Chapter 189: I’ll Do What You Mentioned Last Time, Saintess.
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 189: I’ll Do What You Mentioned Last Time, Saintess.
Before the Holy Kingdom of Rubenia was recognized as a nation.
In a world where Gates popped out of thin air and Dungeons rotted the landscape, warping the very terrain.
A miracle descended.
'I shall ensure that no one may treat you lightly.'
It happened when monsters surging out of a Gate were about to devour the people.
A woman stood up, clutching a steel pipe she had scavenged nearby—and awakened.
It was the moment a Saintess was born.
—It’s a god! A god has descended!
—It is the Saintess!
A flash of lightning struck from the heavens, and a brilliant light enveloped her.
Everyone except the Saintess herself considered it a blessing; the Saintess, however, considered it a curse.
[A divine protection is bestowed. You are protected by %@(. You are removed from the gaze of @$@.]
At first, she thought it was all well and good since it was called a "protection."
But.
—...Why are you doing that?
—No, nothing... uh, what did you say?
As the true nature of that protection began to reveal itself, the Saintess felt a growing sense of isolation.
Even when she spoke her real name, people could not hear it. They couldn't even hear her aliases properly.
In desperation, she came up with the name 'Lilmay,' but Perkus was the only one who could hear it.
'No, it was only possible because Perkus was the one who came up with it.'
An alias meaning "Little Girl."
She remembered the moment Perkus, dressed in ridiculous clothes, had said, "Doesn't this sound hip-hop and cool?"
The loneliness of being unable to be called by her name by anyone.
Perkus was the one who had at least comforted her through that.
'A grateful person.'
However, that wasn't enough to dispel the loneliness the Saintess harbored.
Someone might ask, What’s the big deal about not having your name called?
But to her, it was a massive problem.
The fact that no one knew the last trace left to her by her parents.
The fact that, as a Saintess, she was never called by her name anyway.
These two things became deep scars carved into her heart.
'That’s why I wanted to meet him.'
In truth, the biggest reason the Saintess wanted to meet the Hero wasn't to tease him.
She was desperately curious to know how much of her name he could hear.
With that hope, she had met the Hero late at night as soon as she arrived in Korea and told him her name immediately, but...
—Did you say something?
—Oh, it’s nothing.
—Then I’ll continue. This is one of my heroic tales, but it’s also quite funny... I recently obtained something called a Brush Sword, and if I draw a dragon with it, it actually manifests... I’d really like to show you properly sometime later.
—Ah, yes.
The result was a failure.
Kim Min-su couldn't even hear her alias; he just tilted his head and continued his nonsensical rambling.
So, naturally, the Saintess had spoken her alias this time without any expectations.
Since she couldn't give her real name even if asked, she had adopted a "whatever happens, happens" attitude.
'It’s just a name.'
She still couldn't understand why she had to suffer like this over something so simple.
What kind of "protection" or "guardianship" was it to hide her name?
Having to introduce herself by her status rather than her identity felt more like a disgrace.
"Lilmay—"
Since it was a name she hadn't uttered in a long time, the Saintess spoke it clearly until the end.
"Lilmay... I couldn't hear anything after that."
"You... you can hear my name?"
"...? Yes, of course."
She heard the unbelievable.
Why did the words "I can hear your name" feel so overwhelming and moving?
It was a good thing she was wearing a veil; otherwise, she might have shown a truly unsightly expression.
"It's an alias."
The Saintess quickly continued speaking to hide her emotions.
As soon as she spoke, the awkward atmosphere that had settled the moment she stopped talking began to thaw.
"You use an alias too?"
The look on Baek Tae-yang’s face, which clearly said, Wait, why?, was hilarious.
How could a person be so transparent?
"Yes, for certain reasons."
"It's a bit, um..."
"It sounds like a rap name, doesn't it? The Pope gave it to me."
"I was just about to say it sounds incredibly divine and sophisticated."
Ahem.
At Baek Tae-yang’s reaction, the Saintess finally burst into laughter.
It wasn't so much that the situation was funny, but rather the sense of liberation from finally having someone hear her name.
"Aha, ahaha, ah... I'm sorry. It's just, well."
She pondered for a moment how much of the "reasons" she had mentioned earlier she should reveal.
Though he had heard an alias and not her real name, wasn't he the first person besides Perkus to do so?
Furthermore, based on everything he had shown so far, he was a person worthy of trust.
'Baek Tae-yang might be the Hero.'
It wasn't a completely impossible theory.
The revelation only said that the Hero and the Saintess would be together.
It never explicitly stated who the Hero was.
Kim Min-su, who couldn't even hear an alias, and Baek Tae-yang, who heard it perfectly.
If asked which of the two was closer to being a Hero, the answer was already decided.
"It's because of my protection."
The Saintess decided to trust Baek Tae-yang.
It might seem like a hasty judgment to reveal her protection just because he could hear an alias.
But if she couldn't even tell this much to the person who heard what no one else had heard for years...
It would be the same as saying there was no one in the world she could trust.
"Protection?"
"Yes."
You can let what I'm about to say go in one ear and out the other.
With that, the Saintess felt a sense of release as she began to pour out the stories she had kept buried deep inside.
+++++++++++
'I’m glad I came to see the Saintess.'
Lilmay.
The moment I heard that name, even if it was an alias.
================================
You have experienced an event that the protagonist was originally supposed to experience!
Due to your protagonist-like behavior, you have taken 5% of Kim Min-su’s share!
================================
My share, which hadn't shown any sign of moving, shot up instantly.
It was a value so high it made me wonder if simply hearing an alias was enough to warrant such an increase.
'Protected and removed from the gaze...'
My thoughts deepened as the Saintess continued to speak.
Whose "protection" was she under, and from whose "gaze" was she being removed?
The Saintess even mentioned that she had tried the same thing with Kim Min-su.
'Kim Min-su couldn't hear it, but I could?'
If we were talking strictly about protagonist share, his should have been higher.
There were more than a few suspicious points.
In a typical novel, the protagonist is naturally the one to pick up clues that lead to such important plot points.
But Kim Min-su hadn't even managed to button the first button, let alone find a clue.
'Why?'
Aren't the entities within a novel supposed to be open to the protagonist, Kim Min-su?
There was definitely something I was missing.
Something very important and core to the story.
'Is Chubby Ahn... not the god of this novel?'
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I got goosebumps as if struck by lightning.
It was a hypothesis that seemed to explain Chubby Ahn’s clumsy behavior.
The question of why Kim Min-su failed to perform properly despite all the support he received.
A single possibility that resolved all of it.
"Was my story that shocking?"
"Huh? Oh, no."
"Still, aside from that, I'm just an ordinary girl."
The Saintess said this while striking a cat-like pose, teasing me.
The mischievous side she showed when we talked about pranking Kim Min-su.
This must be her true self.
"Saintess, would it be possible for me to visit the Holy Kingdom as well?"
I stopped my musings and spoke up to test the possibility immediately.
Since these events took place in the Holy Kingdom, a visit was essential.
"Of course, you're welcome anytime."
"Then, would tomorrow be possible?"
The sooner, the better.
It might feel like I was rushing, but I couldn't help it.
'There’s more than one thing I need to check.'
Staying at Victory Academy only allowed me to wait for incidents to happen.
I was done with being passive and only becoming active when it was time to resolve a situation.
"Tomorrow? Um... well, it’s possible, but it seems my story gave you a big hint, Tae-yang?"
"Yes."
It gave me a very big hint.
I swallowed the rest of the sentence.
The Saintess pondered for a moment, then clapped her hands and leaned her face closer to mine.
"Then I’ll have to go with you. That’s the only way you can go as early as tomorrow."
Is that okay?
I nodded at her follow-up question.
"Then I’ll head out first to get ready."
"Alright."
"Oh, and."
"Yes?"
Just before leaving the room.
I turned around to look at the Saintess.
"I’ll do what you mentioned last time."
"What?"
"Pranking Kim Min-su. I want to participate actively."
"I'm glad we're communicating so well today, Tae-yang."
"I feel the same way."
With those words, I left the room.
I organized my thoughts as I walked down the hallway.
'Now that I think about it, it was like that.'
When I first met Chubby Ahn, the bastard was incredibly flustered.
He looked like he couldn't believe I had become 'Baek Tae-yang,' saying it shouldn't be like this and that some kind of error had occurred.
Come to think of it, there were many strange things.
Why would someone who wants a Kim Min-su harem more than anyone else introduce a character like 'Baek Tae-yang'?
The correct choice would have been to keep 'Baek Tae-yang' sealed forever, as per the original description.
But I had thrived as Baek Tae-yang and stolen Kim Min-su’s women.
'It makes no sense for a novelist to be unable to write their novel however they want. If an author wants to, they can drop a meteor and end the story in the very next chapter.'
Even if a separate god of the novel world existed, protecting someone from the author, the creator?
That was also nonsensical.
'Chubby Ahn is just a writer who writes the text... his actual power isn't that strong.'
The status of Chubby Ahn, which had seemed insurmountable, was gradually diminishing.
The Holy Kingdom.
'The clue is there.'
Everything existed in that place.