Chapter 2 – It’s Me, Jayden
by Polar Bear
“Ahem, ahem!”
The Immortal Jayden Tempus took the microphone.
“Dear citizens of planet Earth. We will now begin Earth’s incorporation of climbers. Please take your seats as this is a very important procedure, and ordinary humans, please turn off your local broadcasts.”
The auditorium started clamoring.
“Yes! At this moment, an event prepared by Hansung High for the graduates is unfolding!”
“Honey, take out your phone. Film it, film it!”
“Wow, what brand is that suit?”
Jayden’s brow twitched. A cute girl’s voice came from the air to soothe him.
-<Mr. Jayden! Relax, relax~ Think of the green leaves of the World Tree~>
“Tsk! Don’t be alarmed. This is not an alien invasion or anything like that. Rather, it’s the opposite.”
The words he recited were exactly the same as the lines I had written.
“As with all planets, destruction has come to Earth, and we’ve come to give you the power to fight against it.”
“Climb the tower and gain power. Return to Earth and fight the destruction.”
“You’ll face harsh trials, but there’s no need to feel wronged much. Warriors who receive the tower’s power are generally treated as heroes or get to monopolize power on their planets.”
“Well, it’s only natural. They’re the saviors who will save the worthless ones from destruction.”
My brother pulled at my collar.
“Noah… th-this… your novel, from there…”
His voice was trembling badly. I guess my brother finally noticed.
But now was not the time to leisurely answer him.
Jayden Tempus. He was a polite gentleman, but like all Immortals, there was a part of him that was twisted.
As if responding to my anxiety, another voice echoed in the air.
It wasn’t the girl who had been soothing him earlier, but a cold male voice.
-<Jayden. We’re getting other noise.>
“Tsk!”
He tore up the script and revealed his true nature, the one that I knew.
“What a shitshow, these maggots.”
Hearing his muttering, my hair stood on end.
I knew what would happen next.
Instinctively, I shouted with all my might.
“Everyone, step back from the field! You’ll die if you stay there!!”
Jayden clapped his hands with a spell chant.
Clap!
“[Nussknacker (Nutcracker)]”
-<No! Don’t do that!>
Despite the girl’s dissuasion and my shout, huge somethings instantly filled the auditorium.
“Ah…”
It was Jayden’s ability, [Nussknacker].
Giant wooden soldiers. Giant wooden soldiers in British guard uniforms were summoned.
Rifles with bayonets on their backs. Tall, blunt black fur hats. Red uniforms.
They were creepy-looking nutcracker dolls.
“Don’t worry, Miss Fairy. I’ll just clean up the bugs.”
The soldiers looked down at us. The bright lights of the auditorium cast deep shadows on the dolls’ faces.
Someone muttered at the eerie, horror movie-like sight.
“This… is a show, right?”
No one could answer.
Clap!
At the sound of the clap, one soldier moved. It bent down and picked up a man who looked like a parent.
Creeeeak-
“Wh-what are you doing! Put me down! I never agreed to this kind of show!”
It opened its square doll mouth and brought the struggling man towards it.
Compared to the soldier, his head was as small as a walnut as it was placed in its mouth. And then.
“Sa-save…”
Crunch!
It bit down.
There was only the sound of a head being cracked and the creaking of wood echoing in the quiet auditorium.
Plop plop. Flesh and brain matter poured down, and a woman presumed to be his wife absentmindedly let herself be soaked in it.
When the headless body was thrown down, it hit the woman and she collapsed with an “Ugh!”
Thud.
Was it a fainting or instant death? She didn’t get up.
“Mom… Dad…?”
A faint murmur rang clearly from inside the curtain.
As the soldier reached out for another walnut, chaos began.
“Kyaaaaaah-!!”
“Uh, uuh… uuuuuh…”
“Daddyyy! No!”
“Aaaagh! Pu-put me down, you bastard! Put me down! Haeun, Minjun! Run-“
Crunch!
The giant soldiers massacred the parents outside the field using all means – hands, feet, bodies. Red and white debris flew everywhere.
“Viewers! Te-terror attack! This is a real situation! A terror attack has occurred at Hansung High’s graduation ceremony! I am now… Eek!”
Bang!
“I-I-I’m a reporter! If you kill me, you’ll suffer a big loss in negotiations!”
The graduation ceremony spectators outside the field ran around disorderly like a swarm of insects.
“Huk, heuk…! Kang Noah! St-stick close to me and don’t get separated!”
I looked at the auditorium entrance. As in the original work, it was blocked by the soldier’s feet.
Then…
“Hyung. Go to the rightmost corner of the auditorium, the innermost stall of the women’s restroom.”
“Huh?”
“It’s safe there.”
Seol Garam’s friend who hid there survived. It was from the original story.
“…What about you?”
Me?
Without answering, I kicked off and ran.
But reading my intentions, my brother jumped even quicker, and his hand grabbed my clothes.
We fell and rolled on the floor. The pooled blood and flesh soaked our clothes.
“Don’t think crazy! You go to the safe area, too! Listen to your hyung, Kang Noah!”
Before I could argue, a shadow fell over our heads. My brother and I rolled with all our might in opposite directions.
Bang!
The soldier’s foot stomped where we had been.
As the foot lifted, I could see my brother beyond it.
“Take care of mom, hyung.”
“Kang No… Ugh!”
My brother rolled again–bang!–avoiding the soldier’s foot.
I ran in the opposite direction, to where I needed to go.
The field was cylindrical. I ran around its circumference, heading towards the field boundary closest to the Immortal Jayden.
-<Mr. Jayden, stop! If this gets found out, it’ll be big trouble! This is abuse of intervention authority…>
“You’re abusing your outer planet intervention authority!!”
-<Huh?>
I shouted as I ran frantically.
“Jayden Tempus! Stop the soldiers! The Kings are watching this… Heuk!”
I stopped my legs in a hurry. A soldier threw its body and swept in front of me.
Crash!
Its head creaked as it turned to stare at me. The person stuck in its mouth reached out towards me.
“Can’t… breathe…”
Crunch!
Juice splattered like a bursting tomato, and his hand drooped limply.
Something hot splashed on my face. A strong scent of iron hit me.
“Heuk, heuk…!”
Blood must have entered one ear, sounds becoming muffled. Instead, my heartbeat echoed throughout my head.
Before I knew it, my body had collapsed in fear. I guess I wasn’t like the protagonists in the novel.
There was something I needed to do, but my head was drenched with fear and adrenaline, becoming dull.
When I came to my senses, I was caught in the hand of the fallen soldier.
“Huh?”
The soldier’s mouth opened. Creeeeak. The still twitching corpse and unidentifiable organ-like things in its mouth came closer.
‘I need to snap out of it…’
Grabbing hold of my reason that was about to go blank again, I screamed with all my might.
“The Kings are watchiiiiing-!!”
Clap!
The soldier stopped at the clap.
“Huk! Heuk!”
The terrible smell of organs right in front of my nose was momentary.
The soldier stood up and brought me before Jayden Tempus.
“What did you say?”
I was able to face Jayden with the field boundary between us.
“…First, stop the soldiers.”
“I will. But…”
Clap! The soldiers stopped. This massacre was just his whim from the start anyway.
But at the same time, the soldier holding me started to squeeze.
“Uh, ugh, why, why…!”
“How rude for a bug.”
Sensation disappeared from my body. Blood rushed to my head, feeling like it was about to burst.
“If you… kill… me… the Kings… won’t… leave you… be…”
“Tsk…. Fine. You can speak for now.”
I guess he was bothered by the mention of the Kings, after all.
“Heuk! Heuuuk-!”
Air entered my lungs, and as blood spread through my body, my vision darkened.
No. I hurriedly gathered my wits.
“Four Kings… are watching this place.”
“How do you know about the Kings? Come to think of it, was it you who shouted for everyone to run earlier? As if you knew what I was going to do. You even used vocabulary like ‘abuse of outer planet intervention authority’.”
He didn’t believe my words. Rather, he was focused only on how I knew such information.
“This is a backwater planet where the tower hasn’t even been built yet…. That isn’t information allowed to bugs in such a place. What are you?”
“It’s being broadcast live.”
“…?”
His gaze fell on the reporter and camera.
“Hic! V-viewers…! A brave young man is negotiating with the terrorist… Everyone in the auditorium is quietly cheering for the young man…!”
Jayden looked at me again as if in disbelief.
“Not that. It’s being broadcast live on the universal channel. Four Kings are watching from their planets.”
“…What?”
“Since the Kings are interested, naturally everyone from high-level Immortal to climbers will be watching. At least two-tenths of the central universal civilizations would be watching this place.”
Only then did his eyebrow twitch. He asked into the air.
“Miss Fairy. Is this true?”
-<I-I’m hearing this for the first time. It’s a common procedure, so why would they do that? Why would the Kings watch in the first place, even if it’s broadcast…>
-<It’s true.>
The cold male voice cut off the girl’s words. Just hearing it seemed to make the temperature go down.
Jayden’s eyebrow trembled as if he sensed something was wrong.
“…Senior. An explanation is needed.”
-<It’s as that human says.>
Jayden’s face turned pale rapidly.
“Senior. My words were…. Then I…”
-<Be careful of your actions.>
“What good is it to say that now!!”
He shouted with bloodshot eyes.
“I-it was just a momentary deviation that commonly happens. No, if, if the high-ranking ones were all watching… I… what will happen to me from now on…”
-<The Kings did not wish for the broadcast fact to be announced on site.>
Jayden bit his trembling lips.
“…I still don’t understand. Why would they be interested in such a planet!?”
I answered instead.
“Because this planet was mentioned in the ‘Prophecy Book’.”
“What?”
-<It’s as he says. They said they wanted to watch the content of the prophecy. I was wondering what it meant, but….>
A gaze focused on me. A chill ran down my spine.
-<There really was something, the reason why such a backwater planet was mentioned in the Prophecy Book.>
The Prophecy Book was the most important ritual item managed not even by the hands of the royalty but the imperials.
This world worshiped only one god, the Creator God, and in the setting, the Creator God was the ‘author’, that is, ‘me’.
The Prophecy Book contained the past, present, and future of the world, and its author was the Creator God.
So simply put… in this setting, the Prophecy Book was ‘the plot of the world (original work) written by the author (me)’.
This kind of object existed in the novel world.
Naturally, it wasn’t allowed to be accessed by just anyone. Even if allowed, the future content wasn’t readable, but as ‘events’ occurred, the relevant passages were unlocked.
Today was the day the original work began. Of course, it would have been mentioned prominently in the Prophecy Book.
-<Jayden. This is information not allowed to you. Your abuse of power will be dealt with in later procedures. For now, fulfill your duty.>
Jayden’s nape trembled.
Having sensed his own future, his fear transmitted even to the soldier which caused the wooden hand holding me to tremble as well.
‘Good.’
The massacre stopped for now. Next was…
‘Next is?’
I acted on impulse this time, but what do I do now?
Couldn’t they let go of this hand?
Jayden glared at me sharply.
“How did you… no, you…!”
This was bad. Jayden’s anger was directed at me. The soldier’s hand gradually tightened.
He was blinded by anger. Asking if he didn’t fear punishment wasn’t going to work.
‘I’m going to die.’
I needed to survive first.
‘How?’
Please think of something, anything!
I mobilized all the knowledge I had. The development of Chapter 1, the world setting, the backstory of the character Jayden…
‘Ah!’
That’s right. I knew everything about the character Jayden Tempus.
“How dare a worthless bug like you!!”
“Keep the covenant of your 17th year, Jayden!”
Jayden’s gesture to crush me stopped.
And as he thought about my words, his eyes gradually widened.
“You… what did you just say…”
At 17, he experienced the destruction of his planet and was saved by a mysterious angel.
In return, he made an illegal covenant, and it was a secret that only Jayden and the angel knew.
Bound by the covenant, Jayden could never go against the angel.
Although the process had been illegal, the covenant became his reason for living.
Even now with the angel having gone missing, wasn’t he heading towards the upper floors of the tower solely with the goal of meeting the angel and fulfilling the covenant?
And the angel was a mysterious figure who had never directly shown their appearance to Jayden.
“It’s me, Jayden. Release this hand.”
It was a flimsy bluff. I knew the identity of that angel.
They were not weak like me, and wouldn’t be on Earth right now.
But Jayden was incapable of thinking normally right now, and I had an overwhelming advantage that he couldn’t help but lose to.
“L-liar. That person… no, you…”
I was the author of this world.
I knew more than anyone else.
And I knew Jayden better than Jayden himself.
“Shall I annihilate Celdirne Tempus’s soul?”
“…!”
One of the two prices of the covenant. He had his sister’s soul held as collateral.
And your speech habit.
“Do you need that to believe me? You worthless maggot.”
You were just imitating the angel, weren’t you.
Interesting