From Today, I'm a Player

Chapter 200: The Gathering Heroes Pt. 3

“Well, just to become stronger. Become the strongest and stand on top of the world,” Zeus responded.

Lee Jun-Kyeong had asked him what his purpose had been, and, for once, the man had replied with a serious expression with no hint of sarcasm or mischief.

‘This is the real Zeus.’

This was the man who, for so many years, had made people tremble with fear and look up in awe. He was the ruler of Eden who controlled the future.

“Or that was my goal, at least.”

“It was your purpose?”

“Yeah, it was. Now, things have changed a bit.”

Zeus had that same mischievous expression once again. However, something was different about it than before.

As Lee Jun-Kyeong shook a little at the slightly changed appearance of the Hunter, Zeus, no, Kim Ki-Gyu, opened his mouth again.

“Because there were several things that had changed my mind, you see.”

They were standing in the midst of Gyeonggi-Do at night and looking around at the scenery. The Lord of Olympus then slowly brought up a story.

“I met someone.”

“...”

“Mmm, should I say he was the one who had destroyed Europe?”

Lee Jun-Kyeong looked directly at Zeus’ face, who looked back in turn.

The Hunter's mouth opened slowly.

“That’s right. He looks exactly like the man I’m looking at right now.”

“...!”

Lee Jun-Kyeong felt his breath catch.

‘There’s no way…’

“As expected. It seems you know who he is.”

Zeus took in Lee Jun-Kyeong’s reaction and continued, “He was someone who looked just like you. Of course, there were a few differences…even the very aura and temperament that he had was different from you.”

Zeus laughed.

“But still, even a kid could figure out there’s some sort of connection between the two of you.”

The Hunter was looking at him, but Lee Jun-Kyeong couldn’t open his mouth at all. This was it, the moment when his speculation and doubts had become certain.

‘The remnants of time.’

That was what Ungnyeo had said to him. The identity of the being Odin followed was the remnant of time in this era, the true Demon King.

“Ah…”

The voice of Zeus continued to ring in Lee Jun-Kyeong’s ear as he exhaled, almost as if letting out a sigh.

“His power was overwhelming. Looking at him, it seemed that the position of the strongest that I was chasing would never be mine. You know, people look at us and call us gods, right?”

The people of Gyeonggi-Do had been calling Lee Jun-Kyeong and Zeus, who had fought against Odin, gods. After all, they were people who were clad in thunderbolts and flames who ruled the skies.

With their overwhelming power that couldn’t be easily comprehended even for Hunters, they were considered to be the gods themselves, or even the Incarnations of the Sponsors, or something.

“...”

“Well, anyway, that changed my mind. If it would be difficult to rise to the position of the strongest using force…”

Zeus’ white teeth were exposed.

“I thought it might be possible to stand at the top in a different way.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong felt a sense of déjà vu for a moment. This man was the same. He wanted to rise to the top with even the same appearance that he had seen in the future.

“Eden…” Lee Jun-Kyeong muttered involuntarily.

It was the name of the culprit who had destroyed the future world. Then, Lee Jun-Kyeong felt the hair on the back of his neck rise.

“What are you doing?”

He could feel the current of electricity running down his neck. The blue Thunderbolt in Zeus’ hand was pointed toward Lee Jun-Kyeong’s throat. When Lee Jun-Kyeong looked at Zeus, he was genuinely surprised.

“...!”

He had seen the Hunter playful before, or even serious or charismatic, but he had never seen him like this. His face was extremely stiff, and on his face, there was…

“Fear…?” he muttered.

He didn’t understand. What on earth made this person, who was aiming for the world's strongest position, tremble so much?

“You…how do you…that name… just how…”

Zeus' trembling Thunderbolt was aiming dangerously for Lee Jun-Kyeong's neck.

Zzt.

However, the Hunter immediately put away the Thunderbolt and let out a long sigh while kneading his temples with both hands.

“Well, you are a special one. It’s not surprising that you would know that name,” Zeus mumbled as if trying to reassure himself.

He looked at Lee Jun-Kyeong again. From that expression, Lee Jun-Kyeong could tell that the other Hunter seemed to be hiding a lot of emotions.

Zeus opened his mouth again. “What I had told you was just my purpose. There is another actual reason why I had changed my goals.”

It seemed he was now going to tell him the truth.

“I had a dream.”

However, what Zeus had to say next was completely absurd.

“A dream where…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong could feel the heat emanating from Zeus’ slowly opening mouth.

“My Sponsor, Jupiter, appeared.”

***

Although many lights filled the night sky, the expressions of the people weren’t good. They were quickly fleeing the area as if they were being chased by something. Cars on the road swerved around as they ran in a panic. They all looked exhausted, trying to escape with drawn and withered faces. In an alley, beatings were taking place in the corner like always.

“You bastard!”

Those who were getting beat just lay there, accepting the punches and kicks with expressions of complete hopelessness.

“Spit!”

After quite a while, those being beaten would eventually pass out, and the assaulters would spit on their bodies and leave, leaving the bodies lying alone in the alleyway. In another place, high-pitched laughter filled a mansion.

“Oh ho ho!”

There were bright lights all over, on the pool and in the mansion.

“How great!”

The people in the mansion were enjoying a party, eating greasy food and getting drunk. Next to them, it was almost unbelievable.

“How dare some bastard who can’t even make food properly stand on two feet?!”

Almost as if it was impossible to believe that these people were the very same humans as those partying, barbaric acts were taking place just to the side. Beneath the party of revelry lurked violence and contempt. The footsteps that were approaching the chef led to an even more terrifying threat.

Shing!

“Please…forgive me! Please…! I have a fam…!”

Squelch!

The begging chef suddenly stopped moving after a short cutting sound. Now a corpse, he collapsed on the spot, bleeding everywhere.

“Take it away!” said the one who had cut through the chef, giving orders to the others around the corpse as if he was disgusted to have to speak to filth.

A bluish aura that was definitely mana emanated from his sword.

“Ha ha ha ha!”

Although people had died in the mansion, the party just continued. Even though both aggressors and victims were human, it almost seemed that they were of completely different species.

In a tall tower with a panoramic view of Seoul stood someone watching over everything.

“...”

He was leisurely drinking wine and looking around the city. The lights never went out where he was, but sometimes there were flickers of sparks that weren’t yet flames off in the distance.

He could hear screams from a distance somewhere. The man’s hearing was more sensitive than anyone else’s, able to penetrate anywhere in the world if he had wanted to. He was the best of the Hunters—no, the one who had risen to the top of all humanity.

Knock, knock.

“May I come in?” someone said, entering the room. The face of the person entering the room wasn’t visible, and only a voice could be heard from the side.

“How was your day today…”

The voice that spoke called out to the man.

“Lord Zeus.”

***

“That man called out to me. As if it was almost routine, he handed me a glass of wine as he spoke,” Zeus said.

Lee Jun-Kyeong was listening to Zeus’ story about his dream.

‘The world that I had lived in…’

Surprisingly, Zeus had seen the world that Lee Jun-Kyeong had lived in through his dreams. But Lee Jun-Kyeong had never heard of Zeus having precognitive powers.

“He called me the Ruler of Eden.”[1]

“...”

“Moreover, when that dream ended, another followed.”

His story didn’t end there.

“I was in a dark space, and there was someone calling my real name as they hid in the darkness.”

“And that person was…” Lee Jun-Kyeong trailed off.

Zeus interjected, “That’s right. My Sponsor, Jupiter.”

“...”

To think he had spoken directly to his Sponsor. Zeus certainly was an unusual person.

“My Sponsor asked if I liked what I had seen. Something about if I was satisfied with a god-like life, rising to the top of everything as I looked down on the entire world.”

“So what did you say?”

Zeus shrugged, and Lee Jun-Kyeong wasn’t able to hear an answer to his question.

“But Jupiter soon brought up another story.”

“…”

“He asked me if I was sure I really was the one who stood at the top and changed the world to that image.”

“...?”

It was difficult for Lee Jun-Kyeong to understand the Hunter properly. Zeus smiled a little as if he understood where Lee Jun-Kyeong was coming from. His gray hair was blowing in the wind.

“I wasn’t able to answer him, so Jupiter then asked me another question.”

“...”

“I was asked if I was sure that the Zeus that I had seen really was me.”

“...!”

Lee Jun-Kyeong suddenly felt goosebumps.

“Oh? Did you notice it already? It took me quite a while to figure out what that had meant.”

“Do you mean…”

“Yes,” Zeus said with a relieved face as if he had revealed a big secret. “I wanted to be on the top of the world, but that doesn’t mean I had wanted to create a world like that. If I was really the one on top, the world I saw wouldn’t have made any sense.”

“Then, you…it really wasn’t you, but…” stuttered Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“That’s right.”

They had come to the end of their difficult conversation.

“I was no longer myself. You can think of it as if someone had stolen my body.”

His body had been taken from him.

Just like Sangun had been. Unable to do something of his own will, he had become a different being. That was the same experience with Elfame, the Ruler that Lee Jun-Kyeong had killed. Moreover, that was exactly what they were called.

‘The Rulers.’

If Zeus had become a Ruler…

“I think of it this way. That, maybe, the system they call Sponsorship eventually consumed me or something.”

“....But your Sponsor was the one to warn you?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked, addressing the inconsistency. Zeus simply shrugged again. “Well, actually, I don’t actually know if that being was my Sponsor. Although they revealed the true name of my Sponsor…”

He laughed like the situation was funny. “It could have even been a different Jupiter. Or someone who didn’t want their name ruined, or even…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong swallowed as he waited for Zeus’ next words. “It could have been someone who had just wanted to help the human, Kim Ki-Gyu…or just another god.”

Zeus looked up at the sky.

“But couldn’t it just have been a dream? Are you saying that a single dream suddenly changed your entire purpose in life?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked.

Swish.

Zeus’ gaze suddenly fixed on Lee Jun-Kyeong as his clear eyes emitted a blue spark like lightning. Under the moonlight, the man asked simply, “What do you think?”

His voice, as it slowly asked a question, pierced through Lee Jun-Kyeong’s brain.

“Do you really think it’s just some sort of dream?”

The two watched each other for a long time before Lee Jun-Kyeong responded, “No.”

He had decided to trust the Hunter Zeus.

“The dream you saw is the world I came from.”

***

Although those who had come were welcome, no one smiled at their arrival. It was because the group’s expressions weren’t good. Moreover, Lee Jun-Kyeong wondered how they had even arrived. Still, this wasn’t the time to ask any of that.

In fact, there was only one thing to do right now.

Clench.

Lee Jun-Kyeong walked forward and hugged someone.

"Welcome…”

Slowly relaxing his grip and stepping back, Lee Jun-Kyeong looked at the one he hugged and spoke.

“Arthur and the Round Table.”

Arthur, Merlin, and the surviving Knights of the Round Table were all looking at Lee Jun-Kyeong.

1. Note that you’ll see the phrase ruler be both capitalized and not capitalized when referring to people. That’s because there is a difference between the entity “Ruler” and the term “ruler.” Until now, every time Zeus has been called a ruler, it was more of a title, as in king or royal. However, now, this Ruler refers to the being, Ruler, just like Elfame or Sangun. ????