Episode 11 – Night of the Prophets (4)

“The 9th person to get off.. it is the first time I’ve heard of this attribute.”

“Oh, you probably wouldn’t have. This is the first time us Prophets have seen it.”

This brat was giving an excuse. I wanted to tease him a bit.

“But it is strange. If you really received the revelation, why aren’t you a ‘revelator’ instead of ‘someone who got off’? What is with this name?”

“T-That… the revelation… no, the book of revelation…”

Lee Sungkook stuttered. It was delightful watching him try to avoid Lie Detection. I wondered how honest he could be. Lee Sungkook finally closed his eyes.

“When I read the book of revelation… I stopped!”

“You stopped reading it? Why didn’t you read it?”

“The contents of the Book of Revelations are very difficult, vast and profound…”

“Then you were the 9th person to get off?”

“Yes…”

“I don’t think that will be of much help to me.”

“N-No! I can definitely help you!”

The confused Lee Sungkook continued to speak gibberish while uneasily turning his smartphone off and on.

“Why do you keep touching that smartphone?”

“I-I-I’m sorry. I am a smartphone addict…”

He was trying to get advice from the other ones who got off. But that didn’t last long.

“Are you going on the Internet?”

“Y-Yes, that’s right. It is the ability of the hermit…”

At Lee Sungkook’s words, I looked towards Han Donghoon. The hypnotized boy was busy tearing at his fingernails with empty eyes.

The Hermit King of Shadows who had the powerful information manipulation ability. This boy couldn’t be kept under the prophets.

If the Prophets became involved in the story in this way, the original novel was ruined and the plans I set up would be wasted. I had to stop these guys before everything went wrong.

“Do the other prophets also have the attribute of ‘getting off’?”

“…Yes.”

“How many are there in total?”

“That…” Lee Sungkook hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth. “As far as I know, there are 48 people.”

48 people? It was smaller than I thought.

Considering that chapter 1,200 had one hit and chapter 120 had 10 hits, I thought there would be at least 100 people.

Lee Sungkook’s words resolved my curiosity.

“I know there were more prophets originally but I expect most of them didn’t pass the first scenario.”

“They are dead despite knowing the future?”

“That… we have received the revelation but we only recently realized that it was a ‘true’ revelation.”

Now it made a little sense.

Perhaps at the start of the scenario, few readers thought that a novel that started serialization 10 years ago would become a reality. They might not remember it straight away.

I thought it was strange that Lee Sungkook survived. Furthermore, this guy was the ninth person to stop reading so he was literally one of the earliest readers. Then how did he survive?

“I fortunately survived the carriage. If it hadn’t been for another prophet nearby, I would’ve died.”

Another prophet in the same place as him?

“That―”

The moment that Lee Sungkook was about to speak, the ground slightly shook. The vibration was transmitted despite Sound Wave Blocking.

Lee Sungkook and I ran out of the tent at the same time.

Kung!

I thought it was a sudden sub scenario but that wasn’t it. Two people stood in the centre of the epicenter. The man and woman facing each other. I didn’t know the man but the other person was…

“You aren’t a supporting role… yet you dare to push me?”

“What are you talking about, you dog-like jerk.”

…Not surprisingly, it was Jung Heewon.

“What? Dog…? You bitch!”

The man grabbed a very large ring sword from his back. His overall level seemed in line with Jung Heewon’s. But it wasn’t enough.

Jung Heewon movements were already above incarnations of the same class. Jung Heewon’s blade moved lightly as the man attacked.

[The character ‘Jung Heewon’ has activated the special option of Mikazuki Munechika, “Death God’s Footsteps’…]

“Jung Heewon!”

Jung Heewon stopped his black just before she cut off the man’s head. The hairs were rising on the man’s neck.

It was a tremendous difference in speed. If I hadn’t intervened, the man would be dead.

The startled Lee Sungkook cried out, “Jung Minseob! What are you doing now?”

I realized it when I saw Lee Sungkook’s confusion.

[The exclusive skill, Character List is activated.]

Then the expected message popped up.

[The information of this person can’t be read in ‘Character List.’]

[This person isn’t registered in ‘Character List.’]

That’s right. He was also a Prophet.

* * *

After a while, another prophet was on his knees in front of me, with Lee Sungkook next to him.

“I’m sorry, my friend didn’t know anything… Hey, apologize quickly!”

The man sitting beside him bowed towards me.

“…I’m sorry.”

Unlike Lee Sungkook. he was a very prideful person and couldn’t completely remove the anger from his face. I looked at Jung Heewon and said,

“Jung Heewon, I told you not to be reckless.”

“T-This bastard…!”

“Jung Heewon!”

Jung Heewon made a surprised expression for the first time.

“…I’m sorry, Yoo Jonghyuk-nim.”

Jung Heewon bowed and turned to leave, Lee Hyunsung following her with a strange expression. I knew that Jung Heewon wasn’t the type to raise a sword to someone for no reason.

However, it was dangerous to move in this current situation.

The other man looked at me and asked, “Are you really Yoo Jonghyuk-nim?”

“Yes, are you also a prophet?”

“…Yes.”

There was a complicated expression on his face. He looked between me, Jung Heewon and Lee Hyunsung. Then he glanced at Lee Sungkook and said.

“Excuse me, Yoo Jonghyuk-nim. I’m sorry but I’m afraid I’ll have to leave you for a moment. Sungkook, talk with me for a minute.”

He left the tent while Lee Sungkook bowed to me.

“I won’t wait long.”

“Yes!”

It wouldn’t be like this if it was the original Yoo Jonghyuk. But I had a reason for allowing them to talk. As soon as Lee Sungkook left the tent, I immediately called to Bihyung.

‘Hey Bihyung.’

[What is it? Having fun again…]

‘Hearing enhancement, 2,000 coins.’

[······.]

Now Bihyung had adapted. It took less than three seconds before an advertisement went up.

[2,000 coins have been consumed.]

[The exclusive skill ‘Hearing Enhancement’ has been acquired.]

Bihyung warned.

[Hey, be careful from the fourth scenario onwards. For such a wide-scale scenario, the intermediate dokkaebis have jurisdiction….]

I ignored Bihyung’s words.

[The exclusive skill ‘Hearing Enhancement Lv. 1’ is activated.]

I moved my body outside the tent blocked by Sound Wave Blocking. Then voices started to be heard. They weren’t too far from where I was hiding.

“Hey, isn’t it slightly strange?”

“What?”

“Do you see that as a handsome face?”

“What are you talking about suddenly…?”

“The author said that Yoo Jonghyuk was handsome.”

This bastard? Fortunately, Lee Sungkook dismissed it.

“The author might have different tastes… He is Yoo Jonghyuk for sure. He has the same dirty nature.”

“You only got off at the 9th chapter, what do you know…?”

“This…! You don’t really remember it since you read it a long time ago!”

“Still, aren’t some scenes pretty clear with the ‘Memory Benefits? Would you even remember the prologue without this privilege? You might not be alive if it wasn’t for me…”

Their voices were coming closer.

“It is weird no matter how I look at it. Setting aside Lee Hyunsung, who is that strange woman? If I remember correctly, there wasn’t such a woman in the third regression.”

“Then check it. See if he is really Yoo Jonghyuk.”

“…But what if he is real?”

“We will go according to plan. If we get Yoo Jonghyuk here, we can deal with those who read until the 50th chapter.”

Some really good information was coming in. Despite wanting to hug onto the main character, these guys were unleashing all types of curse words because of their situation. This was why they were humans.

Lee Sungkook and the man was coming closer.

“I apologize for the long wait. Let’s go inside.”

We went back into the tent.

“Yoo Jonghyuk-nim. I apologize for my previous disrespect. I will greet you again. I am Jung Minseob.”

The man smiled and bowed.

Once again, this guy had pretty good items for being beaten by Jung Heewon. In particular, there was the useful Fugitive’s Mask which allowed the user to freely change their face and appearance.

I cut to the chase.

“Then where did you get off?”

Jung Minseob glared at Lee Sungkook. He seemed to be saying something with his eyes.

“…The 1,089th person to get off.”

1,089. Considering the number of views for chapter 1,200 was 1 and the number of views for chapter 120 was 10, this guy was a person who got off quite late.

Maybe this was the guy who saved Lee Sungkook in the first scenario.

“As a prophet who has read the Book of Revelation, I am glad and honoured to meet Yoo Jonghyuk-nim. However, Yoo Jonghyuk-nim… I’m sorry but can I ask you some questions?”

“Question? What is the question?”

“That, regarding Yoo Jonghyuk…”

“Do you doubt that I’m the real Yoo Jonghyuk?”

“…T-That’s not it.”

His face was red from my intense gaze.

“Try it.”

“Yes?”

“Ask me.”

The confused Jung Minseob nodded.

“Um… Then excuse me.”

In order to properly trick these guys, I had to keep a few things in mind.

“As far as I know, Yoo Jonghyuk took Delusional Demon Kim Namwoon as a companion in the third regression. Yet you have a strange woman with you instead of Kim Namwoon.”

“…”

“I thought she was Lee Jihye but she doesn’t seem to be in her teens. I also heard you calling her a different name.”

His memory and observation skills were quite good. Like Jung Minseob said, this world had already changed from the third turn that I knew. Now I had to shift this changed world to ‘suit my taste’ as much as possible.

“If you are asking me why I don’t have the Delusional Demon with me, the answer is simple. In this turn, the Delusional Demon doesn’t exist.”

“…Huh?” D-Doesn’t exist? Perhaps… did he die?”

“Yes.”

Their faces were filled with confusion for a moment. Jung Minseob asked, “No, how… Who the hell killed Kim Namwoon?”

“The Delusion Demon Kim Namwoon…”

These prophets’ mouths were slowly dropping. Now I would drive in the last wedge.

“He died at the hands of a prophet like you.”