What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 560

#560

Are we acquainted? (2)

My heart sank, fearing I’d wake up robbed.

Hugging the kids, I jumped to my feet and walked toward him. Step, step, step…!

“These are all mine! Leave them alone! They’re not trash to be thrown away….”

-Creak…

At first, my voice was quite loud, but as I got closer, the man’s size seemed to grow, and I naturally became more timid.

‘Leave them alone, lone, lone…!’ Useless echoes reverberated through the air.

Then, he slightly turned his ruby-red eyes towards me.

It felt like he was thinking, ‘This guy is amusing, isn’t he?’

Only then did I realize that we weren’t complete strangers. Uh…?

“Wait. Just a moment, sir? Perhaps….”

No, I can’t really call this being acquainted, can I…?

I know this person a little, but there’s no way he knows me, right?

「I am indebted to you all.」

“Excuse me? To us?”

Suddenly? I pointed to myself, mouth agape.

I was so bewildered that I couldn’t think of any other response.

I have no idea what this means.

That’s because the person in front of me was an elder who had passed away long ago.

「Yes. Etha was telling me about it.」

Perhaps that’s why the man didn’t even have a voice.

His jade lips, drawn with a single stroke, twitched several times, but that was all.

However, his words were clearly heard and conveyed to me.

His bright yellow hair gleamed like gold.

“Heh….”

The most famous warlord of the De Liester Empire, and the peerless powerhouse who even earned the title of ‘Maestro of the Howling Sword’ from the Divine Kingdom’s royal family.

The slayer of his tragic lover.

The golden-haired, beautiful emperor.

Romero Claire De Liester.

“…’Etha’? Are you perhaps referring to Yuliter?”

「What if I am?」

He chuckled and turned my growth ring around and around.

Panicked, I desperately moved my head, following the late Emperor’s gestures.

The portrait of Romero hanging in the Imperial Palace had a very solemn impression, but the man I actually met felt somewhat immature and frivolous.

The divine beasts in my arms whimpered, clenching their front paws.

-Kki-eung, kki-ing, kking!

“Yuliter told Your Majesty about us? What does that mean….”

Didn’t you both disappear from Mangkrans forever? Did you reunite here?

How? I was about to say that, but I suddenly stopped myself.

And once again, this time slowly, I rolled my eyes and looked around.

As calmly as possible….

“Ah….”

A space so white it hurt my eyes came into view.

A world entirely white, without a ceiling, walls, or floor.

It was a place I had been to once before.

‘「Don’t worry, Ms. Seo.」’

‘「I am greatly indebted to you.」’

It was a place I had briefly stopped by, like a transfer station, on the day I returned to meet my friends.

A space where ghost-like crowds walked around ignoring the laws of physics, and no one could hear my voice.

Among them, only Prince Yeseo was an exception.

“Oh my goodness…. How did I end up back here? Could it really be because I pressed that one button? Really?”

「Not the first time, you say? I didn’t know. You’re a braver one than you look.」

“Please answer me, Your Majesty. Please! Where did the other friends go?”

The situation was so urgent that my heart was pounding, and worry filled me to the brim, making it hard to breathe.

The divine beasts were just as frustrated, wagging their tails and struggling.

What was important to us now wasn’t how the late Emperor was here or anything like that.

Whether he was just a ghost or a broken fragment of Romero’s settings, I didn’t care anymore!

「Scattered.」

“….Yes?”

The man finally turned my growth ring back to me and said.

I stopped packing my Gaga bag [a type of diaper bag] and stared blankly at him.

What happened to my friends?

「If it’s not your first time, don’t you know better than anyone what this place is like?」

“….”

I should say I don’t know.

I should ask him to explain in detail from beginning to end because I don’t know at all….

The moment I heard those words, a sentence flashed through my mind like lightning.

Yuliter’s face, shedding tears like beads, was so vivid it felt like I could reach out and touch it.

Sometime in Mangkrans—

‘「To meet a soul wandering away from the world… you need a great power. A power great enough to imitate the chief god…. That’s what I heard in the pure white interstellar space.」’

…No. This can’t be happening.

This is such a sudden and absurd development….

“No, is Jeong Hyun-seo really crazy….”

「What?」

“Sorry, just a moment. I need some time to think….”

Wow…. I suddenly felt nauseous, and my head was so dizzy that it was hard to stand straight.

Even in the midst of all that, what kept me going was the existence of my precious burdens.

For these kids, I had to stay calm no matter what.

Don’t lose your mind, think and act rationally….

Let’s keep calculating until we get an answer.

“So, this place is called the ‘Pure White Interstellar Space’.”

「Got one right.」

“It’s where souls wandering away from the world gather.”

「Two.」

“My friends also pressed the ‘No’ button by mistake… To be exact, they were caught up in some phenomenon and left the world because they were in that space-time when the button was pressed. Is that correct?”

「Maybe three.」

“….So everyone is scattered here? Can I find them if I go looking for them?”

「…That’s wrong.」

The man, who was tapping his sword hilt, tilted his chin with a regretful expression.

His face, which strangely resembled Jibril Dioph, made me feel a surge of anger.

I was about to raise my voice when he cut me off.

「Your companions are not here.」

“….Yes?”

-Kking?

What is he talking about now?

「…Since I’ve decided to help, I’ll explain it to you. You’re the only one I could accidentally catch here.」

“….”

「The rest were all swept away by the chief god’s window…. There’s a high probability they’ve been annihilated.」

“What?”

「Or they fell outside.」

“Outside?”

I could feel my words getting shorter and shorter, but I couldn’t see anything else, so I didn’t even have the mind to correct myself.

The late Emperor seemed to be enjoying watching me like this.

「But don’t worry. If you have divine objects or the protection of divine beasts like you do…」

“Send me there.”

「Hmm?」

The man, interrupted, frowned slightly.

That expression was indeed a trademark of the De Liester imperial family.

Without hesitation, I blurted out the rest of my words.

“Please send me to where my friends fell.”

「….You seem to be confused and your judgment is clouded. Didn’t you hear me say I saved you?」

“I heard you.”

「I will return you to the continent. Although this fragment will disappear, I will repay my debt by doing so…」

“I sincerely appreciate your concern, but I will go to where my friends are. Whether it’s inside or outside, I don’t care. Please do that for me. Please.”

「….」

“….I humbly ask you, Your Majesty.”

-Kkia!

I bowed deeply before the late Emperor, paying the most respectful imperial respects I knew.

I really couldn’t think of any other possibility besides this.

To return to the continent alone after losing all my friends was a terrible thought I didn’t even want to hear in my dreams.

No matter how many hours or days it took, I had to meet everyone and return together.

The other friends would definitely do the same for each other.

Definitely.

“….”

「Ah…. Camaraderie.」

‘I once had that too.’ The man muttered in a voice as if reminiscing about something.

I wondered if he was thinking of his old friend, Ingrid Berang.

Just as I cautiously raised my eyes, wanting to see the late Emperor’s expression—

-Sreung!

A familiar treasured sword was drawn from his waist,

“Huh…?”

「Since you wish it, I shall send you.」

Yes?

-Ssaeeeehk!

“Aaaaargh!”

-Kkiaaaa!

-Kwakwakwakwa―!

I was directly hit by the great Maestro’s sword energy.

Once again, my vision was dyed pure white.

*

Thump!

“Haaaargh!”

-Kkieoeeeo!

Crash, bang! We fell off the bed and rolled on the floor.

The terrified lesser pandas clung to me, crying and screaming.

Ouch, my body. I gritted my teeth and cursed Jeong Hyun-seo three times in my mind.

My vision went black, then white again! I thought I was dead, then suddenly I was escaping from a life-threatening shock!

I know it didn’t hurt, but I just got hit by Durendal [Romero’s sword]! How many times is this, huh!?

Besides, I fell wrong and my back hurts so much right now!

“Ugh, I’m really going to get sick…. Are you guys okay? Are you not hurt?”

-Kkii, kkii! Kkii!

-Kki-ooung!

-Kkihu!

With hasty hands, I picked them up one by one, touched their bellies, and carefully checked their legs, noses, and earlobes.

Fortunately, no one was bleeding or in pain.

But it was hard to check properly because the room was dark.

And since everything was quiet, it seemed like it was late….

“Ah, I must have put something useful in the bedside table drawer.”

-Kkieung

“And if I turn on the magic lamp around here….”

Holding my aching back, I carefully got up, but suddenly stopped, feeling a chill.

Wait a minute?

“But here…. Isn’t this Juliet’s Palace?”

-Kkieu

“Right? It is Juliet’s.”

That’s strange. Why did I come to Juliet’s Palace?

I clearly said I was going to my friends…?

The knight said he would take me there.

-Tak!

At that moment, someone turned on the magic lamp.

At the same time, one side of the bedroom lit up softly, and my vision cleared gently.

Unable to hide our delight, my precious burdens and I turned around.

But the person who turned on the light was….

“….We have night visitors.”

He was sitting on the bed.

For a moment, I felt like my eyeballs were about to pop out.

The moment I saw his face, I jumped up and almost dunked my head into the ceiling.

But at the same time, I was completely unable to move.

My whole body froze, unable to move even a millimeter.

What is this?

“….Hello, hello? We are….”

No, really. What’s going on right now?

“….”

“….”

-Kkii….

It felt like my breath was stopping.

I was sweating from the shocking development, and my legs were giving way. Conversely, my mouth was parched.

The bed decoration cord in the man’s hand was clearly visible.

I knew too well what it was for.

Pulling it once would turn on the magic lamp, but pulling it twice would summon the servants outside.

And currently, we were intruders, no matter how you looked at it.

“Uh, we are…. So….”

“….”

The man, born with beauty that was a mistake of God, was waiting for an answer, slightly raising the corners of his lips.

For a moment, I was lost in thought.

Skin embroidered with silver threads woven from moonlight, and golden hair that reflected sunlight softly in the darkness.

Violet eyes that were so mysterious they didn’t seem human.

“….Are we acquainted?”

Prince, Yeseo Losna Venetian.

I knew this man too. Perhaps too much.