Audience (3)

At first, I doubted my ears.

Did I really hear that correctly just now?

I couldn’t even think to manage my expression and just stood there blankly, frozen. Then a thought crossed my mind.

‘How does the King of the New World know Korean?’

I tried hard to think of an answer, but perhaps because I was too shocked, my mind wasn’t working properly. Even if dozens of ninjas had jumped out from the ceiling and walls right now, I wouldn’t have been caught this off guard

‘Get a grip.’

I forced myself to focus on the situation at hand.

The first possibility that came to mind was this.

The King of the New World is an evil spirit who used to be Korean.

It was only a fleeting thought, of course, and I soon dismissed it when the King of the New World continued speaking.

“Why are you so stiff?”

Listening to him again, his pronunciation was far too clumsy for a native Korean. It was the kind of accent you’d expect from a white man asking a Korean for a paper towel in a restroom.

Thanks to that, I arrived at a second theory: The King of of the New World is neither Korean nor an evil spirit. He simply learned how to speak Korean.

From ‘someone’ who was dragged into this world while playing the game.

As the theory took shape in my mind, it also answered my question about the elevator.

No, more precisely……

“‘Hmm, I assumed you would have expected this much upon entering,’ the king mused.”

Instead, I now understood how that thing had come into this world.

The King of the New World dropped his clumsy Korean pronunciation and spoke in the native tongue of this world.

“You seem more naive than I thought. It is obvious if you think about it. Your people also have stories about sudden leaps in technology being credited to aliens. We simply did the same.”

Perhaps I really was as naive as he suggested.

Just because this was a savage world did not mean its people were unintelligent. And just because we were evil spirits from a distant world did not mean they would rush to burn us like witches without first trying to assess us. That would be foolish.

‘There was far more than met the eye…’

The evil spirits who interacted with the Ghost Busters community weren’t the only ones that existed here. I had known that ever since the first sentence of the letter I received back then.

[This letter is sent randomly to explorers presumed to be players.]

Those members were the ‘few’ who had successfully survived in this world and distinguished themselves in certain fields to earn an invitation.

It was just the tip of the iceberg.

There must have been far more modern humans brought into this world than I had realized. Surely, some of them possessed professional knowledge.

Among them would have been people capable of building machines powered by electricity or steam.

Of course, from their perspective, they couldn’t simply release such creations into the world without risking exposure of their identities, but…

‘This is different.’

The royal family, which had used institutions like the Secret Security Bureau to capture those evil spirits multiple times over decades, how much knowledge must they have accumulated?

And how far must they have advanced that technology?

I was now seeing the fruits of that effort with my own eyes.

Click.

The King of the New World pressed a button in his hand, and a familiar melody began to play. Though the instrumentation was slightly different, I recognized the song without difficulty.

It was a song by a well-known British band, about wishing for everything to turn out well.

And seeing me like that…

“Why are you making that face?”

The King of the New World asked quietly.

“As if you’ve seen some kind of magic.”

Son of a bitch.

****

My head throbbed.

I couldn’t even begin to describe what I felt in that moment. It felt like watching video evidence of a loved one cheating. My absolute certainty that something like this could never happen had been shattered.

‘…No, since when does science appear in fantasy?’

To think that such betrayal would come from Dungeon and Stone, the game I had enjoyed for over a decade.

“Judging by your expression, you seem to know this music?”

“……”

“The one who sang and recorded this song was an American. So it feels a little different from the original…… but what can you do? The listeners say it captured the spirit of the original well enough, so I suppose that is fine.”

After thinking about it for a moment, I decided to take the King’s advice and speak plainly.

“…What happened to that American?”

There was no point pretending to be a barbarian in front of this guy anyway. He had already gone beyond identifying me as an evil spirit and had figured out that I was Korean.

“Your speech has become rather rude” the king remarked

“Weren’t you the one who suggested we talk openly?”

“Hahaha! Did your brain turn barbarian as well?”

“Answer me……”

“Hm… let me see. What did happen to him……”

As he trailed off deliberately, the knight standing in front of him answered in his stead.

“The Department of Dimensional Research concluded that no further useful information could be obtained from the individual. He was disposed of immediately.”

“Ah, so that’s what happened.” the king murmured, still relaxed.

Hearing his nonchalant response, I realised it again.

In every medium, whether novels, comics, or similar works, the summoned modern person was the main character, and the people of that world existed solely to highlight them.

But the reality of this world was entirely different.

The protagonists of this world were the people standing before me.

Compared to them, we were just a tiny part of the world, nothing more than a single ‘event’ in the grand scheme of things.

I was learning that lesson painfully today.

“…Was that why you’ve been hunting evil spirits? To capture them and strip them of their knowledge?”

The reply came with a small, mocking chuckle from behind the silk veil. “Not at all. It is an undeniable truth that evil spirits must be eradicated from this world. We merely took some incidental benefits along the way.”

“……”

“Ah, of course. The rage of the fox riding the tiger was also one of the reasons. A rage directed at the very existence known as evil spirits.”

……The fox riding the tiger’s back?

“I couldn’t help but frown. I had no idea who he was referring to.”

“Oho, so you don’t know that story yet?”

“……”

“Then I cannot tell you here. After all, a story is most enjoyable when it is heard directly from the person who was involved.”

Right, so he has no intention of telling me.

Well, based on the context, I could guess the ‘fox’ referred to the ‘Marquis.’

But that wasn’t what was important right now.

Instead of asking about the ‘fox,’ I brought up another topic.

“Does the ‘she’ you mentioned earlier refer to the ‘Witch’?”

“Correct.”

“What does it mean that I’ve been chosen?”

“Wrong.”

“…?”

“I have no reason to answer, so it is a wrong question, barbarian.”

“I thought you were the one who wanted to talk openly?”

“I think we are speaking quite openly right now. You may have forgotten, but I am the king of a nation.”

The King of the New World was so different from what I had imagined.

I never expected a King to be so laid-back. Well, I suppose it’s better than him being overbearingly authoritative?

‘No, he might just be trying to catch me off guard, like Lee Baek-ho.’

Regardless of how he spoke, he was still a king. With a single wave of his hand, he had the power to reduce everything I had built to nothing.

However, I knew one thing.

Crisis can sometimes be turned into opportunity.

‘Maybe…’

Today, I might be able to take a giant step toward the secrets of this world that I had harboured for so long.

[You were chosen by her, weren’t you? If I killed you, she’d obviously be furious. How could I possibly do that?]

If that earlier statement was true, then my safety was somewhat guaranteed.

Therefore, I decided to take a more proactive stance.

“Why did you pretend to be ill and stay hidden all this time?”

I decided to keep throwing questions at him using this opportunity.

Even if I didn’t get an answer, I had nothing to lose; if I caught even one piece of information, it would be a gain.

“Huh? I wasn’t exactly hiding. I just happen to sleep a lot, so I couldn’t go out.”

“Sleep…?”

“There’s a reason for it.”

The King of the New World replied as though it were more of an inconvenience than a secret, and I didn’t press it further.

But one thing did cross my mind. When he saw me earlier, he had said something.

[My servant, Viscount Bjorn Jandel.]

Not Baron, but Viscount.

If it wasn’t just a slip of the tongue or a lapse in memory, then what did it mean? Was it too much of a leap to think he might have outdated information because he had been ‘sleeping’ at the time?

‘…Perhaps there are constraints on him being awake.’

Though it was still just a speculation, considering the subject, it was precious information.

“Why did you summon me here?” I asked

“That’s a strange question. Do thieves who sneak in through the back door usually ask things like that?”

“But in the end, you were the one who summoned me to the audience chamber.”

“Ah? I suppose that’s true. But honestly, I was just curious. How did you all end up coming all the way here?”

“Is that your only intention?”

“There was one thing I wanted to check, but that’s already finished.”

“……”

“Does that mean you have no more business with me?”

“No, that’s not it.”

“…Then speak.”

“I’ll tell you in a bit. Usually, when eating, you save the most delicious part for last, don’t you?”

I found it hard to agree with his sentiment. I was the sort who ate the tastiest parts first, since there was no guarantee they would be left for last.

Anyway, moving on.

“Are you the mastermind behind the war currently taking place?”

“No, I’m just a victim. I won’t say I was completely unaware, but I certainly didn’t lead it. Does that answer your question?”

“Then who is the mastermind?”

“That’s related to the ‘delicious part,’ so I’ll save it for later.”

The King of the New World, who had been answering my rapid-fire questions, suddenly cut me off and spoke firmly.

“Besides, aren’t you asking too many questions? I’ll answer exactly one more, so keep that in mind. And of course, I won’t answer anything that crosses the line.”

Right, the final question…

Judging by his tone, he likely wouldn’t answer any critical pieces of information.

In that case, what would be a good final question?

Of the things that didn’t cross the line, what would be the most rational question to ask?

Tap, tap…

After a brief moment of thought, I slowly opened my mouth.

“Why are you answering my questions one by one?”

The witch, the war and so on.

Compared to those matters, this question might be far more valuable right now.

“Ah, that?”

The King of the New World replied from beyond the silk curtain.

In an exceedingly casual voice.

“Being kind to you works better than threatening you, doesn’t it?”

I had expected as much, but this bastard of a King definitely had a few screws loose.

“So I figured I’d try persuasion first.”

“……”

“Before telling you that if you don’t do as I say, I’ll dispose of everyone you know.”

The fact that he said it with a smile did not make it any less threatening.

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