There Is No Hidden Villain in This Novel – Chapter 45

Author: nicotine

“What? You found it? Crazy, share it with me!”

“No, that’s not it, no, fuck, it wasn’t me. You sons of bitches, open Everytime!”

From a distance away from the cadet who was on the verge of being crushed to death by the crowd that had gathered for the crime of shouting one sentence, someone who had been tapping their phone frantically stopped dead in their tracks and muttered blankly.

“How to download and unzip a compressed file…?”

“Look at the file title below that!”

As the cadets each acted as if they were out of their minds, Logan hastily snatched the phone of a cadet standing next to him. That jerk, he could have just turned on his own.

But it worked out well. Because right now, these words would be floating in Logan’s vision.

「♡With the ★1st Year 1st Semester Midterm Exam Cheat Sheet★ you can be #1 too♡」

“What is this craziness?”

Anyone would think it was bullshit.

The situation, which could have been dismissed as a lie to spread a hacking virus, was, however, the truth. Testimonial posts from cadets who had already turned on a spare phone and downloaded the file were popping up like mushrooms after a rain.

People who never thought they could get a cheat sheet because they had no connections at Areia, weren’t from a prestigious family, a powerful clan, or a martial arts sect. After seeing the posts on Everytime thanking whoever uploaded it to the internet, everyone started downloading and unzipping it like mushrooms after a rain.

Some said it was probably a lie. Others questioned why people were reacting so strongly to what was just dummy information. But as the verification began and it was revealed through the testimonies of actual cheat sheet holders that this was the real deal.

Chaos descended.

“Wha, what kind of bullshit is this! Fuck! Who just spreads a cheat sheet on the internet for free?!”

“What kind of crazy bastard would do something like this…!”

The cadets who had formed a cheat sheet cartel, and the cadets who had formed a cheat sheet exploration team and achieved results, were all experiencing their sanity leaving them.

But someone, who had been agonizing over the thought that they would never be able to obtain a cheat sheet due to their innate conditions, must be happy.

‘Haha.’

To do a good deed and piss people off in one fell swoop, I really am a genius. Today, too, I am very satisfied with my bitchy life.

‘Alright, then shall I go find the shaman now?’

I did a good deed, didn’t I? So you’ll save me now, right?

And this is what Shin Myohan said.

“Impossi—ble—.”

I had just lied about having read all the books and dragged the shaman to the library, only to be sentenced to death in my pitiful life.

To be perfectly honest, I almost got on my knees and begged her to save me, asking why it wasn’t possible. But this body was, damn it, Cassis de Millang. There was no ‘moderation’ when it came to the de Millang’s dignity.

“What is the reason?”

“It’s because I can’t find a fundamental solution. You asked for help, but the truth is, a ghost’s attack is useless against you anyway.”

“Pardon?”

“You might experience some trouble because of ghosts, but it’s better to maintain the status quo than to recklessly poke around, you know? Still, you won’t get possessed, so that’s a relief, right?”

…F-fuck? I’m already possessed, so why are you bringing up possession? I hope there isn’t some hidden meaning in you specifically pointing out the word ‘possession.’ Even if the word ‘possession’ was first used in the occult sense rather than for possessing a book, there’s still the nuance the word carries.

I’m not going to be exorcised like this, am I? I was so damn anxious that I broke out in a cold sweat.

But she was talking about something else.

“You don’t seem to care? That I can’t help you.”

I was forcing myself to act detached to save face, so it was a relief that it looked like I didn’t care. It seemed I really was a genius at acting. But her words were not something I could just let slide. Cassis de Millang could not stand to have his authority diminished, even if his life was hanging by a thread.

“…Did you think I would overlook such a pathetic play on words?”

“That’s not it.”

Shin Myohan, who answered with surprising cheerfulness, walked past me.

From that moment, I felt a strange sensation.

The heel of the mocha-colored loafers she wore was folded down. Her navy-blue long skirt rustled and scattered over her legs. Just a moment ago, she had crossed the space between the brown bookshelves with a free body and soul. But she was completely blocked in by the walls of the bookshelves, and the only escape was behind my back.

So it was as if she were trapped by me.

Because she couldn’t leave even if she wanted to, until she gave me the answer I wanted.

‘As intended.’

But even so, Myohan looked as free as if she were standing in an open field.

How could that be…?

‘Is it because she knows I’m a transmigrator?!’

As I stood there, stiff as a board, her unusually nonchalant face smiled brightly.

“I don’t play games, de Millang.”

“Do you remember what I asked?”

“I’d be an idiot if I didn’t remember that. You said you were having sleep paralysis and asked for help. An exorcism or a talisman, anything would do.”

“And you said no. To then ask if I’m alright sounds like mockery. Perhaps you don’t know because you severely lack social skills.”

“Perhaps so.”

The closer I stepped toward her, who was nodding her head obediently, as if to threaten her, the more I felt a strange sensation squeezing my heart.

I couldn’t tell why, but her eyes seemed to pierce through my physical body and look beyond, and it was, unexpectedly, an unpleasant sensation.

Come to think of it, I don’t see the General God. Fuck. I don’t know where he’s aiming at me from. I instinctively felt that I had to turn on the Heavenly Scripture Art. I let out a breath and turned on the Heavenly Scripture Art.

Then, my breathing stopped, no, it flowed as slowly as if it had stopped, and,

‘I feel like I’m falling.’

One second was torn into hundreds of pieces.

Those who can perceive every single moment that others carelessly let slip by and waste, by splitting it into hundreds, and can move in sync with those instants, we call them Rankers, the Transcended.

And at this very moment, the sensation of all life that had not transcended beating slowly washed over me.

In the timeframe I perceived, both I and Myohan were frozen like mannequins.

But Shin Myohan’s General God, standing behind her, was different. As befitting a Transcended being, he was moving freely through the finely sliced time.

He was holding a massive sword, and his hand was hanging loosely near the hilt, as if he could draw it at any moment. If he had been gripping the hilt tensely, I would have scoffed, but his posture, with his legs shaking nonchalantly, was simply detached and serene. Shall I kill him? He had a pleasant leisureliness, as if he could do whatever he wanted, whenever he made up his mind.

‘—Cheok Jun-gyeong.’

The Swordmaster of Goryeo, who, without a doubt, would have become the number one Ranker in Korea had he been born in the modern era.

The god Shin Myohan served was such a being.

And I realized that the ground he was standing on was a different landscape from the one we were treading.

He seemed to be standing on a cliff like an abyss, and something was moving hazily behind him. I unknowingly narrowed my eyes and focused on that spot. When I thought that a lightning bolt had struck my eyes for a moment, my pupils tingled as if they had been given an injection, and things that had been invisible began to come into sharp focus, as if seen through a magnifying glass.

They were celestial bodies, and threads. The threads were attached to the stars, some were red, some were black, and some were white. Their thickness and length varied. It was a mystical sight, as if well buckets were extending down from the stars.

I suddenly realized the identity of it all.

‘F-fuck. It’s that thing.’

The thin threads belong to healthy young people.

The thick, multi-layered, and sturdy threads like iron chains belong to the old who are about to die.

All of it is the root of the World Tree, and the chains of the well bucket that gives and takes life. The more solid the thread that collects life becomes, the closer a person gets to death.

So, this place is…

‘The root of the World Tree.’

I finally remembered the original novel’s setting. The creator god of this novel is the World Tree. Her roots are the lives of humans, and each strand is a constellation of the celestial bodies. So what I’m seeing is…

The moment I realized, my breath caught in my throat.

This wasn’t something on a scale that I should be seeing.

It was too grand. A scale that could crush a being like me so easily. The scale of the world. A vast divinity. The source of mystery…

It was only then that I realized the reason I was able to reach this place was Shin Myohan.

‘The interval.’

In this world, martial arts, magic, and shamanism all apply a common moral code.

‘If you intend to kill your opponent, you too must enter the interval within which the opponent can kill you.’

So, Shin Myohan had guided me. She had spiritually observed me and tested whether I could invade the interval she had intentionally created.

She had experimented to see if this Cassis de Millang could seize the sliver of an opportunity.

“—Hah.”

By the time I thought my lungs were going to tear, I felt the Heavenly Scripture Art deactivate on its own. When I came to my senses, we were being hit full-on by the nostalgic scent of brittle, old books. As if all those celestial bodies were a lie.

“What did you do?”

When I asked, Myohan smiled.

“Will you believe me if I say I did nothing?”

But I didn’t have the energy to smile. Because everything felt hazy.

“…What is that place? How did I see it?”

“Normally, you can’t see it even if you live your whole life. I’ve only seen it properly once myself, and that place is beautiful and fascinates the body and soul, but it was terrifying. It feels like you’re going to explode and die any second. That weight. But you might be able to see the thread of a single person.”

“Then, how can I see that?”

Shin Myohan furrowed her eyebrows strangely.

“Do you even know what you’re saying?”

She looked at me as if she couldn’t understand me at all, and then said with her face still furrowed.

“De Millang, seeing a single person’s thread means you’re going to meddle with that person’s fate.”

“…”

“So we only see that thread at one single moment.”

When delivering a curse of death.

The shaman added with a chillingly sharp tone.

“When cutting a person’s lifeline.”

…Uh, excuse me. I get what the setting is. I get it.

‘Just get to the point! Do you know something?’