The Damn Family Is Back Again - Chapter 282



Chapter 282. The Seer of Wederos (1)

The event that had been unfolding has come to an end.

By completing four events, the episode was also concluded. The message shone vividly before my eyes.

But.

My head feels as if it might shatter.

This is merely a game.

A game crafted by a creator using RPG Maker, with the sole condition of a reward upon completion.

Yes. It’s just a game.

Even if a story exists, it is entirely unrelated to me.

This is not a game aimed at a specific player like me.

Yet.

It feels… as if it were aimed directly at me…

【 Your death has bestowed despair upon another. This despair has spread like a plague, binding that soul to this place. 】

“Fuck. That can’t be true!”

—Bang! Thud.

I’m dead?

Don’t spout such nonsense.

That damned family of mine vanished just as they wished, and I paid every last cent of the money I had saved for child support, leaving no room for escape.

I had just stepped out of that house.

And yet, I died so pathetically? Just as I grasped the freedom I had longed for?

“Don’t make me laugh. I was just playing a game. There was no reason for me to die!!”

How can I accept such a thing?

From noble mtl dot com

I can’t accept it. I won’t believe it…!

【 Yet, it is not too late. Kim Min-hyuk. 】

In that moment, the message just below caught my eye.

My hand, which had been poised to smash the innocent wall, froze in place.

“Damn it…! Why is this message popping up!”

Logically, there shouldn’t be a script like this.

This line doesn’t even seem necessary. No, it feels downright awkward.

How could they pinpoint the name of someone in Korea so precisely?

Even if I step back, no, even if I take a hundred steps back and think it’s targeting a namesake in South Korea…

The mere fact that my real name is included is absurd.

The irony of this message being visible only to me is overwhelming.

Kim Min-hyuk. Denying the coincidence of those three exact letters is…

“…Enough, damn it. I don’t care about that.”

Yeah. I don’t care about that.

What I want is to return to reality.

What does a game message even mean?

It’s unnecessary.

No need to look at it, no need to listen.

It’s all just worthless noise.

I just need to live and go back. Back to where I originally belonged.

—Thud!

“There they are!”

“Two people spotted! Bring the councilor and the healer!”

It wasn’t long before the episode came to an end.

I shouted, I screamed, even smashed some innocent objects, but…

The unease wouldn’t fade.

*

A mansion steeped in darkness.

The sounds of weeping erupting from the banquet hall, the screams of the terrified.

The rustling from here and there, the chilling roars of monstrous hands.

The main hall, once crowded with people, was a complete disaster.

But then.

At some point, the main hall fell silent.

“The beasts have been dealt with!”

“Where’s the other side?!”

“Nothing unusual. This is…!”

In an instant, the main hall fell silent.

This report made it clear that the onslaught of the beasts had lessened.

“…Did the vanguard eliminate the source? What a relief.”

“How many minutes, no, how many tens of seconds could we have held out…”

“It was dizzying. Both here and there, the situation was utterly bleak… What a relief indeed.”

Well, is that truly the case?

Harnie chuckled softly.

‘Considering the size of this mansion, it must have taken quite a while to search for the gate that serves as the source.’

Moreover, moving as a group would surely draw the beasts’ attention, causing further delays.

Half a day just to advance.

Half a day to eliminate those beasts in the dark.

It would have taken an eternity to finally reach and destroy the source where the beasts emerged.

In other words, it was not the vanguard.

This was the achievement of the man who moved faster than anyone else in such a situation.

Thanks to the absence of the beasts, there was time to recover from the damage and regroup the squads.

Before long, they completed their preparations, leaving behind a minimal force, and began to advance, meeting up with the imperial troops that had been separated from the participants, making the rescue operation much smoother.

A considerable number of rescuers entered alone.

Those gathered in the main hall were slowly making their escape from the mansion.

“Please wait a moment. We must pass through the broken corridor, so it will take time to meet.”

“The entrance is also blocked. We must send each person down under the mansion using magic, so please maintain the order.”

The entrance is blocked and the corridor is severed?

“Is Prince Karsein over there, by any chance?”

“Yes. I’ve heard he’s by the broken corridor.”

I knew he was safe, but over there, huh.

It seemed I would need more time to meet him.

Harnie gradually pushed back her turn, waiting for Karsein.

How much time had passed like this?

By the time more than half of those who had escaped the mansion had done so, and Harnie found herself alone.

Someone cloaked in a hood begins to approach her.

“…”

Harnie swallowed hard.

No Karsein. The protective jewel that could guard her was entrusted to another.

At this moment, she knows all too well how dangerous it is.

Yet, even so, the royal guards still linger nearby.

With the eyes of the tournament participants upon her, how could someone come to harm her so brazenly, without even a hint of concealment?

‘This is not the time for such thoughts.’

Cornered, it was a clear red sign.

The lack of subtlety surely meant someone had sent him.

She had not known there were those willing to burn themselves alive in loyalty to the Marquis, but she could not remain still.

She reached out, ready to weave her magic.

The self-defense spells she had learned were not few.

“If you don’t want to see a harsh fate, it would be wise not to come any closer.”

Still, the stranger continued to advance.

In the moment Harnie could no longer allow the distance to close, she prepared to unleash her magic.

‘What is this? Why, why…!’

The carefully prepared spell turned into a dead weight.

As she faltered, a shadow loomed over her.

She attempted to resist by spraying the self-defense spray she had prepared, but the man spoke sharply.

“There’s no need for that. I’m not here to harm you.”

“…What?”

“Harnie Teresia. You were planning to escape the Teresia Marquisate, but now your plans have changed, and you’ve begun working from the shadows to swallow the Marquisate whole, haven’t you?”

“W-How do you know that…?”

-Slither.

“…I can hear it. A very special sound reaches my ears.”

The hood that had concealed his face fell away.

As the man revealed himself, Harnie could hardly contain her shock.

“Surely, you can’t be…”

In this world, in this empire.

The One Known to Hear the Voice of the Gods.

For the Seer of Wederos stood before me.

*

The end of the afterparty route was drawing near.

A crumbled mansion.

A sudden onslaught of beasts.

What followed the hasty extinguishing of the source was recovery and escape.

“Prince Karsein. It is your turn. Let us descend.”

Before I knew it, my moment had arrived.

Gripping my throbbing head, I pondered for a long while, it seemed I was the last one remaining.

“…It was helpful.”

“Pardon? What do you─”

– *Thud!*

“Ah, no… this height…”

Leaving behind the disheartened knight.

The excitement that had surged moments ago plummeted, settling into a dismal end as I passed by the nobles who lamented the turn of events.

As I pushed through the crowd.

The owner of the jade who had aided me emerged.

“Harnié.”

“Oh my!”

Startled, Harnié spun around to face me.

“Ah… Karsein.”

Perhaps she too had been lost in deep thought.

She seemed quite taken aback.

As I extended the jade, only then did she break into a smile.

“Your body seems to be well enough?”

At those words, once more, a strange sense of déjà vu settled within me.

– *Your body seems to be well enough?*

“How could you do something so dangerous again… do you have any idea how worried I was?”

– *How could you do something so dangerous again… do you have any idea how worried I was?*

It feels as if a strange image overlays the déjà vu.

To her, another person appears.

…Damn it.

As if my head wasn’t already a tangled mess.

Of all things, why must this be what I see?

“Karsein? What’s wrong? You look quite unwell…”

“I suppose I’m just tired. Given how things have turned out today, it’s best I head back. Harnié.”

“Really? Ah… I suppose that’s true.”

“I’ll see you home.”

Under different circumstances, it wouldn’t have mattered, but now, I needed time to think.

*

The time I should have spent with Karsein has slipped away entirely.

With things having come to this, there’s no helping it. The monsters have been relentless; there’s no room for after-parties or anything of the sort. Harnié understood that much.

Yet, separate from all this, something weighed on her heart.

“…”

Even after climbing into the carriage.

Even before stepping into the carriage.

And again, as she stepped down, seeing him off until the very end.

Harnié could not hide her tangled emotions.

Karsein’s expression seemed untouched by any turmoil, but Harnié knew better.

She was well-versed in the art of concealing her own feelings.

Suppressing emotions without revealing them was a skill she had mastered.

Moreover, having observed Karsein over time, she could sense that he was entangled in some complex matter.

And that only deepened her unease.

“Karsein…”

As he saw her off and turned to leave, Harnié murmured weakly, watching the carriage he rode.

And then.

The voice of the seer echoed in her mind once more.

– Karsein Vagrand. Your fiancé will not be herself today.

-What? What do you mean…

-Because there is a secret I have been hiding from you all along. And that has, today, left him in a state of confusion.

I pay no heed to the slander of Karsein that I hear through others.

I had resolved this long ago, and as my feelings for him grew, I decided to ignore it even more when I finally opened my eyes.

Yet the other is a prophet of Wederos.

He is one who knows all manner of futures, starting from the strange weather and predicting them all with uncanny accuracy.

And Harnié has experienced this firsthand.

Indeed, Karsein was not himself today.

“Do you… truly have a secret you haven’t told me?”

If that is the case…

I…

-I shall reveal to you the prophecy that has been laid upon you. Harnié Teresia.