What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 637

#637

Interstellar Molecule (4)

When someone experiences extreme shock, their brain feels as cold as if submerged in ice water.

“…Gain-ssi.”

Just like right now.

【What the hell? Hey! What is this?】

Tears dry up instantly, like watermarks in the desert.

One’s vision needs to be clearer than ever to grasp the boundary between reality and unreality.

The heart, which had been pounding erratically, cools and sinks, and the mind, once tangled like a pile of laundry, is bleached and taut in an instant.

The voice and pronunciation also become clear.

Hands and feet freeze like snowballs, and sweat evaporates, stealing heat from the whole body.

Because there is a risk of losing something precious forever.

“Cedric… Johann.”

【Why do they look like this? Are you calling this a joke? Put them back the way they were right now!】

Because if I don’t come to my senses, no one knows what will happen in the blink of an eye.

From now on, it will be impossible to predict even an inch ahead.

【Are you deaf? I said put them back! The kid is about to die.】

The three of them had become thin sheets of paper.

So flat and thin that they felt too precious to even touch carelessly….

Fragilely fluttering paper. Really.

“Gain-ssi, can you hear me? Gain-ssi.”

Icy fingers creaked and moved, groping for my friends beyond the floor.

Tap, tap. Then, I tapped very carefully.

I was afraid that the transparent wall would break and hurt them.

I wanted to use Growth to smash this floor and save them, but I was afraid and anxious about what would happen if I did.

The me who had been threatening to make a hole in interstellar space just a moment ago felt like a completely different person.

After sweeping the floor for a long time with near-miraculous patience….

-Tap, tap

“Huff…. Huff, huff.”

A very small reaction—so small that I had to strain my hearing to hear it—came back.

Gain-ssi, now made of paper, was fluttering and tapping on the floor.

I then realized that I had been holding my breath all along.

I hurriedly grabbed Growth like a lifeline.

Every time she raised her hand or blinked, the thin sheet of paper fluttered busily.

I wondered where I had seen this scene before; it was in ‘animation’ [cartoons].

Gain-ssi was acting like a cartoon with a very high frame rate.

“Ha…. Haa….”

All movements were natural, but at the same time, unnatural.

Something that was neither a sigh nor a groan burst out intermittently. I felt miserable.

【Why aren’t you answering? Are you ignoring me?】

「It is not our creation. That is their true form.」

“….”

The pieces of paper depicting Gain-ssi from a few seconds ago instantly flipped to the back and disappeared.

I realized that there was a distant darkness lurking beyond the floor of the interstellar space.

The protagonist started moving her lips largely, looking at me.

I didn’t know how she saw me or whether she knew her own condition.

However, Gain-ssi seemed to have realized that we couldn’t hear each other’s voices.

Although the sound didn’t reach, I could easily understand because there was so much she wanted to convey.

【Stop talking nonsense. Explain it in clear terms.】

「You already know. Those precious ones are inherently beings from a different dimension than them. So, you must see the forest, not the trees [focus on the bigger picture].」

Words that genuinely cared for me, not meaningless nonsense.

‘My Lord. Did you cry? What’s wrong with your face?’

‘I’m okay.’

‘We’re okay.’

‘Are you okay, My Lord?’

“…Yes. I’m okay too. I’m okay.”

‘We’ll be okay.’ I hurriedly rubbed my cheeks with my sleeve and tried to put on a bright smile. I didn’t want to worry my friends at all.

This time, I checked the condition of Cedric and Johann.

Seeing their sullen faces even as paper made me laugh in spite of myself.

The Cardinal was closing his eyes as if he were asleep, and then a scene of the Crown Prince drawing his Divine Sword flashed.

I knew very well that this was not a situation to laugh, but I giggled foolishly.

That was the only way I could feel alive.

「You will resent our sisters. You will not be able to understand us. You will doubt our true intentions until the very end.」

「But please believe us. We are moving towards the promised goal, and we are using all means and methods to ensure that we reach that conclusion.」

「…That is something that you also know well.」

….

【Jung-ae, look at your brother. Listen to your brother.】

“….”

I finally raised my head and looked back at the phoenix next to me. At the same time, my cheeks got wet again.

The light purple eyes were shining quietly, holding me in them.

Soon, a serious voice flowed out.

【That world line can be saved. We just need to find where the file went. Don’t you know your brother?】

“….”

【There’s a drive that syncs files in real time, and the program has automatic temporary file saving turned on. Once every 10 seconds, or was it once every 5 seconds?】

“….”

【How good is the technology these days? Just closing a warning window doesn’t make the file disappear. It’s okay. Huh?】

“…Okay.”

For some reason, I felt like I was about to cry again, so I hurriedly pretended to dust off the dirt on my clothes.

I swore I wasn’t the type to cry a lot, but it felt like I was crying three years’ worth in one day.

It seemed like I was getting weaker because my brother was next to me.

Thinking about it, everything he said was right.

Even if it went into the recycle bin, there are programs these days that restore even emptied recycle bins, and the file search function was good.

More than anything, even if that world line really disappeared….

“Jung Hyun-seo.”

【What.】

Still.

“Promise me just one thing.”

【What is it.】

“Just in case. If we can’t save that place no matter what….”

We will have a last resort.

“Go ask Mom.”

【….”

The phoenix’s eyes shook greatly.

Beyond the small bird’s outline, I thought I saw my brother’s pale face.

I continued to whisper, my nose completely blocked.

“You didn’t think I’d never find out, did you?”

【You….”

“You know very well that our mom has a master’s degree in Russian literature, and she still has Eastern Slavic research materials on her bookshelf.”

Where else would the name ‘Bozena (Божена)’ come from?

I smiled without finishing my sentence.

The phoenix was just staring at me silently.

The brother I know is the smartest and strongest person in the world, but he’s such a fool at times like this.

He was so foolish that I laughed again.

Even though the situation was getting to that point, he couldn’t say a word about the ‘original author’ and was only focused on protecting her.

It was about his younger sibling’s future, and he might never see me again, but he never revealed the identity of the original author to me.

That meant only one thing.

I know my brother too well, so I quickly knew what he was hiding.

“…It’s okay, hyung [older brother].”

【…I’m sorry.】

“What are you sorry for? We’ll be okay.”

He hid it because her identity could also hurt me.

It was a story written for Eun-seo, but he covered it up because he knew I wouldn’t feel comfortable.

My brother was the type of person who never wanted to share the burden with me and my younger sibling.

We were always a little late than him, so we couldn’t forcibly take it away.

It had been like that since we were very young. So, I always wanted to be a reliable younger brother to my brother.

A child who doesn’t add to the burden. Someone trustworthy enough that my brother would share the burden with me first someday.

“Those sisters are spouting nonsense about probability and stuff…. Now they’re saying weird things about the ending, but I really don’t care at all.”

【….”

“Who cares? We just need to live our lives. Like we’ve always done.”

「Kin.」

“Shut up!”

I glared at the sisters, pouring all the strength in my body into my eyes.

I stiffened my neck so much that the back of my head throbbed, and I gripped my staff so hard that the skin on my palms peeled off.

“That damn probability of yours only works when it’s convenient for you. If that world line was going to be erased anyway, why did you let us go there in the first place? Why such a ‘waste’?”

「….”

We will definitely get that place back.

My brother will make it happen, and if necessary, I will do whatever it takes to help.

Thanks to meeting my friends, unfounded confidence kept popping up.

“If you put it that way, there have been more than one or two unexpected situations that you should have intervened in. You know? Shall I give you an example? Yuliter Statia.”

The sisters’ faces hardened at my words. It wasn’t even funny.

「…He was an exception.」

“Don’t be ridiculous! While staying here under your watch, Yuliter meticulously explored conditions, timing, and locations favorable to him for decades. And taking advantage of the gap when the world line weakened, using the moment when one eye of the Main God was closed, he scraped together all his fragments and tore open the interspace.”

「We neglect as needed, and we intervene as needed.」

“He did such a thing, risking his entire existence, for the sole reason of wanting to meet someone.”

「Everything is the arrangement of the Main God. You may not understand now….”

“You didn’t know that at all and couldn’t stop it—”

「Yuliter Statia received due punishment.」

“Punishment? You call it punishment when someone who was already in fragments shatters into pieces?”

「….”

“You’re just cowardly jailers spouting sophistry [clever but deceptive reasoning]. No matter how you package your duties, no matter how noble and great they are, to me…!”

Huff, I gasped and lowered my gaze again.

Under the glass-like transparent floor, I saw my friends moving precariously, as if they would tear apart at any moment.

They were clearly breathing differently from me.

They didn’t have cylindrical fingers like me, and they didn’t have noses like me.

Everything that made up the three of them was flat.

But the look in their eyes was the same as usual.

“…It’s no different from a villain trying to brainwash me in a vile way.”

I found this situation very unpleasant and hateful.

「You….”

“Do you think I’ll suddenly gain enlightenment from seeing this scene? ‘Ah, I’m a being from a different dimension than them. I’m superior.’ ‘I’m better than these people, so I should keep my distance and look at the big picture from now on!'”

「….”

“Do you really think I’d have such trashy thoughts? What do you think humans are? You’ve been acting like this all along, how can I trust you?”

「….”

“Can I trust you!”

‘Can I, can I…!’ A sharp echo filled the interstellar space.

My throat, which had been constantly shouting, felt rough.

My brother’s two wings warmly covered the back of my hand.

I spat out as a final warning.

“Don’t you dare think about using my friends. Not my brother, not my children. Don’t touch anyone.”

「….”

“And stop this rude behavior. Immediately.”

「I told you. This is not our creation.」

“What?”

I frowned as I was still looking at Johann, who couldn’t open his eyes.

The woman answered with a steady expression and voice.

「It is merely the will of the interstellar space to reveal their essence. It is simply a neutral phenomenon with no intention of insulting anyone.」

「That’s a lie.」

At that moment, I felt a presence completely different from what I had felt so far.

My brother was also surprised, and he wagged the blue fur on his head.

I turned my gaze sharply in the direction of the energy.

“Ah….”

Red eyes were twisting bitterly. Familiar armor….

「You saved my great-grandson well, kid.」

The moment I smiled brightly and called out his name with joy, the smile disappeared from his face.

No sooner had the old man swung his scythe than he drew Durandal with lightning speed. Sreung!

-Kwagwagwagwang!

「Romero Claire Liester, are you going to disrupt the order once again!」

「You’re talking nonsense. This body is not a disruptor of order, but an establisher of order.」

As the sharp blade and the black scythe collided, a tremendous spark flew, and the pure white interstellar space was dyed in iridescent colors.

My brother and I were dumbfounded and just opened our mouths.

I didn’t even have a clue as to how this was possible.

The Emperor looked at us with a pleasant face and shouted.

「Run away quickly. Leave this place to me!」

-Clang—!

No sooner had the words fallen than the floor where my friends were trapped shattered into pieces.

Before I could scream, a large hand popped out from below, and a man with white hair grabbed me tightly.

Then, the two sisters’ tearing screams pierced my mind.

「Aaaaaah!」

「Impure molecule…!」

#638