Chapter 11. Great Disaster (2)
Majesty Yoo Jaeha was dumbfounded.
He had never seen anyone avoid disasters in such ridiculous ways before.
And yet...
The impregnable golden tower really had collapsed.
There are countless worldlines where people became unable to use Artifacts because of those things.
And then...
Shhhhhhh!
The letters, memories, and fragments of language that had vanished from people's minds began falling from the sky like fresh snow.
A single ray of light had appeared in the middle of despair.
And standing at the center of it all was Seo Jooheon.
Rulebook trembled violently with frustration.
[...I don't understand!]
[You lost 'records.']
[You lost 'language.']
[You lost 'tools.']
[And yet these insignificant humans are still holding on...]
[Why?!]
Its voice gradually became so distorted that it sounded ready to tear apart.
[Fine.]
[I admit it.]
[The Majesty of this world is rather impressive.]
[I can understand why they wanted to recruit you.]
[And you people still have hope.]
Then its tone changed.
[So...]
Its voice became ice-cold.
[I'll destroy that hope now.]
FLASH!
The sky split apart like lightning.
Pure white characters appeared in the air.
The Eight Trigrams.
Qian.
Kun.
Kan.
Li.
Zhen.
Gen.
Xun.
Dui.
A gigantic wheel of the Eight Trigrams rose into the heavens.
It was a curse related to Fuxi of Chinese mythology.
Fuxi had taught humans writing and the Eight Trigrams.
Through them, humanity gained the ability to divine the future.
In other words...
He gave humans hope in the form of tomorrow.
But this time was different.
The wheel of the Eight Trigrams shone.
The flow of the universe reversed.
A status window appeared.
[Fuxi's Curse has activated.]
[Fourth Curse - Denial of Hope.]
[No one will come to help you.]
[This world can no longer possess hope.]
[Those whose future has been sealed can no longer evolve.]
Jooheon tilted his head.
Nothing seemed to have changed.
“Hope?”
He frowned.
“That's a pretty abstract curse.”
But Majesty Yoo Jaeha's expression changed.
“No.”
He looked genuinely alarmed.
“This one is actually dangerous.”
“Why?”
“Look at what the world has become.”
How had it changed?
Jooheon answered plainly.
“Communications are down.”
“Smartphones, electricity, weapons, and every other human tool are unusable.”
He clicked his tongue.
“We're one step away from an apocalypse where only Artifacts work.”
The only reason everything hadn't already fallen apart was because time had been stopped.
The moment they released the Time Stop, planes could start falling out of the sky all over the world.
Majesty Jaeha nodded.
“Exactly.”
He pointed around them.
“All communications are gone.”
“People can't understand one another.”
“Humanity can't use any of its tools.”
“In other words...”
“This has become a world where only Artifacts can be used.”
He stared directly at Jooheon.
“So tell me.”
“What do you think 'hope' is in a world where only Artifacts work?”
“?”
Majesty Jaeha answered himself.
“You.”
Jooheon's eyes narrowed.
“Without Majesty, Artifacts cannot be used.”
“Majesty is the one who grants permission for people to use Artifacts.”
As if confirming his words, Rulebook laughed.
[Correct!]
[The hope of this world is you, Majesty!]
[In other words...]
[If you die, this world where only Artifacts can be used will become completely helpless.]
[That means extinction.]
[Therefore, from this moment onward...]
[The one who carries hope will be erased.]
A gigantic black hand emerged from the book.
It looked like an enormous arm drenched in ink.
The hand that once wrote records was now coming to erase hope.
Jooheon snorted.
“You're still just a damn book.”
He wasn't completely sure what Rulebook was.
But it was probably some kind of Artifact.
If so...
He only had to dominate it.
But then...
[You're finished.]
What?
Something black grabbed Jooheon's arm.
His entire body froze.
“...?!”
[The 'Protagonist of Hope' will be eliminated, completing the Humanity Extinction Scenario.]
[Extracting the 'Heart of Majesty.']
Rulebook stretched out its hand.
Jooheon's chest split open.
CRACK!
SPLURT!
“Jooheon!”
“Captain!”
His crimson heart slowly rose into the air.
Its light began fading.
[The Heart of 'Hope' has been collected.]
[This world has lost its Majesty.]
[A world without Majesty can no longer use Artifacts.]
Rulebook laughed quietly.
[Rulebook System Notification.]
[The disappearance of Majesty has been confirmed.]
The book began glowing gold.
[Good.]
[Very good!]
[Phew.]
[At least one of the curses worked.]
Rulebook wriggled cheerfully.
But the team members ran toward Jooheon, whose chest now had a massive hole in it.
“Captain!!!”
“Get a healing Artifact!”
“Where's Chloe?!”
Rulebook laughed playfully at their reaction.
[His heart was removed.]
[He cannot survive.]
[You don't even have Majesty anymore.]
[Can you really protect this worldline now?]
Protect?
What the hell was it talking about?
[Did you think the disasters were already over?]
