Things That Can Be Changed (3)
Kim Dokja gathered up the miniaturized Shin Yooseung and walked through the forest with the Japanese man named Michio Shoji, reviewing her plans for dealing with the King of Disasters.
…I wonder what happened to the companions who crossed over to Peace Land with me?
Thanks to the insects Lee Gilyoung had sent, she knew the four of them had joined up, but not knowing their current location left her feeling a little frustrated.
If Jinwoo were here right now, this would have been so much easier…
Kim Dokja let out a soft hum as she thought of Park Jinwoo.
Then she thought of her lover—the strongest joker card among all the ones she currently held, a card beyond any comparison.
Should I have forced him to come along after all?
She briefly regretted bringing Grandmother Lee Bok-sun, whom she had borrowed from her mother Lee Sookyung.
Even if a few variables cropped up, wouldn’t it have been better to bring Park Jinwoo instead?
Except for a few cases, her lover had been by her side from the day the scenarios began until now. Thinking of him, Kim Dokja stared blankly up at the sky.
Once I meet him, I’m going to punch him once.
She never imagined Shin Yooseung would actually attack a man’s groin the way Park Jinwoo had taught her last time.
What the hell are you teaching a kid… At this rate…
Something about the future suddenly felt terrifying…
Slap!
“K-Kim-san?”
-Unnie?
Michio and Shin Yooseung both jumped in surprise and stared at Kim Dokja, who had suddenly slapped both her own cheeks while walking along in a daze.
“It’s nothing. I thought a bug had landed on me for a second.”
“Ah, right.”
Michio accepted the answer with an “oh, okay” reaction, kept looking at her for a moment, then turned his head forward again.
Soon his expression lit up as if he had found something, and he spoke.
“Kim-san, I think I’ve found it.”
“Pardon?”
Michio pointed at one of the trees in a small clearing and continued.
“It’s a marker left by the first-wave droppers.”
Kim Dokja examined the tree he indicated. Sure enough, a mark carved by something sharp was clearly visible on the trunk.
“It’s around here. Izumi-san’s group was definitely nearby.”
Kim Dokja and Michio used the marker as a reference point and began scanning the surroundings as they moved.
After taking a few more steps—
You have entered Ghost Formation (Kijin).
“This is…!”
Due to the effect of Ghost Formation, your overall stats have decreased.
Michio and Kim Dokja both wore startled expressions as the Ghost Formation activated centered on the foot they had just planted.
Ghost Formation is a unique stigma that Japanese constellations can deploy. It’s the technique that made Izumi Hiroki, the King of Hundred Yokai, one of the top hundred strongest in Ways of Survival.
Kim Dokja quickly regained her composure and analyzed the Ghost Formation under her feet.
No, this isn’t Izumi’s Ghost Formation. If this were Izumi’s [Hundred Ghost Formation], I wouldn’t even be able to stay standing right now.
While Kim Dokja surveyed the area and continued her analysis, Michio shouted at the top of his lungs, searching for Izumi.
“Izumi-san! Are you here?!”
At that moment the underbrush around the clearing rustled, and more than a dozen armed Japanese incarnations burst out of it.
They too seemed to have sponsors of yokai origin; every one of them had already become non-human.
A Japanese man wearing a red oni mask stepped forward and asked Michio,
“You brought a Korean.”
“Wait a moment, this person is not an enemy. She is the one who saved me.”
“Third-wave dropper, huh. Which group?”
“I belong to Izumi-sama’s group.”
“Izumi?”
At Michio’s words the masked man drawled the name Izumi in a mocking tone, and the other Japanese beside him snickered. Michio’s expression hardened as he spoke.
“What’s so funny?”
“Heh heh… Of course it’s funny. That group doesn’t exist anymore.”
“What do you mean by that? Don’t tell me Izumi-sama…!”
“You really don’t know anything, do you.”
“Tell me! Was Izumi-sama defeated?!”
The man in the red oni mask glanced at the werewolf man beside him. The werewolf activated the “combat power scanner” covering his eyes and examined Michio.
“Name: Michio Shoji. Overall stats below average. No sponsor. A nobody.”
The red oni nodded at the werewolf’s words and continued.
“You don’t have the right to hear about Izumi. We’ll spare your life, so get lost.”
Just then Kim Dokja stepped in front of Michio with a strange little smile.
“Then what about me?”
“Should we measure that one too?”
“Since the person herself wants confirmation, go ahead and do as she wishes.”
“Understood.”
The werewolf man activated the combat power scanner toward Kim Dokja again.
Beep.
Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep.
“Hm? Why is it taking so lon—”
Bang!
“Ugh?!”
The werewolf man had waited calmly, puzzled by how much longer the scan was taking than usual—until the combat power scanner suddenly exploded and broke, leaving him thoroughly flustered.
Watching from behind Kim Dokja, Michio’s eyes sparkled and he shouted with a wildly excited expression.
“A scene straight out of a manga!”
The surrounding Japanese incarnations stared blankly at the shattered combat power scanner in confusion.
“The scanner…?”
Kim Dokja looked at the flustered Japanese in front of her, then drew the Unbreakable Faith she kept stored in her subspace coat.
It was time to find out where the “Snake,” the King of Disasters, was among the Japanese before her eyes.
Kim Dokja slowly opened her mouth toward the Japanese in front of her.
“Your re—”
Boom! Kwaaang!
Just then the sound of something firing artillery came from far away, and everyone gathered in the small clearing turned their heads in unison toward the source of the noise.
“Aaaargh!! S-Save me!!”
Several Japanese incarnations came bolting out of the forest in the direction of the bombardment, faces drained of color.
Seeing them, the red oni blocked their path and spoke.
“Group Five, huh. What happened that you’re so—”
“M-Move! If we stay here we’re all going to die!!”
“Th-That’s right. Run right now! Yi Sun-shin! Yi Sun-shin’s incarnation is coming!!”
“What…? Yi Sun-shin, as in the turtle ships? But there’s no river or sea here—”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The artillery fire that had been distant earlier drew closer. Several Japanese incarnations trembled, faces full of terror.
“F-Fuck! It’s coming! It’s almost here! It’s your fault—we’re all going to die now!!”
“Calm down! This is land—no matter if it’s Yi Sun-shin’s incarnation, how could they beat us here?!”
“Ah… ah… It’s too late.”
One of the fleeing Japanese stared blankly at the forest they had just escaped from, so the surrounding Japanese turned their heads as well.
And they stared blankly at the twelve warships that had appeared not in the forest, but beyond it.
…That’s Jihye’s Ghost Fleet?
Surrounded by Japanese incarnations, Kim Dokja muttered as she watched the twelve translucent blue ghost ships charging toward this place at high speed.
“Load.”
A woman’s voice Kim Dokja knew well rang out from the middle of the forest.
At her command, magic power charged into the ghost fleet’s gun barrels.
Soon the charging seemed complete; the barrels of the ghost fleet glowed white-hot.
“Fire!”
Kwaaaang! Kwaaaang! Kwaaaang!
Lee Jihye, who would one day be called the Maritime Admiral, was commanding the Ghost Fleet in a place with neither sea nor river, sweeping away the surrounding Japanese incarnations.
The shells fired from the ghost fleet’s barrels were literally wiping out the Japanese who had been hiding in the forest.
As the ghost ships swam through the forest as if it were an ocean and approached the small clearing in a straight line, Kim Dokja could only stare blankly.
“Gyaaaaah!!”
“R-Run! Everyone run!!”
“Yi Sun-shin’s incarnation is sailing ships on land!! Everyone take cover!”
Under the endless barrage of shells, Peace Land’s nature was being rapidly destroyed.
Sparks flew from the forest where shells scored direct hits, and flames spread to the surrounding trees as the fire demon slowly began devouring the woods.
A small constellation of a small planet wails that this is not what was promised and starts bawling!
“Pro…mise…?”
As sudden situations piled up one after another, Kim Dokja forgot her composure and glanced at the small constellation’s indirect message with a flustered expression.
Just then familiar voices came from one of the ghost ships.
“…I thought this was a moderate amount of destruction? And I’m the one who’s wronged here! The one firing the shells right now isn’t me—it’s Jihye!”
“Oppa?! You said you’d take full responsibility!”
“Hey, I didn’t know it would turn into this much of a mess!”
“Huh…?”
When Park Jinwoo and Lee Jihye’s voices came from atop the ghost ship, Kim Dokja shifted her gaze there.
As if sensing her stare, Park Jinwoo appeared at the bow of the ghost ship.
“Jihye! Dokja and the Japanese are right up ahead! We’re charging straight in!”
“Oh!”
“W-Wait a second, Jinwoo-ssi! Dokja-ssi is down there—what do you mean charge?!”
Lee Hyunsung, hanging onto Park Jinwoo’s shoulder, asked in a panicked voice.
“Don’t worry, Hyunsung-ssi. I’m Park Jinwoo. I’ll just catch Dokja safely and haul her up onto the deck.”
“Can’t you just stop once and pick Unnie Dokja up, hyung?”
“Elation is pioneering. On the path of pioneering there is no such thing as stopping, Gilyoung.”
Hearing the words Park Jinwoo was spouting, Kim Dokja glared at him with an expression of pure disbelief.
Then she smiled and shouted at Park Jinwoo.
“Why the hell did you come here just to cause more trouble?!”
“Hm? I’m just living up to my modifier…”
“You’re driving me crazy, seriously!”
“Heh heh. For someone saying that, you’ve got a smile on your lips.”
Park Jinwoo’s figure at the bow of the ghost ship suddenly vanished, and in the next instant he appeared right in front of Kim Dokja’s feet after using Hiraishin no Jutsu on a kunai that had been stuck there.
“Alright, I’m taking my lover with me. And you’d better run quick, yeah? Or go report to your boss.”
Park Jinwoo wrapped an arm around Kim Dokja’s waist, grabbed the collar of Michio who was staring blankly at him, tossed a warning to the Japanese still staring blankly, and vanished from their sight once more.
Then the Japanese, terrified by the Ghost Fleet steadily approaching them, fled in the direction of their commander.
“C-Commander! Quickly tell the commander this!”
Yi Sun-shin’s incarnation is leading ships and attacking us!!
“Hahaha! The way they’re running looks exactly like the Japanese back then when the PTSD from the Battle of Myeongnyang hit them!”
Constellation Maritime War God expresses gratitude toward you.
Whether the General was happy about this situation or grateful that I had helped his incarnation shine, he sponsored me.
“Ahem. General. You didn’t have to go this far.”
And I smiled as I looked at the coins the General had given me.
Slap!
“Ow!”
Just then someone smacked me hard on the back with their palm.
It was Kim Dokja.
She looked down at me coldly and slowly opened her mouth.
“You came all the way here—why didn’t you run straight over?”
“Hey… I had to let the kids enjoy the scenery a little…”
“Shut up! More importantly, you saw earlier, right? Because of you, Yooseung… Yooseung…”
“Dokja, that’s a really effective weak point against men, you know? No matter how tough a guy is, one hit there and he can’t even think straight!”
“Want me to hit you there too?”
“…I was really wrong. Please, anything but that.”
When Kim Dokja looked at that particular spot of mine and clenched her fist, my face went paper-white and I begged her for forgiveness.
After staring into my eyes for a moment, Kim Dokja let out a small sigh, turned her back, and muttered quietly.
“…Well, anyway, I’m glad you came.”
“Dokja…”
Seeing Kim Dokja muttering with her ears turning red, I beamed and hugged her from behind, whispering into her flushed ear.
“Heh heh. Isn’t our Dokja just too cute?”
“You…! Let go of me right now?!”
And the companions who had been watching me and Kim Dokja whispered among themselves as they looked at one another.
“So sweet…”
“It reminds me of the romance dramas I used to watch back in the military.”
“I suddenly want something bitter.”
“Heh heh. What a fine pair.”
“…Ugh! L-Let go already!”
Whether she heard the companions’ whispering or not, Kim Dokja’s face flushed as she escaped my arms. I snickered at her cute appearance and walked over to Michio, who was staring blankly at us.
“Hey, you’re Michio, right? I’m Park Jinwoo.”
“Uh, uh? Y-Yes, that’s right. I am Michio, but… P-Park-san, how do you know my name?”
“Thanks to the Clairvoyance, I’ve been watching everything.”
“C-Clairvoyance? The Clairvoyance that shows up all the time in manga?!”
When I said I had Clairvoyance, Michio’s eyes lit up and he approached me with a hugely excited expression.
“Oh? You watch a lot of manga too?”
“Yes! Does Park-san like manga as well?”
“Of course I do. Among them I especially like Fullmetal Alchemist, which wraps up its beginning, middle, and end so cleanly. Do you know it?”
“Ah, FMA! Of course I know it. Very few people don’t know that masterpiece!”
Kim Dokja took Lee Hyunsung, Lee Gilyoung, and Lee Bok-sun who had been hanging on my shoulders and went off to talk among themselves, while I chatted for a bit with Michio, whose tastes matched mine.
“Among the countless tags, I like pure love and harem. What about you, Michio-kun?”
“I also like pure love and harem. As expected, Park-san really knows what’s what!”
“Hahaha! It’s been a long time since I met someone whose heart matches mine like this. Do you like alcohol by any chance?”
“I do like it, but in times like these alcohol is a hard-to-get luxury item, so it’s a real shame.”
“Don’t worry about that—good timing. Let’s grab a drink together later.”
“Haha, then that’s a promise, Park-san?”
While I was chatting with Michio, a wide clearing finally came into view, and on a tree stump we could see the Japanese man Kim Dokja and I had been looking for.
“Jihye. Load the shells.”
“Got it. ‘Load.’”
The gun barrels of the twelve ships began gathering magic power again.
I steered the sea path I had created with Black Tide Current toward the self-proclaimed King of Japan, the “Centipede.”
The Centipede seemed to have sensed the commotion in the forest; he rose from his seat with a lot of posturing.
“The forest is in an uproar… Hm?”
Then he spotted the twelve warships and stared blankly in this direction.
Just then several Japanese who had barely escaped our Ghost Fleet’s bombardment appeared from the forest and shouted toward the commander they followed.
“C-Commander! You have to get out of here right now! Yi Sun-shin! That bitch who has Yi Sun-shin as her sponsor is leading ships this way!”
“What? Yi Sun-shin? Where’s the ocean around here?!”
“Th-That’s… I don’t know the details either.”
The “Centipede”—no, Yamamoto Hajime—was grilling the Japanese who had approached him for more detailed information, and I wore a bored expression.
“Jihye. Shell the others, not that yakuza-looking bastard.”
“Got it! ‘All ships, open fire!’”
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
At Lee Jihye’s command, shells shot out of the fully charged barrels and flew straight toward the Japanese gathering around Yamamoto.
Boom! Kwaaaang!
“Hyaaaaah!! S-Save me!”
“How the hell are ships roaming around on land!!”
“Instead of yapping, think about getting the commander out of here, you bastards!!”
Among the Nameless Disasters, the notoriety of Incarnation Lee Jihye spreads.
Among the Nameless Disasters, the fame of Maritime War God rises.
“Hell yeah! As expected of our General. Look at those Japanese getting wrecked and shaking.”
And I, the one who had created the current situation, flopped down onto the sunbed I had placed on the ghost ship’s deck with a satisfied expression and snickered.
But that momentum did not last.
Tsztsztsz!
“Huh?”
Lee Jihye blankly stared at the blue sparks that had begun crackling over her entire body. Seeing that, I bolted upright from the sunbed.
The duration of Gigantification cast on Incarnation Lee Jihye has expired.
The effect of the Giant Mushroom that had temporarily restored her original size had ended.
Lee Jihye’s body began shrinking little by little, and soon she returned to the size of a little person from earlier.
Moreover, as Lee Jihye’s size decreased, the Ghost Fleet that had been giving off such majestic size and pressure also began contracting.
I hurriedly set the once-again-miniaturized Lee Jihye on my shoulder.
And then—
Kwaajik!
Unable to bear the weight of me, Kim Dokja, and Michio standing on the shrunken Ghost Fleet, the ghost ships split in two and sank.
“………….”
“………….”
“………….”
“…My ships.”
The constellations of the Korean Peninsula quietly look down at the absurdly wrecked Ghost Fleet.
And I, Kim Dokja, Michio, and Lee Jihye fell silent as we looked down at the Ghost Fleet that had been split in two.
As an awkward silence flowed, I cleared my throat lightly and slowly opened my mouth.
“Ahem! So the duration is roughly one hour, huh? Still, we had a good time, right?”
“…My ships.”
“Ahem! Ahem! H-Hey, Jihye? If you unsummon and resummon them, they’ll come back good as new.”
I comforted Lee Jihye, who was looking down dejectedly at what used to be the Ghost Fleet.
Murmur murmur.
I turned my head toward the restless noise coming from ahead.
The Japanese who had been trying to flee from Lee Jihye’s Ghost Fleet stopped running, stared at the shrunken and wrecked ghost ships while murmuring among themselves, and then their boss Yamamoto slowly walked toward us.
“What the hell are you bastards? No, wait—there’s no need to know in the end.”
Clack.
Behind Yamamoto, a large number of Japanese raised their weapons and glared at us with murderous eyes.
“In the end even Yi Sun-shin’s incarnation has been miniaturized. Now it’s our turn to hunt you bastards.”
“Huh? What kind of bullshit is that.”
“What?”
Whether he heard my words or not, I ignored Yamamoto who was scowling at me and activated my skills.
Exclusive Skill, Snow Dragon Formation Lv.10 has been activated!
Exclusive Skill, Glacier Sculpting Lv.10 has been activated!
The power of Glacier Sculpting is enhanced by the influence of Snow Dragon Formation!
A blue wave spread out in all directions centered on my body, and soon snow began falling from the sky.
“Snow?”
The Japanese, startled by the sudden snowfall, looked up at the sky—then flinched and stared blankly upward.
Because hundreds upon hundreds of ice swords were floating in the air above.
“Event mid-boss is over. Time to face the final boss, right?”
I smiled at the Japanese staring blankly at me and delivered my verdict.
“What are you waiting for? If you want to live, run.”
“Huff! Huff! Huff!”
Gyaaaaah!!
One Japanese man squeezed his eyes shut at the screams echoing through the forest and ran, and ran, only forward.
S-Save me!! Please! Please!! Nooooo…!!
At the sound of yet another life snuffing out, the Japanese forced strength into his terror-stricken body and kept running forward just to survive.
“M-Monster! It’s a monster! There’s a monster on the Korean side!!”
The Japanese who had briefly felt that monster’s power together with the commander in the wide clearing could not forget that bone-chilling terror.
Even if every first-, second-, and third-wave dropper gathered, they would not be a match for that monster.
No—they would definitely die.
To face that monster, they had to find Izumi, who had become the King of Disasters.
Hyaaaaah…!!!
As his comrades’ screams drew steadily closer, the man endured the pounding of his heart that felt ready to burst and kept running.
Thud!
Even when his foot caught on a tree root and he fell, he crawled across the ground, trying to put distance between himself and that monster.
F-Forgive me…! I’ll live as quiet as a dead mouse! Please spare…!!
Slash!
He kept running to escape that horrific sound of something that had been alive becoming chunks of meat in a single instant.
But—
In the end the spark of hope began to fade little by little.
『Hide carefully, hide carefully.』
『Or your hair will show.』
I-It’s here…! It’s almost right next to me…!!
As the monster’s voice began to sound almost from right where he was, the Japanese man’s face turned deathly pale.
It felt exactly like the moment a reaper was about to swing the scythe of death at him from behind.
To escape the situation where the terror of death was shaking him to his core, the Japanese man fled with everything he had.
And then—
『Found』
『you』
『.』
That voice
had already
come from right behind him.
Slash!
“…Huh?”
Thud!
Something swept across his legs, and the Japanese man rolled across the ground still in his running posture. He tried to put strength into his legs again so he could stand and keep running.
Or rather, he tried to.
But no matter how hard he tried to put strength into his legs, they would not move. With a strange sensation, the man slowly turned his head toward his legs with terror-filled eyes.
And where he looked, his legs were gone.
“Hyaaaaah…!! M-My legs…!! My legs…!!”
The two legs that should have been attached below his knees were missing, and only after belatedly confirming the bright red blood gushing from the stumps did the Japanese man howl at the agony in his legs and scream at the reality of having lost both of them.
“Does it hurt?”
Just then the reaper’s voice reached his ear, and the Japanese man was seized by a terror so extreme he forgot the agony in his legs.
Tremble tremble tremble.
At the overwhelming pressure—no, the killing intent—he felt from behind, the Japanese man could not answer at all; he only bowed his head and shook.
“Does it hurt?”
Squelch.
At that bone-chilling sound of something thick and wet dripping, the Japanese man trembled violently and carefully raised his head.
And then—
“Huff…! Huff…! Huff…!!”
He finally understood what overwhelming terror was.
Squelch.
The reaper who was dragging the corpses of Japanese who had died with their upper and lower bodies torn apart or their limbs severed, hanging them from ice chains, had come right up to his nose.
“Does it hurt?”
At the reaper who kept asking him if it hurt, the Japanese man forgot even to breathe from the terror and simply stared blankly at the reaper before his eyes.
I-It’s a dream. Yeah, this is just a nightmare…. It’s not real…. W-When I wake up this nightmare will be over.
Whether he was about to let go of his sanity from the extreme terror or not, the reaper saw the Japanese man whose eyes were rolling back as he was about to collapse, smiled faintly, and delivered his verdict.
“Eh? Passing out already? Nope, nope☆”
Kwaajik!
“Gyaaaaah…!!!”
When an ice skewer stabbed into the abdomen of the Japanese man who had been about to faint, the pain in his gut forced him back to consciousness and he could not pass out after all.
“P-Please…”
“Hmm?”
“S-Spare me… please s-spare me…”
“Eeeh? That won’t do. How about begging me to kill you as comfortably as possible instead?”
Squelch.
The reaper tossed the corpse of a comrade who had died in a horrific state right in front of him.
And then—
Kwaajik! Squelch.
The moment the reaper stomped on the comrade’s corpse once, chunks of what had been his comrade’s body splattered all over the Japanese man.
When the flesh of someone who had once been his comrade and peer covered him, the Japanese man fought down the churning in his stomach and trembled.
Tremble tremble tremble.
“How about it? How about it? That guy just now was the one who tore off the little people’s arms and legs, shoved them into his mouth, and chewed them to death in the most horrific way.”
The reaper crouched in front of the Japanese man, grinned, and continued.
“And you’re one of the ones who caught the surviving little people and offered them to the commander so they could be chewed up alive by him, right?”
“Hic… hic…”
The reaper—no, Park Jinwoo—looked down at the Japanese man who was soiling himself and sobbing like a madman while smiling, and slowly reached a hand toward him.
“With this, one Japanese left.”
Kwaajik!
“Guh… gueh…!”
The Japanese man blankly watched Park Jinwoo’s hand approaching his heart slowly, so very slowly, and blood spilled from his mouth.
Resenting and hating his own body that felt like it would die any second yet would not die, the Japanese man—
Slash!
—endured a hell where one second felt like one minute, until finally his heart was ripped out and he closed his eyes.
“Ugh…! Ha! These bastards are pretty agile.”
You have defeated a Nameless Disaster.
Maybe because these weren’t prestigious disasters like Yamamoto, they didn’t give that many coins.
Still, each one gave 2,000 coins, so killing eighteen of them netted me 36,000 coins.
Several constellations of the Korean Peninsula who hate Japan are extremely satisfied with your actions.
I glanced at the sponsorship messages that came to me, then turned my head to look in the direction Kim Dokja and the companions had gone chasing after Yamamoto.
“………….”
Then I looked down at my own body.
Because I had brutally killed the Japanese who had slaughtered the little people so horribly, my clothes were stained with bright red blood and chunks of their flesh.
Exclusive Skill, Black Tide Current Lv.8 has been activated.
I sprayed seawater created by Black Tide Current over my body to wash off the blood and flesh chunks, roughly dried my wet body with a path of wind, and began running in the direction the companions had gone to rejoin them.