Selena Kim couldn’t make sense of what was happening before her eyes.

Was that really the proud “Christina Page” she knew?

“Again. How much?”

“Five hundred thousand coins!”

“Hand it over for now.”

“Yup!”

A former FBI forensic-hypnosis expert and the brain of “Zarathustra.”

Was that really the “Christina Page” she knew?

“I’m giving you a deal. You know that, right?”

“Of course I do!”

“Didn’t you say earlier it was above market price?”

“I checked again and it isn’t that expensive! If there’s demand and no supply, it’s only natural for the price to go up!”

“Now we’re speaking the same language. Then let’s make it six hundred fifty thousand coins.”

“Excuse me?”

“Let’s go with the original market price. In keeping with the law of supply and demand.”

“B-But six-fifty is too expen—”

“Don’t need it? Then let’s just end the deal.”

“This isn’t something I can decide on my own… May I contact the higher-ups for a moment?”

Was this part of FBI procedure too?

Flabbergasted, Selena Kim even asked in the group chat what on earth she was doing, but Christina only rolled her eyes in silence.

“Stop thinking nonsense and stay still. Please.”

That was more or less what her look said.

Christina hadn’t made such a fuss since a demon king’s symbol-body descended on the North American continent.

Truth be told, «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» there was something even stranger.

“Selena Kim.”

“Yes? Ah, yes.”

That this ruthless man to Christina could be so kind to her.

“Aren’t you thirsty?”

With a small smile, the man promptly had someone bring her a drink.

“You look tired—have a little sugar.”

A sweet-smelling drink with rice grains sunk to the bottom.

“Ah… this drink. I’ve heard of it.”

It could have been nothing more than an ordinary bit of hospitality.

But how long had it been since she’d last received a small courtesy in this world?

“Thank you…”

Moved, Selena Kim sipped the sweet rice drink. The drink was sweet, the scenery at Gwanghwamun was antique and dignified, and the stars in the sky were clear.

[Constellation, ‘Bald Militia Commander,’ says that indeed, in hard times, nothing beats a cup of sweet rice drink.]
[Constellation, ‘Maritime Telegraph,’ nods.]

Korea is nice.

*

Staring blankly at Selena Kim as she quietly drank the sweet rice drink, I wondered if I was still under hypnosis.

For the record, in my head, each time Selena Kim took a sip, the following messages popped up:

[The old constellations of the Korean Peninsula watch the polite Selena Kim as she dines.]
[The constellations of the Korean Peninsula are proud of you for widely promoting the culture of the Korean Peninsula.]
[The constellations of the Korean Peninsula sponsor you 1,000 coins.]

And shamelessly, the coins were being deposited straight into the body currently housing that man—me.

“Hey there. Mr. Kim Dokja.”

Kim Dokja didn’t answer.

[Extending ‘Midday Rendezvous’.]

“Hey.”

―Ah, you extended it? Told you to do that sooner.

“……”

―I warned you Zarathustra’s people were on their way—what were you thinking?

So those back-to-back indirect messages were because of that.

I thought he was just being stingy with coins…

“Now please get out of my body.”

―I’d like to, but… you sure? You’ll be stuck like this for a whole day.

Christina Page’s exclusive hypnosis skill, [Daily Corpse]. Anyone hit by this skill sleeps like a corpse for a literal day.

Meaning, if Kim Dokja left my body now, my body would instantly go limp.

“But are you okay? If you just descend like this—”

―Who said I descended. I don’t have a death wish to eat the backlash.

Come to think of it, that was true.

It was the Seventh Scenario.

No matter how high a constellation’s rank, direct descent into a scenario was impossible.

If he’d thrown away all his tales and even borrowed Otherworldly Divinity to possess a body like the “Thousand” at Seoul Station, that’d be one thing—but Kim Dokja wouldn’t have done that.

“Then this is…”

A hypothesis flashed through my mind.

“Did you use [Omniscient Reader]?”

Kim Dokja’s exclusive skill, [Omniscient Reader].

―Yeah.

“But how?”

As far as I knew, three preconditions were required to trigger Kim Dokja’s [Omniscient Reader].

First, the target must be a “character.”
Second, the caster and the target must be thinking of each other at the same time.
Third, the caster must have an appropriate level of understanding of the target.

Here a question arose.

Even if you gloss over the second condition of mutual thought and the third condition requiring understanding, how did he satisfy the first precondition of “character”?

“Don’t tell me…”

A bad feeling hit me.

Like the other “apostles” whose character-ization had progressed, had I also become a character?

If [Omniscient Reader] had activated for that reason…

―Did you forget who you possessed?

“Ah.”

The flesh Kim Dokja possessed via [Omniscient Reader] wasn’t originally mine.

“You possessed Cheon Inho?”

―That’s right.

A belated sigh slipped out.

If the target was “Cheon Inho,” the precondition of “character” could be satisfied.

“Then how did you fulfill the condition that we have to be thinking about each other?”

―Don’t know either. Didn’t you think of me right before you blacked out?

“That’s true, but I’m not Cheon Inho.”

―Since the thought happened while you were possessing Cheon Inho, maybe it counted as a Cheon Inho thought.

Is that so?

Something felt off, but at any rate, Kim Dokja’s plan had worked, and that much I couldn’t deny.

“Anyway, thank you. Thanks to you, I’m alive.”

―Good. By the way, you really possessed a peculiar body. Of all people, Cheon Inho…

“Well… he is weak.”

―No, that’s not it. Doesn’t this body feel strange to you? If you nitpick it, neither you nor I are the original owner of this flesh.

“That’s true.”

―Then where is this guy’s soul right now?

“Uh…”

It was a question I’d never thought deeply about.

I suddenly recalled the Shin Yuseung of the 41st regression.

When the possessed Shin Yuseung’s soul left, the 41st’s Shin Yuseung regained his body.

If that was the normal phenomenon, then right after my soul left, “Cheon Inho’s” soul should have returned as well.

But Cheon Inho’s soul hadn’t returned.

“Here—six hundred fifty thousand coins.”

Apparently done with her call, Christina, wearing a death mask of a face, handed over the coins.

“The earth dragon species parts are over there.”

Snatching the coins with cool ease, Kim Dokja jerked his chin toward the Rank-4 earth dragon species corpse.

Christina checked the corpse without a word and nodded.

“Confirmed.”

Next, a “Subspace Warehouse” appeared from within her coat. A portable storage space used to transport large parts.

As expected of “Zarathustra.”

Perhaps because they were backed by <Asgard>, every item they used was top-tier.

“Then we’ll be going.”

“Right, let’s go.”

“Excuse me?”

“We’re going to meet your boss. I said I wanted to see Anna’s face.”

Christina and Selena Kim looked at each other with bewildered faces.

They clearly hadn’t imagined he’d act on that bastard thought.

“Didn’t you hear from Joonghyuk? I’m headed to America too.”

“Joonghyuk… You mean the Conqueror?”

Perhaps greatly impressed that he called the Conqueror Yu Joonghyuk that way.

After a moment of thought, Selena Kim spoke.

“Understood. Come with us.”

“Selena?”

“Christina. We’re in dire need of even a single ally right now. There’s no reason to refuse someone who’s come to help.”

“No, hold on—”

“Then we’ll call that settled.”

Kim Dokja scribbled a brief note and handed it to Bang Cheolsu, who had been waiting in back.

“Bang Cheolsu. When Ms. Heewon wakes, give her this. Guard Gwanghwamun well in the meantime.”

“Yup!”

Naturally having no idea whether this was me or Kim Dokja, Bang Cheolsu only kept saluting with a deeply moved face.

“All right, let’s head out.”

*

A little later, as I stepped into the rippling portal, I asked Kim Dokja,

“By the way, Backer.”

―What.

“Have you ever been to the United States?”

The United States of America. The land of freedom.

“It’s my first time, so I’m nervous.”

I’d lived my whole life in Korea, speaking only Korean.

To think my first overseas trip would be like this.

And in a world that had already perished.

―It won’t be much once you get there.

True, for a constellation, overseas travel was nothing.

Overseas? They were beings capable of interstellar travel.

Then a thought struck me.

Had Kim Dokja ever been to the U.S. in the main story?

“We’ve arrived.”

Perhaps because it wasn’t an interstellar portal, the spatial transfer ended in a flash.

Kim Dokja and I slowly looked around us. A barren sand wind blew from all directions.

Maybe reading the faintly disappointed look on Kim Dokja’s face, Selena Kim quickly added,

“This is the outskirts of Las Vegas.”

Those who knew would know—Las Vegas was a city built in the middle of a desert.

Which meant that if you stepped just a bit outside the city, it wasn’t hard to find yourself in unfrequented desert terrain.

“Our headquarters are in the city center. Anna and the Conqueror will be there as well. We’ll use this to travel into the city.”

Selena Kim pointed to a transport vehicle placed beside the portal.

It wasn’t a terrestrial car; likely an item purchased with coins.

―Hmm. An Asgard-made compact vehicle.

Scanning the vehicle inside and out, Kim Dokja nodded.

―Pretty well-made for a supply item. Did a mass-production maker tweak it?

“You’ve ridden one?”

―I heard they were making a budget model at Ferarghini. The interior looks similar.

Kim Dokja climbed straight into the back seat of the vehicle and in an instant became one with the seat.

“How long will it take?”

“About thirty more minutes.”

“Mind if I nap?”

“Pardon? Ah. Of course.”

At the wheel, Christina nodded with a sour face.

In their stead, I asked,

“You’re going to sleep?”

―Yeah. Wake me later.

“No, are you seriously going to sleep?”

―You think [Omniscient Reader] is free? It has a time limit and it consumes plausibility. I can’t keep it up 24/7—I have to portion it out. We don’t have coins to waste here.

Now that he said it, it made sense.

“By the way, Mr. Kim Dokja.”

It was something Kim Dokja needed to hear.

“What did you do with the coins you squeezed out of me?”

―Hm?

“You said the earth dragon parts would go for about three hundred thousand coins to me. But you sold them for five hundred… no, six hundred fifty thousand. And not only that—”

[Exclusive skill, ‘Omniscient Reader,’ ends.]

“Mr. Kim Dokja?”

No answer came back.

Had I in fact contracted with the “Demon King of Nine Won”?

Somewhere, I thought I could hear Kim Dokja snoring.

Looking closely, my body was snoring.

From the passenger seat, Selena Kim looked back at me and asked,

“Mr. Cheon Inho?”

Waving her palm a few times over my face, Selena Kim let out a disbelieving sigh.

If I was dumbfounded, how much more so for Selena Kim.

“Good grief, Christina. He really fell asleep. Looks like your hypnosis finally took.”

“Congratulations. That’s the most infuriating thing you’ve said to me yet.”

“Why did you act like that earlier? That wasn’t like you.”

Perhaps intending to pick up the earlier thread, Selena Kim cautiously broached the topic.

Truth be told, I’d been curious too.

Even to my eyes, Christina had been excessively frightened of Kim Dokja.

If this wasn’t [Descent] but possession via [Omniscient Reader], the rank of the “Demon King of Salvation” wouldn’t have been fully transmitted.

Besides, Christina Page, like Anna Croft, was an incarnation of the great nebula <Asgard>.

“I haven’t been able to reach <Asgard> at all since earlier.”

“Isn’t that a common occurrence?”

“Maybe for tale-grade constellations, but the great-personage-class pick up when you call. They’re on standby 24/7.”

This was a bit interesting.

All of <Asgard> was out of contact?

If they were summoning everyone up to great-personage-class in the nebula, something big must have happened internally…

After checking something, tension hovered on Selena Kim’s face as well.

“I can’t get through either. What on earth…”

“Right before we left, I barely reached one great-personage, but they asked me something strange.”

“Something strange?”

The moment I heard what followed, my heart went cold.

“They asked if, by any chance, the smell of ‘a demon king’ wasn’t coming off that incarnation.”

The nebula <Asgard> knew about the “Demon King of Salvation.”