Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: There Is No Teacher for Fate
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Disciple, I am afraid.
What are you so afraid of, Master? That lord saved us.
Think about it. If there's one who saved the world out of love, wouldn't there be one who would burn it down out of hatred?
*Excerpt from the British Museum's collection: Stele for a Young Dragon*
***
Baonic's eyes snapped open with a jolt.
The first thing to greet him was the darkness, reeking of a nauseating stench.
...Where am I? Why am I in a place like this?
He clutched his throbbing head, desperately trying to recall what had happened.
Right up until he passed out, he had definitely been...
Tailing Cheon Yeomyeong and Seti to film them obtaining the hidden piece.
And then the tail got made, and he was making excuses...
"You're finally awake."
A sudden voice rang out. Baonic jumped in surprise and scrambled up from the floor.
"...Ch-Cheon Yeomyeong?"
Right beside him, Cheon Yeomyeong came into view, holding a small flashlight.
His appearance was no different from before he blacked out. Neat school uniform, tidy hair, face that didn't reveal much emotion.
He looked like the protagonist of a teen drama, but the problem was the vibe.
With his golden eyes half-lidded and mouth shut tight, Yeomyeong's demeanor felt... indescribably ominous.
Baonic swallowed hard and asked.
"Um, Yeomyeong? Where the hell are we...?"
"...Dig through your memories. You've seen this place before."
"..."
"Don't remember? The burrow next to the shelter."
The very burrow the terrorists had dug, from which zombies had poured out in droves.
Only then did Baonic realize why the surroundings felt so familiar.
"Wh-why'd you bring me to a place like this? Is this some kind of... j-joke?"
Yeomyeong didn't answer. He kept his mouth shut and stared at Baonic's face for a moment before tilting his head crookedly and speaking.
"Baonic, I gave some thought to the excuse you made."
...Excuse?
'Ah, that.'
Right before losing consciousness, when Cheon Yeomyeong had asked why he was tailing them, Baonic had claimed it was for money, to sell the photos.
"The more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed."
"..."
"I saw in a documentary that the Lerak family is pretty wealthy. They own farms bigger than the Korean Peninsula alone... So it didn't make sense that you, from that family, would be short on cash."
Baonic bowed his head to hide his flustered expression.
"It's not like you're short on tuition, and there's no reason you'd need extra money at the academy. So what exactly were you short on money for?"
"...That's..."
In that brief moment, Baonic racked his brain for lies and excuses. But he couldn't voice a single one.
To cover a lie that's already exposed, you need an even bigger lie.
Without knowing how much the other side had figured out, any other lie would just lead to a bigger trap.
In the end, Baonic couldn't open his mouth for a while.
As his mind spun in the silence, Yeomyeong's eyes grew even colder.
"Remember what I said?"
"..."
"That if you're honest, I'll forgive you."
Yeomyeong slowly raised his hand and placed it on Baonic's shoulder. A hand that was neither light nor heavy.
But as a superhuman, Baonic could sense it. The faint ripple of mana in his hand, and the intent contained within.
The moment Baonic's lips went dry, Yeomyeong declared.
"This is your last chance."
Baonic looked up at him with bewildered eyes and swallowed before speaking.
"Ca-causing harm to another student is a violation of school rules."
"...I know."
Yeomyeong gave a faint smile. No, it was more like forcing the corners of his mouth up.
"Wh-what the hell are you doing to me? I really was just trying to take pictures..."
Baonic repeated himself to buy time. The next instant, the smile vanished from Yeomyeong's lips.
"...That's not an answer to my question."
"..."
Fuck. Baonic involuntarily averted his gaze.
In that brief moment, he had read the emotion rising in Yeomyeong's golden eyes.
The same thick, viscous killing intent he had glimpsed from Hong Seti in the dumpster.
'Fuck, how much does he know? Everything? Or just suspicion?'
Baonic chose his words carefully. Carefully, and even more carefully.
Even if a tiger bites you, keep your wits and you'll survive...
But Yeomyeong gave him no more time to think.
"Wait... Gahk...!"
A cold grip seized his throat.
"Kh, kkh..."
Immense force, like a hydraulic press, crushed his neck. Slowly, and surely.
Pain surged through his spine, and his lungs screamed.
No, I'm dying. Damn it, spare me.
Oxygen to his brain cut off, his mind clouded. All that remained was raw survival instinct.
"...! ...! ...!!"
Baonic flailed wildly, slapping at Yeomyeong's face, twisting his body.
But the pressure on his throat didn't ease; if anything, his consciousness faded faster.
Teetering on the border between life and death, a thought crossed Baonic's mind.
'What happens if I die here? Do I return to reality? Or just... like this...'
Is this the end?
Only then did the terror of death feel real. Fear and pain twisted Baonic's face.
He didn't want to die. Whether this world was a novel or reality, he wanted to live.
There were so many foods he hadn't tasted, pleasures he hadn't enjoyed, power he hadn't wielded.
Baonic poured every ounce of strength into his hands in utter desperation. He looked up at Cheon Yeomyeong with pleading eyes...
And raised both arms above his head.
A clear sign of surrender. The next moment, the pressure on his throat vanished.
"Hahk...!"
His airway opened, and foul-smelling air flooded his lungs. Baonic gasped deeply and collapsed backward.
"Cough, cough... F-fuck..."
He barely caught his breath and looked up.
All he could see on Yeomyeong's face, illuminated by the flashlight, were those chillingly glowing eyes.
Yeomyeong said nothing, did nothing, until Baonic regained his breath.
And as Baonic's breathing steadied.
Thud.
Yeomyeong tossed something at him. Shining the flashlight on it, he said.
A tattered notebook.
"Shall we have an honest talk now?"
It was a notebook Baonic knew well. How could he not? It was the one where he had compiled the original story of this world as he remembered it.
"Ha..."
He already knew everything. Baonic felt pathetic for all the mental gymnastics he'd been doing.
"...What do you want to know?"
He forced a hollow smile and asked Yeomyeong. A voice laced with resignation, yet clinging to a sliver of hope.
The fact that he hadn't killed him even after seeing it meant there was something he wanted to know.
"...I'll tell you everything I know."
"..."
"So please... spare my life. No, please, I beg you..."
Baonic steeled himself to confess everything and awaited the questions. He had no more will or stamina for this tug-of-war.
And the moment the next question came from Yeomyeong's lips.
He realized it was inevitable.
"Are you... reincarnated, or possessed?"
***
[This world isn't reality.]
The dead dung beetle remembered those words.
[Feels like the game I was playing, but maybe not. Could be comics, movies, novels, games... a franchise worldview branching out like tentacles.]
The words casually left by the 'Player' who had slaughtered his precious family and sneered vilely.
[Honestly, no big thought, but it suddenly hit me. What if there are other humans dropped into this world besides me?]
Whether the guy's words were true or false didn't matter.
The mere fact that the Player had said it was reason enough to remember.
Such tiny memories could be clues to tracking the Player.
But after hearing about 'fate' from Mignium and the Dwarf King...
A slightly different thought occurred.
What if parts of what he said were true?
[Like the writers of side-story novels outside the main worldview, or CF directors, whatever.]
If the guy really came from another world, and there were other beings from different worlds besides the Player?
At first—no, even just moments ago—it was just vague suspicion.
Frustration from failing to find the Player, birthing such doubts.
But the instant he read the notebook Baonic Lerak dropped, everything changed.
The notebook unfolded stories of past and future.
A mad necromancer and zombies assaulting the entrance ceremony, and the 'protagonist' stopping them.
The academy caught in terror, and the 'protagonist' teaming up with the saintess to thwart it.
And future tales involving Manju or the elf princess...
To an outsider, it would seem like Baonic's delusions, believable as such.
But Cheon Yeomyeong was different.
He intuited that the stories in the notebook were a form of prophecy, or the 'fate' the Dwarf King had spoken of.
At first, he couldn't even explain why he felt that way, but the more he read, the clearer it became.
'I... am the one who changed the stories in the notebook.'
From the necromancer to the terror.
The differences between the notebook's tales and reality were caused by no one else but him.
The dung beetle, or Cheon Yeomyeong.
He had killed the necromancer attacking the entrance ceremony.
Shown goodwill to the elf princess on the verge of despairing over Earthlings.
Saved Manju from his fated downfall.
Prevented the terror that should have killed countless first-years.
...How? The answer came easily.
The one who can change fate.
The words the Dwarf King, who handed him the imperial seal, had said.
Recalling them, Yeomyeong felt a shiver.
'This world has some kind of fate, and beings from outside like the Player already know it...'
Prologue, Academy Route... The Player's mad ramblings etched in memory connected with the notebook before him.
Suspicion turned to certainty, shiver to realization.
Faced with evidence he couldn't believe yet couldn't deny, Yeomyeong was speechless for a while.
But the shock didn't last. He had been through too much to waver over something like this.
No sooner had he sorted his thoughts than he returned to his usual self.
'Then the next issue is...'
How to use this fact.
Yeomyeong pondered as he looked at the unconscious Baonic Lerak.
'Like the Player, a being from another world...'
Reading the future plans in the notebook, he wasn't someone helpful to the world.
Not as strong as the Player, but his mindset was no different at its core.
A greedy, selfish bastard with no guilt over using others.
'...Should I kill him?'
Murder was the first thought.
Committing murder inside the academy would carry considerable risk, but that didn't mean he couldn't do it.
Kill or spare.
The deliberation dragged on. A dilemma he couldn't even share with Seti, so he pondered deeply, again and again.
Then, rereading the notebook, he found an unexpected memo.
[Cheon Yeomyeong
...Evidence that Baonic mistakes Yeomyeong for a being from another world like the Player.
Yeomyeong stroked his chin as he read it.
What if... he could use this misunderstanding?
He recalled the Player's words, eyes gleaming.
[People like that wouldn't come as game characters like me... How did they come? Possession? Reincarnation?]
***
"Are you... reincarnated, or possessed?"
The moment the question ended, Baonic's eyes trembled faintly.
Shock, certainty, and a thread of hope.
Complex emotions flashed beneath his eyes in an instant, but Yeomyeong didn't miss them.
"I, I'm... that... I... got possessed..."
An absurd confession. The kind anyone else would dismiss as a lunatic's ravings.
But Yeomyeong nodded calmly, as if he'd expected it.
And naturally, he lied.
"I'm a reincarnator."
* * *