Only I Am A Reader

"What do you think 'they' would have to say about the massacres you committed?"

Geochin's shaken mental state took a sudden pause as he heard what seemed to be desperate ramblings attempting to touch his sense of morality. If that was enough to stop him, would he be even here today?

"Hah… hahahaha!"

Amid everything, he couldn't help exploding into maniacal laughter.

"It turns out you don't know it all after all. Every person in my family who had once cared for me is already dead."

"I said it, didn't I? I'm not talking about your new family, I meant the real one, the ones who tended to you back home."

Rather than revealing more about his past plan, Leo resorted to revealing the unthinkable in order to truly shock Geochin's core! This was the Murim, but he wasn't one of its natives!

"Real… You, what rubbish are you spewing?"

Geochin's eyes showed that he had finally understood the meaning of Leo's words, yet he refused to believe that he had come to the right conclusion. Not even Namgung Geom was aware of his past!

"Did you forget your identity while roleplaying in this new persona of yours? You know exactly what I mean. You need to truly look back and understand the gravity of what you have done. Let alone a serial killer, you have become a mass murderer!"

Comparison was sometimes a very painful poison. In reality, this world necessitated the loosening of morality as a basic need for survival, killing was more of an activity than it was a crime. What Geochin did, however, was much more than that.

'Impossible!'

It was simply unbelievable! The truth that he unsurprisingly remembered little about by now was being revealed right before him, the one known as Cheon Baekho had even used modern words to supplement his claim…

"I do not know how you became aware of this, but it's none of your business. My family… mentioning them here just to make me rethink my methods has no meaning. If anything, I'm doing this for the sake of their memory."

Unlike what he claimed, briefly revisiting the past didn't leave Geochin unfazed. He tried to act like what Leo said was nothing, but…

Splatter!

The White Tiger finally managed to slip through the Blue Dragon's guard, drawing a long gash of blood from Geochin's main arm!

<Focus. Whatever he is saying to elude you, this is not the time to fall apart>

The Murim Lord's voice echoed in Geochin's head, his mind was so dissipated that even the Sword Emperor had momentarily lost control of his body. He only managed to evade before Leo was able to slice off an arm!

It would be a lie if he said he wasn't intrigued by the unusual conversation ongoing between the two, but Namgung Geom could never let Geochin die just to learn of his secret. Regardless of whether the Murim League prevailed today or not, he had to bring Geochin out of this alive!

"Their memory? Right, you want to reform this world into the same image as the one in your memory. However, did you ask for permission before forcing your view on others? Did you ever stop to think one second about what would really happen if you truly succeeded amid the obsessive pursuit of your dream?"

Leo's words only got sharper as he caught an opening. His preparations weren't complete just yet, but this was already working more than he thought it would.

"...Can't you see that this is not just my view? Look around you, all of these people have come here today, risking death to achieve our dream!"

Geochin wasn't the least bit affected by the gruesome wound on his arm. Instead, his focus turned towards proving a point as his expression slightly distorted. Although everything was falling apart, his arrival here was a testament to the reality of his dream.

"You mean these people who you threatened and manipulated into doing your bidding? You are the one who should look around. Is it not you that can't see things for what they truly are?"

As every advantage slowly slipped away from the hands of the Liberation Army, the flimsy nature of such a ragtag was already showing. Some had already lost all their will to fight back, while others were trying to run away in panic.

"Creating a stable structure ruled by laws that restrict the barbaric use of Martial Arts sure sounds nice, but it's not achievable, especially through brute force. Do you think that people would just accept your decisions to take away their freedom just because you are stronger?"

"Isn't that the way Murim handles things…? I'm just using these chaotic rules of the jungle to abolish their very essence."

"Even if that were to work, what makes you different from the very Sects that took you down? You will be just another authoritative beacon that uses its whip to force all to kneel, both innocent and guilty. The tyranny that you seek to realize would only spark more and more such upheavals, before you know it, one rebellion after another will rise in the name of freedom!"

Leo was mainly doing it because it was his task in this world, but Geochin truly needed to be stopped. His dream was ultimately just a dream, it was a fiction that couldn't come true. The only thing that would result from it could only be more and more blood.

"Martial Arts are lethal weapons, guns! If you truly know about my world, then you should be able to imagine what it would be like if every single person is armed with hot weapons. The ultimate result would be the extinction of humanity!"

"This is exactly what I mean, this is not your world, this is Murim. Martial Arts is the heart of this world, its lifeblood! You can't change that fact. If you take away even that, you will be sending everything into an even larger pool of chaos!"

Geochin's movements slowed down even further. Not just because of the state that he was in, but also thanks to the Telekinetic Field that Leo had spread. At this point, the trap was more or less set up.

"You… You don't understand. You can never understand, just like everyone else! I…"

"It's okay, I don't have to understand what you are going through to know that you are in pain. You are forcing yourself on this path without a proper end just to deal with the scars of the past. If I had been able to change this earlier, I would have, but…"

Rather than being agitated, the protagonist's mentality was on the verge of falling apart. In such a situation, it wouldn't make sense if he suddenly powered up to push back Leo's assault.

"You are too far gone to step back, that is something I can understand. You just can't take it back, not now. You have been too obsessed with the castle in the sky to realize what you have become in the process of that chase. However… It's not too late just yet. So…"

Leo paused ever so slightly as he channeled his Internal Energy into the Telekinetic Field. He had minimized its effect up to now so that his plan wouldn't be exposed, but it would be too late to notice it now anyway.

"Please just die."