“…I don’t know.”
“Hey! Prophet!”
Jeongwoo frowned and glared at Kang Mingyu.
Kang Mingyu watched Jeongwoo’s mood with a frightened face unsuited to his build, but instead of opening his mouth, he shook his head once more.
If Woo Jeongwoo had been just a little less scary, Kang Mingyu would have just spouted any random words. Anyway, he was the prophet, so what did it matter what he said? But Woo Jeongwoo was too frightening to lie to get through the moment. Besides, he was now Shin Jaehee’s subject. Being able to receive the King’s protection was fortunate, but this meant he’d have to stay by Shin Jaehee’s side from now on. If that happened, naturally Jeongwoo would be there too.
Kang Mingyu glanced at the tent Woo Jeongwoo had come out of and clicked his tongue internally. Thanks to Shin Jaehee covering him with the veil, he’d managed to keep his life, but now that things turned out this way, there were many things to worry about.
“I guess being a prophet gives you several spare lives?”
“Th-that’s not it….”
Kang Mingyu watched Woo Jeongwoo’s mood with a pitiful expression while diligently chewing the meat he was holding. He’d heard that Woo Jeongwoo was only just 19 years old, a model student who’d just graduated high school this year, but looking at what he was doing now, he was no different from a neighborhood thug.
“Strangely, I can’t see it well.”
“What does that mean?”
Woo Jeongwoo brought over a chair and plopped down next to Kang Mingyu. Kang Mingyu unnecessarily poked at the well-burning firewood while watching Jeongwoo’s mood. Fortunately, Jeongwoo didn’t seem like he’d draw his blade right away. After watching his mood, he opened a canned coffee.
“W-want a sweet potato?”
“Ha.”
When he slyly took out the sweet potato he’d put in the campfire earlier, Woo Jeongwoo glared at him with an incredulous face. But even while receiving such glares, Kang Mingyu quickly peeled the sweet potato and began eating. Not knowing when Woo Jeongwoo might act spitefully, Kang Mingyu frantically ate the hot sweet potato while blowing on it. While moistening his throat with the canned coffee Woo Jeongwoo gave him, he thought cold cola would be better but didn’t say it out loud.
“Now that you’ve stuffed your face, tell me. What do you mean you can’t see it?”
Looking sheepishly at Woo Jeongwoo who was watching him with a fed-up expression, Kang Mingyu thriftily put even the last sweet potato in his mouth. His throat was blocked, but it was better than being hungry.
“Th-that’s…. *cough cough*, heu, *cough cough*, ah, th-thanks….”
When Kang Mingyu choked and coughed, Jeongwoo sighed and took out bottled water and threw it. Kang Mingyu drank half the bottle at once and finally caught his breath.
“That is, prophecy is my innate skill, but that doesn’t mean I can see it whenever I want….”
“You’re saying the skill activation is random?”
“No, I mean, prophecy isn’t something I can see when I want to see it or not see when I don’t want to.”
Seeing Kang Mingyu with black charcoal smudges all over his face making an aggrieved expression made him let out a deep sigh.
Is that human really a prophet?
Jeongwoo actually didn’t know much about prophets either. Most who claimed to be prophets were frauds, and real prophets concealed their identities. There was almost nothing specifically known about prophets. It was to the extent that people thought the existence of such supporters was a lie.
But prophets definitely existed. In the case of grand prophets who could divine a planet’s future, even Constellations couldn’t treat them carelessly, and rumor had it that there were even Constellations who sent their avatars to grand prophets to divine the future.
But that human is really a prophet…?
Matching the situation and context so far, he was clearly a prophet, but it was hard to believe.
On top of that, he repeatedly saw Earth’s future. Seeing a planet’s future meant being a grand prophet. It seemed Kang Mingyu himself didn’t even know what his words meant. This human is really a grand prophet…?
Constellations go to that kind of human to ask about the future…?
“Haa, this is driving me crazy.”
“Uh, huh?”
“I wasn’t talking to you. So then, prophecy is like a random probability skill, is that what you’re saying?”
When Jeongwoo said it was fine, Kang Mingyu relaxed a bit and nodded.
He’d never told anyone that he was a prophet. So talking about this and that was frightening but also a little exciting.
“It’s a bi-bit different, but…. Anyway, it’s similar. Sometimes I can see it when I want to, but I can’t always see it. Sometimes no matter how hard I try to see it, it won’t show…. And sometimes I see it even when I try not to. Sometimes I see it in dreams, and other times as visions, occasionally I hear it as messages. Now I can control it to some extent, but when I first awakened, the skill kept activating for days and I almost died….”
“Almost died?”
“Think about it. I had to keep watching scenes of Earth’s destruction repeatedly. One time for this reason, another time for that reason…. I wondered if humanity was a sunfish, they kept getting destroyed. Having to keep watching that endlessly made me feel like I’d really go insane.”
“A sunfish.”
“No matter how hard humanity struggles to the death, it only ends in destruction. Watching that was like being forced to watch an endless horror movie. Then my energy would be depleted and I’d faint. Later, after getting a bit used to the skill and leveling up, I became able to control it to some extent. I can’t refuse ‘revelations,’ but I can refuse prophecies to some degree.”
“Revelations? Revelations are different from prophecy?”
“Mmmm… I don’t know how to explain it well, but I can’t refuse revelations. They’re just received. But prophecy is…. I don’t know if this is an appropriate analogy, but it’s like radio waves floating in the air. Anyway, just know that prophecy isn’t something I can do as I please. It’s not on purpose. I don’t know if it’ll change when my level goes up more, but….”
“Fine, then tell me what you saw when you entered the pond. You already saw that, so you should be able to say it, right? What did you see when you went in?”
Kang Mingyu scratched his head with a troubled expression, then looked at the sky for a moment. As dawn was about to break, a pale light swirled at the edge of the sky.
“That’s… I’m not sure.”
“What?”
“N-no, don’t get so angry…. I did see something. I saw it, but I mean I’m not sure what it was.”
“Hmm….”
When Jeongwoo looked at him with a dissatisfied expression, Kang Mingyu flailed and waved his arms.
“I’m not doing it on purpose. I’m not saying I didn’t see it. I definitely saw something in the pond, but my memory’s hazy since I was unconscious. What I saw was actually the night sky. It was just a night sky with countless twinkling stars. The surroundings were quiet and there was nothing. But I don’t know what this means…. I think I saw something else too, but I can’t remember well…. Actually, the destruction I’ve seen so far has never been this quiet, so whether this is destruction or not, or if it has some other meaning…. I don’t know.”
Kang Mingyu scratched his head and let out a long sigh.
“Actually, I once thought that if I became King, I might be able to prevent destruction, but there was still no change in Earth’s destruction…. You say the future changes, but the future I saw was always the same…. Ah, if what I saw in the pond is also the future, that would be the first different one. A quiet night sky full of stars. But it felt very peaceful to be after destruction….”
“So what you saw in the pond had a different atmosphere from the usual Earth’s destruction you see, is that it?”
“Yeah. Destruction is always the same. It’s always dark and bleak, in despair, with blood always splattering. I can’t even watch gore movies but I’m forced to watch them every time, what a dirty feeling. But the sky I saw in the pond was a warm blue. Ah…. Among the stars in the sky, one was particularly bright, and that star was an ominous red color….”
Kang Mingyu trailed off and closed his mouth. Jeongwoo was about to speak but hesitated seeing Kang Mingyu who seemed lost in thought. This was the first time seeing such an expression on Kang Mingyu. Then Kang Mingyu muttered something.
“Right… that’s it. Then…. definitely….”
Kang Mingyu suddenly raised his head and looked at Jeongwoo.
“Woo Jeongwoo. I need to go back to the pond.”
“What?”
“I need to go into the pond and see it again. What I can’t see with just my own power, I can see with the pond’s power. It’s the first time something different has appeared. It’s the first time I’ve seen a scene other than destruction…! But I missed something important. I have to go back in! I have to see it again…!”
“W-wait…! Kang Mingyu! Kang Mingyu!”
It was instantaneous. Kang Mingyu ran like a shot and flailed into the pond.
He could have tried to physically restrain Kang Mingyu, but somehow his hand wouldn’t move.
Kang Mingyu instantly entered the pond and his form disappeared. The pond soon became calm as if it had devoured Kang Mingyu.
“Damn it. What the hell am I supposed to do about this?”
Jeongwoo alternately looked at the pond Kang Mingyu had entered and the tent where Jaehee was lying, then let out a sigh.
