Chapter 147

“You’ve misunderstood.”

Verno urgently chased after Gor.

Regardless, Gor didn’t stop walking.

In that time, Verno’s mind raced.

‘Where the hell did the information leak from?’

The one who leaked that I was planning to get rid of Gor. It was top secret, known only to a very select few.

Did the General Manager leak it? No. How many years have we been together? If he were to betray me, he would have done so long ago.

Then… Peter? That name once again lingered in his mind.

But how could Peter have possibly found out about his scheme?

His mind was a jumbled mess.

He felt like he could scream at any moment.

“Lord Gor! Please stop!”

Letting Gor go in this situation would only worsen the discord.

And that was likely what Peter wanted.

“You’ve misunderstood. It’s a misunderstanding!”

“A misunderstanding?”

Gor finally turned around. His expression was harder than stone.

“I see. I understand. I have misunderstood.”

“Why won’t you listen to me? Please wait.”

“I listened to you and came to catch Peter. But what is this?”

“…That, I apologize for. I was mistaken.”

“Right. I must have been mistaken as well. You never tried to attack me.”

“You can’t leave like this. That’s exactly what the other side wants. You know that. And didn’t you say so yourself, Lord Gor? That politics is less important than the external enemy right now…”

“Then why did you try to attack me?”

Verno let out a deep sigh.

“I don’t know where you heard that, but…”

“You speak first.”

Gor cut Verno off. Normally, Verno would have at least frowned, but he couldn’t even open his mouth.

“Is it a lie that you tried to attack me?”

“…It is not.”

“I see. So it’s true.”

A brief Silence.

Verno suppressed a surge of anger.

‘Right. But I canceled the plan! You stupid old Demon bastard!’

Forcing down the words he wanted to say, he slowly opened his mouth.

“Now, please listen to me.”

“Speak.”

“It’s true that I intended to keep you in check, Lord Gor. But that was as far as it went. Why would I, in this situation, attack you? Would Chaos allow…”

Gor cut him off once more.

“How far did you take it?”

“Pardon?”

“I’m asking how far you took your preparations. Did you even analyze my full strength?”

“……”

“What was the result? Did you conclude that you would win?”

Gor stared at Verno with cold eyes.

“Do you think you can beat me?”

“Is that important?”

“It is.”

“……”

“You can’t answer. Go back.”

Gor gestured dismissively, as if annoyed. The last thread of reason in Verno’s mind snapped.

“Yes. That was the result. It seemed I could defeat you, Lord Gor.”

“Hah.”

Gor stroked his beard.

“Then why didn’t you?”

“Isn’t this the time to deal with the external enemy? You said so yourself, Lord Gor. To me.”

“That sounds like you’ll kill me anytime after you kill the Reincarnator.”

“Are you scared?”

“What?”

“Are you scared that I might harm you, Lord Gor?”

Their gazes clashed in mid-air.

An invisible current swirled between them.

Demonic Energy and Demonic Energy crackled, creating sparks.

“Are you in your right mind?”

“Yes. I am. Lord Gor. So let’s just focus on killing the Reincarnator now.”

“Then why did a man like you mess with Peter? Ah, perhaps this is also part of that plan?”

“I’ve, told you, that, several, times. That bastard Peter is in league with the Reincarnator.”

“The Demonic Energy must have seeped into your very marrow. Are you perhaps seeing illusions?”

“Stop it. Lord Gor.”

“Right. I should stop. Go catch the Reincarnator by yourself.”

“…What?”

Gor flicked his fingers as if to ask what was so hard to understand.

“If I pour out all my forces, I’ll just end up being killed by you anyway, won’t I?”

“Lord Gor.”

“Don’t you have the confidence to catch the Reincarnator alone? You were so full of yourself just a moment ago.”

“Are you really trying to do this?”

“Now you show your true colors.”

Verno steadied his breathing. He had to hold on to the thread of his reason.

To break down here was exactly what those bastards wanted. He repeated the same words over and over in his head.

At the end of it, he spoke.

“What is it that you want? What must I do to appease your anger, Lord Gor?”

“Didn’t I tell you? Go and catch the Reincarnator. Then I will forgive you.”

“Do you think that makes any sense?”

Fight the Reincarnator one-on-one?

Just the thought sent a chill down his spine.

He didn’t know what methods he used, but Choi Gi-woong was the one who had taken down three Demon Kings. He would be even stronger now.

It was no different from being told to go and die.

“You were the one who stabbed me in the back first.”

“I can’t accept that either.”

“Then let’s be done with this.”

“If you return like this, Chaos will be enraged.”

“Think carefully about who that rage will be directed at.”

Gor flicked his fingers.

Fwoosh-

His form vanished along with a crimson flame.

The remaining Verno gritted his teeth once more.

Verno was lost in thought.

It was no longer important where things had gone wrong.

What’s important is now.

Now.

“…What, will you do?”

The General Manager asked cautiously. Verno, who had been lost in his thoughts, snapped his head up.

“How about sending a personal letter to Lord Gor?”

“No. The seeds of distrust have already sprouted and grown. There’s no way that old man will believe me no matter what I do now.”

“Then…”

“What else is there to do? I have to do as he says.”

“Surely you’re not going to fight the Reincarnator…”

“No. We’ll proceed with the original plan.”

Verno shot to his feet.

“Prepare to strike Gor.”

The General Manager swallowed a groan.

Verno shrugged as if he had no choice.

“If I don’t strike, he will. I saw it in his eyes.”

Duels between Demons were common in the Demon Realm. Even if it was family against family, Demon King against Demon King.

And the winner takes all.

“Chaos will be furious.”

“If I consume Gor, I can take down the Reincarnator by myself. I just have to make that promise.”

“……”

“Damn son of a bitch. I told him it wasn’t true, over and over. To think he’d force things to turn out this way.”

The General Manager gulped. The second and third in rank were about to clash.

Countless amounts of blood would be shed, and the one standing on the mountain of corpses would have it all.

When that time came, whether it was Choi Gi-woong or Peter, it wouldn’t even be a problem.

And Gor’s side would be thinking the same thing.

“Their forces are the same, right?”

“Yes.”

“They must have a hidden trump card too. Take that into account.”

“When will you attack?”

“No need to drag it out. As soon as we’ve gathered all our forces, we’ll strike with an Ambush.”

There was no more need to hesitate.

A crisis is also an opportunity.

Perhaps this was an even better opportunity.

“Keo-reok.”

I can’t breathe properly. The pressure was intense.

Something was pressing down on me from somewhere, but I couldn’t pinpoint its location.

It’s a waste of breath to even say who it was.

The despicable System.

It was the one pressing down on me as I was in my Training for Chilyanggong.

-Warning: This is a Skill from another dimension. A risk factor has been detected. You are ordered to cease immediately.

Even so, I continued to perfect Chilyanggong.

-Warning: This is a Skill from another dimension. A risk factor has been detected. You are ordered to cease immediately.

Just a little more. Just a little more.

If I could just hold on a little longer, I felt like I could definitely complete it.

That’s what I thought, but.

“Kuaaaargh!”

-Warning. Eliminating risk factor.

-Elimination complete.

The moment the words ‘Elimination complete’ appeared right before my eyes.

I felt as if my head was being sliced off.

Along with the feeling of my eyeballs bursting and my entire body being trampled.

My consciousness just vanished with a flick, like a computer shutting down.

“Heok.”

I opened my eyes.

Right in front of me, Han Seung-hoon was staring at me, his pupils trembling.

“Hey, hey man. What’s wrong? Are you really okay?”

“…I’m fine.”

I said in a dry voice and took my hand off Han Seung-hoon’s head.

Right. What I just saw was the future.

One of the countless possible futures that might happen.

I always know this when I enter, but it’s always like this.

I get so immersed in the situation that I get confused about whether it’s the future or not.

No wonder Han Seung-hoon is going crazy.

After downing a glass of cold water, I sat on the sofa.

Futures confirmed: 10,308

Futures unconfirmed: 209,611,758

Numbers I didn’t even want to count appeared in a row.

Seeing the remaining number made my breath catch in my throat.

I thought I’d seen quite a lot, but there were still that many left.

“You look like a debtor.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Like you’re being chased by someone.”

In a way, it’s true. If the System finds out what I’m up to, I’ll be in big trouble.

I have to find a way before that.

Even if I have to search through all two hundred million and whatever of those numbers.

What if I still can’t find it?

Then…

I shook my head.

This isn’t the time for idle thoughts.

Time is still passing by very well.

D-80.

I have to catch Gor within that time.

“Wow. Now you don’t look like a debtor, you look like a thief. Your face is completely rotting away. Go on in.”

“Want to try saying that outside?”

“Then I’d get caught by your fans and beaten to death.”

Han Seung-hoon cackled. At that, a faint laugh escaped me too.

Anyway, I’ve had enough rest, so it’s time to go back in…

It was then.

With a jolt, I heard a telepathic message.

-Master. It’s me.

From another dimension, no less.

There’s only one person, no, one bastard it could be.

Peter.

He was supposed to be restraining communication as much as possible because he could get caught, so what was this about?

-What is it?

-I wanted to share some good news.

His voice was dripping with smugness.

What’s with him being so cocky?

-You’ve been having a headache lately, right? Ah. These damn Demon Kings are going to come for me, what should I do? I’m scared. Hing hing.

-You haven’t been beaten enough, have you?

-It’s almost done.

-Try being cocky one more time.

-I’m telling you, I’ve made a complete mess of things over here.

The bastard chuckled. Now that he’d become a Demon King, even his laugh had become obnoxious.

I naturally frowned.

If this bastard were in front of me right now, one punch wouldn’t have been enough.

-Stop dragging it out and just tell me.

-So, you see. It’s…

From then on, the bastard rattled off the situation so far.

The more I heard, the more surprised I was.

This guy had this kind of talent?

-Putting other things aside, how did you know Verno was going to strike Gor?

-I just took a guess. What could I have possibly known?

An even more wicked laugh burst out.

At that point, a hollow laugh escaped me as well.

Well, I’ll be.

I never imagined this guy would be this useful.

It was worth the effort of beating him up.

At some point, I found myself laughing along with him.

Only Han Seung-hoon, who didn’t know the exact situation, was staring at me with a strange expression.

-Then I guess this is my cue to throw some cold water on the situation.

-How?

-Just wait.

It seemed like things would be resolved more easily than I thought.

And, there was another guy who was thinking the exact same thing as me.

As expected, a message popped up right away.

[System Message!]

-Item Acquired. Dimensional Travel Key.

-For one week from now, you can open the gate to the Demon Realm just once.

-Quest Generated.

-Intervene in the Civil War that has broken out in the Demon Realm.

-Experience Points will be calculated based on your level of involvement.

Right. This is how it should be.

It was a moment where everyone’s minds were in sync for the first time in a long while.