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Chapter 482: Taking Off The Mask (1)

“Bael… attacked Olympus,” muttered Gaia.

“...”

Kang-Woo closed her eyes. He understood everything just from that one sentence.

‘I see.’

The severed contact with the divine realm, the destroyed Olympus, and the absent presence of the other gods… everything could be explained just from the name Bael.

“Were the other gods… eaten?” Kang-Woo asked, thinking Bael attacked Olympus to devour the gods.

“No.” Gaia shook her head.

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes.

“He did eat some of the gods, but most of them survived and are currently being treated in the World Tree.”

This was the first time Kang-Woo heard the World Tree could heal the injuries of deities, but that was not important at the moment.

‘Most of them… are alive?’ Kang-Woo tilted his head, unable to understand. ‘Why?’

Bael attacked Olympus while Kang-Woo was battling the Parasite King. Bael also possessed the Authority of Predation, so his objective had likely been to absorb the gods’ Deific Essence.

‘So why didn’t he kill them?’

It didn’t make sense. Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes, wondering if he was missing something. Just then, he was reminded of what Layla had said.

- Since I’m physically fine, Lady Gaia should be fine as well.

Kang-Woo looked down at Gaia. As Layla had said, she was not particularly injured.

“... Ah,” Kang-Woo expressed.

He had forgotten the first thing he should have wondered after hearing that Bael attacked Olympus.

‘How did Gaia manage to survive?’

If Bael had attacked Olympus for the gods’ Deific Essence, he would naturally aim for Gaia, a goddess with Top-rank Deific Essence.

‘But he didn’t eat her.’

There was no way he was unable to; even if Gaia possessed Top-rank Deific Essence, she was no match for Bael.

‘I see.’

Kang-Woo nodded as if he understood. He had been thinking about it completely wrong.

‘He didn’t attack Olympus for Deific Essence.’

He had a different objective.

“What happened to Bael?” Kang-Woo asked.

“...” Gaia remained silent. She then looked up at Kang-Woo with trembling eyes. She bit her lip anxiously and reluctantly continued, “He suddenly ran away… in the middle of his attack on Olympus.”

“He ran away?”

“Y-Yes,” Gaia answered, averting her gaze from Kang-Woo.

Kang-Woo laughed in spite of himself and asked again, “Did he really run away?”

“...” Gaia clenched her fists.

“Lady Gaia.” Kang-Woo crouched so that he was at eye level with Gaia. “What happened here?”

He slowly reached for Gaia’s clenched fist.

“Ngh!”

Gaia slapped Kang-Woo’s hand away in shock.

“... Lady Gaia?” Kang-Woo slightly grimaced.

“Ah… I-I’m sorry, my child.” Gaia lowered her head in panic. She bit her lip and said as if whispering, “B-Bael said some nonsense.”

“Nonsense?”

Gaia nodded. “Yes. Bael said that… you’re the D-Demon of Prophecy.”

“...”

“He also showed me… footage of you fighting the Parasite King and destroying Huan.”

“... Pardon?”

Kang-Woo felt like a truck had smashed the back of his head. Kang-Woo looked down at the subtly trembling Gaia with wide eyes.

‘Motherfucker.’

He barely managed to stop the curse from leaving his mouth. He felt dizzy and his thoughts were jumbling together.

‘Bael, you crazy son of a bitch.’

Kang-Woo couldn’t help but feel that Bael had gotten the better of him.

“A-And… was his name Kim Tae-Hyun? He showed me footage of you fighting him as well.”

“...”

Kang-Woo closed his eyes. He calmed his breathing and slowly unraveled his tangled thoughts. He could feel his head cooling down.

‘How?’

He did not feel anyone’s gaze when he was facing the Parasite King or Tae-Hyun. Even if he had been immersed in the battle, there was no way Kang-Woo would miss someone watching him in secret.

‘If he wasn’t watching, then how could he have—’

Just then, something popped up in his head.

‘... The Law of Titans.’

The entity that Players referred to as the System knew where and what every Player was doing at all times. If it didn’t, there was no way it could give rewards to Players every time they killed monsters or leveled up.

‘And Bael currently has the privilege to interfere with that System.’

Kang-Woo frowned aggressively. He understood why he had not been able to feel Bael’s presence. Kang-Woo had been watched by the Law that governed everything.

“...”

Kang-Woo stared at Gaia coldly.

“O-Of course, I didn’t believe a word of it. I-It’s surely doctored footage, right?” said Gaia anxiously, staring desperately at Kang-Woo to affirm her suspicions. She continued with a trembling voice, “There’s no way that you… my precious child… is the Demon of Prophecy.”

Kang-Woo stared into Gaia’s eyes filled with anxiety.

Gaia cautiously grabbed Kang-Woo’s clothes and shouted, “Wh-Why aren’t you answering? T-Tell me that you’re not!”

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes and calmly fell into thought.

‘It’s not difficult to cover it up right now.’

It was simple; he just needed to claim that they were doctored footage and that he had done no such things.

‘Since she’ll see and hear what she wants.’

Gaia truly treasured Kang-Woo and thought that he was the hope of this world. Hence, logic wouldn’t be very important to her.

‘But the seeds of doubt will remain.’

The proof that Bael gave Gaia would normally be so surefire that Kang-Woo would have had no way of denying it. Simply claiming that the footage was doctored would resolve the immediate issue, but she would always doubt Kang-Woo deep within her heart.

‘... And that seed of doubt will engulf Gaia.’

Kang-Woo understood why Bael showed only Gaia the footage. Bael had acquired footage of Kang-Woo unleashing the Demonic Sea by interfering with the System, as well as footage of him ending Huan and of Tae-Hyun calling Kang-Woo the Demon of Prophecy.

‘But…’

There was no reason for him to show only Gaia. If he wanted to expose Kang-Woo, he would have shown it to as many people as possible.

‘In other words, he never intended to expose me in the first place.’

Bael had a different objective in mind.

“M-My child…?”

Kang-Woo looked down at Gaia, who was looking up at him desperately with her hands on her chest. She said that the footage Bael showed her was surely doctored, but her eyes were filled with fear and uneasiness. Telling her that the footage was indeed doctored would not eliminate the seed of doubt sown deep within her.

‘I’ll have to act out another shitshow.’

Kang-Woo needed a proper storyline as well as a build-up that would let everything flow seamlessly. He needed to work several times harder than normal to erase the doubt embedded deep within her heart. However, that painstaking effort would end up meaningless as long as Bael possessed the privilege to meddle with the Law of Titans.

“Ahhh, I see how it is,” Kang-Woo mumbled.

He more or less understood what Bael was planning now.

“Hah,” he laughed in spite of himself.

‘You want to see me struggling, is it? You’re gonna sit back and relax as you watch my struggle with fried chicken in hand?’

“Pfft! Bwahahahahahahaha!!!” Kang-Woo burst into laughter, unable to hold it in.

He crouched as he grabbed his stomach. He smiled and swept his hair back.

“Bael, oh Bael,” Kang-Woo said to his enemy, who was likely watching him in anticipation even now. “You stupid, poor son of a bitch. Why do you keep trying to copy me?”

Taking a step back and looking down at the world as if observing it, toying with people’s feelings to fulfill his objective, and standing at the top to have everything under his control as if he were a mastermind… everything that Bael was doing was what Oh Kang-Woo had done throughout his life in Hell.

“Pfft! Kehehehe!” Kang-Woo laughed as he moved his shoulders up and down.

Bael did not do such things in the past; he did not have the personality or brains to pull such schemes. He was closer to a beast, faithful to his senses and instinct. There was only one reason why Bael would complicate the situation this way.

“Did you think you could become like me… if you copied what I do?” Kang-Woo smiled. “You’re nothing, man.”

Kang-Woo cackled as he licked his lips.

‘You want to see me struggling, is it? Sounds interesting. Alright, I’ll show you. Watch and learn.’

“Wh-Why are you acting like that all of a sudden, m-my child?” asked the pale Gaia as she looked up at Kang-Woo looking up at the sky and talking to himself.

Kang-Woo looked into her brown eyes and said, “It’s not doctored footage.”

Deathly silence fell.

“... What?” Gaia’s eyes widened.

Kang-Woo smiled. “I said, the footage you saw through the System isn’t fake.”

Gaia shook her head as she trembled. “Wh-What’s wrong, m-my child? Are you being threatened by B—”

“Hah, can’t you see that I’m trying to be perfectly honest with you?”

Kang-Woo clicked his tongue and slowly approached Gaia. He raised his right hand to cover his face with it, and then slowly dragged it down his face.

“He’s right.”

His hand fully came off of his face, revealing black scleras, yellow irises, and horizontal pupils. The corners of his mouth were ripped up to his earlobes and sharp teeth protruded from between his lips.

“Everything Bael said is true.”

Kang-Woo took off his mask of countless lies at last.

“I’m the Demon of Prophecy.”