Chapter 297 - Wish

# Chapter Translation

"Oppa. Da-in oppa, what are you doing?"

At the Ego-Stream mansion.

I was lying on a sun bed next to the lake in the garden, working, when I looked up at the voice coming from in front of me.

There was Ariel with her blue hair, peeking just her head above the water surface of the lake, looking in my direction.

Since she started living here, she often enjoyed swimming in the lake, saying she felt more comfortable in water.

"I'm working. I have some concerns to deal with."

"Hmm... Oppa, you work too much. Even my father didn't work this hard."

"Blub blub... Oh, that's right, oppa! If even Ariel who just got here says that, doesn't that mean you're a workaholic?"

As Ariel was speaking, Han Seo-eun, who had been swimming and struggling behind her, spat out water and said that.

After seeing Ariel swimming in the lake, she had followed her out, saying she wanted to learn to swim too.

At first, she had confidently come out wearing just a thin-looking swimsuit, but after realizing the limitations of both the cold water and her swimming skills, she had created and put on something that looked like the swimming suit Ariel was wearing. It didn't seem to be the finished version yet, though.

Anyway, I could only smile awkwardly at the two girls complaining that I worked too much, having no words to counter them. Especially since Seo-eun worked with me the longest despite saying such things.

While I was like that.

Shin-ryong, who was lying on the sun bed next to mine, opened her mouth in a languid yet strict voice.

"Enough. Da-in has the grave responsibility of saving the world. Instead of disturbing him, why don't you encourage him?"

It was a mature statement befitting the eldest person in this house.

...If only she hadn't been saying it while lying on a sun bed wearing sunglasses with a mojito with ice in one hand, it would have been even more impressive.

Shin-ryong, who had been a guardian dragon of a region in the Republic of Korea.

Just looking at her appearance—black hair tied back with a hairpin and wearing traditional clothes—she looked every bit like a person from ancient times... but recently, she had been quickly assimilated into modern civilization.

For someone who had been sealed away for hundreds of years, all the gifts of modern science were new and wonderful.

Even though she had resisted for quite a while due to her aversion and her mindset that valued tradition and nature... we hadn't particularly asked her to do anything, and after staying only in the forest in front of the house, she had finally succumbed to corruption through Su-bin's culinary tours.

Her intention to stay gracefully in nature was good, but I never expected it would manifest as her wearing a hairpin while lying on a sun bed with an iced mojito...

"Hmph..."

Anyway, even though her appearance was like that, Seo-eun seemed to think Shin-ryong's words themselves weren't wrong, as she dove underwater with bubbles gurgling.

...Well, I'm glad those two are having fun anyway.

After telling Seo-eun and Ariel that I would join them to play in a little while, I turned my attention back to my laptop.

What I was looking at was "that thing" sleeping inside Karkaeas, the Republic of Korea's only ability user detention facility, which I had been researching for several weeks.

After gathering information from overseas over several days, I realized that the current situation was quite problematic.

"...Tsk."

...How do I take this bastard down?

I took my eyes off the laptop for a moment and stared blankly at the lake reflecting the sunset, quietly lost in thought.

What I'm trying to prepare for now is that thing inside Phase 3.

An ancient being that was captured as a villain and is now sleeping in the deepest part of the Eastern Karkaeas.

And that is.

The most dangerous enemy after Seo-eun in the Phase 3 final event, the Great Prison Break, and a being that poses a potential threat just by existing.

An ancient life form that seems to be related to otherworldly gods and serves as a preview for Phase 4.

Karkaeas prisoner number 002.

The one called "votum implens" (the one who grants wishes).

"....."

Unlike modern villain names, its sentence-form name shows how long ago this being was active. It was one of the first to be thrown into the Eastern Karkaeas, the prison fortress said to be inescapable, when it was just built.

...Actually, can I even call it a "he"? It's not human but a divine being to begin with.

"...Tsk."

The one who grants wishes. The official international association name is votum implens.

A black silhouette the size of a 5-year-old child, sitting amidst strange, thick white tentacles.

In fact, it couldn't even be called a villain. It doesn't harm people first, after all.

However, if someone approaches it, it quietly opens its mouth and makes an offer.

I will grant... your wish.

Yes. It's a being that offers to "grant your wish."

And naturally, it demands a price. A demand to give up something precious, something valuable.

And if you pay the price, it does grant the wish.

The problem is that it fulfills wishes in a terrible and cruel way that the wisher could never have imagined.

...For example, if you wish for rain, a storm comes, and if you wish for a woman to love you, it transforms the wishing man into a cat that the woman likes.

Things that are clearly impossible and beyond human capability.

That's why it's considered a divine being. More precisely, it's one of the Sun God's creations, like that knight we defeated with Stardust before.

Anyway, this being appears in the latter part of the original Phase 3 Great Prison Break.

The seal of the prison where it sleeps is broken, allowing it to escape from Karkaeas.

And when a villain who escaped from prison discovers it, it contributes to making the latter half of Phase 3 even more chaotic than the Phase 2 Moonlight Church Gate incident, along with the corrupted Seo-eun. At that time, readers all went crazy, grinning and watching to see how far things would go. The world's situation seemed like it couldn't get any worse. ...For reference, it could.

Of course, unlike the original, the Great Prison Break won't happen, and Seo-eun hasn't been corrupted, so I thought Phase 3 would be safe, but...

"..."

Still, I couldn't just sit still knowing such a terrible creature exists within the Republic of Korea's territory.

Especially if someone were to wish "destroy Korea" or "kill Stardust" to a being that somehow makes wishes come true...

"...That can't happen."

Yes. I couldn't just do nothing.

Especially considering that as one of the Sun God's creations, it's closely related to Phase 4. In the original, it was eliminated in Phase 3, so I can't predict what would happen if it survived until Phase 4. I don't know what kind of interaction it might have with other creations of the Sun God.

That's why I've been determined to eliminate it beforehand. I've made minimal preparations already.

'...I guess I can stop writing in my diary now.'

However, there was a problem.

...I had many other urgent matters, and since it wasn't going anywhere, I kept postponing the specific plan.

And as a result of that postponement, now I'm in a tight spot.

"...So even Seo-eun's power can't penetrate Karkaeas."

Tap. Tap.

I tapped the armrest of the sun bed with my hand, quietly lost in thought.

...First, Karkaeas. Getting in there was the current problem.

The international association's supervillain detention facility, one in each part of the world, which gave the association its current status—a culmination of all modern abilities and technologies. That enormous prison island on the foggy sea, which looks absolutely inescapable from the outside.

Of course, its security is world-class. You can tell just by the fact that otherworldly monsters that came through the Moonlight Gate couldn't even scratch it. It also has countermeasures against teleporters like me, and if I forced my way in, I'd definitely come out as a corpse due to the automated security system.

Using force to destroy the prison and enter was also rejected. If I did that and broke other villains' cells, causing them to escape, that would be a disaster.

Additionally, I couldn't get help from Lee Seol-ah, the ruler of the Republic of Korea's underworld, this time. That place is under the association's jurisdiction and has extraterritorial rights. Especially since the Director still has a firm grip on the association.

The remaining option was to make a deal with the Director... but the structure itself made it impossible to sneak in. Due to the strict security requirements, there was real-time surveillance everywhere.

Then indeed.

There was only one method left.

"I need to get captured and enter the cell myself."

Thinking that, I grinned to myself.

...Even I thought it was ridiculous.

***

"Haah..."

After sending Shin Ha-ru away.

Left alone, Lee Seol-ah had been thinking so much for days that her head was about to ache.

...The fact that her friend's love troubles were more difficult than thinking about the country's economy, laws, and personnel would make others laugh, but it was a serious problem for her.

Especially as she tried to find a way for everyone to be happy.

"Hmm..."

As she was spinning her pen and thinking, a phone call came at just the right time.

"Da-in...?"

Until she realized it was a call from Egostic, she was smiling brightly, wondering what it could be about.

And then.

"...What? What did you say?"

...After answering the phone, that smile didn't last long.

"...You're saying you want to get captured by Stardust and go to prison?"

Wondering if what she heard was correct.

After confirming again, she leaned back in her chair with a deep sigh, collapsing as if her body gave out.

'...These two, really.'

Why are both of them doing this to me...

Lee Seol-ah felt like crying.