A World Without a King (2)
Thunder rumbled across the sky.
A peal of thunder rolled overhead, and soon raindrops began to fall.
“Oh, come on—I hate rain. Why’s it suddenly pouring?”
I grumbled as the raindrops gradually soaked through my clothes. Kim Dokja looked at me with an expression of pure disbelief.
“Jinwoo-ssi, of all the people I’ve ever met, you might just be the craziest bastard.”
“Ehehe… I try!”
“That wasn’t a compliment, you maniac…”
Her words suddenly made me feel bashful, and I scratched my nose without thinking. Kim Dokja’s look of utter exasperation was just the cherry on top.
As the rain began to fall in earnest, the Intermediate Dokkaebi who had been quietly looking down on the two of us finally opened its mouth.
【Setting aside Incarnation Park Jinwoo for now… Incarnation Kim Dokja, what did you just say? That you refuse to sit on the throne?】
“Hey, treating me like I’m not even here is kinda hurt—mmph!”
“Just shut up for a second. Yes. I refuse to sit on the throne.”
I was about to pick a fight with the Intermediate Dokkaebi for ignoring me so coldly when Kim Dokja clamped a hand over my mouth from behind and spoke for me.
Something soft and springy pressed against my back, and just like that, every last scrap of my wounded pride evaporated. Men really are helpless against chests, aren’t they?
Apparently neither of them noticed my sudden change of heart, because the Intermediate Dokkaebi and Kim Dokja simply continued their conversation.
【I don’t understand why you’re being so difficult. Just accept the reward quietly. Without the power of the Absolute Throne, Seoul Dome will never survive the Fifth Scenario.】
The Intermediate Dokkaebi’s words—part advice, part warning, part outright threat—sent a wave of panic through the crowd gathered around Gwanghwamun. People began shouting at Kim Dokja.
“What the hell is she thinking?”
“Quit yapping and just sit down already!”
“Damn it, if she won’t do it, hand it over and I’ll sit!”
As countless people protested Kim Dokja’s refusal to claim the Absolute Throne, the Intermediate Dokkaebi watched with a sneer and pressed on.
【The throne can give you more than you ever dreamed of. Simply sitting upon it will birth your own Story, and the Constellation who sponsors you will rise in status.】
Thunder crashed again.
As if answering the Intermediate Dokkaebi’s rising temper, a massive peal of thunder shook the entire Gwanghwamun area. The Intermediate Dokkaebi’s expression turned cold and unpleasant.
【And let me warn you in advance—I am not like those low-grade Dokkaebis. Do not think any half-baked tricks will work on me.】
“………….”
Kim Dokja said nothing. She simply stared at the Absolute Throne, then glanced down at Yoo Joonghyuk, who was lying on the ground completely soaked by the rain.
“Why the hell won’t you just become king already?!”
A man who looked especially furious burst out of the crowd and shouted at Kim Dokja.
After listening to him all the way through, Kim Dokja tilted her head as if she were the one who was confused.
“That’s what I’d like to ask you. What exactly about me makes you think I’d make a good ‘king’?”
“…What?”
“What if I become king and then decide to kill you? What then?”
“…Huh?”
The man’s face froze as the thought finally hit him.
Kim Dokja ignored the stunned man in front of her and swept her gaze across every face in the crowd gathered at Gwanghwamun.
“It’s not just him. All of you are the same. Have you already forgotten? We never lived in a kingdom. So why are you already acting like its subjects?”
At her words, countless faces darkened. Deep down, they already knew. But there had been reasons they had started behaving like subjects of a kingdom.
They wanted to live. If they didn’t, they would die. The “king” of their group would punish them.
Kim Dokja knew that perfectly well, yet her expression remained calm as she continued.
“And I have no desire to become the king who represents ugly humans like you. So I will not sit on the Absolute Throne.”
She looked up at the sky.
“Nor do I want filthy Constellations as my sponsors.”
Kim Dokja finally released my mouth. Standing before the Absolute Throne, she rested her hand on her sword and spoke.
“But I will not allow anyone else to sit on it either.”
The Intermediate Dokkaebi, who had listened with remarkable patience until now, looked thoroughly displeased as it stared at her.
【…You should stop there. My patience isn’t that generous….】
Even under the Intermediate Dokkaebi’s serious warning, Kim Dokja ignored it completely and shouted to the crowd staring at her.
“How long are you going to keep being dragged around helplessly by the Dokkaebis’ ‘scenarios’? Do you have any idea what it actually means for someone to sit on the Absolute Throne?”
“…………….”
I was listening to Kim Dokja just as seriously as the crowd in front of me.
With a recorder running, of course. For the record, I had turned it on before she started using the megaphone.
Kim Dokja’s greatest hits collection—jackpot for the sole reader of Ways of Survival.
After this incident, Kim Dokja would draw the eyes of countless Constellations. Do you know what that means?
It means that later—after the ninth or tenth main scenario—I can sell this recording as a premium collection of Incarnation Kim Dokja’s famous lines for a fortune.
Especially if Uriel buys it at a high price. I was already looking forward to it.
Completely unaware of my schemes, Kim Dokja turned her voice toward the Constellations next.
“Constellations of the Korean Peninsula—you are no different. I know not every Constellation is the same. Some of you are low in status, others high.”
The longer she spoke, the more the vast crowd at Gwanghwamun began to stir. People glanced at one another, murmuring, or simply stared blankly at Kim Dokja.
“But isn’t this enough? How long are you going to keep turning this land into a battlefield for tragic great figures?”
“You struggle through history to become Historical-grade Constellations, pile up Stories to become Fable-grade Constellations… and then what? Once you become even brighter stars in the high heavens? How many more of this land’s descendants must you use for your own selfish desires before you’re satisfied?”
【…I can no longer stand by and watch this.】
Snap!
As Kim Dokja’s words continued to stir both the crowd and the Constellations, the Intermediate Dokkaebi’s neck veins bulged and it snapped its fingers.
Ding!
Sub Scenario — Seize the Throne
Category: Sub
Difficulty: B
Clear Condition: Subdue the Incarnation ‘Kim Dokja,’ who refuses to sit on the throne, and claim the throne in her place.
Time Limit: 30 minutes
Reward: 6,000 coins
Failure: —
So it’s still following the original flow, huh?
That meant the aggro would split between the people who coveted the throne and the people who wanted to kill me—the guy who’d openly announced he was carrying 63,120 coins—and take everything for themselves.
I was quietly relieved that things were going according to plan when a notification I really shouldn’t have heard rang out.
Ding!
Bounty Scenario — Eliminate the Noise Polluter
Category: Sub
Difficulty: A+
Clear Condition: Eliminate the King of Elation, ‘Park Jinwoo,’ who used a megaphone (district-exclusive) to create massive noise pollution in Jongno-gu.
Time Limit: 30 minutes
Reward: 20,000 coins
Failure: —
“Ooooh! I’m a tasty target now (I’ve got a bounty on my head)!”
Something about the words that came out of my mouth felt completely swapped with what I had actually meant to say, but I ignored it. My eyes lit up at the first bounty scenario aimed at me in a long time.
Looks like the Intermediate Dokkaebi really held a grudge. I never expected it to be petty enough to put a bounty on me just for singing one song.
Anyway, I grabbed the megaphone with glittering eyes and shouted into the bounty scenario hanging over my head.
The operator (the Intermediate Dokkaebi) had gone and made a special event just for me. How was I supposed to hold back?
Of course, there was also the secondary goal of drawing even more aggro so Kim Dokja could destroy the Absolute Throne in peace, and so the people trying to protect her wouldn’t have to work quite as hard.
“If you catch me right now, the bounty scenario plus everything else adds up to 83,120 coins! Come on, everyone—do your best! Catch me and grab that instant fortune!”
The crowd erupted into murmurs. Their reactions seemed split right down the middle.
“…Why is he happy about having a bounty on him?”
“Maybe that’s just his kink…? Kinda scary…”
“E-eighty-three thousand one hundred twenty coins?!”
“If we just take that bastard down, our lives are set…!”
Some people glared at me like I was a complete lunatic. Others eyed me as the ticket to overnight riches.
Watching the Constellations “cheer” for me as I “mourned” my bounty, I broke into a bright smile.
“Wow, already two bounties on my head. That’s just like me.”
I felt weirdly proud of myself. Even though there was absolutely nothing to be proud of.
Well, if I’d managed to get two bounties already, maybe that just proved I was the real deal. Probably…?
Thud-thud-thud!
At that moment, someone came cutting through the crowd, sprinting straight toward us. Long black hair, white dress shirt, jeans—a woman.
Jung Heewon.
She raced toward Kim Dokja and me with a murderous expression, then suddenly raised one hand high and clenched it into a fist.
“Huh……?”
Wait a second. A fist?
Then Jung Heewon, eyes faintly gleaming with killing intent, swung that clenched fist and drove it straight into my head.
Thwack!!
“Ack?!”
With a Constitution of 43, the pain wasn’t that bad—but a weird buzzing sensation shot through my skull. I clutched the spot she’d hit and let out a short scream.
“You little—! Causing trouble again already?!”
Slap! Slap! Slap!!
Whether I was clutching my head in pain or not, Jung Heewon started smacking my back hard with her open palm.
“Ack! Ack! Ack?! That hurts! Heewon-ssi, that hurts!”
“It’s supposed to hurt!!”
Not a single person—or Constellation—took my side. It was deeply saddening….
Before I knew it, Yoo Sangah had approached and spoken to Jung Heewon.
“Heewon-ssi, I want to hit him too.”
“Then let’s hit him together.”
“Gladly.”
When Jung Heewon stepped slightly to the side, Yoo Sangah joined her with a chillingly calm expression and began smacking my back with her open palm as well.
Smack! Smack! Smack!!
Getting hit in the head hadn’t hurt much, but for some reason the dual back-smashes they were delivering registered the pain with perfect clarity.
I thrashed under the burning sting across my back and cried out.
“Aaaagh! I’m sorry! It’s all my fault! Please forgive me!”
“Shut up! Every time we try to talk sense into you, you only apologize in the moment! Just take the beating quietly! And while you’re at it, reflect hard!”
Yoo Sangah seemed determined to vent every last bit of frustration this time, and together with Jung Heewon she thoroughly worked over my back while countless people and Constellations watched.
For a while, silence fell over Gwanghwamun once more. It was already the third silence of the day, but this one carried a different meaning.
It wasn’t the silence that had followed my announcement that I would sing, or Kim Dokja’s refusal of the throne.
Every man in the Gwanghwamun area who had a strong-willed wife or girlfriend now looked at me with pure pity in their eyes.
And the Constellations were no different.
After several minutes of thoroughly venting their feelings on my back, the two women finally straightened up with expressions that said their anger had been somewhat soothed.
“Hah… I feel better now!”
“That should be enough reflection, right?”
“Of course. You don’t think he didn’t reflect, do you?”
“My body and my heart both hurt…”
The two of them beamed at each other. I was still writhing in pain right beside them, but they paid me no attention whatsoever.
“Pfft…! Heh… Serves you right, Park Jinwoo.”
Kim Dokja, who had been staring blankly at the scene, finally couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing. A few small laughs rose from among the many Incarnations as well, but they quickly died away.
Just then, Jung Minseob and Lee Seongguk stepped up beside Kim Dokja with quiet coughs.
“…Let’s pretend we didn’t see that. Anyway, sometimes the representative seems more like the protagonist than Yoo Joonghyuk.”
“Even Yoo Joonghyuk wouldn’t pull crazy stunts like this… wait, no—there’s someone even worse standing right next to her.”
Noticing the strange looks from the crowd, Yoo Sangah and Jung Heewon also cleared their throats softly and moved to stand beside Kim Dokja.
A faint flush of embarrassment and shame colored their faces, but they forced themselves to ignore it and spoke to Kim Dokja.
“No matter how the world changes, there are values we must never forget. I truly believe that.”
“You really went and caused another spectacular mess this time, Dokja-ssi.”
Right after the four of them, the groups of the King of Beauty and the Maitreya King stepped forward in front of Kim Dokja as well.
Thud!
Just like Jung Minseob, Lee Seongguk, Yoo Sangah, and Jung Heewon, they took their places at Kim Dokja’s side and spoke.
“We’ll help you—just this once.”
“According to Our Majesty’s Insight, your words carried conviction.”
“Huh…”
“G-Gung Ye…?!”
At the unexpected support from the two kings, Kim Dokja looked at them with a faintly impressed expression. Jung Heewon stared at Cha Sangkyung in shock and exclaimed “Gung Ye,” but let’s just move past that.
The Intermediate Dokkaebi, belatedly taking in the scene, snarled in an irritated voice.
【Look at these insects playing around. What are the rest of you doing? Drag Kim Dokja down right now and kill Park Jinwoo!】
Waaaaaaaaah——!!
As if the Intermediate Dokkaebi’s words had been the spark, people hungry for the throne and people hungry for my coins charged all at once.
“Those eighty thousand coins are mine!!”
One man with apparently high Agility stats burst out of the crowd and sprinted straight at me.
Whether I was lying on the ground or not didn’t seem to matter to him. His mindset was clearly “just kill him.”
“What a mannerless bastard. Attacking a poor guy who’s face-down on the ground getting rained on?”
Thud!
I shot to my feet and appeared right in front of the man’s nose. His face twisted in shock as I seized him by the throat.
“Ghk?!”
“You idiot. Do you know why the sponsorship money from the Constellations and the bounty scenario reward on my head are so high?”
Crunch!
“It means I’m worth that much, you moron.”
I snapped the man’s neck on the spot, issuing him a high-pass ticket straight to the afterlife, then shoved the corpse aside and glared at the people still charging toward me.
The ones who’d been targeting me hesitated, clearly rattled that I’d killed someone in an instant.
“What, not coming? If you won’t come to me, I’ll come to you.”
I charged the crowd while shooting a sidelong glance at what Kim Dokja was doing.
At that exact moment, Kim Dokja had climbed the steps of the Absolute Throne and come to a stop right in front of it.
“That’s the Sainchamsageom!!”
I didn’t know who shouted it, but someone looking at Kim Dokja standing before the Absolute Throne cried out.
Then Kim Dokja raised the Ganpyeongui high before the Absolute Throne.
The special option of the ‘Ganpyeongui,’ ‘Echo of the Stars,’ has been activated.
“I will call the Constellations by name.”
As Kim Dokja’s words rang across Gwanghwamun, the raindrops falling over the area seemed to slow.
…So this is the Ganpyeongui.
I could feel the gazes of the Constellations high in the sky turning toward Gwanghwamun.
A heavy pressure unlike anything usual settled over the place.
Kim Dokja glared right back at the Intermediate Dokkaebi that was staring daggers at her and spoke.
“I desire the Seven Star Lords of the Big Dipper.”
The movement of the stars begins.
Stars that should have been hidden by the dark clouds began to shine brilliantly.
I stared up blankly at the seven radiant stars.
They were so beautiful, and yet they carried a strange, crushing pressure. All I could do was look.
Then Kim Dokja began calling the modifiers of the Seven Star Lords of the Big Dipper one by one.
“‘First Star Lord of the Big Dipper,’ Tanlang Star Lord.”
“‘Second Star Lord of the Big Dipper,’ Jumen Star Lord.”
“‘Third Star Lord of the Big Dipper,’ Lucun Star Lord.”
“‘Fourth Star Lord of the Big Dipper,’ Wenqu Star Lord.”
“‘Fifth Star Lord of the Big Dipper,’ Lianzheng Star Lord.”
“‘Sixth Star Lord of the Big Dipper,’ Wuqu Star Lord.”
As Kim Dokja named six of the Seven Star Lords of the Big Dipper, six stars in the constellation of the Big Dipper blazed even more brilliantly in the night sky.
She had called six Constellations. The backlash would hit her soon.
It’s a shame I can’t help her.
Unfortunately, this was something Kim Dokja had to endure entirely on her own. There was nothing I could do for her here.
Clang!
“Die!”
“This is starting to get annoying…”
People who didn’t know their place, blinded by coins, kept charging at me. Irritation was building.
Crunch!
“Ghk!?”
I snapped the neck of yet another idiot who lunged at me, then turned my eyes back toward the Absolute Throne.
Kim Dokja was already suffering the backlash—blood was streaming from her nose and mouth.
“Ugh…!”
She steadied her swaying body, raised the Ganpyeongui again, and opened her mouth.
“I desire the ‘Seventh Star Lord of the Big Dipper,’ Pojun Star Lord.”
The moment she spoke the final Star Lord’s modifier, every star of the Big Dipper in the night sky shone in perfect, complete brilliance.
Then Kim Dokja looked up at the constellation of the Big Dipper spread across the night sky and cried out.
“Star Lords of the Big Dipper! I wish to sever the ‘bond of the constellation.’ Lend me your sword.”
To anyone watching, Kim Dokja would have looked like a madwoman talking to herself.
“I know.”
Even to my eyes, that was exactly how she looked.
Kim Dokja wiped the blood running from her mouth and gripped the Sainchamsageom I had given her with both hands.
“This is not a fight against the master. It is simply cutting the bond of the constellation that connects the master and the object.”
What do I do? She really looks like someone who’s lost her mind…?
The people around us had started staring at the muttering Kim Dokja with strange eyes as well.
Whether she noticed or not, Kim Dokja simply kept speaking.
“That is for me to decide. Let us begin.”
Whoosh!
◈ The S+ grade item ‘Sainchamsageom’ evolves into the Star Relic ‘Sainchamsageom.’
The blade of the Sainchamsageom began to glow red-hot, then erupted into brilliant flames.
Every person who had been fighting in front of the Absolute Throne froze at the sight of those radiant flames and stared blankly up at Kim Dokja standing atop the throne.
“Huuup…!”
Kaaang!
The moment Kim Dokja swung the Sainchamsageom at the Absolute Throne, the people who had finally snapped out of it shouted at her.
“I-is she trying to destroy the throne?!”
“What are you doing? Stop her… stop her!”
Kang! Kang! Kaaang!
Kim Dokja swung the sword like a madwoman, again and again.
“Y-you bastard! At least die already!”
Whoosh.
“Ah, for fuck’s sake. I was enjoying the show.”
While I had been carefully watching Kim Dokja, more pests came to interrupt.
“Well, I’ve had my fun. Time to earn some coins.”
“What…?”
Slash!
I drew Barisada and cut down the people around me.
They died at a speed they couldn’t even perceive—eyes wide open as their heads separated from their bodies.
“You should have backed off while I was still being generous.”
Crack!
Under Kim Dokja’s relentless strikes, cracks finally began to spread across the body of the Absolute Throne.
Crack-crack-crack! Shatter!
The cracks swelled larger and larger until brilliant light surged from within them—and the Absolute Throne collapsed.
The blessing connected to the Star Relic ‘Absolute Throne’ has disappeared.
The Sub Scenario has been forcibly terminated.
The Bounty Scenario has been forcibly terminated.
An ‘Unknown God’ has noticed the anomaly in this world.
People stared blankly up at Kim Dokja as the system messages floated before their eyes, and the fighting stopped.
【You…! You insolent little insect who doesn’t know her place…!!】
The Intermediate Dokkaebi roared in fury at Kim Dokja, who had finally succeeded in destroying the Absolute Throne.
A black aurora began to swirl around Kim Dokja’s body. Her face twisted in agony as she dropped to both knees on the ground.
“Cough…! Cough…!!”
““Dokja-ssi!””
She was in so much pain she couldn’t even scream. Her face had gone deathly pale as she began coughing up blood. Yoo Sangah and Jung Heewon stared at her with worried eyes.
The Intermediate Dokkaebi seemed to find her suffering delightful. It smiled as it looked down at her.
【Keh-heh-heh. You didn’t actually think you could pull something this big and walk away unscathed, did you?】
“Aaaah…!!”
Then an anomaly swept across the dark night sky.
The Constellations high in the heavens had begun spending their Probability for the sake of a single person.
One by one, a festival of brilliantly shining stars unfolded, and we could only stare up at it in a daze.
Under the flood of Constellation messages, the Intermediate Dokkaebi stared blankly up at the constellations in the sky and muttered in confusion.
【Why…?】
“Why else, you Dokkaebi bastard.”
【Incarnation Park Jinwoo….】
I ignored the Intermediate Dokkaebi’s glare, walked over to the swaying Kim Dokja, and supported her as I spoke.
“Because it’s one hell of a story. That’s why.”
The Fourth Scenario is being forcibly terminated.
An unscheduled branch has occurred. Scenario settlement will take additional time.
I forced a mid-grade stamina recovery potion into the mouth of the pale woman still bleeding from her nose and lips, and whispered to her.
“You did well, Dokja.”