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Five minutes ago, the Frost Queen had just created an ice sheet to push the underground prison up to ground level.
"I'm upset," said Seo Jun-Sik upon being summoned to the 12th basement floor. He kicked a random stone away and pouted. "You want me to self-destruct again, am I right? It wasn’t a pleasant experience at all. Dying hurts, you know."
"No." Seo Jun-Ho shook his head and explained, "This time, I have a role for you that will allow you to run away and escape with your life.”
"...Really? I get to live?" Seo Jun-Sik’s ears perked as he eagerly asked, "What role is it? What do I have to do?”
"It’s easy. You just have to run away by yourself."
“Huh? You’re trying to trick me again, are you? You liar! It can’t be that easy!" Seo Jun-Sik exclaimed.
He couldn’t believe that the Original who had made him clean the entire Administrator’s Store by himself—the Original who had forced him to sacrifice himself—was saying such things. It was simply unbelievable.
Seo Jun-Sik put his hand on Seo Jun-Ho's forehead and asked, "Are you sick? What’s going on?”
"What do you think?" Seo Jun-Ho smiled bitterly and tapped Seo Jun-Sik's shoulder. "I actually feel bad about what I have done to you so far.”
"Hm," Seo Jun-Sik muttered. He didn’t expect to hear an apology from his Original. For some reason, he felt awkward, so he stepped backward and coughed dryly. "Nah, it's better for me to die than for you to die. You're the Original, anyway."
"I’m not planning on dying. Just lure the enemies away, so I’ll have a bit more chance to survive," said Seo Jun-Ho.
"Are you sure about that? Where in the Imperial Palace, you know?"
“…” Seo Jun-Ho didn’t say anything in response. However, his expression was clearly saying that it didn’t matter because he was Seo Jun-Ho.
Seo Jun-Sik smirked at the sight. "Well, why am I even concerned about you?"
Seo Jun-Sik could imagine himself dying in many ways, but he couldn’t imagine Seo Jun-Ho dying.
Seo Jun-Sik warmed up by stretching. "Ah, I’m worried. I’m a fast runner, so what are you going to do if they give up on chasing me and come after you?”
“Well…”
"Pffft! I know! I should hold back, right? Anyway, don’t worry. I won’t run that fast," said Seo Jun-Sik. His mood seemed to have improved.
Seeing that, Seo Jun-Ho handed something over to Seo Jun-Sik.
It was a large sack made out of darkness.
"I want you to run while carrying this."
"What is this? Did you put a bomb inside?" Seo Jun-Sik checked the sack with a frown, but the sack was empty. "There's nothing in here, but it's bulky, so it's annoying to carry it while running..."
"If you manage to hold on to it until we group up, then I'll give you a hundred meal coupons for it.”
"A-a hundred?" Seo Jun-Sik’s eyes widened. He hurriedly embraced the sack as if it were a priceless treasure. "I'll protect it with my life. When do I start running?"
"Once we’re above ground, I want you to immediately start running.”
"Where do I go?"
"It doesn't matter. Just don’t get caught."
“Pffft! That's easy." Seo Jun-Sik smiled brightly and tapped Seo Jun-Ho’s shoulder. "I knew you could do it, Original. This is how you do it; this is how to be nice. I want you to make me do something like this more often."
"Should I?"
"Yeah, I would do a mission like this a thousand times over without any complaints—hey, what are you doing?”
"Nothing,” said Seo Jun-Ho with a faint smile and closed his Vita’s camera.
***
Seo Jun-Sik was extremely obedient. When the prison burst out of the ground, he immediately ran away without looking back.
"Hahaha, this is too easy!” The cool breeze hitting his face made him laugh. He thought that perhaps he would get along with his Original better if the latter were to give him more missions like this.
'Well, shall I adjust my speed?’
If he ran too fast, the enemies would give up.
Seo Jun-Sik was surprised when he looked back.
‘What?’
Digor Myulivaf. The Imperial Prince was chasing after him, seemingly pleased.
Flustered, Seo Jun-Sik yelled, "Hey! Get lost!"
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“A provocation. Are you angry because your plan didn't work out?”
"What are you talking about? Get lost!" asked Seo Jun-Sik.
However, Digor sent a wave of Force to Seo Jun-Sik rather than responding with words.
"Argh!"
The roof collapsed. Seo Jun-Sik lost his footing and crashed to the ground.
"Cough! Cough! Ptoooey!" he coughed and spat the dust he inadvertently caught in his mouth before hurriedly standing up.
‘I'm in trouble.’
Digor was chasing after him, and it was a turn of events that Seo Jun-Sik hadn’t expected at all. Right now, Seo Jun-Sik reckoned that Seo Jun-Ho was panicking right now.
“Would he really be?” muttered Seo Jun-Sik.
Wouldn’t he conduct a slaughter, considering that Digor wasn’t nearby?
Bang!
Digor broke through the walls and landed. He stared at Seo Jun-Sik. "I’m disappointed. I didn’t expect that you would try to distract me with that clone.”
"Who cares, dumbass!" Seo Jun-Sik snapped. Seo Jun-Sik was furious. It seemed that Seo Jun-Ho had fooled him and Digor. However, the difference between him and Digor was that Digor still had no idea that he had been fooled.
"Subdue him. You can cut one or two of his limbs."
The imperial knights pounced on Seo Jun-Sik at Digor's command.
"Ah, no…!" Seo Jun-Sik exclaimed and embraced the sack in his arms as if it were a treasure that was more precious than any other treasure in the world.
Seeing that, Digor was convinced.
‘I was right; he’s the original...’
However, the misunderstanding only deepened.
***
"Seo... Jun-Ho?" muttered the bleeding knight captain.
'Does that mean that His Highness...’
In other words, Digor was chasing after the wrong guy.
Seo Jun-Ho was devious. He had made sure that Digor would misunderstand.
‘He took advantage of His Highness' brilliance to fool His Highness.’
Seo Jun-Ho had gambled with his life on the line.
The knight captain shivered slightly.
'It’s treason to even think of this, but His Highness isn’t his match.’
Seo Jun-Ho was as devious and domineering as the Emperor of Babella.
“Haaa, haaa—Contractor!" A young woman was dragging Rahmadat over to Seo Jun-Ho. "Help me. He’s too heavy!"
"Give me a moment,” said Seo Jun-Ho.
He turned to look at the knights and took a stance.
"Spread out! Call for reinforcements!" exclaimed the knight captain. It seemed that his instincts didn’t want him to waste any more time.
"Oh?"
Clang!
Seo Jun-Ho inwardly praised the knight captain. ‘I didn't expect him to respond.’
Unfortunately, their fate was already set in stone.
Swoosh!
Seo Jun-Ho’s darkness consumed everything in its path.
"C-captain!"
"You devil…!"
The surrounding imperial knights rushed at Seo Jun-Ho in fury.
"You should have ignored your superior’s orders," said Seo Jun-Ho.
With that, the imperial knights near Seo Jun-Ho horizontally in half by Seo Jun-Ho’s sword move. It was such a pitiful death, considering that an imperial knight was strong enough to take on elite Players.
Seo Jun-Ho walked through the bloodied tiles and carried Rahmadat on his back.
"Are you sure you’re not overdoing it? You can just leave me here. These guys don’t know how to torture people, anyway," said Rahmadat.
"You’re the one who’s overdoing it," Seo Jun-Ho said coldly. Rahmadat wasn’t recovering from his injuries because he had already run out of magic.
"Contractor," said the Frost Queen.
"I know."
A cacophony of footsteps reverberated throughout the Imperial Palace, and those footsteps belonged to at least a few hundred people. Seo Jun-Ho reckoned that every troop in the Imperial Palace was going over here to capture him.
'…Should I say that I’m relieved?'
Seo Jun-Ho was prepared to fight the Emperor of Babella.
However, it seemed that the emperor was adamant about hiding
Rip!
Seo Jun-Ho ripped a teleport scroll.
"It’s not working."
"I knew it."
Seo Jun-Ho presumed that a teleport scroll couldn’t be used in Babylon. After all, Digor was in Babylon as well, and he had to have distorted the surrounding space to prevent escape by Teleport.
‘I have to get out of the capital and run as far as I can away from Digor…”
Unfortunately, it was a difficult endeavor. After all, Seo Jun-Ho had to avoid being caught by the imperial knights, and he also had to make sure that Rahmadat would remain safe on his back.
The Frost Queen looked worried as she said, "From now on, everything depends on how much time Jun-Sik can buy."
"He should last at least half an hour."
"Half an hour? His opponent is an imperial prince, you know?"
"He can do it,” said Seo Jun-Ho as he proceeded to tie Rahmadat to himself. "After all, he’s my one and only clone."
***
Creaaak!
Space distorted, and Seo Jun-Sik was repelled. He flew backward and had to roll a few times before stopping. He barely managed to lift his upper body as he desperately tried to catch his breath.
“Haaa… haaa…” His legs felt like they were made out of lead, and his vision was swimming. He could also feel a hot liquid dripping down his face, which meant that he was suffering from a head injury.
"Fuck, there are too many of them,” remarked Seo Jun-Sik.
Digor was an overwhelming opponent alone, but he also had fifty imperial knights.
"I can see that you’re a bit angry at me.” Seo Jun-Sik chuckled dryly. Seo Jun-Sik had killed thirty-seven imperial knights so far. The imperial knights' gaze toward him had changed subtly compared to the first time they cornered him.
"What’s up with that look? Are you already tired of me? Come on, it hasn't even been that long since we met."
The imperial knights were tired, and they stared at Seo Jun-Sik as if he were a monster.
Seo Jun-Sik forced himself to stand up, ignoring his injuries and fatigue.
"Well, I’m still not quite done yet. I’m not even that injured. I’m fine.”
“Hm? I can see that only that mouth of yours is fine,” muttered Digor with his hands behind him. He had already cornered his enemy, but he wasn’t happy at all. ‘This is weird. There’s no way he could have defeated General Ceylonso when he’s this weak...’
Seo Jun-Ho’s true power was the reason why Digor had only been sending attacks from the rearguard. He had to be extremely careful when dealing with the former. After all, Seo Jun-Ho had killed General Ceylonso.
"Pffft! You shouldn’t think too deeply about it. Your dumb face won’t change, anyway."
“…” Digor wordlessly bit his lips. The anxiety that had been brewing in him since he left the capital to chase after Seo Jun-Ho was starting to snowball.
‘On the off chance that he’s a clone...’
Digor would accomplish basically nothing, and it would be even more shameful because it meant that he had fallen for his own genius.
- Don’t forget to think that you are dancing in the palm of his hand, and move accordingly with that thought in mind.
Digor’s mood worsened upon recalling the emperor’s words.
"There’s no way..." Digor pushed past the knights and said firmly, "I’ll check for myself. There’s no way you’re the clone."
"Pffft!" Seo Jun-Sik chuckled before pushing his bloody and sweaty hair back and sticking out his tongue at Digor. "Sorry, but I’m the clone!"
"Your trickery truly knows no bounds…" said Digor.
"My trickery? Well, you’re kind of correct," replied Seo Jun-Sik.
Seo Jun-Sik’s trickery was talking nonstop to buy time because he had already reached his limits.
‘My mouth isn't fine, actually.’
His mouth was injured, so speaking was painful. However, there wasn’t really anything he could do here aside from struggling until the end.
‘I’m grateful that you’re paying so much attention to my words… Anyway, I wonder how far he is right now?’ Seo Jun-Sik smiled and took out his weapon. "Look at this thing, do you want to know its name? Its previous name was Cold Spear, but I took it to a fortune teller and—”
"I’m not wrong..."
Creaaak!
Space was abruptly distorted along with Seo Jun-Sik's left arm.
"Argh!” Seo Jun-Sik exclaimed and staggered.
"I'm not wrong. You’re the original, right? Am I right?"
"Aaargh!"
Creaaak!
Space distorted once more, and it twisted Seo Jun-Sik’s leg into a weird angle. With one of his feet out of commission, Seo Jun-Sik fell to the ground.
Digor grabbed him by the collar. "Look me in the eye and say it."
Digor’s cold eyes were filled with a terrifying madness.
However, Seo Jun-Sik simply smiled at the sight of it. "Aren’t you curious? Why don’t you check it for yourself?”
“…” Digor wordlessly hurled Seo Jun-Sik away before walking over to the sack wrapped in darkness. He momentarily hesitated before decisively tearing the sack apart.
"What…?" Digor's eyes shook violently. The sack was empty.
“Haaap!” Seo Jun-Sik roared and hurled White Dragon with all of his might.
Clang!
Digor slapped White Dragon away before extending his hand toward Seo Jun-Sik.
A large distortion in space appeared directly on Seo Jun-Sik, tearing him apart.
“Aaaargh!"
Seo Jun-Sik’s consciousness swam and darkened. He squeezed the final vestiges of his strength and smiled as he raised his middle finger at Digor. “Pffft!”
“Aaaaaahhhhhh…!” Digor shouted furiously and stomped at Seo Jun-Sik.
However, Seo Jun-Sik disappeared right before his eyes, and his foot only ended up hitting the floor.