“You ‘forgetting’ isn’t something Joo Yiwon did; rather there’s a high chance that either you or this star’s system did it.”
Hojin continued to blow doubt into Jiho’s inner turmoil.
“Of course, you might think this is all extreme speculation. But who would dare manipulate your consciousness? Because you’ve weakened, the connection between you and the Earth has weakened as well. In order to strengthen that connection, your survival instinct might’ve kicked in and this world sealed away part of your human emotions.”
“Then what, are you saying that my feelings toward Joo Yiwon have been sealed away because I might lose my mind and offer him my body and soul if I were to fall in love?”
Jiho, who had remained silent, scoffed. He didn’t mean to act like that, but he couldn’t stop himself from being sarcastic.
Isn’t this insulting to him in many ways? Meddling in Jiho and Yiwon’s relationship and saying that, driven by his personal affections, Jiho made the situation worse?
“I’m just saying that that’s the worst-case scenario. Since it’s easier to take from someone who’s unsuspecting. Isn’t that right?”
“Your speculation makes no sense….”
“…If that’s what you want to believe, you are free to do so.”
Faced with Jiho’s stubbornness, Hojin shook his head like Jiho was a five-year-old laying in the middle of the supermarket. Jiho narrowed his eyes and glared at Hojin.
“If I am free to do so, just leave me alone.”
“But I cannot leave you alone. We are not your enemy. We want to help you, and we want to be helped by you.”
“Help? I don’t want your help….”
Jiho has no thought of joining hands with people who plant spies in other guilds. Despite Jiho’s animosity, Hojin generously smiled.
“‘We’ is not Mireu Guild but the entire star.”
“…”
“Of course, Joo Yiwon’s power is useful right now. It’s true that he’s helped us. However, from a long-term perspective, what if that person uses the strength he plundered wrong. This star would instantly turn into a wasteland.”
As Hojin softly explained, he spread his hand. At the end of his long, smooth hands, a blue flame appeared. A vision emerged through the clear flames.
A city of collapsed buildings. The asphalt roads are crushed and cars and humans are tangled up and spilled between the cracks. In the sky, a black cloud made from an inferno is covering light and bringing despair and darkness.
Even though Jiho knows the vision isn’t real, this kind of display of death is horrifying.
“This isn’t the time to rely on Joo Yiwon’s strength. We must watch out for that guy whilst preparing for the Great Catastrophe.”
“…The Great Catastrophe?”
“The future catastrophe that appeared multiple times in the prophecies. We believe that that will appear in the form of a large dungeon.”
Jiho’s expression changed vaguely at Hojin’s heavy words.
Isn’t that… the Great Dungeon?
Jiho called up the system records and quickly checked.
System Management
| Congratulations. Your world has successfully raided a Great Dungeon! This has only been achieved by 12% of all worlds! |
System Management
| 100,000,000 XP earned. |
System Management
| A miraculous feat! Even after the emergence of the Great Dungeon, over 50% of the main awakened population has survived. This has only been achieved by 0.00087% of corresponding worlds! |
System Management
| 300,000,000 XP earned. |
System Management
| A miraculous feat! No more than three people participated in the first Great Dungeon raid. This has only been achieved by 0.00000000000013% of corresponding worlds! |
System Management
| 1,000,000,000 XP earned. |
If talking about a Great Catastrophe, it sounds like it’d be that. Jiho doesn’t think there’d a greater catastrophe than a Great Dungeon that only 12% of all worlds have successfully raided.
Instead of telling him that the Great Dungeon has been raided, Jiho kept silent.
Judging from Hojin’s attitude right now, it’s clear that he wouldn’t believe Jiho even if he told him that Joo Yiwon might’ve already raided the Great Dungeon. He might even say something like, “Maybe he took care of the immediate catastrophe to aim for something bigger?”
Let’s leave Hojin to prepare for a Great Catastrophe he believes has yet to come while Jiho gets used to the structure between the system and this world.
Although Mireu Guild says Joo Yiwon can’t be trusted, from Jiho’s perspective, Mireu Guild can’t be trusted either.
For now, it seems that everything that needed to be said has been said. Jiho stood up.
“If that is all, I will be heading back now.”
“Should I take you back? It won’t take long.”
He’s probably referring to [Space Warp]. Jiho weakly shook his head. If Jiho uses that rough transportation method again, he really will throw up.
“I… don’t need it. Instead, can you….”
Looking at the critical state of the room, Jiho closed his eyes shut. While he knows, rationally, that he needs to take care of this mess, he wants to run away.
“Should I say that ‘Yang Hojin’ came to the site Ryu Dae Geon cleaned up, healed, and then took care of the rest in place of the injured guildmaster?”
Hojin lightly suggested exactly what Jiho had been thinking. Jiho, who was confused if he should continue treating Hojin as a No Name guildmember, awkwardly nodded.
“Do not worry, Guildmaster-nim. I might not be trustworthy, but… I will take care of the rest on my own.”
His tone that rests between the real Hojin and “Hojin” is really annoying. But it’s better to use Hojin right now. Since he’s trying to be in Jiho’s good graces, he probably won’t do anything odd either…. And anyways, he’s more trustworthy than the usual clumsy Hojin.
Staggering out of the hotel, Jiho rode a taxi to his parents’ house. Although it looked like the driver, who recognized Jiho’s face, wanted to ask something, Jiho silently kept his head lowered.
In the middle of the night, his parents’ mansion was still enveloped in darkness.
In order to not wake his sleeping parents, Jiho carefully went up to the second floor. Jiho hesitated in the hallway for a second before entering Joo Yiwon’s room.
“…”
Joo Yiwon used this room until he became Chungram’s guildmaster and moved out of the house. The room looks the same as Jiho remembers it. They said that Joo Yiwon didn’t take anything when he left. This space has been left untouched by its owner for a long time.
Why… he’s here right now, Jiho doesn’t know either.
If he really wanted to dig through Joo Yiwon’s secrets, shouldn’t he dig through the house Yiwon’s currently living in?
But at the same time, Jiho knows why he came here.
It isn’t to find evidence that proves Yiwon’s a traitor like Hojin said. It’s because he wants proof that Joo Yiwon is Shin Jiho’s family and friend.
“Hoo….”
While his rationality was warning him that this was foolish, it’s still dawn.
He doesn’t know what to find that’d serve as evidence. All Jiho knows is that he can’t bear to do nothing. Unable to come to a concrete decision, Jiho started to fumble through the room.
Yiwon’s always been organized. He liked keeping things sorted and in order. As expected of him, Yiwon’s room was clean. His desk even had the textbooks and laptop left from when he was attending Hanguk University.
‘Laptop….’
If he wants to dig through someone’s secrets, isn’t their laptop the best object to search through? And Jiho’s long since had Joo Yiwon’s password memorized.
The password that uses Jiho’s initials and birthday.
“…”
As Jiho was typing in the password, he was struck with a new doubt.
Do friends usually use each other’s initials for their password? The answer is no.
Jiho grew conscious that he knew this, yet never questioned it. Pushing down an ominous feeling of discomfort, Jiho glared at the screen with dark eyes.
Searching through Yiwon’s laptop, Jiho discovered a folder organized with a bunch of pictures. When he clicked on a small icon, an ordinary photo opened.
“Huh, this….”
Jiho stared at the photo.
“It’s that time….”
It’s the place they visited right when they turned 20, after complaining that they can spend the night out by themselves now that they’re adults.
Since it was their first trip, they couldn’t go anywhere grand. They were originally planning to go out of the country, but after his parents told them to start domestically, they obediently went to see the East Sea.
In the photo, both Yiwon and Jiho look extremely excited. They took a photo at a restaurant with their faces and the menu, and then at a bakery with a mountain of bread and the empty plate.
Jiho, who played in the winter sea not knowing how cold it gets, only to be disgusted when a wave soaked the bottom of his pants; Yiwon, who laughed at Jiho only to get doused himself. And the two of them standing together like two pathetic, drenched rats in front of the winter sea.
Even though the trip wasn’t that long ago, Jiho’s memory of it is unnaturally faint. Like he forgot something like this ever happened. Even though this should’ve been memorable.
Although the two look peaceful in the photos, Jiho’s heart started to sink.
Something’s wrong. Jiho grabbed the mouse with a trembling hand, pressing down on his desire to run away.
Now the photos are of the hotel interior. The fairly spacious and luxurious hotel, the view outside the hotel window, and a slew of meaningless photos of the bathroom….
Clicking carelessly through the photos, Jiho’s finger stopped over one.
The two appeared again in this photo.
Jiho was sprawled on the bed like he was exhausted while Yiwon was grinning like he found something enjoyable. With Jiho in his arms, he took the photo with his phone’s front camera.
But why are the two stuck together on the bed and naked?
“…”
Though he can’t see the lower half of their bodies thanks to the blanket over them, it’s clear that they’re shirtless.
Jiho doesn’t take his clothes off to sleep. Even if he does, he wouldn’t do that when he’s sleeping in the same bed with a friend. The atmosphere in the following photos were also ambiguous. Feeling like he was going to vomit, Jiho quickly clicked through the photos.
There’s a lot of photos taken after they turned 20. It appears that they went on a lot of trips together after becoming college students. Even though Jiho clicked through them quickly, there were thousands of photos.
As he looked through those thousands of photos, Jiho suspected that he was dreaming. That’s because the entire time he looked at the photos, he felt weird.
While he remembers when he sees the photos, he doesn’t remember it at all until he does. It’s not that he forgot because it’s been so long. It’s as if the memories had been blacked out by ink, which is slightly erased the moment he sees the photo.
Of course, there are a few he remembers. For example, the memory of the trip with his friends is clear. But when he tries to remember the order of events, there are empty spots in his memory.
However, the photos are clear evidence of the empty spots in his memory. Both of them look close like a couple.
Hojin’s words continue to linger ominously in his ears.
His feelings towards Joo Yiwon have been manipulated because they could be poisonous?
It’s not that.
His memories with Joo Yiwon themselves have been manipulated.
“I must be crazy….”
He must be crazy. Jiho muttered despairingly as he clutched his head.
LaZ Bird Corner
!!!
I kinda teared up when Jiho was looking through the pictures….
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