Chapter 365. Karma (1)
“…King of Hell.”
A final breath whispered with difficulty.
A desperate message, as if trying to convey what he had experienced and deduced.
That earnest final will spilled onto the ground.
And that was it.
Fwaaah-!
The world in front of his eyes turned dark.
A sensation as if floating in the air enveloped his entire body.
In the next moment, Lloyd opened his eyes wide.
“…”
Chirr, chirr.
Moonlight and the sound of insects drenched the night.
He instinctively shuddered at the sound.
Lloyd looked around.
The quiet of the guest reception room in the royal palace greeted him.
The half-opened curtains fluttered just as they had before.
‘I’ve seen the ending spoiler.’
He realized his breathing had become erratic.
Lloyd sat comfortably on the reception room sofa.
He relaxed the tension in his muscles.
He calmed his pounding heart with deep breaths.
With a clear mind, he recalled what he had seen, heard, and experienced in the ending spoiler.
‘That was definitely a direct message from my future self.’
It was undoubtedly his own doing.
The restoration of fate phenomenon had unexpectedly accelerated.
The future had turned into a mess.
The despair and chaos.
Even in that terrible situation, his future self hadn’t lost his sanity.
He had summarized everything he experienced and left it as a message.
And he ordered Javier to cut him down.
He intentionally died.
‘He had to die at that moment so that I could see the message through the ending spoiler. He planned this, even at the cost of his life.’
His future self was truly formidable.
But now wasn’t the time to be impressed by such actions.
He needed to digest the information his future self had provided.
‘King of Hell. He advanced the restoration of fate phenomenon?’
Why?
He didn’t know.
But he had a guess.
‘If the King of Hell did it, the reason is not hard to imagine. It’s because of time freezing. I’ve used it multiple times, disturbing the flow of time.’
In fact, he had used time freezing as a trick.
While performing large-scale constructions.
He enjoyed the benefits of not consuming time.
He also aimed to delay the start of the restoration of fate phenomenon.
‘But the King of Hell didn’t like it.’
It was understandable.
Freezing and stopping time was a trick. Meanwhile, the King of Hell he had met was meticulous, like a diligent office worker.
He wouldn’t have allowed such tricks.
‘My future self must have known I could figure this out. That’s why he didn’t explicitly explain why the King of Hell advanced the restoration of fate phenomenon. It’s obvious. I would have done the same. There wasn’t enough time to explain everything.’
It made sense in retrospect.
He had used the ending spoiler several times.
Each time, the glimpses of the future ending were brief.
Just a few minutes at most.
In that limited time, to convey as much information as possible?
He would have focused on the key points.
He would have omitted details that could be inferred or understood without explanation.
‘That’s why he only mentioned the restoration phenomenon affecting the queen and the count couple. Any more information would have been unnecessary.’
Lloyd continued to deduce.
Deductions led to easy conclusions.
‘The trigger for the newly advanced second restoration of fate phenomenon is the queen’s left arm. Like the first version’s trigger was the count’s fall from the horse.’
In the first version of the restoration phenomenon?
The count’s fall was the starting point.
It marked the beginning of a series of misfortunes.
Those who died or were disabled in the original story had to meet similar fates.
But in this second version?
‘The queen’s left arm is the trigger. So I have to prevent that.’
If she loses her left arm, she will slowly become a tyrant, conflict with him, and the count couple will be sacrificed.
‘If the story had progressed further, Julian, Serazade, Sultan, Orc Arosh, the two loan sharks, and I would all suffer new misfortunes in line with the new version.’
But if he could protect the queen’s left arm?
If she doesn’t lose her arm?
‘There will be no tyrant, no civil war.’
The direction of the story will change.
The count couple won’t be killed by an assassin.
**TN – He is probably referring to Lloyd’s parents
Of course, that doesn’t mean the restoration of fate phenomenon will stop.
‘Of course not. The dragon king warned me. Even if you prevent it, new forms of misfortune and accidents will keep coming. That’s why my future self didn’t provide any more information.’
He understood his future self’s intention in leaving the message.
First, protect the queen’s left arm, the trigger for the second restoration phenomenon.
Then?
A third version of the restoration of fate phenomenon will start.
He’ll need to identify the new trigger.
‘So other information would be useless. I understand, future me.’
The conclusion of his deductions was clear.
First, he needed to protect the queen’s left arm from paralysis and necrosis.
‘But there’s something I need to do before that.’
Lloyd got up from the sofa.
He went to the bedroom opposite the reception room.
He saw Javier still sleeping soundly.
He poked Javier awake.
“Hey, wake up.”
“…”
“Good, you woke up right away?”
“I have light sleep. What’s the matter?”
“We have somewhere to go.”
“Where?”
“Hell.”
“…”
“Hey, why are you lying down again?”
“Consider it fortunate that I’m lying down quietly.”
“Huh. Were you about to hit me?”
“Absolutely.”
“Ugh. Anyway, get up.”
“Why are we going to hell?”
“To check something.”
“…”
Javier, who had pretended to sleep, looked intrigued.
He had been pretending to sleep since Lloyd used the ending spoiler and disappeared.
Until Lloyd returned to the reception room and pondered alone.
He had listened to all Lloyd’s sighs while lying in bed.
He wanted to ask.
What was troubling him so much that he was contemplating it alone?
‘So now you’re going to share your worries with me?’
Javier wondered silently.
He got up and looked at Lloyd.
Was his wish coming true?
Lloyd spoke the words he had been waiting for.
“Actually, I have something to worry about.”
“…”
“The restoration of fate phenomenon seems to have advanced earlier than expected. And in a different form.”
“Is that true?”
“Yes, definitely.”
Lloyd nodded.
From that moment, one by one.
With only 90% of the truth.
Without revealing his identity or mentioning the issue of the binary choice.
He explained the newly updated restoration of fate phenomenon.
“…So, according to you, the queen’s left arm will become paralyzed and then rot. And that will put the count and countess in danger?”
“Yes, roughly.”
“How did you know?”
“When I went to see the queen earlier, I noticed her left arm was strange. So I asked. The queen indirectly acknowledged an unknown paralysis.”
“Then…”
“How did I predict the next steps? In a dream. I had a dream. It felt like a prophetic dream.”
He described the ending spoiler skill as a prophetic dream.
The same method he used when first revealing the restoration of fate phenomenon to the count couple.
Fortunately, Javier accepted it without question or doubt.
Lloyd continued.
“Of course, I don’t fully trust prophetic dreams. But it was so vivid. It made me anxious. So I want to check.”
“With the King of Hell?”
“Yes. If the restoration phenomenon has indeed advanced, he’s likely the one who did it. Because of the time freezing.”
“You want to ask the person you suspect directly.”
“Yes.”
Lloyd nodded.
Of course, if it was just about confirming the facts, he could use the Jewel of Truth.
But in this case?
‘I want to see the King of Hell’s attitude too. What his intentions are. Why he did it. And if possible… negotiate.’
To see if he could slightly delay the start of the restoration phenomenon.
Even if he couldn’t cancel it, maybe he could get a grace period.
He wanted to explore all possibilities.
So he wanted to meet and ask directly.
“Anyway, we need to move right away. Get up. No time to wash.”
He recalled what his future self had said in the ending spoiler.
The queen’s left arm.
It only took about two months to rot after the paralysis started.
So to protect the queen’s left arm?
There wasn’t much time left.
He intended to squeeze even the little time left to meet the King of Hell first.
So he needed to move quickly.
No time to waste.
Lloyd hurried Javier.
Thanks to that, they were able to leave the capital in less than ten minutes.
“Let’s go! To the Arctic Ocean!”
He urged Yonyon to fly.
They flew at top speed.
A few hours later, they arrived at the Arctic Ocean.
He saw the Hellgate open in the sky above the Arctic Ocean.
“Yonyon, throw us!”
He had Yonyon throw him and Javier into the Hellgate.
Fwoosh-!
Feeling like a fastball thrown at 160 kilometers per hour.
They pierced through the blizzard surrounding the Hellgate.
Enduring the flesh-cutting cold storm, they entered Hell and were immediately engulfed by scorching heat.
“…Phew!”
Taking a deep breath, he rummaged through his inner pocket.
He pulled out Ggoming, who had been waiting inside.
“It’s your turn.”
He offered a red sunflower seed.
As if waiting, Ggoming swallowed the seed.
He grew instantly.
He spread his feathered wings.
He caught Lloyd and Javier, who were falling into the hellish land, gently.
“Ggoming, to the Hell Fortress!”
“Ggoming!”
Breathing the acrid Hell air after a long time.
They flew through the heat waves.
How long did they fly?
They saw the familiar Hell Fortress.
They landed.
The demons in the Hell Fortress were startled by their sudden arrival.
Like fans welcoming a global star at the airport.
But there was no time to respond to their cheers.
“Run!”
Lloyd and Javier pushed through the crowd of affectionate demons.
They headed straight to the King of Hell’s office without hesitation.
They stood before the massive desk in the center of the office.
The King of Hell was the same as always.
Scribble, scribble! Scribble! Shasha!
A simple throne reminiscent of an office chair.
A vast desk without even simple decorations.
Papers covering the desk entirely.
The man, looking on the verge of collapsing from overwork, hidden in the stack of documents.
The King of Hell glanced at them while adjusting his rimless glasses.
Then he ignored them again.
He buried his eyes in the stack of documents, signing at lightning speed while grumbling.
“I’m busy. What do you want? Get to the point.”
Lloyd needed fast processing too.
He gave a formal greeting and then got straight to the point.
“It’s been a while. Ruler of Hellfire and Overseer of the Nineteen Purgatories. Lloyd Frontera greets the King of Hell and dares to ask.”
“What do you want to ask?”
“Did you advance the restoration of fate phenomenon?”
“Yes.”
Scribble, scribble!
Still signing at lightning speed.
While nodding nonchalantly.
The King of Hell answered so coolly.
Lloyd bit his lip.
For him, it was a matter of life and death.
But to the King of Hell, it was just another mundane, bothersome task.
He suppressed his boiling emotions and asked.
“May I know why you advanced the restoration phenomenon?”
“Of course.”
Suddenly.
For the first time since the meeting began.
The King of Hell stopped signing.
His gaze was on Lloyd.
“The reason is simple.”
A subtle smile.
No, a smile like looking at a precious gem.
With such a contented gaze, looking directly at him, the King of Hell spoke in a satisfied tone.
“Kim Suho, I want you. You’re the most optimized talent for Hell I’ve ever seen.”
