From Today, I'm a Player

Chapter 54: The Round Table Pt. 4

Chapter 54: The Round Table Pt. 4

As soon as they entered Yeo Seong-Gu’s authority, Bifrost, he had to ask Lee Jun-Kyeong how the latter knew about the fact that he had dated Athena, “How the hell did you know that?”

However, Lee Jun-Kyeong was too busy looking around the Bifrost to answer. It was a legendary space that he had read about countless times in the book of the Demon King. It was a unique type of subspace that only the most special of people could obtain.

‘This is where they hid the secrets behind their strength.’

The secrets behind how the First Hunters, or the Hunters of the secret organizations, were able to become so strong within less than two years of the gates appearing were hidden in this space.

“Hyung, you…” Lee Jun-Kyeong looked over at him and spoke, but he soon shook his head without saying anything as he had been reminded of the things he still hid from him. It wasn’t time yet.

‘Let’s not talk about that just yet.’

It wasn’t that he wanted to hide the fact that he knew about that truth. He simply knew exactly how much that truth would hurt Yeo Seong-Gu. After all, this space had given him great wounds in return for strength.

Lee Jun-Kyeong had decided not to bring that story up yet. Instead, he stated, "So beautiful."

"M… me?" Yeo Seong-Gu responded, so flustered.

“No, not you. This place,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said while pointing around. Yeo Seong-Gu’s Authority, the Bifrost, was amazingly beautiful and limitless. It had a beautiful garden that was so well maintained that it starkly contrasted with the manly appearance of its owner. Moreover, there was a beautiful mansion and a dazzling fountain. Furthermore, in the background, countless rainbows were embroidered in the sky.

Yeo Seong-Gu stated, "It's called Himinbjorg."

"The name of the mansion?" Lee Jun-Kyeong asked.

"Yes."

Apparently, he had even given a name to the mansion

'I already know.'

Of course, Lee Jun-Kyeong had known about it, but had kept silent.

***

After touring the Bifrost, Lee Jun-Kyeong headed over to Himinbjorg following Yeo Seong-Gu’s invitation. The two sat in a well-maintained drawing room.

Lee Jun-Kyeong asked, "Is this place safe?"

"Of course,” Yeo Seong-Gu responded.

Lee Jun-Kyeong took a deep breath, still feeling the effects of the pain that throbbed all over his body.

"If it's too difficult, we can talk next time…" Yeo Seong-Gu trailed off at the end.

Lee Jun-Kyeong shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I wanted to confirm one thing with you, Hyung."

"…”

“Whether or not you choose to walk the same path as I do, can you promise me that what we talk about here stays here, Hyung?”

It was a difficult question to answer for Yeo Seong-Gu. The information Lee Jun-Kyeong possessed and the powers he held that seemed almost heretical were a sticky issue.

As Athena had said, ‘It’s more than qualified to be dangerous.’

‘If he’s a part of that group…’

Yeo Seong-Gu wondered if he could still keep his promise at that point. However, he finally made his decision.

“Okay.”

He didn’t make his choice just out of curiosity to find out the other man’s secrets. Although it hadn’t been that long since they had known each other, from what he understood about Lee Jun-Kyeong throughout this time, Yeo Seong-Gu felt as though there was no way that the younger man would be a part of that sort of group that he was worried about.

“What do you know about the Prophets?” asked Lee Jun-Kyeong.

Yeo Seong-Gu asked, “Prophets? Then, are you a prophet too?”

If it was something like a prophet, then they existed in Asgard and Olympus as well. However, they were only able to acquire clues as to what might happen in the future. It was completely different from what Lee Jun-Kyeong was able to do.

“By chance…” Yeo Seong-Gu asked him carefully, “Are you a regressor?”

There were an incredible number of facets to the Player special ability, many of which defied common sense. It was so reality-defying that even the ability to see the future wasn’t enough to encompass what it could do.

‘I had thought that there was a regressor somewhere, but…’

Yeo Seong-Gu had asked Lee Jun-Kyeong this question on a whim, but he sat, waiting for his answer with a bit of anticipation.

“It’s similar to that. However…” Lee Jun-Kyeong soon answered. “I read a book.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong brought up the story he had been pondering over for quite a while.

“It’s a book about you, Hyung, and your close friend.”

Although he had started the tale, he still thought long and hard about what he should and shouldn’t say. Eventually, he decided to talk only enough to convince him.

"The contents of the book…" Pausing, Lee Jun-Kyeong slowly opened his mouth and continued, "...is a story about a person called the Demon King."

***

"Are you telling me to believe that...?" Yeo Seong-Gu said to Lee Jun-Kyeong with a voice full of distrust. The story he had been told was so absurd that it was difficult to believe. Supposedly, he had already acquainted with Lee Jun-Kyeong, who had somehow fallen into the past due to a book written by a Demon King in the future.

"And you’re saying that I killed you…?" he asked suspiciously.

The other man shook his head. “It wasn’t that you just simply killed me… It seemed as though you already knew these things were going to happen, Hyung.”

Yeo Seong-Gu snorted. “Ha.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong made sure he didn’t share the full details of what was written in the book, only what Yeo Seong-Gu would be able to believe. Nevertheless, Yeo Seong-Gu’s response was remarkable.

"And Athena… In the name of Eden..."

He was having a hard time believing what would happen in the future. That the world would be ruled by an organization called Eden, created by Hunters or even the members that formed that Eden. Not a single part of it was easy to believe.

Especially the portion regarding Athena.

When he had heard the story about her, Yeo Seong-Gu's reaction was outright apparent. The secret relationship between Athena and Yeo Seong-Gu had only been mentioned once in the book of the Demon King. It was a story of a couple who had been forced to separate.

"However… I have no choice but to believe it,” Yeo Seong-Gu finally affirmed. Everything had finally fallen into place. Even if Lee Jun-Kyeong was lying, then he was most likely the returned Demon King who had written the book in the first place

‘The Bifrost.’

–It's not a lie.

The Bifrost hadn’t detected any falseness either.

Although he hadn’t told Lee Jun-Kyeong yet, many powers were hidden within the Bifrost.

‘Ah.’

He had to correct himself.

“The Bifrost said it was all the truth, right?”

Apparently, Lee Jun-Kyeong already knew about that as well. Yeo Seong-Gu didn’t know what to say. In addition, he felt a strange sense of discomfort.

The man in front of him knew his entire future and all of his dirty laundry too. Yeo Seong-Gu was afraid of what else he might know.

"But the book was not complete."

Yeo Seong-Gu blinked. "What…?"

Lee Jun-Kyeong clarified, “The stuff written in the book was only the beginning. Everything else I knew was just information that I learned while in the future.”

“The book wasn’t complete?” he repeated again.

Lee Jun-Kyeong smiled wryly. “A lot of the information written about you was lost, Hyung. The things I know about you are relatively sparse.”

Yeo Seong-Gu thought to himself, ‘If he’s lying to comfort me…then he’s doing a good job.’

While he couldn’t say the discomfort had disappeared completely, regardless of whether those words were false, he felt better.

–He’s telling the truth.

Although he hadn’t asked, Bifrost had also said it was true. He felt like he was on stable footing again, but apparently that was too premature.

"I have something to say. Hyung,’ Lee Jun-Kyeong said in a serious tone. "A lot of things will change soon."

***

As they would be caught by that person if they had left the Round Table Council for too long, regardless of how strong of an Authority they were in, Lee Jun-Kyeong and Yeo Seong-Gu returned after only quickly sharing a condensed version of the story.

Of course, another reason was that Lee Jun-Kyeong had started vomiting blood again.

Cough, cough.

The duvet was drenched once again in a neverending splatter of blood. Impurities were constantly coming out of his body.

“Ugh…”

Despite all the purging he had done, the black beads stuck around his neck and body hadn’t budged whatsoever. Judging from the black color, they seemed to be a mixture of demonic mana, impurities, and dragon blood.

‘Won’t this end up being a problem later?’

He felt as though it would be dangerous to leave them like this. However, even with the power of demonic mana resistance, purification, and harmony, the clogs didn’t disappear.

'Do you know what this is?'

In the end, he had no choice but to attempt to whisper to his Sponsor. But, as expected, there was no answer. He would have to think about how to deal with the black beads eventually. But, for now, there weren’t any reliable ways.

Then, he recalled his meeting with Yeo Seong-Gu.

'Sorry, Hyung.'

In the end, he wasn’t able to tell him everything. It was the decision he had already made in the first place, but he couldn't help but feel a little guilty about having deceived the bald man. It would have been useless to try to hide anything from him if he had not known about Bifrost’s ability to detect lies, but he already knew about the powers of Bifrost, as the Demon King had noted it.

[Bifrost does not actually tell between the lie and truth. What it does is determine whether the target is trying to harm Heimdall.]

As long as the target had no intention of falsely harming Yeo Seong-Gu, Bifrost would judge it to be a true statement. After all, Bifrost’s ability wasn’t falsehood detection.

‘This is much better.’

If he had told him everything, if he had told him what sort of battles and betrayals he would undergo in the future, the future would change drastically. As much as what he had to bear was difficult, the role of changing things was his alone.

But, that wasn’t all of it. If he had told him everything about his future, Yeo Seong-Gu might have gone insane or given up. It may have been different if they were relatively simple spoilers of the future, but if he had provided too much information, there was a chance that his Hyung would have lost all of his will. That was how severe the threats and dangers Yeo Seong-Gu would face were.

If he had known that he would have to face those again, his Hyung might have ended up hating him.

So, he lied. It was a lie that he could bear.

‘So, what is your goal regarding the future that you spoke of?’

Yeo Seong-Gu had asked Lee Jun-Kyeong what he had wanted to do, and Lee Jun-Kyeong had given a simple answer.

‘I want to change the future that I had experienced.’

With that, the bald man didn’t ask any further questions, and the conversation had ended. He had a lot to think about, and Lee Jun-Kyeong was now waiting for his choice after throwing him off the deep end.

“Should I walk a little…” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked while changing his blankets with those that had been prepared in advance. His body was gradually recovering, but he was getting sluggish by just staying in the room. He felt that moving around would be better for recovery.

‘Let’s take a look around the Round Table Council.’

It was a secret organization that even the Demon King didn’t know much about. Lee Jun-Kyeong thought that this was an excellent opportunity for him to take a look around, so he tried to leave the room.

“No, you can’t!

At that moment, he heard Jeong In-Chang’s voice echo in the hallway.

“No no no no no no no no!”

He repeatedly heard him say ‘no’ in English, even though he couldn’t even speak it well.

‘Who is he talking to?’

As his body hadn’t fully recovered yet, he wasn’t able to sense the mana of the person in question.

There was no way that Athena would create such a scene.

‘It might be one of those two.’

If Heracles had woken up, it would be either him or a hunter belonging to the Nile.

"Underdog!"

The answer was the latter.

Bang!

As if he was trying to flee from Jeong In-Chang, a man quickly opened the door and entered.

“I’ll handle it! So say what you will quickly, Inebu!” said the voice of the woman named Numek from outside.

Lee Jun-Kyeong and Inebu were now standing face to face in front of the door.

“A… as expected, you're awake,” Inebu said to Lee Jun-Kyeong with a genuinely welcoming expression. He grabbed onto Lee Jun-Kyeong's hands tightly.

"I am delighted that you are doing well. Looking at your face... You must have shed a lot of blood. We’ll send you either some secret medicine or something good for treating anemia!” he said quickly in English. Lee Jun-Kyeong looked at the hand the Egyptian was holding.

'I couldn't avoid it.'

Although his body was a mess, the speed of the Hunter named Inebu was also extremely fast. He had heard rumors that he was the Commander of Egypt, but to think that the disparity would be this high.

“Mr. Underdog? Mr. Underdog!” he called out to Lee Jun-Kyeong again.

“Please, continue.” Lee Jun-Kyeong looked over at him with slightly lowered eyes.

Inebu stated, "I sincerely apologize for the disrespect."

"Mr. Lee Jun-Kyeong! Are you okay?!" Jeong In-Chang screamed from outside the door.

"Oh, what do you think is going to happen?! I told you, they’re just going to talk!" Numek said lazily in response.

Lee Jun-Kyeong knew that it would be too much for even an Egyptian Commander to bear the responsibility of causing a commotion of this level within the Round Table Council. He wondered what was so important that it was necessary to come to talk while taking such a risk.

"Please come to the Nile!" Inebu pleaded in Korean . "Please!"

1. While the chapters don’t specify it, everyone is speaking in their native languages unless it’s been specified otherwise. In Inebu’s case, he hasn’t said anything in Korean until now, which either shows that he’s already fluent and has been hiding it or that he’s speaking so sincerely that he’d request it in Korean.