Chapter 462

"Hmm… The reaction seems a bit lukewarm?"

Seong Jihan blinked as he looked at the aliens' chat messages.

Although he had gone all out when fighting the Martial God,

Are they not going to participate in the tournament because of that?

This is troublesome.

"Where else would a human like me gain the power to stand against the Martial God? It's all thanks to this…"

Seong Jihan raised his right hand, then paused for a moment.

Come to think of it, didn't Ashoka absorb the Administrator's Hand for him?

'Then the prize is gone?'

Seong Jihan glanced at his right hand.

Although Ashoka took the power at the end,

The slightly reddened skin color and traces of where the eyes had been remained.

To this extent, it looked similar to when it was sealed from the outside.

Then he could just pretend it's still there.

Seong Jihan casually waved his hand.

"It's because of the Administrator's Hand. Doesn't this really tempt you? It's not like you'll die if you lose the tournament, you just have to pay a small participation fee."

While pretending to have what he didn't, Seong Jihan worked hard to promote participation in the tournament, but

-Why participate when you'll obviously lose GP…

-I'm a Level 9 Constellation but I withdrew my application after watching the last broadcast.

-Even Level 9s would probably get cut down in one blow

-But can't the Great Constellations participate?

-Seeing the power Seong Jihan showed, it's a bit burdensome to face him in the tournament…

-But now that I think about it, looks like the Dragon Lord just lost in pure skill, so why is he claiming manipulation?

-He has to cope somehow lol

The atmosphere seemed like there would be no participants in this tournament.

'It's good for me to fight in the tournament though.'

Seong Jihan furrowed his brow.

He needed to defeat a Great Constellation in order to complete the achievement and become a 'Temporary Administrator'.

At this rate, if no opponents appear, the only method would be to tell the Dragon Lord to summon him.

Then he would suffer a bit after being summoned to a place where the Dragon Lord had set traps in advance.

'If I use the Golden Wheel, my body will return to where it was a day ago, but…'

The Golden Wheel, which could revert the state and location of his body up to the previous day.

If he used this, no matter where he was summoned by the Dragon Lord, he could return, but,

There was a time limit of 1 day, so he had to eliminate the Dragon Lord within that time.

If that bastard Dragon Lord just set traps and ran away,

He might not be able to kill the opponent within that time limit.

So fighting a Great Constellation in the tournament was better if possible.

"Ah, everyone. When I fought the Martial God, I poured everything into it, that's why it turned out like that. I even used the supernova, so the buff is gone now too. I've exhausted a lot here and there, so this is the weakest I've been."

So Seong Jihan tried to appeal his weakness somehow, but.

-Even if you're weak, you'll survive anyway, right?

-That's why you regenerated even after your body was torn apart by the Martial God.

-Did you regenerate 1741 times?

-By my count it was 1837 times. Anyway, he revived an incredible number of times.

-Isn't regeneration his greatest weapon, if you think about it like this?

-No no, that black sword was really powerful too, even the Martial God fled but in the end his veil was cut off in one blow.

-He's good at everything lol

The atmosphere of not wanting to fight Seong Jihan was already settling in.

'This is a disaster.'

Is this a side effect of the BattleTube live broadcast?

But he couldn't not turn on the broadcast in order to receive the star buff.

He smacked his lips as he looked at the aliens' reactions.

'It'd be better not to talk about this topic.'

If he kept talking, he would only emphasize his strength more.

Seong Jihan tried to change the subject.

At that moment,

[R.E.GATES donated 10 million GP.]

[Player Seong Jihan. Could you possibly tell us the truth about what Red Hand said last time? About humanity burning and becoming transcendent beings. What connection does humanity have with that?]

Robert Gates had sent a donation message just in time.

-He packed the donation message window full of text lol

-Even if he's the richest man in the world, isn't it a waste to blow 10 million GP on one message…

-For real, now that I think about it, the alien constellations are really rich, they shoot out 100 million, 1 billion like nothing.

-But I was curious about that too.

-Yeah, Seong Jihan almost died if he pressed the button;

When he took out the World Tree ignition device in Tuseong,

There were some intense reactions from people after hearing what the Administrator's Hand said.

'This… It's a bit much to tell them all the details.'

Telling people, you are actually the Red Administrator.

If we all burn in the sacred fire, we can become administrators.

Saying things like that would only add to the confusion.

Seong Jihan decided to give only the minimum information.

"Ah, that. The hand tempted me, saying if I press the button, I can burn all of humanity and resurrect them as the Red Administrator."

Tap. Tap.

Seong Jihan tapped the back of his right hand, gesturing as if the Administrator's Hand was there,

Then spoke as if it wasn't a big deal.

"How can I believe those words? In the first place, it's because of the hand that I was thrown into Tuseong. Even if I became absolute like it said, I felt I wouldn't be able to maintain 'myself'. So I just destroyed it. Well, I don't know the exact reason it wanted to sacrifice humanity…"

Without bothering to mention the fact that humanity itself is the Red Administrator,

He vaguely talked about the other facts.

"Maybe it's because you are the same species as me? If we're the same race, doesn't it seem easy to absorb power?"

-Uh… Is that so?

-Feels like there are more hidden facts…

-For real, feels like he didn't tell us everything…

-Well, what's important is that Jihan-nim didn't press the button.

-If it were me, I would have pressed it in that situation lol

Quite a few viewers couldn't shake off their doubts about Seong Jihan's explanation, but

-So what's the truth?

-You know more, right?

-Let's just reveal everything now that it's come to this lol

-For real, it feels unsatisfying to end it like this.

Even when many asked him if he knew any more facts,

"Who knows. I don't know the details either. If I did, I would have told you."

Seong Jihan shrugged his shoulders and feigned ignorance.

And,

-You guys, stop asking questions seriously…

-For real, is this an interrogation today?

-Look at Seong Jihan-nim's face, it's so cracked…

-Why do you keep probing someone who used his power like that for humanity

-Isn't his sincerity already proven just by not pressing the button?

As Seong Jihan showed no intention to answer,

His supporters actively stepped up and made people stop raising questions.

On top of his face looking more cracked and dangerous than usual,

Perhaps because it overlapped with him not pressing the switch even when he was on the verge of death,

Seong Jihan's fans occupied the chat window with much stronger firepower than usual.

'Well, this should be enough.'

After watching the flow of the chat window like that, Seong Jihan decided to end the broadcast now.

In the first place, the purpose of turning on the broadcast was for the tournament.

There's nothing good about talking more here.

"I will end today's return broadcast here, everyone."

As Seong Jihan waved his hand and the channel closed,

Beep.

The screen Pythia was watching also went dark.

"Okay, done? Now guide me."

[…]

"Why aren't you answering? Don't tell me you're not going to keep your promise?"

As the aged Gilgamesh scowled,

A voice came from Pythia's Divine Eye.

[Do you know?]

"Know what?"

[That there's another being with a Divine Eye in this world.]

"Besides you… There was another one?"

[Yes. She's looking for us.]

"Us…?"

[If I use the power of the Divine Eye to search for the World Tree, I think we'll get caught right away.]

Wrinkles formed on Gilgamesh's forehead.

After showing her the broadcast to her heart's content, she does this after watching it all?

"You… Is that true? Someone with a Divine Eye happens to be searching for us at such a convenient timing?"

[Sounds like a lie? Okay. Then I'll use it.]

"Yeah, hurry up and tell me."

[But do you know who the being with the Divine Eye is?]

"Who is it?"

[It's Seong Jihan's sister.]

"…"

Gilgamesh flinched at those words.

"Wait. If you use the Divine Eye, we'll get caught right away…"

[Yeah, I'm hiding our location right now.]

"…Then let's wait a bit until the search is over. But you're not thinking of anything stupid, right? Like running away."

[I only have one eye left, how can I think of anything stupid?]

He nodded at her words.

Pythia, who can't last long anyway without the life force he provides.

She probably wouldn't lie in this situation.

If they get caught, they're both dead anyway.

"…Okay. Block the search for a while. I'll go get some money from the humans."

[Don't brainwash them too obviously. You might get caught.]

"It's not brainwashing, it's domination."

Gilgamesh said as he turned his back to the West Sea.

Swish.

And Pythia, who went into Gilgamesh's coat pocket,

Thought to herself.

'Actually, I already know the location.'

The location of the World Tree.

That was something Pythia had already found when searching together with Seong Jihan at the time they were cooperating.

Since she still remembered the location accurately, so telling him wouldn't be difficult, but.

'This bastard will try to kill me if I take him to the World Tree.'

Gilgamesh is someone who would naturally betray others.

She couldn't provide information to him in a state where she only had eyes.

'For now, let's suck out his life force and contact Tuseong.'

Pythia, who had decided to use Gilgamesh,

Recalled Seong Jihan's broadcast.

His face was clearly being consumed by the void compared to before.

Even in the midst of such an extreme situation, he didn't press the switch until the end.

'That intention is respectable, but his ability is lacking…'

Although Seong Jihan was strong,

He wasn't strong enough to eliminate the red factor left in all of humanity.

One would need to become one with Tuseong like the Martial God to create such a miracle.

'If he had the ability…'

Perhaps she would have helped him.

Pythia thought about it, then

'…Let's stop thinking useless thoughts and focus on the current matter.'

She decided to stop making unrealistic assumptions.

* * *

3 days later.

[The number of participants for the '3rd Seong Jihan Constellation Tournament' is 0.]

"Oh no."

Seong Jihan frowned as the situation he had been worried about occurred.

No, the 1st and 2nd tournaments were so explosively popular.

How can there be zero participants in the 3rd one?

'I appealed so much that I've become weaker, but it was useless.'

Sigh.

As he let out a deep sigh,

Bam!

"Uncle. Why are you sighing all of a sudden?! Are you hurting somewhere?"

Yoon Seah urgently opened the door to Seong Jihan's room with an anxious face.

"…Did you install a wiretap in my room? How are you hearing all my sighs?"

"No… I was just worried you might collapse or something."

Collapse?

Seong Jihan laughed.

"I'm probably the healthiest person on Earth? I'm a human who revives even after dying thousands of times."

"Ah, that's why…! Even if you died and revived thousands of times, there could be side effects. Your face too…!"

Yoon Seah's eyes reddened immediately.

She's about to cry again.

Seong Jihan scratched his head.

After returning home from the battle with the Martial God, she wailed loudly seeing him and became overprotective.

"So, why did you sigh?"

"Ah, because there are no tournament participants."

"Isn't it good if there aren't any? You won't have to fight."

"No. I must fight a Great Constellation. This is troublesome."

In this case, the only method is to attack the Dragon Lord after all.

'There's also the option of the Sun King summoning me. But his mere existence can keep the Martial God in check, so I'll pass on that for now and…'

While Seong Jihan was thinking about the next step,

['Arena Owner' sends a message.]

[Mr. Seong Jihan. I have something to tell you regarding the cancellation of the tournament. Let's meet at the training room.]

A message arrived from the Arena Owner.

'It's rare for him to ask to meet first.'

Was the tournament cancellation that big of a deal?

"I'm going to the training room for a bit."

"Okay, Uncle."

Seong Jihan waved to Yoon Seah and entered the Void Training Room.

Inside,

"You're here."

The Arena Owner, with a universe visible under his fedora, was already waiting.

"Yeah. What should we do about the tournament?"

When Seong Jihan casually replied to the Arena Owner and looked at him,

Swish…

Inside Seong Jihan's body, an energy began to stir.

'Huh? Why is this…'

The FFF-grade stat he had received from Ashoka.

Azure.