Please Stop The Pope

Chapter 8

3. I’m here to spread the good news

1.

First, let me say that until this morning, things couldn’t have been more perfect.

I woke up and Si Yeon made breakfast for me. We made plans to go to the amusement park on the weekend, and she even waved goodbye to me as she left for school.

It was exactly the kind of happy family morning I wanted.

I even got permission from the Ministry of Ability Management to film the episode for MyTube. At first, I was worried about what would happen if they objected, but they seemed to be happy with my decision.

Instead, they only asked me one thing.

I can reveal that I’m a returnee, but I have to do it at a press conference organized by the Ministry of Ability Management.

It wasn’t a difficult request for me, so I immediately accepted without any difficulty. After all, wasn’t that what me and In Wook had planned in the first place?

After getting permission from the Ministry of Ability Management, we headed straight to the location where Player K, or Gu Min-Soo, was filming a vlog.

Yeah, so far, everything was going according to plan.

But the question was.

“This is the perfect atmosphere for a quick smoke. In Wook, do you think this place fits?”

“Yeah, but it’s a little weird.”

“Is the phone still recording?”

“...... Uh, phone’s off.”

It started happening after we arrived at the scene.

I leaned slightly against the door of the SUV we were traveling in, sneaking a glance ahead.

We were at the entrance to a place called Mount. Jangjangsan, located in Yeoju City, Gyeonggi-do.

This is where Gu Min-Soo’s MyTube video was being filmed.

It’s pretty funny that a person who makes MyTube videos with player content is here, but that’s not the real problem.

The real problem was that the person we came to meet, Mr. Gu Min-Soo, was unreachable, and more importantly, there was this sinister energy in this place called Mount Jangjangsan.

I couldn’t help but realize that something was wrong.

Some people might say that intuition isn’t always accurate, but mine was different.

It came naturally from fighting for so long, and with Limen’s blessing, it’s developed enough to be called the Sixth Sense.

To my senses, which have developed to the point of near precognition, the detection of such blatant magick means that something must have happened.

I frowned and looked at the mountain, then turned and said to In Wook.

“Let’s go back. The project about the protagonist hiding his powers or something is temporarily suspended.”

“No, hyung. He’s probably in the middle of filming right now, that’s why he can’t answer his phone, so once we go up there and visit him in person.......”@@@@

“In Wook, is that guy Gu Min-Soo really a good guy? Doesn’t he have any bad rumors about him? Like he sacrificed people, worshiped the devil, or something like that?”

“Not at all. It can’t be. It doesn’t make sense, right? He’s a big-time vlogger.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Then why are you asking me that out of the blue?”

In Wook asked, and I answered with a twitch of my lips.

“Because I don’t think any decent person would think of pushing an acquaintance into this horrible pit.”

“A pit? There’s no such thing.”

At that, I simply lifted my finger and pointed to the mountain.

“There.”

A lot of words come to mind: pit, hell, etc., but I personally don’t think it was hell, so I went with pit.

This unpleasant aura that constantly irritated me.

It was clearly Magi, a magical energy that only demons or devils could emit.

Of course, it was a low-grade Magi that could not compare to the terrible Magi of the demons I had experienced in the other world, but it was Magi nonetheless.

Magi is a fundamentally different energy from the players’ magical power that I saw yesterday at Yeouido Hangang Park.

While players’ magic is usually referred to as mana, Magi is literally demonic energy.

It is a power that can only be possessed by demons, demon beasts, and warlocks who have made a pact with them.

To be honest, I had already expected Magi to be on Earth when I encountered the Wyvern, but I didn’t expect to find it so soon.

But Magi is Magi, no matter how faint.

It can’t do anything to me, but to a civilian like In Wook, it’s as deadly as poison.

And to have this much of it spread across the mountain.

“I think it’s been at least four days since the Magi spread, so I wonder what his intentions were in calling us to this place.”

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t think of anything good.

If In Wook or I didn’t have any powers, there were two possible outcomes to entering that mountain.

Either we’d go mad from Magi, or we’d die at the hands of people who were mad from Magi.

Either way, it would be a tragic end.

I said to In Wook, clenching my fist lightly.

“If I were really a Regular, we’d be dead here, okay?”

Given the out-of-range indicator on my phone, it was highly likely that it had something to do with Magi.

That’s the nature of Magi.

When it comes to distorting everything, I don’t have the energy to keep up with what Magi can do.

Sigh.

It was eerily quiet all around, which is why the sound of my footsteps on the fallen leaves was particularly loud.

At first glance, this might not seem so strange, but it’s too quiet.

Not even the chirping of birds, which would be expected in the mountains.

How long had I been walking like that?

Finally, I stopped in place, looked to the side, and said.

“Hyungs, what are you doing over there in such beautiful weather?”

There was about five seconds of silence, and then four men walked down from the gap in the trees.

They stood in front of me, quickly looking me up and down, and the one with the large camera on his shoulder bowed his head slightly and said, “I’m sorry.

“We didn’t mean to scare you, sir. We were just filming a MyTube video. I’m sorry, but may I ask what brings you here? Because there’s a dungeon here, and it’s pretty dangerous.”

He spoke softly, with a personable smile.

I smiled back at his kind words and bowed my head slightly.

“Oh, I’m here to see Gu Min-Soo today, my brother should have contacted you, did you not receive it?”

“Ah, are you the returnee? I heard about you from Min-Soo Hyung. If you could have called me, we would have gone to the entrance.......”

“My phone doesn’t work.”

“Again? Heh. The telecommunications company said they don’t know why...... but I’m glad. I’ll take you to Min-Soo Hyung. By the way, did your brother not come with you?”

“My brother has work today, so I came alone.”

“I see, then come with me, we’re filming in the dungeon right now, so we have to go a little further.”

With that, he smiled and started walking forward, and I began walking alongside him.

The other men followed us in silence.

The cameraman’s mouth never stopped moving as we walked.

He asked me what the concept of the priestly garb I was wearing was, and he also commented that he had never met a returnee before.

He even asked me silly questions like what women in other worlds looked like and whether I was popular in that world.

He never stopped talking.

You’d think he was a MyTuber, not a cameraman.

Is a cameraman for a famous MyTuber supposed to have such a tongue?

The strange thing was that the other three Se-myeongs weren’t saying anything except him.

So I asked the cameraman, puzzled.

“The three guys in the back have been quiet since earlier.”

He looked at me with rounded eyes like he didn’t know what I was talking about.

“What? They’ve been talking loudly since earlier, haven’t they?”

“Oh, I see. Um, what’s your name by any chance?”

“My name is Se-myeong.”

“Very well, Se-myeong Hyung. Now, listen carefully to what I’m going to say. Do you understand?”

“What are you talking about?”

Se-myeong’s eyes widened at my words, and I tapped the back of my hand lightly as I looked at him.

Churrrrrr.

Soon, a black leather glove wrapped around my hand.

“Se-myeong Hyung, you’re very lucky, I don’t think you’re even an Awakened...... Well, there are some people who are born with an innate resistance to Magi, and since it’s pretty rare, I think you should thank your parents.”

“What?”

“If you die here today, I want you to call your parents right away and thank them three times. Do you understand?”

“What the hell-”

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His words never made it to the end.

Because I punched the men behind him in the head.

“Hey!”

There was a heavy crunch but no blood spatter.

Because black smoke was rising from the men whose skulls had been crushed.

“That’s a very ominous entrance, and it looks like the rest are inside, so you’ll be safe here; you can rest here.”

“Dang, you...... what, what are you here for? What the hell is this.......”

“Me? You know what I am.”

I said, smiling as humanely as I could at Se-myeong, whose face was white as a sheet.

“I’m here to share the good news.”