Chapter 625: Continent’s Real Darkness (1)
‘That’s a lie…’
I grabbed my head.
Anxiety circulated throughout my body. Strangely, my hands were shaking, and I felt as if I was out of breath.
The man whom everyone called the god’s incarnation was suffering from an unknown disease?
Wasn’t he said to be loved by the gods?
Wasn’t he said to have the purest soul?
Wasn’t he… said… to be Benignore’s… son…
‘Why did such a person become sick?’
It wouldn’t be easy to encounter such an ironic situation.
Wasn’t it a situation where the expression “fate’s joke” fitted?
I couldn’t get my head around the sudden reality.
I stared at the scene in front of me.
An urgent voice came from the other side. It wasn’t one that was filled with irritation.
It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the person was also very anxious.
Unlike usual, I felt that she couldn’t control her emotions.
Cho Hyejin.
The third highest-ranking person in the Blue Guild. She was the person sitting in the guild secretary’s office and was also the most trusted party member in Blue.
She had a non-compromising personality and was the kind of human who valued ??her principles more important than anyone else.
I judged that she always kept her calm no matter what happened, yet she, too, was revealing her emotion, unable to hide her concern.
“How did that happen? How did the Vice Guild Master fall…”
“…”
“Raphael?”
“…”
“Raphael.”
“When… while having a blank look on his face, he suddenly grabbed his head. We were talking as usual when he suddenly said that it would be better to postpone today’s schedule, then he ran away… I thought something would happen… I mean… I mean… I felt… like he was going to fall…”
“Then how…”
“I don’t know. Just… I just followed him and found him like that… After that, it’s exactly as you saw. Park Li-ahn… blocked me… I thought something was wrong with him… Is he okay?”
“…”
“Tell me, please. He is okay, right?”
“Yes, he is in the process of calming down. He hasn’t come up yet, but he’ll get up soon.”
“Why didn’t you call the priest?”
“You don’t have to worry about it.”
“I asked why you didn’t call the priest! Shouldn’t we do something?!”
“If it could be solved by calling the priests, I would have done it long ago. Please don’t ask anything else. You just need to remember this. You saw nothing today. You didn’t hear anything. Don’t let what happened today leak out. Please.”
“Nonsense…”
“That’s what the Vice Guild Master wants.”
“…”
“I have to see him in person.”
“…”
“If you want me to keep this a secret, I think I deserve to see him. I don’t want to threaten or make a deal. But I need to know exactly how he is with my own eyes…”
“…”
“I’ll keep this a secret. I swear to my sword.”
“Sigh…”
“I know… roughly what to expect. Just… I just need to be sure.”
She had an expression of determination, but her eyes were saying that she couldn’t help it. Cho Hyejin stood up.
She just turned her back without saying anything else, but I could see that it was an affirmative gesture.
I followed her quietly, and in front of me was a big door.
Before long, the door opened, and I saw him lying on a bed. That was unrealistic. Somehow… Somehow, it was unrealistic.
It was no different from what I saw before.
Although his expression looked more comfortable, he still couldn’t open his eyes.
His slender wrists, a shabby-looking face, and the figure that made me think he was really dead. My hands were trembling. I had to bite my lips tightly to calm myself down.
‘It can’t be…‘
Once again, I was convinced.
Such a person… There was no way such a person could be a demon who was trying to devour the world.
There was no way such a weak and tender person was a scammer who was deceiving everyone.
Didn’t it look like such acts were impossible for him to do?
Someone with such a figure…
‘You were wrong all along. There… There was a misunderstanding.’
It was not that I couldn’t believe in the leader. I didn’t think he lied. However, right in front of me was something he didn’t know.
It was something he missed. One puzzle piece that was crucially missing… was clearly laid before my eyes.
“The Vice Guild Master…”
“Yes?”
“He is losing his memories.”
“That… What does that…”
“It is exactly what I said.”
“…”
“Of course… Hahaha, of course, it’s not that serious. It’s getting better and better, and it’s not as dangerous as you might think. Right now, he just doesn’t remember what happened a moment ago. So, it’s not a big deal. Everything that happened before… he’ll remember. He will. He… hasn’t forgotten anything, yes.”
She sounded as if she was trying to hold back tears while she was forcibly connecting words.
‘That’s not a lie.’
I felt that the woman’s sadness.
Her voice sounded so grim that it made me feel sad too.
She sat down silently on the bed without saying anything, holding his hand tightly and putting her other hand on his forehead.
“After holding his head and complaining of a headache or showing symptoms that made him look like he’s out of his mind, he usually falls asleep like this. In severe cases… sometimes he remains asleep for more than three days…”
“How… did it happen?”
“The 27th Corps Summoning.”
“…”
“Maybe you already know as well. I mean, the Vice Guild Master… When he got abducted by the demons… Yes, he said it was the aftereffects he got after that…”
‘…’
“I don’t know the details.”
Something rose inside me.
“Why…”
“…”
“Why… didn’t you leave him alone… knowing… all of this.”
‘It’s my fault.’
“Why… how can you put this person on the battlefield despite knowing all of that?”
‘It’s because of me…’
“How… can you impose so much responsibility on him!”
If he had side effects from exposure to the demon energy, friction with the Order would have had a negative effect on him as well.
Perhaps the incident that happened that day became a deadly poison for him.
“Why didn’t you leave this man alone!”
Rather, it was us who hadn’t left him alone.
On our own, we freely misunderstood the very person who willingly sacrificed everything for the continent while living for the light.
It was me who caused him pain and drove him into a corner.
It was me who inflicted constant pain on the one who had already reached his limits.
“How can you guys… think about yourselves… sh*t!”
My voice was crying out to me.
It was a desperate cry… to myself, who didn’t believe in him from the beginning.
“Is this how you do things?! Is this… Is this your way of doing things… You drove one person to exhaustion willingly… causing him pain… that… sniff… Is that…”
‘It’s my fault.’
“Sniff…”
‘I… I caused him pain.’
“Don’t be foolish.”
“What?”
“I told you not to be foolish. Don’t judge him on your own. The Vice Guild Master himself decided to continue working. There is something to be left on the continent… Before all of his memories disappear… he decided to do what he can for us. Everything is his choice.”
“Still… it doesn’t matter!!!”
“You.”
It felt like someone was choking me.
“…”
“Don’t treat my friend as an idiot.”
“That’s…”
“It was his own decision. What do you know to talk like that? What do you know after being together for only a few months… and talking as if… you know everything like that. With some ridiculous remarks…”
“…”
“Don’t pollute his pride.”
“Sniff… sniiiff… ugh…”
“…”
“Kiyoung… sniff… Kiyoung…”
“Please leave.”
“Sniff…”
“I told you to leave. He needs stability. If you need an argument… I will make time later. I believe you will keep the promise. And…”
“…”
“Do what you can. That would… help him…”
My vision was blurred. A tremendous sense of responsibility weighed on my whole body. My body lost strength, and I wanted to faint right away.
But there was no way I could do that.
It was that woman who wanted to cry more than anyone else. She would be the one who would want to cry the loudest due to the responsibility she was carrying.
Cho Hyejin was right. I had no right to talk about Lee Kiyoung like that.
Rather, it was right for me to seek forgiveness. I had to say I was sorry and wrong… and get on my knees and beg.
I struggled to walk. I carried an unbearable feeling in my heart and went just like that step by step.
Emotions continued to fluctuate.
However, my mind desperately recounted her words, looking at Cho Hyejin, standing in an upright position.
“Do what you can.”
‘I have to do what I can.’
I had to correct my mistakes.
‘What I can do… What I can do…’
I had finally put all the pieces of the enigmatic puzzle together.
Was I still suspicious of him?
That was not it. My story had now become one about rectification.
‘Now… I know, Kiyoung…’
“…”
‘I think I know now, leader. What… What we were missing… I think I realize it now.’
I didn’t think everything the leader investigated would be wrong.
All of the data he checked with his own eyes seemed valid, and they were detailed enough to be effective as evidence.
There was no lie in the data investigated by the Order. Although there might’ve been exaggeration and malice, the Order tried to run toward the truth.
What the leader and members weren’t expecting was that the person they were looking for wasn’t Lee Kiyoung.
There would be a person with power who could control the media and lead as a dictator.
The one who made all that and made him suffer would surely be close to him.
The insect human who deceived him at his nearest made him sick and drove him to the front of the Order… There would definitely be such an existence.
‘Who is it.’
The one closest to him.
‘Who is it?’
Someone with similar powers to him.
‘Think.’
The only person in that continent who could control Lee Kiyoung.
While continuing to think of the possibility in my mind, the closest answer I could find flowed out of my lips unconsciously.
“Kim…”
He was the real demon who was controlling the continent and Kiyoung.
“Kim Hyunsung…”
The puzzle was complete.