“You…!”
Seo Sumin glared at Yu-hyun with a fierce look and strode towards him.
I didn’t expect a touching reunion, but I thought it might turn into a hostile one.
As soon as I had that thought, Seo Sumin’s hand slapped my left cheek hard.
Slap!
A crisp sound echoed.
It was not just a slap, but a slap from a Heavenly Demon
A Heavenly Demon that could strike with great force.
“Hmm. Are you feeling better now?”
Slap!This time, the other cheek felt a sharp pain.
I guess it was the right cheek’s turn after the left one.
I knew this was all my fault, so I decided to humbly accept it.
Surely, she wouldn’t hit me more, right?
I had a strange worry for a moment, but then Seo Sumin hugged me tightly.
After both cheeks, it was a fierce hug.
“Kukuk.”
Kay, who was watching the scene from behind, laughed and snickered.
He seemed to find it very amusing.
I tried to glare at Kay, but I gave up because of Seo Sumin’s arms that were squeezing me.
“You stupid idiot. Why did you take so long?”
“…I’m sorry for being late.”
That was all I could say.
Seo Sumin had grown a lot since I last saw her.
She used to be shorter than me, but now she is taller.
She must have eaten well and grown well, because Seo Sumin had become a beautiful woman.
She had always shown signs of that, but I only remembered her as a student, so it was hard for me to adjust to the change.
Seo Sumin loosened her arms and moved slightly away from me.
I smiled silently.
“You’ve grown a lot.”
“That’s because time has passed.”
“You look good.”
“Hmph. Of course I do.”
Seo Sumin flipped her hair back with a showy gesture.
She looked very similar to the previous life version of her that I saw in the nightmare of the Heavenly Demon
The only differences were that her hair color was white now and that she wore comfortable clothes for fighting instead of the black robe that exuded dignity.
“I heard the story. You restored Hye-rim unni to her original state.”
“Yes. Hye-rim is fine now. So you don’t have to chase Mara Papias desperately anymore.”
“What exactly happened? I only heard bits and pieces, so I don’t know the details.”
“I was going to explain everything as soon as I met you.”
I glanced at Kay.
He shrugged his shoulders and discreetly left the room.
When we were alone, I told Seo Sumin everything that had happened so far.
Who I met after I woke up, what I went through on my way here, everything.
The story was not long.
Ten minutes.
Maybe that much time had passed.
When I finished my story, Seo Sumin sighed with pity on her face.
“It must have been hard for you.”
“It wasn’t that bad.”
“You’re still hiding your pain as always.”
“…”
Seo Sumin looked at me with a sad expression.
She knew what had happened to me from my calm words, but she could read the sorrow behind them.
To kill a precious person who had changed by my own hands.
To almost lose a precious friend to an invincible enemy.
To be absent from that place and time, to be weak.
To fail to protect what I had in my hands.
She had given up many things because she had power, but how could she not know the sadness of those who had no power?
“It’s okay to cry if you’re sad.”
“At first, I thought so too.”
I smiled bitterly.
“But my precious friend wished that I wouldn’t cry before she left.”
“…I see.”
Seo Sumin didn’t ask who that friend was.
No one else knew about Baekryeon’s existence.
She was only audible to me, so I couldn’t introduce her to anyone else.
And Baekryeon sacrificed herself to save Baek Seo-ryeon.
And before she left, she asked me not to cry.
So I decided not to shed any more tears as she wished.
I didn’t think of it as a heavy burden. It was a promise.
A promise not to waste her sacrifice.
“Are the others okay?”
“They’re all healthy. They suffered some damage in the civil war, but none of the people we knew were hurt or injured.”
The dead people were unfortunate, but there was no room for them to care about them now.
‘Seo Sumin is like that,’ I nodded and closed my mouth.
After waking up five years later, I felt like I had experienced all the past years at once, as I was swept up by all kinds of things.
Seo Sumin could tell.
The moment she saw me, she felt that my atmosphere had changed from before.
I must have gone through a lot and endured a lot of sorrow.
She didn’t know what to say to comfort me.
“You’ve become much stronger while I was gone.”
“Do I look like that?”
“Yes. You didn’t just enter the territory of the Heavenly Demon with your bare body for nothing.”
“…Yeah. But I couldn’t catch the bastard I had to catch the most.”
Seo Sumin clenched her fist and spat out, but soon realized that there was no need for that and chuckled.
“Since Hye-rim unni escaped from the devil’s curse, I don’t have to chase him desperately anymore.”
“Yes. But that doesn’t mean I’ll let him go. He crossed the line.”
“Right. He has to pay for messing with us.”
They both knew what the price was.
Mara Papyas was their enemy.
Even if Hye-rim escaped from the curse, she couldn’t go back to the way she was before, and there was no guarantee that Mara Papias would stay still.
Considering his personality, he would rather grind his teeth and look for a chance to get revenge on them.
In the end, the fight was not over until one of them died.
“So what are you going to do now?”
“First of all, you have to go to the alliance.”
“Me alone? What about you?”
“I have someone else to meet. Well, I don’t know if he’s a person. Anyway… I can’t go back right away.”
“Who are you going to meet?”
“Have you ever heard of the false prophet?”
At that, Seo Sumin shook her head. She hadn’t heard of it either, and I didn’t regret it.
“I’m going to find the person who calls himself the false prophet. And while I’m at it, I’m going to see Satan too.”
“Are you sure you don’t need me to come with you?”
“I can take care of myself without sticking to you, Ms. Sumin. The important thing is the situation of the alliance. You must have heard the news that the altar has moved. I think you know what that means.”
“Yeah. It’s surprising. The altar, which had been quiet until now, suddenly moved and even wiped out the Salio Empire.”
“The alliance is not in a good position. The Salio Empire was a pillar of the alliance, after all. They are gone, and the alliance’s power has been greatly reduced by the internal strife.”
Especially, it was a big blow that Hercules intervened and killed the lords.
He also suffered some loss of power and retreated, but how could that compare to human lives?
“For now, thanks to Mr. Sun Wukong, there are no one who dares to eye the alliance, but that will eventually be a matter of time.”
“Right. There will be those who slowly extend their tentacles again.”
“That’s why the alliance needs your help now, Ms. Sumin. No, for the future.”
“The future? What else is there to happen here?”
“The situation in the mixed world is not good. It’s not something that will end with a simple happening. Maybe something that can’t even compare to the civil war of the alliance… Something like that will happen. I’m sure of it.”
“…I see.”
Sumin nodded with a heavy expression.
She also knew that Yu-hyun’s words were not guesses.
She felt that the atmosphere around her was flowing strangely even while she was staying in Camelot’s inner castle.
As soon as their conversation ended, Kay, who was waiting outside, opened the door and came in.
“So, is the love fight over now?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Hmph.”
Yu-hyun naturally denied it, and Sumin responded with a snort.
“Well, I’m sorry to ruin your touching reunion. No, is it not touching? Anyway, I’d like to give you more time for your reunion, but unfortunately, it’s not the mood right now.”
“What happened?”
“It’s not a big deal. But I think you should know that you won’t be able to stay in this Camelot castle for long.”
“Sir Kay!”
Then someone ran from across the hallway calling Kay’s name.
It was a familiar voice, and Yu-hyun wondered who it was. It was someone he knew.
“Gareth?”
“Huh! K-kang Yu-hyun Teller? No, how did you get here? Anyway, nice to meet you! Oh! This is not it! Sir Kay! Did you hear the news?”
“What are you doing with your pretty hand? The news is the news, but I told you not to make noise while running around in my inner castle.”
“How can you say that when you’re still teasing me with such an embarrassing nickname? Anyway, the king has ordered!”
“The king? What kind of order is that so urgent?”
“He said he would hold a round table meeting.”
“…A round table meeting?”
Kay frowned visibly. Yu-hyun and Sumin looked at him with curious eyes. Kay quickly relaxed his expression and waved his hand as if telling them not to worry.
“No, it’s just that he suddenly did something he didn’t do before.”
“A meeting is not a big deal, right?”
“It would be if it was just a meeting. But a round table meeting is different. First of all, since it has the name of the round table, all the knights of the round table have to gather compulsorily. And the knights of the round table are the pillars of our Mabinogion Camelot.”
A round table meeting was much heavier than a normal meeting and dealt with topics that suited it.
The meeting that gathered only the pillars of Camelot was naturally held only under Arthur’s supervision, and even Arthur did not hold a round table meeting unless the situation was serious enough.
The fact that a round table meeting was held meant that something had happened that could not be done without holding one.
For example, a war that would put Camelot in danger.
“Tsk. I guess there’s no way around it. Guests, please stay here quietly for now. I’ll finish the meeting as soon as possible and send you off.”
“Sir Kay…”
Gareth cautiously called Kay’s name. Kay glared at him impatiently.
“What? Just say it quickly.”
“Well… The king said he wanted to see the guests too.”
“Arthur did?”
Kay corrected Gareth’s words hastily as he glanced around.
“Sir Kay! You can’t call the king’s name so casually!”
“So what? He’s my brother. If he doesn’t like it, let him call me brother.”
“Even so…”
“It’s funny that you respect Lancelot more than the king who betrayed him and call him by his name now.”
“…”
Gareth’s face darkened at the mention of Lancelot.
Kay sighed.
“Ha. Fine. Anyway, if Arthur called them himself, there’s nothing we can do. Guests. Please come with us for a while.”
“Do you know why he called us?”
“If I knew, I would have explained it here. To be honest, I don’t even know what Arthur is thinking. So just follow him for now.”
Yu-hyun and Sumin exchanged glances.
It seemed like something was going on. Or, something was about to happen.
But as long as they were staying here as guests, they couldn’t refuse the call of the king of Camelot.
The two agreed to go and see for themselves and followed Kay.
The corridor of the silver castle was filled with light from the windows outside. And some knights who were busy moving around recognized Kay and Gareth and saluted them.
‘Maybe the knights in the castle are also confused by the round table meeting.’
Yu-hyun glanced over the window at the scenery outside. The whole of Camelot seemed to be in turmoil since the rumor of the round table meeting spread.
Soon, the four of them arrived at the round table meeting hall.
Kay led the way and opened the large sliding door with force.
The scene inside came into view.
The meeting hall was dark due to the poor sunlight.
The only thing that could be called light was the vertical beam that shone through the open ceiling.
Under the natural lighting, there was a huge round table, and around the round table, there were 13 chairs prepared.
And on each round table, there were knights in armor sitting.
Among them was Percival, the long-haired young man who had met them before.
‘Those are the knights of the round table.’
Camelot, which was one of the pillars of the Great Army Mabinogion, and among them, 13 knights who were known to be strong. They looked as formidable as their reputation.
However, some of the 13 chairs were still empty.
‘It’s not that we’re late… Is it impossible for all 13 knights to gather?’
Yu-hyun, who knew a bit about Camelot’s legend, or more precisely, Arthur’s story, knew what the empty seats meant.
The knight of betrayal Lancelot, the traitor Mordred, the adulterer Agravain.
The ones who were not there were these three.
However, these three vacancies were always there or not, and the rest did not care.
“Where is the king?”
Kay went to his assigned seat and sat down.
He looked at the most splendid empty seat and asked.
The one who held the meeting was supposed to be the king, but he had not shown up yet.
Kay muttered ‘what a rotten brother’ in his mind.
Then a man with fiery red hair who had been silent until now opened his mouth.
“Sir Kay.”
“Gawain. What a surprise. You suddenly call me with such a heavy voice. What happened? Where is the king?”
“First of all, let me tell you one thing. I’m the one who organized this meeting.”
“What? But it was the king’s order…”
“The king is dead.”
The shocking truth that came out of Gawain’s mouth spread gloomily inside the round table meeting hall.
Kay narrowed his eyes and glared at Gawain.
“That’s not a funny joke.”
“It’s not a joke. I saw it with my own eyes. Our king was assassinated.”
Yu-hyun and Sumin couldn’t help but stiffen their faces at his words.
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