What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 610

#610

The Interpreter and the Tracker (8)

The magic stone hanging from the waiting room ceiling glowed red, carrying the mage’s voice throughout the trading post.

I could see the people looking at each other and murmuring.

It wasn’t hard to guess their conversations just from reading their lips.

‘Did you pack your ID?’ ‘Yes, honey. I put it in the front pocket of your bag.’ ‘Oh, my! I thought I’d left my travel permit at home.’ ‘Do we need to load the food separately in the cargo hold?’

-Clang, clang, clang…

Behind those people, I saw the knights of the Imperial Guard, their sharp eyes gleaming as they passed by.

We quickly averted our gaze.

“……This is troublesome.”

“……”

“Let’s go to the portal first. The route to Evelyn might be an exception.”

‘That place has always been special,’ Shu-nim added, tapping his cane as he began to walk.

We maintained a moderate pace, careful not to arouse suspicion.

Prince Ye-seo followed right behind, while Gain-ssi, the Crown Prince, and I busily followed, notebooks in hand.

As always, Sir Johan took charge of the rear guard.

Anxiety made it hard to focus on the letters.

I needed to solve the anagram quickly to salvage something, but I hadn’t anticipated His Majesty restricting domestic portal travel.

It should have been an obvious decision if I’d thought about it, but we’d been through so much lately…

“BACKSPACE…… This is one word. Could ‘Pacs Becka’ really be ‘Backspace’?”

I stopped writing down numerous candidates on one side of the notebook, my pen hovering over the last line.

A blob of black ink smeared messily at the end of the E.

Ropi, hidden in the bag, squirmed for no reason.

But even if I conceded, Backspace wasn’t a person’s name or the name of a god.

It’s just a key on a computer keyboard. Did I get it wrong?

“Hmm.”

But the fact that Jo-ahn’s stage name was written under the birthday billboard was suspicious no matter how I looked at it.

There was no reason for it to suddenly pop up there.

Even if others here didn’t notice, it was a sense of incongruity that we would definitely catch.

It was as if someone had deliberately placed it there with intention……

“Gungju-nim, the most plausible word we can make from ‘Nerte’ is ‘Enter.’ We should discard it since it doesn’t sound like a name, right?”

“……”

And Gain-ssi’s question turned my mind as blank as a manuscript page.

I mechanically took steps and blankly turned to look at her.

She also looked at my face and examined her notebook. Soon, her small lips fell open.

“……Wow, what is this? Goosebumps. Could ‘Capes’ also be something? Another keyboard key?”

“There’s a high possibility. This one’s short, so it’ll be quick……”

Gain-ssi and I scribbled with our pens at the same time.

Occasionally, Cedric deftly blocked or deflected passersby who bumped into our shoulders.

As we got closer to the portal platform, the crowd grew larger, making the surroundings even more noisy and chaotic.

Dogs and ducks on leashes fluttered and brushed against our legs.

Of course, we had no time to pay attention to such contact. We almost simultaneously arrived at one answer.

‘SPACE.’

“……”

I momentarily forgot how to breathe.

In the moment when inhaling and exhaling crossed, I shuddered as I looked at the three words that had been carved in black on the pure white paper.

Gain-ssi said something, but I couldn’t hear it properly.

Only the whispers at the edge barely resonated in my eardrums.

“……It’s a bit scary that they’re enemies. What’s with all this……?”

“……”

Backspace, Space, Enter.

That was the identity of the three sisters who had been shrouded in mystery until now.

Undeniably, the three most important keys on a writer’s keyboard.

At the moment of realization, the memories I had piled up in one corner of my mind clouded my vision like ink mist.

‘「What shall we do about the split sky?」’

‘「What can we possibly do?」’

‘「That is the ultimate arrangement.」’

……For now, regarding the ‘warning window’ where the brother’s actions were revealed, there was nothing they could do.

At the time, the three sisters expressed awe at the white line crossing the sky.

‘Do you know anything about the split sky? Then please tell me anything. I really want to help this place!’

‘「I also sincerely want to do so, but that is beyond the power of our sisters.」’

In short, they were beings who existed separately from the writer, the Main God, and at the same time, carried out her will.

On the other hand……

‘And the noble one will lose another connection. How pitiful……’

They warned of an ominous future in advance, even though they never appeared in the Garden,

‘Thump!’

‘「Maintainer of the world.」’

‘Gasp!’

‘Gungju-nim? Are you feeling unwell?’

They distinguished between what I could say and what I shouldn’t say, based on their own standards.

‘【But there was a noticeable name. Bo-jena.】’

Also, while moving as one under the banner signifying divinity,

‘There’s a man with an artificial arm and leg in the North?’

‘That man was pulling an empty cart, facing the cold wind…… He came all the way to our gates.’

‘Do you know his name?’

‘Boje, Bo-jena…… That was the name. It’s a name you might hear in the neutral zone……’

……They helped Werner Fenetian, who led Prince Ye-seo and me to our deaths.

To be precise, they helped him escape from the collapsed black market and flee to the North.

I was now entrusting my whole body to the two partners, lost in infinite thought.

My trembling lips constantly muttered something, lest I miss a single clue.

My pieces, which I had cherished all along, were moving in unison to complete the puzzle.

‘「To be precise, you have come to our domain.」’

‘Pardon?’

‘「An impossible event in any imagination…… You must have received the blessing of the Great Festival.」’

Old women watching us from their own special ‘domain.’

I quickly recalled the series of events I had experienced on the northern coast of Fenetian.

The dreamlike scene we encountered at dawn when we greeted the first sunrise of the new year.

At first glance, it looked like a black and white movie, but when you looked closely, everything felt frightening and bizarre in the color-inverted world.

A place qualitatively different from the pure white space where Prince Ye-seo, who had entrusted the sisters to me, or His Majesty Romero had been.

‘「We are just doing our best. To balance the scales……」’

Those who maintain their duty without leaning to either side in that place……

Those who balance ‘the scales.’

‘「But is that really possible? Without the Main God’s sacred blood?」’

‘There is no Main God’s sacred blood.’

This is just my guess, but perhaps they are in a world where the Main God cannot interfere……

‘「We are beings who fill the void.」’

‘「You will naturally come to know in the future.」’

It may be the power itself that fills her vacancy.

The word ‘void’ is definitely ambiguous.

‘「Do not worry too much. The end is approaching.」’

‘……The end? The end of what?’

‘「Everything has already been prepared, but there will be a price for the choice.」’

According to the sisters’ revelation, everything has already been prepared, and the end is finally approaching.

‘「Can an impossible fate also be made into fate?」’

‘「That is our duty. Is it not the flow of destiny?」’

‘「Ruin is not the same as failure. Let us prepare to accept it.」’

……And perhaps that end is ‘ruin.’

Of course, I have no idea whose ruin it is, or what it is.

But it is certain that they are trying to pioneer even an impossible fate and are preparing to accept it.

Because that is their ‘duty.’

“Backspace, Space, Enter. Backspace, Space, Enter……”

I repeated their true names like a madman.

However, to the passing trading post users, it would have been an ordinary sight.

It would have looked like someone just wandering around, endlessly searching for their portal platform.

That wasn’t a completely wrong guess either.

“Backspace, Space, Enter. Backspace is a key to delete what you’ve already written, Space is the most frequently used key when writing a document. Enter is usually used to separate paragraphs……”

“Don’t they seem like the gods of fate?”

Just as I was circling around without finding my way near the answer, Gain-ssi finally reached out her hand.

I was startled and snapped out of my thoughts.

As always, her clear and blue eyes were filled with me, shimmering.

“Well, if you look at Greek and Roman mythology, which we read diligently when we were young.”

“Yes.”

“There, there are three sisters who determine human destiny……? Is that right? Anyway, three sisters come out.”

That’s right. In mythology, they are called the ‘Moirai’ [the Fates].

Here, they are called ‘Bo-jena,’ though.

“I remember those gods also being depicted as grandmothers. Each of the three had different jobs. One spun the thread, another held the thread? And the remaining person……”

“Cuts the thread.”

I answered in a voice barely audible. Gain-ssi readily nodded.

“Yes, so I think these three are like that too. Just like Gungju-nim said, Backspace, Space, and Enter each do different things. I heard that even Zeus couldn’t change the fate determined by those sisters in mythology……”

“……”

That’s right. It really is.

If they were created with inspiration from the three sisters of fate, then the fields governed by the three keys become much clearer.

“For example, Backspace can erase past sentences, that is, the past. Space is probably the button that creates the present, and Enter is the key that creates the future……”

I tapped the notebook with the end of my pen as I spoke.

The left arm that the Crown Prince was holding was warm.

I knew that he was silently enduring.

Of course, I would explain everything before he urged me, but I hadn’t reached a clear point yet……

“But they are not ‘gods.'”

Ugh, after saying that, I felt like I had reached a dead end. My brow furrowed involuntarily.

“We still believe that the Main God is the writer. To be precise, the original author. Given that the brother, the ghostwriter, can intervene like this now, I think that’s a somewhat correct inference. But the fact that they can possess god-like powers……”

It didn’t make sense. The Main God is the only god.

She is capricious and mischievous, but she created this world alone and loves the creatures here as herself, the Mother God.

The only ones she shares her power with are the holy knights and priests of the continent.

She does have a phoenix as a companion, but as we all know, it is not an equal being to the Main God……

“How can they write the fate of the world if they’re not the writer? How is that possible……”

At that time.

‘【When a world is sufficiently established, and the characters there are excessively loved…… The writing breathes on its own. Really.】’

‘【Even if I don’t try too hard, events happen automatically, and the characters act and cope on their own.】’

……Ah.

“Ah……!”

With the realization plunging down my spine, my legs suddenly stiffened.

I felt goosebumps from my instep to the back of my neck and stopped in my tracks.