Chapter 39. Winter Season (3)
Jooheon hurried toward the direction where he had thrown Jaeha.
“Jaeha?!”
He quickly searched for the cup ramen.
Then—
[Captain! It’s dangerous!]
At the warning, Jooheon snapped his head to the right.
And realized something.
Their figures were reflected everywhere around them.
Then came an eerie sound.
Click.
Click, click, click—
Mirror panels began floating into the air.
[Intrusion detected.]
[Kagamikage System activated.]
The dark space transformed into something like a hall of mirrors.
Cynthia immediately recognized what was happening.
“...Dangerous!”
“This is an Artifact trap!”
Then—
Mirrors rose around them.
Jooheon’s face appeared inside one.
And—
SWISH!
A blade passed right in front of Jooheon’s chin.
If he had reacted even a little slower, his head would have been cut off.
He looked toward the direction the blade had come from.
The Jooheon inside the mirror was holding a sword.
That bastard.
CLANG!
This time, Majesty Yoo Jaeha was copied.
Jaeha’s silhouette appeared inside another mirror.
Then a physical body burst out of it.
The copy snapped its fingers.
Weapons erupted from the floor.
Majesty Jaeha cursed in disgust.
“What the hell?”
“It copied not just him, but me too?”
The ground shook and cracked.
The copies kept attacking.
Jooheon narrowed his eyes.
An Artifact that copied people.
Could this be...
[Kagami Artifact is attempting to eliminate the <Original>.]
[The copies are trying to kill the originals before their bodies can be stolen.]
Old legends told of human shadows trying to take their masters’ places.
Others said that mirrors, after existing long enough, could become possessed by spirits and bring reflected people or objects into reality.
Mirrors had long been believed to possess strange powers.
Because this trap originated from such legends, it possessed an instinct to replace the originals.
Perfect for assassination.
As proof...
Every mirror lit up at once.
Dozens of reflected Jooheons and Jaehas charged forward simultaneously.
They all spoke the same words.
“The original is unnecessary.”
More than a dozen copies rushed them.
Dangerous.
Majesty Jaeha frowned.
Neither he nor Cynthia was a combat-type Majesty.
And these enemies were merely shadows, meaning physical attacks, Jooheon’s greatest specialty, wouldn’t work properly.
But unexpectedly...
Jooheon didn’t dodge.
Instead, he pulled out a book.
The children’s storybook Julian had been transformed into.
It looked completely out of place on a battlefield.
But the moment Jooheon opened it...
Something extraordinary happened.
“Children inside mirrors must return home.”
A sentence written like a children’s story glowed and floated into the air.
[Role assigned: ‘Children Who Must Return Home.’]
The mirror copies trembled.
They seemed to resist the command.
But beings bound by the rules of the storybook couldn’t escape their assigned roles.
Jooheon calmly added another line.
“Don’t be late.”
“Hurry home before night falls.”
Before he even finished speaking...
The mirror Jooheons began clawing desperately at the floor.
Like animals, they crawled back into the mirrors.
They shoved each other aside and screamed miserably.
Yet the rules of the story forced them to return.
BOOM!
Every mirror panel closed and vanished at the same time.
But the floor continued flashing red.
[Kagami Artifact System.]
[Artifact remains active.]
[Mirror duplicates are attempting to emerge again.]
Cynthia hurriedly looked around.
“We have to destroy the Artifact itself to end this completely!”
She began searching the underground area.
Then—
[Captain! Over here! Over here!]
Cup-Ramen Jaeha’s voice came from near the wall.
Cynthia shouted:
“He must be behind the wall!”
“There should be some kind of door—”
Before she could even finish searching...
Jooheon punched through the wall.
BOOOOM!
Cynthia screamed.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
“Are you trying to collapse the whole building?!”
Jooheon casually shook the dust from his fist.
“A wall like this is obvious.”
“What?”
He punched again.
The wall shattered far too easily.
“A false wall?!”
“People who hide things usually pull this kind of trick.”
The false wall finally collapsed.
A hidden room appeared beyond it.
The building’s true concealed space.
“Thought so.”
Even Cynthia was stunned.
“There was a place like this?!”
Jooheon immediately ran toward something inside.
A huge mirror.
Cup-Ramen Jaeha was trapped inside it.
Jooheon placed his hand against the surface.
His arm sank straight through.
Then he pulled Jaeha out.
Apparently, the mirror Artifact had swallowed him.
“Hey.”
“You okay?”
[...I thought my lid was going to pop off.]
“Sorry.”
It was only one short word.
Cup-Ramen Jaeha fell silent.
[...I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard Captain apologize.]
Jooheon glared at him.
“Say that again and I’ll boil you.”
[Forget I said anything!!!]
Jooheon smirked and tucked the cup ramen back into his clothes.
But then—
[Mirror duplicates are attempting to emerge again.]
Jooheon frowned.
“These bastards want to get smashed even harder?”
[They claim they can evolve if they obtain that cup ramen.]
“What nonsense.”
Jooheon protected the cup.
“You’re not getting this.”
The copies prepared to attack again.
[Captain! Dangerous!]
Jooheon suddenly grabbed Cynthia by the arm.
“I’ll give you something else instead.”
Then he threw her with an over-the-shoulder toss.
“HEY!”
Cynthia flew directly toward the copies.
Their attention immediately shifted to her.
“You lunatic!”
“Am I your meat shield now?!”
“You’re a Majesty.”
“Hold them off for a second.”
“What part of this is ‘a second’?!”
While Cynthia screamed...
Jooheon pulled out a cocktail stick.
Something that had been inside Cynthia’s clothes.
[Thyrsus (SS-Grade Artifact)]
Staff of Dionysus.
Can drive targets into Madness, or awaken them from Madness.
Cynthia’s eyes widened while surrounded.
“Wait!”
“When did you steal that?!”
“My hands are fast.”
“Hey, more importantly, that’s mine—”
“Borrowing it.”
“Wait!”
“That’s valuable!”
“Use it carefully—”
Jooheon poured Dominance into the Artifact.
“Explode, Artifact!!!”
...What?
Explode?!
Cynthia didn’t even have time to react.
Jooheon hurled the Artifact straight toward the main mirror.
BOOOOM!
By forcing enough Dominance into an Artifact, he could make it self-destruct.
He had done something similar when breaking Julian’s law book.
And if it was a Divine-Grade Artifact...
The energy released by its destruction would be tremendous.
Jooheon intended to use that explosion to—
CRACK!
—destroy the trap Artifact itself.
BOOOOOOM!
[Kagami Artifact destroyed.]
[Trap dismantled.]
Cynthia stood there blankly.
The copies disappeared.
Jooheon dusted himself off.
“Whew.”
