Chapter 402: Face to Face with the Lion (3)

“Ah, so that’s how you do the move there?”

“……”

“Are you sure you’re someone possessed by a player?”

“……”

“Wow. Seriously, your way of playing leaves me speechless. So original, so novel. Not once do you avoid the ground.”

“……”

“Hey! That’s when you should use the ultimate skill!”

The ears keep following.

Tap.

I closed the smartphone. My face was reflected on the back of the phone, now transparent from the sweat of my hands. It was rotten.

“Could you stop giving advice, please?”

“Kugh?”

Yes.

“I’ll cut you.”

I drew Murasame.

“With this.”

Just another quiet afternoon.

Inside an apartment of about 132 square meters in Wonju, Gangwon Province, a chase began. Yu Sein’s screams splattered like liquid moments later.

***

Blessing of the Apocalypse M 2nd.

I have to admit it.

“…It’s fun…”

Like that game I enjoyed years ago, it doesn’t have much to call a story.

No, for someone like me, who has experience with that game, the narrative is excessively familiar.

The hero and the demon king.

The heartbreaking clash between heroes and demons.

A clichéd plot. And on top of that, in this world, “blessings” and “magic” are everywhere. It doesn’t seem to have any elements particularly worth noticing.

‘…I never imagined they’d develop it in an inverted universe.’

Blessing of the Apocalypse M 2nd deliberately twisted that stale story. That is, now the users handle magic.

But that doesn’t mean the player’s side is the demons.

Mages.

The players take on a profession completely foreign to the inhabitants of this world.

From my point of view, it’s quite common.

In “Miracle Blessing M”, the villains substitute the role of the mages, though strictly speaking, there’s a difference.

The villains obtained magical power from the lords they served.

I myself received magic from Lycan. It’s not like I could cast electric magic on my own.

In other words, they were skills.

Click, click, Boom——!

Even if you knew nothing about their structure, you could use them without a problem. That’s why the villains were desperate to find good magic hosts.

‘The Twelve Villains even tried to ally with the End… and failed before achieving it.’

Anyway.

In this game, the mages approach magic from an academic perspective. It’s carefully designed so that the more the user understands, the higher they can ascend and master superior formulas.

Even after separating from Yu Sein, I couldn’t put down the phone.

Before bed, after eating.

Whenever I had a free moment, I played as if possessed.

“They really know how to stimulate the desire to improve.”

It went viral.

For the people of this world, the mage system must have seemed revolutionary.

Just look at the comments in the community.

I barely played a few times and already my algorithm was full of related videos.

And not only that, the comment section was always on fire.

~The story is meh, but time flies (⛝ 73)

ㄴㅇ I had nothing to do during this holiday, downloaded it and before I knew it, it was already time to go to work ㅇㅇ

ㄴIt’s not a nap, it’s crying. What office worker plays this trashy generic game? Hahaha

ㄴYou can’t stand it if it doesn’t have auto-play, right?

—Beyond criticism, you have to admit it really does eat up time. It demands quite a lot from the player too (⛝ 103)

ㄴLet’s be realisticㅋ Who plays mobile games for the story? Only elitist idiots soaked in delusion do that.

ㄴWow! Honey! Give me more feed, please! Camcam!

Gamcom is the developer of Blessing of the Apocalypse M 2nd.

Just in case, I asked our artificial intelligence assistant Vixbig to investigate.

And as expected, it was a company of unknown origin.

This gave more weight to Yu Sein’s theory about “the second omen of the end.”

‘Everything is still a mystery.’

That’s why I check the comments carefully. You never know where you might find an unexpected clue.

It’s no wonder people talk about the “intelligence of chatter.”

─────────────

— First of all, the mage being a damn innovative job.

ㄴThat’s what I’m saying. Honestly, if I learned magic, I’d have that vicarious satisfaction that I could wipe out any average hero hahaha.

ㄴLook at this idiot reciting and everything.

ㄴIt’s honesty. Also, because of this game I looked up the requirements to enter the graduate school of Joaquin Academy.

ㄴA positive function of Blessing of the Apocalypse M 2nd.

─────────────

There are crazies everywhere.

“Haah… I don’t know if this game is good or bad for someone or for Joaquin Academy…”

Despite complaining, I checked the comment section of another video. There were long messages that only appeared when pressing “See more.”

— I’m a fourth-tier expert. If you refute me, you’re absolutely right, okey dokey.

— Anyway, the selling point of this game, if you ask me, is that it shows a lot of influence from Heavenly Sword. He’s the only hero who uses magic, right? And players idealize him, project their bodies onto him and deceive themselves. Come on, is there anyone here who hasn’t felt jealous of Heavenly Sword while insulting him? (⛝961)

ㄴAgh, damn, you hit me right in the bone.

ㄴBrother, calm down. You’re going to kill us all.

ㄴHahaha, but still, do you think if Heavenly Sword played this, he’d be excited like us? That guy uses magic without restrictions, even being a hero.

ㄴLiving like that, real life must seem like a game to him.

ㄴ*???: I already played this game! (⛝3403)*

ㄴHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

ㄴHahahaha level him up.

─────────────

…Duaaah.

My frontal lobe was throbbing.

“Haaah.”

I turned off the smartphone. I sat cross-legged and stared at the ceiling.

‘Just a little more.’

Just a little more.

I got up from the sofa.

This isn’t just a game.

I have the duty to find out what’s hidden behind this game.

Of course.

Besides, it’s a game centered on magic. Most likely its provider is the second End of the World sent by the Suppression Force Kali Yuga.

The only effective way to stop the awakening of the Blessing that Chloe is experiencing is the “awakening of magic.”

‘And maybe the clue is here.’

I tapped the screen to reopen the game. In the darkness of the room, a faint blue glow lit up my face.

***

I am Abel.

Maybe this is a monologue that could cause me trouble if it reaches the wrong ears, but I feel I can only relieve this knot in my chest if I put it into words.

Both Ryozo and I still haven’t said anything, but the anguish keeps piling up more and more.

I’ll skip the preambles and get straight to the point.

Our family is going through a trial.

Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is the conflict between Ryozo and me.

Yes, we had an altercation.

I believe that if two women who share the same husband under the same roof feel absolutely nothing toward each other, that would be an even more alarming sign for the family.

We were always on edge. Everything built up and exploded a few days ago.

…After that incident on Avalon Island, I intended to personally apologize to Ryozo.

But because of Kang Geom-Ma.

Ryozo beat me to it.

— I’m sorry, Abel. I was too harsh in that moment. I won’t make that mistake again.

I’m not the one who should be saying this, being a daughter of the Nibelung family, known for its fighting spirit.

But Ryozo has a pride as strong as mine. She is also very stubborn.

However, that stubbornness always comes accompanied by logic, which is why everyone respects her and accepts her opinions.

For someone like Ryozo to apologize to me… was something truly unexpected.

Of course, I also sincerely apologized to her. I apologized for having cowardly touched her “reverse scale”…

— It’s fine.

And yet, Ryozo let it slide with a smile.

What the hell did she go through on that mysterious island?

For a moment I worried she had hit her head, but after observing her for several days, I realized she was even handling things more effectively.

In any case, it seems we managed to settle the conflict between us.

I can’t promise something like that won’t happen again, but if the time comes, we’ll talk openly.

Since Ryozo respects me, I am also determined to respect her even more.

Ah! Almost forgot. We’re two.

Perhaps we can build a better relationship.

Perhaps we can resolve everything with dialogue.

…But there is a problem that doesn’t seem solvable through dialogue and that looms over our family.

It’s not like it suddenly appeared.

Deep down, we already sensed it.

I think the right word is “wild card.”

“Lady Abel.”

Rachel.

“I’m your dear friend, right?”

“Yes…”

“Then it would be better if we became family, don’t you think?”

Like today, she keeps coming to provoke me all the time.

We’ve known each other for ten years and I still don’t understand her, truly. Rachel is like that.

Sometimes she’s light as a feather, and other times so serious it feels like she changes the atmospheric pressure around her.

You can’t get a rhythm on her.

And that’s precisely what makes her so hard to deal with.

“I’m going to ask my uncle soon. Let’s see when they plan to choose the new Seven Star hero.”

By the way, in the association and in the circle of heroes they are planning to select a new member of the Seven Stars this year.

It seems the general opinion is that the current Seven Stars system, though stable, has become too rigid.

Rachel caught wind of that as if she smelled it and declared war on us.

“If I become one of the Seven Stars, won’t that be a problem for you?”

“……”

I held it in.

It’s not adult-like to overreact to everything.

I am a calm adult.

But now that I think about it, age is not the same as maturity.

“Do you think I already meet the requirements to become a Seven Stars?”

“……”

“Huh~?”

“I’m kidding.”

“Are you sure? Kidding or seeeriousss?”

“Media! Damn shameless little pest!”

“Hey, old hag! Want me to fix your dentures, huh?!”

Even the wise Media comes to add fuel to the fire whenever she catches wind of something.

If I didn’t know her secret, I would have thought she was senile.

“The ancients.”

One day, without warning, the sage revealed her identity.

That a race from legends had reached reality in that moment seemed amazing to me.

And now?

Not at all.

“I’m at the perfect age to get married!”

Now I only see her as another rival, as strong as Rachel, or even more.

I can’t ignore the aura she emanates due to her age.

And though she sometimes jokes, she also drops disguised truths that even shock Grandpa—so I doubt it’s all made up.

To protect our family we needed a strategy.

We had to talk about it.

The best option was to have a direct confrontation.

We already knew it.

But neither Ryozo nor I wanted to resort to that.

He is already quite cornered. The burden he carries on his shoulders is too heavy.

Sometimes we want to scold him, but we must also understand him.

Being wives is a heavenly duty.

It is the first line of defense of humanity.

We must endure.

Even though lately he’s been so hooked on video games that he drags me into that vice.

Patience, patience, patience.

One.

If we do nothing, in the blink of an eye the month will stop being divided into even and odd days and will start being divided into weeks.

‘A strategy.’

We needed a strategy.

A way to crush that damn fox.

And just at the perfect moment, I reconciled with an expert on the subject. Hoho.

“Very well.”

Ryozo is willing to cooperate.

“Let’s proceed.”

I shrugged as I scheduled the date.

***

Yu Sein’s Inn.

“Phew, time really flies.”

I don’t know how many hours I spent lying down playing. Judging by the three or four times everything blurred together, I estimate I spent half a day straight.

“What was today’s progress?”

Yu Sein, sprawled on the floor under the sofa, asked. Apparently, lying on the floor instead of using the sofa is a Korean custom.

“At least now I know that to discover the awakening of magic you have to see the end of the game.”

“Heeh.”

Yu Sein reacted with total indifference, moving only her fingers. She was worse than me. Unemployed, single, only breathing and playing.

“I’m leaving.”

“Yeah, yeah. Go practice the controls.”

Just as I waved my hand to leave, the phone rang.

Yu Sein frowned.

“Tch. Right now, when I was at the key moment.”

She answered with an annoyed face. But the next instant, she sat up like a spring.

“Ah, yes. I understand.”

She repeated similar phrases several times before hanging up. Then she stared at the dark screen absentmindedly and looked at me.

“I swear, you barely arrive and they already tell me to pack my bags.”

“…What?”

I felt a chill at the back of my neck.

I had the feeling the inevitable had just arrived.

“Tomorrow we’re all going to Hawaii with the generation.”

Hawaii?

I barely had time to be surprised.

My gaze hardened.

“Did something happen with the Gate?”

“No.”

Yu Sein shook her head.

“We’re just going to the beach. The beach in Hawaii.”

“……”

The beach from that time I went into debt?