Chapter 203: Episode 38 – Fake Revolutionary (5)
TL Note: Sorry, I live a few hours away from my family for work. Today I drove back to visit them for a few days and forgot my laptop charger. I can still translate on my phone but can’t upload chapters. I will release the rest of this week’s chapters today. Then expect a few days of no chapters before there is a mass release thus/fri depending on how tired I am from the drive.
Spy...
I once read a phrase about the ‘spies’ in Ways of Survival.
「 All positions in the Revolutionary Game belong to either the ‘Revolutionary’ or the ‘Dictator.’ There is only one position that isn’t fixed and that is the ‘Spy’. 」
The most dangerous and most cowardly position in this Revolutionary Game. Therefore, Ways of Survival described the spy as followed:
「 The team that gets the spy can win the game. 」
In the Revolutionary Game where information was a top priority, the status of the Spy was great.
It was because the spy could check the position information of the desired person. There was a limit of 10 people a day but this alone was enough for the spy to shake the entire board.
Right now, a person claiming to be the spy was in front of me. “Are you Yoo Jonghyuk?”
The appearance of the man didn’t go well with the Demon World. He gave off an ambiguous feeling. No, to be precise... what was it? Why did I get deja vu from this face? I didn’t recall a similar appearance in Ways of Survival.
I replied to the man, “That’s right. I am Yoo Jonghyuk.”
By the way, the man’s reaction was subtly strange.
“...Hrmm.” Is that so?”
At this moment, I realized something. “By the way, you know my name.”
Usually he should be asking if I was really the revolutionary. Yet he first confirmed that my name was ‘Yoo Jonghyuk.’
The man shrugged. “Haha, it is a famous name.”
Unlike his words, the man was stubbornly staring at my appearance. It was as if he was contrasting it with something he knew. I became certain.
「 This person knows Yoo Jonghyuk. 」
I quickly recalled Ways of Survival but I couldn’t make a guess. In the first place, Yoo Jonghyuk was a regressor and this was officially before he entered the Demon World.
There wasn’t anyone here who should know Yoo Jonghyuk well. If he was good at observing, he might’ve seen Yoo Jonghyuk by watching the Earth scenario but... it was unlikely.
Due to my poor reaction, Jang Hayoung, Aileen and Mark were nervously glancing between me and the man. Maybe they instinctively felt something.
I decided to find out the identity of my opponent. “What is your name?”
“I am Aurelius.”
“...Aurelius?”
I hesitated for a moment. I remembered hearing this name somewhere. It wasn’t Ways of Survival but somewhere else.
“It is an unusual name.”
“So they tell me.”
“Then you are a spy?”
“That’s right.”
[The exclusive skill ‘Lie Detection Lv. 3’ is activated!]
[During the Revolutionary scenario, you can’t use the Lie Detection skill.]
...As expected, this skill didn’t work. I had guessed it.
There was a scene where Yoo Jonghyuk of the 111th regression had been frustrated after learning that this skill didn’t work. I tried it just in case but it was as I figured.
Well, if Lie Detection could be freely used then the difficulty of this scenario would be very easy. Fortunately, I didn’t only have Lie Detection.
[The exclusive skill ‘Character List’ is activated!]
Of course, I couldn’t discern the exact position of the opponent after using Character List. Nevertheless, I could at least figure out if he had a special position or not.
[The person’s information can’t be accessed through Character List.]
[This person isn’t registered on the Character List.]
...What? I was confused for a moment.
[The information on the corresponding person is being updated.]
[This person’s information will be added in the next update.]
It wasn’t the first time I heard this message but it was unexpected. The man didn’t know my situation and asked,
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
A person who couldn’t be read using Character List. It meant this man was a person who didn’t contribute to the original Ways of Survival novel. In other words, the man was a variable I created.
But how was it possible? This was the Demon World, not Earth...
I was hesitating when Mark asked, “Did you come here to join our side?”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“What does that mean?”
“I came to save you. It is obvious that the revolution will be destroyed at this rate.”
“...You are coming to sprinkle the ashes even though the meal hasn’t been cookied yet?”
“It isn’t a joke. Public opinion regarding you isn’t good. I don’t know if you have seen outside.”
Certainly, the outside had been noisy for a while. I heard a knocking on the door of the office. We glanced at each other before heading straight outside. Loud voices were heard as soon as I went outside.
“Revolutionary!”
Countless gazes focused on me after someone shouted. It was a crowd of nearly 100 people. Some of them shouted towards me in exaggerated voices.
“It is because of you! If it wasn’t for you!”
“My wife was hurt!”
Someone even threw stones. To be honest, I was a bit surprised. There was some damage but it wasn’t enough for them to come out to such an extreme degree.
The voices continued, “It was better when the Night came once every three days!”
Before the Revolutionary scenario was invoked, Night only came once every three days. Now Night was invoked two days in a row. It was natural for people’s fears to be heightened.
Jang Hayoung shouted towards these people. “You crazy... what are you crazy fuckers talking about? Are you so pathetic? It is okay for one person to die every three days?”
Some people heard this and stepped back. Jang Hayoung continued to shout.
“If you want to live that way then leave the industrial complex!”
“W-What does a little boy like you know? Do you have any idea of what it is like outside?”
The voices were frightened. Everyone here was well aware of it.
「 Civilians belong to the scenario of the industrial complex. If they leave here, they will be given an exile penalty for leaving the scenario area. 」
The exile penalty. There was no one in the Demon World who didn’t know what it was.
Thus, people would rather turn the roulette of death once every three days. Now that the revolutionary emerged, the interval of the roulette had decreased from three days to one day.
“D-Do we have to experience Night every day from now on?”
“What are you going to do? What are you going to do in the future?”
The voices were filled with panic.
Aileen and the other council members tried to restrain them but the crowd’s actions became fiercer. I turned my head and saw Aurelius staring at me with a despicable smile.
“Do you now understand what’s going on?”
A revolutionary who didn’t have the support of the citizens was bound to be defeated.
I smiled bitterly. “You are on the duke’s side.”
“It isn’t important. The important thing is your choice.”
“So what do you want?”
“Surrender to the duke. Everyone else can live except for you. In any case, your revolution is going to fail.”
“I will be the sacrifice?”
“I’m not saying that. I’ll help you find a way to live.”
“How?”
“If you are really Yoo Jonghyuk, I will protect you.”
“Doesn’t the duke want to kill me?”
“My backer is far beyond Duke Syswitz.”
An existence that Duke Syswitz couldn’t be compared to. I was quite intrigued by the suggestion. If I wasn’t Yoo Jonghyuk then I might’ve thought about it for a moment.
“Of course, I will refuse.”
“I see. You will regret it.”
The next moment, Aurelius disappeared. In the midst of the crowd, someone shouted, “Let’s give him to the duke!”
“The duke said he will end the scenario if we hand him in!”
“Then the Night won’t come!”
The voices that came out spread like wildfire. It was very interesting. In fact, I had seen a similar sight before. Maybe it was during the Mino Soft labour negotiations.
“Everything is over when the next Night comes! We have to catch the revolutionary before that!”
The crowd was moving with overwhelming agitation. The people were so terrified that it led to a backlash against me.
“S-Somebody grab him...!”
I stared at them for a moment before stepping towards the crowd. The crowd was confused as I walked forward without any fear. My surroundings split apart like Moses’ wave because the people tried to avoid contact with me.
“Are you that afraid of the executioner?”
I spoke as I pulled out Unbroken Faith. Then the Blade of Faith vibrated and a white light burst from it. My voice filled with magic power poured cold water on the crowd. A few people in the crowd were surprised by the wave of magic power and fell on their asses, which others backed away. I spoke towards them in a serene voice,
“Everybody has forgotten that this isn’t the Night.”
I raised the sword towards the air. The magical wave of White Pure Star Energy poured from the heart of the gold dragon and filled the dark sky with a white light. My actions frightened people and they exclaimed, “W-What...!”
“He wants to kill people!”
“Aaaaack! The revolutionary is killing civilians!”
The surprised people screamed and Aileen’s shouts could be heard. However, I ignored all sounds and ran to the centre of the crowd. Then I swung myself towards someone in the crowd without hesitation.
“First one.”
He was one of the men who had been inciting the crowd. The man was pierced in the heart and couldn’t even scream. He just watched me with wide eyes as he died.
[The exclusive skill ‘Fourth Wall’ is activated!]
The sensation of murder was gnawing at my hand. Obviously, I was affected by the move to kill someone. It was due to the habit that formed from trying to keep the King of No Killing attribute.
However, today I didn’t hesitate a single bit. It was as if I really had become Yoo Jonghyuk.
“The second one.”
The blade moved through the air and blood scattered. A second man’s head flew away. Blood splashed, wetting my clothes while the fearful expressions of the people around me could be seen.
I moved my sword and stabbed the last man in the back.
“The last one.”
I killed three people in an instant and looked around. There were constant screams as the grieving civilians watched me. It wasn’t just the citizens.
Aileen, Jang Hayoung and Mark were the same. They didn’t understand what was going on and panic filled their faces.
The revolutionary killed ordinary civilians. Nothing I said would be a convincing explanation. Nevertheless, this was something I never needed to explain.
[A change in the Revolutionary scenario has occurred!]
Everyone looked up as the message was suddenly heard. It was followed by subsequent messages.
[An executioner has been killed by someone.]
[An executioner has been killed by someone.]
[An executioner has been killed by someone.]
.
.
.
[Current number of executioners remaining: 7.]
People’s expressions changed at the messages.
A total of three people died. The number of dead executioners was also three.
The people watching me with trembling eyes now screamed and retreated from the dead bodies. It was as if they were looking at something terrible.
“U-Uwaaaack!”
“E-Executioner? They were hiding here?”
“Aaron was an executioner! Oh my god!”
Executioners hid among the civilians. In the midst of this colossal betrayal, the crowd gradually realized.
The executioners had died. The executioners they thought to be invincible had died like a normal man.
It was a story they had never experienced before. In front of this story, people were being inspired in unexpected ways.
One man rose first and drew a sword. His eyes were blazing with anger. “S-Son of a bitch! Kill those sons of a bitches!”
Those who had just been threatening me started to trample on the corpses. The seething heat of the crowd was several times their previous emotions. They had all lost something to the executioner. This was an act of miserable revenge but it was the best they could do.
I leisurely strolled through the crowd. Then I grabbed the neck of a man.
“Kuaack!”
“You still have the great skill to incite others.” The man who tried to escape struggled in my hands. “How are you unscathed, Department Head Han Myungoh?”