I cautiously stepped back from Yoo Joong-hyuk, who was lying there bleeding, and glared at Bihyung floating in the air.
"Was this your doing?"
Even if Yoo Joong-hyuk had been nearby, there's no way he would have been conveniently discovered like this. Bihyung must have triggered a "sub-scenario" with someone nearby to lure him over here.
[Do you always suspect me first? Got any proof?]
There was no physical proof.
But I had a strong suspicion.
[Constellation, 'Demonic Judge of Fire', anxiously watches your judgment.][You have received 500 coins as support.]
That's the kind of suspicion I had.
Han Sooyoung, staring dumbly at the bleeding Yoo Joong-hyuk, whispered to me.
"…You found him. Now what are you going to do?"
"What do you mean, what am I going to do?"
"Of course you have to save him, right? He's the protagonist."
Naturally, I had to save him.
But if I save him now, I'm definitely going to die.
Han Sooyoung looked terrified, as if Yoo Joong-hyuk might wake up at any moment.
"Is there anything we can restrain him with?"
"You can't restrain much on Yu Jung-hyuk."
"Then maybe lock him up somewhere…"
"He'd just kill himself."
"Right, he can just reset anyway… Damn, but what happens if he resets? What happens to us?"
Han Sooyoung finally seemed to remember that point.
If Yoo Joong-hyuk resets, what will happen to this world?
That was my biggest concern living in this world.
"For now, we have to stop him. No one knows what would happen otherwise."
When dealing with the unknown, it's best to assume the worst.
If I make one wrong move and this world resets, I would disappear too.
But… who the hell hit him like this?
I carefully examined his injuries. Wounds radiated in a circle across his abdomen. His internal organs and ribs were completely broken. Someone had dealt him an incredibly powerful blow…
For a moment, I stared blankly at my own fists.
Could it be…?
"Why that face? Suddenly looking all sentimental?"
"…It's nothing."
Everything suddenly made sense.
Of course, he got hit with a punch of strength 100…
That meant he had been like this for two whole days.
A wave of belated guilt crept over me.
If I wasn't careful, this could completely ruin my relationship with Yu Jung-hyuk.
As I examined his abdomen and slowly looked toward his face, goosebumps broke out all over me, forcing me to step back over ten paces instantly.
"…Shit."
Yoo Joong-hyuk's eyes were wide open, tears of blood streaming down his face, staring at me.
His lips moved, and I knew he was probably saying something like, "I'll kill you, Kim Reader."
Han Sooyoung, who had been standing beside me, was nowhere to be seen—she had already bolted a good distance away. I shouted at Yoo Joong-hyuk from afar.
"Hey! Can't you just calm down?"
"…."
"It was a fair fight, wasn't it? Isn't this a little petty? You were trying to kill me back then too."
Yoo Joong-hyuk's gaze still hadn't softened.
Damn it…
I had no choice. Whether he wanted to kill me or not, he had to survive here and now.
If Yu Jung-hyuk didn't survive, even if I stopped the [Disaster of Questions], the other disasters would still destroy the world.
Why did the protagonist of Destruction Law have to be someone like him?
If it had been Lee Hyun-sung, or at least Jeong Hee-won, it would have been far easier to manage the story.
…but this wasn't the time to complain.
I decided to activate my skill. I already knew what he was thinking, but as the saying goes, "Even when crossing a stone bridge, tap it first."
[Special Skill: 'Omniscient Reader's Perspective' Level 2 activated.]
And at that moment, something astonishing happened.
"Kim Reader."
I widened my eyes and looked at Yoo Joong-hyuk.
…Did he just call me?
"You can hear me, right? Considering everything you've done until now…"
…What?
"Please tell me you can hear me. If you don't move now, this world will…"
I looked at him, a little stunned.
"…Was I mistaken after all? Damn it."
Yoo Joong-hyuk's eyes slowly closed. I hesitated for a moment, then approached him. Judging by his condition, he had no strength left to fight at all. Moreover… it seemed as if his hostility toward me had vanished—or maybe it was just my imagination.
"Yoo Joong-hyuk. Can you hear me?"
He weakly lifted his eyelids, then closed them again.
It was strange.
Even with such severe injuries, [Chevalier's Resurrection] should have automatically activated, yet why was he still like this?
[Special Skill: 'Character Overview' activated.][The relevant information about this character is overwhelmingly extensive. 'Character Overview' will be converted into 'Summary Overview'.]
Character: Yoo Joong-hyuk
Exclusive Traits:
Regressor <3rd Regression> (Mythic)
Pro Gamer (Rare)
Tyrant (Hero)
Exclusive Skills:[Eye of the Sage Lv. 8], [Close-Quarters Combat Lv. 9], [Advanced Weapon Mastery Lv. 9], [Mental Barrier Lv. 8], [Hundred-Step Divine Fist Lv. 6], [Vermilion Bird Divine Step Lv. 6], [Heaven-Shattering Force Lv. 5] … (omitted) …
Stigmas:[Regression Lv. 3], [Inheritance Lv. 3]
Overall Stats:[Stamina Lv. 60], [Strength Lv. 60], [Agility Lv. 60], [Magic Power Lv. 60]
This character is currently afflicted with a status ailment.
This character is currently poisoned with Thousand-Spirit Poison.
None of his other stats showed any problems. Yu Jung-hyuk was still the strongest incarnation in Seoul, and his skills had grown even more compared to the last time I'd seen him.
The problem was the status ailment.
No matter how exceptional Yoo Joong-hyuk was, he didn't yet possess skills like [Immunity to a Thousand Poisons] or [Immunity to Ten Thousand Poisons]. As a result, poison was one of the very few weaknesses he still had.
So that was why he was in this state—poison.
Looking closely, I could see bluish veins bulging all over his body.
It didn't seem like much time had passed since the poisoning.
Fortunately, he could still be saved.
But something about this was strange.
At this point in time, as far as I knew, there was only one being capable of administering Thousand-Spirit Poison to Yoo Joong-hyuk…
From a short distance away, a woman who had been watching anxiously spoke to me.
"Um… are you perhaps Kim Dokja?"
I nodded without thinking.
Come to think of it, she was the one who had brought Yoo Joong-hyuk here earlier.
"All the way here, he kept saying this—he asked me to take him to 'Kim Dokja'…"
Yoo Joong-hyuk…?
Looking down at Yoo Joong-hyuk's face, now tinged with an even deeper green, my thoughts became tangled.
Han Sooyoung, who had been cowering in fear nearby, cautiously returned and spoke.
"Hey, what's going on here?"
She poked my shoulder impatiently, but I didn't answer.
After a brief moment of consideration, I spoke to Bihyung.
"Bihyung, open your goblin pouch."
[See? Told you it wasn't my doing.]
"Just open the pouch."
After checking my remaining coins, I searched for coin items that could treat Yu Jung-hyuk.
With Thousand-Spirit Poison, simply consuming [Essence of Elain Forest] wouldn't be enough to detoxify him. I quickly opened the text file again, checked several ingredients, and completed the purchases from the goblin pouch.
[You have purchased 1 'Midday Tryst'.][You have purchased 1 'Old Barbara's Branch'.][You have purchased 2 'Fresh Daltoon's Horns'.][You have purchased 1 'Antidote Potato'.][You have purchased 2 bottles of 'Purification Water of the Eintern Temple'.][You have purchased 1 'Essence of Elain Forest'.]
[Total of 7,370 coins have been spent.]
An unexpected hemorrhage of coins.
I asked the nearby survivors to bring me a small bucket, lit a fire in a mana brazier, and poured in the ingredients. Han Sooyoung asked,
"What are you making right now?"
"An antidote."
"So you decided to save him after all?"
I nodded.
"I think this guy came looking for me on purpose."
"On purpose? Why?"
"How should I know?"
"Maybe he came asking for help? No matter how crazy Yoo Joong-hyuk is, I don't think he'd come to kill you while beaten half to death."
"Yoo Joong-hyuk wouldn't do that."
"How do you know?"
"I just do. That's the kind of bastard he is."
I squatted down and adjusted the flames of the brazier.
The fire burned a vivid blue as the contents of the bucket began to boil. Judging by the appearance alone, it looked like something that should be called Goblin Entrails Stew of the Valley of Death. Horrifying to look at—but this soup was an excellent antidote.
Han Sooyoung rested her hands on her knees and stared at the dreadful concoction.
"But you know… was Yoo Joong-hyuk really such a bad guy in Destruction Law?"
"…What?"
"I was just thinking about it. If you look closely, he saved quite a lot of people and did plenty of good things too, right? Sure, he does some psychopathic stuff, but in the end, doesn't he act for the greater good? He's fighting to save the world. I hate to admit it, but even when he killed me, it was because I was the bad one."
When I thought about it, Han Sooyoung wasn't completely wrong.
I let out a small laugh.
"It's really convincing hearing that from someone who ran even farther away than I did."
"That's a separate issue. What I'm saying is, you can't judge a person by just one side of them."
It was an unexpected remark, so I looked up at Han Sooyoung for a moment.
Han Sooyoung continued, wearing a cool, easy smile.
"Just like how, no matter how much you insist my work is 'plagiarized,' in truth, my novel wasn't influenced by Destruction Law at all."
"…You almost convinced me there. Really. If you hadn't said that last part."
I said it lightly, but the unexpected topic tangled my thoughts.
What kind of person was Yoo Joong-hyuk?
Could I really say that I understood the existence known as "Yoo Joong-hyuk"?
Until just a moment ago, I could have answered confidently.
I was the only reader who had read Destruction Law all the way through.
Yet as I watched the ingredients boiling inside the soup, it felt as though part of the answer I had carried was being diluted within it.
Was the "Yoo Joong-hyuk" I knew truly all there was to Yoo Joong-hyuk?
Before long, the soup finished boiling.
[The Constellation, 'Demonic Fire Judge,' is moved by your good deed.][Constellations of the Absolute Good alignment who support your good deed nod in approval.][You have received 3,000 coins in sponsorship.]
It was rare to feel cheated even after receiving sponsorship. Damn it.
I approached Yoo Joong-hyuk, who lay collapsed, carrying the soup. Han Sooyoung fetched a spoon from a nearby shop, and I scooped the soup and fed it to Yoo Joong-hyuk.
Watching me blow on the spoon to cool it down, Han Sooyoung snickered.
"Wow, the devoted wife has arrived."
"Want to do it yourself?"
"No thanks."
Honestly, even if she wanted to, I wouldn't have let her.
Because every time I fed him a spoonful, a system message appeared.
[The Constellation, 'Demonic Fire Judge,' is moved by your good deed.][You have received 500 coins in sponsorship.]
Handing out coins every spoonful—this was ridiculously profitable.
[The Constellation, 'Demonic Fire Judge,' is moved by your good deed.][You have received 300 coins in sponsorship.]
I thought it was a loss, but it turned out to be a massive jackpot event.
Truly, it pays to live a good life.
However, after more than ten spoonfuls, something started to feel off.
[The Constellation, 'Demonic Fire Judge,' is moved by your good deed.][You have received 400 coins in sponsorship.]
…Is this guy really giving coins because he's touched by my good deeds?
After finishing the entire bowl, I waited for a while.
Yoo Joong-hyuk let out a faint groan and slowly began to open his eyes.
His condition was still terrible, but the poison had begun to recede little by little. I didn't miss the opportunity and took out an item.
[Using item, 'Midday Tryst.'][Requesting consent from the target.]
[Midday Tryst] was an item that allowed one-on-one communication with a chosen target for a fixed period of time. If I had more coins, I would have learned the [Voice Transmission] skill, but lacking that leeway, this was the next best option.
[The target has agreed to communicate with you.]['Midday Tryst' has begun.]
As I sent a message while thinking of Yoo Joong-hyuk, a small messenger-window-like interface appeared before my eyes.
—Hey. Can you hear me?
Good. The connection worked.
There were three reasons I had bought this item.
First, Yoo Joong-hyuk's tongue was paralyzed due to the effects of the Thousand Spirit Poison.Second, I wanted to prevent unnecessary information from leaking to Han Sooyoung. And third—the most important reason—I didn't want to give Yoo Joong-hyuk the certainty that I could read his thoughts.
Then, in the next moment, Yoo Joong-hyuk's message appeared.
—Kim Dokja. Move east immediately.