Chapter 739: Pushing forward too rashly (9)

Cale did not miss the instant when Zed's pupils slightly shook. It was a short moment where he was so shocked that he could not control his expression.

"Wanderers? I have no idea what you are talking about."

Although Zed fixed his expression almost immediately…

"You do know."

"...!"

He should know about wanderers since he knows about the Hunters. A thick smile appeared on Cale's face. Zed let out a deep sigh before responding.

"I can't figure you out. Does your mind come and go?"

'They really did wake me up once before knocking me back out.'

During the time when Cale fainted and went over to Raon's side until the sun came up… Zed seemed to have seen the true owner of this attendant's body.

"Yes. Your Majesty. I am not in my proper mindset right now."

"Ho."

Zed scoffed in disbelief. However, his gaze was cold.

"I thought that it was an act or that you had Dissociative Identity Disorder or something. It's a wanderer's ability?"

Zed was providing answers to himself.

"Yes. I guess it is possible for you to control someone else's body if you are a wanderer. Wanderers are people who gave up on being gods anyway. Their abilities are bound to be unique and scary."

Cale smiled and looked up at the sky for a moment.

– Modification 25%...

The percentage was going up quite quickly.

"I looked into your background and they said that you were a clueless attendant born from an average family. But they said that it felt as if you were a completely different person the last few days. It was especially different when the sun was up and when the sun was down."

"There is no time for you to mumble to yourself."

"...."

Cale rudely ignored Zed's comments.

'What's he going to do about it? Would a wanderer be scared of a king?'

Actually, Cale was not very scared of the king despite not being a wanderer.

This was just an illusion after all.

"I am a wanderer gathering information about the Hunters. Okay, that's all the explanation you get about my situation."

It was an extremely lacking and insincere explanation.

"It's my turn to ask the questions."

Cale walked toward Zed. The shadows flinched but he ignored them.

"Your Majesty."

– Modification 57%...

"The House of Crossman was a puppet, weren't you?"

Zed's pupils were shaking violently.

Cale did not need a verbal response after that.

"The ancient White Star must have been used by the Hunters."

Cale had thought that it was weird for a while.

The White Star who was currently Embraced and imprisoned in the golden plaque…

He had chosen to take on the curse of endless reincarnation in order to become a god.

Cale had thought that the White Star was able to prepare all sorts of things in the long span of over 1,000 years thanks to the repeating reincarnations.

However, he started having other thoughts after meeting the sealed god in the first illusion test and gathering new information.

The God of Death had said the following.

'F, furthermore, he is t, trying to make the t, temples appear in numerous worlds, chhhh-'

The sealed god's temples would appear in all sorts of dimensions to swallow people's despair and make the God of Despair stronger.

The sealed God of Despair was unable to do something as big as traveling through dimensions.

He was only able to do that with this test as a medium.

'That means that someone is helping the sealed god regain his powers.'

Those people had the power to travel through dimensions.

Cale had seen someone travel through dimensions as Freshman Kim Rok Soo.

They were the Hunters.

Furthermore, the God of Despair was originally a Hunter.

'The answer is obvious.'

Cale put the pieces of information together.

'The unranked monsters and the guardian… Also the temple… There are Hunters helping the God of Despair to make these things appear in different dimensions.'

Basically, the White Star might think that he did everything on his own, but the Hunters had influenced him whether he knew it or not.

The things that the Hunters have done to assist or maneuver things in a certain way may be hidden in the series of things that had happened without Cale nor possibly even the White Star and his subordinates knowing about them.

'And would that only apply to the current White Star?'

The ancient White Star.

It was truly weird now that he thought about it.

'I was able to gather multiple ancient powers because I had the information from The Birth of a Hero the book.'

Cale Barrow, the current White Star, had spent a thousand years to find and gather ancient powers.

However, the ancient White Star had numerous ancient powers, strong powers at that, from the beginning.

Of course, it was possible that he was born with them similar to how the Super Rock or Fiery thunderbolt and the other people of ancient times, but…

'It's weird.'

How could one person be born with so many different and extremely strong powers?

Furthermore, how would he have decided to aim to become a god out of nowhere and gathered the necessary forces?

'This is only possible if he was receiving assistance we don't know about.'

And the people assisting him?

'The Hunters.'

Cale stared at King Zed and continued speaking.

"Of course, I'm sure that the ancient White Star desired to become a god. I guess it is possible that he cooperated with the Hunters."

Based on the things that the ancient White Star had done, he didn't seem like the type of person who would be fooled and used.

Whether their relationship was cooperation, one-sided use, or even a master-servant relationship…

Nobody knew what it was.

"However, the Hunters do not show up in history, and only the ancient White Star fell."

One step.

That was the distance between Zed and Cale.

"Isn't that why you loathe the Hunters?"

Zed raised his head.

"Haaaaa."

He let out a deep sigh.

"…A terrible bastard was seduced by the stories of another terrible bastard and made a deal with that terrible bastard before he was shunned by him."

The ancient White Star was seduced by the stories of the Hunters and made a deal with them before the Hunters shunned him in the end.

Cale wanted to hear more details from Zed.

He wanted the truth and not his deductions.

– Modification 91%...

However, he had no time.

That was why he asked this question.

"Where are the Red Bloods?"

He was poking around.

The wanderer Choi Jung Gun told Cale to make sure to find the Red Blood household.

They were a Hunter Household that was said to have perished.

No emotions appeared on Zed's face.

But Cale smiled.

"So you do know."

Zed's eyes looked extremely chaotic at that moment.

The smile on Cale's face finally disappeared.

He poked around a second time.

"You do know."

"...!"

Zed finally realized that the original 'so you do know' was Cale poking around. He realized his mistake and tried to fix his expression.

– Modification 95%...

Cale really had no time now.

This illusion would end soon.

'It's fine.'

He had earned everything he could earn.

'As for the White Bloods…'

The White Bloods. This was the household that had betrayed the Hunters.

Cale had debated whether the House of Crossman was the White Bloods.

However, would a household who betrayed the Hunters have been able to create a Royal Family like this?

'Zed showed hostility toward the Hunters but didn't seem to show any signs of wanting to run away from them.'

That was not the actions of a traitor.

'I'll ask about the White Bloods back in the real world.'

Zed Crossman.

Cale now had a reason to meet him in the real world.

Actually, he had many reasons.

– Modification 98%...

Cale asked one final question.

"Your Majesty."

Zed's blank gaze… His eyes that had been full of rage against the Hunters…

That was why it was weird.

The ancient era's White Star was their ancestor almost 10,000 years ago.

Why would anybody care now that someone so long ago was betrayed in a deal with the Hunters or shunned?

Was it something worthy of the king's wrath?

There should be a different reason.

There MUST be a different reason.

That was why Cale chose these as his final questions.

"Are you scared of the Hunters?"

He was trying to figure out the king's inner thoughts.

"Did they threaten your life?"

He was so angry at the Hunters and loathed them…

But he had not shown any signs of going against the Hunters even after Alberu became the crown prince.

He simply spent his days as an old man in the backroom.

He chose to hide instead.

Cale didn't know whether that was to create an attack that would surprise the Hunters or to hide in fear.

Cale's gaze sank coldly.

"Or was someone close to you killed by the Hunters?"

An instant. Zed's eyes were burning up with anger for an instant.

However, the king responded calmly.

"There is no need for you to know."

However, Cale saw it.

– Modification 100% completed.

The king's eyes moved to look at Alberu for an instant before moving back.

Who had killed the crown prince's mother?

Her death was said to have been a mysterious death.

"Your Majesty. I will see you next time."

– Commencing transportation to target Raon Miru.

Cale was dreaming of the slacker life, but… He wanted to rest a bit, but…

He looked at the sleeping fifteen year old boy for a moment before bidding Zed farewell.

The next time he saw this man…

"I will hear everything at that time."

Zed urgently opened his mouth.

"Get him!"

Cale closed his eyes.

One of the king's shadows grabbed him but he just scoffed.

'Like hell you're going to get me. How the hell are you going to grab my conscience?'

Blink.

He closed his eyes and then opened them again.

"…Mmph..."

He was tightly bound against a wooden pillar.

There was a gag in his mouth as well.

There was a black shield with the wooden pillar at its center and Cale saw a familiar forest landscape.

Cale instantly figured out who had done this to him.

'He truly is a vicious Dragon.'

He sulked his head and waited for Raon.

He then realized something.

Choi Han should be here since Raon was only three years old right now.

This Choi Han would be the one who would not have felt the warmth from the villagers of Harris Village yet.

'There's no way they would meet, right?'

It was at that moment.

Baaaaaang!

Cale urgently turned his head after hearing an extremely loud noise.

"...Mmmmph."

Some of the trees in the forest disappeared like dust and he could see Raon and Choi Han fighting against each other.

"I am a strong Dragon!"

"Haaaa. Is it a young Dragon now?"

'Aigoo, my head.'

Cale just closed his eyes.

However, it was already too late.

"You woke up."

Raon suddenly spoke seriously and ignored Choi Han to immediately fly in front of Cale.

"Huh?"

Choi Han looked at Raon in disbelief.

"You were the one who provoked me first."

His voice sounded full of shock but the target of his frustration had already flown over to glare at Cale who stood there with his eyes closed.

'Mm.'

Cale could feel Raon's gaze even with his eyes closed.

He cautiously opened his eyes.

"You're in the right state of mind this time."

Cale flinched at Raon's comment but Raon simply floated around Cale. He looked like a ferocious beast observing his prey.

"You were the terrible bastard earlier. I can't leave that bastard alone."

Raon was unintentionally differentiating between Venion's lackey and Cale.

Cale subconsciously opened his mouth after sensing the vicious aura.

"…Haha, hi?"

Raon quietly observed Cale with a scowl while Cale spoke excitedly.

"We're already at the Forest of Darkness from that far away? You shouldn't have even known the coordinates. You're amazing."

The young Dragon's tail slightly flinched at that moment.

Choi Han approached Cale with an odd expression on his face.

"It's a person. It's a real person."

That blank voice oddly sounded vicious to Cale.

The test voice echoed in his mind at that moment.

– You have discovered a clue, praise, to help target Raon Miru forget about his indignities.

'A clue? Praise?'

Cale thought about Alberu from a moment ago.

'You have provided the target, Alberu Crossman, with the clue, confidence, to transform his indignity.'

Confidence was the clue for Alberu Crossman.

Then what was the clue for Raon?

'Will it come up if I keep praising him? Hmm, this test's voice is surprisingly nice. It's guiding me toward how to pass this test?'

Starting from the beginning, the indignity test had been different from the others.

* * *

Choi Han clenched his eyes closed before opening them back. He saw Kim Hyun Soo, his current face, frowning through the mirror on the refrigerator.

– You have discovered the clue, food, to cover up target Kim Rok Soo's indignity.

– You have discovered the clue, warm home, to cover up target Kim Rok Soo's indignity.

– You have discovered the clue, clean clothes, to cover up target Kim Rok Soo's indignity.

– You have discovered the clue, abundance of food for dinner, to cover up target Kim Rok Soo's indignity.

"How the hell must he have lived...?!"

Choi Han was suppressing this intense emotion inside of him while standing alone in the kitchen before fixing up his expression and heading toward the living room.

Kim Rok Soo, who was watching cartoons and eating chicken, was looking up at Choi Han with clear eyes.

"Here, take the cup. I'll pour you some coke."

Choi Han knew how to order food for delivery now.

"Thank you very much."

Choi Han could not help but feel pity while looking at Kim Rok Soo respectfully thank him.

Whether this was an illusion or not, it seemed as if he'd need to fatten this kid up first.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]