〈 Episode 3 〉 The World One Year After the Suicide
* * *
Rea recalled the past year as she made her way to the council that had summoned her.
As they had fabricated that day, the church and kingdom shifted most of the blame onto the refugees and held them accountable.
‘As war heroes, and as members of the Hero’s party, we.’
Due to a shortage of talent and the political situation, they received relatively light punishment.
Of course, it was only light compared to the punishment they originally deserved; her demotion from Cardinal to Bishop was an unprecedented fall from grace, however.
If one considered the unique nature of war, opportunities could be created endlessly, so she endured it as best she could while watching for a new chance.
“Bishop Rea, we’ve been waiting for you. Please, come inside.”
A massive door that inspired piety from sight alone.
A priest gestured for her to enter.
Rea slowly entered and surveyed the interior.
“From the very beginning, making the Hero self-destruct was absurd! Do you truly think sending such a precious resource bestowed by the Goddess in this manner makes any sense!”
The moment she entered, a voice filled with malice assailed her ears.
Hearing such a voice, she stood at the peripheral seat permitted to her and simply waited for her turn.
“If I recall, Cardinal Heldeun also approved of it at the time, did he not?”
“...Th-that was simply according to public opinion here...”
“Since when was the position of Cardinal one swayed by public opinion?”
“......”
“In any case, that is not what is important. Since we cannot revive the already dead Hero, finding a replacement or a solution is what matters.”
He possessed such handsome features that one might wonder if a god had descended to carve his face personally.
Mediating the conversation with a smile that made people feel good from sight alone.
He then looked at her and slowly posed a question.
“Cardinal Rea... no, Bishop, do you happen to have any ideas?
At his words, Rea shrank and bowed her head.
“...I do not.”
“That is a shame. I had thought that Bishop Rea, who assisted the Hero for several years, would surely know something...”
At the mention of the word ‘Hero,’ Rea bit her lip.
The moment she heard that title.
Every single thing she had done to him came flooding back.
Penance is something performed within suffering. In order to cleanse your filthy, vulgar mind, pain is necessary.
She vividly recalled the past when, under the guise of penance, she had unloaded all her accumulated stress onto the Hero.
The sadistic sensation in her hands and that gaze cursing her.
Her past self had done this over and over for that shallow satisfaction.
...Yes.
Again and again. Over and over.
Those piled-up memories.
Now mixed with the fact that she could no longer see him, and with the feelings that had developed for him.
The emotions she had felt then surged back like a reflux, eroding her away.
As if to erase the self that had been so terribly disgusting.
‘Please... please stop.’
When the events of that day gradually tightened around her throat.
He called her name once more.
“Bishop Rea. I have a request.”
“Y-yes?”
“Once your current affairs are concluded. Within a week, could you take up a post as a special advisor at the Academy and guide the Saintess?”
A bishop—no less, someone who had been a Cardinal just a year ago.
Being dispatched as a special advisor to the Academy was itself absurd.
Yet he was demanding such a thing as if it were natural.
“...That is.”
Rea could not readily answer.
No matter how much she had been demoted to bishop for her failures.
A bishop was still a high-ranking cleric. A position like special advisor to the Academy was something only high priests should take on, yet he was asking this of her.
However, yielding was the right move in the current situation, so even if it required a hundred concessions, she could accept being dispatched itself.
The problem was his request that she ‘look after’ the Saintess.
‘Ha.’
Her hands trembled, and she bit her lip so hard the taste of blood filled her mouth.
Anger surged to a degree almost impossible to endure.
She had no choice but to accept. If she did not, there would be far too much to bear politically.
‘No... come to think of it, this is rather fortunate.’
If she could approach the Saintess under the pretext of being a special advisor, she could pressure and torment her in various ways.
Of course, the Saintess might break in the process and cause problems.
‘So long as I can drag the Saintess down, it does not much matter.’
If she could only have her revenge, she was confident she could endure all of this.
Having reached such a conclusion.
She calmed her mind and nodded her head.
“Understood. Once this matter is finished, I shall depart at once.”
At such an answer, he looked at her as if surprised.
“Thank you. May the Goddess’s blessing be with you.”
He offered that pleasant smile once more and continued.
“It is a sad tale, but if we cannot find a replacement for the Hero, ten years at most, five at the least. That will be the limit of this world.”
The time remaining was shorter than expected, so all present let out brief groans and fell silent.
The price and responsibility for sacrificing the Hero were gradually pressing against their own throats.
“Therefore, by whatever means necessary, no... no matter what you must do, we must find a solution. Even if it goes against the Goddess’s will.”
With those words that said all would be permitted.
He turned the small statue of the Goddess that had been benevolently watching over the place to face away, concluding the meeting.
* * * * *
The faint scent of old wood.
When he opened his eyes to that scent, the first thing he saw was the newspaper on the desk.
[The 2nd Knight Order is recruiting new holy power bearers! Those possessing holy power may pass after an interview!]
[Analysis of the Current War Situation and Future Trends]
The letters were written plainly, but the sentences they contained were filled with anxiety and fear.
Jeonghyeon looked at them and calmly read through them, confirming what kind of situation he was in.
‘So this is the world one year after my death.’
A world that had begun to flow in a negative direction, at that.
After his death.
He smiled as he read the phrases stating that the Demon King’s forces had grown even stronger and all places in the world were falling.
‘Good.’
A world where someone’s sacrifice—where an unrelated person must sacrifice themselves—isn’t it right for such a world to be ruined?
With such thoughts, he checked the next page.
[That is why more than ever, this world longs for the Hero, and awaits nothing but for the Goddess to send one down.]
“...Ha.”
He let out a hollow laugh seeing how the newspaper wrote as if the Hero had never existed.
No doubt the royal palace had hidden his existence and tried to treat all these events as if they had never happened.
‘Well, come to think of it, they were like that from the start.’
Whether it was to monopolize all the credit for themselves or for some other reason, he did not know.
They had called him not the Hero but a ‘Holy Power Bomb’ and tried to hide all information about him.
‘Those fucking bastards.’
Their thrashing to avoid responsibility was endlessly disgusting.
He covered his mouth against the disgust climbing up his throat and gagged.
Soon, he donned a deranged smile and read the last sentence once more.
[Awaits nothing but for the Goddess to send down the Hero.]
After treating him like that, they ask for a Hero once again?
Truly, there is a limit to shamelessness, is there not?
‘Disgusting.’
All of this.
He crumpled the newspaper before him and flung it to the floor, making a vow once more.
To take revenge on those who had made him this way.
Even if those who had ridiculed and mocked him cried and begged for their lives, he would plunge a blade into their throats.
And he would make those fucking bitches experience the same humiliation he had suffered.
As he bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, a message appeared before his eyes.
* *
[Main Quest]
Graduate with excellent grades.
Current Grade: F
*Warning. If your current grade persists, you will die.
* *
A quest message he had never once seen before his suicide.
Realizing once more that everything had been wrong from the very beginning, he focused on the contents.
‘Excellent grades and death.’
All he knew about this game was a trailer he had briefly seen, so he did not know much.
But he knew it was not normal to receive a death sentence for failing a single quest.
‘That they would do something so abnormal means the system must have attached such a clause to prevent me from leaving the Academy.’
If it could ‘recognize’ that an error occurred and independently judge and decide the ‘compensation’ for it.
The probability was high that it had been deliberately made to flow in this manner.
‘Whatever. That isn’t important right now anyway.’
He couldn’t escape from this place while growing anyway, so it didn’t matter much for the moment.
So he brushed this aside and checked his stats.
* *
I Jeonghyeon [Level: 1]
[Stats]
Strength: 7 Agility: 6 Stamina: 4 Mana: 6 Holy Power: ???
[Traits]
1. (Unrealistic Genius)
2. (Unrealistic Luck)
[Skills]
None
* *
Compared to the average stat of 10 for an ordinary man.
He laughed hollowly seeing that he could not even reach 8, let alone 10.
At this level, he was not just trash; he was practically waste.
‘It doesn’t matter. As long as I can grow.’
Until now, his growth had been blocked by the system and restraints.
Because now, at the very least, an ‘opportunity to grow’ had been given to him.
Jeonghyeon scratched the desk hard enough to break his nails, reciting the humiliations of the past.
* * *
After that, the moment Jeonghyeon stepped outside.
At the alien sound that reached his ears, he unconsciously hid his body.
The habit formed over the past few years sprang out inadvertently, and as he smiled bitterly.
A rather interesting conversation was heard nearby.
“...The Hero existed!”
It was a young, clear voice, but the words it held were endlessly serious.
The content concerned whether he had existed or not.
He had never thought he would hear such a topic here, so he could not help but look that way with a complicated expression.
And what he saw was.
‘...Group bullying?’
A group surrounding a white-haired woman in a threatening manner came into his sight.
Because of their respective statuses, they did not seem to be inflicting physical harm.
The pressure from their numbers weighed down on the white-haired woman, which in itself seemed like considerable bullying.
“H-hey, the Hero sacrificed himself for us. To say he never even existed...! That’s nonsense!”
“No, Priestess. Setting aside whether it makes sense, the Hero never came in the first place? Even if you ask my brother, who’s a bureaucrat...”
Before the words were even finished.
The white-haired woman cried out like a chirping chick and spoke.
“I saw him. Whatever your brother says, this is an undeniable fact!”
Then the woman pressuring her sneered, seeming somewhat offended.
“...Ha. You really don’t listen at all. This is exactly why you’re an outcast.”
At the word ‘outcast,’ the white-haired woman visibly shrank and replied in a smaller voice.
“...Th-that has nothing to do with this.”
“You think it doesn’t?”
But that reply was quickly shut down.
“Who would want to hang out with someone spouting crazy nonsense alone?”
“......”
From Jeonghyeon’s perspective as a third party, it seemed quite pitiful.
Yet those tormenting her laughed as if her appearance amused them.
Jeonghyeon watched this silently before soon cursing inwardly.
‘This feels like shit.’
This felt exactly like when he had been dragged around by those fucking bitches.
Moreover, since the only person in the world who knew of his existence was saying such things, those emotions doubled.
‘However.’
Even if he confronted them head-on, there was nothing this frail body could do.
He intended to create only an ‘opportunity’ for her to escape.
He picked up a pebble nearby and looked ahead.
It would be nice to hit them... but his strength was too low, making it practically impossible.
Deciding to throw it merely as a distraction, he loosened his shoulder.
‘Since I’m weak, I have no choice but to at least get the form right.’
Therefore, recalling the most perfect form he had ever seen.
He recalled the image of Sword Saint Nereua and took the stance.
Everything converges into flow. Once you realize what that is, you will be able to wield not only the sword but other weapons with skill.
For someone like himself, who had only picked up a sword a few times.
He could not possibly understand what the Sword Saint meant by ‘flow.’
Perhaps because the javelin-throwing stance was strongly etched in his memory, he could clumsily imitate the form even without understanding it.
The rough texture and weight unique to a pebble.
Previously, simply assuming such a stance would cause pain in his neck.
But now, nothing constrained him any longer.
Because his strength was low, simply throwing it from a standstill would accomplish nothing.
He extended his legs and ran, throwing the pebble using the recoil of his body at maximum speed.
He did not have high hopes.
A Strength of 7 was lower than an ordinary person, and the form was nothing more than a clumsy imitation.
Therefore, he thought it might fly weakly, but contrary to expectations.
*Pa-ang! Kwaa-ang!*
The pebble he threw tore through the air.
At an invisible speed, it embedded itself directly into the torso of the one who appeared to be the leader.
[Critical Hit!]
Along with a brief message.
The one struck by the pebble let out a tremendous scream.
And soon began to retch.
[Congratulations! You have dealt a powerful blow to someone ‘significantly’ stronger than yourself and earned achievement points!]
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