NOVEL NEXT chapter 632 - The Butcher of Madness (1)
「“I am not the Butcher of Madness. But someone has to wear this mask. Because people want it.”」
—The Butcher of Madness
***
To get straight to the point: my party and I entered Seoul Station without any resistance, without shedding a single drop of blood.
The vast building of Seoul Station stood with its central dome collapsed, the ceiling ripped wide open.
It looked as if a flying-type aberrant had appeared, or perhaps something had fallen straight out of the sky.
“Let’s talk for a moment.”
The one guiding us was Jung Munho, now a Strategist of the Gaebang, and father of Jung Heewon.
He left the others at the shelter and led me deeper inside, to a small room.
“You must have gone through a lot to make it all the way here.”
“Not really.”
I couldn’t be sure if my bluff about being Baek Cheongmun’s disciple had worked.
But what was certain was that, right before a collision between myself and the Gaebang, Jung Munho had stepped in to mediate.
“First of all, I haven’t passed on what you said earlier about being ‘Baek Cheongmun’s disciple’ to the higher-ups.”
Opening the conversation with that, Jung Munho glanced outside nervously before continuing.
“If I did something like that, there would be a real war. You know that.”
A real war, huh.
I had no idea what kind of man Jung Munho had been before.
But from this, I could glean at least a little of what kind of person my “dear reader” really was.
[Activating exclusive skill, ‘Reader Comment Browsing’!]
+
ID: rhwkd1123
Platform: Series
Total Comments: 2
Reader Level: 4
Full Read Count: 1
+
As expected. Jung Heewon’s father was a reader.
And not just any reader—one who had finished the novel only once.
Still, for someone who had read it just a single time, he’d managed to survive surprisingly far.
Maybe I’d just gotten used to monsters like Killer King or Ye Hyunwoo, but now even a one-time reader seemed almost cute.
Well then, let’s see what kind of comments he left.
With only two, it wasn’t hard to check.
+
Will I be able to finish before enlistment…
—Likes 0 / Dislikes 0
(Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, Chapter 1)
+
Wow. He’d read this novel right before enlisting?
So he got transmigrated just on the eve of enlistment?
I felt a little sorry for him, but on second thought, it was still better than being dragged in right before discharge.
I read the second comment.
+
I started this novel because of a girl I like. Going to confess tomorrow.
—Likes 4 / Dislikes 3
(Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, Chapter 551)
+
I could pretty much guess the situation.
To summarize: “Right before enlistment, planned to confess to the girl he liked, but instead got transmigrated into the novel she was reading.”
“War has already broken out, hasn’t it?”
But unfortunately, the world he had been dragged into was no place for a sweet, romantic title like that.
“The Flag War is that kind of scenario by nature. People won’t hesitate to harm one another. To get what they want, they’ll do anything. That’s the kind of world where it’s permitted.”
Even as I said it, I realized how much I’d changed in this short span of time.
Just three scenarios had turned me into this.
“Stronger groups will exploit weaker ones, the defeated will be subjugated. People will keep dying, and the scenario will keep moving forward. Someone will become king, and the lucky ones will end up as those brilliant stars in the sky.”
[Constellation, ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ says, “That is precisely what a scenario is.”]
[Constellation, ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ says, “As long as you don’t give up until the end, anyone can ascend.”]
[An unnamed Constellation smiles bitterly.]
For stars who had lived their lives within scenarios, this logic was only natural.
But for a reader who, just a month ago, had been living steeped in peace, it was not.
“I—I can’t. I can’t watch people die anymore. This… this is really insane.”
Jung Munho must have witnessed, right in front of him, his subordinates being slaughtered by Gaebang experts.
He must have felt death breathing down his neck. He must have flailed desperately to live. Made choices he never wanted to.
“Is that why you took shelter under the Gaebang?”
“It wasn’t because I wanted to. I…”
Jung Munho shivered, clutching his own shoulders.
I looked at him silently, then spoke.
“Why don’t you tell me what you really want to say.”
“…What?”
“You even set up [Sound Barrier]. You must have something else you wanted to say.”
[You are in an area under the effect of ‘Sound Barrier’.]
Clearly, he had words for me before the Gaebang’s Bangju noticed anything.
Jung Munho stared blankly at my face, then suddenly tears streamed down his cheeks.
I was taken aback.
“Please don’t cry.”
“Do you… do you have any idea how hard this has been for me?”
Not every reader adapted to this world as spectacularly as Killer King or Ye Hyunwoo.
Far more had existed, and most had died. The ones who survived—most of them were probably in a state like the man before me.
Choking back sobs, Jung Munho asked in a trembling voice:
“Y-you’re… Kim Dokja, aren’t you?”
“…What?”
In that moment, I realized what kind of misunderstanding he had.
Wait.
How was that even possible?
I hadn’t used [Incite], nor had I activated ‘Thousand-Mile Everchanging Camouflage.’
“I—I knew the moment I saw you from afar. The white coat, those oddly smiling eyes! And the guts to lie outright about being Baek Cheongmun’s disciple…”
“Uh…”
“You don’t look quite the same as on the cover illustration, but you know how covers never really match reality. Still… was your hair always that flashy?”
The desperation in his eyes told me exactly what was happening.
「No one in their right mind would mistake me for ‘Kim Dokja.’」
Different hairstyle, different face.
Even if the tone and clothing were a little similar, any observant reader would notice I wasn’t Kim Dokja.
A proper reader couldn’t possibly miss it.
「But Jung Munho had decided I was Kim Dokja.」
Or rather, he had decided to believe it.
He had been thrown into this world suddenly, ripped from his old life, watching countless deaths. He had lost his men, even abandoned the children who called him “father.”
He had betrayed his comrades to survive, defected to the enemy.
He was clinging to life like a floating weed, but it had reached its limit.
His heart had broken completely, and what he needed now was someone to tell him all of this was fake.
That he bore no blame, and that it was time to wake from this nightmare.
Just one magic phrase to return the title of “reader” to him.
And he wanted to hear it from “Kim Dokja.”
Looking at my reader, I slowly opened my mouth.
“Mr. Jung Munho. Listen carefully to what I’m about to say.”
Instead of denying that I was Kim Dokja, I gave him a simple explanation of what was happening in this world.
It was obvious he had no idea.
“There… there are other readers who transmigrated into this novel?”
His eyes widened. Muttering “Yeongin…” blankly, then suddenly snapping his head up, he asked:
“Then you’ve met other readers?”
“Of course I have. Weren’t you invited to ‘Kim Dokja’s Banquet’?”
“What banquet?”
“You know, the one hosted by that guy calling himself ‘Representative Kim Dokja’…”
“Representative Kim Dokja? What’s that? What does Kim Dokja represent?”
Judging by his expression, he wasn’t lying.
Maybe there really were readers who hadn’t been invited.
Then suddenly, Jung Munho let out a small gasp.
“C-come to think of it, I once had a dream about going to a movie theater…”
So he’d been summoned while asleep.
“Don’t tell me that dream was…”
“Yes. It wasn’t a dream.”
His face drained pale as he touched his cheeks.
“Then what happens to me now? Am I stuck here for good? Am I going to grow old and die here, an old soldier?”
Watching his tears stream again, I felt a pang.
If someone asked whether this man was innocent, I couldn’t nod with certainty. He had killed, abandoned Jung Heewon’s younger sibling, and fled…
“I… I…”
I gripped his sagging shoulders.
“Get a hold of yourself. Please stop crying.”
“Y-yes.”
“Mr. Jung Munho, listen carefully now.”
I wasn’t Kim Dokja.
Which meant I couldn’t do the things Kim Dokja had done.
“Soon, a storm of blood will sweep through this station. If talks go well, maybe it won’t—but chances are high they won’t.”
Still, maybe I could at least save one reader from despair.
“A-are you going to fight? But it’s still the early stages. You’re not even a Constellation yet. The Gaebang Bangju is really strong.”
“I’ll handle that myself. Don’t worry.”
Locking eyes with Jung Munho’s wavering pupils, I activated [Incite].
“You don’t have to fight anymore. You don’t have to kill or face monsters. From now on, you only have one role.”
“O-one role? What is it?”
“The father of Jung Heewon and Jung Eunho.”
He froze at my words. Ten seconds passed, then he reacted with a start.
“Y-you… you mean Heewon? The Judge of Destruction?”
So he really hadn’t known.
“Yes. That Jung Heewon.”
“Then what should I do from now on?”
Perhaps in this round, Jung Munho was destined to die at the swing of Jung Heewon’s wooden sword.
But thankfully, this “Jung Munho” was a fake. And precisely because he was fake, there were things he could do.
“Do your best to be a ‘good father.’”
His expression was bewildered.
“A good father?”
“Yes.”
“How… how do I do that? I’ve never even been married. I don’t have kids…”
A good father…
I didn’t know the answer either.
Neither Ways of Survival nor Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint had ever really explained that.
So I dug into my memories as “Lee Hakhyeon.”
The people who had turned me, a drifting child, into “writer Lee Hakhyeon.”
My parents, who had made it possible for a child’s delusions to become stories.
“Whatever she does, tell her she did well.”
***
As Jung Munho practiced saying “well done” to the air, an ominous atmosphere began spreading through Seoul Station.
Judging by the murmurs everywhere, something was about to erupt.
One of the Gaebang disciples who’d been lurking nearby came up to me.
“So you’re the disciple of that Baek Cheongmun, huh?”
Jung Munho’s face turned ghostly white.
The words he hadn’t reported had already spread among the beggars.
As expected of the Gaebang, the gang with the greatest ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ intelligence network in the martial world.
“Come with me. The Bangju wants to see you.”