I’m the Madman of This Family

Chapter 370. If It’s Twisted, Just Cut It (8)

Amon stares intently at Keter.

Keter raises his middle finger, showing no concern for Amon’s gaze.

‘What kind of trick is this?’

Keter’s ‘heart’ was set on throwing ‘scissors’ until the very last moment.

But what came out was ‘paper.’

The result was Amon’s defeat, as he had thrown ‘rock,’ expecting Keter to throw ‘scissors.’ Amon couldn’t understand it.

‘Deceiving one’s own heart is impossible, even for a god.’

Yet, Keter had done it.

Swoosh.

At that moment, Keter pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth.

Amon wasn’t one to just stand by and watch.

“We agreed not to take any actions other than rock-paper-scissors, didn’t we?”

“I’m just lighting a cigarette to calm my mind. It’s related to rock-paper-scissors.”

“……”

Even though it was a verbal agreement, the words of a Transcendent Being are absolute. If Keter had truly broken the rules, he would have self-destructed.

But Keter didn’t self-destruct. He calmly lit the cigarette and enjoyed it.

“Phew. Why the face? I’m at 1 win, and you’re at 4 wins. You’re in an overwhelmingly favorable position.”

“…Let’s continue the match.”

“I’ll throw scissors this time too.”

“……”

Joyray, who had also grown tense, announced the start of the sixth match.

“Rock, paper, scissors!”

The hands of Keter and Amon, raised to head height, came down with the signal of ‘paper!’

Amon was watching Keter’s ‘face,’ not his ‘hand.’

He saw it with his eyes and heard it with his ears.

‘I will definitely throw scissors.’

The ripple in Keter’s soul, and his determination.

‘Even I can’t deceive my soul. He will definitely throw scissors.’

Amon couldn’t accept his first defeat. So, this time too, he trusted the words of Keter’s soul and threw rock-

“Winner, Keter!”

“……”

Keter threw paper and defeated Amon.

Keter tapped the ash off his cigarette and said,

“You’re easy to fool. But this time, I’ll really throw scissors.”

Amon couldn’t believe it.

This time too, Keter’s words and actions were the same.

‘This time, I’ll definitely throw scissors.’

His soul was determined to throw ‘scissors.’

Amon was confused.

‘How can the body go against the soul?’

Clearly, in the first four matches, Keter had faithfully followed the words of his soul. Amon had eavesdropped on it and secured his victories.

But from the fifth match onward, Keter stopped following what his soul said.

“You’re using some kind of trick, aren’t you?”

Tick.

Keter threw the cigarette he was smoking at Amon’s feet.

“It’s not a trick if you don’t get caught. Just like what you’re doing.”

With Keter openly admitting to cheating, Amon licked his lips with his tongue.

“I underestimated you. But I won’t lose.”

“Your tongue is long. Feeling nervous?”

“Kukuku. Let’s continue the match.”

The seventh match.

Amon didn’t trust Keter’s ‘soul.’

He had thrown rock to beat scissors and had already lost twice. Even if the first time was a coincidence, he wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

So, this time, he threw scissors to beat paper.

But-

“Winner, Keter!”

Keter threw rock.

Thus, Keter’s third consecutive win.

The score was now 3 to 4.

Keter, with a second cigarette in his mouth, lit it and sneered.

“Your true feelings are showing. Huhuhu.”

Astonishingly, Keter’s words and true feelings were the same. He genuinely believed Amon would throw ‘scissors.’

But why did his soul insist on throwing ‘scissors’ until the end, only to throw rock?

Thud!

Amon snatched the cigarette from Keter’s mouth and examined it. It was an ordinary, no, a cheap cigarette.

Amon’s brow furrowed.

‘If the cigarette was the cause, he would have taken it out from the fifth match. Keter only took it out after that.’

Amon scrutinized Keter’s whole body with suspicion. Even if he wanted to find fault with the smallest detail, there was nothing.

Crunch.

Amon crushed the cigarette he had taken and glared at Keter.

‘Is it his Authority? But can he use his Authority without me noticing?’

It was strange that he even had such an Authority. What use is an Authority that makes the soul and body act differently in actual combat?

No matter how much he thought about it, Amon couldn’t figure out Keter’s ‘trick.’

“I’ll throw scissors this time too.”

Keter raised his hand. Amon also raised his hand. Joyray soon gave the signal, and the ‘losing hand’ of the eighth match was revealed.

Keter threw scissors as promised-

Amon threw paper.

Amon’s body began to tremble.

Keter brushed off his chest and said,

“I said I’d throw scissors, but you threw paper. How kind of you.”

After four consecutive losses, four consecutive wins.

Amon’s expression suddenly turned calm.

“Let’s continue.”

“Fine. I’ll throw scissors this time too.”

The ninth match immediately followed.

Amon, now knowing it was useless, still peeked at Keter’s soul. Naturally, the soul clearly said it would throw scissors.

But Amon no longer believed it, nor did he need to.

“Rock, paper, scissorrrrrrrrrrs……”

Joyray’s words dragged on endlessly, then suddenly stopped completely.

It wasn’t just Joyray who stopped. Everything stopped. Except for Amon.

But time hadn’t completely stopped. Extremely slowly, Keter’s hand was moving down.

So slow that moving 0.1mm took a minute, but Amon watched Keter’s hand until the very end.

Finally, when the hand reached waist height, the point where it could no longer change-

‘Keter’s hand is rock!’

Amon saw it with his eyes first and then threw ‘paper.’

Then time resumed its normal flow.

“Paper!”

Joyray’s drawn-out words returned to normal, and the result was revealed.

Keter threw rock. Amon threw paper.

The winner of the ninth match was Amon.

“Kukukuku. Kukukukuku.”

Amon laughed silently.

Keter looked at his own rock and Amon’s paper alternately and said,

“Happy to win?”

“Ah, yes. Truly, thank you. Thanks to you, I feel the joy of victory for the first time in a long while.”

“Anyone would think the match is over.”

“Impatient, aren’t you? It’ll only take a few seconds to decide. Why not take it easy? At most, a minute. You’ll become mine, and I’ll take everything from you.”

“Talking all day will only make your mouth hurt.”

Swoosh.

This might be the final match.

Keter raised his hand again.

“Let’s begin.”

“Aren’t you going to announce it this time?”

“I don’t think I need to anymore.”

“Huhuhuhu.”

The two glared at each other. But Joyray, the referee, didn’t start the match.

“Haa, haa.”

Clearly, it was Keter and Amon who were fighting, but Joyray was the one sweating and breathing heavily.

“Old man, start it.”

Keter urged Joyray.

Joyray closed his eyes tightly and shouted.

“Rock, paper, scissorrrrr……”

As expected, time slowed down.

One second became ten seconds, a minute, an hour.

In a world where time slowed down to almost a standstill, Amon watched Keter’s hand.

‘Wh-what is this?’

Keter’s hand hadn’t fully come down yet. And while coming down, he could freely choose the shape of his hand.

Thus, Keter’s hand was neither scissors, rock, nor paper. Instead, Keter was raising his middle finger.

“You’ve fallen for it, Amon.”

In the frozen world, Keter spoke to Amon.

*

Amon immediately understood how Keter could speak in the slowed-down time.

The three circles that appeared in Keter’s pupils-

They were a Mandala.

‘The Mandala of the Heavens Sovereign. How can Keter, who isn’t even a contractor, use it?

It’s incomprehensible.

But such a thing was actually happening.

There are many ways to slow down time, but undoubtedly, the ‘Mandala’ of the Heavens Sovereign is the best.

Amon was slowing down time with his Authority, ‘Peace Under Heaven.’ And the limit of this Authority is one day per second.

On the other hand, the Mandala has no limits. It can stretch one second to near infinity.

“Grrrrrr.”

Keter’s time flowed ‘even slower.’ Thus, Keter could always see Amon’s ‘losing hand’ before throwing his own.

Amon knew his Peace Under Heaven couldn’t compete with the Mandala, but he bought time by stretching one second to a day. No matter how great the Mandala is, it’s still wielded by a human.

Keter is a Transcendent Being, but he’s still human. Feeling one second as a day would drive him mad.

But Keter didn’t go mad. Instead, it seemed like Amon would go mad first. Because Keter didn’t say a single word and just stood still.

Thus, the result of the tenth match was, naturally, Keter’s victory, as he could slow down time even more.

The time Keter and Amon felt was 24 hours, but for Joyray and the surrounding monsters, it was just one second.

“Th-the winner is Keter! 5 to 5 tie!”

“In case of a tie, we decided to settle it with a single match. Joyray, continue the match.”

“Right away?”

Joyray asked in surprise.

Keter nodded, and Amon bit his lip.

‘Surely he can’t use the Mandala consecutively.’

That was Amon’s only hope, but Keter entered the slowed-down world again using the Mandala, facing Amon alone.

“Damn you. Well done. It’s your victory.”

Surprisingly, Amon easily admitted defeat.

After all, the Heavens Sovereign is a higher existence than himself. Not only did he lack the skill to defeat a ‘Apostle’ who could wield such power, but losing also didn’t cost him much.

He had promised to grant three wishes, but of course, he had no intention of granting absurd ones.

‘I won’t just let you go, Keter. No matter what wish you make, there will always be a loophole.’

Amon, who didn’t care about losing, didn’t drag out the time and immediately settled the match.

And his eyes widened at the result.

Keter threw rock. Amon also threw rock.

For the first time, it was a tie.

Joyray also shouted in surprise.

“Result, a tie! Rematch!”

“What?”

“Raise your hand, Amon. It’s a rematch.”

Keter calmly raised his hand.

Amon also raised his hand, but he felt puzzled. Keter could have won. So why the tie?

The 12th match also ended the same way.

“Tie!”

The 13th match as well.

“Ti-tie?”

Joyray also felt something was off. Until now, there had always been a clear winner, but from the 11th match onward, it was only ties.

This tie continued until the 29th match.

The monsters, who had been watching with interest, were now getting annoyed. They wanted the match to end quickly.

And then Amon realized.

‘Th-this guy has no intention of ending the match with me.’

An infinite tie using the Mandala’s power.

Amon suddenly remembered the rules before starting the game.

-In case of a tie, the game continues until a winner is decided.

-During the match, no actions other than rock-paper-scissors are allowed.

‘Keter. You planned this from the beginning, didn’t you?’

The 30th match.

As Amon was in shock, Keter spoke in the slowed-down time.

“Amon. You and I will be playing rock-paper-scissors here forever.”

This wasn’t just an empty threat.

‘Amon. You and I will be playing rock-paper-scissors here forever.’

Keter’s soul was also saying the same thing as his body.

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