What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 411

#411

The Lion Council (5)

It’s round. I could see why it might look that way, and the corners of my lips lifted.

“This is a letter from Hangeul [the Korean alphabet]. It’s a very useful alphabet where I live. And the shape actually represents a round sound, like ‘ieung.’”

“······Ieung?”

“It looks like a picture. It has a mysterious shape.”

Sir Johann, who had been filling in the ground dug out with a shovel, admired it. He seemed genuinely interested.

Demi and Perry curled up inside the two ‘ㅇ’s [the Hangeul letter ‘ieung’].

Then Leah approached me and hung on my arm.

She had been smashing ice with her feet, but after receiving the cutest request in the world, she gladly wrote her name as well.

The broom handle moved smoothly across the dirt floor.

-Zeeek, zeek, zeeek.

‘Ham Ga-in’.

“Ham is the family name, and Ga-in is the given name. ‘Ga (佳)’ means beautiful, and ‘In (潾)’ means clear.”

‘You didn’t know the Chinese characters [Hanja, often used to write Korean names], did you?’ Ga-in asked, sparkling, so I quickly nodded.

It really wasn’t information that appeared in the original work. I was happy and amazed to learn it.

“Why is there a circle here too? Does it go into every name?”

-Kieung?

The Crown Prince, who had only seen two Korean names in his life, asked a perfectly reasonable question.

The guy was dressed in neat plain clothes, holding a large shovel, and facing the autumn breeze with his hair damp and swept back.

They’re just names, but I don’t know why he’s so serious.

He seemed a little upset. I held back a laugh and explained step by step.

“No. It’s because Ga-in’s name also has a round sound in it. The ‘in’ in ‘Ham Ga-in’ sounds like that. It’ll be easier to understand if you say it out loud. In.”

“······The first letter also has a circle with decorations on it.”

“Decoration? Ah.”

He meant ‘ㅎ’ [another Hangeul letter]. It must have looked that way because there were two more strokes on top of ‘ㅇ’.

I quickly bit my lip and managed my expression.

I thought it was natural to have that kind of reaction since he didn’t know our letters.

But Ga-in burst out laughing without fail.

She staggered, slapping me on the back.

“Ahahaha! A circle with decorations! Ack, it must look like a lid!”

“Ga-in. You shouldn’t tease your friend.”

“What does your name mean?”

Crown Prince Cedrick naturally ignored her and asked.

He must have been basking in the ‘recovery’ circle, because his concentration was soaring. Uh, me?

“I… My mother named me ‘a wise (睿) child born on an auspicious (瑞) day.’ My younger sibling and older brother also use the same ‘Seo’ character. Siblings often share the same character, and this is called a ‘generation name’ [a common practice in some cultures]. The first character, ‘Jeong,’ is the family name.”

“······Not bad.”

“Thank you. My mother had a knack for naming.”

When I smiled, the Crown Prince’s expression subtly hardened.

Ga-in laughed even louder, buried her face in my shoulder, and choked.

I blinked, wondering if I had answered something wrong, but she only said nice things like, ‘No, your Lordship’s mother has a really good sense.’

Around that time, Sir Johann gently interjected.

“The name story is good, but I’m worried you might forget the part we were organizing.”

Huck!

“That’s right! How did we get here? Let’s focus.”

I quickly turned around and pointed to the dirt floor on the opposite side.

Lesser pandas also hurried over and took their places here.

Lopi, who had been here from the beginning, yawned at us and then lay down, stretching out all four legs.

It was the same look he gave when he saw a completely pathetic group.

He looks so cute, but sometimes he acts like a 2,000-year-old hermit. I decided to just accept it since felines are generally like that.

“So, what we were talking about earlier······.”

“Eun-seo cried and cried because Prince Yeseo died, then went to bed early, and the Marquis was lying in bed but woke up here?”

“I think we’ve made a lot more progress than that.”

“I even heard that the Marquis could still use aether after returning home.”

“That’s right!”

As expected, Sir Johann! I pointed to the apartment I had drawn as a square at the end of the growth.

“So I was convinced it wasn’t ‘fake.’ The things I experienced weren’t a dream, and I knew you definitely existed somewhere. I didn’t want to think so, but there was decisive evidence. Thanks to that, I decided to come over here······.”

Whoosh. I drew a long parabola out of the apartment window.

The destination was a large star-shaped planet. Right here!

“I came back using the method I mentioned in the swamp last time.”

“······.”

And then there was a moment of silence. I was inwardly anxious, wondering if I would be scolded again.

But at that time, apartment diving was the only way.

“I have a question. You said you went and read the ‘original work’?”

“Yes.”

Thank goodness, I’m not getting scolded!

“But the Marquis isn’t the real Prince Yeseo, so you couldn’t act like him. You said you barely knew the contents and couldn’t even imitate him, so we must have changed a lot from the original flow, right? Inevitably.”

Yes, quite severely.

“That’s right. After reading it, it was a completely different world. I didn’t know anything, so I tried to stay as quiet as possible······.”

“Ha.”

The Crown Prince scoffed openly. Hey, if you actually experienced it, you wouldn’t react like that.

“So, as a result, the continent we live on is neither the original nor fake.”

“Yes. So I came to the conclusion that this is a different world line (世界線) [a concept often used in science fiction to describe alternate realities or timelines].”

“World line?”

My words made his orange eyes light up with doubt.

I quickly drew a new line on the dirt floor. Zeeek.

“This is the flow of the original work, and Prince Yeseo died at the end of this, and the timeline returned to the past. Right here. But since we’re not repeating the same events as the original, I think another timeline is being created that we’re sharing. It’s just a hypothesis, though.”

Zeeek. As I drew a different line from the same starting point, Ga-in nodded her head.

“It’s like a parallel universe. I understand.”

“······.”

“······.”

Unlike her, who was shining her eyes seriously, the two men were silent.

Moreover, the atmosphere between the two was very different.

Sir Johann seemed strangely unconcerned, while the Crown Prince seemed to have too many thoughts.

I looked up at him worriedly.

“I think it’ll be hard to accept all at once. Should we stop here for today?”

“Your words.”

The guy opened his mouth ominously. I tensed up for no reason and swallowed hard.

“Does that mean there’s another me somewhere?”

Uh······. Does it come to that?

“Theoretically, it could be. Yes. I don’t know for sure either.”

“······How pathetic.”

Then a low voice returned, as if digging into my insides.

At first, I thought he was cursing me, but it seemed like he was talking about himself in the original work.

The explanation that ‘the prince died protecting the Crown Prince on the battlefield’ seemed to piss him off quite a bit.

I smiled bitterly, at a loss for words. Don’t be too hard on him. He seemed like a guy who lived hard too.

His personality is a bit······. That’s why.

“Shall we move on to the next topic?”

“Great! I’m actually much more concerned about the current situation than having another me. Everything that happened after we met again was chaotic. It’s also complicated.”

“Let’s do that.”

I looked back at Sir Johann, and he also nodded in agreement.

So we continued to make progress.

I felt like I had missed a few key pieces in the middle, but my brother said, ‘If you don’t remember it, it’s not really important.’

Then I can talk about it next time. We have plenty of time.

After a while, pink hair bobbed up and down.

“······Ah, so Yuliter didn’t create the Moonring Grass mist. The mist is naturally occurring, and the clergyman only created the ‘processed space.’ He scraped up all the aether of the dead paladins that were stagnant in the village······. I was honestly confused about what was what at this time.”

“Yes. I was too. Now the Imperial Army has collected all the Moonring Grass, and all the remains buried underneath have been recovered, so the same accident won’t happen again.”

“If the statement of Yuliter Statia, whom we met there, is correct, then that means he started the war under the control of the royal family of the Divine Kingdom. At the time, King Lilianer was aiming for the continent’s nine divine objects.”

Sir Johann neatly summarized. The middle of the training ground was filled with our scribbles.

I nodded and poked at the house-shaped drawing.

This is Statia Rock Castle in the north of the plains.

“Yes. And Yuliter brazenly led us to Rock Castle. It was a clue that what was happening here was related to the royal family’s ‘ambition.’ According to her expression. But now this place belongs to the Duchy of Sneider.”

“Then we naturally have no choice but to suspect Duchess Wilhelmina Sneider, but coincidentally, another huge event was happening in the salt swamp to the south. This place doesn’t belong to the duchy, but it’s right next to the plains.”

Ga-in poked at the oval drawing below.

‘Kiee!’ Demi created the dullest and yellowest leaves possible to decorate the surroundings.

The faces of the paladins, reminded of their experiences there, darkened.

I continued heavily.

“Combining the words of the ‘Apostle’ we met in the swamp, he dreams of becoming the god of the continent. No, it’s not a dream, he’s doing such specific and vicious things. He’s doing bio experiments, piling up corpses, and committing even more terrible acts there. At one time, that might have been the royal family’s greed.”

“I don’t understand. Why go so far? Is it that the haves want more? Is it a desire to climb to the top no matter what?”

“If there’s a way in front of you, wouldn’t anyone want to try it?”

Flinch. I turned around in surprise at the unexpected voice.

Soon, eyes as red as sun-ripened strawberries came into view. Defibrillator candidate!

“I’m here again, Your Highness. Princess. This time for cleaning supervision.”

The lightning magician, who had unbuttoned all his buttons in the chilly weather, smiled bitterly at us and pretended to bow.

He had just finished eating, so his face was very full.

However, there were mottled insect bite marks on his neck, and Ga-in made a disgusted expression when she saw them (“Ew!”).

Even the divine creatures clung to her with an unpleasant look.

I glanced up at Sir Johann.

Judging by his smile, our secret seemed to be kept safe.

That must mean he only let Duke Dioph hear sounds that were okay to hear.

Herit’s father is that kind of person.

“What do you mean by ‘there’s a way in front of you’?”

“Yeah, nice to see you again looking all neat and tidy. That’s what the ancient king said?”

The man said, playing with a short cane. Ga-in and my eyes widened.

I hurriedly approached him. This is a story we don’t know!

“By the ancient king, do you mean His Majesty Hanan Lumayan? What did he say?”

“Well. It’s a shame to tell you for free.”

The Duke scanned me up and down and replied.

I froze for a moment and then busily rummaged through my pockets. It sounded like a joke, but you never know.

Did I bring cash with me? A gold coin and some chocolate would be good enough······?

-Sreung!

-Thud!

-Kwagwagwang!

Oh my gosh! I hurriedly hunched my shoulders at the sudden burst of flames and water.

My eyes flashed without warning, and I was completely disoriented.

I heard the sound of the ground cracking behind me—damn it, I have to shovel again!—and I firmly held the divine creatures in my arms.

Fortunately, Sir Johann was standing by our side.

‘Miyaaaong.’ Lopi, caught in the lesser panda group, cried out in frustration······.

“Where are you spouting such filthy nonsense! Do you want to die? Do you know our Princess?!”

“Tell me obediently if you don’t want your head to fly off.”

“Wow. What a hot reaction. Do you still have the energy to do this?”

The magician, whose legs were tightly bound by frozen whips and whose neck was aimed at by a black sword, chuckled.

I looked back at the three men and women with a look of disbelief.

Hey, we haven’t restored this place yet—

-Rumble, Kwang!

“Sir Mute is coming over there, Princess. Shall we step aside for a moment?”

-Hiss, hiss, hiss, Twoo-kwang!

Ugh! In the midst of the merciless noise, Sir Johann looked down at me and said.

I felt my body floating up and despaired, but I quickly brightened up at the name he mentioned.

I quickly turned my head and fumbled for the entrance to the training ground.

In the distance, a familiar dark green bob was fluttering.

The prosecutor in a patient gown was slowly walking this way.

God, thank you!

“Sir Elizabeth! How are you feeling!”

When I shouted as loudly as I could, the other person smiled brightly and waved both arms.

Great. Then I can ask Sir Elizabeth!