After watching the others for a while, Klein made another divination.
Soon, his expression stiffened.
'This…'
He had to go back to the real world and stop it, now.
Or else, they may all die.
His gaze was dark.
'Is this one of Kim Dokja's plans again?'
***
[Huhu, everyone is fighting well. Great constellations, are you desperate? I see. The incarnations and constellations should work hard. Does everyone want to go up another narrative class?]
The battlefield quieted down at the dokkaebi's voice.
[That's why I've brought good news. From now on, the second qualification test will begin!]
+
[King's Qualification]
1. 「The owner of the throne should be braver than anyone else.」
—The Absolute Throne never wants a 'weak king'. To challenge the throne, you must own at least a black flag.
2. 「He who dreams of the throne must desire it.」
—The number of 'kings' that can challenge the throne is decided. In order to gain the right to challenge it, you must remove the other kings around you.
+
The intermediate dokkaebi laughed.
[Please note that only five kings can challenge the final qualification of the Absolute Throne. The remaining number is… let's see.]
[Number of kings remaining: 14.]
[For your reference, there are 12 kings currently inside the hidden dungeon.]
Van and the children heard the dokkaebi's voice from afar. It seemed like people were fighting.
[Number of kings remaining: 11.]
The signboard in the air changed.
[Number of kings remaining: 10.]
[Number of kings remaining: 9.]
Things were moving fast.
The number of kings was quickly decreasing.
[Number of kings remaining: 8.]
[Number of kings remaining: 7.]
Soon, the dokkeabi's voice resounded again.
[Everyone here, please calm down. Why are you still fighting? Let's see, you've met the qualifications.]
[Number of kings remaining: 5.]
[The 'Last King's Qualification' has begun.]
Van and the children left the museum, encountering Gehrman.
Shin Yoosoung ran to Gehrman while Lee Gilyoung looked around.
Noticing them, Jung Heewon, standing beside Yoo Sangah and holding a little girl's hand, waved toward them.
Van, Gehrman and the children reunited with them.
However, the madman looked more serious than usual.
"Where is Kim Dokja?" Gehrman questioned.
He had a very bad feeling.
Yoo Sangah gestured toward a place in Ganghwamun, their sight blocked by a ward in the air.
"Most likely… He was transported there."
His eyes clouded.
Meanwhile, Van looked down at the unknown little girl.
"Who is this child?"
Jung Heewon shrugged.
"I don't know. I thought she was Kim Dokja's sister but she didn't recognize him."
"…"
Gehrman glanced toward them.
…Did they kidnap a kid?
Yoo Mia complained, "I'm hungry…"
Soon after, the ward in the air disappeared.
Klein focused on the scenario again.
[…Oh, a surprising winner has appeared.]
In the middle, Kim Dokja was standing.
[Well… good. This is the result. Now, I am informing all incarnations of Seoul. Just now, a new owner of the Absolute Throne was born!]
The source of Klein's ominous feeling revealed itself.
His spiritual intuition was warning him.
「He shouldn't follow Kim Dokja's plan.」
Gehrman raised his gun toward the reader.
"Huh?"
He recalled Kim Dokja's behavior so far.
He was a psychopath who enjoyed feeling superior than others.
He would probably try to go on the throne to be able to control everyone.
Even if that wasn't it, he had divined that he should prevent the reader from completing whatever plan he had in mind.
The Absolute Throne floating in the sky slowly descended towards Kim Dokja. It showed off its golden charm like it had been waiting for him for a long time.
Jung Heewon exclaimed, "Gehrman-ssi, what are you doing?!"
Kim Dokja's mind blanked for a moment, the words he had been about to tell the dokkaebi dying on his tongue.
All of a sudden? Why the sudden change of attitude? No, considering what he had done so far, it was surprising that Gehrman hadn't tried to kill him earlier.
Gehrman slowly approached him, positioning himself between Kim Dokja and the throne.
As a final act of mercy, Klein warned, "If you take one more step, you'll die."
Jung Heewon grabbed her weapon, ready to protect Kim Dokja.
"Gehrman-ssi, stop it."
Kim Dokja understood where the madman's misunderstanding could have originated.
However, instead of clearing the misunderstanding, Kim Dokja had an idea.
This situation where Gehrman was openly being hostile toward him.
Considering that Kim Dokja was unable to directly kill people, this may be his last opportunity to turn his party against Gehrman Sparrow.
"Jung Heewon-ssi."
Jung Heewon stepped closer, ready to fight.
However, Yoo Sangah intervened.
"Wait! You can't do this. Gehrman is also our colleague!"
Kim Dokja was frustrated. He hadn't expected that the others may consider Gehrman as a member of their party instead of an outsider.
"He saved the members of the station! He's not a bad person. We don't need to fight."
Kim Dokja contemplated the situation.
What was the best way to reverse the status quo?
Kim Dokja turned toward the madman.
After checking that his colleagues were listening, he opened his mouth.
"In the underground tunnels."
He met Gehrman's gaze.
"Half of your face was turned into worms."
Damn it. It would have been even better if Yoo Joonghyuk was awake to activate Lie Detection.
"Can you explain it?"
Gehrman didn't answer.
"Are you even human?"
The madman simply kept his gun pointed on Kim Dokja.
Yoo Sangah's eyes were shaking, confused.
However, Gehrman's lack of answer was enough to momentarily make her doubt.
Kim Dokja grinned.
"Why aren't you answering?"
Then, he hurriedly pulled out the Four Yin Demonic Beheading Sword.
Seeing this, Gehrman tried to attack him but Jung Heewon reacted first.
Bang!
Van summoned a shield to protect Kim Dokja, successfully blocking the bullet.
'Oh, I forgot about this guy.'
Kim Dokja turned to the mage.
"Buy me some time. I need to destroy this throne."
[Some constellations question their ears.]
[A few constellations are shocked at your declaration.]
Van scanned him before nodding and blocking everyone with a huge shield.
In the corner of his eyes, Jung Heewon was fighting against Gehrman, the latter agilely avoiding her attacks.
[Ganpyeongui's special option 'Echo of the Stars' has been activated.]
['Echo of the Stars' allows you to ask for the help of a constellation.]
"I'll call a constellation."
[The great constellations hear your voice flowing through the stars.]
Then, Kim Dokja started to recite the names he had memorized.
"I want the first star of the Big Dipper."
***
It seemed that they couldn't communicate.
His spiritual intuition was telling him: he should kill Kim Dokja to protect everyone.
In the first place, the other man had also tried to get rid of him many times so far, and now putting everyone in danger like this was crossing the line.
Gehrman evaded another of Jung Heewon's attacks.
'Things are going wrong.'
The more time passed, the more his danger intuition was warning him.
His gaze drifted toward Kim Dokja, calculating the distance.
Whatever the man was preparing, he had to stop it, now.
"Why are you doing this?!" Jung Heewon shouted.
Ignoring her words, Gehrman focused.
Although Van's shield could block bullets, fortunately, Spirit Body Threads could still pass through.
The problem was that it took longer than expected.
He heard Kim Dokja's voice.
"I… want the… sixth star…"
Tsutsutsutsu.
Kim Dokja was visibly slowing down.
However, Gehrman could feel it. It wasn't enough.
'If only it could be faster…'
But the reader was persisting.
"…of the… Big Dipper…"
A sixth presence descended into Kim Dokja's mind. Klein guessed that it was due to these additions that controlling Kim Dokja was taking so long.
"I want the… seventh… star…"
Attributing the slowness to the toll it was taking on his body, the reader continued without losing time.
"…Dip… per…"
Tsutsutsutsu.
At the same time as a seventh presence entered Kim Dokja's mind, Klein finally turned Kim Dokja into a marionette.
Then, feeling the presences about to shift their attention onto him, he hurriedly released the threads.
Kim Dokja's body limply fell to the ground.
The presences occupying his brain also disappeared.
Hearing the dull thud behind her, Jung Heewon turned toward the reader.
"Dokja-ssi?"
She rushed to the man, Gehrman not preventing her, and felt his pulse.
「His body was cold.」
Jung Heewon paled.
No matter how much she searched, she couldn't feel his heartbeat.
Kim Dokja was dead.
「Again.」
Clenching her fists, she stood up.
Although she wasn't sure why he suddenly died when a shield was protecting him—maybe his plan had gone wrong and he had overdone it—he would resurrect and come back once more as if nothing had happened, right?
He had to come back.
Yoo Sangah and Lee Gilyoung also rushed toward the reader, while Gehrman remained silent.
Tsutsutsutsu.
The dokkaebi then intervened.
[How surprising, your king is dead.]
Van saw Kim Dokja's corpse.
The creature snickered, glad that the reader was finally gone.
[Then, that means anyone can sit on the throne instead of him!]
[A new sub scenario has arrived!]
+
[Sub Scenario – Succession]
Category: Sub
Difficulty: B
Clear Conditions: Unexpectedly, incarnation 'Kim Dokja' died without being crowned, now someone has to replace him to control Seoul. The kings have a second chance to fight for the Absolute Throne and sit on it.
Time Limit: 30 minutes
Compensation: 6,000 coins
Failure: ―
+
The dokkaebi seemed oddly obsessed with 'having to sit on the throne'.
Van looked at the Absolute Throne and activated his magic eyes. From the chair, a connection to another being extended toward the void.
He recalled Kim Dokja's previous instructions and approached it.
「If we use this 'Absolute Throne' once, we will never be able to reach the end of the scenarios.」
He blocked the people approaching with a shield.
Tsutsutsutsu.
'I only need to destroy that throne, right?'
Tsutsutsutsu.
Van summoned a bolt of lightning.
Tsutsutsutsu.
Although Kim Dokja was dead, Gehrman's spirituality was ringing alarms in his mind.
Tsutsutsu.
The lightning fell from the sky and struck the Absolute Throne.
Van saw notifications appearing in front of him.
[The fourth scenario is forcibly ended.]
[You have accomplished a non-existent achievement.]
[The seed of a new tale is created.]
But the same moment the Absolute Throne broke…
Tsutsutsutsu-!
[The 'Unknown God' pays attention to this world.]
Blue sparks engulfed the surroundings.
[The tides of probability are shifting.]
[The 'Great Hall' is open.]
Klein realized, it was too late.
[The constellations of the Big Dipper are scared.]
[Some constellations leave the channel in a hurry.]
[The constellation, 'Secretive Plotter', is interested by the unexpected development.]
He had been unable to prevent the disaster from occurring.
[The constellation, 'Bald General of Justice', pulls out his hair in distress.]
A giant foot emerged, making the minds of anyone who saw it go crazy.
A being with an unimaginable presence was descending upon this world.
"Aaaaah!"
Incarnations screamed, blood pouring out from their nose, eyes, and ears.
Van raised his head toward the sky.
[The constellation, 'Secretive Plotter', looks forward to how you will solve this situation.]
「The real owner of the Absolute Throne had appeared.」