Night of the Prophets (1)

I followed Kim Dokja into the tent. Already kneeling on the floor ahead of me were Lee Seongguk and the tanned guy.

"………."

"………."

Judging by the pride that matched his bulk, the guy was glaring up at me with eyes full of hostility. An insolent bastard. But I decided to forgive him.

After all, he would soon get backstabbed by Kim Dokja and end up under her command. I could always grind him down later.

And more importantly, there was something else I needed to do right now. I had to take one particular action ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to cool Kim Dokja's temper even a little.

I have no pride. In an apocalypse like this, clinging to pride is just plain stupid.

I looked down at the guy for a moment, then knelt beside him.

"W-what? Why are you sitting next to me?"

The tanned guy, who had no idea about my situation, the circumstances, or what was about to happen to him, looked flustered as I settled in next to him and knelt just like they had.

A short while later, Kim Dokja brought over a luxurious chair and sat down in front of me, Lee Seongguk, and the tanned guy. Then she looked down at us.

Lee Hyunsung and Jung Heewon stood on either side of her with awkward expressions, glancing at me for cues.

"I'll hear the circumstances now. Park Jinwoo, why did you fight?"

Kim Dokja looked down at me and asked why we'd fought.

Since Kim Dokja was currently cosplaying as Yoo Joonghyuk, I couldn't speak to her casually. I looked up at her and spoke in a respectful tone.

"Before I explain the circumstances, I sincerely apologize for disobeying your orders, Lady Yoo Joonghyuk."

I bowed my head to her and continued.

"The three of us were waiting quietly in front of the tent as you ordered, Lady Yoo Joonghyuk. However, that man suddenly approached us and started questioning us in an accusatory tone about what we were doing standing in front of the tent."

"And?"

"At first, I simply thought he was a ruffian picking a fight and ignored him. But that man over there kept talking to us, and since we kept remaining silent, we eventually came to blows."

Kim Dokja was silent for a moment, as if organizing her thoughts. Then she opened her mouth.

"So in the end, both sides were at fault."

"That's correct."

I nodded in agreement. Kim Dokja thought for a moment, then turned her gaze toward Lee Seongguk, who was watching us with an anxious face.

"Lee Seongguk. What do you think?"

"Y-yes?! About what…?"

"I asked what you think of your companion's behavior."

Lee Seongguk glanced at his friend, the tanned guy, for a moment, then squeezed his eyes shut and shouted.

"I'm sorry! To be honest… I think both sides were at fault this time."

"Is that so…"

Kim Dokja nodded lightly at Lee Seongguk's words. It simply meant she understood, but Lee Seongguk seemed to take it differently.

He looked up at Kim Dokja for a moment, then squeezed his eyes shut, pressed both hands to the floor, and spoke urgently.

"If what I said was insolent, I truly apologize! And my friend here didn't know that those people were Lady Yoo Joonghyuk's companions, so he just…"

Lee Seongguk shouted at the tanned guy, who continued to maintain his silence, with a frustrated expression.

"Hey, you apologize too, already!"

"………."

At his friend Lee Seongguk's urging, the tanned guy glared at me for a moment, then lowered his head and spoke to Kim Dokja.

"…I'm sorry."

After quietly watching the tanned guy's apology, Kim Dokja's gaze shifted to me. Then she spoke.

"Park Jinwoo. I told you not to act rashly."

"Just a moment, Joonghyuk! It wasn't only Jinwoo's fault…"

"Heewon. Thank you for defending me. But I'm fine."

"…Jinwoo."

I gently shook my head at Jung Heewon, who was trying to speak up for me. She quietly watched me, then nodded slightly with a faintly moved expression.

Since Jung Heewon had been the one to flare up first at the tanned guy's words and escalate things, she should have been the one getting scolded by Kim Dokja in this situation. But I decided to take the scolding in her place.

What a man I am. A cool guy.

With that, I completed one item on my bucket list. I wasn't sure exactly which anime it was from, but I'd been inspired by a character ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in some hot-blooded anime from the old days who took a scolding in place of the protagonist, and I'd written it down as a bucket list item.

Oh no — for a second there, I almost grinned over completing a bucket list item. I composed my expression and bowed my head deeply to Kim Dokja with an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, Lady Yoo Joonghyuk. I have no excuse."

Kim Dokja looked down at me in silence for a moment, then spoke.

"Enough. Step outside for now and wait."

"…Understood."

I put on a dejected expression and lifted the tent flap to step outside.

"Whew~ I thought I was going to suffocate in there."

The moment I got outside, I swept my hair back and let out a sigh.

Damn it, using that ultra-formal speech I picked up from historical dramas made my whole body cringe.

Having to keep using extreme honorifics with Kim Dokja while she cosplayed as Yoo Joonghyuk had left me feeling like my hands and feet were curling up. I was starting to slightly regret putting on that act.

Rustle.

"Hm?"

I was catching my breath with a sigh when I heard the tent flap behind me being lifted.

"Jinwoo…"

"Jinwoo, are you all right?"

Jung Heewon and Lee Hyunsung had followed me out of the tent and were looking at me with worried eyes.

"Huh? I'm honestly completely fine. Why are you both looking so stiff?"

When I was little, my older sister had nagged me constantly. In college, I'd been crushed under assignments. In the middle of that, I'd been dragged into the damn military. Right after graduating from junior college, I'd gone straight to work at a nearby factory for two years. Thanks to all that, I had a certain level of resistance to situations like the one just now.

Do they think something this minor would leave me deeply hurt or stressed?

Compared to the factory I'd worked at for two years, this was nothing… That place had been pretty awful, even thinking about it now.

I'd been a subcontracted employee there. My assigned work had been packaging and managing chemical products.

Every day, I'd watch to make sure the 20kg chemical products coming out of the machine were properly packed into kraft paper bags ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠— checking that the name, product name, date, and product number were printed correctly, that the packaging thread hadn't broken, that products hadn't gotten stuck on the outgoing conveyor, whether the weight was over or under 20kg, whether the machine had grabbed them wrong and torn the side, and so on. If the packaging wasn't done right, I'd have to carry the 20kg item back to my station and repackage it — for twelve hours straight.

Of course, I also never forgot to thoroughly clean up the chemical products that spilled from the packaging bags with a vacuum or broom.

Anyway… after two years of factory work like that, my body was exhausted, but I could also feel my mind wearing down. Adding to that were the verbal fights with two particularly nasty characters at that factory — specifically, the team leader and section chief of the group I belonged to.

And in the end, after fighting with that bastard of a team leader for half a year, I couldn't take it anymore. I collected every last bit of the Lunar New Year bonus and finally left the factory, started preparing for the civil service exam, and then ended up here in the Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint world.

If I compared those experiences to getting scolded by Kim Dokja just now… hmm, Kim Dokja was overwhelmingly angelic by comparison. All it amounted to was thirty minutes of silence.

Having already experienced working with nasty people and factory labor, my mental fortitude had been tempered to a certain degree. I hadn't taken any real damage from what just happened.

"No, the person who actually got scolded is fine. Why do you both look so restless?"

"But you got scolded because of me…"

"Hey now~ It's fine, it's fine! Stop worrying!"

Jung Heewon looked up at me with apologetic eyes. Lee Hyunsung also watched me with a worried gaze, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as if wondering whether I was just putting on a brave face.

"Ugh, you're both so softhearted it's almost gullible."

I let out a small sigh and started walking forward to look around the Dongmyo area. The two of them, who'd been watching me with surprised eyes, soon followed after me.

"Where are you going all of a sudden, Jinwoo?"

"Are you still a little upset about getting scolded by Dokja earlier…?"

"Ugh… I'm really fine. Before I started preparing for the civil service exam, I worked at a factory that was incomparably more stressful than getting scolded by Dokja just now, so my mental fortitude is pretty solid, you know? So stop worrying! Halt!"

I held out my palm toward the two who were still fretting over me and pulled out a phrase that had been popular back in the day. Only then did the two of them look relieved.

………Ah, damn, this is really pricking my conscience.

I was about to backstab Kim Dokja soon. Doing this made my conscience — my heart — hurt.

Of course, I didn't mean I was going to betray Kim Dokja or Kim Dokja's Company. So what was the backstab?

It was simple.

I'm going to kill the Lesser Dragon instead of Kim Dokja.

Kim Dokja didn't have the talent to learn the Path of the Wind anyway. That was why she stole Lycaon's Path of the Wind with the Bookmark skill. So even if I took the Imuntar tribe's Hoju title, it wouldn't be a big problem.

And I'll pocket some coins while I'm at it.

After killing the Lesser Dragon, I'd put a few of the materials obtained as byproducts up on the auction house for 99,999 coins, and use the rest as meat, boil bone broth, or make weapons and armor. Of course, I'd have to set aside the bones needed for the sword Jung Heewon would need later.

Ah, speaking of which, I'm so damn excited for dragon meat…

Even the 7th-grade earth dragon species Tyrannosaurus rex had been that delicious. How good would a 5th-grade fire dragon species Lesser Dragon taste?

Just imagining it made saliva threaten to drip from the corner of my mouth.

"…Um, Jinwoo? You're drooling."

"Huh? Really? Tsk…"

At Jung Heewon's pointing it out, I hurriedly wiped the corner of my mouth with my sleeve, and sure enough, saliva came off. Apparently I'd been so excited about the taste of Lesser Dragon meat that I'd started drooling without realizing it.

And though I didn't say it out loud, there was one more thing I was looking forward to.

How am I supposed to resist Kim Dokja's bare body.

Male Kim Dokja had been good-looking, and supposedly the Black Flame Dragon down there was big too. Maybe that was why female Kim Dokja had a large chest like Jung Heewon, and her hips — wow! Her body proportions were model-slim. Especially her slender legs, which were extremely beautiful.

I, Park Jinwoo. A man who likes a woman's face, chest, hips, and legs. I'm extremely looking forward to that moment.

Of course, I was excited at the thought of seeing Kim Dokja naked, but at the same time, I didn't feel entirely good about it. After all, seeing Kim Dokja naked also meant I'd have to watch her get burned to death by the Lesser Dragon's breath.

But it's necessary. That's how Kim Dokja experiences the skill Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Stage 3 and First Person Protagonist's Viewpoint.

I felt a slight guilt at having to watch my favorite character burn to death, but I deliberately suppressed it and thought.

Lee Seongguk and the tanned guy should be coming out soon.

No sooner had I thought it than Lee Seongguk and the tanned guy emerged, opening the tent flap. The two of them whispered to each other a short distance from the tent, then went back inside.

Lee Seongguk and the tanned guy — ah, was the tanned guy's name Jung Minseob? I finally remembered. Anyway, since Lee Seongguk and Jung Minseob had gone back into the tent, the conversation would wrap up soon. In that case—

The Night of the Prophets will begin soon.

I had enough coins to raise my stats and buy items. All that remained was hunting the dragon.

I was extremely looking forward to that moment.