Chapter 109

Three Promises (2)

The two executive dokkaebis glanced at each other . How long did this last? Then the two dokkaebis burst out laughing at the same time .

[Kuk . Kuhahahat!]

[Interesting . Don’t tell me…]

The smart executives seemed to have noticed something . Paul watched the scene with a puzzled expression .

[I will allow a solo meeting with the dokkaebi Paul . ]

[The free solo time is 20 minutes . ]

The executives of the bureau agreed to my request like it was interesting . I figured they would do this .

Originally, the executives didn’t like streamers . They were closer to the ‘subscribers’ than the ‘streamers . ’ The moment they spoke, a transparent dome formed around me and Paul . The original ‘solo meeting right’ was a space for constellations and dokkaebis to secretly meet .

[The solo meeting with the intermediate dokkaebi Paul has begun . ]

However, the usage could be changed according to the user . I saw Bihyung talking to the executives outside the dome .

Paul was trapped with me and revealed his hostility . “Why did you want to see me? Do you want to deal some medicine to those up there?”

His body was still affected by the executive dokkaebi’s Redemption Code . As long as the code existed, Paul wouldn’t be able to use his own power as well as the authority of a dokkaebi . In other words, the person in front of me was completely helpless .

“Don’t bluff . I know your current situation . ”

Paul winced and withdrew to the edge of the dome . Yet there was still a smile on his face . “Haha, I see . I know what you are thinking . Do you want to get revenge for that slave?”

“…”

“How funny . Don’t you know it is a superficial human desire? Yes, you can try it once . I don’t know how you found about the solo meeting rights but this is a place where we can’t hurt each other . No matter how hard you try…!”

I ran to him and punched him as hard as I could . Blue blood emerged from his nose and the person who couldn’t grasp the situation screamed and belatedly collapsed . I told him, “I can’t kill you but I can beat you to a pulp . ”

“Keooook! You dare…!”

“Yes, now your true nature is emerging . I don’t want to hear those disgusting honorifics . ”

“Heok, kuheok…”

“Is this the first time you are feeling pain? You must’ve never been beaten up like this after living as a dokkaebi . ”

“K-Kuhut! Kuhuhut…” Paul was still smiling despite his blood dripping down . “You made a mistake just now . There are special rules in place to prevent people like you from exploiting the solo meeting rights . ”

Then the system message arrived like it had been waiting .

[You have injured the dokkaebi in the solo meeting space . ]

[500 coins have been consumed as a penalty . ]

These dokkaebi, they were really great . They prepared a penalty in case the constellations tried anything . It was a coins penalty . However, I was aware of the penalty and just shrugged .

Paul laughed as he wiped off his blood . “Foolish human . You are bringing destruction on yourself with your anger . Yes, try to hit me as many times as you like . The coins you have at the moment…”

“How much coins do you think I have?” Paul fell silent . “Isn’t it strange? How could I become a platinum member when I am an incarnation?”

I grinned at his shaky eyes . “I have a lot of coins . I made a lot of money thanks to you . ”

My fists descended towards the pale Paul . The damn scenarios I experienced so far passed through my head .

[Coins Possessed: 205,902 C]

I remembered Shin Yoosung’s dying appearance . These were among the things I told her:

–That dokkaebi, I’ll beat you to death .

This was the first promise I would keep .

[500 coins have been consumed as a penalty . ]

Once again, my fist moved and his nose was broken . I didn’t say that it was someone’s share . In the first place, this couldn’t be anyone’s share .

[500 coins have been consumed as a penalty . ]

“Kuaaak! A-An insignificant human dares…!”

Peeeok-!

[500 coins have been consumed as a penalty . ]

“Y-You won’t be safe if you do this to me…!”

Peeeok-!

[500 coins have been consumed as a penalty . ]

“I’ll kill you! I will surely kill you…!”

Peeeok-!

[500 coins have been consumed as a penalty . ]

“W-Wait a minute! Wait! Stop…”

His frightened body curled up and I stopped my fists for the first time . For a moment, hope filled his eyes .

“Y-Yes . You thought well There is nothing about doing this here…”

I watched him hurriedly speaking with honorifics and asked, “Did you stop?”

“What?”

“When Yoosung asked you to stop, did you?”

I quietly looked down at him . He didn’t say anything and just looked at the ground . Then he raised head and stared at the sky . He felt resentment for the ones who made him like this .

“This doesn’t mean anything! Your dead companion won’t come back to life!”

My dead colleagues wouldn’t come back to life . He was right .

“It means something . ” However, I raised my fist to the trembling guy . “So what if she is dead . Shin Yoosung would’ve done this as well . ”

Peeeok-!

Paul’s fangs protruded as he rolled across the ground .

“Lee Hyunsung would’ve done so as well . Yoo Sangah and Lee Gilyoung also . ”

My fist slammed into his belly .

“Maybe… that bastard Yoo Jonghyuk…”

My companions outside the dome were looking this way .

Shin Yoosung was forming fists with red eyes . Lee Jihye and Lee Gilyoung were shouting something . Lee Hyunsung’s eyes were red as he made a serious expression and Yoo Sangah was staring at me with wide eyes . Yoo Jonghyuk was the last one I looked at before glancing back at Paul .

“I-I am outside the scenario! You can’t earn coins by doing this! It won’t benefit you!”

Coins…

Yes, only the dokkaebis would think like this . Some stories would become coins . Some stories wouldn’t become coins .

“Maybe that is true . ”

None of the constellations had made a bounty scenario, nor was there a sub-scenario . However, this behaviour was meaningful . Nobody was making me do this .

“I’m not intending to get any benefits from this . ”

“W-What?”

Since the fall of the world, coins had become the principle behind every human’s actions . They moved if the constellations gave coins and didn’t move if there were no coins . Still, humans often moved regardless of whether there were coins or not .

“You don’t know it but humans are animals that seek for the meaning of life through these things . ”

“W-What…kuoock!”

I raised my fist and started beating him again .

Peeeok-!

The subsequent punches crushed his face, ribs and joints . I didn’t have to control my power because there was no fear of him dying . One blow was the best blow . Every time bones broke, something exploded inside of me .

[500 coins have been consumed as a penalty . ]

In fact, I knew .

[500 coins have been consumed as a penalty . ]

I knew very well . No matter how hard I beat him up, it wouldn’t give me any comfort over Shin Yoosung’s death . The dead Shin Yoosung would never see this sight yet I still moved my fists . I hit and hit him again .

Peeeok-!

It was just like Yoo Jonghyuk . He kept repeated his regressions until the last moment, even if no one knew his cause .

[500 coins have been consumed as a penalty . ]

Then the message of a constellation was heard .

[The constellation ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ is excited about the unseen development . ]

[500 coins have been sponsored . ]

I stopped punching for a moment and stared up at the sky . Even this was a story to the constellations .

“It isn’t an act this time . ”

[You have returned the 500 sponsored coins to the constellation . ]

[The constellation ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ is very embarrassed . ]

Think of it as a free service . Now things would be good for me .

[The constellation ‘Secretive Plotter’ is interested in your actions . ]

[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ is thrilled with your actions . ]

I started punching again . There were only the sounds of the dokkaebi’s skin bursting and intermittent groaning .

The constellations silently watched what I was doing . No one gave me any coins but I could feel them watching me . Sometimes, this alone was sufficient .

“U-Uhhh… I was wrong . S-Spare me! P-Please! Please!” Paul couldn’t endure it anymore and dragged his body to the edge of the dome .

The wall of the dome made a faint sound but the executives didn’t respond . Rather, they were pleased with my actions . Maybe they would be saying something like this:

「 That coin making bastard . 」

「 Damn streamer scum . 」

The executive dokkaebis didn’t like streamers . The executives who evolved from constellations were good at fighting but had no talent in leading the scenarios .

Shortly after, Paul’s body became completely ragged . I grabbed at his bloody neck . At this point, I asked what I really wanted to know . “Where is Shin Yoosung’s soul right now?”

***

Dead souls that were part of the scenario couldn’t escape from the confines of the contract, even in death . It would’ve been different if the contract itself had been destroyed .

The intermediate dokkaebi Paul opened his mouth after he was hit a few more times .

[T…That . I also don’t know . You borrowed the power of an archangel and… our contract was destroyed…]

Indeed, it was like this . The dokkaebis had been handed the ‘disaster Shin Yoosung’ by a great demon . In the course of the transfer, the strings of the contract were created using the great demon’s power .

Then Uriel’s Hell Flames Ignition had burned those strings . In other words, Shin Yoosung’s soul was now floating around the world .

[Y-You . Absolutely, can’t, regain, companion… Her soul, soon, the labyrinth…]

Paul finally collapsed .

[The ‘Dokkaebi Solo Meeting Rights’ has ended . ]

The transparent dome disappeared and the executives whistled .

[Oh, you are in terrible shape even before the disciplinary hearing . ]

They glanced at me before moving away with delighted smiles . I watched Bihyung hurriedly chase after them and asked,

‘Did you get back the money?’

-Of course . But didn’t you use too many coins?

‘I still have a lot left . ’

I hit Paul exactly 124 times .

[Coins Possessed: 143,902 C]

Bihyung sighed as he glanced at me .

–I won’t be able to communicate with you after entering the bureau . I will keep the channel open so don’t get into trouble in the meantime . Please .

I watched Bihyung and thought it was good . Without him, no one would argue with him from now on .

[The scenario error will delay further compensation settlement . ]

The administrator of the main scenario had completely left the scene and the scenario development was likely to be stagnant for a bit . It should only be a day or two but that was enough time .

I looked up at the dokkaebis disappearing into the portal and recalled the last conversation I had with Shin Yoosung .

–Don’t worry . You won’t die .

–What do you mean?

–I can help you resurrect . I’ve resurrected twice so it isn’t as bad as you think .

In fact, I tried to avoid using this method until the end . After all, according to the design, she must ‘die once . ’ There was also no guarantee that she could revive again .

–I don’t know how long it will take . If you just wait and don’t give up, I will surely revive you .

If Shin Yoosung’s soul had fallen in to the labyrinth of the world, it was almost impossible to revive her again . However, that wasn’t necessarily the case . She would surely survive if I could regain her soul . The problem was ‘how’ to find her soul .

I suddenly looked back at Yoo Sangah . “Yoo Sangah-ssi . ”

“Yes . ”

Shin Yoosung’s soul might enter a new world line but in the all, all souls escaped from this world through the ‘Underworld . ’

I remembered some constellations related to the afterlife . All of them were in a place I didn’t dare touch or were beyond my reach . Still, there was one person that I could talk to .

“Can you call the Abandoned Lover of the Labyrinth here?”

Yoo Sangah hesitated for a moment before nodding . After a while, faint sparks appeared around her . It wasn’t the previous method of directly descending due to the increased probability consumption but it was certain that Ariadne nestled inside her .

I opened my mouth . “Olympus . I want to do business with you . ”

The sparks bouncing around the area were rough . Well, our last encounter wasn’t great . This time, I had to make concessions . I took a deep breath before getting to the point .

“Let me meet with the King of Hell . ”

Now it was time to keep the second promise .