“Just in case, the information inside…”
“I have no clue what it is.”
Emma shook her head before waiting for Dohyuk to finish.
“I know a lot of ways were created to try to kill Casita.”
For a long time, Emma had watched many worlds that were illuminated. And like Dohyuk and Emma, there were many who tried to resist against Casita.
But they were all losers.
Even Dohyuk killed Casita in the previous life, but was the current situation what he wanted? Dohyuk probably thought he could kill Casita once and for all when he fought.
However, he couldn’t do it. Casita turned time back, and he still existed.
All the ways Emma knew about were probably less successful than Dohyuk’s way that allowed him to kill Casita at least once. It was pointless to know about them. Rather, those ways only proved how powerful Casita was.
“…”
Emma reached out in the air and the tent was caught in storm. The faint smoke was sent out of the tent at once.
“It’s hard,” Emma said after she took in a liquid smoke.
“Exactly what part of it?”
“…First, is the machine.”
There must have been a machine to read this. But it wasn’t certain if the machine existed in Dohyuk’s current world. Dohyuk wasn’t actually in Kezinkey’s region when he found the cube. He just followed the scope and found it there. There was no telling that Kezinkey’s region might have a relic in hiding, and if the relic was the machine that could read this.
“And second, even if we find the machine and read the information… it’s still just information.”
The cube was still a portable information storage device. Whatever it held was still just information, perhaps in abundance. Even if it held the secret to kill Casita…
“Why would they have hid the information in it instead of using it to fight Casita? It’s probably because it wasn’t easy to put it into action.”
There was the difficulty of acquiring the information, analyzing it, and making preparations for it. How long would the process be? And if they were successfully able to create it…
“We will then need to question if the weapon is, in fact, viable against Casita.”
Emma continuously smoked her liquid pipe as she spoke.
“To put it simply, it’s a slim chance.”
“But that’s enough.”
“What?”
She replied instinctively, but Dohyuk reached out to her with his hand.
“That thing, is it medicine? Or just a habit?”
“…It’s a pain killer for me.”
She then gave her pipe to Dohyuk.
“But it depends on how thick you make it. It’s common in my world. It maybe gets you to feel a little drunk.”
Dohyuk then carefully took in a short drag. He had smoked cigarettes for a short period of time in his youth.
“…”
Even before he let the smoke out, he felt a strange sensation spreading throughout his body. It was as if a cool, soft breeze was cooling his entire body.
“I will find the machine.”
“Did you hear what I said?”
“So, you don’t want me to find it?” Dohyuk asked as he let out the smoke.
“You can’t come out to my world to go look after it. That’s why you gave me the scope.”
“Yeah, but…”
“Then what’s the problem? You want to find the machine and check what’s inside. I can see it on your face.”
“Yeah, but you’re in a different position than me.”
Emma continued, “Honestly, the amount of time you might waste doesn’t feel too long for me. I have seen many worlds go through illumination until now. But even then, you might not even make it. Besides, you will be putting your world on the line by doing that…”
“But to me, this is the only direction I have,” Dohyuk countered. “I thought you knew that I’m not doing this just to kill time. Didn’t we make this clear already? That our goal is to kill Casita?”
“…”
“Um, ten minutes ago, I had nothing. I had never seen Casita with my own eyes, and I had no idea on how to kill that bastard. None.”
And that answer probably could not be found in Dohyuk’s world. It was Dohyuk himself who knew the best after all, and even he failed.
“But now, it just went up from 0% to a very slim chance. I now have a reason to do this. Is there any reason that I should not?”
Dohyuk explained as he continuously puffed on the water pipe. His face was reddening with each drag.
“I mean, it’s not like I want to put my life on the line for that low chance.”
Was it because he was drunk, or was it because he was being emotional?
“Do you want to know how I want to live? I want to study hard, graduate from college, and get a decent job and enjoy my hobby of drawing things I want to draw. Then if I can, maybe I can find a girl to date… go find a good place to eat… and travel…”
“O-okay. Calm down…”
“What do you know about ME!!”
Dohyuk shouted suddenly and Emma flinched. The pipe fell on to the ground and Dohyuk was grabbing his face with both his hands.
“@#$#$!$!@$%@….”
His voice became softer and it was muffled so it was hard to understand. But it was a rant that was long overdue. Until now, Dohyuk had never complained about what he needed to do. When he wanted to show his weakness or be depressed, he crawled into his sleeping bag and slept.
“C-customer?”
“…”
The moaning stopped and Dohyuk let out a deep sigh. And then he spoke with a clear voice.
“I’m sorry.”
His face still was red, but it seemed like he was more normal now. He picked up the pipe and handed it over to its original owner.
“You… must understand how I feel. You probably went through much worse… I think I made a mistake in what I said. I apologize.”
“It’s okay. You don’t need to be,” Emma answered as she received the pipe. “It’s all but faint memories now… what I faced, how I became who I am now… Most of my memories are from this seat. I almost gave up… and justified myself that I’d done enough. But I probably forgot what I have to do during that time.”
Emma kept nodding as she spoke.
“You are right. There is no problem. If you will do that, there is no reason or right for me to stop you from doing that. I can only say that I will help if it doesn’t harm my world.”
“That’s enough.”
“But it won’t be easy. Even if you decided, it doesn’t make it any easier. To be honest, you might fail even after searching your entire world.”
“…I have an idea.” Dohyuk said, “It might increase the percentage by a lot.”
“…?”
It was a very simple idea that didn’t take more than 30 seconds to explain. But after those 30 seconds, Emma was shocked. It was a crazy idea.
Nonetheless, it was ingenious.
Outside of Emmanoel’s tent.
“Uh…”
“You want to know what happened inside?”
“Huh? Uh-”
“Wasn’t that what you were going to ask?”
“Y-Yes! B-but how…”
Marie Kruger became dumbfounded and Dohyuk hesitated before answering.
“My second Nature is mind reading.”
“….!!”
Dohyuk did not wait for Marie’s reaction. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a packet of papers.
<<Check: Bermura>>
Its purpose was to be used like a personal check, to give coins that were written on the paper to whoever ripped it. It was only when a large amount of coins were earned that the people of the other world could give to the person, but that person would have to pay a 20% withdrawal fee.
Of course-
‘I did this much, and I have to pay for the fee?’
Dohyuk spoke directly with Aruga and made him pay the fee instead.
“Here.”
Dohyuk then paid the 3 million and 400 thousand coins to Marie.
“I hope it’s worth this much.”
“O-of course, it will.”
Marie then handed over a bag with a shaking hand, as if she was worried that Dohyuk might play a trick or something. Inside was the ‘armor’ made by the wing of the four-winged angel. It was the equipment that Emma herself even claimed that Dohyuk will love.
Dohyuk grabbed it by his waist as Marie began to count the checks.
“Should I show you other items…?”
“No. No need. I talked about what I’m going to buy with your boss already.”
Then, after checking the amount Dohyuk gave to her, Marie’s eyes widened with shock. But it was only for a short time period. When Dohyuk mentioned what he was going to purchase, her eyes became much smaller, narrowed with suspicion.
“…That… with this… amount?”
“Why, you think it’s too cheap?”
“N-no.” Marie shook her head, “It’s.. probably the opposite… I never heard it was something to be sold… but even then, with that high price…?”
“You need to learn more.” Dohyuk smiled, “It’s really cheap. Your boss is being generous.”
“…?”
Even after Marie gave Dohyuk the ‘item’, she still didn’t understand.