Seol-Hwi was still standing with his back turned.
He needed a mont, and once he collected his thoughts, he asked again.
“Dead?”
“Yes. According to the docunt here, it says that during the martial arts exam on the island, they couldn’t distinguish the type of poison and died from poisoning.”
For a mont, Seol-Hwi’s face twisted.
The fact that Seo Ryeong was dead.
It stirred sothing within him, but it wasn’t surprising.
Before receiving assistance from the system like him, there must have been situations where death was inevitable.
He would have gone back to the beginning to escape or avoid the crisis.
The problem was with his emotions.
She was a woman he once loved and missed, yet he felt no sadness at the news of her death.
“But, you see.”
“Yes. Please speak.”
Seol-Hwi opened his eyes, which had been briefly closed, and asked.
There was still one more thing to confirm.
“Have you ever heard of soone nad Sa Yu-kang?”
Sa Yu-kang, who was once his AI in the past.
His existence had been completely erased while fighting the Absolute One.
Seol-Hwi was not unaware of this.
Thus, it was a question asked not with hope, but as a formality, like a rite of passage.
“Let recall for a mont. Sa Yu-kang, Sa Yu-kang…”
“Ah, they ntioned Hidden Troops.”
When Seol-Hwi turned around and added more explanation, Jeok-pa, who had been rolling his eyes, groaned, “Ah!”
Then he tilted his head again.
It seed like sothing ca to mind, but for so reason, he was hesitant to answer.
“Why don’t you rember? Or is there so kind of problem?”
“There’s sothing familiar about the na you ntioned, but I can’t quite recall it. Could you give a mont?”
“Take your ti. Don’t worry about .”
He narrowed his brows as if deep in thought and quickly began to look through the docunts.
He even rummaged through the cabinet, not just the table.
Then, after pulling sothing out and unfolding its contents, his expression brightened.
“Among the nas I scribbled before, there was a similar na… Ah, that’s right. Kang Yusa.”
“Kang Yusa?”
“Ah, the way I morize things is a bit peculiar. Originally, it’s a person nad Sa Yu-kang. Anyway, so explanation is needed to understand the situation.”
He skimd through a sheet of paper once more and continued speaking.
“About three years ago, there was a ti when the Hidden Troops selected outstanding trainees from a place called Hundred Ascension Hall, known as the collective training facility.”
Thousand Scented Hall, where one enters the Demonic Cult, is a training center, while Hundred Ascension Hall is an education center.
It is a place for systematic education targeting trainees who show aptitude for demonic qi and achieve outstanding results.
“We had selected a total of five candidates, but I mistakenly wrote six on the docunt. The na mistakenly written was Kang Yusa. No, it was Sa Yu-kang.”
“Did you just say it was a mistake?”
“Yes.”
Seol-Hwi did not overlook the aning of the word “mistake.”
They intended to select five, but the record showed six nas, and in reality, there were indeed five.
‘Let’s think. If the system were to erase Sa Yu-kang, who has vanished from existence, how would it do so?’
Naturally, the first thought is to make them a being that was never born.
However, Seol-Hwi knew one thing for sure.
In a world without players or in a world where players are just beginning, it is entirely possible, but applying it within the system of this world where he currently resides is not so simple.
Because if he were to uproot his entire life in this world he was experiencing, the system would face great confusion in realizing causal relationships.
Even if Sa Yu-kang can’t directly or indirectly affect his own life, there’s a high possibility that he has influenced the people around him directly or indirectly.
Another reason.
‘This system doesn’t perfectly implent human emotions.’
It was the sa when Seol-Hwi saved Songhwa in the past.
The only reason he could escape that crisis was because of Yu-pae.
Because he shook his heart, he saved him from danger.
Of course, it could have been because the system’s level was low at the ti.
But coincidentally, the evidence now seems to be Jeok-pa’s words.
If the system had implented emotions, thoughts, and habits, it should have erased Sa Yu-kang by understanding Jeok-pa’s mory technique.
In other words, while it could erase the recognition that soone like Sa Yu-kang existed to the people of this world, it seed unable to delve into emotions and mory techniques.
- A fellow disciple like you, under Earth Demon. However, unlike you, I started with Hidden Troops, not from the bottom.
Upon reconsideration, if his existence was perfectly erased, it would be correct that he doesn’t appear in this world.
This ans even as a dummy, no traces should be found.
Nonetheless, the fact that traces exist ans it is indeed difficult to say it was perfectly erased.
‘Isn’t there more evidence? If it was sothing that happened when he existed in my life…’
Even as an AI, dummies remain.
Though he has disappeared now, if only he could know that Sa Yu-kang ca around the ti in the past.
Wouldn’t that be the most definitive evidence?
‘Ah! There was that thod.’
Seol-Hwi suddenly spoke to Jeok-pa, inspired by a thought.
“Could I possibly see the docunts listing the figures and positions within the Hidden Troops?”
“Of course. Here it is.”
Jeok-pa quickly stepped aside, handing over a thick, worn-out book as if he had been waiting.
Seeing this, Seol-Hwi sat in his chair and began to seriously examine the contents of the book.
There was only one intention.
To find out if Sa Yu-kang existed in this world.
The thod was to compare the future he experienced with the present.
To be more precise, it is about identifying the discrepancies between the previous life he experienced centered around the Hidden Troops and his current life.
While the system may deceive the humans of this world, it would not plan to deceive even itself.
Therefore, he, who knew the future, should be able to discover that gap.
“……No way, this!”
As Seol-Hwi scrutinized the individuals and the system one by one, his eyes widened.
This was because an unfamiliar figure held an entirely unexpected position.
“Is a person nad Deung Chung the commander?”
“Yes. Is there a problem…….”
At those words, Seol-Hwi realized for a mont that he had forgotten he was the Earth Demon.
He thought it was a question mixed with reprimand, not a report-like answer.
“No, it was just a thought.”
Seol-Hwi smiled brightly, but inside, he felt complicated.
This was enough evidence to suggest that the future he knew had changed.
In his past, the position of the commander was vacant.
‘Does that an there was a possibility that Sa Yu-kang was the commander before becoming a player?’
The fact that the past he knew was different from the present would likely be due to soone’s change.
The only change known to him, who lived in that world and is now living in this world, is just one thing.
It is divided into before and after the extinction of Sa Yu-kang.
‘It’s not too far from the ti I died.’
When he joined the Hidden Troops, the commander’s position had been vacant for less than a year. Based on this, it is presud that Sa Yu-kang existed when he joined the Demonic Cult.
‘If I could return to a ti before his traces existed in this world? Then, wouldn’t I be able to see Seo Ryeong and that guy as well?’
Seol-Hwi saw a flicker of hope in that small possibility.
A value far greater than tornting that absolute being.
If he could see both Seo Ryeong and Sa Yu-kang again, it seed he could live a much better life than now.
“Um, excuse , Lord Earth Demon…”
Had he been lost in thought alone for too long?
Facing the one cautiously inquiring with a stiff posture, Seol-Hwi finally smiled and spoke.
“Ah, I had sothing to think about for a mont. Thank you. Jeok-pa, then take care.”
“Ah, yes. Please take care.”
Seol-Hwi slowly turned around.
Jeok-pa was bowing respectfully until the door closed.
The morning with brightening sunlight.
“Mm.”
Songhwa rubbed his eyes and slowly opened them.
“Are you awake now?”
The man in front of him was the one who had saved him. Seeing him brought back the mories of yesterday, and he also realized that he was indeed alive.
“When did you arrive?”
“A while ago. I’ve been waiting while watching you drool in your sleep.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
Songhwa then rubbed the white marks off the corner of his mouth with his hand.
He squinted his eyes open to observe the man’s expression.
“You don’t have to be so cautious. If I intended to harm you, I would have done it long ago.”
“Ah. Haha.”
Songhwa scratched his head awkwardly, and as his gaze slowly cald, Seol-Hwi spoke again.
“Your master is in a safe place, so you can rest assured. And you don’t have to worry about the Heavenly Demon disciples looking for you. Although this is the Fourth Disciple’s area, it’s now managed by the First Disciple, End Demon, since Earth Demon has moved under him.”
“Then, you are…”
“I’m a warrior secretly raised by the Fourth Disciple.”
“Oh!”
Songhwa’s expression brightened at last.
The news of his master’s safety and his own security seed to bring great comfort to him.
“But you know.”
“Yes. Please speak!”
Even in his now respectful deanor, one could sense his change.
“Do you, by any chance, know any… techniques for perceiving differently?”
“Perceiving techniques.”
“Well, yes. So explanation might be necessary. Let’s say there’s a middle-aged man. If he sees soone and decides to regard them as his subordinate.”
“……Yes.”
“Can he maintain his thoughts while changing his actions through a spell?”
- Make Du Hong an idiot.
In fact, there was this reason for seeking Songhwa.
Seol-Hwi, recalling past mories, thought of the thod to summon AI and realized it was not easy to acquire that ability.
Even so, there was no other way to summon AI.
So, through Songhwa’s spell, they tried to solve this problem.
“……Well, I’ve never done it, but it doesn’t seem too difficult.”
“Really? Is that true?”
“Yes. However, for those with superior skills, in the current state, ti is a bit……”
“It’s fine. He’s just an idiot… no, he’s not even worth considering in terms of level.”
In Songhwa’s eyes, Seol-Hwi seed quite amused.
It felt sowhat unsettling that he was overly cheerful.
“Alright, let’s go. Follow .”
“Yes.”
Songhwa quickly got up and followed behind.
He thought it would be a long journey…
They stopped in front of the entrance on the first floor.
“Hey, Du Hong. Are you here?”
“…Ah, hello.”
A middle-aged man with an apple in his mouth. His slightly awkward expression seed sowhat pitiable.
“That’s him.”
The man pointed at him and said. Then,
“Try on that guy.”
Seol-Hwi further explained.
If he slapped that guy called Du Hong on the cheek, make him believe he’s beco a dog.
Songhwa didn’t know for what reason, but he was grateful to the benefactor who saved him, so he did as instructed for now.
“I did it.”
“Really?”
That was when it happened.
He suddenly slapped Du Hong out of nowhere.
It wasn’t just Songhwa who was taken aback.
“Why did you do that?”
“Oh. This works.”
“What do you an…?”
Du Hong rubbed his cheek with a grimace.
But for Seol-Hwi, it was an ideal situation.
Make Du Hong an idiot. (1/8)
The system window in front of him was counting the numbers accurately.
“You don’t need to know, and let’s hit a bit more. You troubled a lot back in the day too.”
Seol-Hwi did not rember having ever taken revenge on Du Hong before.
He just slapped Du Hong’s retreating cheek once more with a sharp hand.
This ti, it was the left cheek.
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