Future War
“Has that girl still not woken up?”
“What about the lower floors?”
“Don’t worry and just rest.”
Dokja and I had climbed up to the rooftop of what used to be the Theater Dungeon.
I was keeping myself hidden somewhere out of sight, so to Lee Jihye it would look as though Dokja had come up alone.
“Our Master… will she be okay now?”
“She’ll be fine. There might be a little trauma left, though.”
“…Trauma?”
“That girl is a lot more fragile mentally than she looks. A good long sleep should help, so just hang in there a bit longer.”
“You talk like you know her really well.”
“I know her better than anyone else in the world.”
Honestly, that wasn’t wrong.
Dokja knew every regression Yoo Joonghyuk had gone through so far, and every one she still had left to go.
Was there anyone who could understand that woman the way Dokja did right now?
Dokja scribbled something on a memo, folded the paper, and held it out to Lee Jihye.
“Don’t read it. Just give it to Yoo Joonghyuk when she wakes up. Got it?”
“…Got it.”
Truth be told, I had no idea what was written on that memo.
I didn’t know what it said, or what kind of effect those words would have on Yoo Joonghyuk.
Still, it couldn’t be anything bad.
…Probably?
“…Hey, can I ask just one thing?”
“This morning, around dawn… Master and the lady…”
Should I go grab some popcorn now?
“I mean, the two of them…”
“What.”
“You know, earlier, the lady was all like…”
“Like what.”
Lee Jihye hesitated, then finally forced the words out.
“…We said we wouldn’t get caught up in that kind of sentimental crap!”
“Pffft—”
I had to hold it in. I absolutely had to hold it in.
If I lost it here, Dokja would kill me later.
“You… don’t have to go that far mimicking it…”
“The resolve you had the first time you… you know… did it! Have you already forgotten all of it?!”
Lee Jihye’s heavily abridged description made laughter leak out of me so hard I could barely keep it down.
“Do you even remember why I followed you in the first place?!”
“Why are you alone? We’re in this together!”
“Wait a second.”
“I’m always by your side! Don’t lose hope! Think of our child!”
“We never said anything like that—”
“Khup…!”
Not content with just omitting things, Lee Jihye was actively distorting them. In the end, the laughter escaped.
A large number of constellations are greatly shocked by the true nature of the filtering.
Constellation, ‘Lily Blooming in Aquarius’, is thoroughly enjoying this situation.
Constellation, ‘Secretive Plotter’, is dumbfounded.
Constellation, ‘Administrator of the Clock Head’, ticks in shock.
“S-so it really was that? The lady and our Master, they, um…”
“D-don’t you worry! I’ll make sure this love letter gets delivered!”
“You little—”
“Pwahaha! Ah… I really can’t hold it in anymore…”
“W-whoa! What the— Mister, when did you get there?!”
I finally gave up and decided to laugh out loud.
Lee Jihye was startled by my sudden appearance, of course, but that wasn’t the important part right now.
“M-my lord… pffft… I… r-respect your tastes, of course…”
“…Are you seriously joining in too?”
Even a novel wouldn’t go this far. The laughter just kept bubbling up.
Oh right. This was the original world of a novel.
“Hold on! But whose kid is it supposed to be?! Did you adopt?!”
“Ask Yoo Joonghyuk when she wakes up…”
Thoroughly wrecked, Dokja trudged off the rooftop with heavy steps.
I followed after her, still fighting to keep the corners of my mouth from climbing any higher.
As we went down the stairs, Dokja pulled out her phone, but to my eyes it only looked like a blank memo pad.
“My lord, what have you been looking at this whole time?”
“Hm? Oh, it’s nothing.”
She casually shoved the phone back into her pocket at my question.
Not long after, we arrived back at Chungmuro Station.
“Dokja-ssi, you’re back.”
Lee Hyunsung was there to greet us the moment we returned.
Dokja spoke with the others for a while, then came back over to me.
“Hayeon. I have a favor to ask.”
“If it is my lord’s command, I shall obey.”
“Hyunsung-ssi, Sangah-ssi, and I are heading to Myeongdong Station. While we’re gone, I need you to hold the fort here.”
“We might get hit with another raid like earlier while we’re away.”
“Understood.”
Dokja, Lee Hyunsung, and Yoo Sangah headed down to the tracks and set off.
Following her orders, I pried open a ceiling tile and hid myself in the dark space above, ready to stand watch over Chungmuro.
Given the nature of the Black Water, melting into the shadows for an ambush had far more advantages than facing anything head-on.
More than anything, it was just more comfortable this way.
I waited in the darkness.
You have occupied ‘Myeongdong Station’.
Once seized, a station cannot be taken again until either the Main Base is lost or the flag is stolen.
Current holdings: Chungmuro (Main Base), Myeongdong
A blue message window floated up in front of my eyes.
Just as I remembered, Myeongdong had been wiped out, and Dokja had claimed it.
She would be coming back soon, so I should start getting ready—
“…A voice?”
It wasn’t coming from below.
It was ringing inside my head.
But it was full of static, impossible to make out clearly.
Fable, ‘#@ulro !$ #eonaen #!@jae’, is attempting to bloom.
“A Fable…? What the hell is this now…”
A completely incomprehensible situation.
What was this voice suddenly ringing in my head, and what was this message that had just appeared?
“Park Hayeon! Where are you?!”
Dokja’s voice shattered my thoughts before I could dig any deeper.
Pop—
“I am here, my lord.”
“Ah, seriously! You keep popping out of nowhere like that…?”
“…Why do you look like that?”
My face must have hardened from what just happened. The moment she saw it, Dokja’s voice turned worried.
“It is nothing. I merely have a personal matter to think over for a moment. Please do not concern yourself.”
“…Alright.”
My unusually blank expression must have felt off to her; she didn’t press any further.
Soon after, she shared information about the King’s Road scenario with the rest of the group.
Even while the others exchanged opinions, I kept turning the earlier incident over in my mind.
That unidentified voice in my head. The Fable that had suddenly tried to bloom.
No matter how hard I thought, I couldn’t come up with a single plausible reason. My brooding stretched on.
“Hayeon, what do you think?”
“…Huh?”
“What, were you not listening?”
I’d been so lost in thought that I’d completely missed the conversation.
When I just nodded, Dokja sighed and filled me in.
“…So I’m thinking of giving Yoo Sangah-ssi one of the positions. What do you think?”
“If that is my lord’s will, then gladly.”
“Good. Sangah-ssi, could I borrow your hand for a moment?”
The instant Dokja took Yoo Sangah’s hand, a message window appeared before my eyes.
Chungmuro’s representative ‘Kim Dokja’ has transferred a portion of her authority to group member ‘Yoo Sangah’.
Group member ‘Yoo Sangah’ has become the Vice Representative of Chungmuro Station.
From now on, group member ‘Yoo Sangah’ may issue ‘Punishment’ to group members in the representative’s stead.
“I… is it really alright for me to take a position like this…?”
“I’m entrusting it to you because you’re Yoo Sangah-ssi.”
Meeting the group’s eyes full of trust, Yoo Sangah answered with a bright smile and a firm, resolute voice.
“I’ll… do my very best.”
“I’m counting on you, Sangah-ssi.”
Leaving the newly confident Yoo Sangah behind, we set off along the tracks once more.
The walk itself took a fair while, but chatting with the others made the time pass surprisingly quickly.
This time I was listening to Dokja and Jung Heewon talk as we walked.
“You two seem to have gotten quite close.”
“What, soldier-oppa? Jealous?”
“Ahem, ahem… It’s not that I…”
“I only mentioned it because it looks like we’ve arrived at Dongmyo Station.”
Just as Lee Hyunsung said, light was beginning to appear from the far end of the tracks.
But for all that brightness, there wasn’t a single person left in Dongmyo Station.
“Strange. Not even a single lookout.”
This station is already under occupation by ‘Dongmyo Station’.
If you wish to claim this station, seize the flag of ‘Dongmyo Station’ or occupy the flag stand first.
“Ah, no…! D-Dongdaemun… Dongdaemun Station is…!”
Kang Ilhun suddenly went into a fit, then slumped limp again.
Current status: Wanderer
“…It seems Dongdaemun Station has been taken.”
“A double trap, then…”
Just as Dokja said, this entire situation had been nothing but a snare.
They had goaded the Myeongdong and Dongdaemun groups into attacking Chungmuro, all so they could swallow both stations at once.
And now, Dongdaemun had already been devoured.
People began walking toward us from the opposite tracks.
“Oh? Kang Ilhun-ssi?”
“My, you’ve brought along quite a few useless hangers-on.”
“Are you people going to introduce yourselves?”
A sly-looking man covered in all sorts of items called out to us.
“We’re from Chungmuro.”
“Chungmuro?”
He stared at Dokja. Sparks flickered in his eyes, and then his face twisted into pure shock.
“Ah…?”
“…I’m sorry, but may I ask your name?”
Dokja stood still for a moment as if considering the question, then smiled and opened her mouth.
“I am Yoo Joonghyuk.”
Time for a little group fraud.