I was really shocked. I couldn’t help but be.

“I’m not of this world, even Baekho doesn’t know this secret!”

How could this man know the truth that even the gods couldn’t see through?

I clenched my fist tightly. It felt clammy because of the sweat on my palm.

Since the fact that I am the ‘author’ who wrote this world is the biggest secret, I first played dumb.

“What, what are you talking about? I am Jegalyeon. You know that.”

I have both a birth and parents that exist perfectly, so what grounds does he have to claim that I am from another world?

“If I catch him, that’s the end.”

But Hyunjungheok knew about me more precisely than I thought.

“You mean the soul that entered Jegalyeon’s body, right? The real Jegalyeon is dead.”

“…What?”

The real Jegalyeon is dead?

Images of a man and woman lying side by side in a place that looked like a ruined building came to my mind.

Is it common for a young couple who just had a child to die side by side like this? Didn’t Baekho say that too, that it seemed like they got involved in a pathetic incident?

And the blood character that was written near the two corpses.

“Could it be that they wanted to leave a mark that it was Hyunkyo’s doing?”

If they were trapped in that ruined building and something happened, then the various clues written on the walls would make sense. She must have wanted to leave clues about her unjust death as a human, as Jegalse.

All the situational clues pointed to Hyunkyo as the culprit. Most of all, the fact that he knew my identity, which no one else knew, was the most definitive evidence.

I asked with a trembling voice.

“…What have you done?”

The real Jegalyeon is dead? Does that mean these people killed the real Jegalyeon?

As I looked at Hyunjungheok with cautious eyes, he shrugged his shoulders and replied in a light tone.

“I didn’t do it. I don’t like playing such complicated games.”

“Then what?”

“The former leader called you. Creating a corpse with a soul inside has been the main focus of Hyunkyo since then.”

Could you not describe the horrific act like some kind of corporate goal?

I bit my lip tightly. The former leader is a typically ambitious and ignoble person, and he loses his position to Hyunjungheok before the real romance begins.

“So at this point, Hyunjungheok is the leader.”

But it seems that this leader had been plotting something tremendous without my knowing. Hyunjungheok really didn’t seem interested and replied in a sullen tone.

“Handling souls is the domain of the gods. So they decided to call a god. So they sacrificed a hundred children.”

“…What?”

They sacrificed children? I was breathless at the cruel words, but Hyunjungheok seemed amused as if my surprise was rather funny.

“You think you can summon a god with just rice cakes and liquor? Obviously, there has to be a sacrifice.”

“So you sacrificed people?”

“What’s that? People outside of Hyunkyo are sacrificing people for even more trivial things. Asking for rain, calming the sea. Isn’t this side smarter? The former leader at least succeeded in summoning you.”

“……”

I closed my mouth at the logical words. Not because I was convinced, but because I felt a wave of guilt as if everything was my fault.

Hyunjungheok poked my serious cheek and said,

“But now that you mention it, I understand, Chubby. You’re not a godlike being. But the former leader didn’t fail either. Because your words really have power.”

He patted his shoulder. The sympathetic words I whispered for his quick recovery ended up turning into a spell that healed his wounds.

I felt bitter, having been hit on the back of my head for something I had given in good faith. I asked, suppressing the urge to cry, with a subdued voice.

“What do you want to do, really?”
Hyuljungheok furrowed his brow as if asking why I kept questioning such things, then crossed his arms and answered.

“I told you. I wish this world would all go to ruin. You said you were the person who could easily do that.”

If I could easily do that, would I have lived like a slave in this world! That’s what I wanted to argue.

“I’ll send you back to your original world. In return, you break the world.”

What he wanted was for me to return to my original world. To go back and fix the novel.

Into complete destruction.

(This is a time separator.)

I asked Hyuljungheok for some time to think alone.

Hyuljungheok seemed hesitant to leave, but after glancing at the clinking shackles around my ankles, he eventually turned away. It seemed he knew that I couldn’t escape, even if he looked away.

Hyuljungheok’s gaze was different from before, but I had no time to care about that. My head was aching too much.

‘I didn’t just come into the novel by accident.’

I vaguely thought I had come in to change Danmokbi’s unfortunate life. But I was the one who didn’t know the truth.

‘I didn’t expect the novel’s characters to call me.’

The author was summoned when they tried to summon a god. That was surprising, but what Hyuljungheok was asking of me was even more so.

‘There’s a way to go home.’