LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 2 - It's me, Jayden.
“Ahem, ahem!”
Transcendent Jayden Tempus took the microphone.
“Dear citizens of planet Earth. We will now begin the incorporation of Earth’s climbers. This is a very important procedure, so please be seated, and those outside the venue, please turn off your local broadcasts.”
The auditorium becomes noisy.
“Yes! At this moment, an event prepared by Hansung High School for the graduates will unfold!”
“Honey, get out your phone. Film it, film it!”
“Wow, which brand is that suit?”
Jayden’s brow twitched. A cute girl’s voice from thin air soothes him.
–
“Tch! Don’t be too surprised. This is not an alien invasion or anything like that. Rather, it’s the opposite.”
His recitation was identical to the lines I had written.
“As with all planets, doom has come to Earth, and I’ve come to give you the power to fight against it.
“Climb the tower and gain power. Return to Earth and fight against doom.
“You will face harsh trials, but there’s no need to feel too wronged. After all, warriors who receive the tower’s power generally receive heroic treatment or monopolize power on their planet.
“Well, it’s only natural. They are the saviors who will rescue the insignificant ones from doom.”
My brother tugs at my collar.
“Noah… This, this… Your novel, from there….”
His voice is trembling heavily. It seems my brother has finally noticed.
But now is not the time to leisurely answer him.
Jayden Tempus. He’s a polite gentleman, but like all transcendents, he’s somewhat twisted.
As if answering my unease, another voice rang out in the air.
It wasn’t the girl who had been soothing him earlier, but a cold male voice.
–
“Tch!”
He tears up the script and reveals his true nature that I know.
“This is bullshit. You maggots.”
Hearing his muttering, my hair stood on end.
I know what happens next.
Instinctively, I shouted with all my might.
“Everyone, get away from the field! You’ll die if you stay there!!”
Jayden clapped his hands with an incantation.
Clap!
“[Nussknacker]”
-
Despite the girl’s protest and my shout, something huge instantly filled the auditorium.
“Ah….”
Jayden’s ability, [Nussknacker]
Giant wooden soldiers in British guard uniforms were summoned.
Rifles and swords on their backs. Tall, blunt black fur hats. Red uniforms.
They were somewhat eerie nutcracker dolls.
“Don’t worry, Miss Fairy. I’ll just clear out the vermin.”
The soldiers look down at us. The bright lights of the auditorium cast deep shadows on the dolls’ faces.
Someone mutters at the horror movie-like, eerie sight.
“This… This is a show, right?”
No one could answer.
Clap!
At the sound of clapping, one soldier moves. It bends down and picks up a man who looks like a parent.
Creeaak-
“Wh-what are you doing! Put me down! I never agreed to this kind of reality TV prank!”
It opens its square doll mouth and brings the struggling man to its mouth.
The man’s head, as small as a walnut compared to the soldier, is placed in its mouth. And then.
“Sa-save…”
Crunch!
It bit down.
In the quiet auditorium, only the sound of a head being crushed and the creaking of wood echoed.
Plop. As flesh and brain matter poured down, a woman presumed to be his wife was blankly soaked in it.
When the headless body was thrown down, the woman was hit by it and collapsed with an “Ugh!”
Thud.
Was it fainting or instant death? She doesn’t get up.
“Mom… Dad…?”
A faint murmur spreads clearly from inside the curtain.
Just as the soldier reaches for another “walnut,” chaos begins.
“Kyaaaaaah-!!”
“Uh, uuuh… uuuuuh….”
“Daddyyy! No!”
“Aaaagh! Pu-put me down, you bastard! I said put me down! Haeun, Minjun! Run-”
Crunch!
The giant soldiers massacre the parents outside the field using all means–hands, feet, corpses. Red and white debris flew everywhere.
“Viewers! Te-terror! This is a real situation! A terror attack has occurred at Hansung High School’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 attendees outside the field run around in disorder like a swarm of insects.
“Huff, huh…! Noah! St-stick close to me and don’t get separated!”
I looked at the auditorium entrance. As expected, it was blocked by the soldiers’ feet, just like in the original work.
Then….
“Brother. Go to the rightmost stall in the women’s bathroom in the right corner of the auditorium.”
“Huh?”
“It’s safe there.”
Seol Ga-ram’s friend who was hiding there survives. That’s from the original story.
“…What about you?”
Me?
Without answering, I sprang up and ran.
But my brother, who had read my intention, launched himself even faster, 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 thoughts! You go to the safe area too! Listen to your brother, Kang Noah!”
Before I could argue, a shadow loomed over us. My brother and I rolled with all our might in opposite directions.
Bang!
The soldier’s foot stamped where we had been.
As the foot lifted, I could see my brother beyond it.
“Take care of Mom, brother.”
“No… Ugh!”
My brother rolled again, Bang! avoiding the soldier’s foot.
I ran in the opposite direction, towards where I needed to go.
The field is cylindrical. I ran around its circumference, heading towards the field boundary closest to the Transcendent Jayden.
–
“This is an abuse of your extra-planetary intervention authority!!”
-
I shouted as I ran frantically.
“Jayden Tempus! Stop the soldiers! The kings are watching this… Huff!”
I hastily stopped my legs. A soldier threw itself, sweeping across my front.
Crash!
Its head creakingly turned to stare at me. The person stuck in its mouth reaches out to me.
“Can’t… breathe….”
Crunch!
Juice spurted like a tomato bursting, and his hand went limp.
Something hot splashed on my face. There was a strong scent of iron.
“Huff, huff…!”
Blood must have gotten into one ear as the sound became muffled. My heartbeat echoed throughout my head.
I found myself sitting down in fear. I guess I’m different from the protagonists in the novel.
There’s something I need to do, but my mind is foggy with fear and adrenaline.
When I came to my senses, I was caught in the hand of a fallen soldier.
“Huh?”
The soldier’s mouth opens. Creeaak. The corpse still twitching inside its mouth, and something that looks like unidentifiable organs comes closer.
‘I need to pull myself together….’
Grabbing onto my reason that was about to go blank again, I screamed with all my might.
“The kings are watchiiing-!!”
Clap!
At the sound of clapping, the soldier stopped.
“Huff! Huff!”
The terrible smell of organs right in front of my nose was momentary.
The soldier stood up and brought me in front of 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 in the first place.
But at the same time, the soldier holding me started to squeeze.
“Uh, ugh, why, why…!”
“The bug’s words are short.”
Sensation disappears from my body. Blood rushes to my head, feeling like it’s about to burst.
“If you… kill… me… the kings… won’t… let it…”
“Tch…. Fine. Go ahead and speak.”
He seems to care a bit when I mention the kings.
“Huff! Huuuff-!”
Air enters my lungs, and as blood spreads through my body, my vision goes dark.
No. I hurriedly gathered my thoughts.
“Four kings… are watching this place.”
“How do you know about the kings? Come to think of it, were you the one who shouted for everyone to avoid earlier? As if you knew what I was going to do. You even used the term’ abuse of extra-planetary intervention authority’.”
He doesn’t believe me. Rather, he’s only focused on how I know such information.
“A backwater planet where the tower hasn’t even been built yet… This information is not permitted for bugs from such a place. What are you?”
“This is being broadcast live.”
“…?”
His gaze falls on the reporter and camera.
“Hiccup! Vi-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 entire universe channel. Four kings are watching from their planets.”
“…What?”
“Since the kings are interested, naturally everyone from high-ranking Transcendent to climbers must be watching. At least 2/10 of the central universe civilizations must be watching this place.”
Only then does his eyebrow twitch. He asks the air.
“Miss Fairy. Is this true?”
-< I-I’m hearing this for the first time. Why would they do that for such a common procedure? And even if it were broadcast, why would the kings watch…>
-< It’s true.>
The cold male voice cut off the girl’s words. Just hearing it seems to lower the temperature.
Sensing that something was wrong, Jayden’s eyebrows trembled.
“…Senior. I need an explanation.”
-< It’s as that human said.>
Jayden’s face turns pale rapidly.
“Senior. What I mean is… Then I….”
–
“What good does it do to tell me that now!!”
He shouted with bloodshot eyes.
“It-it was just a momentary deviation that happens often. No, I mean, if the high-ranking officials were all watching… What… what am I going to do now….”
–
Jayden bit his trembling lips.
“……I still don’t understand. Why would they be interested in such a pathetic planet!?”
I answered for him.
“Because this planet was mentioned in the ‘Book of Prophecy’.”
“What?”
–
Some kind of gaze focuses on me. A chill runs down my spine.
–
The Book of Prophecy is the most important ritual item managed by the imperial family, beyond the hands of the royal family.
This world only worships the one true god, the Creator God, and in the setting, the Creator God is the ‘author’, that is, ‘me’.
The Book of Prophecy contains the past, present, and future of the world, and its author is the Creator God.
In other words, simply put… the Book of Prophecy is, in the setting, ‘the plot of the world (original work) written by the author (me).’
Such an object existed in the world of the novel.
Of course, it’s not allowed to be accessed by just anyone. Even if access is granted, the future content remains unreadable, with relevant passages being unlocked only when ‘events’ occur.
Today is the day the original work begins. Of course, it must have been mentioned prominently in the Book of Prophecy.
–
The nape of Jayden’s neck trembles visibly.
The fear of Jayden, who sensed his own future, was transmitted even to the soldier, and the wooden hand holding me trembled as well.
‘It worked.’
At least the massacre has stopped. Next is…
‘What’s next?’
I acted on impulse for now, but what should I do now?
Can’t they loosen this hand a bit?
Jayden glares at me sharply.
“How did you… No, you…!”
This is bad. Jayden’s anger is directed at me. The soldier’s hand is gradually tightening.
That’s him blinded by anger. Talk of fear of punishment won’t work on him.
‘I’m going to die.’
I need 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 story of the character Jayden….
‘Ah!’
That’s right. I know 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 mulled over my words, his eyes gradually widened.
“You… What did you just say….”
When he was 17, he experienced the destruction of his planet and was saved by an unidentified angel.
In return, he made an illegal covenant, which is a secret known only to Jayden and the angel.
Bound by the covenant, Jayden can never go against the angel.
Although the process was illegal, the covenant became his reason for living.
Even now that the angel has gone missing, isn’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 is a mysterious figure who has never directly shown their appearance to Jayden.
“It’s me, Jayden. Release this hand.”
It’s a flimsy bluff. I know the identity of that angel.
That being is not as weak as me, and there’s no way they would be on Earth right now.
But Jayden is incapable of rational thought right now, and I had an overwhelming advantage that he couldn’t win against.
“Li-liar. The angel… No, you….”
I am the author of this world.
I know more than anyone else.
And I know Jayden better than Jayden himself.
“Shall I annihilate Celdyrn Tempus’ soul?”
“…!”
One of the two prices of the covenant. He had his sister’s soul held as collateral.
And your manner of speech.
“Do you need that to believe me? You worthless bug.”
You’re just imitating the angel, aren’t you?
Translator’s Corner
Nussknacker- German word for nutcracker. According to folklore, nutcrackers we given as keepsakes to bring luck to the family and protect the home. It is said that they represent strength and power and watches over the family keeping evil spirits and danger away.
-Ruminas