Saving My Favorite in a Doomed World – Chapter 123

Author: rolypoly

“What makes you think that?”

Hwashin chewed on a squid leg without a single change in his expression. Even his chewing rhythm remained constant. He looked as relaxed as if he were listening to the idle chatter of a cute nephew.

Lee Suho was actually deeply impressed by that incredible poker face.

As expected of our hyung.

“I heard… what those people were saying. It seems the shadow barged in because it wanted to eat the cake the dancers were eating.”

His face flushing red, Lee Suho began to recount what he had overheard. Looking at his expression, he seemed ashamed of the mere fact that he had eavesdropped on someone else’s conversation. To think they did that to such a good kid. Why on earth did the people in those ‘ghost stories’ act that way?

No, it was already a finished matter.

Forget it, forget it.

“…Anyway, I heard that curly-haired person tell the other dancers that she would charge at the King, so they should handle the remaining nobles.”

“What did she say they’ll do about the soldiers or mages inside the hall?”

“It seems a shift change occurs once among the soldiers in between. There’s about a one-minute gap at that time, and that moment seems to be when they intend to attempt the assassination. …As for the mages, do you see that gold necklace over there? Once that necklace is activated, it seems it can block mana for a very brief moment. If that happens, the deployed mages will be rendered useless, so there won’t be any problem when killing the king.”

Slowly. Even though he spoke in a crawling voice, its amount and quality were substantial. For the first time, Hwashin turned his head as if surprised and looked down at Suho.

“Suho. You eavesdropped quite a lot, didn’t you?”

“….W-what should we do now? Jian Noona said we should watch for now. She also added that if the dancers attack the King, we might have to protect him.”

“….Jian said that?”

….Well, she could think that way.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Hwashin, who had been lightly tapping the table with his index finger, told Sooho to return to his seat for now. In any case, there was a margin of about three songs until the shift change when they would carry out the deed. Returning to his seat, Suho tore the tablecloth on the table and conveyed the situation to Mueum and Jian. Seeing how he immediately passed along the story, he was a truly clever kid. What was he like at Suho’s age?

He can’t even remember.

“It seems you’ve figured it out.”

Cha Jaeha, who had been sitting like a statue with his arms crossed, finally opened his mouth. However, just like Hwashin, his eyes remained fixed on the dancers’ sword dance. Hwashin nodded his head and replied.

“Only the part about the dancers being assassins.”

It was only a moment ago that Cha Jaeha had noticed that fact as well. By combining the pieces of information he had gathered under Hwashin’s prodding, he had reached the conclusion that the dancers were assassins.

“However, it seems only you, Jaeha, have noticed why the ‘Hell of Falsehood’ opened and where the protagonist is.”

“That’s possible. Why? Do you want me to tell you in advance?”

Hwashin shrugged his shoulders as if to say, ‘Why bother.’

Even if they knew, nothing much would change. In fact, it might be better not to know.

Truth is a tempting fruit, but there is no guarantee that the fruit isn’t poisonous. It was a similar logic to how the saying that a lie can be medicine for someone is sometimes applicable.

However, the concern was Cha Jaeha, who already knew all the facts.

“Can you handle it? If that’s correct, you—”

Hwashin let his words trail off. Whatever came next was for Cha Jaeha to bear.

No, if you can’t do it, I will.

“You know what I’m going to say.”

Cha Jaeha replied firmly. His gaze was still straight and unwavering. Those virtuous eyes looked only forward. He did not look back. He no longer had a past to hesitate over.

“Whaaaat—?”

His tone suggested he should have memorized it by now. At those words, Hwashin burst out into a hollow laugh, clutching his stomach.

Was Cha Jaeha always this kind of guy?

The content of the conversation, which felt as if he trusted Hwashin entirely, didn’t sound too bad.

“It’s not about being able to do it; it’s about doing it.”

At the two overlapping voices, Hwashin exhaled a short breath as if satisfied.

Cha Jaeha was a solid individual. He was someone who would even throw away his life to protect his beliefs. It was Hwashin himself who knew that better than anyone.

At the same time, he was easily broken. Solid things are sometimes prone to snapping in half instantly at even the slightest external impact. Without even realizing it.

That was why a comrade was needed beside that solidity.

Another upright comrade of similar strength who could protect his solidity.

And yet another person who could flexibly withstand the shock beside him.

Hwashin knew.

‘That rigid conviction will become an obstacle in this hell.’

The Hell of Falsehood is primarily set in ‘a country made of liars,’ and the protagonist girl’s name is ‘Verite.’

Unable to endure her own body, which is filled with a stench from repeated lies, Verite herself creates the world known as ‘hell.’

Come to think of it, a normal world existed even before the hell. Only an individual who feels disillusionment toward that world and wishes to destroy everything can create a ‘hell.’

Then why did only Verite create a ‘hell’? She wasn’t the only one who lied.

After running away, Verite becomes a ‘dancer’ to steal a royal relic. This was because dancers, who mainly attended banquets, had more freedom to enter and exit the royal castle than ordinary people. And before long, Verite witnessed the dancers she worked with being sold off to the nobles who often attended the banquets.

Yes, that was being sold. It was not of their own will.

Witnessing that scene, Verite asked Samela, the leader of the group, in the old wagon on the way back. Samela was wearing hard-to-find reading glasses and reading a book that had been tossed into a corner of the wagon.

‘Samela, why do we let those situations happen? They are our friends.’

‘Verite, it’s because we have no power.’

At her answer, Verite crawled from the wagon window toward Samela and asked again.

‘Why do we have no power?’

‘Because in the past, there was no one who asked that. Or they were so few that they were ignored.’

Samela said so as she brushed back the young girl’s hair.

‘Your hair is very fine. Unlike my curly hair, it brushes back so easily.’

As she spoke, she smiled with a sad face. Though she was smiling, it felt as if she were crying.

There are two kinds of expressions for people who tell lies. They either look perfectly fine, as if they are telling the truth, or they harbor contradictory emotions like her.

Samela grabbed Verite’s arms and rested her own forehead against the girl’s. The hands holding her wrists were trembling, but the grip was by no means weak.

‘Verite. If there is ever something you find strange, like today, always ask a question. It doesn’t matter who the subject is. Yes, even if it’s me. Because the world is telling far more lies than you know.’

Samela’s red eyes always blazed like fire. Also, her flamboyant curly hair was twisted like her life, but it was beautiful. At least, if the life story Verite had heard directly from her wasn’t a lie, it certainly was.

Because these dancers who were with Verite were the only people she had met who didn’t smell of a stench.

‘The world will make you feel like you can’t do what you can, and it will also tell you that you should like what you hate doing. At first, you might think they’re right. But Verite, in those moments, think of the meaning contained in your name. Lies can never defeat the truth. The power held by the truth is more formidable than you think.’

‘….But Samela.’

I am already full of stench. Don’t you feel it?

I only entered this place to use you all.

Wiping the corners of Verite’s wet eyes as she began to tear up, Samela smiled.

‘I don’t know your reason for being with us, but people who want to become royal dancers always have their own goals. I know, so don’t worry too much. We will cheer for you. However, make sure to achieve that goal before you are sold to someone.’

Because fate does not wait for you.

And it was the very next day.

‘Me? ….I see. I’ve been sold.’

‘He’s an old baron, but you’ll be entering as his first concubine, so the treatment will be good. ….If that pig-like b*stard tries to harm you.’

‘I’m fine, Samela. Could you… leave me alone with Verite for a moment?’

One of the dancers, who had been like a real sister since the day Verite first became a dancer, was sold to some noble.

‘Hey, come here.’

The one who, after she became a dancer, taught her what ‘warmth’ was for the first time told Vérité as she tied her own scarf around her before leaving.

‘When we meet again, make sure to wear this scarf. It’s my most precious possession, so never lose it.’

This place was a world where lies were everyday life.

The woman who said they would see each other again informed Verite of her news through a rumor that she had been sold to a noble and died.

The words she left behind were,

The first lie she had ever told her.

That night, Verite wiped her tears with the scarf she had left behind. In front of the grave of someone with the same name whom she didn’t even know, the girl wailed.

On the way back home, trudging with the soaked scarf, the girl discovered a phrase embroidered on it.

—May ‘Truth’ be with you on every path you take. I love you, my little Truth. —

Ah.

Ahhh.

Aaaaaah.

The girl screamed. Tears she thought had all dried up soaked her eyes once again like a storm. She collapsed. She thought it was a world that had already collapsed. It seemed there was still something left to disappear. How heartless God is.

What more do You have left to take from me? Are You trying to take away even my only warmth?

‘Samela, I have something to tell you.’

With that incident as a catalyst, Verite revealed all of her plans to Samela. The lies in the village, the reason she fled the village as if escaping, and the fact that she joined the dancers to steal the royal relic. Everything from one to ten.

Every time she opened her mouth, she worried that her stench would pour out. But Samela once again brushed back Verite’s lovely hair. It was a gentle touch. With that touch, Samela this time held up a sword from a drawer.

‘Verite, since you told me, I’ll tell you too.’

‘What?’

‘Verite, I am going to kill the King.’

And perhaps killing the King will be helpful in achieving your goal.

‘I’ll be going now.’

After hearing everything from Samela, Verite left the room with a flushed face. For the first time, she had spat out the whole truth. It was a truly strange feeling. At the same time, she was happy that Samela trusted her and shared her entire plan.

As she had said, the plans of the two women were consistent in some parts.

‘When you steal the royal relic, make sure to check that bottle. And you must never drink the liquid in that bottle immediately. Because that relic is not completed as one.’

A royal relic that was not completed as one.

Samela, who worked as a dancer belonging to the royal castle, had heard rumors about that relic.

‘For the royal relic to fulfill its role, the necklace the King is wearing is necessary. It is only completed when mixed with another liquid inside that necklace.’

So, if Samela achieved her goal, Verite could naturally achieve hers as well.

Having finished the conversation, she headed to her bedroom with a much lighter heart.

But strangely, the stench growing from her body did not disappear. No, rather, it felt even larger than before.

Verite realized it then.

This black liquid covering her body, this filthy hallucination and stench, was not the lies themselves.

It was ‘guilt.’

And she realized that this guilt does not shrink but grows larger and larger even when she meets truly pure people and reveals her whole heart to them.

Verite realized.

What created the Hell of Falsehood was not the girl’s lies, but the girl’s guilt.