What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 309

Transcending the Heart (8)

I decided to pretend I didn’t hear Dduk-sim’s suggestion to jump off the balcony. Why?

I’m surprised I even have to explain this. It’s because I’m a highly rational person!

No matter how amazing a Divine Object is, it’s still incredibly difficult for a person to bungee jump from the 12th floor without a rope.

And how shocked would Hyung and Eun-seo be if they found out!

I won’t go near the balcony until I know the exact situation.

…Of course, I cleaned up thoroughly.

“Each Divine Object has three unique abilities. This is official Toegye Gong [the novel within the story] setting.”

-Bbee

We ate Hallabong oranges [a type of citrus fruit] for morning dessert, omurice [an omelet filled with fried rice] for lunch, and devoured an entire carrot cake for dessert.

For dinner, we had cheonggukjang stew [a fermented soybean stew with a strong smell] with barley bibimbap [a mixed rice dish with vegetables and meat].

The dessert was planned for later in the living room.

“Take you as an example. You can control air, open fabricated spaces, and transform. You’re like a free bird.”

-Bbi-bo!

Dduk-sim sat next to a mouse that was as big as him and replied.

The little guy, who had just taken a bath with liquid soap, smelled just like me.

I chuckled and rubbed his little forehead.

Then, I scrolled through my phone and tapped away on my laptop.

I thought places like the Ark were called ‘subspaces,’ but in , they were called ‘fabricated spaces.’

It was Saturday evening, time to organize the information extracted from Toegye Gong in earnest.

In the meantime, I tried my best to read the novel calmly.

I tried not to consume my friends’ lives easily.

It was hard not to get invested since it was mainly told from Ga-in’s perspective… Still.

I felt uneasy the whole time.

“I was confused at first because the flow was so different. But there’s a lot of information.”

‘Of course, not enough,’ I muttered calmly.

That’s because Toegye Gong was ultimately a ‘love story’ between two people.

Even though it takes a very long time for them to realize their feelings for each other.

As a result, there was hardly any knowledge about Ether in the story.

There was an explanation that Prince Ye-seo was almost killed by his twin servants, but he never worked as a priest afterward.

The main characters weren’t Holy Knights, so they didn’t have mentors.

In other words, Lord Johann didn’t appear at all.

At least up to where I read, Ether was only used as an element to enhance the fantasy feel of the work.

The main character didn’t participate in the ‘Great Monster Subjugation,’ so there was no overlap with Francois’s route.

Lord Erbe appeared occasionally, but only when the Emperor was present.

Descriptions from the prince’s point of view were rare, so it was difficult to know his story.

I knew he loved his half-siblings, especially Cornelise, very much, but the details were lacking.

I even knew more about the secrets surrounding Romero and Juliet’s Palace.

However, in the original…

「Duke Sarnese was the seed of tragedy. But no one knew he was harboring poisonous weeds in his bosom. Not even Duchess Isabel, who watched the man from the closest distance.」

Foreshadowing about Simon de Sarnese appeared from the very beginning.

I skipped over the detailed flow because I was skimming, but it was clear that he would be the trigger for the war.

Well, it was a given since the most successful noble in the Empire was a spy for the enemy country…

“It’s really different from us. It’s completely different from the start, so the environment changes, and the characters’ personalities change as well. The original is just… another world. It’s a great reference, but that’s about it.”

-Bbirr

This was the conclusion I came to after studying Toegye Gong all day.

I had no time or desire to feel fun or emotion.

I hadn’t read it all yet, but at this point, I was grateful that the file hadn’t changed.

The year I spent was definitely a real time, and my friends were alive and breathing somewhere.

My Ether and Dduk-sim’s existence proved it.

I suddenly remembered what I had heard in the maze.

-Aren’t you afraid? The World Tree is the source of life! It’s the only thing that protects the world line!

The guardian spirit’s warning. ‘World line.’

「As expected, you are different, as you have inherited the will of the Main God.」

「Well, it wouldn’t make sense for us to test you. O revered one.」

Black letters floating in the air. Fonts that looked like they were from a web novel.

-The world is already relying on you.

And what the Ark’s guide had told me.

I stared at Dduk-sim, and he tilted his head.

I glanced at the closed door and carefully opened my mouth.

“I had that thought in the maze. When I was talking to the guardian spirit.”

-Bbit

“I don’t know how much you know, but, um… From the beginning, I thought I was possessing the dead prince to save him.”

-Bbit?

“Yeah. I thought if I kept him alive until the end of the war, everything would be fine. I thought they would surely send me home. I had no other choice but to believe that.”

-Bbit-bbit

“But that wasn’t the end of it. It wasn’t just possession… What if a new ‘world line’ was created? That’s the word the guardian spirit used.”

-…

Then Dduk-sim snapped his beak shut. It seemed he couldn’t tell me about this.

Rather, that reaction made me even more certain.

World line, it’s a concept that often appears in other media.

It’s often called a timeline or a parallel universe.

“I don’t know exactly what it is either. But I have a rough idea. Here’s my hypothesis.”

I drew on a blank piece of paper with a ballpoint pen.

Ssssk, jiiiik. A dot and a line were born at my fingertips.

Dduk-sim watched the picture with his bright little eyes.

“The prince died in the original story. So someone wished on the Wishing Star to save him. But instead of bringing the dead back to life, the Wishing Star… created a new space-time.”

Juuuuk. Another line extended from the starting point.

-Bbi-bii?

“I know, it seems much easier to save one dead person than to create an organic world. You might wonder why it went so far. But what if you think of it this way? Toegye Gong is ultimately the ‘author’s’ world. No one but the author, Bridget, can intervene in the development. Bringing back a character who died heroically would greatly undermine the work’s plausibility. No matter how powerful the Wishing Star is, it couldn’t go against the will of the creator.”

-…

“But what about another world that inherited all the settings of Toegye Gong? That might have been possible with the power of the Wishing Star. Because it only has to copy. Since there’s a completed world, it only has to imitate it.”

-…

“Of course, it couldn’t save the prince there either. Eventually, I possessed him, and that was…”

My words slowed down. The curves that had been rolling along also stopped.

Dduk-sim fluttered his wings once.

“I don’t really know up to that point either. Was it because the soul to imitate was already dead? Why me of all people?”

‘It’s puzzling,’ I mumbled, rubbing the back of my neck.

Eun-seo was really sad that day. She still avoids talking about Toegye Gong and often seems depressed…

Even when I try to think about it in connection with my sister, there are still many questions.

Toegye Gong has over 3 million readers.

Was Eun-seo the only one who mourned the prince’s death?

Even if I concede that Eun-seo was the one who made a wish on the Wishing Star.

The person in question doesn’t even seem to know that a second ‘world line’ exists.

If she knew, she wouldn’t be so down.

Then what’s the point of the Wishing Star’s efforts?

Why is it a story that only I know?

“Ha… Let’s move on for now. Let’s reduce mental exhaustion. We need to save it in case we have to go back there.”

-Bbi-bbi-bbi

I sighed and moved the pen, and the wren twitched as if agreeing.

Click! I drew a red circle.

“Next, ‘the one who inherited the will of the Main God.’ And what you said. That the world relies on me.”

-Bbi?

“This also makes sense if I fit it into my hypothesis.”

Assuming that I participated in the Prince Saving Project, it was natural that the world would rely on me.

I had entered the prince’s body and was the only one who knew the outside situation.

My other friends didn’t even know about the existence of Toegye Gong.

“The will of the Main God… It makes sense if I think of the Main God as the author. The author can also have the desire to save the prince. However, since they can’t use it in the work they’re writing, they decided to realize it in another world line. Huh.”

‘Then did that person make a wish?’ I was startled and blinked, muttering to myself for a while.

Then I found another loophole and deflated again.

As if unraveling the secrets of a world would be so easy, Jung Ye-seo.

“No, ‘the will of the Main God’ might be something else. There’s no guarantee that it’s 100% about saving Prince Ye-seo… If it were, would they have let me die so horribly? Not even a god would do that.”

-Bbiing…

Dduk-sim also pouted as if he was upset.

In short, even if it’s likely that the author and the Main God are the same person, it’s unreasonable to lump the person who made the wish into the same category.

There were too many uncertainties. It would be nice if I could communicate with Bridget…

I can’t do that anymore.

-Tok, toktok

I diligently touched the web novel app.

When I went to the announcements, I saw the following notice.

‘As of 00:00 on March 19th, the 쪽지 [jjokji, a direct message feature] service will be terminated.’

…Damn it. The 쪽지 closed on the very day I came home.

Eun-seo’s appearance, crying and complaining that her ‘favorite’ had died and threatening to confront the author directly, was still vivid.

The episode where the prince died was on March 18th, so she wouldn’t have been able to send a 쪽지 since the feature disappeared the next day.

And I won’t be able to use it forever!

“Hoo… No, there’s a publishing company. If I go through them, I can talk to the author… Or will they not pass it on?”

They’ll probably think I’m crazy. They won’t believe a word and will block me as spam right away.

Dduk-sim, who met my eyes, beeped, but I decided to find the publishing company’s email address anyway.

Hyung knows it too, it’s useless.

“Still, if I write politely, maybe, uh?”

I was bewildered as I tapped on my phone. I closed my eyes tightly and opened them, but reality remained the same. What?

“No… Was I the only one who didn’t know? When did this come out?”

‘ Part 1 Completion Announcement ▽

Hello. This is Romance Wave, the publishing company Yeonparang.

Bridget’s has reached the end of Part 1 with Chapter 302.

Thank you to all the readers who have given us so much love and support.

Part 2 will resume on May 18th, two months later, after the author has had enough time to recharge…

I raised my head with a confused expression.

The prince in the original story died, and then a hiatus notice was posted.

No wonder Eun-seo was grumbling on the sofa, so this was the story.

Should I see this as a coincidence?

At the same time, the prince was killed in the place where I was, I was forced to return home, and Toegye Gong is going on hiatus soon—

What kind of impact will this have there?

“This is driving me crazy.”

I quickly washed my face. ‘Little Oppa [term of endearment for a younger brother]! Let’s eat strawberry mochi!’ Eun-seo called me from outside.

I was so anxious and nervous that I didn’t have an appetite.

*

In the distance, the sky shattered blackly. Huge pieces were falling.

It was neither a lie nor an exaggeration.

“Oops!”

“Hurry. These are documents that His Eminence the Cardinal will see in person.”

“Yes, yes.”

The distance was considerable, so I couldn’t even hear the sound. In fact, I could hardly see anything.

However, the imperial palace workers quickly noticed the anomaly and quickened their pace.

This was because the Holy Knight protecting them was staring at the east in the air.

Rumor had it that the sky across the continent had been torn apart.

They heard that the Heavenly Palace of the Divine Kingdom had been destroyed and a pitch-black void had opened.

There was a rumor that fragments sharper than swords had attacked the ground.

It was said to be a scale that could not be compared to the Heavenly Hole that opened in the Blanquer Duchy in the past.

“······.”

However, the ‘crack’ had not yet reached the Empire.

Fleur de Lis declared it to be the blessing of the Main God.

The people thought similarly. It was surely a sacred hand helping the Empire’s victory.

They believed that their beloved prince and kind marquis were protecting them.

They thought his soul was with Liester.

Johann knew that was not true.

‘Your Highness.’

‘······.’

‘······Your Highness!’

That day, the man called his master twice in the shrine.

There was no answer, so there was no third time. That was the last time.

Rigid skin and closed eyelids. Bloody hair and clothes. A breath that stopped like a lie.

An empty body.

“How is the situation?”

A deep resonance was heard. Johann only rolled his eyes to check the ground.

The commander of the Imperial Guard was walking out of the Imperial Palace.

Erbe Duhem remained here by imperial order.

To protect Cardinal Aurelius Boutier and the palace.

To protect the ‘House of the Monarch’ along with the Holy Knight.

“It’s the same. The rate of collapse doesn’t seem to be changing.”

This was similar to Johann’s soul. He was gradually collapsing.

However, he never showed it on the outside.

It was already a life dedicated to Frederick Liester, and a time of enduring while loving Herit.

It was days of becoming stronger while embracing the child’s wounds.

Even if he had lost the one who rebuilt his world in an instant, he had to live on.

He had to endure while caring for the weak day and night.

He had to easily suppress the urge to carve out and slaughter the opposite side of the continent.

His master would have wanted that. Even in the last moment when the world was falling apart.

“…I’m worried about how long the Empire can be safe.”

Erbe said sadly. It was a soliloquy, but Johann easily captured his voice.

And he moved his lips slowly. To pinpoint the parts that he would be concerned about.

“How are the Divine Beasts?”

He asked knowing the answer. He had many questions.

He was a person who was good at taking care of things.

“They are still asleep. None of them are waking up.”

“I see.”

Lifeless mint-colored eyes turned to the distant east.

Johann thought as he answered calmly. The Divine Beasts will not open their eyes.

The Main God abandoned the continent.

Knowing that there was no meaning in the land he had left.