26. The Scenario Destroyer (1)

"…So this is it."

He'd received a full 100,000 more coins in achievement rewards than the male Kim Dokja of the Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint webtoon had when he killed Izumi Hiroki, the incarnation of Yamata no Orochi.

Yes, he was happy about that.

But.

After going through Dragonification exactly once, the Abyssal Black Flame Dragon was already riding him like a rented mule, and it left a sour taste in his mouth.

"Seriously, now he's inviting me to join his nebula?"

The dragon had gone so far as to claim he was the head of a nebula called Black Cloud, and tried to recruit him into it.

On top of that, the absolute-evil constellations kept firing indirect messages at him and showering him with sponsorships.

"Argh! Stop bothering me — everyone shut up for a second!"

He was trying to check his message history, and the constant stream of fresh indirect messages and donation notices popping up in front of his eyes was driving him up the wall.

Only after manually clearing away the dozens upon dozens of stacked messages did he finally manage to pry open the history log.

Ding!

He had obtained a Story connected to Dragonification.

With the legendary-grade trait 'Elementalist', fused from five separate traits, came a brand-new Story.

And the seed of possibility planted when he hunted down the Ice-Peal Ghost Dragon, Calamity of Ice, had finally blossomed into yet another Story.

'…Three Stories in a single sitting.'

Considering the Story he would receive once the dokkaebis' meeting at the Bureau concluded, that made four Stories gained from this scenario alone.

'…Even by my own standards, that growth rate is absurd.'

Resting his chin on his hand, he sank into thought for a moment.

He already held seventeen Stories in total — eighteen once the pending one was counted.

Sure, some of them had been earned by pulling off borderline-insane stunts, but even accounting for that, the pace at which he was collecting Stories was far too fast.

'As if something out there were helping me along….'

Every so often, things would fall into place so smoothly it felt like an unseen hand was smoothing the path for him. Or, to be precise, thoughts would sometimes flash into his head out of nowhere.

Was it just that he'd consumed so many novels, webtoons, and other works of fiction that he naturally drew on them? Or….

He was piling question upon question in his head, sinking deeper and deeper into thought, when—

Ding!

His brow furrowed at the endless sausage-link chain of system messages — then melted into a bright, innocent smile.

"Ahh, so soothing."

He'd already burned through far too much of his plausibility this time, and the penalty the <Star Stream> handed down meant he'd receive zero constellation sponsorship during the eighth scenario, which had left him feeling gloomy. This took some of the sting out of it.

"Coin balance."

Ding!

At the sight of his current holdings floating before his eyes, he pressed a hand to his forehead and broke into a radiant grin.

"Woooo~ three-point-five-six mil~!"

Absolute, unmatched, and undisputed — the current coin wealth of the number-one moneybags in the Seoul Dome left him marveling without end.

Having sat right down on the ground and finished going through the entire message history, he moved to get up—

Ding!

"Hm?"

Just then, another batch of system messages came flying in.

"Ooh… nice…."

Ding!

Ding!

"…………Stop it already. I'm stuffed, you bastard."

Seriously, cut it out now. I'm full even though I haven't eaten a thing. If anything, I feel like I'm going to throw up.

Thankfully, that really had been the last of it — no more system messages came flying his way.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he hauled himself up off the ground and started toward his companions, who were being treated by Lee Seolhwa.

"Mr. Park."

"?"

At the voice behind him, he turned toward where it had come from.

There stood Michio Shoji, gazing at him with tears of joy streaming down his face.

"One look at your face and I know exactly what you're about to say. It's obvious — but hearing it directly is only good manners, right?"

"Mr. Park… then allow me to say the words you are expecting. Truly… truly… thank you! Thank you so much… for saving Izumi-san…!"

He must have been that overjoyed that Jinwoo had saved Izumi Hiroki — waterfall tears and a runny nose and all, Shoji bowed his head so deeply it nearly touched the ground. Jinwoo gave a wry chuckle and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Glad to hear it. So, how's Izumi holding up? That Orochi bastard ripped his body away from him by force, and it was a good long while — he must be pretty beaten up."

Shoji, who had been meeting his eyes as they spoke, glanced aside carefully and answered with a slightly stiffened expression.

"…According to Lee-san over there, treating the wounded, he will need an extended period of rest. She says his lifespan and the blood vessels throughout his body were badly twisted…."

"Can she treat it?"

"She has taken every measure that can be taken; what remains is time. However… she also said that the lifespan he lost will be difficult to recover."

"I see. Wait here a moment."

"Excuse me? Ah — of course."

He had only just met Izumi Hiroki. But thanks to the man, he'd reaped a pile of Stories, and being roped into that little stage play with him had netted him a mountain of coins — so he decided to help out, just this once.

He handed the vial of purple liquid to Michio Shoji. Shoji took the potion, turned it over in his hands this way and that, then looked up at Jinwoo searchingly.

Reading the wordless what is this? in Shoji's eyes, Jinwoo answered him honestly, without a shred of deception.

"It's a potion called an Elixir. It won't bring back the lifespan he lost, but it'll get his wrecked body back on its feet fast."

"R-really?! B-but I could never accept something so precious, just like that—"

"Then hand it back, then."

"I will treasure it, Mr. Park! Thank you so very much!"

Da-da-da-da-dak!

When Jinwoo had said it deadpan, stone-faced, half in jest — a token refusal for form's sake — Shoji bowed at a perfect ninety degrees, cradled the Elixir in both hands, and sprinted off toward Izumi Hiroki, who had been talking with Asuka Ren and the half-Disaster-side incarnations who had been hiding out.

Izumi Hiroki exchanged a few words with Shoji, then his eyes went wide as he turned to look at Jinwoo.

Jinwoo waved a hand at him, and after a moment, Izumi bowed deeply and offered his thanks.

Ding!

Just like in the webtoon, it seemed Susanoo intended to claim Michio Shoji as his incarnation.

Foreigner or not, he'd still helped a fellow human being — and, proud of his own good deed, Jinwoo ran an index finger triumphantly under his nose, looked up at the sky, and declared:

"Me? I just did a good deed."

"Me? I just did a good deed for someone who was hurt."

He flashed a two-finger V at Gabriel's indirect message.

"Ahh! I performed a good deed for a poor, injured little lamb without asking for a single thing in return! And I wonder — ahem…! Whether the constellations of the absolute-good persuasion, or, say, Eden — or Eden, or, oh I don't know, Eden — might see fit to send a few coins my way… ahem! Ahem!"

He shot meaningful glances at Gabriel's indirect message while clearing his throat with great enthusiasm.

'…Tsk. Fierce resistance, huh.'

White doves, the lot of them. Never once willing to give without being squeezed.

But that was fine. He'd simply make them pour the coins out of pure wounded pride.

Internally cursing the cheapskate absolute-good constellations and every archangel of Eden except Uriel, he called out someone's modifier as bait to start ripping coins loose.

"Aigoo. So you're all misers after all? 'We,' the 'Demon God of Wrath and Lust', would never behave this way. No, the absolute-evil constellations would've blasted the coins over, loud and proud."

'Hooked.'

Simple creatures, as expected. The Demon King and the absolute-evil faction — their sworn blood enemies — had just sponsored him, so pride alone would force the absolute-good side to cough up coins too.

'Heh heh heh. Since I won't be getting sponsorship during the eighth scenario anyway, might as well wring them dry now.'

Picturing the archangels of Eden and the absolute-good constellations about to take the bait, he smiled to himself.

"Aigoo, there we go! Now that's our archangels and our absolute-good. Rewards packed fat and juicy."

Rubbing his palms together, he beamed at the coin procession from the doves and the bats, welcoming every last coin exactly as calculated.

At the Nth round of the eternal good-versus-evil pissing contest, he simply smiled, ignored it, and started walking toward his companions.

He'd already gotten what he came for — the coins. That squabble was officially none of his business.

"Ah, they're fighting on their own. Not my problem."

As long as nothing came down on his head, his party's heads, or his lovers' heads, everything else was A-OK.

"What are you looking at? Who told you two to fight? Why are you shrieking at me all of a sudden?"

With the air of a man washing his hands of the whole affair, he tipped his head back toward the sky and spat onto the ground.

"Eh? It's all my fault now? You're ordering our adorable 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' to bully me, remember?"

He stared blankly at Gabriel's indirect message for a while, then opened his mouth slowly, deliberately ignoring it.

"Oof, must be the old age. So hysterical. The kids around her must have it rough."

Having deliberately needled her temper and gotten a solid read on her personality, Jinwoo snickered and pulled a notepad and pen from his pocket.

"Eden's archangel, 'Lily Blooming in Aquarius.' Short-fused, gorilla-grade old maid, extreme hysteria. Conclusion: 'Easy to tease (★)'."

He wrote Gabriel's name beside the note on his pad, and added a ★ next to it as a mark of special importance.

Giggling at the indirect messages ringing nonstop in his head, he finally set off toward his companions at last.

"Oh, right. Lily Blooming in Aquarius."

He glanced at Gabriel's indirect messages, which kept popping up in front of him and blocking his field of view.

"Weak sauce~♡"

Having needled her right up to the very end, he doubled over laughing at the cascade of hilarious reactions and set off on his way.

Thanks to his fun with that brand-new toy — that is to say, thanks to how thoroughly he'd teased Gabriel — he was in an excellent mood as he strolled over with a beaming grin toward his companions, who were resting against the wall while Lee Seolhwa worked on them.

Lee Jihye was stirring something into a cup, muttering to herself between sips.

"Ugh, I seriously thought I was gonna die this time."

"What's that about, Jihye?"

"Ah, Jinwoo oppa. It's just — the snake was saying something earlier, and the second I heard a few words of it I coughed up blood…."

"Ah…."

So while he'd had his hands full fighting Yamata no Orochi and couldn't spare them a thought, the others had apparently taken damage from the serpent's spoken words.

Lee Hyunsung nodded along in weary agreement and spoke up.

"It wasn't even this bad when that so-called Sovereign commander paid us his little surprise visit back in the day."

"Sounds like life's gotten a bit too comfortable for you, Lee Hyunsung."

At the voice behind him, Lee Hyunsung's face went cold and stiff. His trembling fingers lost their grip, and the wooden cup slipped from his hand and clattered to the floor. Then, slowly — very slowly — he turned his head.

"Y-Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi."

Yoo Joonghyuk stared down at him, her face sunk in ice, and spoke as Hyunsung shook uncontrollably and made the expression of a cornered animal.

"I told you to follow my group. Why did you disobey?"

"Th-that's… D-Dokja-ssi, Jinwoo-ssi… please, help me…."

Hyunsung trembled like a leaf, glancing desperately between Jinwoo and Kim Dokja.

It was a plea to be rescued from Yoo Joonghyuk's clutches — and Jinwoo had absolutely no intention of granting it.

Because he, too, was terrified of Yoo Joonghyuk.

'…I'm sorry, Hyunsung-ssi.'

Your sacrifice will never be forgotten….

"Park Jinwoo."

"Ye-yes?!"

He whipped his head toward Yoo Joonghyuk in wide-eyed panic as her voice ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠suddenly called his name.

"You handed me a job so smoothly earlier, didn't you. And then you had the gall to steal my sword?"

"…We caught it either way, so how about a drink!"

"I will kill you."

At the killing intent swirling in her eyes, he blurted out with a desperate expression.

"Not my fault! The constellation called Secretive Plotter said he'd give me coins if I just stayed out of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠way!"

"…What?"

He pressed on toward Yoo Joonghyuk, whose eyes were twitching as she glowered at him.

"He's a big fan of our Joonghyuk. Said he wanted to watch her in action, and told me to just stay quiet and let her shine."

"……A fan?"

"Yep yep! Our Joonghyuk's got a face and figure straight out of a goddess calendar, and her strength and charisma are off the charts too! He wanted to see all of that so badly he begged me with coins, so what was I supposed to do!"

He kept the words pouring out of his mouth without pause under her suspicious glare — while inside, he was already rummaging through the Dokkaebi Bag for the skill he needed.

'Found it.'

Having bought the skill he needed, he faced her as she glared back at him — suspicion still plastered across her face, her eyes promising death if he was lying.

"Was everything you just said the truth?"

"Yep! Of course it was!"

The moment her Lie Detection went dead, Yoo Joonghyuk narrowed both eyes and bored into him with a gaze thick with murder.

And Jinwoo answered that gaze with a bright, sunny smile.

'Poker Face.'

It was the counter skill to Lie Detection that he'd stumbled across by chance on the community forums and Tree Wiki.

With it active, there was no possible way to determine whether his words were true or false.

"Turn it off."

Yoo Joonghyuk said, glaring at him. That turn it off almost certainly meant: deactivate the Poker Face that was blocking her Lie Detection.

"Aww, Joonghyuk! The internet says women who insist on reading a man's heart are a dying breed!"

"Shut up. Turn off that skill."

"Joonghyuk… you're being so authoritarian…. Now I'm just sad!"

"That is not my concern."

Neither side looked remotely willing to yield an inch. Like a duel of spear against shield, the standoff hung in the air — and he could feel the eyes of his companions, the small folk, and the Japanese incarnations boring into them from every direction.

Between all those watching eyes and Yoo Joonghyuk's glare drilling into him, a cold sweat crept onto his forehead despite himself.

And in times like these, history had proven there was one method that never failed.

Clunk.

"That is, of course: run."

He conjured My Room's door directly behind his back and dove straight through it.

"Park Jinwoo! You bastaaard!!"

The instant he escaped into My Room, Yoo Joonghyuk's face went scarlet and she lunged for the door, arm outstretched.

He looked straight through the narrowing gap at her, smiled, and waved.

BOOM!

The moment the door sealed shut, Yoo Joonghyuk's shrieking rage came ringing clearly through My Room's window — but he paid it no mind and dropped onto the sofa in the living room.

"Ahh, this is exhausting."

Ah, right. One more thing to settle.

He stared at the Plotter's indirect message and sank into deliberation.

"One rainbow fruit — deal?"

"No? Fine, then I'll just gift it to a different constellation."

"Heh heh, appreciate it!"

He bought a single rainbow fruit from the Story Shop and promptly presented it to the Secretive Plotter as a gift.

With every loose end squared away, he pushed himself up off the sofa and stared down at the living room floor.

The time to claim the last of the three treasures this Peace Land had to offer was now just around the corner.

Which meant he needed to prepare for it.

And yes — in preparation for exactly that, he was going to build a basement into My Room this time.