Chapter 43: Chapter 35: Kim Dokja, King in a Kingless World (8)

A/N: Me Questioning Myself: Will I be able to complete the chapter in time for next week? Idk......

I came to a decision quickly this time.

"So...what is your story with the first apostle?" Jung Youngho was the first to break the silence, poking a sore spot for the other three of us on the scene.

"Some things just happened, and simply put, they're our enemy." Jie Kushin looked at Jung Youngho with an unfriendly stare, not wanting to say anything more.

"Be more coherent." Jung Youngho snorted, giving out a strong command, like he was the boss of them.

Christina stuck her tongue out at Jung Youngho and even contemplated raising a middle finger, but decided against it, instead saying spikily, "None of your business."

Needless to say, the mood was delicate and it was the worst time to trigger Jie Kushin and Christina's ire.

At this time, I began to speak,

"Christina, Jie Kushin, could you tell the others that I'm leaving soon?"

This effectively took their attention away.

"You're leaving again? So soon?" Jie Kushin looked at me with surprise.

"Where are you going?" Christina asked.

I nodded to answer Jie Kushin's expression and spoke to answer Christina's,

"I'm planning to find the other kings from other stations to negotiate with them."

Jie Kushin was alarmed and exclaimed,

"Is that safe?"

I pointed to Jung Youngho still hanging around, listening in to the conversation and said, "Yes, this guy's more than enough."

Still, this drew skeptical gazes from Jie Kushin and Christina, who only saw Jung Youngho at his lowest, molding in a corner of the room and muttering to himself with a few screws loose back then.

"Right, you weren't there with me at the time. But he's actually stronger than me, and anyone in this station combined." I shook my head at their doubt.

"...Well, if you say so." Christina muttered, except her expression was anything but being convinced.

Jung Youngho felt something was off with how the conversation was going, but as he judged that he had listened enough, he was getting ready to leave without notice.

Not on my watch.

"Jung Youngho, you're coming with me." I called to him who was about to slip away.

He pointed to himself with his thumb quizzically.

"Me? You're daring to ask me to accompany you, b*t-"

"Yes, and I told you not to call me that." I spoke through gritted teeth, cutting him off before he could swear.

"Well, you can have fun with that by yourself, because I'm not going to let myself be ordered around by a brat like you." Jung Youngho crossed his arms with a cold glare.

He sounded just like Mrs. Wang.

Towards this, I only coldly laughed and spoke two words.

"[Help me]."

[You have used command [Help me] in accordance to the contract. Incarnation Jung Youngho has no choice but to help you.]

"Hah?" Jung Youngho looked at the notification popping out in-front of him in bitter confusion.

[Constellation, Great King Heoncheon Hongdo Gyungmum, is displeased with the situation, but relents his dissatisfaction.]

Did you really need to waste coins to show your reaction? 

"What does this mean?" Jung Youngho exploded, causing Jie Kushin and Christina to back away and keep a distance from the volatile Jung Youngho all of a sudden.

"I told you before, that you'll know when to help me." I smiled at him, although it was a smile that did not reach my eyes.

"This is bullsh*t!" Jung Youngho swore, his body language aggressive, but he took no action, because he couldn't.

I started laughing uncontrollably, feeling an exhilaration of someone else's misery, that someone being Jung Youngho.

This only caused Christina and Jie Kushin to look at me with wide eyes.

Oops, I might have gone overboard.

"Ahem. So anyways, as you can see, I'll be fine." I tried changing the subject.

"...um, yeah." Jie Kushin nodded hesitantly.

"No!" Jung Youngho cut in.

Christina gave me an impassive face. "Sure."

Their reactions made me feel a little unsure of myself.

Although, it was good that after the strange episode that Jie Kushin and Christina were no longer emotional from the avatar's appearance.

So under the watchful eyes of Christina and Jie Kushin, they watched as Jung Youngho and I departed the station as we made our way above ground.

Now that we were out of ear-shot, I began to narrate the beef between Han Ryuyang and Lee Sookyung's community, me included.

"Since you're going to be involved in this anyways, I'll answer your question about the first apostle and us from before." I began.

"Oh, shut your mouth." Jung Youngho barked at me, who was in an increasingly bad mood ever since being conscripted against his own will.

Ignoring that, I continued,

"She, or they, had been a mole inside our group and betrayed us later, so everyone's a little sensitive around the topic. That's it. By the way, we're heading over to Chungmuro station after this."

Jung Youngho looked like he was going to say something, but through some strange grudge, decided against conversing with me, and looked away instead at the subway walls.

Turning the corner where natural light was coming from, my eyes stung from the foreign brightness that I hadn't seen for quite a while.

Thankfully, I adjusted to the brightness quickly due to the increased physique stat.

Walking up the stairs of the subway into the world above-ground, I became sentimental for a while.

I once again wondered wistfully where my family members were, and if they were fine.

Breathing in a slow and deep breath, I decided to put my sentimental self behind me.

There were still many things for me to do.

"It looks like Seoul was mauled by a beast or something." Jung Youngho muttered behind me as he took in the view of a deserted and desolated city.

He wasn't wrong, so we needed to be careful.

Just like how the underground was plagued by lesser 8 grade creatures, the above ground was the same.

However, unlike some dangerous locations underground that can be only accessed through special conditions, the world above was more dangerous because there were several behemoths of the area that roamed without such 'special conditions'.

These were the creatures above the 7th grade, like the 6th grade insect king, Titanoptera.

While I was able to take on 7th grade monsters now, each grade increase was a large gap in strength.

With Jung Youngho, we certainly should have a higher chance of running away, but that doesn't mean we should lower our guards.

...And since we came up earlier than when Yoo Junghyuk usually emerges in the story, the overlords may not be finished establishing their territorial boundaries, nor would the Dokkaebi contain them using the power of scenarios until the "King's Qualifications" reached its peak time.

However, if we came up later, it may be too late for negotiations.

I needed to make sure the other kings were not fully in contact and created an alliance against Jung Youngho, or me.

Although an alliance never occurred in the third round, there was no guarantee anymore.

This world was no longer the 'third round' of the novel, but the real world with variables like the readers.

You are reading story (ORV Fanfiction) 3 Ways to Survive in a Ruined World at novel35.com

So now, there was one group that roamed around this dangerous place. One of the seven most prominent kings, alongside Supreme King Yoo Junghyuk and Tyrant king Jung Youngho.

And that was -

Min Jiwon, the Beauty King.

It was unknown why this group roamed above even during this time, because it was never mentioned in the novel either, or my memory eluded me, but in any case, this was a good chance for me.

I quickly checked my surroundings.

It was a good thing that my eyesight increased, along with my other senses, with the increase of the physique stat.

In this way, Jung Youngho and I quickly walked through the city, carefully slinking along possible cover to avoid the lesser grade flying creatures, especially since there is an overlord in the sky.

Although Jung Youngho had a sour look on his face the whole time, at least he kept quiet, recognizing that it wasn't the appropriate time to make noise.

As soon as we walked to a certain radius, I felt a soft vibration under the soles of my feet that came with an advancement of troops.

Is it them?

Turning my head to look at Jung Youngho and signal to the approximate direction of the footsteps, he nodded his head to show he understood and we advanced.

But as we got closer, I began to hear some shouts and cries.

It appeared something happened.

With a quickening of steps, we scaled a building into a higher floor and peered to observe the situation happening below.

The first thing that caught my attention was a large snake 20 meters long who was silently slithering out of sight of a group of people.

Most notably was the person in the center, who was wearing some sort of traditional clothes and calling out orders with vigor, her fan pointing and directing the troops. Unfortunately, as she was a little far away, it was hard to see her facial features.

A flag bearer was hosting the flag of their kingdom behind them, bellowing in the wind.

It was the kingdom of Silla.

At first, it appeared they were handling the situation well, but while they covered several sides, they could not block all of them.

The snake sneakily pretended to be chased away after their first ambush failed, but was doubling back around a building away from the sight of its prey.

I found them.

In all honesty, I never expected to discover them this quickly, or to succeed in finding them, but I was thankful for that, at least.

Now I was only worried about the negotiation.

[Youngkik, open the dokkaebi bag please.]

Without saying anything back at this time, the dokkaebi bag appeared in-front of me. It seemed Youngkik was either too busy, or used to the situation that they didn't complain to me this time.

Quickly finding a one-use recording of a lesser grade 7 [Golden Eagle]'s cry that was a bird that had a sliver of Peng blood, I leapt to the adjacent building, keeping the snake-like creature in sight.

[500 coins have been subtracted from your balance]

As the snake-like creature was about to poke its head out from the end of the building, I activated the recording and dropped it.

A piercing loud cry broke out in the relatively quiet Seoul, and the snake couldn't help but stiffen at hearing the frequencies of one of its predators, but also became confused because it didn't sense it in the area.

The now-gone recording held in a capsule tapped the clueless snake's head on its way down, and immediately, a pair of talons descended onto the snake.

An actual bird of prey was attracted by a foreign bird call, not discovering a potential competitor, but upon finding a stunned snake, took the opportunity presented to them.

As the two began to struggle in a flurry of hisses and flapping wings, I took the chance to descend the building quietly to the dumbfounded group.

"Let's go!" I called to them to snap them out of their stupendous state.

Knowing it was not the time to ask questions, the actress in the lead quickly shouted out a command for her troops.

"Retreat!"

But even as we evacuated the scene, the people in the other group couldn't help but take peeks at the two mysterious people who showed up out of nowhere.

Some of the gazes were of distrust, but some were curious, or a mix in-between.

Still, more of them watched the person in the lead.

Her silky hair flowed in the window, and her robes fluttered in a pleasing way, a beautiful pair of eyes framed by long lashes were alert with calculation as she rushed through the roads.

It's her.

Even if Min Jinwon was just words written down, I found to my surprise that when I looked at her, there was a confidence that she was indeed 'Min Jinwon'.

In a super practiced way,  Min Jinwon's troops entered their station, as people staged at the entrance watched the backs of the entering troops.

They glanced at Min Jinwon as Jung Youngho and I approached, unsure of letting us in, but Min Jinwon gave them a nod.

With tacit understanding, we were not blocked.

Although it may seem like a risky move to enter an enemies' home ground, Jung Youngho's self-proclaimed title of 'strongest king in Seoul' was not for nothing.

"Y-your majesty, who are those people?" A man wielding a spear came out to receive their king, but warily gripped his weapon as he stared at us unblinkingly.

"Stay your hand, young General Gwanchang, these two are my guests." Min Jinwon spoke with grace, addressing herself with a higher form of 'me'.

"But-" The cosplaying slender-physique young man looked unresigned.

"Young General Gwanchang." Min Jinwon tapped the fan to her lips, masking part of her emotions.

 At his monarch's behest, 'Gwanchang' backed down.

Immediately kneeling down, the young man spoke, "I spoke out of line. Asking for forgiveness."

Min Jinwon opened her fan with a flick of her wrist and gestured with her other hand for her subject to rise, which was a form of leniency.

Of course, Jung Youngho just snorted from behind me as he watched the drama.

For me, it was very admirable to watch the actress bring a character to life so naturally.

Although, she did get some facts wrong.

Gwanchang was not a general himself, but his father was.

Min Jinwon did not turn her head as she addressed us loftily.

"Although you have committed disrespect toward me, I shall forgive you for your transgressions just this once. Of course, I shall also reward you sufficiently for your deeds."

I glanced at Jung Youngho to gauge his reaction.

He looked like he was about to retort, so I elbowed him in the gut before he said anything.

"Queen of Silla, I would like to request an audience. We came here for negotiations." I spoke to Min Jinwon who was already walking away.

She paused.

"If that's what these two heroes request, then how can I refuse?" Min Jinwon then gestured for one of the people gathered around, "You there, lead the guests for some welcoming tea and rest."

...And then she stalked off, not saying anything more.

She hadn't even told us when we would be meeting. 

But this was to be expected.

Jung Youngho on the other hand was glaring daggers at me for elbowing him several times just as he was about to speak, but at such a close range, his grappling technique couldn't overcome my agility.

And besides, he had been caught off guard when I hit him.

"It'll be over soon, so stop glaring at me like that." I whispered to him.

Yes, the moment of negotiation was approaching, and so was the moment whether I would succeed or not with an anti-aggression pact.

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