Chapter 39
CHAPTER 39
Winter Season (3)
Their reflections appeared everywhere.
At the same time, an eerie clicking echoed through the room.
Ju-Heon immediately rushed toward where he had thrown Yoo Jae-ha.
Click.
Click, click, click...
“Jae-ha?!”
Mirror panels began floating into the air.
Ju-Heon hurriedly searched for the Cup Ramen.
Just then—
[Intruder Detected]
[Kagamikage System Activated]
[Captain! It's dangerous!]
The entire dark chamber transformed into a room filled with mirrors.
Cynthia recognized what was happening at once.
Hearing her voice, Ju-Heon quickly turned to his right.
And then he realized.
“...Watch out!”
“It's a relic trap!”
At that instant—
Mirrors floated up all around them.
Ju-Heon's face appeared inside each one.
Then—
Whoosh!
Clang!
This time, Majesty Yoo Jae-ha was copied.
His silhouette emerged inside a mirror before a physical body stepped out.
The copy snapped its fingers.
Weapons erupted from the floor.
Majesty Yoo Jae-ha cursed in disgust.
A blade sliced past Ju-Heon's chin.
Another fraction of a second, and his head would have been severed.
Turning toward the attack—
He saw himself inside the mirror, sword in hand.
“You've got to be kidding me.”
“You copied me too?”
That bastard...
The ground cracked and trembled.
The clones continued their assault without pause.
Ju-Heon frowned.
A relic that duplicates people... Could this be...
“We don't need the original.”
[The Kagamikage Relic is attempting to eliminate the .]
[Before the duplicate loses its body, it will kill the original and take its place.]
More than a dozen duplicates charged simultaneously.
Ancient legends claimed that a person's shadow would one day steal its owner's place.
Others said that old mirrors became inhabited by spirits capable of bringing whatever appeared within them into reality.
People had long believed mirrors possessed mysterious power.
Because this trap originated from those legends...
Its instinct was to replace the original.
It was the perfect assassination relic.
As proof—
Every mirror lit up at once.
Dozens of Mirror Ju-Heons and Mirror Yoo Jae-has rushed forward simultaneously.
Together, they whispered the exact same words.
“The original is unnecessary.”
Yoo Jae-ha frowned.
Neither he nor Cynthia specialized in direct combat.
And since these enemies were merely mirror images...
Ju-Heon's greatest strength—physical attacks—wouldn't work against them.
Unexpectedly—
Ju-Heon didn't dodge.
Instead...
He pulled out a book.
The fairy tale book that had transformed Julian.
It looked completely unsuited for a battlefield.
But the moment he opened it—
Something unbelievable happened.
“The children inside the mirrors...”
“Need to go home.”
The mirror clones suddenly dropped to all fours.
Like dogs, they began crawling desperately back toward the mirrors.
They shoved each other aside.
They screamed in agony.
Yet the rules of the fairy tale compelled them to return.
A glowing sentence floated into the air.
Boom!
[Assigned Role: "Children Who Must Return Home"]
Every mirror slammed shut simultaneously.
Then vanished.
Yet the floor continued flashing red.
The mirror clones trembled violently.
As though resisting the order.
But beings bound by a fairy tale's rules could never defy their assigned role.
Ju-Heon quietly added,
“You mustn't be late.”
“Go home before night falls.”
[Kagami Relic System]
[The relic still remains.]
[Mirror duplicates are attempting to emerge again.]
Before the announcement even finished—
Mirror Ju-Heons began clawing frantically at the floor, trying to crawl back out.
Cynthia hurriedly searched the room.
“We have to destroy the relic!”
“That's the only way to end this!”
She ran through the underground chamber, searching desperately.
Then—
“What are you doing?!”
“Are you trying to collapse the whole building?!”
Ju-Heon ignored her.
He casually threw a punch.
[Captain! Over here! Over here!]
Cup Ramen Yoo Jae-ha shouted from somewhere behind a wall.
Cynthia cried out,
“It has to be behind that wall!”
“There must be a hidden door somewhere—”
Ju-Heon threw another punch.
BOOM!!
The wall shattered instantly.
“A fake wall?!”
“People hiding something always pull this trick.”
The false wall collapsed.
Behind it...
A completely new chamber was revealed.
The building's true hidden room.
“Hey.”
“You okay?”
[...I thought my lid was going to pop off.]
“Sorry.”
“Just as I thought.”
Even Cynthia was stunned.
“There was a place like this?!”
It was only a brief remark.
Cup Ramen Yoo Jae-ha suddenly fell silent.
Ju-Heon immediately sprinted deeper inside.
Toward a gigantic mirror.
Cup Ramen Yoo Jae-ha was trapped inside it.
Ju-Heon reached his hand into the mirror.
His arm slipped through effortlessly.
Then he pulled the Cup Ramen back out.
Apparently it had been swallowed by the mirror relic.
[...That's the first time I've ever heard Captain apologize.]
“Say that one more time and I'll boil you.”
[No thanks!!!]
Ju-Heon chuckled and tucked the Cup Ramen back into his coat.
But then—
[Mirror duplicates are attempting to emerge again.]
“You bastards want another beating?”
Instead—
“I'll give you something else.”
With an over-the-shoulder throw, he hurled something toward them.
[They believe that by obtaining that Cup Ramen, they can evolve.]
“Hey!”
“What nonsense.”
“You're not getting this.”
The duplicates immediately prepared to attack again.
Cynthia flew straight toward them.
Every clone instantly turned to face her.
[Captain! It's dangerous!]
“You crazy bastard!”
“Am I your meat shield now?!”
“You're a Majesty.”
“Just hold them off for a minute.”
“How long is 'a minute,' damn it?!”
While Cynthia screamed in protest—
Ju-Heon grabbed her arm.
As she continued shouting, he reached into her coat...
...and pulled out the cocktail stick she had been carrying.
Thyrsus (SS-Grade Relic)
- The staff of Dionysus. It can plunge a target into madness—or awaken someone from it.
“Blow up, relic!!”
Surrounded by enemies, Cynthia stared at him in disbelief.
...What did you just say?! Blow up?!
She didn't even have time to react.
Ju-Heon had already hurled the relic straight at the core mirror.
“When did you even—?!”
“My hands are pretty fast.”
“Hey, that's mine—!”
“Borrowing it for a second.”
“Wait! That's a priceless relic! Be caref—”
BOOM!!
If overwhelming dominance was forced into a relic...
Just as he had shattered Julian's Code of Laws...
A relic itself could be overloaded until it exploded.
And if it was a God-grade relic...
The energy released by its destruction would be enormous.
Ju-Heon poured his dominance into it.
Crackle!
Cynthia froze.
Then...
The relic exploded.
He was blowing up a God-grade relic.
KABOOOM!!
[The Kagami Relic has been destroyed.]
[Trap Dismantled]
“Hey!”
“You used me as a meat shield!”
“You stole my God-grade relic without asking!”
“And then you blew it up?!”
“You're alive, aren't you?”
“At least warn me first...!”
Ju-Heon answered with only one sentence.
“You're too slow to catch on.”
Cynthia stood there speechless.
The mirror clones disappeared.
Brushing the dust off his clothes, Ju-Heon muttered,
“Phew. That takes care of it.”
Before Cynthia lay the shattered Thyrsus.
Her...
God-grade relic...
Destroyed.
And there wasn't a single Restorer left in this world capable of repairing it.
Her entire body trembled with rage and disbelief.
But before another curse left her lips...
The disappearance of the trap relic revealed the room's true structure.
It looked less like a chamber...
And more like a storage facility.
Cynthia shot to her feet, nearly gasping.
Meanwhile, Majesty Yoo Jae-ha, who had simply watched the battle, sniffed the air first.
“Look.”
“It's here.”
“This is the medicine.”
Ju-Heon casually pocketed the broken Kagami Relic and shrugged.
“...That's not medicine.”
“What?”
“Good.”
“Happy now?”
“You'll pay me back—with interest.”
"..."
Yoo Jae-ha examined the liquid inside one of the bottles.
He merely touched it with the tip of his tongue.
His expression immediately stiffened.
This bastard... all the way to the end...
Cynthia was speechless.
“...This is just an ordinary narcotic.”
Her mind went blank.
“But... we found the medicine.”
“So now we'll finally be fre—”
“No.”
“That can't be.”
“The people here never get sick.”
“Unless there's something else protecting them...”
Then...
Something came into view.
It resembled a cultivated field.
Ju-Heon quietly spoke.
“...The one spreading the plague...”
“Doesn't catch the plague.”
“!”
The underground chamber suddenly felt freezing cold.
Cynthia's expression froze.
Flowers were growing throughout the room.
The problem was—
Each flower pulsed like a heartbeat.
Expanding.
Contracting.
“What are you talking about?”
“People who wield plague relics usually don't get infected themselves.”
Puff!
A thick, dark cloud poured from one of the flowers.
Ju-Heon knew.
He had used plague-type relics himself before.
He kicked open a nearby door.
Another chamber appeared.
[A faint aura of the Sun... and the Relic of Demeter can be sensed.]
“Sun... and Demeter?”
[Still propagating.]
The things growing there...
Were none other than the city's infrastructure.
Before they realized it—
They had transformed into structures identical to the communication towers scattered throughout the city.
Cynthia's face crumbled.
Yoo Jae-ha immediately stepped back.
“No...”
“These are our city's...”
“Core facilities...”
“The communication systems...”
“The power conduits...”
“...The plague.”
“It's coming from these flowers.”
What did that mean?
Ju-Heon answered before anyone else could.
Before he even finished speaking...
The distant flowers began changing shape.
Their vines intertwined.
Gradually forming a familiar silhouette.
Cynthia gasped.
“...Wait.”
“That's...!”
“Well, well.”
“So those people we saw earlier were the ones spreading the plague.”
“And they're still cultivating it even now.”
“?!”
“You said Bitrain built your city's infrastructure.”
“...He did.”
“In reality...”
“Delreira's Relic of Demeter has been using that infrastructure to spread the plague.”
“I built this city of pleasure...”
“To protect my people.”
“They helped me.”
“I thought they were helping the city prosper...”
Cynthia's breathing became uneven.
“No...”
“That's impossible!”
“I joined hands with them to overcome the Plague Trial!”
“Why would they—?!”
The seed burst open once more.
Poisonous mist spread in the same direction the structures were growing.
Ju-Heon answered coldly.
“As obvious as it gets.”
“They turned the city itself into a perpetual plague generator.”
“So the plague disaster would never truly end.”
“They're working together with the Rulebook.”
“Aren't they?”
Cynthia staggered.
Only then did the room begin to feel unfamiliar.
She trembled uncontrollably.
“...Then...”
“The larger I expanded the city...”
Ju-Heon nodded.
“You turned your own world into a factory that manufactures disease.”
“And naturally...”
“The larger the city became...”
“The stronger and more widespread the plague grew.”
Even Yoo Jae-ha, who understood how other Majesties operated, added,
“It probably started as nothing serious.”
“The city was still small.”
“But as it expanded...”
“The diseases became stronger.”
“And spread farther.”
“They likely turned this place into a cultivation city.”
“The diseases produced here...”
“Are probably being exported to the worlds of other Majesties.”
“In other words...”
“Delreira is a plague exporter.”
Cynthia's lips trembled.
“...Then...”
“My entire world...”
She collapsed to her knees.
It wasn't hatred.
Nor anger.
She simply couldn't accept the truth.
That her world...
Had been the birthplace of countless disasters.
She struggled just to breathe.
Ju-Heon delivered the final verdict.
“I thought...”
“I'd saved the city...”
“I thought I'd protected everyone...”
“But...”
“I...”
The seed pulsed again.
This time...
The black mist spread even farther.
Upward.
Across the entire city.
Cynthia covered her face.
“What...?”
Ju-Heon looked back and forth between the seed and the city.
“What I nurtured...”
“Wasn't a city.”
“It was a disease.”
“So if we destroy the city...”
“The plague stops.”
Only then did she truly understand.
As long as this city existed...
The plague would never end.
Guilt.
Regret.
Betrayal.
All of it crashed down upon her.
Then—
Ju-Heon shrugged with a mocking grin.
Yoo Jae-ha stared at him in disbelief.
“...Why do I feel like your personal greed just slipped into that conclusion?”
Pretending not to hear him, Ju-Heon continued.
“Then the answer's simple.”
Cynthia slowly raised her head.
“Good.”
“So lift every bounty you've placed on us.”
“And pay us our reward.”
Her blue eyes shook violently.
“...What?”
“A reward?”
Ju-Heon pressed forward with complete confidence.
“Think about it.”
“We smashed up your city's infrastructure.”
“But we actually did it...”
“To save your world.”
...You shameless bastard.