Episode 2
When I came to, the first thing to greet me
was an unfamiliar ceiling.
[You can return to your original world if you defeat the Demon King]
Blue letters floated above a translucent window.
"......."
This is a nightmare.
If this is a dream, wake up now.
"You bastard! Do you mean to tarnish the Goddess's name!!"
"To think you'd shamelessly pretend to be sick!"
"Heretic! Pay for your sins!"
I let the noise coming from beside me go in one ear and out the other, closing and opening my eyes once.
'Stop kidding me. This isn't funny.'
"Kill him!"
"Purification for the sinner!"
But even as I repeated that in my heart and waited, nothing changed.
Because what was still before my eyes were only people screaming like monkeys and idiots looking down on me with scornful gazes.
"Fuck."
I'm not one to swear much, but how could I hold it in given the current situation?
Bang-bang—bang!
"Order, order! We shall proceed. The defendant to the Imperial Princess—"
The old man before my eyes...
Probably the judge.
He looked around and rapped his gavel.
A large table made of antique hardwood and countless people seated to the left and right,
'A courtroom...?'
It was a building with an architectural style different from modern times, yet it was familiar, as if I had been here before.
It had to be.
The game I had played through hundreds of times, constantly renewing the all-clear speed record,
No matter where I looked,
this place looked exactly like the kingdom's courtroom from the game.
Moreover, the heavy restraints weighing down my limbs added to the realism.
"......."
My body creaked every time I moved, and my breathing was rough.
I could be certain.
This wasn't my body.
When I caught my reflection in the gleaming restraints, I saw the familiar face of a man.
With pale white skin, a high nose bridge, and delicate features—a pretty boy so beautiful it was hard to believe he was male.
'This bastard.'
Dumbfounded, I let out a scoff without realizing it.
"Is this for real..."
He looked exactly like the illustration.
So this is inside the game.
I had vaguely felt it since the monitor lit up and floated into the air,
but to think it would turn out like this again...
My head began to throb.
"As the representative of the Goddess, one with such weighty responsibilities committing a heinous crime..."
"Kill him!"
It wasn't just because of the people shouting right in front of me.
"......."
Hearing the news that a new DLC and Extreme Mode had been patched, I had happily fired up my circuits and purchased it without hesitation.
That part was fine, but...
My body trembled.
How many people could be happy about being dragged here by force?
If they had given me one or two of those common cheat abilities, I might have been glad,
but there was none.
Survive through sheer spite and guts.
'Again?'
And I'm not even the protagonist, but an extra Hero...
The nightmare from a year ago resurfaced.
"......."
Anger flared to the top of my head, but I took a deep breath and calmed my mind.
Take a hit and calm down.
My hand trembled for a while before reaching for the cigarette I had tucked in my shirt pocket, but
of course, it wasn't there.
To begin with, it wasn't a shirt but a piece of rags I was wearing.
"Sh, shiiiiit!!"
"He's finally gone mad! To spew such vulgar words in a sacred courtroom!"
"To think you'd have no dignity either... As expected of an orphan."
"How could one called the Sword of the Goddess do such a thing!"
"Vicious bastard, did you kill the Imperial Princess like that too?"
To the left and right of the judge sat the High Priest of the Goddess and a man I was seeing for the first time.
Probably the faction of another Hero.
No, there was no doubt about it.
In short, there was no one on my side here.
Ha...!
Why the hell?!
Why me again?
I wrote no shortage of those damned 5,700-character rants!
This isn't even a novel but a game, so why!
But the anger didn't last long.
Bang-bang—bang!
"I shall ask again. Criminal Tanaseu, do you admit to your crimes?"
The question of whether I admit to the crimes.
I hadn't heard what the judge said, but the meaning was clear.
"......."
Calm down. Excitement is poison.
The idiots chattering around me are none of my business.
'If I say the wrong thing here, I'm finished.'
Shit is shit, but I need to get my head on straight to survive.
I didn't know if I could make it back alive this time either,
but assessing the situation comes first.
"Ha."
I craved a cigarette, but as expected, there was none.
Before I could get angry, a deep sigh flowed from within.
Was the silver lining that this was a game I knew very well?
Seeing that a trial was already underway, it was far too late to do anything.
'I've already been framed.'
Even as this was happening, fake evidence and witnesses were probably piling up.
Still,
'It's not the worst yet.'
Since the verdict hadn't come out, the situation wasn't irreversible.
"Criminal Tanaseu, answer me. Do you admit to your own crimes?"
I suppressed the anger rising to my throat and surveyed my surroundings.
'The Hero... the protagonist bastard isn't here...?'
Other than that, I only saw idiots looking at me and sneering.
This flow isn't good.
The fact that the Hero didn't come to court means this is a death route.
The moment I admit to my crimes, it's 'execution.'
After that, I'd be resurrected as an undead and enslaved as a pawn of the Demon King.
The fact that there's no Hero to defend me means I have to get out of this myself....
"Criminal Tanaseu, I ask for the last time. Do you admit to your crimes?"
Such a headache...
No, this is actually good.
If I can avoid execution, it's my victory.
"No. I do not admit it."
The moment the words ended, the crowd surged greatly once more.
"What?"
"Th-that shameless bastard!!"
"How can you say such things wearing human skin!!"
I brushed off the crowd's clamor with a scoff and picked up the parchment laid on the table.
Then, shaking it, I opened my mouth toward the crowd.
"Do you think I killed the Imperial Princess?"
"What nonsense are you trying to say!"
"Are you going to deny it to the end, Hero!"
"Foolish words. There are no witnesses or evidence; do you really think it makes sense to treat me as a murderer based solely on the victim's wounds and the magical signature left at the scene?"
"......"
At that moment,
the man sitting beside the judge sprang up in anger.
I could recognize the High Priest and the judge, but.
"That statement is a direct denial of the royal family's authority!"
"And you are?"
"I am an investigator dispatched by the royal family, and all submitted materials are..."
Ah.
So you're the one who prepared this garbage and called it evidence?
"I'd like to ask."
"What is it?"
"If you have authority, does that mean you can throw an innocent person into prison without a shred of evidence?"
"You bastard..."
"On top of that, you bring in something like this and call it evidence? Even a beast could do better than this."
When I threw the parchment to the floor, he glared at me for a moment, speechless, then muttered as if chewing on his words.
"Y-you... you'll regret those words..."
"Shut up and bring me solid evidence first."
The fact that fake evidence and witnesses are piling up means, in other words, that there's nothing they can present right now.
'Thankfully, before things got too big.'
Tanaseu being imprisoned or sentenced to death was mostly due to a confession extracted through a deal.
As if I'd ever confess unless I were crazy.
"Y-yes! There is evidence! It was clearly a magical signature belonging only to a Hero!"
So what?
I stared down the investigator and retorted.
"Use your head for once. I'm not the only Hero. And nothing is easier to forge than a magical signature."
"That's..."
Without missing the moment he faltered, I continued.
"And unfortunately, with my skills, defeating a single kingdom soldier is the best I can do."
As if asking what I was suddenly talking about, the crowd's gazes focused on me.
A fact known to all kingdom citizens,
He was virtually a symbol of incompetence.
Which made it even better.
"...Do you really think someone like me could kill all of the Imperial Princess's bodyguards and then murder the Princess herself?"
"......."
The murmurs from here and there grew louder.
"N-now that I think about it, it's strange, just as the lesser Hero said."
"Aren't they elites recognized even by the Empire?"
"There's no way such an incompetent Hero could defeat the bodyguards."
The faces of the investigator and the High Priest grew increasingly pale.
Good.
The crisis is averted.
The reason they placed so many spectators.
Was it to pressure me psychologically and extract a confession?
Fat chance.
That shallow scheme is now grabbing them by the ankles.
"Judge. Do I still look like the Imperial Princess's murderer?"
"Order! Then, Tanaseu. On the night the Imperial Princess was murdered, what were you doing?"
"......."
The crowd that had been murmuring various speculations fell dead silent.
They must be curious.
The Hero suspected as the prime suspect,
where exactly had he gone.
What was I doing...
"I went to a whorehouse."
"Wh-what?"
The expressions of the judge and the investigator were instantly dyed with bewilderment.
"Do I really need to say what I was doing?"
"How could the representative of the Goddess commit such a depraved act!"
"Someone like that is a Hero!!"
I shrugged my shoulders and nodded brazenly.
"Well, I had a lot of stress built up here and there."
Hero or whatever, I have to survive first.
Then,
someone sprang up and shouted in a loud voice, objecting.
"That's impossible!"
Grandpa.
It's over now.
Don't step forward, just sit back down.
"High Priest, what do you mean?"
"There's no way the Hero went to a whorehouse. He..."
He what?
You should finish your sentence.
"If it's hard to believe, why don't you check? Or are you saying, High Priest, that you know where I was?"
"Kuk..."
I stared at the High Priest with a sly smile, and he gritted his teeth and averted his gaze.
"So that's how it is, Judge."
He knows but can't refute it.
Because if he speaks, it means the High Priest is proving my alibi.
If it were the original Tanaseu, he would have truthfully said he visited the temple for confession at that time.
But the High Priest is my enemy.
Even if I told the truth, he'd play dumb, so there was no need to fall into the trap.
Bang-bang—bang
"Let us take a brief recess here. I shall deliver the verdict in one hour."
'I survived.'
**********
The moment I arrived in the lounge, I leaned back against a huge sofa and shook the bell on the table lightly.
"What may I help you with, Hero-nim?"
"Cigarettes. Strong ones."
"I shall prepare them right away."
Ah, right.
"Wait."
"Is there anything else you need...?"
"Don't forget the ashtray."
"Understood."
As the maid quickly brought the items, I picked one up and put it in my mouth.
"Hoo—"
When I exhaled deeply, clear smoke spread into the air.
Now my head is finally clearing up.
You guys shouldn't smoke stuff like this.
"......."
Slowly exhaling, I examined my body.
By this point, everyone must have noticed,
but I had been to a murim world once before.
I had wanted to try magic or holy power as well,
but what I learned was thievery, so for now, martial arts come first.
'Little muscle mass and no stamina either.'
A deep sigh flowed from within before I knew it.
If I were a car, I'd be a shit car.
One that barely even rolls...
'There's never been a dirt spoon like me.'
I'm in big trouble.
What's the point of being handsome when I'm trash.
Seeing as I'm even on trial, the Eastern Continent will completely fall to the Demon King's army before long,
and with abilities like these, I can't survive.
"Ha..."
Anyway, the urgent fire is out, so I just need to escape the capital before I get framed again.
And as quickly as possible...
Kwa-baaang—!!
"Tanaseu! You bastard!"
"Why the hell didn't you confess!!"
Who are they, talking like that?
"You guys..."
Inside the game,
two of the five Heroes.
The Hero of ____ and the Hero of ____, respectively.
"Because you didn't confess, we're in trouble too!"
"Never thought a useless bastard would grab us by the ankles like this..."
How is that my fault?
Did you drink in broad daylight?
Pointing at the door fragments strewn on the floor, I spoke.
"You're noisy, so clean this up on your way out."
"Is this bastard joking right now!"
Heroes are basically a race that lives off their own self-importance.
I could tell their level at a glance. Talking won't get through to them.
"You guys look like you came for a fight too."
Holding the cigarette between my lips, I picked up the ashtray.
"It'd be best to listen while I'm being nice. Tanaseu!!"
"Come at me."
Slowly rising from my seat, I wiggled my fingers.
"Ha-! Are you out of your mind? You think you can block the Holy Spear Brionac with that piece of junk!"
"This is absurd. My Caduceus can also be used as a blunt weapon."
"An ashtray is too good for you guys."
"Surely you don't believe in the magic barrier cast over the entire capital?"
"Even without holy power, someone like you is easily..."
Why are their tongues so long.
"Stop whining. You think I'm your mom?"
What are you waiting for, not coming?
"Y-you bastard, really!"
"I'll kill you!!"
They shouted and rushed at me.