NOVEL WEB chapter 579 - Villain (5)
“7942? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“7942.”
The man repeated himself.
It seemed like some kind of code word the readers had agreed upon.
I probably had to give the correct response.
“Friends forever!”
Uncle Dansoo suddenly shouted it out, at a speed fit for a quiz show answer.
He half-whispered to me right after.
“Kids these days might not know, but that’s old slang for ‘friends.’ It’s like saying, nice to meet you.”
But no matter how I looked at it, those eyes were not looking at a friend.
The thorn in the man’s hand slowly aimed itself at Uncle Dansoo. His expression hardened coldly, and the standoff grew suffocating.
“9158!”
Gyeong Sein shouted out almost convulsively.
The thorn froze in midair.
“You’re with the 7 Apostles’ Assembly, aren’t you?”
As he said it, Gyeong Sein’s face looked strangely flushed.
The man withdrew the thorn and asked,
“Who are you people?”
***
After using ‘Reader Comment List’ several times, I had slowly figured out the pattern in how readers’ IDs were generated.
For example, Uncle Dansoo’s ID, wldbsdldkQk80, when typed on a Dubeolsik keyboard and switched to Hangul, could be decoded like this:
wldbsdldkQk80
= 지윤이아빠80
= Jiyoon’s Dad 80
Gyeong Sein’s ID, alsdn0905, could be decoded in a similar way.
alsdn0905
= 민우0905
= Minwoo0905 (probably his real name).
Both were the type of IDs that could easily leak personal information.
But the two new people we had met this time were different.
First, that man.
killer_king
= 킬러_킹
= Killer King
Aside from being a mash-up of two words meant to sound cool, there wasn’t much information to be gained.
The woman lighting the fire in the magic brazier, on the other hand, was a little different.
ansgkrthsu64
= 문학소녀64
= Literature Girl 64
I didn’t know her name, but at least it was clear she liked books.
Literature Girl 64 laid the freshly prepared mole cricket meat over the magic brazier and began grilling it slowly over low heat.
“Sit down, for now.”
Killer King gave us a commanding order, then sat down himself.
Perhaps embarrassed after issuing such an order, he added,
“Don’t mind if I speak informally. This isn’t the ‘real world’ anyway.”
“This is still reality.”
“No. This is a ‘new world,’ governed by ‘new laws.’”
Ah. So this was the thought process of someone who had read [N O V E L I G H T] Ways of Survival 99.8 times. If that was the case, I had no choice but to respect it.
Gyeong Sein and Uncle Dansoo didn’t look like they disagreed either.
Everyone here was an adult.
“All three of you are readers?”
“Yes, well, as you can see.”
“How did you know the code phrase of the 7 Apostles’ Assembly?”
The 7 Apostles’ Assembly. I had heard about that community from Gyeong Sein before.
He answered,
“I was a member too. Though I barely ever posted.”
“Nickname.”
“JudgeHeewon.”
Killer King thought for a moment, then asked,
“Are you the guy who used to post ab shots on the board every day?”
“Oh! You remember.”
“How could I not? You did the same thing every day for two years straight.”
“Haha, yeah, I really did.”
“Shame you lost the abs you were so proud of.”
Gyeong Sein glanced down at his small frame and gave a weak laugh.
“Still, it’s fun starting over. Here, if you invest in stats, your body just improves on its own.”
“A convenient world indeed.”
“Now, could we hear your introductions as well?”
“I’m Killer King.”
Gyeong Sein’s mouth fell open.
“Killer King? You’re the Killer King?”
Killer King nodded, and Gyeong Sein trembled all over.
I whispered to him,
“Is he that impressive?”
“Of course! In this scene, there’s no one who doesn’t know that nickname.”
So apparently, this Killer King was quite the big name in that other world.
“Killer King is the ‘Second Apostle’ of the 7 Apostles’ Assembly.”
Since the group was called the 7 Apostles, there must be seven executives in total.
Which meant the man before me was number two.
Wait. Did that mean there was someone who had read even more than him?
As if reading my mind, Gyeong Sein whispered,
“There’s a rumor the First Apostle read Ways of Survival over a hundred times.”
Killer King, who had overheard, cut in.
“It’s not ‘Ways of Survival.’ It’s the ‘Revelation.’ You’ve already forgotten the rules of the Assembly.”
“Ah, right. Sorry.”
“And I was just about to hit the hundredth read-through myself—”
“Enough of that pathetic talk. Just eat.”
The gentle voice drew everyone’s gaze. The one who had been silent all along, Literature Girl 64, had finally spoken.
Perhaps embarrassed by the sudden attention, her face flushed as she lowered her head toward the brazier.
Gyeong Sein asked Killer King,
“Is she also an Apostle?”
Killer King picked up a mole cricket skewer and replied,
“She’s just my younger sister.”
“Oh, so your sister has read the Revelation too?”
“She hasn’t.”
“What? Then how did she end up transmigrated into Ways of Survival?”
At that, Literature Girl 64 glared at Killer King.
He gave a light cough and answered,
“I told her the story of the Revelation a few times.”
“A few times?”
“…Quite a lot, actually.”
That must have been what the (12.8 reads) noted on her info window meant.
She shook her head as if weary of it, then handed each of us a mole cricket skewer.
I was about to gratefully accept mine when Literature Girl 64 stared at me. I stared back blankly, and she ducked her head with a murmur.
I couldn’t make it out, but it seemed to be a thank you.
Probably for warning them about the attack pattern earlier.
“It’s nothing.”
She smiled silently and handed me the skewer.
I was touched. She seemed completely normal.
How depressing, that the one who hadn’t read Ways of Survival turned out more normal than the rest.
[The constellation, ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband,’ smacks his lips.]
[The constellation, ‘Sneaking Schemer,’ swallows his saliva.]
Just in time, too. With my hunger gnawing and the meat sizzling before me, it was impossible to resist.
“Can we eat?” Gyeong Sein asked.
“Eat.”
“Thank you for the meal.”
Without waiting for anyone to stop us, we dug into the meat.
When you eat something truly delicious, silence naturally falls. Nobody voiced it, but we were all thinking the same thing.
「It’s really good.」
The meat that had once only existed in text was now real. The seasoning his sister had used was perfect.
“Wow, this is amazing.”
“You’re really skilled.”
Only after each of them had gnawed through a leg did Gyeong Sein and Uncle Dansoo voice their admiration.
Literature Girl 64 smiled silently.
Killer King, too, nodded as if he didn’t mind the taste.
“Killer King-nim, I’m actually a huge fan. I still remember the four-day comment war you had with the Misread Alliance.”
“You remember useless things.”
“No, really, I can’t believe I get to meet you here. I nearly died so many times already. But you, having read the Revelation 99—”
“Almost 100.”
“Almost 100 times! To think I’d meet Killer King himself…”
“Why are you so happy to meet me?”
“Eh? Well—”
“I could be a bad guy.”
Gyeong Sein blinked.
“How could you say that? There isn’t a single bad person among those who’ve read the Revelation to the end.”
I was briefly at a loss for words.
The bigger surprise came from Killer King’s response.
“Just because someone read it doesn’t mean they’re a good person.”
His side profile as he said it seriously carried a strange melancholy. If only his name wasn’t “Killer King,” it might have even looked cool.
Gyeong Sein seemed touched into silence, and Uncle Dansoo was nodding drowsily with a full stomach.
No one else spoke up, so I had to.
“You sound oddly like someone I know.”
“No, I don’t.”
“You must be a Yoo Joonghyuk fan.”
From beside us, Literature Girl 64 let out a soft snicker.
Killer King looked at me.
“You hardly touched your food.”
“I tend to eat slowly.”
“What’s your nickname?”
“Ah, he’s not part of the Assembly,” Gyeong Sein interjected. “Doesn’t use any communities at all.”
Killer King narrowed his eyes.
“How many times have you read the Revelation?”
“I don’t remember exactly, but I’d say more than ten times.”
[Someone has activated ‘Lie Detection.’]
Wow, he already has [Lie Detection]?
[The opponent has confirmed your statement is true.]
A hundred reads was true. And more than ten was true too.
“Impressive. Ten times makes you at least a mid-level Apostle.”
I was surprised at his genuine awe.
So Apostles had ranks too.
“You flatter me.”
“How did you know the last pattern of the ‘Dark Watchman’? That wasn’t even in the Revelation.”
“I just thought of it.”
[The opponent has confirmed your statement is true.]
Killer King gave me a strange look.
“A precognition skill, perhaps.”
“Well, I do have an ability to uncover hidden information.”
I had my memos, after all. So it wasn’t a complete lie.
[The opponent has confirmed your statement is true.]
Killer King nodded.
“Interesting.”
A brief silence fell.
I spat out the bite of skewer I had been chewing and slowly stood.
“But I don’t find this very interesting.”
At that moment, Uncle Dansoo and Gyeong Sein collapsed to the side.
I clenched a thorn in my hand and glared at the two before me.
Killer King, also holding a thorn, mirrored my combat stance. Beside him, Literature Girl 64 kept her head lowered.
“They’re not dead,” Killer King said. “Just asleep.”
If it was an early-game sleep agent, it was probably Stem of Yanaspreda.
I had no idea how he got it, but it was impressive preparation.
“Why did you do this?”
“Two reasons.”
Killer King looked over at the distant corpse of the Dark Watchman.
“One. You tried to ambush us.”
“That’s not true.”
“Two. I smell blood on you.”
“I caught a lot of mole crickets.”
“Human blood.”
For the first time, I hesitated.
“No matter how much one knows of the Revelation, at the core you’re just an ordinary human. Almost no one who suddenly transmigrates into a novel can kill another person without hesitation.”
“That’s true, but you still have to fight to protect yourself.”
“Ordinary readers follow a pattern. If they were lucky enough to kill bugs, they wouldn’t have killed a single person yet. If they steeled themselves and killed, it’d be just one. But you…”
Looking closely, one of Killer King’s eyes gleamed an ominous crimson.
I knew that skill.
“You’ve killed at least ten people.”
It was the stigma of an Archangel that could read the sins of others.
[Eye of Sin.]
“Still want to say something, murderer?”
So, Killer King’s backing constellation was none other than Archangel Jophiel.