ALL NOVEL Episode 157
[War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is power.
- George Orwell 1984]
“It is the tower of the future.”
Yoosung muttered calmly, leaving behind the ominous message.
“Just hearing it is a name that seems to be full of bright hope and positive expectations for tomorrow.”
“...Are you kidding me?”
Maria, dressed in a crimson suit, shot back, saying it was absurd, and the curtain of darkness lifted. The scenery inside the tower finally revealed itself.
[—The future is the past.]
“What you just said…
“There are people who always insert a word or two of their own after a masterpiece. “It lowers your dignity.”
“...That's a story from George Orwell's ‘1984'. “The context is a little different, though.”
“No.”
Hearing Maria’s words, Yoosung shrugged his shoulders and looked around.
It was a street in downtown Seoul that was not much different from the outside world. Like a destroyed world, there were no broken buildings or ruins, and nothing was intact.
But there were no people in sight. Not even a single mouse.
When I raised my head, the sky was very transparent. The ‘towers' that were supposed to cover the world like an iron curtain were not visible. How long has it been since I last saw Earth's sky so clear and clean?
‘This world...
it was right then.
Large screens installed throughout the city began playing videos in unison, as if they had been waiting.
“Kang Yoo-seong, a class A criminal against humanity,
kneel down and surrender immediately!”
“Stop this betrayal of humanity and world peace!”
“Traitor of humanity!” What was unfolding on TV was a familiar scene that Yoosung was also familiar with. It was a one-room Norwegian room where the leaders of the UN Peace Security Council gathered.
Leaders from around the world were pointing their fingers at the shooting star beyond the screen. As if I was looking straight at the meteor there.
And they were pointing fingers at him, accusing him of crimes that Yoosung could not even imagine.
“What is wrong with this world that makes it this damn world?”
Yoosung muttered in bewilderment, leaving behind the leaders on TV.
At that moment, an air raid warning signal rang out in the distance. With the ear-piercing noise of a siren, several shadows raced along the sky.
It was a fighter bomber.
“No, there was a war somewhere... And before the shooting star had time to finish speaking, light scattered again along with a roar that shook the eardrums.
It was the light of destruction.
“Yuseong, be careful...!”
It was a bombardment aimed at the meteor and Maria who were standing there with both feet.
The blazing fireworks exploded, and the entire streetscape where Yooseong was walking turned into a heap of ashes. Even the bombing did not stop at one time. The chain reaction of explosion after explosion was turning the place into an inferno.
The city was devastated and a firestorm reaching thousands of degrees Celsius began to engulf the area. The large screens pointing at shooting stars there were no exception.
The things that made up the shape were crumbling, crumbling, turning into ashes and scattering around.
Nevertheless...
the two players and heroes standing there with both feet could not be harmed.
In that place that had been reduced to ashes, the Virgin Mary looked around without any wounds. The body of a high-ranking vampire and all the abilities and protection she possesses cannot be helped by a high fever or anything like that.
The same was true for the King of Heroes.
“It looks like they aren’t very happy with us.”
“That’s right.”
Yoosung said and Maria nodded.
—It was right then.
“Who would appreciate a living hero?”
Another silhouette appeared in a place that should have been reduced to ashes.
It was a man wearing a “Laughing Clown” mask, wearing a black business suit, and holding the “Sword of the Winter Night.”
“You...”
And seeing that familiar figure, Maria took a deep breath. That’s why Yoosung silently blocked her path.
“Please be careful of imitations, saint.” Intercepting Yoosung, he continued,
“Hmm, I see that you are Mr. Kang Yoosung, a class A anti-human criminal.”
“Yes, a class A war criminal. Ah, what is a class A war criminal? They call it crimes against peace, crimes against humanity.”
“Is that so? There is a villain here who will fall head over heels in the hands of the hero.”
“Ah hero!”
As he said that, the man in the clown mask chuckled,
“Do you still feel like a hero?”
“...Yuseong is a hero without a doubt.”
And without the slightest hesitation, Saint Mary next to Yooseong opened her mouth.
“Ah, the Saint says so. Even the hero King of the world becomes a spoiled brat in front of the Saint. So do you feel like a hero now? ”
Saint. Saying that, the man in the clown mask laughed and Yooseong silently used the cold air of “Winter Night” and adjusted the hilt of his sword.
“Who are you?”
“He’s a villain.”
As he said that, the man in the clown mask laughed,
“Because humans are not worthy of being saved and I no longer fight for them.”
After laughing, he took off the clown mask he was wearing.
“...
The face beyond was undoubtedly another shooting star.
“And you are still fighting for the humans. Because that is the job of a hero. ”
“Oh, saint. Don’t misunderstand. That’s a counterfeit. There’s been a lot of my counterfeit product going around these days, so I’m surrounded by counterfeit products…
“I know.”
Maria responded with a wry smile to Yooseong’s words,
“Because there is only one true hero and ‘King of Heroes’ that I know.”
“I’m glad you said that.”
“And you seem to be mistaken, but I came here to attack this tower as a player, just like Yoosung.”
A high-ranking player with the body of a high-ranking vampire like a shooting star and armed with various abilities and equipment befitting the name of a hero. Furthermore, she is a strong person made by an apostle's contract with Lord Mikhail, who is now reborn as the ‘Blood Lord'. That is Maria
. .
“Hmm, this is a statue of a saint that fits the spirit of the times. The smoking cigarette is the same.”
Yoosung spoke and another Yoosung facing him smiled coldly. He once again put the clown mask in his hand over his face. It
was at that moment.
“We have captured the target!”
Quite a few people appeared in the place where the bombing had just fallen and the fire was raging, with an unmistakable mood.
They were wearing the uniforms of the multinational peacekeeping force (UNPKF), a multinational executive force under the direct control of the UN Peace Security Council.
At the same time, each and every one of them. It was clear that they were ‘players’ with strength comparable to that of a high-ranker.
“Traitor of humanity, calmly stop resisting and surrender!”
As an outsider, he left behind Yoosung and Maria, who were there, and took on himself in the clown mask. Surrounding the peacekeepers, the players all gathered up their arms. Seeing this, Yooseong in the clown mask laughed. “Watch carefully.
These are the words of the hero you will meet.”
“...what?”
“Masquerade.”
Immediately after, the shooting star in the clown mask muttered. It was something that the shooting star could not have known.
At the same time, the shooting star in the clown mask kicked the ground and rushed towards the peacekeepers surrounding the area without any hesitation.
King of Heroes . Yoosung knew himself.
The fact that his strength would not be different even if he brought a few random players.
It would be a pointless fight with no meaning.
- That should have been the case.
At the same time, a message came to mind. .
[“The time has come.”]
In the world inside the tower, the monarch exercising influence according to his own purposes. That was not a new scene in this game. Therefore, the message that emerged there was no different. [
.. . exercises the influence of the overlord.]
“What the hell is this...
But in front of that message, Yoosung also couldn’t hide his astonishment.
999 monarchs, transcendental people looking down on this world. The ‘overlord’ above them. finally moved.
And following the message, a scene unfolded that left him unable to believe his eyes.
Another version of himself was distributing all kinds of abilities as the king of heroes through the skill “Masquerade.” ...
He was kneeling in front of the people there.
The laughter of the clown monarch that should have echoed from afar stopped. He could feel the eyes of countless monarchs looking at him and the person who had become a ‘traitor to humanity'. The emotion in that gaze
was also a mockery.
‘Because we gave up humans for humans, and because we gave up humans, the reason to be for humans disappears. Heroes become monsters
, and
shameless humans once again sacrifice humans for themselves. Longing for a hero who will give up.
So a hero is born again, becomes a monster, and longs again for a hero who will defeat that monster...
I remembered what Cheonma said once when the shooting stars and swords crossed.
“Heo-eok .” Wow...r
Another version of myself was there, wearing the mask of a smiling clown. The power of the Masquerade, the cold of the winter night, and even though it was mass-producing mecha heavenly demons like the ones Yusung has now... it couldn't overcome the humans there and hurt them endlessly. A traitor to humanity who is falling while wearing a suit.
“Why did you betray humanity?”
That's why Yooseong asked while looking at him.
“You betrayed humanity?”
Another shooting star taunted as it confronted the ‘peacekeepers' strengthened through the influence of the Overlord.
“I know myself. “Do you really think I’m going to betray them?”
Cough! Blood flowed down his mouth. And I understood it as soon as I heard it.
It was not the King of Heroes who betrayed.
And I figured out the name of this tower.
Tower of the future.
“Did the humans… betray you?”
The blood all over my body felt like it was freezing.
“Human beings do not deserve to be saved.”
The shooting star in the clown mask muttered softly.
“Maria, Lily, and Uncle Park... were all murdered for the sole reason of defending a ‘traitor to humanity.’ “Isn’t it funny?”
The resistance ended there. Finally, the traitor to humanity knelt down and the humans there stopped moving.
And they all turned their heads towards Yoosung and Maria who were there. Like a doll without emotions.
At the same time, a message occurred to me.
[The tower's strategy goal has been updated!]
[Strategy goal: Defeat the traitor to humanity and prove the ‘hero's loyalty'!]
A hero is someone who protects humans. I could understand why the Lord of the End mocked the shooting star and why the Clown Lord despaired and declared himself a humorous clown even though he possessed indescribable power.
It was believed that this was a trial given to humans.
The play of cruel evil spirits who look at humans like insects for no reason.
It should have been so. But no.
[The human monarch acts as the overlord and urges the king of heroes to make a decision...]
999 monarchs Transcendent people who look down on this world.
Finally, the true name of the ‘overlord’ who reigns over them was revealed.