“It’s been a while. Have you been well?”
Lee Shinhoo acted leisurely as if nothing had happened all this time. If not for the chaotic surroundings, one could almost forget that Lee Shinhoo was the mastermind behind this.
It seemed that when something was too absurd, it left one speechless. Jaehee looked at Lee Shinhoo, opening and closing his mouth, but couldn’t say anything.
What the hell is that crazy bastard thinking?
“Tsk, everything’s become a mess. I really hate dust flying around.”
But Lee Shinhoo, as if he didn’t care about Jaehee’s reaction at all, looked around and clicked his tongue. Now that he looked, Lee Shinhoo was dressed in an expensive suit like the one he’d seen when they met before.
The chaotic interior, the screams heard from here and there, and Lee Shinhoo’s presence were far too mismatched.
It felt like filming movies of completely incompatible genres all at once.
If Jaehee and his surroundings were like a zombie movie with a ridiculous curse at dawn, Lee Shinhoo alone looked like he was filming The Great Gatsby.
“Ha, so now the final boss appears? Stop talking nonsense.”
Seeing Lee Shinhoo acting no different from usual made him feel like he was going crazy. Jaehee deliberately spoke roughly and bit his lip.
Right, thinking about it, it was about time for Lee Shinhoo to appear. Thinking about the battle between those who became undead and humans, time might seem to be on the side of the tireless undead, but ultimately, time was on their side. What needed to endure wasn’t the undead, but ultimately Shin Jaehee’s group. When dawn broke, the undead outside would eventually retreat, and Jeongwoo would return.
Although it was difficult for them, with their limited stamina, to face the undead who neither died nor tired, if they just continued to hold out like this, dawn would break in a few hours. So shouldn’t the boss appear before then?
“Oh my. I thought we were on good terms. I raised my voice a bit with Jeongwoo-ssi, but there was no problem between me and Jaehee-ssi, right? But treating me so coldly makes me feel a bit hurt, you know?”
“If we’re talking about feeling hurt, shouldn’t I feel more hurt being threatened with my life by you?”
Jaehee smirked and leisurely countered Lee Shinhoo’s words, but his mind was complicated in many ways.
First, he sent a message to Jeongwoo.
[Lee Shinhoo came. Still okay for now.]
He was going to just tell him that Lee Shinhoo came, but worried that Jeongwoo might run over here as soon as he saw the message, Jaehee quickly added that he was okay.
[I’ll tell you if I need help. Don’t worry.]
Could he face Lee Shinhoo…?
Jaehee subtly stepped back, widening the distance from Lee Shinhoo while observing him.
He had no idea how much power Lee Shinhoo had. Even when he’d seen him before, he hadn’t examined his combat abilities, and even if he had, that wouldn’t have been his full power.
The guild members and Management Bureau staff who had been scattered dealing with the undead separately slowly gathered together and stood behind Jaehee. They all glared at Lee Shinhoo with determined expressions.
Since becoming Awakened Ones, when hadn’t they risked their lives, but this time was different. If they couldn’t protect Jaehee, it wouldn’t just be them who died.
They didn’t know how far Lee Shinhoo had progressed with his plans, but Shin Jaehee might be the only King on the Korean Peninsula.
If that were the case, Shin Jaehee’s life was essentially the life of the entire Korean Peninsula.
No, if they made one wrong move, it could be a matter that determined the fate of this entire Earth.
Because of that, before night fell, they had agreed with each other that they should prioritize Shin Jaehee’s life above anything else. This was something they’d discussed with Jeongwoo too. If the worst situation arose that they couldn’t handle, Jeongwoo would also abandon everything and come to Jaehee’s side.
In other words, their role was to hold out until Jeongwoo arrived. That’s what they’d agreed on.
“Haah, everyone’s looking at me like I’m such a villain, I keep wanting to live up to expectations—what do you think?”
Lee Shinhoo shrugged and leisurely looked around. Everyone whose eyes met Lee Shinhoo’s flinched. Lee Shinhoo had once been Korea’s pride and a place to lean on. Some of them had cleared dungeons with Lee Shinhoo, and several had received help from him.
So even though they rationally knew that Lee Shinhoo was the mastermind killing Kings, it was hard to believe emotionally.
“Lee Shinhoo-ssi. Why on earth are you doing this? Aren’t you the most respected Awakened One in Korea?”
Someone asked Lee Shinhoo a question. Not only the one who asked, but everyone was curious about this.
“‘Were respected,’ huh. So that means not now. Guess you don’t respect me anymore?”
“What could someone like you possibly lack! Even without becoming a King, you had power no less than that!”
“Puhahahaha.”
Lee Shinhoo burst into laughter. At Lee Shinhoo’s exaggerated laughter, people’s faces turned pale. Lee Shinhoo looked no different from usual, so they thought he’d be the same as before, but seeing him now, they could feel something like incomprehensible madness.
“How funny, really. Even after coming this far, you don’t seem to understand what this situation is. Do you even know what a King is? Are you saying this knowing? Power? How dare you compare that measly power to a King. Yeah, actually I don’t even need to say this, but you’re all so pathetic I’ll humor you. When a true King comes to this land, all things living or not, all of them will obey that command. Conversely, if there’s no King, all those things start to rot. What did you think the monsters coming from dungeons were? They’re all things abandoned by Kings. Well, it’ll be your fate soon enough.”
“Th-that’s… what…”
When Lee Shinhoo lightly snapped his fingers, the growling undead all stopped moving like dolls with their power switched off.
“Shin Jaehee. I liked you, so it’s a bit regrettable. How about it? Don’t you want to take my hand? If you do, I’ll specially let you live.”
Though Lee Shinhoo spoke in a light tone as if joking, only his eyes were chilling. Jaehee saw the Awakened Ones intimidated and overwhelmed by Lee Shinhoo’s presence, and bit his lip.
Lee Shinhoo’s power seemed to far exceed expectations.
“Did you think I’d readily agree if you said it like that? So is that why you wanted to become a King? Because a King is an existence that can wield god-like power? Is that your goal? Amazing. It’s not like you’re a manga protagonist or anything—how amazing.”
“Haha, I’m embarrassed to be praised. But you’re wrong, Shin Jaehee. I don’t want to become a King. What I just said was because you were all saying such ignorant things.”
“Then…? Why on earth are you doing this? Don’t tell me you’re going to say you did it as a joke?”
“I’m sincerely answering all your questions, but you’re vilifying me like that—I’m starting to feel hurt. King? Yeah, fine. It’s great. Amazing. But even if you become a King of a powerless protected planet like Earth, it’ll just give you a headache in the end. You’ll have to play mind games with Constellations from here and there coveting Earth’s interests. I’m not such a diligent person, so I decided to go with a more comfortable path.”
Jaehee had a bad feeling the moment Lee Shinhoo said those words.
The entire situation was already rolling toward the worst, but it was that kind of premonition that only worse things would happen from here.
“What do you… what are you saying? A more comfortable path…? Don’t tell me you.”
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I decided to side with the stronger force. For example, a Constellation.”
Lee Shinhoo smiled and shrugged once.
Watching that brazen appearance, Jaehee opened his mouth.
“Y-you’re the one—do you even know what you’re saying right now? You sided with a Constellation?”
Even as Jaehee spoke, he got goosebumps.
He’d thought there might be humans who sided with Constellations, but he never imagined it would be Lee Shinhoo.
He called himself Zero, possessed more power than others, knew more things, and the result of all that was just this? As Jaehee showed a hollow laugh, Lee Shinhoo faced him and laughed along.
“Don’t look at me like I’m some traitor who sold out the country. A traitor at most sold out their own country, but this couldn’t be compared to something like that. This is about whether or not the end of our world comes.”
“I hoped against hope, but you’ve decided to become humanity’s enemy.”
Lee Shinhoo laughed out loud again, cackling.
Jaehee blankly watched such a Lee Shinhoo.
Indeed, could they stop Lee Shinhoo?
Even if Jeongwoo came, could they stop Lee Shinhoo?
As these thoughts arose, the strength drained from his legs.
