Episode 14 – Master of the Throne (4)

The one-eyed man approached us. This was my first meeting with one of Seoul’s Seven Kings.

Yoo Sangah talked in the group chat.

–Dokja-ssi, this person is perhaps…

–Yes, you’re right.

I nodded to Yoo Sangah. It was impossible not to think of this person when seeing the appearance.

–By the way, I don’t understand. Even if the constellation is ‘that person’, why is the incarnation dressed like that?

–His sympathy with the constellation seems to be high. The higher the sympathy rate, the more the incarnation is influenced by the lifestyle of the constellation.

–I should never cough in front of him.

The man with long hair tied back was bowing to the man approaching us.

“Your Majesty. You came.”

“Yes.”

“What happened?”

“Do I need to say it? Here.”

The one-eyed man pointed to his staff. There was a blue jewel available from the Big Dipper embedded on it.

[Greedy Wolf Star].

The long-haired man admired it.

“Ohh…!”

Wasn’t he quite good? Already gaining one star jewel…

The star jewels were the rewards of the Big Dipper chapter.

It was an item that increased overall stats by one level. It had a good effect on its own but the star jewels were meaningful when seven were collected.

It was because the jewels were the summoning material for the Four Yin Demonic Beheading Sword.

The one-eyed man looked at me. “Who are these people?”

“They have just entered the Big Dipper chapter. Their abilities are quite good so I was thinking about getting them to join.”

“Really?”

The one-eyed man and I extended our hands to each other at the same time.

“I am Cha Sangkyung.”

“I am Kim Dokja.”

I shook his hand while activating a skill.

[The exclusive skill, Character List is activated.]

+

[Character Information]

Name: Cha Sangkyung

Age: 26 years old

Constellation Support: One-eyed Maitreya

Private Attribute: Pseudo Sect Founder (Hero), Maitreya King (Hero)

Exclusive Skills: Weapons Training Lv. 5, Mental Barrier Lv. 3, Eloquent Speech Lv. 3, Skillful Deception Lv. 3, False Prayer Lv. 1…

Stigma: Maitreya Promised Land Lv. 2, Law of Interest Lv. 2, Demonic Enemy Lv. 3

Overall Stats: Physique Lv. 28, Strength Lv. 26, Agility Lv. 28, Magic Power Lv. 25.

Overall Evaluation: No one can be free in front of his ‘eye’ that gives insight into everything. Be careful not to cough in front of him.

+

It was regrettable that Jung Heewon wasn’t here. If she saw this man in front of me, she would never speak nonsense about my sponsor again.

Cha Sangkyung said, “I have a burden of seeing things. Can I look at you once?”

“Yes.”

Yes, he could try.

[The character ‘Cha Sangkyung’ has used Law of Interest Lv. 2!]

The stigma ‘Law of Interest’ was quite interesting among the investigation techniques in Ways of Survival. It didn’t reveal the attributes window of the opponent but it was a skill that roughly gave information about the personality of the opponent. In other words, he would see a ‘Easily fooled Demonic Enemy’ if the person was ‘good’, while he would see a ‘Back-stabbing Demonic Enemy’ if the person was ‘bad.’ For example…

[The character ‘Cha Sangkyung’ has discovered that you are a demonic enemy that shouldn’t be touched.]

It was like this.

“T-This?”

“King, why are you acting like this?”

[The character ‘Cha Sangkyung’ is greatly disturbed.]

Cha Sangkyung shouted with a pale face.

“D-Demonic enemy!”

“Huh? It can’t be…”

At his words, the group members of the Maitreya King simultaneously looked at me. The atmosphere became tense when Cha Sangkyung urgently added.

“N-Nothing. I have made a mistake.”

“Huh? There’s nothing?”

“Yes, it is nothing. Everyone back off.”

Indeed. He would be a fool to ignore the warning of the constellation. By the way, a demonic enemy that shouldn’t be touched…

Maybe the One-eyed Maitreya didn’t want to fight with me.

“Sigh… it isn’t surprising.”

The dubious thing was the reaction of the long-haired man. It was momentary but there was an expression of ‘regret’ on his face.

“The plan will start in one hour. I’m looking forward to your participation despite being a bit late.”

Cha Sangkyung said before returning to his group members.

The first encounter with Gung Ye ended like this. (TL: Gung Ye had a slight mention earlier in the novel. He is a king who proclaimed himself a Buddha and became a tyrant who sentenced death to anyone opposing him, including his own wife)

The long-haired man said, “Phew, it almost became a major event. I’m glad.”

“It is absurd to say that he is a king who knows the hearts of the people.”

“Haha, Gung Ye might be recorded as a tyrant later on but he was a good and wise king first. You never know what will happen in the future. History can change.”

I looked carefully at the long-haired man and asked, “By the way, who are you?”

“Oh, I haven’t introduced myself yet. I am Han Sooyoung. I am Cha Sangkyung’s assistant.”

A man who supported the incarnation of Gung Ye. It was highly likely that he was attached to Gung Ye’s side because of his sponsor.

Who was it? Perhaps it was a king? I immediately used a skill.

[The exclusive skill, Character List is activated.]

[The information of this person can’t be read in ‘Character List.’]

[This person isn’t registered in ‘Character List.’]

…What?

“Um? What’s wrong?”

I looked at the shamelessly speaking Han Sooyoung and couldn’t help laughing. I see… now I knew who this person was.

“It’s nothing. Just… I feel like you are a demonic enemy.”

“Haha, what do you mean?”

I could see Han Sooyoung’s eyes change strangely. Maybe at this moment, both of us were thinking the same thing. The question was who would pull out a sword first.

The doors of the waiting room started to open one by one.

“The kings are coming!”

There was tension in the Maitreya group while several people in the waiting room started cheering.

I watched the kings walking out the door and asked Han Sooyoung.

“Are they on the same side?”

“Yes, they are all kings who promised to cooperate with us. From left to right, there is the ‘Prudent King’ Yoon Kiyoung and ‘Fighting King’ Kim Baekho Then the last one who came out is the ‘Earth Dragon King’ Gu Daesung.”

I remembered something when I heard this nickname.

The Prudent King and Fighting King. They were just like their nicknames. They had decent skills and stats but they were one step lacking compared to the Seven Kings.

The only one I needed to pay attention to was the Earth Dragon King Gu Daesung.

Gu Daesung discovered Cha Sangkyung and asked, “You have already come out?

Fast.”

“You are a rude earthworm.”

“…Earthworm? Is that what you are calling my sponsor?”

Yoo Sangah was startled when she heard their words and whispered to me, “That person, I think he has a good sponsor behind him.”

“…How do you know?”

“I heard the story that the king of Baekje was born from an earth dragon.”

“Earth dragon?”

“That’s what they meant by ‘earthworm.’ The other kings are calling him the son of an earth dragon in a mocking manner.”

She was really amazing. She figured out the identity of Gu Daesung with this much information.

Yoo Sangah was right.

Earth Dragon King Gu Daesung. In my memories, he was one of Seoul’s Seven Kings with the late King Gyeon Hwon as his sponsor.

“There are quite a few people with kings as a sponsor. Then the king we saw before…”

I nodded. In fact, it wasn’t a coincidence that there were so many incarnations with a ‘king’ as their sponsor.

The situation would be similar in other areas, not just the Seoul Dome.

In Japan, there would be a competition between the three heroes including Oda Nobunaga. In the UK, there would be a competition between Richard the Lionheart or Henry VIII.

The world’s greatest constellations would be preparing for a war over the Absolute Throne, raising their coordination with their incarnation to a breathtaking level.

[The constellation ‘Maritime War God’ is expecting the appearance of a new fable class constellation.]

[The constellation ‘Bald General of Justice’ is watching the situation with sweaty hands.

The other high-ranking constellations were also interested. It was natural. As I said before, the fourth scenario was an event for the greatest constellations of each country.

“Is everyone gathered?”

The kings soon gathered in the middle and gave a speech.

“Our enemy is the Tyrant King who entered the third door! The Tyrant King has already received two jewels from this dungeon and cowardly raided innocent kings. Some of the people present would’ve lost a king to him.”

That’s why this waiting room was a field of corpses.

Perhaps the Tyrant King killed two kings and took away their star jewels. It meant he would soon gather all seven star jewels…

“The new Seoul shouldn’t be handed over to such a person. If he gets the Four Yin Demonic Beheading Sword and then takes the Absolute Throne, there will be endless grief and tragedy in Seoul!”

“Thus, the people have to fight! Get up right now! The kings here are all wise. The future will be fine no matter which of us becomes the absolute king. We have to at least stop the worst king!”

“This will be a struggle for a righteous way of living! Take care! You will be great fighters taking your first step into a new history!”

The speech didn’t have much substance but people became excited. Some people cheered, some sympathized while others were touched to tears. It was like they were real revolutionaries fighting for justice.

I looked at the scene alone.

Just one month ago, the people here had voted for a president. They did their duty and agreed to have private property through legitimate economic activities. All of a sudden, it felt like a dream.

In just one month, Seoul had returned to the kingdom days.

“Depart!”

Hundreds of people entered through the third door. Cha Sangkyung’s group was at the back and we moved in line with them.

Our vision wavered before a giant tunnel appeared. It was a huge tunnel where the size couldn’t be easily measured.

Han Sooyoung walked beside me and opened his mouth. “This is so exciting. I feel like I’m in a martial arts novel.”

“A martial arts novel?”

Han Sooyoung nodded with a meaningful smile. “Why, don’t you think it is like a martial arts novel? It is like a treasure map. The legendary sword is sleeping in the stone chamber and whoever obtains the sword shall be the best person in the world!”

Han Sooyoung spoke accompanied by gestures seemed quite plausible. It wouldn’t be unbelievable if he was an actor.

“It is a common cliche in a martial arts novel, the treasure sword.”

“Oh, Dokja-ssi, do you read martial arts novels as well?”

It couldn’t be missed when talking about genre fiction.

“I read quite a bit. By the way, there is a common development in these cliche novels.”

“Common development? What is it?”

“It turns out that the treasure map is a fake! This type of development.”

Han Sooyoung’s eyes shook. “This is interesting. What happens next?”

“It is an obvious story. The ‘shadow’ laughs quietly and kills the people gathered because of the fake treasure.”

“Hoh… is that the current situation? Could someone be a shadow?”

I nodded and stated, “It is a possibility although I don’t like such obvious cliches.”

“Um? What does that mean?”

“To be honest, there are too many cliches like the treasure sword.

“Hmm… there are too many stories, making it bad?”

“For writers, I think it is a story that lacks distress.”

Han Sooyoung’s expression slightly hardened. “Then what would Dokja-ssi do if you were the writer? What if you had to write about the treasure sword?”

“I’m not sure. I am a ‘reader’ as my name suggests.”

“I think that a reader would do the same. Writing familiar cliches will give satisfaction to the readers.”

Yes, I thought he would say something like this. I smiled and asked, “Who said this? You are speaking as a writer. I’m not saying that cliches are bad. At the very least, a plagiarist shouldn’t use it.”

“Pla…giarist?”

“Yes, a plagiarist.”

It was funny to see Han Sooyoung’s face change colours.

“Well, every story is similar. It is the details that are a bit different… Can it really be called plagiarism? Perhaps if Dokja-ssi is the writer―”

“Nope, I would do it differently.”

Han Sooyoung’s eyebrows twitched. “…You would write it differently? How?”

“For example, like this.”

I raised Unbroken Faith and cut his neck. No blood was visible as his head fell down.

I added, “Why are you hiding when it will be revealed anyway?”

Then Han Sooyoung’s head spoke from where it was lying on the ground. “How interesting. Kim Dokja.”