Scenario Destroyer (2)

I had installed a basement in My Room to make storing the items I needed this time easier, then carefully opened the door and stepped outside.

And then I saw her.

“…………….”

“…………….”

Yoo Joonghyuk standing right in front of the door, waiting for me to come out of My Room.

I frowned as I looked at her glaring at me.

Yoo Joonghyuk frowned right back, glaring at me.

We locked eyes in silence for a moment.

Clunk.

My body started trembling as if I were standing before a starving predator, so I generated the door to My Room again and leaned backward, trying to escape the situation.

Grab!

I would have succeeded if not for the hand that shot forward in an instant and seized me by the collar.

“I won’t fall for it twice.”

“G-go easy on me…”

A voice like a low growl from a beast reached my ear. Yoo Joonghyuk, still gripping my collar, forcibly dragged me along, and we began walking somewhere.

Bang!

“Ugh…!”

We arrived at a place where the still-intact castle walls rose high.

Dragged by the collar and slammed hard against the wall by her hand, a groan automatically escaped my lips.

“H-hey, Joonghyuk? I really messed up this time…”

“…………….”

Looking up at Yoo Joonghyuk as she glared down at me with a razor-sharp gaze, I found myself apologizing without meaning to.

But even after my apology, Yoo Joonghyuk gave no reply, still staring me down.

I met her eyes with trembling pupils, then squeezed my eyes shut without another word.

One second stretched into a minute as time dragged on endlessly.

How many minutes had passed?

Still feeling the warmth of her hand clenched around my collar pressed against my body, I carefully opened my eyes and looked at her with a cautious expression.

“…Joonghyuk?”

The fury that should have been pouring onto me still hadn’t come even after several minutes. Finding the situation strange, I carefully called her name.

At my not-quite-urging, Yoo Joonghyuk’s mouth finally opened.

“Park Jinwoo.”

Yoo Joonghyuk called my name. I didn’t answer, simply meeting her eyes.

Her pupils were still staring straight at me.

“I have one question.”

“What is it?”

Hearing me, Yoo Joonghyuk slowly closed her eyes once, took a short breath to steady herself, and then spoke carefully.

“…How are you able to get stronger so quickly?”

“……What?”

Her question was so shocking that my eyes flew wide open on their own. I answered in a trembling voice, staring blankly at her.

I couldn’t understand her question.

…Is that ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’ really asking me for the secret to getting stronger fast right now?

The same Yoo Joonghyuk who always ranked number one in pure combat power inside the Seoul Dome?

I looked at her with trembling eyes.

Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyelids twitched as if my gaze made her a little uncomfortable, and she slowly opened her mouth again.

“When I first met you on the subway, you weren’t this strong. I judged you as nothing more than a guy with flashy skills and empty substance.”

She spoke with absolute conviction.

“But from a certain point, you suddenly started getting stronger at a rapid pace. Compared to the beginning, I even wondered if you were the same person.”

Those eyes of hers—always restraining her emotions, filled with calm solitude—turned toward me.

“At Chungmuro Station, you used that skill I’d never heard of called My Small Hideout to brazenly enter the green zone Lee Jihye and I were using and rest comfortably. Then I saw you suddenly jump out and hold off the monster wave all night.”

Yoo Joonghyuk rolled her eyes toward the door of My Room behind me and continued.

“I saw you endure the monster wave with eyes full of ‘poisonous resolve.’ I saw you easily suppress the Disaster of Questions. I saw you hunt the Disaster of Ice. I saw you face the Disaster of Floods.”

Her empty voice brushed past my ear.

I stayed quiet so she would keep talking, watching her silently.

“I also saw you face Shin Yooseung when she was the Disaster of Floods, and how you saved her in a way neither Kim Dokja nor I ever expected—with these two eyes of mine.”

Yoo Joonghyuk seemed completely unaware of her own state. Right now her pupils were trembling this way and that.

The Yoo Joonghyuk who always kept her emotions in check was showing clear agitation.

“And finally, even though it was only a Constellation’s shadow, you easily suppressed a Fable-grade Constellation’s shadow. You even saved the incarnation who was the source of that shadow. Just how do you get stronger so fast?”

……Could this be it?

Regression depression? Was this a precursor symptom?

I carefully examined Yoo Joonghyuk looking up at me with eyes as lifeless as a dead fish’s.

…Is she trying to get information from me just in case she has to move on to the next turn?

But of all times, for the regression depression to hit right now? Because of me?

I looked down in silence at Yoo Joonghyuk waiting for my answer, then let out a small sigh inwardly.

The question she threw at me let me grasp, at least a little, how mentally cornered she was.

The sole regressor of the Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint world. The killifish. The King of Seoul. The killifish patient suffering from that insane mental illness called regression depression.

All of those words pointed to the woman standing right in front of me—Yoo Joonghyuk.

Even with overwhelming strength from her regressions that put her far above others, she was still just an ‘ordinary human.’

She was an ‘ordinary person’ who lost the comrades she fought alongside because of the scenarios, then started everything over from the beginning.

She was a ‘person’ who failed scenarios, lost comrades, yet still swore that next turn she would definitely see the end of the scenarios, and kept walking toward the thorny path.

Mentally cornered by the endless scenarios, growing used to killing people, suffering over lost comrades, slowly falling off a cliff—this ordinary woman was shedding invisible tears.

I stayed silent for a moment, not looking away from Yoo Joonghyuk’s gaze. After carefully choosing my words inside, I slowly let out a breath and took one step closer to her.

“Joonghyuk. You’re doing well right now.”

“…That’s not what I want to hea—”

As Yoo Joonghyuk frowned and opened her mouth as if to argue, I leaned my head past her cheek and arrived at her ear.

Bringing my lips close to Yoo Joonghyuk’s ear, I murmured softly.

“This turn is the regressor’s final stop.”

“……What?”

Hearing me, Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyes went wide. The black pupils inside them took me in.

I smiled gently at her and slowly opened my mouth.

“So live this ‘turn’ properly. All of ‘us’ will survive and reach the end together.”

This was a white lie.

A white lie with zero certainty about whether there would be dropouts among us or not.

But it was a white lie spoken with the belief that the protagonist of this world, ‘Kim Dokja,’ would definitely make it so.

“…………….”

Hearing me, Yoo Joonghyuk’s pupils trembled this way and that as she stared blankly at me.

Even at a white lie like this, you’re this shaken.

You were that cornered.

…I looked after the others at least a little. Not looking after you while you suffered like this was my ‘oversight.’

I smiled faintly at Yoo Joonghyuk staring at me with dazed eyes, then glanced past her.

Kim Dokja, held by Shin Yooseung and Lee Gilyoung, was talking about something with Gillemium.

Tonight a banquet would be held in Veronica to celebrate successfully overcoming the disasters.

I turned my gaze back to Yoo Joonghyuk, who was still staring blankly at me, smiled, and carefully pried her hand off my collar.

Then I carefully took her hand and slowly opened my mouth.

“Joonghyuk. They say there’s a banquet at the royal castle tonight. So let’s go right now.”

“…What?”

Hearing me, Yoo Joonghyuk came to her senses late and glared at me holding her hand, trying to pull free—but my action was a little faster.

Whoosh!

I pulled Yoo Joonghyuk along and strode toward where Kim Dokja and the others were.

“Let go. I can go alone.”

While walking with Yoo Joonghyuk toward the group, her sharp voice rang out from behind.

Even with her fierce presence filling that voice, I kept smiling as I spoke.

“Hard to believe the words of someone who was staring at me blankly like their soul had left their body earlier.”

“Shut up and let go. Last warning.”

“Aww, don’t pull away! Our Joonghyuk doesn’t know how to mingle with people, so this oppa will lead you a bit!”

“Who are you calling oppa? I’m older than you. And let go of my hand.”

Even while saying that, she didn’t pull her hand away—a rare cute side of her. I snorted a laugh, joined the group, and spent the time chatting with everyone until evening.

“For the smallest conviction in the world!”

“For!”

Clink!

In the banquet held inside Veronica’s intact inner castle, noisy cheers rang out everywhere.

I saw Small People clinking glasses with flushed faces, and others who had survived the disasters’ grasp weeping with joy as they madly downed the liquor filling their cups.

I rolled my eyes toward one table.

“Mmm! This is really good!”

Lee Jihye stuffing Peace Land food into her mouth like a hamster with a flushed face, eating with gusto.

“J-Jihye! Eat slowly!”

Lee Hyunsung looking worried she might choke and urgently trying to stop her with frantic hand gestures.

“You damn brat…?! Eat without spraying spit everywhere!”

Gong Pildu, who happened to be sitting on Lee Jihye’s right and was getting hit by all the food fragments and spit, getting angry.

“Heh heh. Still, isn’t it nice to see her eating so heartily?”

Lee Bok-sun, the grandmother, with a kind face, stopping the angry Gong Pildu because she found Lee Jihye’s hearty eating pleasant to watch.

The sight of the four of them sitting at one table and happily eating food made a smile slip out for no reason.

At the system messages floating above, everyone gathered at this banquet was enjoying themselves with excited, relaxed expressions.

If you thought of the banquets nobles enjoyed in novels or movies, you might find this noisy, but I liked this atmosphere better right now.

“Jinwoo-ssi.”

While happily watching the banquet unfolding before my eyes, someone called my name from my left and linked arms with me. I carefully turned my head that way.

“Ah, Jiwon.”

It was Min Jiwon, who had recently become my lover, linking arms with a flushed face.

“Enjoying the banquet?”

“Hehe. It’s been so long since I’ve had an atmosphere like this, so I’m enjoying it thoroughly. What about you, Jinwoo-ssi?”

“Of course I’m enjoying it. With such a pretty girlfriend right beside me.”

“Ahaha! You sound just like a Casanova.”

Apparently liking what I said, Min Jiwon burst out laughing and linked arms even tighter.

As she linked arms, her long brown hair like a cascade swayed softly. Looking at the bright, shining smile on the face of Min Jiwon—once an actress with elegant yet charming beauty—I let out a small smile.

A smile filled with sincerity really was nice to look at. Even more so when it belonged to an outstanding beauty.

“Hey! I was going for that first!”

While spending pleasant time with Min Jiwon, a loud voice came from the seats in front of me.

Turning my head, I saw our cute Shin Yooseung glaring hard at someone and getting angry.

The target was, of course, Lee Gilyoung. The only person our good Yooseung ever yelled at at the top of her lungs was Lee Gilyoung.

Lee Gilyoung frowned as if her voice was noisy, waving the skewer in his hand as he spoke.

“Ah, shut up! First come, first served! You mutt!”

“What?! Mutt? You bug!”

“Anyway this is mine! You eat something else!”

“No! That’s mine! You eat something else!”

Watching the kids glaring at each other and bickering over a single skewer made a smile form for no reason.

“Somehow looking at this feels peaceful.”

“Right.”

I nodded in agreement at Min Jiwon’s words as she quietly watched Shin Yooseung and Lee Gilyoung’s scuffle with me.

Murmur murmur!

Then, at the noisy sound from behind, Min Jiwon and I turned our heads at the same time toward the source.

There, Kim Dokja was pouring all the liquor she had received from Gillemium into a barrel far larger than a person.

The time to obtain the final item I had been waiting for had arrived.

“Jiwon. Sorry, but I’ll go over to Dokja for a bit.”

“Can’t I come with you?”

“…I don’t really want to see the expression Dokja made at me earlier again, so sorry.”

I trembled slightly as I recalled Kim Dokja, who had seen Min Jiwon suddenly clinging to me upon arriving at this banquet, realized something, and quietly glared at me with a face full of killing intent and murderous aura.

Especially when Kim Dokja had reached into her pocket as if to pull out a knife, I had truly been startled.

…If Hyunsung-ssi and the kids hadn’t stopped her.

This banquet hall would have been completely wrecked.

“…If you put it that way, I suppose I have no choice.”

Min Jiwon also seemed to recall Kim Dokja glaring at her with eyes full of killing intent, and carefully unlinked her arm from mine.

Feeling gratitude and apology toward Min Jiwon for listening and letting me go, I smiled faintly and opened my mouth toward her.

“Thank y—”

If not for Min Jiwon suddenly grabbing my collar and kissing me, that is.

It wasn’t a passionate kiss like when we were alone in My Room last time, just a light brush of lips, but I still felt great satisfaction from it.

I smiled as I spoke to Min Jiwon.

“You’re proactive.”

“If I don’t want to fall behind the other two and want to be loved by you, this much is basic.”

At my words, Min ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Jiwon bloomed a flower of blush on her cheeks and answered with a smile full of pure yet seductive charm, eyes smiling brightly.

I stroked her cheek once, then approached Kim Dokja, who was still pouring liquor into the barrel.

“Dokja, I’ll help.”

Rolling up the sleeves of the subspace coat Lee Jihye had returned to me as I said that to Kim Dokja, she looked at me with a cold smile.

“…You can go play more with your third girlfriend, you know?”

“…Please allow this humble one to assist you, my wife.”

“Do as you like.”

Kim Dokja glanced at me acting like a servant, snorted lightly, then ignored me and continued uncapping bottles and pouring them into the barrel.

Seeing that, I gestured once toward the barrel and began pouring liquor into it alongside Kim Dokja.

A little while later.

“…What the hell, why isn’t this filling up?”

Kim Dokja had poured every drop of liquor from the warehouse—except what had been distributed to the banquet attendees—into the barrel, yet it wasn’t even one-tenth full. She stared blankly inside with an absurd expression.

“Maybe the inside is wider than it looks, or some magic is on it?”

I tilted my head as I spoke to her, and Gillemium, who had been looking inside the barrel with us, opened his mouth with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a troubled face.

“That can’t be. The magic we can use is at best lighting a small fire. I’m quite flustered myself right now. After pouring that much liquor…”

At Gillemium scratching his cheek with a troubled look, a gleam entered my eyes as I began purchasing various kinds of liquor from the general store.

“No choice then! I’ll make the sacrifice here!”

Crack!

I uncapped a soju bottle with an excited expression and started pouring liquor into the barrel.

Kim Dokja, watching that with a meaningful face, threw a question at me.

“Why aren’t you surprised at all?”

“Huh?”

I stopped pouring and looked at Kim Dokja.

“Gillemium and I are flustered, or find it absurd, or feel troubled.”

Kim Dokja strode over, snatched the arm holding the soju, and asked in a quiet, whispering voice.

“But you’re not flustered at all?”

“……………….”

At Kim Dokja’s sudden action, I felt cold sweat running down my back for no reason.

As if knowing my mood, Kim Dokja brought her lips to my ear and whispered slowly.

“It’s you, isn’t it?”

“Y-yeah?”

“What did you do to this barrel again?”

“H-hey… what do you mean, what did I do?”

Faced with sharp-sensed Kim Dokja, I made the ridiculous mistake of answering in a trembling voice without meaning to.

Kim Dokja’s eyes gleamed as she pressed me.

“Jinwoo. I love you.”

“Uh, uh? I love Dokja t—”

Kim Dokja, smiling with her lips but with coldly settled eyes, pressed a finger to my lips to stop me.

“Shhh…. I’m talking right now? So shut up for a second.”

“……….”

“Yes, like that. Then I’ll continue? Jinwoo. Even if you usually cause chaos and act like a horny bastard hitting on any pretty-looking woman, I really love you. After all, you’re the first boyfriend I’ve ever had?”

For some reason, the more Kim Dokja’s words continued, the more the surrounding air seemed to grow colder.

“Sometimes I even worry about how I should put a leash on Park Jinwoo, who leaves his girlfriend behind to date new ones or acts like a horny bastard hitting on any woman.”

At Kim Dokja’s shocking remarks that felt like they were squeezing my heart and making my mind go blank, I felt my consciousness growing hazy in real time.

Kim Dokja looked at me with terrifying eyes that held no life at all and continued speaking.

“If you really love me, answer honestly. It was you, right? For reference, this is your last chance.”

“…What if I dodge the answer this time too?”

“Then.”

Kim Dokja quietly stared at me with an expression that said no further answer was needed and dead eyes that held no life whatsoever.

That look was enormously terrifying.

I clenched my trembling left hand into a fist without realizing it and opened my mouth toward Kim Dokja.

“Yeah, it was me.”

“Exactly what did you do?”

“…This time I made a basement in My Room. I connected the bottom of this barrel we’re pouring liquor into with the barrel installed in My Room’s basement, so even if we pour all the liquor we have, it doesn’t fill up. That’s all. Believe me.”

Kim Dokja quietly stared at me after I spilled everything, then released the hand holding my arm.

Then she let out a small sigh and continued in a curt voice.

“See, if you’d just answered honestly from the start, there wouldn’t have been any need for this.”

The terrifying look from earlier vanished without a trace, and she returned to the usual Kim Dokja. I let out the breath I’d been holding and heaved a deep sigh of relief as I spoke.

“…Whew. So that was just a simple prank? You really scare—”

“Who said it was a prank?”

Huh?

I stared blankly at Kim Dokja with trembling eyes.

Kim Dokja snorted a smile at my look, then grabbed my collar and brought her face so close our faces almost touched.

“I didn’t know either. Looks like I’m a woman with more jealousy than I thought. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠So…”

Having already brought her lips to my ear, Kim Dokja let out a deep sigh and whispered softly.

“Keep going around hitting on any woman like that, okay? I don’t know what comes after either…”

“…Yes, ma’am.”

“Our Jinwoo answers so well.”

Kim Dokja carefully stroked my head with a smile on her lips but eyes that weren’t smiling at all, then stood beside me and began uncapping the liquor bottles I’d set on the floor, pouring the rest into the barrel.

I watched her actions carefully for a moment, then came to my senses late and followed Kim Dokja in pouring liquor into the barrel.

After filling the banquet hall barrel and all four barrels in My Room’s basement, Kim Dokja and I wiped our foreheads with our sleeves and let out small sighs.

“Hoo… finally filled them all.”

“Mmm… sorry.”

Kim Dokja glanced at me at my apology, then pouted her lips as she spoke.

“If you know, then treat me well.”

“Of course, Dokja-nim.”

“If you can’t even talk properly…”

Kim Dokja looked at the liquor filling the barrel and pulled a snake skull from the pocket of her subspace coat.

“Jinwoo, among the extracted parts you got, there should be the seventh tail. Put that into this barrel.”

“Got it.”

Following Kim Dokja’s words, I put the seventh tail of Yamata no Orochi that had been stored in My Room into the barrel. Then, using a long wooden ladle brought from the warehouse, I began stirring steadily so the liquor and parts would mix well.

These were the parts that came out when we defeated Yamata no Orochi.

Since we had caught a shadow rather than the true body of Yamata no Orochi, they were mere fragments, but still fragments containing the power of a Fable-grade Constellation.

Even with just these, it was clear we would get liquor with excellent flavor.

“So you know about that ‘hidden piece.’”

Then a voice came from behind us.

Kim Dokja and I turned our heads at the same time toward the source of the voice.

There stood Yoo Joonghyuk looking at us with Totsuka-no-Tsurugi drawn.

“Of course I’m a prophet. Just hand over your sword.”

“………….”

Yoo Joonghyuk, knowing what Kim Dokja intended, handed over the sword without any complaint.

Plop!

Kim Dokja tossed the sword she received from Yoo Joonghyuk straight into the barrel.

“Hey, why drop a sword into precious liquor?”

Lee Jihye, watching that while stuffing a skewer into her mouth, grumbled in dissatisfaction.

Even though she was a minor, as someone who liked liquor, Lee Jihye found these actions completely incomprehensible.

Ignoring Lee Jihye’s grumbling, the three of us quietly watched the barrel.

A moment later, a change occurred in the barrel with the sword inside.

Bubble! Bubble! Bubble!

The murky color of the bomb cocktail mixed from various liquors turned golden, and suddenly the liquor began to boil vigorously.

Whooosh!

Along with the system messages, the golden-glowing liquor began to rise into the air.

Kim Dokja, Yoo Joonghyuk, and I fell silent as we looked at the elegant black sword that appeared among the floating liquor.

According to the legend, Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi was the sword that came from cutting the tail of the drunken Yamata no Orochi.

Even without cutting the tail of a drunken Yamata no Orochi as in the legend, we could obtain the holy relic ‘Heavenly Cloud Sword’ right before our eyes through this shortcut.

As Kim Dokja lifted the liquor-soaked Heavenly Cloud Sword and carefully examined it—

Yoo Joonghyuk strode over, lightly snatched the Heavenly Cloud Sword from Kim Dokja’s hand, and opened her mouth.

“This is mine.”

“Hey! We caught it together.”

“I obtained it because of the sword I brought. So this is mine.”

Kim Dokja glared at her resentfully as the holy relic with dragon-slaying power was snatched away right before her eyes.

But Yoo Joonghyuk, having obtained a new sword, examined the Heavenly Cloud Sword closely with an expression that said she didn’t feel Kim Dokja’s gaze at all right now.

Bubble! Bubble! Bubble!

“Huh?”

Kim Dokja looked at the liquor in the barrel boiling again with a startled face.

Whoosh!

“Uh…?”

Kim Dokja blankly stared at the sword with a white blade—the opposite color of the Heavenly Cloud Sword Yoo Joonghyuk had obtained—snatched it up, and examined it with a startled face.

“Then this is mine. No complaints, right?”

Kim Dokja hugged the newly obtained holy relic to her chest with an urgent face and shouted at Yoo Joonghyuk.

“…Do as you like.”

Yoo Joonghyuk looked at her for a moment, then turned her back as if she had no lingering attachment.

According to the legend, there were a total of five name transmissions for ‘Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi.’

The sword Kim Dokja now held was one of the remaining four swords that had inherited the name of ‘Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi.’

“Tsk…. I’m jealous.”

Of course, I also had the holy relic ‘Ice Heaven Tortoise Dragon Blade’ that Hephaestus had crafted for me after I caught the named ‘Tortoise Dragon’ Bingmyeong Gwiryong, which contained dragon-slaying energy.

But still, what’s regrettable is regrettable.

I looked at Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk with an envious face, then looked down at the barrel with a regretful expression.

Bubble! Bubble! Bubble!

“What now?”

I stared fixedly at the liquor boiling again with a ‘maybe?’ feeling.

Whoosh!

“Oh!”

I looked at the sword glowing with a gray light that seemed to mix the colors of Yoo Joonghyuk’s Heavenly Cloud Sword and Kim Dokja’s Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, smiled with pure joy, and snatched it up.

“Then this is mine?”

I turned my head and shouted toward Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk.

“…Uh, yeah.”

“…Do as you like.”

The two nodded while glancing at me and the Dabchi-geom I held, with faces that said they never expected a third holy relic to appear.

With their permission, I raised the Dabchi-geom high and beamed a bright smile.

“Welcome, Dabchi-geom.”