Chapter 233

〈 Chapter 233 〉 Part 1, Chapter 11, Section 3

Deokbae and I had finished part of our explanation.

There was still much more to explain, but way too many people looked like they were about to go insane with curiosity.

“Uh, only those who absolutely must ask a question, please raise your hand…”

No one put their hands down. I poured a bit more magic power into my voice.

“I said, only those who would die if they didn’t ask a question, keep your hand up.”

A few people reluctantly lowered their hands, but most still kept them raised.

“Well, looks like I have no choice. I’ll just call on a few people for questions.”

I immediately pointed at Gawein, who seemed the most eager among the Round Table members. Everyone’s attention turned to him.

“Hem.”

Gawein gave an awkward cough before asking me, “Is this Seongju person really our old nemesis, the ‘Whisperer in Darkness’?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm…”

Gawein paused for a moment. To explain the necessity of cooperation between the Blue Wind Sect, the Round Table, and the Heroes, I switched to the pre-prepared materials.

‘<Whisperer in Darkness>.’ That’s quite the long nickname, but his real name is something we can’t even pronounce. So instead, we call him Star Lord (Seongju). He’s also the mastermind behind the massacre by seven monsters in 1999 over about a week, known as ‘<The Bloody Week>.’

Additionally, the actual perpetrators of that incident were the officers, who were brainwashed. Yes, including me and the other officers. Those crazy rampaging officers ended up exhausting all their magic power and needed rest, so each fell into a deep sleep where they last went berserk. I, well, probably in magma?

I caused a Hawaiian volcano eruption, crossed the Pacific Ocean, fought Unjang in China after getting hit by a missile, and landed in Incheon.

Teaching Assistant No. 2, you sure do know how to summarize well. Though there are parts that feel a little uncomfortable. Anyway, the officers woke up after some time. Now, why didn’t the Star Lord act directly and instead fled? That has a deep connection to the first generation of the Round Table from before.

They say this group caught the Star Lord who came alone to Earth. The special ability user who later became known as the ‘Divine Spirit,’ Jeongui, inflicted heavy damage on the Star Lord. They destroyed the artifact that could summon a god from another world to destroy ours. What exactly that artifact was… is a secret. We’ll tell you when we trust each other more.

So because he feared retaliation, he ran away to recover via the Boatman, and instead opened a Dimensional Gate to send his officers. That’s the background and secret of the Round Table. A few years later, Gawein, left alone, established the current Round Table according to a prophecy to deal with the Star Lord’s return.

Also, to keep an eye on these officers. Though they probably didn’t expect one of the officers to break free from brainwashing and wander around.

* * *

“Hold on. Why are you adding unnecessary details? We were going to talk about that later.”

“So what? It’s better to tell everything upfront so people understand easier.”

“Alright then. No more additional questions. Next, Executioner Baek Hee-a.”

Upon being called, Baek Hee-a stood up, ready to ask her question. Confusion was still evident in her eyes.

“So, you’re trying to save the world… and did all those things in the process…?”

“Is that a question? Yes, it is. Now next-”

“Wait! That’s not what I wanted to ask!”

Baek Hee-a interrupted me and continued her question.

“If such a dangerous existence truly existed, why didn’t we know anything about it?! Seongju or whatever, Dark Legion or whatever, I’ve never heard of any of this!”

“Ah…”

Finally, I understood the confusion in everyone’s faces.

“You didn’t know?”

“Of course not!”

“…Gawein, wasn’t the Oracle’s ‘Prophecy’ supposed to be made public?”

“…Regarding the part about Seongju, it was kept completely secret. For good reason.”

“Wouldn’t the world fall apart if people knew the world would end in five years and five months?”

Deokbae shrugged. As expected from someone who occasionally mouths off to Ryu Cheonseong, he was shamelessly cheeky.

“Oh dear, fellow humans! We should all unite to stop Seongju! Isn’t that what you’d expect?”

“Of course! How could we sit idly while facing destruction?”

“Yeah.”

Deokbae pointed at me while countering Baek Hee-a’s statement.

“That’s what she says.”

“…One more question.”

Until now silent, Execution Officer Yu Yinghuo raised his hand. As the representative of the Association and a ‘high-ranking figure,’ he sharply questioned me.

“Why do you speak as if you already know the future?”

“What do you mean?”

“Hmm, how to put this… Logically hard to explain, but it feels like you’ve come from the future to the past.”

“Right, that feeling.”

I seized this opportunity to address something others might be curious about. Yun Yuhwa seemed slightly disappointed, but I began recounting the ‘setup’ I had prepared.

“I, Blazing Phoenix, returned to the past in 2025 after losing someone I loved.”

And thus began the big lie.

Everyone’s expressions changed dramatically.

* * *

In 2025.

The Round Table couldn’t even defeat the Dark Legion that surfaced, let alone the officers. The Earth became a battlefield between humans and monsters.

Amidst all this chaos, a glimmer of hope emerged. A man who would later be known as humanity’s hope visited Korean soil.

Ah, not me. Let’s call him <Priest>.

Priest set up base in Korea and built a massive force with the help of various special ability users. Priest himself was incredibly powerful, even more so than the current Head Enforcer here. To give you an idea, four C-Rank special ability users teamed up to take down one S-Rank monster—an officer.

Sounds fake, right? It’s true. And after capturing <Penril of Gale>, Priest’s group started taking down the officers one by one.

Azidahaka, Hydra, Karna.

After capturing the fourth officer in China, ‘Chaos Dragon,’ Priest’s group set out to find the sixth spirit.

Little did they know that the sixth spirit had been in Korea all along.

* * *

“The sixth spirit is Seoyea’s Rusalka, second generation, Seok Harang.”

“Glad to meet you all. <Rusalka of Seoyea>, second generation, Seok Harang.”

The heroes were shocked by Seok Harang’s true identity. Though they’d heard he was an S-Rank genius, they didn’t expect—

“Is Harang an alien?”

“No wonder he seemed strange since childhood.”

“No, that’s not true! Stop saying weird things. Technically, he’s half-alien, or rather, half-spirit!”

Seok Harang angrily corrected his species identity. To help those who didn’t understand that he was a water spirit, I explained while omitting sensitive information.

“Rusalka of Seoyea—Seok Harang’s mother—arrived in Korea without being able to sleep. A young man saved Seoyea when she collapsed in the East Sea. That young man successfully melted Seoyea’s icy heart and bore fruit in love—”

“That young man hooked up with a water spirit and Seok Harang is their child.”

Thud!

Jo Deokbae’s heart was pierced by ice shards and a golden sword. At the sudden murder, the heroes hurriedly rose, but I quickly revived Deokbae to calm them down.

“Blazing Phoenix Revival!”

“Ugh?!”

Deokbae was resurrected. The power of resurrection left the heroes pale.

“Monsters can revive. Anyway, Seok Harang inherited the powers of spirits. Both his parents passed away.”

“Ah…”

The atmosphere in the meeting room grew solemn. I nodded slightly in response to the silent gratitude of the three families.

Still, even so, it felt a bit rude to orchestrate a surprise family reunion in such a setting without warning.

“So, I awakened the second Seoyea, Seok Harang, as a spirit.”

“Then, why did you kill Hwakwon? Shouldn’t you have recruited Seok Harang as an ally? Why did you kill Master Hwakwon, his teacher?!”

Seung-hyeong of <Hwakwon> abruptly stood up. Though I hadn’t granted him the floor, everyone seemed curious.

“…Hwakwon possessed the power of the monster Rusalka. He was suppressing it to survive.”

“Only after Hwakwon died could Seok Harang awaken.”

Deokbae and I revealed only a small part of the truth. Those who knew the full story—especially one couple and Yun Yuhwa—remained silent, while the heroes began discussing with their neighbors.

“Then, did Hwakwon approach Harang intentionally…?”

“He might have tried to steal that spirit power. Ugh, that guy. Really.”

“Or maybe he genuinely intended to teach as a mentor. Perhaps he sought to guide Harang to become a hero instead of a villain.”

Various rumors flew, but I didn’t reveal the truth. Explaining that Hwakwon had the power of the monster Rusalka and that killing him was necessary for Seok Harang’s awakening would essentially be…

“Advertising that Seok Harang is Hwakwon’s daughter.”

That fact—if revealed—that Hwakwon, who lived as a lifelong bachelor, was actually married and had a child at twenty whom he placed in an orphanage, would come to light.

To preserve the dignity of the three families present, I allowed only Hwakwon to suffer a bit of reputational damage. Knowing his sins, he remained silent.

“Well, well, nothing unusual. Special ability users are all unique individuals, right? I’m just a little more special than others. I’m human.”

Seok Harang clapped his hands to emphasize his identity. Having spent more time living as a human than realizing his half-spirit nature, he was merely a human special ability user fully utilizing the power of a spirit.

“So, the group led by the priest awakened the final officer and spirit, <Blazing Phoenix>. However, even with that power, they couldn’t defeat the dark master behind Seongju—an interdimensional deity.”

I drew an arrow on the graph displayed on the screen.

“So, I returned to the past with knowledge of the future until 2025.”

I claimed to be a time traveler. This was far more convincing than saying I reincarnated into a game character from a previous timeline.

“<Blazing Phoenix> returned from the future to the past, breaking free of mind control but under certain restrictions, unable to use full power.”

“‘Full’?”

The expressions of those who had fought me once or experienced my power indirectly darkened. Especially the officers looked serious.

“If someone who can explode stars becomes even stronger, what happens…?”

“Don’t know. Just listen.”

“…Excuse me, Chief?”

Hikari raised her hand. Despite her youth, she confidently asked in her white coat.

“Yes, go ahead.”

“How did you return to the past?”

“…There’s this omnipotent thing, right? Something you were supposed to research.”

“WHAT?!”

Hikari screamed. Some knew about the Cube, others didn’t; some knew its limits and truths, others didn’t.

“So, I’ll explain the Cube now.”

After clearing my throat to gather everyone’s attention, I concluded my explanation.

The potential and dangers of the Cube.

Though I believe those here won’t greedily pursue the Cube, I’ve still prepared an insurance policy just in case.

“The Cube gives the user immense power but is also a kind of beacon that invites destruction. If Seongju uses it, it summons an interdimensional deity, and even if not Seongju, the deity will still come. So…”

If even one remains in this world, sooner or later, the interdimensional deity will arrive.

“We need to find and destroy them all. And the only one who can do that is me.”

This way, I secured a justification that makes it hard for anyone to easily become my enemy.

“Looks like I’ve covered all the important explanations. Who wants to join me in hunting down the officers?”

No one raised their hands.

Later, I answered various questions about my actions. But ultimately, I couldn’t recruit anyone. People simply left, saying, “We understand your point, but we need time to think.”

Nothing changed.

Except that I told stories related to myself to potential enemies.

“Uh… Won’t they help us? They’re heroes, right?”

“Who believes a villain’s tall tales? Don’t know, whether they’ll be allies or enemies.”

“…Then, there’s only one option left.”

I fidgeted with the Core in my pocket.

“Either nurture them as allies or kill them to turn them into monsters.”

A clear answer.