# 041. The King’s Arrival (12)
Jaehee dashed forward as if he’d been shot from a bow.
Though it was his first time wielding a weapon against a person, he felt neither hesitation nor fear. It occurred to him that there was something strange about his lack of emotion, but Jaehee decided to put such concerns aside for now. There would be time for such reflections after dealing with Kim Shin.
Despite seeing Jaehee rushing toward him, Kim Shin floundered in panic, unable to even assume a proper stance. Only when Jaehee was right in front of him did Kim Shin finally manage to pull a knife from his inventory.
Jaehee intended to cut down that bastard in one stroke. Perhaps due to the dungeon’s influence, he didn’t feel much aversion to the idea of killing someone. He didn’t want to waste time eliminating such vermin, and he was confident in his ability to do so.
“No! Leader! Get away!”
But it was the elderly woman who had first volunteered to receive the “baptism of the end” who now stood blocking Kim Shin with her arms spread wide.
To avoid injuring the old woman, Jaehee barely managed to change direction and stop. Irritation welled up inside him.
“Get out of the way! You’ll get hurt, grandmother!”
“I won’t! If you want to harm our leader, you’ll have to kill me first, you bastard!”
“Grandmother! What are you doing? You could have been hurt! That man is a fraud!”
“Fraud, my foot! Don’t say such things! If it weren’t for him, we would all have died the moment we fell into this dungeon! He is our savior and our leader!”
“Grandmother, do you know what he’s done? You saw him trying to harass that young woman earlier, didn’t you? He’s clearly not a good person. Please step aside.”
“I can’t do that! Without him, who would take care of my family outside? If you want to harm him, you’ll have to kill me first! Leader, this old woman will hold him off, please escape quickly!”
Seeing the old woman obstinately blocking his way and siding with Kim Shin, Jaehee couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. This grandmother had clearly seen Kim Shin harassing the young woman. Despite that, perhaps such things didn’t matter to her. As long as he looked after her children, as long as her family was safe, it didn’t matter who Kim Shin was or what he did. Jaehee grinned at the old woman. She was someone who would make any sacrifice for her family, but the suffering of others was of no concern to her.
“Yes, sister! You’re doing well! Keep blocking him! I—no, our Doomsday Cult will take responsibility for your family!”
Jaehee smirked as he watched Kim Shin shouting from behind the old woman.
A coward remains a coward to the end.
“Jisu-ssi.”
“Ah…!”
Jaehee called Kim Jisu in a low voice. Startled at suddenly hearing her name, Kim Jisu looked at Jaehee, who gestured with his chin toward where the survivors were gathered. At first, Kim Jisu tilted her head in confusion, not understanding what he meant, but then she let out a short exclamation.
Kim Jisu quickly pulled out a Polaroid camera. Before anyone could interfere, she took pictures of the survivors. Since they were all gathered in one place, taking their photos wasn’t difficult. At first, nothing happened, so nobody realized what was going on. Due to the instant camera’s nature, it took time for the images to develop clearly. Kim Jisu managed to photograph all the survivors before people noticed what was happening. After the photos were taken and some time had passed, the people’s images began to appear on the film. Simultaneously, the actual people started to become transparent.
“Jisu-ssi, over here too!”
Jaehee pointed to those who had come forward to receive the “baptism of the end.” The Doomsday Cult members tried to stop Kim Jisu, but they couldn’t. Park Yongpil blocked them before they could reach her.
In truth, both Park Yongpil and Kim Jisu had been unable to make sense of everything that had happened since coming here. Although Park Yongpil had been through several dungeons before, he had never witnessed anything this bizarre. People turning into animals? Even stranger was the fact that this wasn’t due to the dungeon’s influence. Because of this, they had been uncertain about how to handle the Doomsday Cult leader and the survivors. They had questioned whether they should interfere with what appeared to be voluntary religious activity.
But the actions of the so-called leader were truly nauseating. Just as they were wondering if they should continue to observe, Shin Jaehee stepped forward.
Shin Jaehee seemed to have noticed something. That’s when Kim Jisu began taking photos of the survivors according to Jaehee’s signals. Park Yongpil knew it was time for him to act. After all, rescuing survivors was their duty, and there was no reason for those people to stand in their way.
As Park Yongpil physically blocked the approaching people, no one could push past him. Jaehee gave Park Yongpil a slight nod of gratitude and turned his attention back to Kim Shin, the cult leader.
“What are you doing? You, you, what have you done to those people!”
“Well, it seems to me that you’re the one who did something to those people, not me.”
Seeing the survivors gradually disappearing, Kim Shin’s eyes widened, and he shouted at Jaehee. Though Kim Jisu had taken the photos, it appeared that Kim Shin believed Jaehee was behind everything. Looking at him, Jaehee shrugged his shoulders and simultaneously extended his blade.
This time, he didn’t give the trembling old woman time to come out and block him. Kim Shin didn’t dodge but parried Jaehee’s blade.
“You seem quite troubled now that the people have disappeared. Why is that? Hmm?”
“They are all followers of the Doomsday Cult! It’s natural for me, their leader, to worry about them! What have you done with them?!”
“So they’re followers of the Doomsday Cult. Well, I’ve had something I wanted to ask about the Doomsday Cult for a while now. As the leader, why don’t you answer me?”
Jaehee casually swung his blade while drawing out his words. With each of Jaehee’s movements, Kim Shin flinched. The cult members tried to approach, but each time, Park Yongpil and Kim Jisu interfered, making it difficult. There were some Awakened Ones among the cult members, but they were no match for Park Yongpil and Kim Jisu.
“Most religions worship a deity, right? Who is the god that the Doomsday Cult worships? What kind of god would speak of such an end?”
Kim Shin glared at Jaehee with a flushed face, breathing heavily. Jaehee now turned away from Kim Shin and addressed the cult members.
“Can any of you explain? Who is the deity your religion believes in, and why does it speak of the end?”
“Our, our deity is not something that can be easily explained! It’s a higher-dimensional concept and…”
“Why don’t you tell them directly, Leader? Which Constellation is it that betrayed our fellow humans? Tell them.”
For a moment, silence fell. While others blinked in confusion, not understanding what was being said, Kim Shin’s face turned pale.
“You… it seems I can’t let you leave like this. Even if you blame me now, it’s too late.”
With those words, Kim Shin cut his palm with his knife, feeding it blood. The blade, now tasting blood, began to emit black flames. The black flames were extremely alien and ominous. Jaehee bit his lip as he looked at Kim Shin.
Kim Shin himself didn’t appear particularly strong, but those black flames were different. They were too ominous and massive to be Kim Shin’s power alone.
Jaehee suddenly recalled Jeongwoo’s flames, which had been similar. The intense red flames that had appeared when defeating Ouroboros had been powerful, but not so ominous.
Ouroboros had said it then: How could a mortal wield the power of the Demon King?
Jaehee hadn’t pressed for details since Jeongwoo clearly didn’t want to discuss it, but he had definitely heard it.
Jaehee glared at the ominous black flames flickering on Kim Shin’s blade. That was clearly power from beyond the human realm. It even looked more ominous than Jeongwoo’s flames. Though Kim Shin tried to appear calm, the fear on his face as he watched the black flames dancing on his blade was evident.
It was clear that Kim Shin himself couldn’t control that power.
Jeongwoo’s red flames had effortlessly torn through Ouroboros’s thick scales. Jaehee didn’t know what Kim Shin’s flames would do, but it was clear he shouldn’t let them touch him.
Jaehee turned and began to run. Surprised by Jaehee’s sudden flight, Kim Shin blinked in astonishment before bursting into laughter.
“Hahaha, you’re quite perceptive. Look at him running away in fear! What a sight to behold!”
Regardless of whether Kim Shin was laughing or not, Jaehee paid no attention and fled as far back as possible. As Jaehee left his position, Park Yongpil and Kim Jisu, who had been watching him, also began to run hurriedly. All the survivors had been captured in Kim Jisu’s photos, leaving only the cult members.
“Get away!”
“What, what’s going on? Suddenly running away…?”
“Jae, Jaehee-ssi, you should at least explain! I did everything you asked, and suddenly this—what’s happening?”
The two asked questions as they ran after Jaehee, but he gave no answer.
