Free Web NovelChapter 1592. A New Normal (47)
Director Bel's composure was finally starting to slip. This was the first time I'd ever seen him look so shaken. Then again, after watching Benigoa run around screaming about the abyss nonstop, it would have been stranger if he had managed to stay calm.
Judging by his face, he seemed to be seriously reconsidering whether becoming Benigoa's partner in fate had really been the right choice.
"We can do it!" Benigoa shouted.
'Please stop already... damn it...'
Benigoa wasn't completely oblivious. She seemed to realize Belial's mood had taken a turn for the worse. Her chants and gestures became noticeably more timid than before.
In the middle of it all, she kept glancing at me. It looked like she was asking for help because she couldn't bear the increasingly awkward atmosphere, but there was no way I could help her right now.
"We... can... do it..." she muttered.
"..."
"We can... do... it..." She repeated.
"..."
In the end, she quietly shuffled over and settled into a corner. Regardless of whether she was hurt by our reactions, there seemed to be tears welling up in her eyes. Feeling like I would soon hear Ha-Yan's sniffling cries, I decided to speak up, but the meeting room door opened at the perfect moment, and a certain figure appeared before us.
"What the? All of you are already here?" Lee Ji-Hye remarked.
"J-Ji-Hye!" Benigoa shouted.
'Her face has completely brightened up now. What a traitor...'
"Oh geez, Miss Benigoa. What's wrong this time? Why are you looking so down?" Lee Ji-Hye asked.
"I-It's not... not really anything..." Benigoa answered.
"Did Mr. Belial and Oppa bully you again?" she asked.
"W-Well..." she stammered.
"Come here."
"J-Ji-Hye!"
'Damn it, she's really doing everything imaginable.'
Before long, I watched them embrace each other tightly. Ji-Hye gently patted Benigoa while the latter clung to her and poured out her grievances. Regaining her confidence, Benigoa spoke again with Ji-Hye standing beside her.
"B-by the way, where's Commander Jin in a situation like this? Honestly... he's hopeless," Benigoa complained.
As if she had instinctively realized that she cuckold be at the very bottom of the food chain, she decided to throw Commander Jin under the bus. The sheer absurdity of it left me speechless. Normally, I would ignore her, but she had just gained a reliable ally.
Benigoa was doing everything she could to raise her ranking. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
As always, her preferred method of doing so was putting down Commander Jin.
"You're right. I wonder where Commander Jin is and what he's doing," Lee Ji-Hye said.
"See? I told you he still hasn't adjusted to work yet. I need to teach him a lesson with some cupcakes one of these days. I have to engrave it into his genes that company life isn't a joke," Benigoa said.
"Commander Jin is trying his best, though. Please go easy on him, Miss Benigoa. There's really no need to engrave anything into his genes," Lee Ji-Hye said.
"O-Of course. I'm very generous, after all. I could let it slide. But the situation is bad. An unprecedented crisis has fallen upon our dimension... right, Lee Ki-Young? You agree with me, too, right?" Benigoa asked.
“...”
“...”
‘She's seriously becoming more and more childlike by the day...’
"Yes... you’re right, Miss Benigoa," I answered.
Her face finally brightened. She looked as though she'd completely regained her confidence.
"W-Well, since that troublemaker isn't here, we'll just have to hold the meeting without him. Honestly, it's probably for the best. He would've just thrown out some useless opinion anyway. Hmph," Benigoa said.
Just as I was wondering if Benigoa genuinely disliked Commander Jin or if she actually liked him, she spoke again. This time, unlike before, her tone was noticeably more serious as she said, "A-Anyway, I assume both Ki-Young and Ji-Hye are already aware of what's happening on our continent right now. Technically, if you look at it closely, it isn't just our dimension's problem, though." freewebnσvel.cѳm
"..."
"The incident occurred on the Twelfth Dimension, a place known by the codename Murim. To be honest, I didn't fully understand what was happening at first either, but when everything blew up, I looked into it myself," she added. She looked absurdly pleased with herself. It was probably because she noticed that I looked surprised.
‘So she actually does work...’
Even Belial looked stunned.
"..."
"..."
"It seems pretty clear that the dimension is showing signs of collapse. They're trying to keep it quiet over there and are still determined to hide it, but how long can you hide something like that? That place is obviously falling apart.
"Otherwise, there wouldn't be rifts opening up on this scale. Honestly, I never expected a Transcendent to cross over. It's a good thing the Red God of War took care of him," she explained.
Even in the middle of her explanation, she was still using the highest possible honorifics for Hee-Ra noona.
Belial, who still seemed unconvinced by Benigoa's competence, finally asked, "And what makes you believe dimensional collapse is actually occurring?"
Benigoa immediately frowned and replied, "What kind of stupid question is that, Director Bel? It's obvious. They can't even seal the breaches on their side anymore, which is why a Transcendent ended up crossing over here. The natural conclusion is that they've lost control of the situation."
“...”
“Think about it. Imagine the Red God of War suddenly decided to wander off into another dimension. People would be scrambling to stop her before she even got there. A Transcendent leaving your dimension is a huge loss of military power, and it hands other dimensions an opportunity. That's why every Transcendent in a dimension is monitored and managed extremely carefully," she explained.
"..."
"And this came directly from the information Lauren had obtained. Apparently, they had already tried asking the higher dimensions for help. When that didn't work, they started reaching out to other dimensions, too.
"The funny part is that they were still too proud to ask for help from the lower dimensions. Their entire dimension is on the verge of collapse, and they're still acting so dignified,” she continued.
“...”
“No wonder they get mocked all the time. They act like they've transcended worldly affairs and attained enlightenment, but when it comes down to it, they're incompetent. If breaches are opening up in your dimension, you ought to at least tell people about it, so they can be prepared," she complained.
"..."
"Hmph. Well, Director Bel? Was that a satisfactory answer?" she asked.
‘Why is she suddenly so competent?’
"..."
"..."
"Ahem. Ahem... They sound like a pretty high-ranking dimension," Belial said.
"That's right. It's older than our continent and has a much longer history behind it. People sometimes call it our next-door neighbor because it's physically quite close to us, but in reality, it's much larger than we are. Do you remember what I told you last time, Ki-Young?" she asked.
Of course, I remembered.
“Didn't they say some guy calling himself the Heavenly Demon showed up and caused a huge mess? The Immortals who manage that dimension were all scared out of their minds and are now in hiding, so I thought we should just gobble it up...” I answered.
“That's right. The truth is that the so-called Heavenly Demons are incredibly important in that dimension,” she said.
“There's more than one Heavenly Demon?” I asked.
“Usually they're referred to by generations, like the First Heavenly Demon, Second Heavenly Demon, and so on. It's easiest to think of them as something like the Demon Kings you hear about in other dimensions. When a Demon King dies, a new one appears and restores tension to a world that has grown complacent.
"Of course, the Heavenly Demons are a little different from Demon Kings, but that's because of the unique nature of the Twelfth Dimension,” she explained.
“...”
“That dimension doesn't have gods. Well, it does have Immortals, but they're forbidden from interfering with the mortal world. Even demons like Director Bel or Transcendents from other dimensions are strictly prohibited from intervening,” she said.
“...”
“Actually, it's more accurate to say intervention by beings from other dimensions is impossible rather than forbidden. Ah! We don't really know why, either. The Twelfth Dimension has always been that way, so we assume the system itself decided it should be,” she corrected herself.
“Then... how does that continent receive and use holy power? And who's in charge of managing it?” I asked.
“The Immortals handle management, but they can't wield holy power however they please,” she answered.
“So they do receive holy power,” I said.
“They do because they worship martial arts,” she said.
“...”
“The Twelfth Dimension is sustained by faith in martial arts. They don't worship a specific being. They worship martial arts itself. Even when they show respect toward a particular person, most of that holy power ends up going into a shared account, and the administrators of the Twelfth Dimension can use the holy power stored there under extremely strict limitations,” she added.
“I think I get the general idea,” I said.
“That's why the Heavenly Demon is such an important existence in the Twelfth Dimension. A necessary evil, you could say, just like Director Bel is in our dimension. Traditionally, the Heavenly Demons bring fear and a sense of crisis to the Twelfth Dimension,” she said.
“...”
“They're always absurdly powerful, making them an excellent source of holy power, and they are an unusually strong religious figure for the Holy Palace of the Heavenly Demon, which they belong to. I don't think I need to explain how much holy power that contributes,” she explained.
'Sounds pretty lucrative.'
“Pretty lucrative, right?” she asked.
“...”
“...”
“But that's not the only profitable part. Just like those artificially created Demon Kings, the end of a Heavenly Demon always follows the same pattern. In the Twelfth Dimension, a hero will inevitably appear to defeat the Heavenly Demon.
"When a hero slays the Heavenly Demon, who is a figure feared and revered by all with overwhelming power...” Benigoa trailed off.
'That sounds even more lucrative.'
“Exactly. Their account probably wouldn't just fill up. It might overflow and explode. A new hero would be born, and everyone would start worshipping the martial arts that hero embodied,” Benigoa continued.
It was then that Ji-Hye noona said something completely unlike herself. “The one branded as the Heavenly Demon will end up in a pretty pitiful situation, right?”
“...”
“No matter what he does, he's doomed to die anyway, right? In the end, he's just used as a tool to generate holy power for the dimension before being thrown away... I suppose it's unavoidable when you look at the bigger picture, but those Immortals don't seem like particularly decent beings either,” I remarked.
“Well, at least they’re not completely heartless over there. Their stance is that there's nothing they can do about those vicious by nature, but when they come across a Heavenly Demon they genuinely find pitiful or unfortunate, they'd impose various restrictions and send them off to another dimension.
"It's basically giving them a second chance at life. Something along the lines of reincarnation or transmigration,” Benigoa said.
“...”
“Apparently, Heavenly Demons adapt surprisingly well. Some end up in dimensions similar to Earth and become chefs, idols, tycoons, learn magic, and even open blacksmith shops...
"There are so many examples that I'd be here all day if I tried to list them all. There are just that many Heavenly Demons scattered across the dimensions....” she continued.
“...”
“Of course, the process involves negotiations with the receiving dimension and a thorough screening process. As a matter of fact, they once asked us if we'd be willing to take in a former Heavenly Demon. Naturally, the conditions they proposed were completely ridiculous, so we rejected them on the spot.
"Then those bastards started going on about how they wouldn't forget this insult and how we'd regret today's decision someday,” she said.
“...”
“I was this close to punching one of them. You know how they get when you don't do what they want? They start nagging you in the pettiest way possible. The Twelfth Dimension is famous for its martial prowess, so that probably makes them even worse.
"They always say, 'What are you going to do if you refuse?' as if they're trying to intimidate everyone. They're a bunch of idiots who've never done any real work in their lives,” she complained.
'So that's why she kept talking about conquering the neighboring dimension.'
“But what do you mean the Heavenly Demon caused some kind of anomaly in the dimension?” I asked.
“...”
“...”
Benigoa continued with a rather grave expression. “Well... we're not entirely sure why, but... it seems that after being defeated by the Hero, the Heavenly Demon somehow ended up regressing."
It was as though a house that had already caught fire wasn't just burning anymore, but was on the verge of being completely reduced to ashes.
'This... is going to get messy.'
