Episode 15 – A Kingless World (1)
The last king’s test. It was an extreme trial that had to be overcome with your body only.
The floor of Gwanghwamun was a mess. The Absolute Throne was in the centre while the kings were fighting each other.
King of Beauty, Min Jiwon.
The Maitreya King Cha Sangkyung.
Supreme King Yoo Jonghyuk.
Then the middle-aged man in the corner... He was the Neutral King. The Neutral King raised his hands as he met my eyes.
[The Neutral King has abstained from fighting for the throne.]
As the name suggested, the Neutral King wasn’t greedy for the throne. Only the remaining three were greedy.
One of the three was Yoo Jonghyuk so the fight should’ve ended in less than a minute. At least, if it was the original story.
“Die!”
Maitreya King Cha Sangkyung’s leg split apart the air while Yoo Jonghyuk’s kick struck Cha Sangkyung’s abdomen.
“Kuk!”
However, Cha Sangkyung wasn’t as damaged as expected. It was because all stats were changed to level 10. The skills were sealed so Yoo Jonghyuk had to win the battle with just his flesh memories.
Min Jiwon looked behind them and saw me. I nodded slightly at her.
“We meet again.”
“...Yes. I didn’t want to fight you if possible.”
Min Jiwon must’ve filled the other king’s qualifications if she came to this place. It was great. I honestly didn’t think she could survive until the end.
“If you don’t abstain, I will attack.”
“Try it. Do you think it will be easy?”
We have to fight with all our stats at level 10 with no skills or no stigma. It was too shabby compared to the kings who broke the city while fighting a while ago.
There was a loud noise and Cha Sangkyung screamed, “Cough! W-Why...?”
Cha Sangkyung rolled around painfully on the floor after being struck by Yoo Jonghyuk’s fist. It had been an equal fight until then but something was changing little by little.
Skills and stigmas couldn’t be used but Yoo Jonghyuk’s attacks were getting faster and harder. It wasn’t merely Yoo Jonghyuk’s combat sense.
Min Jiwon became surprised as she noticed.
“...How?”
If I remembered correctly, Yoo Jonghyuk knew the loophole of the last phase. Maybe these messages were currently rising in Yoo Jonghyuk’s mind.
[400 coins have been invested in physique.]
[400 coins have been invested in agility.]
[400 coins have been invested in strength.]
The funny thing was that this battlefield controlled everything except for one factor. It was the use of the coins.
[The constellation ‘ Lady of the Brocade Sleep’ questions the fairness of the scenario.]
The intermediate dokkaebi laughed.
[Haha, what is your question? It is a natural right to be able to use coins. The ‘coins’ are the hard-earned work of the incarnations. They worked so hard to gather coins that they should have a chance to use it.]
Yoo Jonghyuk was raising his stats using his coins.
[Oh, the stats increased with the coins will be reset after the scenario is over. So be careful! It is like throwing away coins into the air! Hahahat!]
Min Jiwon and Cha Sangkyung’s complexions darkened once they heard the words of the intermediate dokkaebi. Perhaps they didn’t have much coins remaining. It was natural. They wouldn’t be able to save coins in the battlefield between kings.
But Yoo Jonghyuk was different. Yoo Jonghyuk grew by breaking through all types of hidden scenarios from the beginning and always carried an appropriate amount of coins in reserve.
The original third round Yoo Jonghyuk had around 30,000 coins at this point. Now he had more coins than the original story so... it should be around 40,000?
There was the loud sound of somebody being hit and Cha Sangkyung’s body flew through the air.
[The Maitreya King Cha Sangkyung is out of combat.]
Yoo Jonghyuk looked at the nearby Min Jiwon. She jumped with surprised and hurriedly raised both hands.
“...I will abstain.”
[’King of Beauty’ Min Jiwon has abstained from the battle.]
Finally, Yoo Jonghyuk turned towards me. His angry eyes calmed down. It was understandable. If he took the Absolute Throne, he could control all kings and it wouldn’t be a problem to get his sister back from me.
But would that happen?
“Yoo Jonghyuk.”
We aimed out swords at each other. I couldn’t use any skills so I had to rely on my flesh memories and my stats.
For the first time, Yoo Jonghyuk’s blade was visible. It must be a fake. He was estimating my stats and how much coins I had left.
He was truly a prudent person. It was a trick to win by investing the minimum amount of coins.
However, his pride would cause his defeat this time. It was because there wasn’t any king in Seoul who had more coins than me right now.
[Coins Possessed: 80,850 C]
Who would think that I had 80,000 coins? I laughed at Yoo Jonghyuk who was running towards me.
“I’ll hit you gently so please don’t die.”
Now was the time to spend big. I invested a large number of coins into ‘strength.’
[4,000 coins have been invested in strength.]
[Strength Lv. 10 -> Strength Lv. 20]
[5,000 coins have been invested in strength.]
[Strength Lv. 20 -> Strength Lv. 30]
[6,000 coins have been invested in strength.]
[Strength Lv. 30 -> Strength Lv. 40]
.
.
[11,000 coins have been invested in strength.]
[Strength Lv. 80 -> Strength Lv. 90]
[12,000 coins have been invested in strength.]
[Strength Lv. 90 -> Strength Lv. 100]
[72,000 coins have been consumed.]
[Your ‘strength’ has broken through the limits of a human.]
[The achievement has been processed! You are the first to achieve a three digit level in strength.]
[30,000 coins have been acquired as a reward.]
I adjusted the power in my fist. A strike containing 100 strength was enormous. It would be difficult if I accidentally killed Yoo Jonghyuk.
I felt the space around my fist bend slightly. According to Ways of Survival, all stats had different destructive power from the moment they broke through the three digits.
How did it feel? Of course, it felt like I was a killer. It felt like my fist was holding a check for a billion won.
Yoo Jonghyuk’s eyes widened as he hurriedly used coins. However, it was too late. There was a sound like a sonic boom.
Yoo Jonghyuk shot into the sky like a baseball being hit by a bat.
Unfortunately, it was impossible to hit a home room in this stadium. The flying Yoo Jonghyuk hit a barrier, bounced in the opposite direction and hit another barrier and landed on the ground after repeating this ping-pong action five or six times.
...Surely he wasn’t dead? I ran towards Yoo Jonghyuk with a bit of confusion in my heart.
Damn, why did I do this? I should’ve used a bit less strength. I carefully pulled Yoo Jonghyuk off the ground. Then.
Ah, this was a main character. Yoo Jonghyuk was staring at me with wide open eyes. He was still conscious despite being hit by a punch filled with 100 strength?
“...Yoo Jonghyuk?”
“...”
“Jonghyuk?”
“...”
His eyes didn’t move. This bastard, did he faint with his eyes open? Did I hit him that hard? No, I would have to keep hitting Yoo Jonghyuk in the future.
“Wel;, yo will be in trouble if you keep acting as usual. How can you say to kill me every time you see me?”
I slapped his swollen face. Somehow, I felt his eyes move whenever I hit him, causing my to feel nervous...
In any case, he was breathing. The bones in his body were broken and he was bleeding...
It was a situation where he couldn’t use the Recovery skill so his life could be in danger.
I had to do my work quickly.
[Supreme King Yoo Jonghyuk is out of combat.]
[Congratulations! You have passed all the tests of the Absolute Throne.]
The ward in the air slowly disappeared.
[The temporary stats added by the coins are reset.]
[All constraints on the kings have disappeared.]
[The constellation ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ has his hair standing up from excessive carbonic acid.]
[The constellation ‘Secretive Plotter’ applauds your actions.]
[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ admires your patience.]
[4,500 coins have been sponsored.]
I also heard the messages of the upper-grade constellations.
[The constellation ‘Lady of the Brocade Sleep’ is regretful.]
[The constellation ‘One-eyed Maitreya’ has thrown away his eyepatch.]
[The constellation ‘Founder of Hannamgun’ feels a grudge towards you.]
Of course, the kings of the three kingdoms blamed me. Thanks to me, they missed an opportunity to jump to the ‘narrative’ grade.
[...Oh, a surprising winner has appeared.]
The intermediate dokkaebi looked somewhat dissatisfied. He hadn’t expected me to win. Yet I had won.
[Well... good. This is the result. Now, I am informing all incarnations of Seoul. Just now, a new owner of the Absolute Throne was born!]
I stopped the intermediate dokkaebi who was about to launch the system messages.
“Wait a minute.”
[...What do you want?]
The dokkaebi’s eyebrows twitched.
“You are too hasty. I haven’t even sat on the throne yet. Shouldn’t you ask me first?”
[You will go up now so does it matter?]
I approached the Absolute Throne. At this moment, I felt all constellations observing the Seoul Dome focus on me.
The Absolute Throne floating in the sky slowly descended towards me. It showed off its golden charm like it had been waiting for me for a long time.
I asked the intermediate dokkaebi, “What can I do with this?”
[You can do anything to humans.]
It was short but scary.
[The Absolute Throne is just the name of the item. As long as you sit on the throne, you can become an omnipotent power. No one on this earth can stand against you and everyone will bow before you!]
The people looked at me enviously after hearing the dokkaebi’s explanation.
It was natural to envy me. Everybody had run to this place for this reason.
[The constellation ‘Lady of the Brocade Sleep’ is licking her lips.]
Even the constellations...
It was really pitiful and strange. They felt envious despite knowing the real identity of the item. I really disliked the constellations.
“Is that all?”
[...Huh?]
“It is too good that it is ridiculous. I will enjoy absolute power on the land that I control.”
[Isn’t it right to receive a reward in return for suffering? How many times have you almost died due to the throne...?]
“Ah, so the throne can act beyond the constraints of plausibility?”
[What?]
“You are good at lying. Aren’t you a dokkaebi? Won’t the Bureau say something if you scam me like this?”
The expression of the intermediate dokkaebi hardened. On the other side, Bihyung was looking at me with a pale face. [I am tired of this talk.
I have to finish the scenario. Now sit on the throne. If you talk nonsense one more time, I will break the Absolute Throne.]
“...Ah, you can do that? Then go ahead.”
[Huh?]
I looked at the dokkaebi and the people staring before opening my mouth.
“I will never sit on this Absolute Throne.”
A terrible silence swept through Gwanghwamun.