Chapter 124: 123 – Before the Setup – II

A dark and ominous castle. Gold leaf and fancy silk tapestries hung along the walls, but time had run them all ragged.

Sung Shihyun... The future Sung Shihyun that is, looked around the place and whistled. "This place is even worse than I remember it being."

Seol clicked his tongue and said, "Could you try to at least not announce our presence?"

Sung Shihyun adjusted his wolf mask and said, "What? Not like anyone's here."

Seol had to grudgingly agree with the arrogant guy.

It was strangely quiet. Although they made a giant mess outside and walked right through the front door, they didn't meet any enemies.

No Army Commanders, no Parasite mobs... not even a normal insect.

"Still." Seol took a look around with his spear at the ready and said, "Don't let your guard down."

"Heh." Sung Shihyun puffed out his chest and said, "Did you forget who I am and what realm I reached? As if I could ever be caught off-"

A sudden flicker in the dark halls.

Sung Shihyun reflexively tilted his head, causing a black tendril to shoot past where it just was.

Seol spun his spear, batting it aside.

Sung Shihyun smirked and said, "-Guard. See?"

Seol crouched down to look at the tendril and said, "Say that again when you dodge an ambush from Seonhwa."

"Hey!" Sung Shihyun glared at Seol and said, "That's different! You know that crazy bastard would be on my ass if I hurt her!"

"...Are you *sure* you aren't swinging for the other-"

"Finish that sentence and I SWEAR TO GOD-"

A flicker of darkness and an intangible presence.

Sung Shihyun immediately shut up and raised his sword.

Seol raised his spear as well and activated his eyes.

Black as far as the eye could see. But only because of the castle's interior. In terms of supernatural colors...

"Nothing again?" Seol muttered and frowned.

Sung Shihyun slowly looked around and said, "You sure about that, Blackie? Because I don't think that's right."

Seol kept looking around too and said, "Yeah. I don't think it's right either."

It was odd.

This was the heart of Parasite territory, but they hadn't fought a single mob since they walked in. And not only that, but the place seemed a bit off-kilter.

The thing that attacked Sung Shihyun hadn't been a Parasite either.

Seol thought it might be one of the sniper things that he fought once upon a time back in the fortress when rescuing Teresa, but-

*static*

Sung Shihyun blinked and said, "Do you hear that?"

Seol blinked as well and slowly nodded. "...Yeah. Static?"

"Static." Sung Shihyun started backing up towards the entrance.

Seol noticed and said, "Backing out now, 'Brave Hero'?"

"Considering that whatever the hell is here doesn't seem to be a Parasite, yeah." Sung Shihyun nervously looked around and said, "...I hate to say it, but I think you might be right about me being too much of a game addict. I kind of feel like we accidentally triggered-"

A sudden eerily tall figure in the corner of the room. One that hadn't been there earlier but suddenly appeared. Something that looked like a man in a suit with a pure white mask.

Except it definitely wasn't a man, and that definitely wasn't a mask.

Seol froze.

Sung Shihyun tensed.

For a moment, nobody moved.

And then the figure vanished.

Seol immediately jumped to the side, swinging his spear just in time to rip through a wave of ethereal black tendrils. He let out a long suffering sigh and said, "Somehow, I just know this is that crazy guy's fault."

Sung Shihyun swung his sword, ripping the space apart to try and get rid of the figure before running back towards the entrance. "Doesn't matter! We're getting out of here right-"

The world suddenly flickered again and the surroundings changed.

Instead of the main hall, Seol and Sung Shihyun were suddenly in the basement.

And they weren't alone.

Seol let out a deep sigh as he raised his spear at another Sung Shihyun who was standing in front of a crowd of naked banshees. Tilting his head towards the Sung Shihyun he came with who was wearing a wolf mask, Seol said, "Are you SURE you aren't-"

"Shut up and just beat the crap out of him already." Sung Shihyun adjusted his wolf mask and ran forward.

The past Sung Shihyun broke out of his shock at seeing the two and then quickly summoned a crimson sword from thin air. "You fucker! Don't think you'll get out of here- Bwhaha?!"

Seol pulled his spear back and said, "Just shut up and go back to being the comic relief you are."

Staring at that, the masked Sung Shihyun muttered, "...Someone out there just really hates me, huh?"

"Do you really need to ask that question considering your history?"

"Fair."

xxx

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I tilted my head to the side, feeling a disturbance.

Flone noticed my reaction and said, "Something wrong, Jihu?"

"Probably." I frowned and said, "But nothing I can't deal with later."

At this point, it was impossible to keep track of all the small fires and gunpowder kegs lying everywhere, so I was just letting them all rack up to explode and deal with all at once.

Not the smartest thing, but when you had the brute force reality manipulation powers that I recently came into possession of... and the meta realization that you were definitely an idealized wish-fulfillment hybridized spirit of three guys (burgers and fries), it would be bound to work out eventually.

Eventually.

Problem for future me to deal with, not current me.

Yep. As for the current me...

Saturday, September 15th, 2018. 7:30 PM. A half hour before the Tutorial opened up and the September Halfway point officially began.

Since it technically took place on Earth, I was staying at home and waiting around with Flone and Rosie while Jinhee prepared.

To get around the whole issue of Mom and Dad asking questions about Jinhee considering she'd be gone for a month or more, I, or rather my scarily good at manipulation overseas wives Seora and Seohui, had given them an all-expenses paid tour around Europe.

It was couched to be a sort of apology gift for causing them so much trouble recently. Something that was about the most flimsy excuse someone could come up with in the world.

...But considering how they accepted it without any doubt or hesitation... Yeah, that definitely said something about my life, huh?

But anyway, I was sitting around the kitchen table waiting with Rosie and Flone until the time Jinhee's invitation activated.

My dear sister said she wanted some alone time for mental preparation, so I let her be in her room and hung around downstairs with Flone and Rosie instead.

"Anyway." I ruffled Rosie's hair a bit some more and frowned. "...It's weird. I thought it was just a saying, but there really is something to the whole biological connection to your children, huh?"

Rosie was definitely 'Roselle.' But since she had gone out of her way to magic or sorcery herself all the way down to the genetic level to be half of me and half of Flone... It was weird.

There was a really irrational urge to hold her close and destroy everything that so much as looked as her funny.

I mean, I *kind of* had that with all my girls, but this was a bit more visceral and deep seated.

Rosie giggled and happily swung her legs while sitting on my lap. Leaning against my chest, she said, "Well, I am glad to be Father's daughter. It's refreshing to be able to act as a child for once."

Flone raised an eyebrow and said, "Act?"

Rosie tensed and said, "I-I mean *be* a child, Mother."

Flone nodded and said, "Yes. It's rare to be young more than once, so you should thoroughly enjoy it, Rosie."

I coughed.

Flone smiled and said, "In any case..." She looked at the clock and said, "It's almost time, Jihu." She furrowed her brow and said, "Are you still sure you want to do this?"

I handed Rosie over to Flone... well, tried to. Rosie just squirmed out of my arms and quickly ran to another chair instead of hugging Flone.

But anyway, I looked at Flone and said, "That Bug Queen's spluttering around like a scared fly right now, so I've gotta give her some room to settle down. After that..." I smacked my hands together. "It'll be all over."

Flone blinked and then giggled. "Oh. I wasn't talking about that." She waved her hand and said, "That's already a done deal. I was talking about how you were going to tell everything to Jinhee." She laced her fingers together and then leaned her elbows on the table. "What if your cute little sister decides her Oppa is beyond saving and throws you to the wolves to clean up your mess?"

I paused to think about that.

...Although I said I would explain everything to Jinhee and kept reiterating it all had a good reason for happening, objectively the context of how I ended up with all the women in my life...

I cleared my throat and said, "Ahem. Then... I guess I'll just have to play the big brother card and beg?"

Flone snorted. "This is why Hannah doesn't want you meeting any women alone anymore."

"Ahaha..."

A soft beep echoed from my phone. Shortly after, a faint silver light flickered and started wrapping around my body. Gula's familiar divinity, mixed in with that of the other gods.

Rosie watched me with bright eyes and waved. "Have fun, Father! And give me notes!"

Flone waved as well and said, "See you later, Hubbie! Work hard and good luck!"

I laughed. "Thanks. See you-"

A sudden change in scenery. Before I could finish my words, the house vanished, replaced by a familiar apartment. My apartment.

"-Soon. Huh." I looked around and tilted my head.

It was similar to how I remembered the Tutorial playing out. But-

"Gah! Shit! Fuck!" Loud banging and crashes echoed from the kitchen, followed by Jinhee's curses. "Why did I spawn in from the ceiling!? And who the hell put these boxes here?!"

I glanced over in time to see my sister push herself off the floor, covered in scrapes and bumps.

It was funny. But before I could laugh or even properly react, a soft chime echoed in my ears, followed by the appearance of some floating messages.

[Identification complete.]

[Confirming the admission of Jihu - the Helper of Gold Mark Invited, Seol Jinhee and Eun Yuri.]

...Eh?

Shortly after I realized something with the message was off, I heard another crash. The sound of a mirror falling to the floor in my bedroom.

"Kyah! Sorry!" Yuri's voice echoed from behind a door and said, "I didn't mean to knock it over, I swear! It's just hard to move with all these clothes..."

Jinhee scrambled to her feet, kicking aside a whole slew of random kitchenware on the floor.

The door to my bedroom opened and revealed Yuri waddling over in what looked like a fat suit, but was actually just dozens of sweatshirts.

I let out a long sigh.

...This was going to get more complicated than I thought, wasn't it?

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