Chapter 382: Time is running out

After returning to the mansion, with all of my work done, I’ve been taking advantage of the little bit of free time I’ve had.

…I was still on my laptop, of course, working on Cathedral, but in a more leisurely fashion.

Sitting at a picnic table in the front garden of the mansion, feeling the breeze, sipping iced tea with ice cubes, and feeling soothed by my work.

This was possible because Shinryong, who was lying on the sunbed next to me wearing sunglasses, had the ability to manipulate the atmosphere, and the area was constantly enjoying mild spring-like weather.

As I sat there, I thought for a moment about yesterday’s message from Lee Seola.

[Phew…I managed to get her to believe me for now.]

Haru left me and went straight to Lee Seola.

She was so angry, but it seems that Lee Seola succeeded in convincing her.

I wiped my chest with relief.

We ended the call with a promise to be more careful in the future.

[And Da-in, you should really thank me… what I’m trying to do on my own, haha…]

At the end, I thought I heard a small voice say something strange, but I couldn’t really hear it.

That’s when I was thinking to myself.

“…I don’t like it.”

Sitting back in her chair, her arms draped over the backrest…With her cheeks puffed out, she was saying in a pouty voice.

“Aren’t you too busy these days, Da-in? You’re not home much.”

As she said that, Seo-eun leaned her face into her hands and looked towards the forest, muttering.

“I want to be with you, I like you.”

“…Haha.”

At Seo-eun saying that to me, I smiled embarrassedly.

After the group confession with Soo-bin last time, Seo-eun had become strangely honest. Sometimes, she’d come clean like this.

I gave her a smile and replied.

“Seo-eun, how much is the age difference between you and me…”

“Not much. We’re six years apart. What’s the difference between six years apart? You’d think we were the same age. I’ve been an adult for two years!”

Seo-eun says that as if she’s frustrated with me.

…At that, I shut my mouth. Is it…? It seems like it. No, it’s not. What’s wrong? Am I crazy?

Actually…I thought about telling her that I was seeing Stardus, but somehow I had an instinctive feeling that it would get me into trouble, so I kept my mouth shut.

Seo-Eun sighed heavily, then turned her attention back to the forest and muttered.

“Anyway…I’ve been feeling a bit down lately. Everyone’s been so busy, and my sisters are so excited.”

Just as Seo-Eun was saying that, the sky flashed in front of us from the direction of the forest, and we heard a voice saying.

“Ha! Let’s stop this!”

With those words, a giant thunderbolt appeared from the sky.

…On the other side of the forest, Choi Se-hee, Eun-woo, and Halo were practicing their skills.

They were practicing their skills because I told them that soon they would all start terrorizing again.

“…Anyway. Da-in. I’m worried. The world seems to be getting more and more chaotic instead of getting better with each passing day. I thought we had stopped the Moonlight Church and things were finally getting peaceful, but now the powers are on the rampage…You’re getting busier and busier. When will you ever be able to relax?”

Seo-eun says that in a worried voice.

…Unexpectedly, her words penetrated the current reality.

Of course, what she didn’t know was the truth…that it’s a miracle that society is functioning at this point in time.

‘…In the original, it was like this.’

Seoul was ruined. New Seoul was ruined. The country was almost apocalyptic. The big cities have all but collapsed. Unlike now, when I intervened, the country was hit by the HanEun Group, the Demon Resurrection, the Moonlight Church, and the Great Jailbreak.

That’s how it was in the original.

It was a devastating development that shows that there is a bottom at the bottom.

If you’re this unhappy, you can’t get any more unhappy, right? When the worldview is this fucked up, it gets fucked up some more.

Of course, now it never happened because I stopped it and I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.

…Unfortunately for Seo-eun, I’m only going to get busier from here on out.

Especially since…the incident will happen.

From that day forward, it’s as if society has never been so chaotic before…It’s going to be the most chaotic chaos ever. As if the chaos caused by the villains’ power is nothing.

Society is paralyzed.

So much so, that before that day came. Now…It’s actually a period of calm compared to the chaos to come. At least society was functioning properly.

So I will enjoy this last calm before the day…

That’s when I was thinking to myself.

“Hoo-hoo. Seo-eun, were you bullying Da-in again?”

“What? No, I’m not…!”

“Why are you so angry~Da-in, I brought some fruit, please eat it. Seo-eun, you too.”

With her brown hair swept back with the scent of lavender coming from somewhere, Soo-bin came out from the back with a plate of fruit while wearing a cardigan.

I smiled and thanked her as she set the plate down, smiling brightly.

“You’re welcome, but I’m sorry it’s the least I could do for Da-in after all he’s been through.”

Soo-bin said that with a smile.

With a small sigh, she picked up a water bottle and towel and started walking towards where Choi Se-hee and Seo Ja-young were fighting.

Just like that, I looked behind her.

I had mixed feelings.

“Hmph~”

Hearing the humming sound of Mr. Death Knight behind me, wearing a red apron and holding a huge pair of scissors, doing gardening work, I began to look back at the other members of our Egostream.

…the people I gathered when I fell to this world, to increase my power, and to prevent destruction.

Seo-eun, Soo-bin, Ha-yul, Choi Se-hee, Eun-woo, Seo Ja-young, Desik and Shinryong.

At first, I didn’t have much in mind. I only gathered them to save Stardus and the world. I didn’t have any feelings for them and we lived together in the same house so we could get to know each other.

But…after all that time together.

Now, at the end of the world, I realize that they had become people I could not give up.

I’ve grown too attached to them.

Now, I find myself wishing for their happiness.

“…Seo-eun, I’ll go in first.”

“What? Already?”

“Yeah. I have to plan something…”

I replied.

With a stiff face, I headed to my room.

I would prevent the destruction of this world and I will continue to live happily ever after with them.

With that vow, I entered the mansion.

***

I closed the door and entered my room.

The first thing I did when I got there was…

“Here it is.”

I pulled out a thick notebook from my bookshelf.

The one I’d sealed with the power of the Vine Witch, where I’d written down all the original lore before I’d forgotten it.

Pulling it out once more, I opened the notebook to the first page.

“…I’ve come a long way.”

And so, for the first time in a long time, I reviewed the contents of the original as I recalled the path I had taken so far.

I eliminated the villains Teleporter, Crocodile Man, Scream Maker, and Weapon Maker.

I stopped the Behemoth from destroying the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and prevented the HanEun Group, the final boss of Phase 1, from destroying the country with their weapons.

After that, Seo-Eun, Soo-Bin, Healer Ha-Yul, Electra, and other original villains were recruited in advance.

I stopped Moonlight Maiden Eun-woo from destroying Seoul, defeated the Moonlight Monsters before they appeared, and prevented the birth of the Demon King.

Finally, with the final boss of Phase 2, the Moonlight Church leader, the Gate was opened to the whole world but I managed to change their location, preventing the world from being ruined.

I also prevented the Great Jailbreak and strategically sent the true final boss of Phase 3, Wish Granter, away.

And so, dodging the seeds of destruction, I have finally arrived here.

“…”

I flipped through the pages with my hands, retracing my steps.

Finally….I’m almost to the end of the notebook.

This is where the final chapter is written.

“…Soon, the true beginning.”

I muttered quietly to myself as I flipped through the pages.

Phase Four, the resurrection of the Sun God, and the destruction of the world he causes.

The goal of this final chapter is to stop the Sun God from destroying the world.

In the original, the world ended in destruction but I was trying to change that.

The event was about to happen and everyone would know about it.

‘The Sun God.’

He was about to destroy the world he had created with his own hands, and he would descend one day and destroy it.

But he would warn the people beforehand, so that they would be terrified and collapse and that day had finally arrived.

“…And now, almost.”

The beginning of Phase 4 and the beginning of all the chaos, the fateful day when God himself would announce to all the people of the world that he would destroy the world.

Aka, Judgment Day.

That day had finally arrived.