Chapter 164. Qualification
[You failed to overcome the second trial.]
“Haa~ Damn it.”
I sat with my back against a piece of rubble that was just the right shape to lean on, holding Modak and Jayeon in my arms while grumbling.
Honestly, this time I thought I could win.
I never imagined that Pride would be such an insane Mind Power that could keep raising its user’s strength without end.
Tsk.
So that was why he had suddenly awakened all on his own the last time I met him too.
What a damn broken character.
“Does this make any sense?”
I complained.
“I threw spears, used items I made, borrowed my son and daughter’s power, and at the end I even compressed the power I stole from that bastard with the Spiral.”
“And I still lost?”
“The wall of a Demon King is high.”
“See?! I told you to just use Annihilation!”
“I said I don’t want to!”
I hugged them tighter.
“That’s my last bit of pride!”
“Since when did you ever care about that?!”
I sighed along with my two children as they complained.
Sorry your dad is so useless, kids.
Still...
For a pure tank to deal this much damage to a damage-tank hybrid was pretty impressive, wasn’t it?
I mean...
I’m somewhat satisfied.
With Hayangi, I managed to cut off his horn.
And this time, by myself, I left claw marks on his body.
So once the two of us become one again...
Who knows?
Maybe we’ll pull off something incredible.
“But for that, I need to meet that old-young woman Pastien first! Aaaaagh!”
I screamed while hugging the kids tightly and rubbing my cheeks against theirs.
They simply giggled happily at being cuddled.
Viewed from another perspective...
Wasn’t this actually a pretty enviable scene?
“Ah, I miss our kids.”
“We’re right here?”
“Not my children. Our other kids.”
Jayeon tilted her head.
“You mean Mother?”
“...Ahem!”
I coughed.
“W-We’re not... you know... married yet!”
“Mm. Let’s not call her that yet.”
Jayeon stared at me.
“...Dad, you’re strangely slow about things like this.”
Then she smiled.
“Dad, it’s already too late! You can’t run away anymore!”
Hmm....
Was that so?
I had no intention of running away in the first place, so it didn’t matter right now!
Let’s just hope my first love becomes my last love.
Looking back at my past like rewinding a cassette tape during the first trial, there wasn’t really anyone I could call my first love anyway.
Perfect.
They say someone who learns to steal late doesn’t even notice the night passing.
Then what would happen to me, a child who finally understood love for the first time in twenty-five years?
What if I disappointed Pie after she waited twenty years?
She might end up saying something like—
This is why guys who’ve never dated....
“...Dad has no confidence! Sob!”
“You worry about the strangest things!”
...
Anyway.
What now?
The others were nowhere to be seen.
The road ahead was blocked.
And after that fight with First Horn, I probably wouldn’t be able to move properly for a while.
“Qualification... Qualification....”
I thought aloud.
“I’m pretty sure I received one of those in the Black-and-White World.”
I had already eaten the cookie I received back then.
The summoned old man had extracted the contents inside me and used them to make my claws.
But the Fragment of the World was still embedded in my chest.
And there was one thing that had never once revealed itself since I obtained it.
The Qualification.
Back then, I naturally assumed that Qualification was some kind of free-pass ticket to Pastien.
But looking at my current situation...
That didn’t seem to be the case.
...
Still.
Asset, Pastien’s own sister, had personally asked me to take care of her.
Shouldn’t that at least earn me treatment as a guest?
“This is preparation for fighting Ruin, right...?”
To anyone who faced him, Ruin would probably be absolute terror.
I didn’t really feel that way.
I only stopped by, exchanged greetings, got served a meal, and talked about random things.
Yet apparently just doing that raised my entire level of existence!
Game-Dori, Jin, and the Chairman all revered Ruin.
So did the summoned old man.
Apparently, the Ruin who came to destroy a world was a truly horrifying existence.
Not the father of Hope that I had met.
“Well, if I’m supposed to fight Ruin, it would be a little troublesome if I can’t even beat a Demon King.”
Jayeon looked up at me.
“But Father, Ruin is someone who observes the world and decides whether it will continue or end.”
“He is not someone who removes powerful people simply because they are powerful, is he?”
Modak’s eyes lit up.
“Ohhh, our little sister Jayeon made a good point!”
“Who are you calling your little sister, you vulgar creature?”
“What?! Who are you calling vulgar?!”
Hmm.
She was right.
Ruin decided whether a world continued or ended.
He wasn’t someone who checked whether a person existed who could defeat him.
If strength alone were his standard...
He probably wouldn’t even have met me.
Then...
Ruin must have some other criteria.
“Hmm....”
I rubbed my chin.
“Then did the Great Hero of Hope lose because he failed to meet those criteria?”
“Or did he simply lose the fight?”
...
What if Ruin only gave a doomed world a chance to continue when someone fulfilled some special condition?
I see.
If that were true...
Then the Chairman, who was using World Gate as some kind of testing ground, would naturally know about it.
And if he knew that...
Why hadn’t he discarded me yet despite how much I knew?
I shot to my feet while still holding the kids.
Then I looked around.
But after the fight with First Horn, the arena was nothing but burned remains, torn-off pieces, and general wreckage.
There was nothing particularly unusual.
“Hmm.”
“Tsk.”
“Whatever. Screw it.”
I raised my voice.
“Hey! Pastien!”
“The man chosen by Ruin is right here!”
The Chairman had effortlessly disposed of the people he raised himself.
He had handled the Traitor just as easily.
He dealt with Secretary Lee like that too.
He even saw me as nothing more than a tool to exploit.
There was no way someone like that was keeping me around simply as a tool for clearing this game.
If he just needed someone useful...
Chang, who had awakened the Mind Power of Hope, would be perfect.
So the Chairman definitely knew some criterion of Ruin’s that nobody else knew.
And somehow...
Surprisingly...
I fit that criterion.
[The Great Hero of Patience, Pastien, listens to your words!]
“Damn it, if you’re interested, at least show your face....”
I muttered.
“Do you know how embarrassing it is to shout at empty air?”
I cleared my throat.
“Ahem! Anyway!”
