Chapter 99: The Betrayal of Kairus

Roy glanced back and forth at Kim Chan and Lee Doha with a renewed intensity.

Sensing something in their expressions, his gaze sharpened with determination.

His decision was swift.

Since Earth had taken some kind of action, Roy intended to speak openly about the things he had been hiding.

“Kim Chan, you know, right? That I fell into an emergency Dungeon.”

“Th-That’s…”

Kim Chan glanced nervously at Lee Doha’s face.

He had indeed begged Roy to be honest when he came to find him, but he hadn’t expected Roy to bring this up right away.

“You didn’t missee it. I’m from another world.”

Lee Doha, whose expression rarely changed, blinked wide-eyed. From the story of emerging from an emergency Dungeon to being from another world—everything Roy said was hard to believe.

Now it made sense why Roy had hesitated carefully before speaking.

If they hadn’t spent so much time watching Roy closely, they might have thought he was mentally unwell.

“My name is Roy. I had no surname, and I was a commoner. The place I lived was called the Continent of As.”

Roy’s words awakened a forgotten memory in Kim Chan.

When they escaped the chaos of the Odition Hall with Hwang Guman’s help, Kim Chan had asked Roy his name.

At that time, Roy said he had no surname, and Kim Chan had thought Roy didn’t want to share it.

In the Republic of Korea, people without surnames are practically nonexistent.

“I had a friend who grew up like a brother to me since childhood. But that friend was an abandoned royal.”

Roy continued calmly, but the more he spoke, the more Kim Chan and Lee Doha’s eyes trembled fiercely.

Each word was unbelievable.

Yet, because it was Roy saying them, they listened intently.

“By luck, I summoned all the Sa Wonso Spirit Kings. It was unprecedented in the history of the Continent of As. With that power, I helped my friend and unified the continent.”

Suddenly, Roy’s voice cut off. Kim Chan and Lee Doha felt as if a deep sorrow had settled on Roy’s face.

“But then my friend betrayed me… because I became more famous than him.”

“Hoo…”

Kim Chan exhaled a sigh from deep within.

He, too, had once been severely betrayed by a trusted friend.

That guy had even caused trouble for Kim Chan during the Survival Program.

The face of Lee Chul-hoon flashed in his mind, and Kim Chan’s normally gentle expression hardened.

“He poisoned me and stabbed my heart with a sword.”

“That’s insane…!”

Kim Chan jumped to his feet.

Only now did he understand why Roy’s clothes had been soaked in blood when they first met.

At the time, he’d thought the blood belonged to someone else, since Roy didn’t have visible wounds.

But it was truly Roy’s blood.

Especially recalling how Roy’s clothes near his chest were torn wide, his emotions flared so strongly that his temples throbbed.

“I thought I was going to die for sure, but when I opened my eyes, I was lying on top of Kim Chan.”

“…Because of me, you survived.”

Kim Chan’s eyes welled with tears.

If Roy had appeared just ten seconds later, Kim Chan’s head might have been severed from his neck by Todd’s attack.

“And then I came here and met this existence called ‘Earth.'”

{Huh, Hero! Are you telling my story too?}

‘Should I have hidden this?’

{Not really…}

He had already decided to tell them everything.

To explain the invasion of the Continent of As, he inevitably had to reveal Earth’s existence.

“Earth? Who—or what—is that?”

“Hmm… it’s hard to explain.”

{That’s vague!}

Earth’s voice snapped sharply.

But it was unfair for Roy.

He wasn’t a god, but his abilities and duties were exactly like a deity protecting the dimension where Earth existed.

“The name of this planet is Earth, right?”

“Y-Yeah.”

No matter what Roy said, Kim Chan was determined to believe him, but the scale of the conversation was growing larger and larger.

Kim Chan stammered in response to Roy’s question without realizing it.

“I’m the only one who can see it, and the only one who can hear its voice in my head. Earth approached me, calling me ‘Hero.’”

{If you say that, will your companions really believe the hero story…?}

“Are you the hero? Could something be happening on Earth? Like an invasion from an alien planet?”

{…Whoa.}

Yet Kim Chan’s trust in Earth bordered on religious fanaticism, far exceeding Earth’s own expectations.

“Something like that. But do you really believe everything I say?”

By then, Roy found Kim Chan amazing.

If he were in Kim Chan’s shoes, could he really believe what he was saying? When he asked himself, he couldn’t answer confidently.

Nothing about this was normal.

“Honestly, if someone else had told me this, I’d have thought they were crazy. Doha, don’t you think so too?”

“…Yeah.”

Unlike Kim Chan, who asked and answered questions intermittently, Lee Doha had remained silent since Roy began speaking.

Yet the surprise in his eyes was faint, and there was no trace of treating Roy like a madman.

“…You only believe me, right? I suddenly worry about whether you’d do the same with others.”

Roy furrowed his brow at their overly trusting reactions.

He worried they might get scammed somewhere.

“Of course. So is something really wrong with Earth? This being called Earth seems like it’s the protector of Earth itself.”

Roy fell silent for a moment.

Kim Chan was sharper than he’d thought.

He quickly pieced together the fragmented words Roy had laid out and found the right answer.

Though half was intuition, that was still impressive.

“Right. According to Earth, the one who governs the Continent of As plans to destroy both the dimension containing the Continent of As and the dimension we live in now.”

“…That’s insane.”

A movie flashed through Kim Chan’s mind.

The protagonist was Roy, and he himself was the protagonist’s most important ally.

“Could that bad guy be the cause of what happened today too?”

“Probably.”

Really believing this story?

Roy gave Kim Chan a wry look as Kim Chan’s flushed face stared back.

“Is it dangerous for you too?”

Warmth radiated from Lee Doha’s hand when Roy felt him grasp his own.

He glanced at Lee Doha’s light brown eyes piercing into him and felt a strange sensation.

“Right. I had a strange premonition that something bad might happen to you too since one of my fans was attacked and collapsed.”

This time Kim Chan grabbed Roy’s free hand, not the one Lee Doha held.

{…Your companions are quick to offer a handshake.}

Roy looked surprised, and Earth seemed to feel similarly.

Roy quietly observed the warm hands clasped in his.

Earth had said it would handle everything once Roy shook hands with Kim Chan and Lee Doha.

But before Roy could try, they had grabbed his hands first.

“…Joel, the one we met last time, is also from the Continent of As. He was a subordinate of Kairus, who tried to kill me.”

“The guy who betrayed you is named Kairus? Even his name sounds like a traitor.”

A small, dry laugh spread across Roy’s lips.

They were definitely discussing something serious.

Though he might not show it, Roy’s heart had been pounding loudly since he first began telling the story.

He had worried that if Kim Chan and Lee Doha didn’t believe him and looked at him like a madman, what would he do?

“Exactly. That guy was going to betray me from the start.”

That’s why Roy was able to joke lightly while locking eyes with Kim Chan.

The one who attacked my fan seems to be from the Continent of As too.

Just like you guessed, they’re targeting me.

“…Is that really true?”

There was a huge difference between guessing and Roy telling them he was really in danger.

Kim Chan gripped Roy’s hand tightly.

The more he heard Roy’s story, the more he realized how much Roy had suffered alone.

He felt ashamed for not having gathered courage sooner.

“Earth said I’m practically the focal point connecting two dimensions.”

“So that’s why the emergency Dungeons appear when we’re on a mission! People even come out. When they die, they turn into black ash like monsters and disappear.”

Kim Chan finally solved the mystery that had puzzled him.

He was the only one who had witnessed Roy emerge from an emergency Dungeon.

He had vaguely suspected there was a connection, but never imagined it was really true.

“Yeah. This kind of thing will keep happening… maybe even worse.”

Despite the absurdity of the story, the two listened seriously just because Roy was the one telling it.

They worried about Roy, and Roy felt the same fear.

He was afraid his team might get hurt because of him.

“We’ve gotten a lot stronger now. I’m not the same guy who trembled at the sight of a few Todds.”

Kim Chan smiled brightly, shrugging as if to say not to worry.

Lee Doha nodded in agreement.

***

After a brief silence, Earth’s voice echoed in Roy’s mind.

{I have taken measures. Even if you try to tell others, your lips will be sealed tight and no words will slip out.}

That was a useful method. But Roy was confident that even without Earth’s intervention, Kim Chan and Lee Doha wouldn’t blabber what he had just said.

An invisible bond of trust seemed to tie the three tightly together.

“Roy hyung, thank you for being honest.”

Lee Doha met Roy’s gaze, his narrow eyes folding into a crescent-shaped smile.

“…Thank you too. For believing my story.”

Roy cleared his throat awkwardly, feeling his voice tremble a little.

“Beep!” (Contractor, am I just imagining that you’re getting along better with them than with me?)

Ber, who had been watching Roy’s conversation with Kim Chan and Lee Doha with bright eyes, suddenly flew up in front of Roy’s face.

“Ber seems kind of jealous, huh?”

“Beep!” (Jealous? I know well that the Contractor likes me best!)