Chapter 32: Not a game

Dohyuk fell to the ground. He just had used a god skill. It was an incomplete move, but that’s why it was more dangerous. Before he fell, Heeyun came running and helped Dohyuk.

Dohyuk did not faint, but he couldn’t stand still. He would require a few hours of rest.

“But you…”

Heeyun looked down at Dohyuk, panting. She knew how powerful that mad boy’s movements were. It would take years of training to even come close, and yet Dohyuk managed to overcome it.

“You really are great.”

“…Right.”

It wasn’t Dohyuk who answered.

“…!”

“…!!”

Dohyuk and Heeyun both turned to Kyuho who was lying down.

“You ‘WERE’ great. Really…”

Kyuho’s voice shook. Heeyun thought it was due to his injury, but Kyuho did not have any injuries.

“You…”

The reason why his voice shook was because he was crying.

“You are not the one I knew…”

He spoke as he stood up. Dohyuk gritted his teeth and tried to stand up, but he couldn’t.

“Let me do it.”

Heeyun spoke as she made a light spear.

“You did what you could.”

Heeyun turned to Kyuho who was now ready to run.

“You.. you… you’re…”

Heeyun was almost ready to fight, but she lost all will to fight because of his words. Kyuho yelled as he ran, crying in delight.

“You’re cooler now!!!”

“…?”

Kyuho pushed Heeyun back, ran to Dohyuk, and hugged him.

“What…”

Before Dohyuk could say anything, Kyuho wailed.

“I’m sorry, Dohyuk!!!!!”

“…”

He couldn’t think. It was just uncomfortable as Kyuho’s tears and snot dropped onto Dohyuk’s shoulder.

The bazaar had a few liquor stores. The group that Kyuho wiped out had consumed a lot of them, but there was still enough to let the new group eat and rest.

“…”

He quenched his hunger and thirst, but Dohyuk couldn’t sleep. Neither could Heeyun nor Namgun.

“Rest up, Dohyuk! Your muscles need some rest.”

“…Do you think…”

‘I can rest with you by the side?’ But Kyuho did not try to kill Heeyun and Namgun anymore.

“I lost.”

He accepted his loss.

“There was no way my wound would have been healed with the god intervention and I would not have killed them.”

“…”

“Besides, I was wrong. You’re stronger than me even now.”

Kyuho spoke and shrugged his shoulders. “Weaklings need to listen to strong ones. That’s how it works. I mean, I need to listen to you either way but…”

Then, ‘Get lost!’ was what Dohyuk wanted to say if his legs were okay.

“Anyway, how did you do that?”

“…What do you mean that?”

“My religion! You kicked me in the stomach and I saw Eudevich getting kicked out of me. I lost my religion and… I didn’t know it was possible!”

“I don’t know.”

“Really? You didn’t know and you did it anyway? Y-you’re really COOL!!”

“…”

They talked a few times but the answer was always this: The boy was mad. He had that hint of bloodthirst in him, and the compass was still spinning.

“What is that?”

“…Let me ask you something.”

“Of course!”

Dohyuk put the compass back into his pocket and sighed.

‘Let’s be calm.’

He couldn’t understand. He could have used this situation to his advantage, but he just didn’t feel comfortable. It was like as if he had faced those gods.

“Do you like this world?”

“…Huh?!”

“I mean, you like this messed up world…”

Dohyuk then stopped. Kyuho was staring at him in shock.

“Whoa… that was shocking.”

“What is?”

“I just thought your memory came back. You used to ask us that a lot.”

-Do you like this world? Don’t you want to make things normal again?

“…And what was your answer?”

“Well, it wasn’t the answer you wanted. Most didn’t even think about it, or they liked it. I was the same.”

“Why?”

This was what Dohyuk wanted to ask everyone. Why is everyone so hostile? Why do they act as if it’s normal to oppress and kill others?

“Isn’t it obvious?”

For the first time, Kyuho gave a logical answer.

“We were tamed to be that way.”

“Tamed…?”

“What do you think that ‘they’ are doing with us? Those ones that changed our world.”

“…A game.”

That’s what he was thinking. The one who had supreme power. They were changing the world and playing the world like a game.

“Oh, maybe you see it that way. I guess you have a different perspective now.”

“You’re saying it’s not?”

Dohyuk became curious as Kyuho seemed like he knew something.

“You… know something, don’t you?”

“Uh, naturally? I mean I was always with you and I was there right before you finished it. I know a few rules that I should not know. For example, a condition to end this situation that you call a ‘game’/”

“And that’s a killing a god.”

“No.” Kyuho shook his head, “Listen. This is not a game where you progress and beat you the story and you beat the game.”

“I thought we had the main trial? We can go to the city and…”

“Yeah, well the quest is there and there’s another one afterwards, but that’s not how it ends.”

Kyuho tapped his head, “The condition is here.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can’t see it now, but there are some stats that you can’t see in your status window. One of them is ‘Sanity’. But you can’t see it in the current stage yet.”

He had. That’s what he saw when he went into the sleeping bag.

“This rating goes up when one faces a situation that you cannot comprehend. The maximum limit differs for everyone, but when it does reach the limit?”

Kyuho made a gestured of his head exploding.

“They go crazy. There are a lot of ways you can go crazy though.”

The world, messed up by the god named Casita. Humans only went mad in one way.

“It’s called being tamed.”

It was changing the mind.

“The world forces you to know that the strong live and the weak die. The weak need to kneel before the strong or backstab to win.”

“…!”

“Some thought of it that way from the beginning like me but…”

“So those that came back…”

“Well, if their memory is intact, their sanity seems to stay that way. Those who stayed to the end were all broken.”

That’s when Dohyuk realized what he was most uncomfortable with.

“Anyway, so when all of the people go mad and this world is turned to the world that the god wants-”

The trial will be over.

“The strongest will reign in place of Casita.”

Ruling over the world perfectly transformed, unlike any other human.

“Like you guessed, that crazy bastard has made many like this already.”

“…”

“But it seems our world was the one that went on for the longest. Even the angels were shocked.”

Until the last one in the world goes mad. It meant that if people withstood, they had to go through more trials and to grow stronger. That’s why Earth became strong and even after countless trials, the last one did not lose his mind.

“I guess you can take it from there.”

One could become powerful enough to fight against the power of God. Without choosing to gain the right to rule over the world, he fought back instead.

“What…”

“The one who didn’t go mad! Who do you think it is? It’s YOU!”

Kyuho spoke as if he were a fan in front of his long-time role model. Kyuho gave him a thumbs up.

“Damn bastard, if only he didn’t cheat. It was you who should’ve won!”

“…Since when did you know of this?”

“Uh… it wasn’t too long ago, or that’s how I feel. We heard it while we killed a bunch of those angels on our way to Casita.”

“How many people know this?”

“Everyone who went to kill the God heard it.”

“Then…”

“You thought the same thing!”

If Dohyuk was the only one who was not insane when he went to kill Casita, and the others who followed did not know how to end this until then, the only way to end this was to kill Casita…

“They will now try to kill you instead of Casita. Bastards.”

The answer was really simple. To those who thought they were strongest excluding Dohyuk, they were guaranteed to be the best in this world if they killed him.

“That’s what I was trying to do! I was getting rid of those who even think of challenging you! It’s easier to kill them now than to kill them later.”

“When I was Great Emperor,” Dohyuk said, “I set the order for the people.”

“Yeah.”

“But if all the people became mad to fit the world… They must have liked it.”

“Of course.”

“Even those weak ones would benefit from it.”

“Yeah, well. Insects have a dream too. It’s better to have hope that you can ‘someday’ come up and crush down those other insects.” Kyuho added, “But why does it matter? You were really strong. It’s natural to listen to the strong.”

“…”

Dohyuk then pitied himself from his previous life.

“Then what about you?”

“Me?” Kyuho became confused.

“You’re stronger than me even now. Besides…”

The simple answer came back.

“You are you, and strong or not, you’re still the best.”

“Hah.”

Dohyuk let out a laugh and felt his eyes closing. He was at the limit, and he also learned that this boy was not dangerous.

‘If I wake up…’

He had decided on what he was going to do next.

“Goodnight.”

Dohyuk closed his eyes.

And when he opened his eyes again-

“Huh?”

“You’re awake.”

Something unexpected was waiting for him.