Beyond the Eternity

Ten minutes has passed since the fourth trial started.

The party members were already moving —Me, Angelica, Kim Hyunwoo and Jung Yunhee. It was just four of us...

The fourth trial was a battle royale scenario. The trial already started some days ago so the other parties must have already taken the lead. In other words, it was a race against time.

The girls explained everything to Kim Hyunwoo who made a stupid expression as if he was confused.

"Wait, you're telling me Soo Jinyoung is Kim Jakga?"

"Yes." Says Angelica.

"That doesn't make sense."

"Kim Jakga has the ability to take the appearance of another person. The real Soo Jinyoung is somewhere else." Jung Yunhee explained.

"Wait, is that true?"

Kim Hyunwoo looked at me and I nodded my head. His eyes widened in disbelief.

"Wait, so all this time you were pretending to be Soo Jinyoung this entire time. Oh, I see. You wanted to take control over the group."

"I guess you could say that."

[The constellations are looking at you.]

[The constellation 'Architect of Chaos' says you're a sly bastard.]

Look at this guy.

[The constellation 'Architect of Chaos' says you remind him of a certain trickster god.]

A trickster god? Was he talking about Loki? I wonder how he was comparing me to that person.

To be honest, whether Soo Jinyoung or me was leading the group didn't exactly matter. I was using this route because it was more beneficial for me. Besides, Soo Jinyoung wasn't in the condition to lead.

While I was thinking this, Kim Hyunwoo was becoming noisy. He was asking useless questions like how I could transform and was wondering if I could transform into this and that. Maybe I shouldn't told him anything.

The whole point of deception was fooling everyone including your allies. If not, then it wouldn't work. But do I want to become a person who lies as simple as breathing? Before now, I was just a guy that likes writing stories.

Kim Hyunwoo suddenly mentioned the name of someone I knew. It was the name of the ex-soldier with the power of a giant. Perhaps he could be called the Giant Soldier.

"Does Lee Jongho knows?"

"He doesn't know."

"When are you going to tell him? Won't it be good if he knows."

"I'll tell him later. It will be dangerous if more people know."

Kim Sungwoo became silent. He was a smart boy so he must have realised what I was trying to say.

Then Jung Yunhee opened her mouth. "So what's the plan this time?"

"It's a very simple plan. We'll invade the other parties and take out their king."

She seemed confused. "I don't understand. If that is your plan, wouldn't it have made more sense to bring several people with us. We have the extra pieces after all."

"There's a problem with that. If we move with a large group, then the other parties will easily locate us and attack which is dangerous. We started the trial late so the other groups must have already formed an alliance. Although I currently look like Soo Jinyoung, it doesn't mean I have her strength."

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"Even if you say that, how exactly are we going to fight other groups with our low numbers?"

"There's someone I know. Currently, he must be residing in the station close to the university."

"You mean the gwanak station?" Jung Yunhee raised an eyebrow.

"That's correct. The barrier between the safety zones has been disabled when the trial started, making possible to interact with and attack other players. We currently have 10 points since the second group willingly gave up their tarot card. However, we can't pass the trial with just 10 points. And Soo Jinyoung is not around so I have to increase our fighting power at any cost.

If we meet up with the man charge of the gwanak station and form an alliance, we can start attacking other groups."

I explained everything. It was a plan that I constructed after carefully thinking about all the possibilities. But it was impossible to be planned for all scenarios so this was my best plan at the moment.

"What if they refuse to form an alliance?" Angelica asked.

"Then it can't be helped. We will take over their group by force if necessary."

"You mean to kill them?"

"It would be nice if they could defeat them without killing but you already know that's impossible."

"I see."

Angelica wore a dark expression. Her expression was stiff since we cleared the hidden dungeon. She was forced to kill and see things that she shouldn't so she must be still traumatized.

And now we had to kill more people. Fate was twisted. That's one thing I know for sure.

My mind began to wander and multiple thoughts emerged.

Given the unpredictability of the altered story, it was uncertain whether the people at the Gwanak station would agree to form an alliance, even with me posing as Soo Jinyoung. The story had diverged from the Songs of the Fall that I knew, so anything could happen. I rather be prepared than be taken out by an unknown variable.

I began to think if this plan was right way to go about things. Perhaps we should have launched an attack on another station and taken over their group instead.

Which route was the correct choice?

"There is the entrance to the station."

Kim Hyunwoo pointed towards the entrance to the Gwanak station. We were already here. We didn't hesitate and entered the subway station quickly.

As we moved, I was suddenly filled with a sense of premonition. I usually feel this way when something bad was going to happen. I ignored it and continued moving.

Then, the atmosphere became heavy. It was almost as if the very air quality has become thick. It was because air was filled with a strange yet familiar metallic smell.

Once we arrived at the station, the source of the metallic smell became apparent.

Blood... It was blood. It was blood belonging to the people in the gwanak station. It seems they were already hit by someone.

My expression grew darker. How did this happen?

I closely examined the bodies strewn across the floor. Based on their injuries and how they were positioned, it appeared they had been struck swiftly, without even realizing it. Was there someone capable of doing something like this?

Were these people hit by Sung Jaewon or someone else?

I looked for a certain someone among the corpses. Once I found his cold body, I searched all over his body— mostly his pockets but I could not find it. Indeed, the card was also taken as well.

"Tck. Of course, they will take it. They'll be foolish if they hit this group and left the card behind."

Kim Hyunwoo asked, "What happened here? Do you know who did this?"

I answered with an irritated tone, "How the hell am I supposed to know that? We all entered here at the same time."

"I'm sorry, that was a stupid question."

Kim Hyunwoo scratched the back of his head. He had the expression of someone that has been bullied.

I sighed and rubbed my temple. What am I doing? It's useless to get angry now.

Joon-Soo.

He was the king behind the gwanak station and the holder of the Hierophant card. In the novel, he was called the secret merchant. It was because of his tarot card which gave him in edge in the beginning trials.

The Hierophant card would have been useful since It could be used to gather information about the players in the boarding games and future events. But now, that carrier of the card was dead and the card was taken by someone else.

What should I do now? I was expecting a fight to break out if things suddenly went south but things went north instead. More importantly, the person that killed this man...

Was it possible?

I narrowed my eyes at the blood and noticed that it was already dried up. It could only mean one thing. These guys were hit a long time ago.

My eyes landed on the dark tunnel and saw it was blocked by rubbles. Maybe the attackers must have gone to the next station using that tunnel and blocked it to prevent others from entering.

I turned to Kim Hyunwoo and asked, "What is the next station after this one?"

"Hmm, isn't it the Seoksu Station?"

"That station? I see. We're leaving."

I turned around to leave and Jung Yunhee opened her mouth as if surprised.

"Hold on, we are just leaving just like that?"

"Yes. Is that anything you want to do? The Hanged group is dead and the tunnel to the next station is blocked. Even if we did manage to open it, what would be waiting for us on the other side? So we're leaving. We'll regroup and arrange a solid plan."

Everyone was silent. It was because a terrible expression formed on my face. I was wearing a mask but I looked like Soo Jinyoung.

I was too naive. The terrible battle between the kings has already started. Of course, things are not going to flow my way. My opponents were the readers of the story 'Songs of the Fall' just like me.

From now on, it was the full-fledge bloody war between the kings.

* * *

The party members returned to the warehouse but I didn't follow. Before I returned to the warehouse, there was somewhere I needed to go.

I removed the golden mask and headed to the rooftop of Seoul University.

On the rooftop, I saw Lee Suhye sitting besides the unconscious Soo Jinyoung and looking at the sky. I approached the defenceless Lee Suhye and opened my mouth.

"Bo!"

"Ahh!"

Lee Suhye suddenly jumped like a frightened cat and pulled out her gun.

"Hey, now! It's me! It's just me! Why are you so quick to turn to violence?"

When she saw me smiling and raising my hands, she frowned and put her gun away before she sighed.

"Kim Jakga, what do you want?"

"Tck! Look at this woman. Where is your honorifics?"

I grumbled and shifted my gaze somewhere else.

Soo Jinyoung. I was looking at the face of that person. Didn't she look like a sleeping princess at this moment?

"How is Soo Jinyoung?"

Lee Suhye wore a complicated expression as she looked at the face of the sleeping Soo Jinyoung.

"I'm not a doctor so I don't know. She's fine but she won't wake up."

"I see."

"How is the situation in the warehouse? Are you handling things properly?"

"It's fine I guess. I managed to resolve the inner conflict and repel the tax collectors."

"That's good. I wanted to get rid of those troublesome people for a while. Do you know what happened to them?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "Who knows? They would either be dead or turned into slaves by another group."

That was the inevitable fate of those who become wanderers. They get eaten by larger groups.

"In any case, why haven't you accepted the invitation?"

"I'll think about it for a while."

"Are you waiting for Soo Jinyoung to wake up?"

"T-That..."

Lee Suhye looked at me with a shocked expression and then frowned. I could really see through her heart as if it was nothing.

"You can make your own decisions so I'll force you. Here, give this to the sleeping princess when she wakes up."

I pulled a letter from my pocket and then handed it to Lee Suhye. She wore a confused expression as she looked at the letter.

She asked, "What's this?"

"A love letter from me to Soo Jinyoung."

"W-What nonsense are you saying?"

"Just give it to Jinyoung. Well then, I'll be on my way. You see, I have become a very busy guy so greet Soo Jinyoung for me when she wakes up."

"Greet the new wave group for me."

"It's called the Soo Jinyoung's Company now."

Her eyes widened. "I see. You're doing a good job."

I smiled and turned around to leave the rooftop. Before I left the rooftop, my gaze shifted towards Lee Suhye one final time.

"I know you are curious but don't open that letter."

"What? Why did you think I was going to open the letter?"

"I can read your thoughts, you know."

Lee Suhye's eyes, "Wait, come again. It can't be..."

"Relax, I was just messing with ya."

"You..."

"On a serious note, don't open that letter. If you open it carelessly, your finger might get blown into pieces."

"Stop joking around. That's ridiculous."

Lee thought it was a joke but once she saw my expression didn't change, her eyes widened and she looked between the letter and me.

That 'love letter' was a special gift I specifically bought for Soo Jinyoung.