Things That Can Be Changed (4)

I was racing at full speed toward Yamamoto's location with my companions.

"Ah, damn it."

Everyone has those moments, right? The ones where something just slips your mind completely.

And of all times, I was having one of those moments right now.

"…Shit. This is bad."

Do you know the tale of the Grateful Toad from the Centipede Market legend?

A kind-hearted young woman in a certain village fed a toad that wandered into her kitchen, and they spent peaceful days together.

Then one day, that young woman was chosen as the village's sacrifice for the centipede.

When she arrived at the place where the centipede waited, the toad that had received her meals repaid her kindness by fighting the centipede through the entire night—and in the end, both the centipede and the toad perished there together.

To repay the grace it had received from the young woman, the toad sacrificed its own life.

And that was the problem.

By now, Grandma Lee Bok-sun should be summoning the Five-Park Toad and fighting.

Right now, a toad and a centipede had gathered in Peace Land. That meant the Staging was almost certainly in effect.

Grandma Lee Bok-sun's life is in danger.

Just as the centipede and toad of the Centipede Market legend had mutually destroyed each other, the possibility now existed that Lee Bok-sun and Yamamoto could both perish together.

In the Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint webtoon, Kim Dokja used A Modest Wish to summon Seimei and restrain Yamamoto with his stigma, the Shikigami, so Grandma Lee Bok-sun won easily…

But right now, Kim Dokja had been unable to restore the consumption count on A Modest Wish.

Because the Dragon's Existence that Kim Dokja should originally have possessed was with me instead.

Normally I should have temporarily taken A Modest Wish from Kim Dokja and sacrificed the S-rank item I held—the Golden Crown Woven from Golden Branches—to restore its consumption count. I had completely forgotten.

This happened because I got complacent and arrogant about how strong I'd become.

Because I'd forgotten the most basic preparation, Grandma Lee Bok-sun and Kim Dokja were struggling right now.

"Clairvoyance."

The mana flooding my body surged toward my head, reinforcing my optic nerves and retinas and sharpening my vision.

I can see them.

Far in the distance, Kim Dokja, Lee Bok-sun, and Yamamoto were swinging weapons at one another.

Kim Dokja was trading blows with Yamamoto, while Grandma Lee Bok-sun—having apparently called forth the Five-Park Toad through her sponsor's stigma—was locked in combat with the centipede Yamamoto had summoned.

Michio already got turned into a little person ages ago, and Min Jiwon was unconscious, so her miniaturization is progressing right now.

Whether Kim Dokja had set her down to fight or not, Min Jiwon was leaning against one of Peace Land's trees, and on her shoulders sat the miniaturized Michio and his companions.

"Haa…. Open channel #BI-7623."

Ding!

I searched for the channel Bihyung managed, and a blue screen lit up in front of me.

"I will sponsor a kunai to Incarnation Kim Dokja."

A moment later, a kunai marked with the Hiraishin formula dropped beside Kim Dokja.

Once I confirmed the kunai had been safely delivered, I immediately activated Hiraishin no Jutsu.

The world wavered.

The moment the technique activated, my vision rippled as if I'd been struck by vertigo—and then the space I stood in, the entire landscape, transformed.

My body, which had been in the forests of Peace Land only a second ago, transferred straight onto the battlefield where Kim Dokja and Grandma Lee Bok-sun were fighting.

"Park Jinwoo?"

Kim Dokja blinked at me, startled by my sudden appearance.

"……………."

I glanced at her. The penalty must have progressed considerably—she was shorter than her original height.

And because the miniaturization had reduced her overall stats, she'd clearly taken a few of Yamamoto's strikes. Blade wounds marked her arms and thighs.

I turned my gaze to Grandma Lee Bok-sun next. She, too, was struggling against the centipede Yamamoto had summoned.

Her breathing was ragged. She'd dragged the fight out long enough that the penalty had set in, shrinking her a little as well. Traces of the centipede's attacks showed on her shoulder.

"You worthless centipede. Who the hell did you think you were touching?"

The wounds carved into both of them made my head go cold. A small sense of guilt crept in as well.

In the Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint webtoon, killing Yamamoto first made his subordinates fly into a rage and attack the fleeing Kim Dokja—so I'd cleaned up the small fry first. Looking at this, I'd gotten the order completely wrong.

"I will activate Synthesis."

I locked eyes with Yamamoto, who was gripping his sword with a tense expression as he stared at me, and continued.

"Perfect timing. I will synthesize every bone of the 9th Grade Subterranean Mole Cricket and every bone, claw, and horn of the 8th Grade Subterranean Groll stored in My Room into weapons of every possible form."

I crafted weapons from the monster parts of 9th and 8th Grade subterranean species that had been gathering dust in a corner of My Room's warehouse.

One after another, weapons synthesized from those monster parts materialized in midair. Swords, spears, chains, arrows, halberds, glaives, maces, morning stars—weapons of every kind leveled themselves at Yamamoto in unison.

"W-what…?!"

Confirming the countless weapons aimed at him, Yamamoto broke into a cold sweat and stumbled back in panic.

"Why so startled? We're just getting started. Enchant."

Determined to finish him for certain, I applied Enchant to every weapon floating in the air.

The weapons began to blaze over with colors of every hue.

Every attribute currently available through Enchant had been applied.

"Hey, centipede. I didn't know what you'd like, so I brought weapons of every attribute."

Fire, frost, holy, darkness, wind, lightning, explosion, deadly poison—and as my Enchant level had risen, the newly unlocked water and strength attributes had been layered on without exception.

Weapons bearing a total of ten attributes began to tremble, drawing power into themselves.

Whether he could feel the mana waves radiating from the floating arsenal or not, Yamamoto's face had gone deathly pale.

As despair settled over his features, I offered him a cold smile and slowly opened my mouth.

"Yes. That expression. That look of despair suits you perfectly."

The face of a man who had touched someone he shouldn't have, only to realize far too late that he'd stepped on a dragon's reverse scale—panicked, despairing, and drowning in regret.

"I sincerely like it."

The weapons forged from mere 9th and 8th Grade subterranean monster parts rattled and clattered as if they could no longer withstand my skills.

With every preparation complete, I slowly pointed a finger at Yamamoto.

"You're going to die either way. But try not to go down in one hit."

He's a mid-boss. Dying in a single shot would just look pathetic, right?

"Y-you crazy bastard…! How the hell are you this strong in only the sixth scenario?! Dokkaebi! Dokkaebi!!"

Whether he'd raised his synchronization rate with his sponsor or not, the ugly sight of Yamamoto staring at the sky and screaming for a Dokkaebi made me burst out laughing.

"True to a centipede, you're putting on a thoroughly pathetic display right to the end."

Just as I was about to thoroughly crush the centipede in front of me, my eyes caught on the birdcage in his hand, and I froze.

…I almost killed Asuka Ren.

Guilt over the wounds my carelessness had inflicted on Kim Dokja and Grandma Lee Bok-sun, combined with anger, had so thoroughly dominated my thoughts that I'd nearly made another catastrophic mistake.

"Hey."

"…………?"

Yamamoto, who had been squeezing his eyes shut in pure terror, carefully cracked them open at my call and looked at me.

"W-what…?"

"You're their commander, for what that's worth. If I kill you this anticlimactically, neither the Constellations nor your sponsor will be particularly happy about it. Hand over the woman in that cage. In exchange, I'll give you five minutes to run."

"Asuka, you mean…?"

"Her name is Asuka? No—forget ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that. So what's it going to be?"

"……If I really hand this woman over, you'll give me five minutes to escape?"

"That's right."

Without even a second of hesitation, Yamamoto set the cage containing Asuka down on the ground.

"Y-Yamamoto?!"

"Sorry, Asuka. Sacrifice yourself for me. If I die here, Japan is finished."

"Yamamoto…! You bastard…!!"

Whether his words had ignited pure fury in her or not, the red-bobbed beauty Asuka Ren gripped the iron bars with both hands and ground her teeth.

Confirming the sight, I tilted my chin and spoke.

"Exactly five minutes."

"……I will kill you for certain. You Korean…!"

I watched Yamamoto's back as he glared at me with hatred-filled eyes, then turned and sprinted straight into the forests of Peace Land. Then I walked over to the cage holding Asuka Ren and picked it up.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"You all right?"

"…What do you intend to do with me?"

"I'm not planning to eat you or harass you, so relax. You just looked like you were being held captive, so I saved you. I'm on the side of beautiful women, you see."

"…Excuse me?"

Asuka Ren stared up at me blankly, flustered by my words.

Hearing the sound of people running toward us from behind, I turned to face Lee Bok-sun and Kim Dokja as they came racing over.

"Park Jinwoo. You're not seriously planning to just let that commander guy go, are you?"

"Dokja. I never, ever forgive bastards who lay hands on my people."

"Then what are you going to do? That guy's overall stats are pretty high—in five minutes he could get incredibly far."

"Don't worry about that. I just came up with a brand-new way to send him off in one shot."

I looked up at the weapons still floating in the air, and following my gaze, Kim Dokja and Grandma Lee Bok-sun both raised their heads to stare at the arsenal overhead.

"What are you going to do with those?"

"I heard Japanese people have PTSD from getting hit with nuclear bombs by America in the past."

"Huh? Well, yeah, but…."

Kim Dokja tilted her head at me with a completely baffled expression.

I pulled my gaze away from her and stretched a hand toward the weapons.

"I will activate Synthesis. The targets for synthesis are every single weapon currently floating in that air."

I looked down at the system message floating before me with cold eyes and spoke.

"Make the shape a missile."

"What……?!"

Kim Dokja, Grandma Lee Bok-sun, and Asuka Ren all cried out in shrill, startled voices at my words. But I ignored them and watched the weapons being reshaped by Synthesis.

Clatter-rattle-rattle——!!

The weapons lined up in midair began gathering into a single point. Their forms crushed and fragmented, the clustered weapons slowly took on the shape of a single object.

I didn't have enough materials to make it look like a nuclear missile, but the weapons still managed to settle into a proper missile form, and I smiled with satisfaction.

"No uranium or plutonium like a real nuke uses. But instead, mana of every attribute has been packed together."

Weren't you curious what would happen if attributes that shouldn't mix were forced into a collision and detonated ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all at once?

Conveniently, a man perfectly suited to serve as the test subject was putting distance between himself and us.

"Shhh."

Our fossil Constellations and the ones from outer space apparently had no idea what nuclear weapons or nuclear materials were, so they fired off all kinds of questions—which I ignored.

And when the Constellations from eras close enough to our modern day to actually know what a nuke was started "praising" me with things like "Are you insane?", ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I pressed a finger to my lips and gestured for them to be quiet.

Then I pulled my smartphone from my pocket.

Exactly five minutes had just passed.

I poured mana into the missile displaying its imposing bulk in midair, activated it, opened the channel screen, and searched for Yamamoto Hajime.

He had put a considerable distance between us by now, and the farther he ran, the more curses he spat from his mouth—curses aimed at me and my companions.

"I will sponsor the enchanted missile to Incarnation 'Yamamoto Hajime.'"

Whether the sponsorship went through cleanly or not, the missile that had been trembling in midair simply vanished.

Confirming that, I turned my head back to Yamamoto on the channel screen. He was still running, still spewing curses.

I looked down at him with a mischievous smile.

Did he genuinely believe he was going to survive?

If so, then turning that "hope" into "despair" was only natural work for the Apostle of Pleasure.

Everything for pleasure. Everything for my entertainment.

"Please die while screaming in absolute agony."

A massive shadow appeared over Yamamoto's head. Startled by the sudden darkness, he looked around in panic—then stared up at the sky.

-W-what…? W-what the hell is that? A missile…?

Gazing at the missile plummeting toward him, Yamamoto's jaw dropped open as he stared blankly at the heavens.

I grinned at the sight and sent him an indirect message.

-W-what do you mean? Y-you bastard, are you…?! That Korean from earlier…?!

-N-no…! P-please spare me! I-I'm begging you! I don't want to die…!!

-Ah………….

With the final image of Yamamoto's ugly face—tears, snot, and drool streaming as he begged me—the channel screen either lagged or temporarily destabilized from the massive explosion, crackling with static.

KRAAAAAAAAAANG————!!!!!

"Whee~♪"

In the distance, a mushroom-cloud-shaped plume of explosion smoke rose into the air. Yamamoto, with overall stats in the seventies, had fled quite far to escape us—and yet the blast smoke and the roar of the explosion were clearly visible even from here. I whistled in admiration.

Even I, the creator of this masterpiece, was deeply moved by my own work.

"Oh dear, oh dear. I've gone and killed something unnecessary again."

I activated Clairvoyance and scanned the place where Yamamoto had died.

"Huh? It didn't destroy that much."

I'd expected a missile loaded with multi-attribute Enchants to produce a far larger explosion, but the damage wasn't that severe.

The blast radius was roughly forty meters wide and fifty meters long? With only that much power, barely a hundred or so of Peace Land's trees had been destroyed.

"Hmm. The Enchants that don't mix must have canceled out each other's explosive force. Next time, just stacking pure explosion Enchants would be smarter."

I pulled the notebook from my pocket and carefully recorded the experiment I'd just conducted.

"Mana consumption is about the same as Flames of Ruin or Precious Ice-Flame, but the power is a bit underwhelming. Still useful for the spectacle, though."

I took one last look at where Yamamoto had been, then turned to face Kim Dokja, Lee Bok-sun, and Asuka.

Right now, all three of them were staring at me with utterly dumbfounded expressions.

"Tehe~! I went and did it!"

"……Just go back to the Seoul Dome, Jinwoo. I don't think Peace Land can handle you."

"Eeh~ I already paid the settlement fee to the local Constellation of this place, though?"

"The cost of fixing the wrecked Peace Land is going to come out higher than that settlement fee."

Kim Dokja looked at the small Constellation's indirect message, pointed at it with her index finger, and shot me a look.

I shrugged and continued.

"Hey now! We already settled the deal, didn't we? That's why you should've been greedier!"

At any rate, having thoroughly converted every nearby Japanese person into former Japanese people, I continued the conversation while accepting the Constellations' indirect messages.

Then, blue sparks crackled across Grandma Lee Bok-sun's entire body, and a system message appeared before my eyes.

"Aigoo."

In the end, as miniaturization progressed, Grandma Lee Bok-sun gradually shrank until she became a complete little person—and the same happened to Kim Dokja and Min Jiwon.

In the end, every single person except me had become a little person.

"Dokja, help Grandma with her clothes. Jihye, you help Jiwon with hers."

"O-okay!"

"Got it. I'll help Grandma."

"Thank you kindly, young lady."

I stowed Grandma Lee Bok-sun's prisoner uniform and Min Jiwon's clothes into My Room, freed Asuka from the cage, and tucked all the miniaturized companions onto my shoulders, my head, and into my pockets.

"So what do I do now?"

Having thoroughly wiped out every Japanese person in the area, I knew I needed to find Gong Pildu and Han Sooyoung—but I deliberately opened my mouth to have Kim Dokja set the objective again.

Kim Dokja, perched on top of my head, looked around and slowly spoke.

"For now, head that way."

"Okey-dokey~"

I slowly set off toward the forest Kim Dokja had pointed out. Then I activated Clairvoyance to check whether Gong Pildu and Han Sooyoung were in that direction.

…About a twenty-minute walk from here, I can see Gong Pildu, Han Sooyoung, and an army of little people.

Having confirmed through Clairvoyance that they were roughly a twenty-minute walk away, I slowly headed in their direction.

Then, suddenly curious about the situation in the Seoul Dome, I opened the channel screen while walking and searched for channels active in the Seoul Dome to check on the current state of Seoul.

But a major problem had arisen.

"…Shit?"

The channel screen was playing as if set to 0.3x speed. I was genuinely flustered, staring blankly at the screen with trembling pupils.

W-why is it doing this? Is it broken?

Panicked by the slow-motion channel feed, I poked at the settings every which way—but nothing changed.

Then, suddenly, it hit me.

Come to think of it… one day on Earth is three days on Peace Land, isn't it?

So that was why it was playing at 0.3x speed…?

This is fucking… as a Korean, I cannot watch a screen at 0.3x speed…

No—before that, I was going to die of frustration. Who the hell watches videos at 0.3x speed these days?

This is insane… At this rate I can't properly check on the task I asked Lycaon to handle before coming here, or on Cha Sangkyung, adult Shin Yooseung, Jung Heewon, and Yoo Sangah…

Before coming here, I had asked Lycaon to do one thing.

That was to scatter the kunai I'd distributed across the entire Seoul Dome.

Currently, the number of times I can inscribe a Hiraishin mark is twenty total.

Excluding the marks I'd already placed on future Shin Yooseung, Yoo Sangah, and Jung Heewon, the kunai I'd handed over to Lycaon totaled fourteen.

With just that, I had already inscribed the Hiraishin mark seventeen times.

…Lycaon would have handled the job reliably, but I still wanted to double-check just in case.

At the same time, I'd wanted to check on the current situations of Cha Sangkyung, adult Shin Yooseung, Jung Heewon, and Yoo Sangah—but a massive problem had already cropped up.

And I couldn't just go to the Seoul Dome right this second either.

Activate Hiraishin no Jutsu…

Crackle!

"……………."

They let it slide once, but not twice, huh….

Faced with the system message blocking my path and the Probability sparks searing my hand the moment I tried to activate Hiraishin no Jutsu toward the Seoul Dome, I shook out my hand with an irritated expression.

"Hooo…."

In the end, it seemed I had no choice but to keep watching the 0.3x-speed footage.

And so, while walking to find Gong Pildu and Han Sooyoung, I was forced to continue watching video at 0.3x speed.