll wither away and die.”
“For a man, dying during sex is a glorious death.”
“Seriously. What a piece of work. Ah, damn, my pride is hurting.”
I didn’t know such a talented individual was right under my nose.
Maybe I should try to scout him once we get out of here.
I just hoped Jae-hee was as interested in villainy as he was in harems.
* * *
“Are you done now?”
Inside the nightmare, Cathy stroked the shadow that took the form of her younger brother, who was resentfully blaming her.
“You’re not my brother.”
Having been brainwashed before, she couldn’t resist perfectly, but she was at least aware enough to know that this situation wasn’t normal.
Her already dead brother stood up again and again, spitting out resentment.
When she endured it and nodded, the phantom vanished with a frustrated face.
It certainly hurt her heart when the phantom of her brother disappeared, but it wasn’t at an unbearable level like before.
As long as the memory of that day remained clear in her heart, she would no longer fall for such illusions.
The succubus managing the nightmare must have realized this as well, as she began to change her strategy.
The shadow squirmed again, beginning to recreate another of her nightmares.
It was a black-haired boy.
A memory of a boy dying, bleeding from a large hole in his abdomen.
Cathy’s eyes twitched.
The succubus thought this was a precursor to her losing her mind, but far from losing her reason, she was thinking and observing the situation even more coldly.
“…It’s your fault…”
And before the nightmare in the form of the black-haired boy could even finish its sentence, she took a stance and threw a punch.
The shadow scattered under her straight punch, and with a following kick, the shadow vanished without a trace.
She slowly and firmly stepped on the last remaining bit of the shadow, smiling with hollow eyes.
“My So-hyun wouldn’t say that.”
“Hic…!”
And then, the superhuman turned her gaze toward the succubus who had accidentally let out a sound at the sheer pressure she was emitting.
“There you are.”
In a single breath, she stood before the succubus who had been hiding by blending into the background.
Something heterogeneous was trembling in a corner of the scenery.
Mana gathered at the edge of her hand, and in an instant, the superhuman’s body transformed into a sharp blade.
“Spa—!”
“And my So-hyun doesn’t smell like that filthy blood. Remember that well.”
The moment her hand swung, the opponent was no longer in a state to remember anything, but she decided not to care.
The remains of what had been a succubus scattered, and a rift leading to another dream appeared before her eyes.
“I wonder if So-hyun is over here?”
After shaking the unpleasant residue off her hand, she walked toward someone else’s dream with light steps.
It was the moment the second Irregular, who had overcome the nightmare with her own strength, was born.