Chapter 514 – The Last Sneaky Story You Don’t Need to Read (1)
Little pieces that seem unrelated to each other.
God.
Regression.
Recovery.
Disaster.
Black.
Gate.
Death.
Yet those pieces connect with thin lines to create a complete picture.
“Elcia, do you remember what I explained before?”
“Sort of.”
“Well then, want to give it a shot?”
I thought Elcia would have come close to understanding this picture to some extent.
Even though I hadn’t given her complete information, it wouldn’t be perfect.
Still, just one last piece was missing to complete the nearly finished picture.
Especially with Elcia having grown a step above her previous self.
“The idiot suddenly getting drenched while forcibly accepting something tremendous, and then a door filled with conspiracies opening below, right?”
“……It feels somewhat right, but everything seems wrong…”
Not at all grown.
[If we base it on the gate, it’s a door below ground…]
‘It’s infuriating how all the keywords fit perfectly.’
The direction of understanding felt odd, and the method was quite bizarre too.
But anyway, it seemed everyone understood at least to some degree.
“I said in the future before I regressed…”
I decided to fill in the last missing piece for them.
It was something that had to be done, just as a writer would put a period at the end of a sentence.
“Not just you, Elcia, but everyone…”
For a moment, the horrific image came to mind, and I was momentarily speechless, but I opened my mouth again to continue speaking.
From here on, I resolved in my heart to endure whatever reactions they might have.
“……I said I… killed them with my own hands, remember?”
Given the content, everyone nodded quietly with rather serious expressions.
Using that nod as momentum, I forced out what I had been holding inside.
Words I never wanted to say.
“Actually, there was a gate back then… and that gate is the same as the one that has appeared now.”
“Master, if that’s the case… Are you worried that future might repeat itself?”
“……Yeah… exactly… that’s why I’ve been so sensitive until now.”
The words I must say.
To speak a little coldly, I could have easily brushed off Elcia’s first question.
Since, after all, telling them this might not have much meaning and could even have a negative influence.
But since they were the ones who suffered in the future before my regression, I thought it necessary for them to know.
“Shinwoo, I’m curious about something.”
“What is it?”
In that moment, Hyeji brought up a question.
“How could you kill us all by yourself?”
“Uhm… I’m not really sure myself.”
“You’re a piece of crap.”
“……True, f*ck…”
That was ironically the question I had been mulling over.
It was true that that bastard was the main culprit for killing the heroines.
But the first to kill them was me.
How on earth did I end up in a situation where I was killing them?
[Maybe it wasn’t because of possession.]
‘If so, it wouldn’t be strange if I possessed someone right now.’
[……That’s true.]
And from this, a bigger question arose.
“Moreover, wasn’t there a lot of people in the future before the regression, including Cheonma?”
“That’s right. It was different back then, but there were tons of holy knights made up of cat beastmen.”
“Honestly, I can’t see Master being able to handle that alone.”
How on earth did I manage to kill all those people?
Everyone present in the previous future was strong.
Putting others aside, it was already quite a level with Kang-hyuk and Cheonma, plus Hyeji.
Even considering that Hyeji wasn’t taking me seriously.
“Maybe it’s because you didn’t attack me?”
“But even without me, you’re still a piece of crap. How would you manage the rest?”
“……Please stop saying that… it makes me feel hurt…”
With Cheonma and Kang-hyuk around, killing everyone was practically impossible.
No matter how you looked at it, they were all insane bastards who would feel no guilt about beating me.
If my possession assumption holds true, those bastards would happily beat me up.
No, they would go beyond beating me to turn me almost into a half-wit.
[Is the option of subjugation not available…?]
‘Those bastards wouldn’t do that…’
[Oh, right.]
At that moment, Caressy made an unexpected suggestion with a worried expression.
“Shinwoo, why don’t we avoid joining this time?”
“Simply put, you’re saying to run away?”
“Exactly. I know it might feel bad, but isn’t it the most fundamental solution?”
To take a moment away from the upcoming crisis.
“Will that not fit into the conditions of that future at all?”
“……That’s right…”
Well, I couldn’t say that was wrong.
If you think about it, the biggest problem is that I kill the heroines in front of the gate in that future.
In other words, it’s a future that cannot exist if we are not present at that spot.
Essentially, it’s a somewhat radical solution to wipe out the very cause of the problem itself.
“Moreover, aren’t we hunters?”
“What’s that got to do with it?”
“Then, isn’t it okay for us to disregard something like public notification in our daily lives?”
Furthermore, this mention was quite sharp as well.
Since we were hunters, we could certainly ignore such forced public notifications.
Most importantly, there were many hunters existing beyond just us.
However.
“But that goes for other hunters too.”
“Ah, damn it.”
That could also go the opposite way.
Hunters basically have the mentality of “I’m one person, it’s fine,” a classic form of abdicating responsibility.
Especially at a time when rewards were uncertain, no hunter would readily step forward.
Doubts about how much help those hunters would be could be put aside for now.
Plus, it would be somewhat difficult for us to not participate.
I may not remember completely, but it was clear that there were a lot of people gathered in the future before the regression.
Various hunters, academy professors, holy knights, Cheonma, Kang-hyuk, and our party too.
This could be said to be the maximum power available.
[Ryu Kang-hyuk’s presence suggests that even retired hunters were brought along.]
‘No matter how different that bastard’s state is from now, one thing’s for sure — it’s a bad situation for us.’
In other words, it meant that a serious problem had occurred that required such a number of people to be mobilized.
What the problem was and what the details were might not be clear, but.
One thing was certain: every single person was valuable in this situation.
Therefore, it was very difficult for us to opt out.
Even without Hyeji, the remaining heroines were quite strong as well.
If they were absent, someone else would have to shoulder their responsibilities completely.
The issue, however, was that there was no one who could fill that gap.
“And even without us, can the other hunters actually handle this?”
“……F*ck…”
Here, some might raise a question.
If I’m that worried, shouldn’t I just skip out entirely?
I’m a piece of crap, so would it really make a difference whether I’m there or not?
That’s a valid point, but I didn’t want to do that.
It was that bastard who had continuously caused huge accidents while zeroing in on me.
If I happen to leave, wouldn’t that bastard devise some new scheme?
The variables arising from that would be harder to predict than they are now.
[It’s better to know and face it than to be caught off guard.]
‘Honestly, this isn’t better either…’
And the reason I didn’t want to slip out was due to a personal greed.
Though I may be weak and not provide much help.
I didn’t want to run away again after having been helpless up till now.
Especially, even if I can overlook many things, killing them is something I cannot gloss over.
Moreover, even if this turns into another crisis mirroring our future.
At the same time, it is my only chance to directly take care of that bastard.
That’s why I felt I absolutely couldn’t run away.
This wasn’t for any grand cause, but just my selfish grudge.
But I still wanted to indulge myself just this once.
Because I wanted to kill that bastard by my own hand.
[Sometimes there are things that logic just can’t settle.]
‘I’m sorry to everyone, but it can’t be helped.’
Even if in the process I suffer a fatal injury.
It seems the heroines understand this part of my personality to some degree.
They didn’t bother to voice any disapproval towards me about this.
All they did was look at me with mixed expressions of concern.
Maybe they weren’t fond of that silence.
Or perhaps they thought it wouldn’t be of any use to think it over.
Hyeji clapped her hands once to lighten the mood.
“Well, if everyone’s done talking, let’s start wrapping things up. We need to head out early in the morning.”
“Hyeji, wait a minute.”
But as I stopped Hyeji, I once again gathered everyone’s attention.
Right now, at this moment, I had to say something crucial to them.
“Shinwoo, what’s wrong?”
I absolutely didn’t want to say this out loud.
But it was something I had to say to them.
And only to them.
“Can you all listen to me?”
Disgusting, vile words.
