novelraw Chapter 288: Episode 288_A Game of Nerves (1)
Chapter 288: Episode 288_A Game of Nerves (1)
1.
While they were preparing the Gate to move from Heaven to the continent, Han Simin had asked a question.
"Epia, it’s been a while since you went to the continent, right? I mean, you did go once before, but you never know. I figured we could reminisce a bit, too. How about we write up a contract like last time before we go?"
"...?"
"Well, look. You recognize me as your consort now, so it’s not like I’m planning to scam you, but I’m still a little uneasy. I do trust you, but by nature I have a hard time trusting people—no, anyone—so I thought it might be good to have something in writing. You never know. If someday you get sick of me and start swinging your sword around, trying to kill me, consort or not, a fragile guy like me wouldn’t be able to stop you."
"..."
He spoke with genuine feeling. This time, more than fifty percent of what he said was sincere, when normally he didn’t even mix in ten percent. That was how serious he was.
He had no choice. It was something that really could happen.
Bluntly put, Epia might be acknowledging him as her consort now, but no one could predict how she would change once she saw the women he had on the continent. Even if outright killing them was an exaggeration, if she kidnapped him by force or slaughtered every woman connected to him, it would be a massive headache.
He couldn’t just shrug it off as "it’s only a game." Even if he tried to be cold-hearted about it, his relationship with the Imperial Princess had to continue. Above all, he said what he did because he had recognized and accepted that the AI BetaGo had created for this world was beyond anything he had imagined—that they were living beings in another world.
He wanted to confirm it. He wanted to seal the deal.
Han Simin no longer thought of Epia as just a Demon King to be milked dry. You could call him fickle as a reed, but any man is bound to waver when hit with a full-body assault. He wasn’t completely head over heels, but he did want to keep her by his side and live like a king.
Of course, that was only a secondary concern. His ultimate goal was to be able to use her as he pleased, even if he and Epia clashed at some point.
That genuine intent was conveyed clearly to Epia. Minus the evil parts.
After thinking for a long while, Epia nodded.
"Let’s do that, my love. You’re my consort for life, after all. You can do whatever you want with me."
"..."
’What the hell? Is she really the Demon King?’
She was so obedient that he froze for a moment. However, the emotion in her words was not resignation or anything of the sort. It was true trust. He could feel it.
It wasn’t only because of the bond that had continued for hundreds of years from the previous Enhancer. It was the Story Quest, and the racial quest that followed. After completing the truly hidden quest of awakening as the Succubus Queen, Han Simin had received a private reward. The reason it hadn’t appeared as a hologram was because the reward was her trust.
It was the unique charm of Fantastic World. Nothing felt like a game. Holograms couldn’t interfere with capturing an NPC’s heart, and not even BetaGo could control it.
To Epia, Han Simin was no longer the reincarnation of her past lover. He was simply Han Simin himself. Her lifelong consort.
For a man like that, putting her seal on a contract was nothing, even if it were a waiver giving up her own body.
Such was the love of a succubus. She was prepared to sell even her soul to her consort. They drained men’s vitality, but at the same time, to their true love, they were romantics who gave everything.
"I’m jealous," Jeong Hyeonsu muttered without realizing it.
Just hearing the words, it sounded like a truly beautiful, pure love, but what they actually saw was the raw, unrestrained intensity of a high schooler and someone in their twenties, so passionate it made one’s mouth go dry.
Regardless, when Epia gave her consent, Han Simin pulled her into his arms and produced the contract—a contract he had drafted before, now revised into one just for her. Naturally, it was packed with clauses favorable to Han Simin. It wasn’t at the level of the slave contract he had with Grokile, but it was close.
Epia took the contract, which looked to be dozens of pages thick, and without even unfolding it, she bit her finger. Han Simin had already signed, so all that remained was Epia’s decision.
Before letting her blood fall, Epia smiled and spoke. "Can I add just one clause?"
"Hm? Of course." Han Simin nodded quickly. From the look of it, she really intended to sign without even reading it. If that happened, the meaning of the hidden clauses he had written would be lost, but it was still a good outcome.
With her blood, Epia added a single line instead of a signature. Then, before Han Simin could even see it, she finished signing.
Pop—
The contract tore itself apart, signaling that the agreement had been sealed.
Curious, Han Simin quickly skimmed through the terms of the contract as they were engraved in his mind. He couldn’t undo it now, but he did want to know what she had added—what was the one thing she had insisted on including?
"The party of the first part, Simin, consort of the succubus Epia, party of the second part, shall spend his entire life together with the succubus Epia...?"
The sentence she had written formed clearly in his mind.
Han Simin tilted his head. ’What the heck? Is that it?’
The wording was rather vague and broad in scope, but there was nothing in it that put him at a disadvantage. If he thought about it simply, it felt like an insurance clause in case his life was ever in danger because of some scam contract.
"Epia, let’s live well together," he said.
"Yes," she answered.
In any case, didn’t it mean she trusted him that much? Han Simin didn’t think much of it and let it go. He had more pressing issues to worry about.
"And... I can’t go to the continent," Epia said.
"Huh?"
Her declaration came right after they finished the contract.
"Crossing over to the continent through Heaven’s Gate... no one has ever tried it before. We could be annihilated."
...
’Why are you telling me this now?’
His face twisted into a deep frown. In other words, she was saying she couldn’t go.
Which, fine, whatever. He had done just fine without Epia so far, and the only reason he had planned to take her to the continent was to use her and squeeze some profit out of her. He had already drawn up several big-picture plans for that.
And now she was saying she couldn’t go.
From Han Simin’s perspective, who was counting his chickens before they hatched, it was absolutely unacceptable.
"No."
He could give up. However, there were too many things that bothered him.
"If you stay here, you could die anyway. Either way."
The contract. The soul contract they had completed barely ten seconds ago. Suddenly, its clauses surged up in his mind as a wave of anxiety.
If Epia stayed here and eventually faced the Heavenly King, she could die. Before, whether she lived or died had nothing to do with him, but now it was different. It might not just be a matter of giving up potential profit. If the terms of the contract kicked in and dragged Han Simin down with her...
A User could revive, but this was a soul contract. There was no way BetaGo would have designed it sloppily. Epia would revive someday, but what if there were a penalty preventing the User from reviving until then? Or what if it meant permanent character deletion?
...
In games, it’s best to play without leaving even the slightest room for anxiety. Especially now that Fantastic World was no longer just a game to Han Simin. It was the foundation of his life. In terms of value, it was worth at least several hundred billion won. That wasn’t bragging; he literally made tens of billions at a time from streaming alone.
"Damn it."
This was not the situation Epia had intended, but somehow, it had ended up with them really spending their whole lives together.
Han Simin began persuading her. Whether she stayed here or died crossing the Gate, death was death either way. In that case, instead of betting on an unpredictable situation, they would have to trust in luck.
That was the process that led to her throwing herself into the Gate, with a fearful expression, alongside Han Simin.
*
The Heavenly King arrived at the Demon King’s castle. On the way, countless succubi had refused to flee, instead going berserk and trying to take down as many Celestials as they could. Because of the many traps that had been set up, many Celestials were sacrificed. However, with the power of the Sanctuary and the Heavenly King’s own might, they managed to smash down the Demon King’s castle gate.
The Demon King’s castle was vast, filled with a dreamlike atmosphere steeped in the succubi’s nature. However, the most important succubus queen, Epia, was not there.
No one but a fool would fail to notice. She hadn’t fled to the Demon King’s castle.
"...Then where?"
She had run off somewhere else. Was she trying to play hide-and-seek?
The Heavenly King’s rage surged to the top of his head. In truth, this was a waste of time for both sides. There was no need for them to be getting worked up at the same time, either. In the end, even if it came down to a showdown between the Heavenly King and the Demon King, the way of the world was never so simple. Without the beings who made up Heaven and the Demon World, neither realm had any meaning.
Of course, the number of races in Heaven and the Demon World was not so small that they could be wiped out overnight. You could tell just by looking at the warlocks. Compared to the population of the entire continent, their numbers were laughably small, but they still kept crawling out from somewhere, somehow, all the time. Total extinction was impossible.
That was why land was important. Conquerors didn’t go around founding kingdoms and empires and marking out their domains for nothing.
"We will conquer the Demon World. Inform Heaven," the Heavenly King ordered.
"Yes, Your Majesty," a subordinate replied.
He had decided he would no longer engage in this emotional tug-of-war. That was what made the Heavenly King terrifying. He was cold-blooded. He would make the Demon World completely Celestial territory. If he ensured that the demons could never unite again, the war that had lasted for millions of years could finally come to an end. There would be no more invasions of the continent, either.
Just then, a Celestial came running in a panic toward the Heavenly King.
"Your Majesty! We have a serious problem!"
"What is it?"
He was a Celestial who had not taken part in the war, one who had been managing the castle in Heaven. His face was deathly pale as he delivered his urgent report.
"Your Majesty, Heaven... Heaven is—!"
"What about Heaven?!"
Even a Celestial, who rarely lost his breath, was panting so hard he couldn’t speak properly, stammering over his words. The Heavenly King, frustrated, pressed him, then suddenly shot to his feet.
"Don’t tell me!"
He wasn’t an idiot; he didn’t need to hear the rest to know what had happened. The current situation, and the fact that a Celestial who had been serving in the Heavenly King’s own castle had come all the way here in person... There was no reason for him to be this out of breath. That meant the situation was that urgent—but how many urgent situations could there be in Heaven? Especially in the castle where the Heavenly King resided.
Unless God suddenly dropped down from the sky and smote them with divine punishment, there was only one thing that could be that urgent: a surprise attack by an enemy whose power rivaled God’s, whom no one but the Heavenly King could stop.
"That insolent wench..."
The Heavenly King’s face twisted into a scowl. At the same time, he prepared to return. The composure with which he had decided not to pursue her shattered under the Demon King’s scorched-earth tactic. When you had victory in your grasp, the top priority was not annihilating the enemy, but minimizing your own side’s losses.
As he turned to go back, the Heavenly King’s eyes caught sight of a Gate that had appeared in the middle of the Demon King’s castle, spewing darkness.