What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 556

Holding My Breath, Hell Dive (6)

“…Will that work?”

Gain’s voice was barely a whisper.

Turning back, I saw her fair brow furrowed in a deep frown. She looked skeptical.

“First of all, it’s physically impossible to touch it.”

“Yes, it will be.”

“I don’t feel like we’re getting any closer, Your Highness. No matter how hard we fly, the distance remains the same.”

“That’s right. That warning window doesn’t belong to this world. Since it’s not originally from here, its spacetime is probably operating separately.”

“…Spacetime separately? I feel like I’m about to have a qi deviation [a term for a dangerous imbalance of energy in martial arts cultivation].”

“Gain.”

No martial arts jokes.

“Ehehehe.”

‘Now it’s a really difficult sci-fi movie…’ She muttered, looking seriously at the sky.

She looked so clueless that I chuckled softly.

Sir Johann was waiting for the next part of the story with his usual calm expression, but François had been propping his chin up and staring blankly into space for a while now.

I could almost see the handsome man’s mind racing like a runaway train. I felt a little sorry for burdening him with so much to think about so suddenly.

I also indulged Rea, who was climbing up my leg, and paused to think.

-Kki-eung!

“If that’s the case…”

Let’s go through it step by step from the beginning.

1. Can the Guardian see that warning window?

In other words, did that pop up on my brother’s desktop monitor too?

Of course, it must have. That’s how someone could have pressed the ‘No’ button.

In short, the series of major events that occurred in our world are nothing more than fatal error codes to the Guardian.

2. Huh? Wait a minute. The Guardian is officially female, but Jeong Hyun-seo is the eldest son of our family…?

Is this just a novel setting, so it doesn’t matter? Let’s move on for now.

3. Then can I be sure that my brother is watching me?

“…Hmm.”

Probably. Not 100%, but 95% seems plausible.

It blatantly asks, ‘Do you want to merge with the folder below?’ How likely is it that the user won’t be able to see the contents of that folder?

4. Then, could that warning window also be visible in the original work by Toegye Gong [a prominent Korean Confucian scholar of the Joseon Dynasty]?

Is this a bit too far-fetched? No, you never know.

Our world line has gained life and is vividly alive, but it’s strange that the original world line only remains in writing.

What if that’s visible in that sky too?

Of course, it’s ridiculous to worry about others when I can’t even handle this situation…

5. Why is the folder creation date like that again?

2020-05-11, it’s almost two months ahead of our family’s timeline that I know.

What on earth…

“Ugh, I’m starting to get a headache.”

First, let’s properly explain it to my friends. It won’t do if only I know.

“Could you all gather for a moment? I’d like to share what I’ve gathered so far.”

“Wow! Exciting meeting time!”

Gain stretched and approached me.

Rea stubbornly climbed up to my waist, and Sir Johann and François stood close by.

I paused as I was about to take out a pen and notebook from my pocket.

Seeing the pig butt pen reminded me of someone’s face again.

I subtly rolled my eyes and looked towards the tent. A conversation I had with him when I lent him this pen echoed in my ears.

‘It’s just an object made of iron. The small ball at the end rotates and applies ink. It’s light and convenient.’

‘Then it won’t be able to store a large amount of ink for a long period. How does it respond to rapid temperature changes?’

‘……It’s a very humble product to offer to a noble person, but please use it gently since it’s Eun-seo’s. I’ll get scolded if I lose it.’

‘I’ll think about it.’

“……”

It would be nice to talk together.

I should give him some time for now. It seems like he’s uncomfortable with me.

“Your Highness, Consort?”

“Ah, yes. First of all…”

I hurriedly made eye contact with the three of them and told them everything I had figured out so far.

I had talked about it by the campfire last time, so I didn’t need to say much this time.

The person who reacted the fastest today was our magical scientist.

His light pink eyes sparkled with intelligence and curiosity.

“Your Highness, could this also be the will of the Guardian?”

“The will of the Guardian…?”

“Perhaps my brother is intentionally trying to merge the two worlds. If that’s the case, isn’t the situation less terrible than we think? He wouldn’t treat the world where his younger sibling is carelessly.”

Ah, I could think of it that way.

François lacks understanding of computer operating systems.

Gain and I used gestures to elaborate.

“Usually, if that were the intention, rather than creating a warning window like that, they would create a new subfolder within that folder. That way, all items can be managed more stably.”

“It’s dangerous to overwrite an entire folder, not just one file. You could accidentally lose the folder. It would be permanently deleted.”

“Here, a file refers to an individual item stored in a folder. For example, François’s wonderful portrait or Sir Johann’s amazing dove recipe could be a file.”

“Oho… !”

“And because everyone, including me, has done something big… ‘World line collision due to damage to the World Tree’ seems to be the most likely cause for now.”

“Ehem!”

François blinked rapidly.

Meanwhile, Sir Johann was watching him with an interesting gaze.

How strong does one’s center have to be to find the Marquis’s thinking face more interesting than our story?

Herit really has a strong father.

“So the current situation is definitely a setback for the Guardian as well.”

“Yes. We’re not the only ones who are embarrassed. But the problem is that the window won’t disappear despite my brother’s efforts.”

I stretched out my finger again. A fateful wind tangled around my fingertip. Whee-woo…

“The ‘No’ at the bottom right flickered, which means someone pressed it to express their opinion. They opposed the folder merge. You two confirmed the flickering lights and thunder, so there’s no mistake. But there hasn’t been any change yet. It’s strangely quiet.”

“Oh…”

“It’s really eerie. Have you tried Ctrl, Alt, Delete? You must have tried it, right?”

Hahaha.

“And it’s normal for an ordinary priest not to be able to think of a method to try in this situation…”

I smiled awkwardly and continued. My friends turned to me with a look of disbelief.

“…Your Highness?”

“I have one thing in mind. I think it’s worth a try.”

“Brave Latzarcia.”

François closed his eyes, invoking the name of the Imperial Saint.

I stroked Rea’s back and just raised the corners of my lips with a smile.

*

The next morning.

After a hearty meal, we decided to gather again in the center of the tent village.

I was diligently moving my steps with three red pandas attached to my body.

The Gaga bag, which I had properly packed just in case, was heavy.

-Tak!

“Ugh!”

I bumped into someone again!

“Oh! I’m sorry!”

-Kki-hu!

“Please forgive me, Your Majesty! Divine Beasts!”

“It’s okay. We’re really okay.”

I rubbed my shoulder and laughed it off.

The soldiers, who had turned pale, bowed ninety degrees and hurried away.

Since the military conference yesterday, this place had been chaotic.

The population had exploded due to the elite naval forces coming up from the south and now the North Sea Fleet joining them.

One-third of them had been working all night, so the atmosphere was bound to be noisy.

Luggage was constantly being unloaded from above, and there were endless people carrying and organizing it.

The area was packed like rush hour with people building new barracks and carrying the wounded.

Even though I tried to walk carefully, I had collided with people running around busily four times, so my movements became passive.

The tent village, which had been small and round until just yesterday, was now becoming a huge military camp.

“Here! Give all the pillars here!”

“I’m going to stick them all in this way! Just roll them all at once!”

“Okay!”

…Wow, it’s literally a sea of people. Should I just turn around and go back?

“Perry, hold on tight.”

-Kki-eung

I turned around, taking care of the dangling nuisances.

Fortunately, there was a deserted path in the back.

-Kkiiii

“Yeah, let’s go quickly. My friends are waiting.”

-Jabak, jabak, jabak…

The contents of the military conference that continued yesterday were roughly heard from Djibril Diop.

He came to my tent late at night and unnecessarily poked at the brazier and picked unnecessary fights.

I quietly sat on the bed, drawing my knees to my chest.

I wanted to urge him to say what he had to say quickly, but he must have had a headache from receiving too much information without warning.

At least he knew for sure that I wasn’t ‘Yeser Venetian’. Maybe he had deduced even more than that.

So I apologized first.

‘……I apologize for surprising you with inappropriate behavior during the day. I’m sure you were having an important conversation, but I made too much noise.’

‘Knowing is enough.’

The man replied as if he had been waiting for it, then looked me up and down.

Then he scratched the back of his head and said this.

‘I roughly made up an excuse to grandfather, so don’t say anything more.’

‘……Yes?’

‘He’s already frail, and he’s old. He’s already surprised enough, so there’s no need for you to add to the shock.’

‘Ah…… Yes, I understand. Thank you.’

I wanted to ask if the Duke was okay, but the atmosphere seemed to dislike the topic, so I stopped.

We were still a little awkward to call each other friends.

Suddenly, the story of his grandfather came up, so I felt sorry and couldn’t add anything.

The wizard stared at me for a long time…

‘The Sixth Prince is going north.’

Suddenly, he said that. My eyes widened. It was the first time I had heard of it.

‘North? What’s going on in the North Sea?’

‘What’s going on? We still haven’t found Werner Venetian. Someone has to resolve the situation.’

Ah, I understood in my head… But it was a little hard to accept in my heart.

I knew it was selfish, but it really was. I stared at him with a blank face.

The man clicked his tongue as if I was pathetic.

‘The admiral said that indelible wagon wheel tracks were found near Baron Youngju’s territory.’

‘Wagon wheel tracks?’

I raised my voice in surprise. Diop frowned.

‘Yeah. That’s why we came all the way here in the first place. That bastard is still leaving traces and wandering around as he pleases. Yet, he’s managed to hide without leaving a single hair behind, what kind of trick did he use?’

‘……’

‘Besides, Baron Youngju’s knights haven’t surrendered to the Imperial Army yet. I heard that the knight commander is a very stubborn person. If they start a desperate resistance like that, it’ll be a headache. It’s time for the higher-ups to step in.’

“……”

-Jeobeok, jeobeok, jeobeok

I clenched the object in my left pocket and walked.

It was a broken piece of the Holy Stone that had been hanging around the Crown Prince’s neck until recently.

It had a long crack and could no longer hold Ether, so I happily replaced it with a new one…

‘And this.’

‘-Tuk!’

Diop, who had been frowning for a while, suddenly threw a sparkling object onto the bed.

I froze, unable to say anything for a moment.

It was the Holy Stone necklace that I had newly gifted.

The golden Ether, not a single strand of which could leak out, was trapped in the mineral and dancing softly.

The wizard was silent for a long time after that. I thought he was muttering curses in between, but they didn’t reach my ears.

‘……It’s not like the owner abandoned it.’

Finally, he muttered as if spitting it out.

‘Anyway. It was originally yours.’

‘……Thank you.’

I picked up the necklace and took care of it without knowing what I was saying.

I must have looked pretty pathetic and lacking in the man’s eyes.

Finally, a sharp voice pierced my ears.

‘……Just do it moderately. It’s not like there’s only one royal family in the world.’

-Kkia, kkia!

Surprise. I stopped abruptly and raised my head. Then I opened my mouth wide.

“Your Highness, all preparations have been completed, including Sir Charlemagne’s saddlebags. Lastly…”

-Kki-eung!

“Heok.”

Emergency! This is a real emergency!

Cedric Riester appears in front!

“Wait, wait. I can’t get lost here. This is really not it.”

Jeong Hyun-seo! If you’re watching, do something!

I screamed inwardly and quickly looked around to the east, west, south, and north.

But perhaps because I was flustered, I couldn’t see a proper path.

Ugh, it’s so hard for a 길치 [pronounced ‘gil-chi’, someone who easily gets lost] to live in the world!

-Kkiwoo!

“Demi, shh! Shh!”

I covered the red panda’s mouth and hurriedly ran in any direction.

“……That’s a dead end.”

Before that all-too-familiar low voice echoed numbly behind me.