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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Side Story 41
‘Negotiate with my sister?’
Seong Jihan scoffed at the system message.
In this situation, did that even make sense?
He had confirmed the existence of the White Light and the anomalies in the system messages.
Following the quest was now meaningless.
‘Still... I have to go to the bottom of the Abyss anyway.’
The bottom of the Abyss.
There, the Martial God Dongbang Sak and the Witch of the Void stood at the southern and northern ends, facing each other.
To resolve the problems in this mission's world, he needed to meet Dongbang Sak.
‘In the end, I'll have to meet him.’
Having made up his mind, Seong Jihan looked toward Yoon Seah.
Perhaps because she had witnessed the Sword King pierce his own heart.
Her face was stiff and hardened.
After a long silence, she finally spoke.
"My father... committed suicide... because of me..."
Clutching her head, she called the Sword King "father" for the first time.
She had declared many times that she would sever ties with him.
Even when she met him, she addressed him as "Sword King."
But if blood ties could be severed so easily, would they be called blood ties?
Watching Yoon Seah, whose eyes trembled, Seong Jihan let out a soft sigh.
"In the end, it was the Sword King's actions. It's not your fault."
"N-no. If I hadn't said those things... Maybe my father would have just remained obsessed with that woman. He wouldn't have died like that..."
The Sword King had hurt her deeply.
But before being brainwashed by Shizuru, he had been the best father.
When she wanted to cut ties, he accepted it.
When she didn't want any more involvement, she told him to hold tightly onto Shizuru and stay in Japan.
She even told him to make Shizuru unable to use her limbs.
"This isn't... what I wanted..."
Yoon Seah stared at the floor with tear-filled eyes.
The Sword King, who mentioned her and then pierced his own heart.
Perhaps his final moments lingered in her memory, as Yoon Seah muttered to herself.
Sss-
She looked at Seong Jihan with unfocused eyes.
"Am I... such a terrible person?"
"No."
"The real me... gets along well with my father."
"...The real you?"
Hearing her words, Seong Jihan looked at her with a surprised face.
The real one?
What was she suddenly talking about?
"Ah..."
Realizing her slip at Seong Jihan's question, Yoon Seah showed a resigned expression and began to speak.
"...I'm a fake, aren't I? Right... 'Fake Seah'... that's what you call me."
"You... what do you mean?"
Wait, "Fake Seah"?
- ???
- Huh? She knows about Fake Seah?
- Wh-what is this...?
- Wait, 'Fake Seah' is a term we only use here...
- Don't tell me she can see the chat window????
At Yoon Seah's words, even the viewers were shocked.
But the most startled was, of course, Seong Jihan.
'Wait, how does she know...?'
In fact, there had been some odd things.
She had addressed him as "Martial God," but then suddenly started calling him "Uncle."
From being wary of him, she seemed to become dependent at times.
But he thought that perhaps, as someone without family, she had no one else to rely on, and since he had saved her...
"The real Yoon Seah... her father returned, her mother came back, her home too... In the beloved Sword Palace... She truly has everything. As expected, the real one is different."
"You... how do you know that..."
"And Uncle... you're being nice to me because the real me asked you to, right?"
Sss...
Yoon Seah staggered as she stood up from her chair.
"When you defeat Dongbang Sak, you'll return to the original world. She earnestly asked you to treat me well, that amazing real me..."
Wait, those words...
- Yeah, Uncle! Be nice to the me over there! When you beat Dongbang Sak, you'll fully return here, right?
They were the exact words the real Yoon Seah had said directly to Seong Jihan.
When she mentioned "Fake Seah," he thought perhaps she could see the chat window.
But this went beyond just seeing the chat window, didn't it?
"How... do you know all of that?"
"Heh... haha... Who knows...?"
Despite Seong Jihan's question, Yoon Seah let out a dry laugh.
"Do you know... that this world stops when you leave, Uncle?"
"......"
"As the real me said, when you fully return... my world will completely stop."
"That is..."
"Or... will it vanish like the world inside the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Diagram?"
Having entered the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Diagram with Seong Jihan and witnessed the destruction of the world within it.
Since realizing that this world was also distorted.
She couldn't help but worry that it might meet the same end.
And Seong Jihan...
"......"
Couldn't answer immediately and remained silent.
This world entangled with Infinite and the White Light.
The real world and the first-round Yoon Seah.
If he had to choose between the two.
Hadn't he internally decided to put the weight on the former?
In that case.
Yoon Seah's concern that this world would disappear when he fully returned was correct.
"So, that's how it is..."
Interpreting his silence as affirmation, Yoon Seah smiled sadly.
"Yes... It was the same back then... I could feel Uncle trying not to get attached to Hyunwoo."
Mentioning Hyunwoo, the child he had with Lee Hayeon inside the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Diagram.
"Uncle must have heard... the child whining that Daddy wouldn't play with him today."
"...I didn't hear."
"No... There's no way you, who completely controlled the space, couldn't have heard. Deciding not to get attached, you pretended not to hear even when you did. Isn't that right?"
Was that so?
Thinking back, he seemed to recall the child saying such things.
But as Yoon Seah pointed out.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Join our Discord for release updates!w
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
------------------
He had intentionally ignored it to avoid getting attached.
As Seong Jihan recalled those times and remained silent.
"I... had a slight hope... A ridiculous hope that maybe I'm the real one..."
Yoon Seah expressed her feelings calmly.
"But... in the end, a fake can't become real..."
And then.
As she finished speaking.
Sssss...
A purple void began to emanate from her body.
"You...!"
"Until the 'end' comes... I'll just be with my mother..."
Unlike before, when she resisted the void.
She was quickly engulfed by the purple aura.
Sss.
Seong Jihan hurriedly moved his energy to dispel it.
But.
"Even if it's a world where aliens haven't manifested... In the end, this world will be destroyed when you leave, Uncle."
At her voice from within the void.
"......"
Seong Jihan weakly lowered his raised hand.
Whether it was a world where the aliens hadn't manifested or a world that would be destroyed when he left.
From Yoon Seah's perspective, it was all the same.
Perhaps her choice to be with her mother before the end of the world was, in a way, understandable.
'...I still don't know how she learned the truth of this world.'
Perhaps she had kept it all bottled up inside after knowing everything.
And the Sword King's suicide had triggered it to burst out.
"Whew..."
Seong Jihan collapsed into a chair.
He felt a sense of helplessness stronger than ever.
And in front of his eyes, on the chat window:
- Wow... But how did she know?
- From what she said, it doesn't seem like she could see the chat window.
- Sigh... Poor Fake Seah
Viewers' comments were scrolling chaotically.
- Ah, stop calling her Fake Seah ㅡㅡ How can you still say that after seeing this?
- But a fake is a fake...
- Still, what can we do? It's not good to get too emotionally invested here.
- That's true, haha.
- Really, just think of her as an NPC in a game.
- The real one is doing well here~
They said not to call her "fake," yet that was the word they used the most.
‘Sigh... I can't stand to look at this.’
As Seong Jihan read the chat, he suddenly felt irritated.
This darn chat window.
It had popped up on its own when he first entered.
Even in his troubled state, it wouldn't disappear from his sight.
‘At least at times like this, I'd like it gone.’
Sss...
Seong Jihan raised his energy and reached into the air.
What he intended to grab was the chat window itself.
But.
Crackle...!
White sparks surged from the chat window.
They pushed back against his power.
‘...It's resisting?’
The amount of energy Seong Jihan currently possessed was considerable.
Yet the system's chat window could so easily repel this power?
He had thought it suspicious from the moment it appeared.
But he hadn't expected it to be strong enough to resist his energy.
"......"
As Seong Jihan furrowed his brow.
Bzzz...
[You have allowed Yoon Seah's Void Corruption.]
[You have received a reward.]
[Void increases by 100, White Light increases by 10.]
Beside the chat window.
Suddenly, a reward message appeared.
‘This is…’
Wasn't this supposed to be a trap choice?
The "easy path" suggesting that he sacrifice Yoon Seah to the Void Witch to gain stats.
Of course, he hadn't intended to sacrifice Yoon Seah, so he hadn't even chosen that quest.
But suddenly, it was giving him rewards.
‘And it's giving me 10 White Light…’
Flash...!
A white light shimmered over Seong Jihan's body.
He soon felt that a small portion of the power he had used in Ark had returned.
Unlike when he only had his energy.
With the addition of the White Light, his senses expanded broadly, entering the realm of the absolute.
And then.
‘So that's how it is.’
He began to see the "true nature" of the chat window that hadn't broken even when he applied his energy.
Clench.
As he clenched his fist, a strong blue light surged.
When Seong Jihan thrust it forward.
Crackle...!
Sparks intensified from the chat window.
- Uh? What's happening to the screen?
- Huh? You too? I thought it was just me;
- Um? Where is Seong Jihan punching?
- Uh... could it be the chat window?
- But why...
Crack!
Crackle...!
- Every time his fist connects, the screen seems to crack, doesn't it?
- Mine too;
- My screen is almost completely cracked now...
Every time cracks appeared in the chat window.
Viewers complained that they couldn't see the screen well.
But Seong Jihan ignored all their comments.
Again and again.
Gathering his energy fully, he thrust his fist straight forward.
And soon.
- Now... I can't see...
- I've watched BattleTube for a long time, but this is a first;
- No way...
Even before they could finish typing that they couldn't see the screen.
Flash...!
The chat window shattered completely.
Only fragments of light and sparks flickered in the air like debris.
And as Seong Jihan quietly observed this.
Bzzz...
The sparks gathered and formed words in the air.
[Have you finally realized it, Master :)]
Then.
Flash...!
In place of the words, a large eye of light appeared.
"Ha. 'Master'...?"
Seeing that, Seong Jihan gnashed his teeth.
"Cut the nonsense and get to the point. Mitra."
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Join our Discord for release updates!w
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
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