Chapter 18. After Amnesia Comes...... A Prophet?
Chapter 18. After Amnesia Comes...... A Prophet?
Chapter 18. After Amnesia Comes...... A Prophet?
"Haneul-ah, are you sleeping? Even your sleeping face is a true treasure to humanity. So-hee-unni, you're recording this on silent mode so there's no shutter sound, right? I'm going to print these out and wallpaper the bedroom ceiling with them, so don't miss a single shot."
"Of course, Sia-yang. I've already locked the focus on Haneul's moist lips in 4K. I'm going to use this as the main page for the private photo book I'm making titled 'The Secret Private Life of the Amnesiac Pretty Boy'."
2:00 AM.
Confinement...... no, the 3rd day of "special state protection."
I felt the hair on my entire body stand on end as I listened to their chilling conversation from behind my eyelids, which I had kept shut while pretending to sleep.
It seems these women don't even intend to hide it anymore.
This madness, where they observe my every move under the guise of protection and even check my breathing rate while I sleep.
A moment later, a cool, soft sensation touched my forehead.
It was Seraphina's touch.
A subtle scent of lilies pierced my nose.
"Fufu, I need to inject a little bit of my holy power even while you sleep so your body reacts to my scent and magic first, right? According to the latest American psychological report, brainwashing is most effective when imprinted on the subject's subconscious during sleep. Haneul-gun, you must call only my name even in your dreams, okay?"
No, since when did the American psychological community become a criminal organization?! Please, let me sleep, you women!
Where are my human rights!
This isn't protection, it's livestock farming!
I eventually tossed and turned as if in distress, muttering "Ugh......," and managed to fend her off.
Only after they let out sighs of disappointment and closed the bedroom door did I wipe away my cold sweat and secretly turn on the tablet hidden in the nightstand.
How long must I live under the threat of losing my chastity in a den crawling with these hyenas and pythons?
There's a limit to pretending to have amnesia.
These women were trying to reconstruct my "false memories" to their liking and make me their exclusive property.
As I grumbled and checked the date in the corner of the screen, my eyes widened.
'Wait, what's today's date? Late March, 20XX......?'
Even though my knowledge of the original story had become tattered, one massive, blood-red event flashed through my brain among the fragments.
The second main event of the original story.
The catastrophe where dozens of [Gates] opened simultaneously in the middle of downtown Seoul, turning the capital into a sea of blood, known as the [Seoul Great Raid].
In the original story, this event was literally "hell" itself.
Usually, the location of a [Gate] is predicted by detectors before it appears, but this event was different.
Without any warning, over 400 [Gates] erupted simultaneously in crowded areas like Gangnam, City Hall, and Hongdae.
I still remember it.
The horror depicted in the 2D images on the screen.
The [Hunter Association], unprepared for the sudden event, was in disarray; civilians were torn apart by monsters in the streets, and men were dragged away by monsters while screaming.
The roads were soaked in blood, and buildings collapsed.
But the real tragedy wasn't the monsters.
It was that "thing" that fell from the middle of the sky after all the [Gates] were cleared.
'[Artifact].......'
In this world, an [Artifact] wasn't just some high-performance equipment.
It wasn't an object from Earth.
It was a relic imbued with the laws of a higher-dimensional world beyond the [Gates] that we couldn't comprehend.
A treasure among treasures that dropped with an astronomical probability when clearing [Gates].
It was the crystallization of over-technology whose structure couldn't even be grasped by modern Earth's science.
The real reason [Artifacts] were treated as treasures was because of the "unique ability" contained within them.
For [Hunters] in this world who could only possess one unique ability per person, an [Artifact] was like a cheat key that granted a "second skill" or "third power."
It wasn't just a matter of doubling or tripling one's combat power; it was like a fragment of a god that changed the very status of one's existence.
When this [Artifact] appeared in the original story, Seoul turned from a monster's den into a battlefield for [Hunters].
Why, you ask?
Just the appearance of an [Artifact] was enough to make greed uncontrollable, but the one that appeared this time happened to be a ring-shaped [Artifact], which had the highest rarity.
The [Hunter Association] tried to intervene, claiming, "This is a national emergency, so the Association will recover it and decide the owner after evaluating contributions," but the private guilds and individual [Hunters] who had fought for their lives weren't just going to watch that happen.
"This came from a [Gate] that our guild members bled to clear!"
"No, our team leader found it first! The Association, get out of here!"
In that chaos, [Hunters] turned their blades on each other, and in the end, the [Artifact] was lost without ever falling into anyone's hands, leaving behind only countless casualties.
A futile ending brought about by the greed of [Hunters].
In the original story, Sia was just a weak character who could only watch the tragedy while catching a few small-fry monsters, crying over her own helplessness.
However.
'The Sia of now isn't that fledgling from the original story.'
Monsters who far surpass the power balance of the original story are already positioned by my side.
World-class [Hunter] Sia, the American [Saintess] Seraphina, and So-hee-unni, whose tactical value is infinite.
The knowledge of the original story is already shattered anyway.
The future I know is no longer the correct answer.
If so, wouldn't the best move be for me to secure that treasure—which would have been lost in the original story—and turn it into a "real means" to protect my body from these crazy women?
I immediately started acting on the bed.
"Ugh......! My, my head......!"
As I clutched my head, grabbed the bedsheets, and twisted my body as if in pain, they, who had been waiting outside the door, sprang in like springs.
"Haneul-ah! What's wrong? Are your memories returning? Then my passionate...... or does it hurt somewhere?!"
"Haneul-gun! Is it a rejection reaction due to a lack of holy power? I'll immediately use my 'mucosal contact'...... no, I'll inject my magic power!"
These women, I'm telling them I'm in pain, but they're adding their own selfish desires in the middle of their lines?!
"N, no......! That's not it......! I see something! Suddenly in my head...... like a vision of the future......!"
I stared into the void with unfocused eyes, trembling like an aspen tree.
The so-called [Secret Technique: Brainless Prophet Cosplay].
"A week from now...... downtown Seoul...... the sky will split like a glass window, and countless monsters will pour out. Countless people will die...... and the city will burn......."
"A prophecy......? Haneul-ah, were you a [Prophet] all along? First amnesia, and now a [Prophet]...... Haneul-ah, don't tell me you're lying......."
As Sia looked at me with suspicious eyes, I cast the most important bait.
"And...... in the middle of that blood-soaked battlefield, a dazzling silver ring will fall from the sky. For some reason...... for some reason, I'm certain that the moment I see the person who finds that ring and gives it to me, I will fall into eternal love with them......!"
At that moment.
I had the illusion that the temperature in the room had instantly dropped below freezing.
Sia's eyes were burning with golden lightning, enough to scorch the space around her, and Seraphina's holy power filled the room like a sun on the verge of a meltdown.
So-hee-unni's camera had already switched to "Wedding Photo Shoot" mode.
"Don't worry, Haneul-ah. That ring is already reserved for your ring finger. I'll cut down every obstacle in that place and put it on your finger myself."
"I will divert all American spy satellites to the skies over Seoul. I'll snatch that ring before it even touches the ground and make it our wedding gift."
"Haneul-ah, I won't miss the shutter chance the moment you put that ring on. Get ready for the best kiss scene of your life."
'I said I'd feel like falling in love, I didn't say I'd marry you?!'
Look at the eyes of those women; they look like they've already booked the wedding hall and named the kids!
One week later. Gwanghwamun Square, Seoul.
The peaceful sky split with a sharp, tearing sound, as if a giant mirror were shattering.
Dozens, no, hundreds of [Gates] opened their mouths simultaneously, and monsters began to pour out from within.
Citizens screamed and ran away, but I was leisurely chewing popcorn.
"Haneul-gun, please don't come out of here. I will clean up those bugs within 3 minutes."
Seraphina opened her Bible and burned with determination.
In the original story, it was a "Great Raid" that claimed thousands of victims, but the situation is a bit different now.
Because three of the world's strongest [Hunters] were blinded by the single-minded obsession of "obtaining the ring and winning Haneul's love."
"Move aside, Sia-yang! That Ogre is my offering!"
"Shut up! Anyone who blocks my path, whether it's a monster or a [Saintess], I'll cut them all down!"
"[Shadow Armor]!"
A slaughter took place in downtown Seoul on a sunny afternoon.
Ah, of course, I mean targeting the monsters, not the citizens.
Sia's obsession cut through the forest of buildings, slicing monsters in two with a single strike, and Seraphina's holy light became a spear of judgment falling from the sky, erasing the [Gates] entirely.
So-hee-unni moved like a shadow, cutting off the breath of monsters others had missed.
From the monsters' perspective, this must be a true catastrophe.
'Actually, at this rate, isn't the story already finished, regardless of the final boss......?'
I marveled at the overwhelming firepower that I would only expect to see in the final stages of the original story, but in the end, I felt a bit gloomy at the fact that their madness was directed solely at me.
No, let's cheer up, Park Haneul.
This ring [Artifact] is a super-rare [Artifact] that wasn't even revealed in the original story, right?
It must definitely contain some fraudulent ability!
'It's coming.'
The dimensional compression phenomenon that occurs when all [Gates] are forcibly closed.
The treasure formed as that pressure gathered at a single point.
Now, it was floating in the air, emitting a subtle light.
It was that [Ring Artifact] that [Hunters] killed each other for in the original story.
"It's mine!!"
"I grabbed it first!!"
"My shadow slaughtered the most monsters!!"
While they were colliding and bickering in the air, claiming to be the number one contributor, I put down my popcorn, snuck over, and snatched the ring that was floating in the air.
The heavy touch of metal.
And the mysterious heartbeat flowing through my fingertips.
'Yeah, it's an [Artifact] whose ability wasn't even revealed after reading the original story over 10 times; it must definitely have an incredible power, right?'
With a trembling heart, I put the ring on my left ring finger.
And at that moment.......
Flash—!!!
"W, wha......? W, what is this?!"
I knew that even Excalibur, classified as a national treasure-level [Artifact], or the Holy Grail, had never shown such a flashy impact!
It wasn't just a level of shining.
Along with the auditory hallucination of a majestic hymn sounding as if thousands of choirs were singing in the sky, a dazzling white radiance erupted from my body like a fountain.
The entire Gwanghwamun Square was dyed white.
As the light slowly subsided, the surroundings became chillingly quiet.
They stopped bickering and stared at me blankly.
Citizens who had stopped running and were holding their smartphones.
And even the [Association] [Hunters] who had arrived late.
Everyone began to kneel, looking at me with bewitched expressions.
"Ha...... Hallelujah!"
"It's an angel...... a real angel has descended to earth......!"
Some shed tears of worship, and others desperately pressed their shutters to capture this historic scene.
'W, what. Why is everyone like this? Is there something on my face?'
I wondered and checked my reflection in the building's glass window.
And I froze right there.
Behind my back, soft, white wings like down feathers were elegantly spread, and a [Halo] emitting a subtle golden light was floating above my head.
The ring's ability...... I don't know exactly what it is yet, but at least the visuals were at a level that could dominate humanity.
"Hey...... everyone, please lift your heads...... Eek?!"
I saw Sia drooling at the mouth while looking at me, So-hee-unni pressing the shutter with a crazed smile even while having a nosebleed, and Seraphina throwing her Bible to the ground and rushing toward me, shouting, "My Lord!"
In their eyes, there was now a "religious madness" that went beyond simple obsession.
"W, what is this~! Why is the ring's ability like this~!!! Save me!!!"
I, Park Haneul.
As of today, my chastity crisis level has been upgraded from "National Level" to "Sacrosanct Level," and I have become the target of all humanity.
'Please, someone help me~!!!'