Chapter 117
Chapter 117
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 117
Chapter Title: Boss, Uninvited Guest, and...
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Dimension Gate-possessing signatory nations shall not directly or indirectly transfer to any party the rights to any other dimension gates, dimensional magic, or dimensional anchoring devices.
『Dimensional Gate Non-Proliferation Treaty – Article 1』
***
Yeomyeong found the dormitory bed uncomfortable.
Lying on the plush mattress with his eyes closed, sleep evaded him, replaced by unwelcome thoughts flooding his mind.
Was it because the bed didn't suit his body? No, that wasn't it.
The top-grade mattress and the linens laundered weekly by the dorm supervisors were impeccable.
Yet paradoxically, that very comfort made Yeomyeong uneasy.
The more at ease his body felt, the more his mind yearned for the rundown lodging from his cleanup crew days.
The damp floor rising with moisture, the cheap vinyl flooring, the stained wallpaper bearing the marks of time, and the ceiling sporadically dotted with mold.
Compared to the academy dormitory, it was little more than a dump, but Yeomyeong... no, Shoe Dung Guri missed that place.
The threadbare blanket spread on the floor.
The mischievous pranks of his cleanup crew brothers.
The mountains of books piled in the shift leader's room.
The documentaries on the TV scavenged from the dump...
All those irrecoverable daily routines now flickered as poignant memories.
He tossed and turned in bed for a long while.
Suddenly, it hit him: the shift leader had been a devotee of the black god Mordak.
Like most followers of the Five Gods, he had adored the Saintess.
To be precise, it was the previous Saintess, but he probably would have liked the current one too.
No, he definitely would have.
Who wouldn't like her? That clumsy, honest, kind-hearted Saintess.
Even without being a follower of the Five Gods, any normal person would have no choice but to love her.
'...Any normal person.'
With that thought, Yeomyeong sat up in bed.
The room was plunged in deep darkness, proving everyone else was asleep. The only sound was Baonic's snoring.
Should he try to sleep again now?
Yeomyeong hesitated briefly, then leaned back against the wall instead.
And resumed his thoughts about the Saintess.
More precisely, he recalled the precognition she had shown him.
'...One year, or maybe two years in the future.'
She hadn't shown it outwardly, but the vision the Saintess revealed had been shocking.
Blood and fire, corpses and ashes.
Not content with slaughtering all the National Assembly members, they burned down all of Yeouido.
How exhilarating... yet disappointing a sight.
He had only glimpsed a moment through the precognition, but Yeomyeong was certain.
'Seti's plan went awry.'
If things had gone according to her plan and they'd swept away the key government figures, there would have been no reason to burn Yeouido.
They'd have been too busy torching Cheongwadae where the president resided, the government offices, especially the ones secretly running the Cleanup Guild...
What on earth happened in that future for Seti and him to massacre countless civilians and wage full-scale war against Korea?
And above all, why was his future self...
'Just the same.'
The Saintess hadn't noticed, but Yeomyeong knew. Because it was him, no one else.
His future self was no better than his current one.
At best, his hair was a bit longer, and he'd grown a little taller.
The mana within his body, his muscles, even his aura—all unchanged, un grown.
Especially glaring were the traces of the Comet Sword left on the corpses of the dead assemblymen.
The depth of martial arts felt there was, if anything, inferior to his current self.
As if he'd regressed.
'...What the hell happened in the future?'
He wanted to rush to the Saintess right then and beg her to show him the future again, but precognition wasn't omnipotent.
There was no guarantee she'd see a similar future, and above all, her stamina was the issue.
After the vision and leaving the break room, she could barely walk on her own.
She brushed it off as nothing, but it was obvious. At least a few days... to recover her mana and stamina.
"...Haa."
He clutched his complicated head and stood from his seat.
Frustrated enough to swing his sword, but time didn't permit it.
Thinking to at least drink some water, Yeomyeong picked up the water bottle on the small table beside his bed.
And just as he was about to pour it into a cup.
The water pouring from the bottle froze in midair.
Not magic, not an illusion—literally stopped.
"..."
It was bizarre, but Yeomyeong turned his head without a hint of surprise.
Because from beyond the room's darkness came a familiar footstep.
Soon after, from the darkness filling the room, something familiar peeked out slyly.
Rippling shadows over a dress-like cascade of darkness.
Yeomyeong called its name in a sigh-mingled voice.
"...Mignium."
***
『My chosen one, this is our first meeting in reality.』
The moment he heard Mignium's words, Yeomyeong's spine chilled.
Her voice was far too familiar.
The problem was, it wasn't Mignium's original voice... but identical to Seti's.
"That voice... what the hell did you do?"
Yeomyeong glared into the darkness with eyes mixed with rage and fear.
All the worries filling his head vanished at once, replaced by the worst assumption pounding his heart.
"...Answer me. Mignium."
Mignium laughed soundlessly.
『I can answer as much as you like. But I wonder if the First would want that.』
"...The First?"
『The first to offer her fate to you.』
With that cryptic exchange, Mignium took another step forward.
Click.
The darkness writhed, and the moonlight illuminating the window fled in terror.
As she approached right under his nose, part of her face hidden beneath the deep shadow revealed itself.
"..."
Yeomyeong was speechless. Forgetting to breathe, he stared at Mignium's face with trembling eyes.
『Your reaction surpasses my imagination. Most satisfactory. To think choosing the sheep over the tree and the fox first was the right answer.』
Mignium giggled sweetly. With Seti's voice, Seti's face.
Unconsciously, Yeomyeong reached out and touched Mignium's cheek.
The soft warmth of her skin traveled up his fingers—a sensation impossible in dreams, pure reality.
"How...?"
『Hear that from the First as well. I am a merciful master, honoring the servant's first.』
Only then did Yeomyeong realize 'the First' referred to Seti.
"The first to offer her fate...?"
Muttering the words brought back the orb of light from Manchuria and the Saintess's recent claim of seeing Seti's future.
Were all these coincidences? Or...
Yeomyeong swallowed hard. An inexplicable emotion piled in his chest, his throat parched.
Seeing that, Mignium's lips curved up.
『Have you figured it out? Your first fate...』
Just as she spoke, the darkness filling the room quivered slightly.
『...Oh dear, I've wasted what little time I have again. It's always like this when I meet you.』
"..."
Mignium stepped back, concealing herself in the darkness once more.
Only the swaying shadow of her dress hem and her Seti-like silhouette proved she wasn't a dream.
『My time is limited, chosen one, so without reserve, my advice to you...』
For some reason, Mignium's words didn't finish.
She suddenly fell silent, perking up her ears as if listening to someone.
After a brief eerie silence.
Mignium broke it with a joyful voice.
『...Oh, how touching.』
"Mignium, what the hell have you been talking about?"
『The plan has changed. Chosen one, not advice—a gift for you.』
Mignium, beaming with delight, waved her hand.
Then Yeomyeong's personal bag under the desk opened, and something hidden deep inside floated into the air.
A small box locked with double, triple locks.
As Yeomyeong watched silently, the box opened, revealing its contents.
A vial of potion shimmering with iridescent light.
'...Awakening Potion.'
The rare elixir that could turn an ordinary person into a mana user with low probability—the very reason the Korean government offered their citizens' corpses to the necromancer.
A trophy he'd seized from ambushing the necromancer and government official in Incheon. He'd kept it to exchange for other elixirs later...
Why this, all of a sudden?
As Yeomyeong's eyes narrowed, Mignium drew the potion to herself and asked.
『Chosen one, what do you think is most necessary for pleasure?』
An invisible force uncapped the vial, releasing a fresh, invigorating herbal scent.
『The answer... is power. Overwhelming power.』
She declared with utter conviction, and Yeomyeong couldn't refute.
The reason he'd altered fate so far was the talent Mignium granted and the power born from it.
『Thus, at this moment, to sweep away all worries and obstacles hindering our pleasure, I grant you more power.』
Before Yeomyeong could refuse, Mignium abruptly thrust her hand into her own chest.
A sudden, unstoppable strike.
Fortunately or unfortunately, from between Seti's pert breasts flowed not blood, but darkness.
Moments later, Mignium extracted three gems from the gash in her chest.
Yeomyeong frowned at the gems, shining as brilliantly as the Awakening Potion.
Though varying in size, all pulsed with the same mana.
No one else's—Seti's mana.
"No way..."
『Exactly that. These are all the First's potentials. What Earthlings call martial arts, divinity, and magic, respectively.』
"..."
The uncapped Awakening Potion and the gems symbolizing Seti's potentials.
Yeomyeong anticipated what came next and moved immediately.
Sure enough, Mignium tried to drop the gems into the potion.
But just before they entered, Yeomyeong barely grabbed her hand.
"...What the fuck are you doing?"
『Can't you see? Granting you potentials.』
"By stealing Seti's? Bullshit."
Yeomyeong growled, but her smile didn't fade.
『Really not needed? Even though it's the easiest way to change the future you saw?』
Mignium whispered temptingly.
As if she knew exactly the worries that had gripped his mind moments ago.
『Don't agonize—just take them all. Everything of the First is yours.』
"..."
『Her innate potentials, the emotions boiling in her heart, every breath she exhales, every strand of hair... all of it.』
Yeomyeong didn't answer.
Such cheap temptation couldn't sway him; Seti meant too much.
He snatched the three gems from Mignium's hand and returned them to Seti's chest.
First, the largest gem brimming with storm-like violent mana, then the mid-sized one shrouded in darkness like Mignium, slotting them back into the chest wound one by one.
And as he went to return the smallest last...
Mignium's foot swept his leg.
Thwack!
A kick so powerful his legs lifted into the air.
A flawless Flying Leg Art, needing no explanation.
"...!?"
Before Yeomyeong could fall on his ass, Mignium—no, Seti—snatched the gem from his hand.
She dropped it straight into the Awakening Potion. Plop—the sound of the gem sinking echoed vividly in Yeomyeong's ears.
He glared up at her from the floor where he'd landed on his butt, but Mignium shook the vial without a word.
Continuously, until the gem dissolved completely.
"Hey! Hong Seti!"
By the time Yeomyeong scrambled up and grabbed her wrist, the gem was gone without a trace.
"You really..."
He tried to say more, but Mignium permitted no further words.
With a gesture, the surrounding darkness thickened, binding his body and sealing his mouth.
『I'd love to watch this delightful scene longer... but alas, time's up.』
With a voice thick with regret, Mignium handed him the potion.
『Power is pleasure, so from now on, keep pursuing even greater power.』
『My chosen one.』
***
Crash!
The water bottle fell from midair and shattered with a dying wail.
"What, what is it?"
Startled by the sudden noise, Baonic—who'd been snoring moments ago—bolted upright.
He blinked around the room with half-lidded eyes, then spotted Yeomyeong standing in the darkness.
The potion emitting an eerie glow and Yeomyeong's serious face gazing down at it.
Baonic stared for a moment, then flopped his head back onto the bed.
Whatever it was... best not to get involved.
He erased Yeomyeong, the potion, and the rippling darkness beyond the window from his memory.
Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.
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