Former Warrior Turns Into A Million-Dollar Actor [EN]: Chapter 175

Let’s Go to New Zealand (8)

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The filming set.

The camera directors are sweating profusely.

Though it’s a cool autumn day outside, the set is sweltering even with just a few lights.

“······.”

The sweat soaking into their backs isn’t just from the lights. It’s the heat from the staff packed into the large hall, and the palpable energy of the actors passionately performing.

The director, Peter Sean, is so focused he doesn’t even notice the script slipping in his hand.

Ido: I’ve come to kill your god.

After the bold line, there’s no cut signal. That’s because they aren’t dealing with a novice actor who loses all their energy after a few key lines.

Everyone gathered here is a veteran, and it would be foolish to interrupt the emotional thread they’ve managed to capture.

As proof, the staff and the actors in the scene are staring intently at Park Geon… and McCleane’s mouth.

“Hmm.”

After a long silence, the mad tyrant’s mouth opens. The Emperor looks at his subordinates lined up below with an intrigued expression.

“How could they utter such blasphemous words…!”

“And in front of the Iris family, the very embodiment of the sun, His Majesty the Emperor! Are those fools truly mad?”

Muffled murmurs spread through the hall. In the Empire, the Sun God is the only religion and is akin to the faith of all its people.

To say they’ll kill a god in front of the Iris family, who serve and reign in the name of the god, is a greater crime than claiming to be the emperor or plotting a rebellion.

“Interesting. How will you do it?”

“Your Majesty!”

At the Emperor’s words, the hall is plunged into shock. Kaldwyn Iris leans back on his throne as if wondering what all the fuss is about.

“Why are you all like this? There have been countless eras of those who sought to kill the Emperor. I am well aware that secret plots are carried out even within this castle. It’s not surprising that a wanderer who killed the Black Dragon race would blaspheme against a god.”

Originally, even in the original story, the mad Emperor appears as an unpredictable figure until the very end.

There’s a reason for the suspiciously unaging Iris’s blood and powerful magical affinity… but this background hasn’t been revealed at this point in the narrative.

Then, Ido, who had been listening, throws something he was holding towards the throne.

“This is instead of travel expenses. I’d like to discuss the details separately, but is that not enough?”

All eyes converge on the black object spinning through the air.

Seeing the ebony-like, smooth stone, the head of the Imperial Court mages next to the Emperor gasps.

“That’s… a Dragon race’s Spirit Stone [a crystallized essence of a dragon’s power]…?”

It’s the Spirit Stone obtained after defeating the demonic beast that rampaged under the castle just moments ago.

This is a place where the Empire prioritizes martial prowess, and since the core figures are gathered here, there’s no one who doesn’t know its value. If one were to obtain the Spirit Stone of a powerful demonic beast, both their external and internal strength would advance to another level.

The moment desire flashes in people’s eyes, the Emperor’s permission is granted.

“You have good nerve.”

“······.”

The Emperor doesn’t immediately behead the stranger who blasphemed against their god, and the ministers and knights don’t dare to object.

In this place, they are expressing their obedience to Kaldwyn Iris, the absolute being above even the gods.

The Emperor, who had gestured slightly towards the demonic beast’s Spirit Stone, rises from the massive throne.

“I could cut your head off here, but the Day of Fire [a major religious festival] is five days away. I suppose I can indulge in your clownish antics until then, to determine the truth of your outrageously arrogant claim that you’ll kill a god.”

“Your Majesty, but those people…!”

One of the few who can interject, Corps Commander Gail, expresses his disapproval, but it’s merely a formality.

The Emperor also pays no mind and says,

“Bring them. I will ask them myself.”

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Late at night.

The two adversaries of the work sit facing each other in a small hall lit only by torches.

The concept of ‘Pure White Castle’ Kataram is its interior, which contrasts with its bright exterior.

The tall and beautiful banquet hall, where the lights inside, which had been dazzling even in the middle of the night with the magic of fairies and the craftsmanship of dwarves, were all turned off under the imperial order.

Like the Empire of the Iris family, a massive beast that once achieved peace and prosperity and dominated the continent but is now rotting from the inside.

“So, where are you from?”

“From a distant place.”

“I’ve heard that barbarians with black hair like you live outside the continent. Did you cross the sea?”

“Don’t think that your Empire is the whole world.”

As the questions and answers progress, the complexions of the surrounding people change. Raywen Iris, who is present as a princess, Gail Fromm, who holds command over the 1st to 8th Corps, and Royal Court Mage Captain Lau all gaze at the wanderer sitting across from the Emperor with different expressions.

‘Sir Lau, shouldn’t we stop him?’

‘Well, I’m not sure either. It would be better for Sir Gail to step forward….’

‘Your Highness, please say something. As a humble person, I cannot bear His Majesty’s wrath.’

‘…It’s okay, it’s better to just watch.’

The tyrant, Kaldwyn Iris, who would normally cut someone down for even a displeasing glance, is somehow leisurely accepting the wanderer’s rudeness.

“Interesting, truly interesting. Well, you’d have to have that much nerve to insult the Sun God in this Pure White Castle.”

“It’s not an insult, it’s the truth. This land is corrupt, because of your mages’ reckless experiments and research.”

“What?!”

The Royal Court Mage Captain, who had been listening, stood up, trembling his beard, but seeing the Emperor not moving, he hesitated and sat back down.

The princess with brilliant platinum blonde hair, who had been staring intently at the wanderer’s party since earlier, opened her mouth.

“Then wanderer, why did you come all the way here? It’s dangerous, as you say, and not even your homeland.”

According to the schedule, it’s a tense scene that will decorate the end of episode 6, called ‘Dark Banquet’ in the original work.

Rick Michael and Jin Jiyu also raised their concentration to the highest level, down to every line and breath.

“······.”

And the protagonist, who is receiving attention, the one who is aiming at the Emperor in the work and has gathered all these people outside the work, takes a beat.

‘This composition is familiar.’

Sitting at the end of the stone table, Geon thought.

It’s not a hallucination or a vision. Peter Sean and the art team have interestingly created a very similar composition.

After the transfer, there was a similar seat at the Round Table of the Iron Kingdom.

In the Emperor’s seat was the King of the Iron Kingdom, in the seats of the Corps Commander and the Royal Court Mage were the staff in the royal castle… next to the King where the princess was sitting was the Saintess.

“I had no other choice.”

-There is no other choice.

It’s clearly a line from ‘The Scripture of the Main God,’ but a chilling sense of déjà vu envelops him.

It must have been when he had gone through dozens… no, hundreds of deaths and was about to face the fourth Great Demon.

As soon as he returned to the beginning, he summoned all the high and low officials and the Saintess to the royal castle’s banquet hall.

And declared.

“I have felt many things while traveling this land. A hell where plagues are rampant and demonic beasts run wild… all of that was due to the influence of Horn, the Sun God you serve, who has been deprived of his power and has even lost his divinity.”

-Ask for help from the high heavens. If not, express hostility. No more shall the archangels merely watch our fight.

As soon as those words were spoken, a commotion broke out. The Saintess bit her lip, the King was flustered, and the gathered retainers raised their voices in anger.

-What nonsense is this!

-We brought him as a hero, and he dares to insult the archangels of heaven?

-I knew it was a mistake! We chose the wrong hero!

-I was uneasy about that Saintess from the start. Who knows where she came from, a street urchin…!

Ido and God, the two swordsmen of the Empire and the Kingdom, listen to the voices with their eyes closed.

Was reality more cruel than fiction? The place that was even more rotten than the Empire in the novel was here, the Iron Kingdom where he had fought as a hero.

A King who was incompetent and only thought of his own safety,

Ministers who were squeezing out only the last pleasures even though the demon army was right under their noses,

Flatterers and sycophants who were trying to sacrifice the Saintess and the Hero together….

“Seeing you, I am convinced. I will leave for the north. I must defeat the Frost Giants and the Ice Queen and see if the devastation of this land stops.”

-If not, I will head to the heavens, not the demon realm. I don’t need your support. You morons who can’t even reach the tip of Valmon’s toe.

There is nothing more to stop the hero who has repeated countless deaths.

Clang, clang! The sound of weapons echoes from here and there at the outburst.

The first to rush in is the giant man who mercilessly crushed the hero’s skull in the past.

-Stranger, do you have the skill to match your rude tongue!

The hammer wrapped in chains flies towards his head, but the one in this place is not the novice hero who couldn’t even use Hapkido [a Korean martial art].

Pooh-wack!

The giant who was rushing in explodes, literally turning into a rain of blood. In the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th playthroughs… ‘Brute Bill,’ who was once a comrade, is erased from the world.

What flickers from the arm of the hero who has extended one hand is a dark red aura.

-Hapkido, Hapkido…!

-Without even the Holy Sword, how can he wield such power?

-Put down your weapons! That’s… Hapkido at its peak!

The King, who is so surprised that his eyes are popping out, and the Saintess, who is turning away as if she can’t bear to watch, are contrasted.

Looking down contemptuously at the leadership of a country that has quickly lost its will to fight, God—Park Geon mutters lowly.

-Prepare the path to ascend to the heavens.

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Back in ‘The Scripture of the Main God.’

After Ido’s party leaves, the Royal Court Mage Captain approaches the Emperor, who is looking down at the Spirit Stone in his hand.

“Your Majesty, with all due respect… is it alright to just let them go?”

“Are you talking about those three?”

At the question, the old Captain lowers his waist even more carefully.

“Yes. The fairy race who hid in the World Tree’s forest, their descendants, and the old swordsman are one thing, but that man named Ido has a dangerous power. Even if he retreats now, he will surely harm the future of the Empire….”

“Is that the future of the Empire, or the Captain’s peace of mind after retirement?”

“Your, Your Majesty…!”

The Emperor’s eyes, which had been playing with the black stone in his hand, move like a snake and fix on him.

“I hear you’re handing over the front lines to your disciples and retiring? You’re clearly the best mage in the Empire in my eyes, but news of your failing health has reached even the Imperial Palace, as if you can no longer serve me.”

“That, that’s not it….”

Now the mage is starting to sweat. With the recent frequent appearances of powerful demonic beasts, he had been trying to quietly step down from the front lines.

Was the Emperor, who was holed up deep in the Imperial Palace every day, not even knowing what he was doing, already aware of his plan?

“Don’t act rashly, Sir Lau. Your body is not just yours.”

It’s a nonchalant voice, but the demonic beast’s Spirit Stone is starting to crack little by little.

Everyone in the Empire knows about Kaldwyn Iris’s succession to the throne… no, his usurpation.

The day before the festival to worship the Sun God, Kaldwyn, who was only sixteen years old at the time, stabbed his father, who loved his son dearly, in the back with a dagger.

After countless lives were lost, the late Emperor and Empress are no longer in this world. Only the Empire, swallowed by over a hundred years of iron-fisted rule and tyranny, remains.

“I, I’m sorry, I will keep that in mind!”

After the mage, who had turned pale, left as if fleeing, Corps Commander Gail also leisurely follows behind him.

“Then Father, this daughter will also withdraw.”

“Do as you wish.”

The Emperor, who had been quietly watching the princess leave after she gave her greetings, puts the demonic beast’s Spirit Stone in his mouth.

Crunch, crackle… In the energy of the Spirit Stone being crushed and absorbed, a golden light flashes in his eyes.

“If what you desire is truly death.”

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