Suicide Before Defeating the Final Boss

Suicide Before Defeating the Final Boss – 60

EP.60 The Revealed Truth Part 3

Jeong-hyeon found himself conflicted as he observed the Second Princess Karina, who was surrounded by numerous subordinates and engaged in conversation. Despite the intense desire to draw his sword and drive it into her face, he knew better than anyone that acting on such impulses would be unwise.

‘Just hold on a little longer.’

He reminded himself that he could start executing his plans tomorrow. Deciding to wait a bit more, he refocused on his exploration. Suddenly, an interesting thought crossed his mind.

‘By the way, Karina is participating in the ceremony too, isn’t she?’

This implied that, at least during the ceremony, Karina would not be in her room. If luck was on his side, he might be able to retrieve some ‘useful items’ from her room.

‘Not a bad idea.’

If he managed to acquire even a royal insignia, his options would greatly expand. He decided to proceed with this plan and smiled.

‘But first, the priority is to raid the royal treasure vault.’

He needed to locate the treasure vault before anything else. He continued his exploration, searching for places where the vault might be.

***

Finding the treasure vault’s location was easier than expected. It wasn’t because of his exceptional search skills, but rather the recollection of conversations he had overheard while imprisoned.

‘There were some faint voices I occasionally heard while I was in the cell.’

The vague conversations that had trickled through the walls. He had never expected that eavesdropping while trying to escape would come in handy now. He grinned as he looked at the door made of the highest-grade magical gemstone, Heartrate from a distance.

‘Now that I know the location, I just need to come back tomorrow and raid it.’

He was already drooling at the thought and letting his imagination go wild about what might be inside.

‘Personally, I hope there are plenty of growth elixirs, or at least some equipment suited to me.’

With this thought in mind, he decided to head back to his room before the guards could spot him.

As soon as he returned, he found himself face-to-face with the First Princess.

Given the busy preparations for the ceremony, it was unusual for her to be waiting in his room. He looked at her with curiosity, wondering why she was there.

Charlotte sighed and spoke to him.

“I have something to discuss.”

Of course, she had something to say; otherwise, she wouldn’t be here. Nodding with a less-than-enthusiastic expression, he listened as Charlotte spoke to him with a complicated look on her face.

“Do you happen to know Sword Saint Neriah?”

In his past life, Jeong-hyeon had only seen Neriah from afar a few times. They had never met directly, so he shook his head. Seeing this, Charlotte gave him a puzzled look and spoke.

“…Really? Then why does Neriah want to meet you?”

A strange sense of déjà vu washed over him at her words. Someone had mentioned something about Neriah to him before. Jeong-hyeon pondered for a moment, trying to recall who it was. Suddenly, it clicked.

‘Mertan.’

He was the instructor who had taught Jeong-hyeon basic swordsmanship. Although Mertan often spouted nonsense, suggesting he had some mental issues, he was essentially a kind person, leaving Jeong-hyeon with no particularly bad memories.

‘Mertan was the only one trying to connect me with the Sword Saint. It must be because of Mertan that Neriah is now seeking me out.’

As he thought about how annoying this was, another realization dawned on him.

“Princess, is Sword Saint Neriah attending the awards ceremony?”

Charlotte nodded in response.

“Yes, she is.”

Summoning the Sword Saint to attend a ceremony while the war against the demon tribe was still ongoing? Jeong-hyeon couldn’t fathom such a decision. He let out a chuckle, shaking his head in disbelief.

‘In any case, this means an additional variable has been introduced.’

If he had proceeded without knowing this, it could have led to some significant complications. He felt relieved to have learned about it beforehand. As he pondered the situation, Charlotte observed him and asked for his decision.

“Anyway, Neriah wants to meet with you. What do you think? Would you like to meet her?”

“Could I choose the time and place for this meeting?”

“It shouldn’t be a problem. But keep in mind that Neriah has to return to the front lines soon, so try to arrange it for today or the day of the ceremony.”

After hearing this, Jeong-hyeon requested to meet with Neriah outside the palace in a nearby village after the ceremony. With that, the conversation ended.

***

The next day, the day of the awards ceremony.

Jeong-hyeon confirmed that there were about three hours left until the ceremony began, so he took a walk around the area. During his stroll, he spotted a familiar and somewhat welcome face.

‘Regina?’

For the first time in a long while, he felt genuinely pleased to see someone. Approaching her, he called out to Regina, who was gracefully sipping her tea. The moment she heard his voice, Regina dropped her teacup, freezing in place.

“… Huh?”

Her expression was one of disbelief—or rather, she looked like she didn’t want to believe what she was seeing. Her hands trembled as she spoke to him.

“W-What do you want?”

Regina stammered.

She was trembling so much that it almost made him feel sorry for her. Jeong-hyeon calmly sat down in the chair across from her and spoke.

“There’s something I need you to do.”

At his brief statement, Regina flinched and then, biting her lip, she lashed out at him.

“Why should I listen to someone like you!”

Without a word, Jeong-hyeon opened the subspace. As soon as she saw the subspace appear before her eyes, Regina covered her face with both hands, trembling uncontrollably.

‘She does look pitiful, but…’

But he quickly reminded himself that this sense of pity was only possible because he had won. It was a feeling he could easily brush aside. If he had lost, he would have been killed by her.

‘So, let’s put aside unnecessary emotions.’

He decided to proceed as planned and stated his demand concisely.

“Make sure the Second Princess stays at the ceremony.”

Regina didn’t respond immediately, her face twisted with fury. She glared at him, but as soon as their eyes met, she lowered her gaze and nodded slightly. Jeong-hyeon patted her head lightly and spoke softly.

“If you listen to me, I won’t kill you. Just do this for me, okay?”

Though Regina clenched her hands so tightly that her knuckles turned red, visibly seething with anger, she could only nod in agreement, knowing she couldn’t defy him.

***

The corridor was quiet now. Jeong-hyeon confirmed that only a few numbers of guards were stationed in the area and began to move.

‘First, Karina’s room.’

Deciding to start with the easier task, he swiftly headed towards Karina’s quarters.

‘The target is the window.’

While entering through the window would usually be impossible due to the layers of protective magic meant to keep intruders out, even high-ranking magicians would find it difficult to bypass such barriers. However, Jeong-hyeon had a unique advantage.

‘By utilizing the divine power’s characteristic of absorbing mana…’

He could easily break through the protections. Using this method, Jeong-hyeon successfully infiltrated Karina’s room. Once inside, he glanced around and let out a soft chuckle.

‘Her bad taste hasn’t changed.’

The room was plastered with reminders of her achievements, a display of her terrible taste. Jeong-hyeon frowned, knowing that most of these so-called achievements had been earned through the sacrifice of others.

Recalling the events of the past, a wave of disgust surged through him, but he quickly calmed himself. He decided to focus on gathering any useful items he could find.

‘Let’s see.’

First things first, it would be wise to search the more private areas. Jeong-hyeon opened Karina’s personal drawer and checked its contents.

‘A letter?’

There was a letter stained with blood, along with a fountain pen. Although he couldn’t discern their exact purpose, they seemed important, so he decided to take them with him.

‘Next…’

It would be best to target the stand holding personal equipment and items. He approached the stand and began gathering small but identifiable objects that symbolized the Second Princess.

‘Accessories or insignias she frequently wears.’

Jeong-hyeon casually tossed these items into his subspace pouch, then continued looking around for anything else worth stealing. Something on the bed caught his eye.

‘A gemstone?’

It was radiating an unusually strong divine power for an ordinary gemstone. To determine what it was, he picked it up, and a surprising notification appeared.

*-*

[Shard of the Holy Sword]

– Using this on the Holy Sword will accelerate its restoration.

*-*

Why would the Second Princess have a shard of the Holy Sword?

He couldn’t comprehend it, but he decided to ponder this mystery later. For now, he had to get out of here and move on to the next location.

‘Now, to the treasure vault.’

Upon reaching the vicinity of the treasure vault, he saw that the security was much tighter than in Karina’s bedroom. Seeing this, Jeong-hyeon knew it was time to execute his plan. He reached into his subspace pouch and pulled out Marpe.

“Argh! You bastard…!”

As soon as Marpe was pulled out, he started cursing and shouting at Jeong-hyeon. Jeong-hyeon kicked him in the head, knocking him out. Then he retrieved an item he had obtained earlier from his subspace pouch: the Flower of Life, which was essentially the Core of a Corpse Golem.

‘If I remember correctly, Miria said that using the core on a living person would enhance its effects.’

If that were true, using it on Marpe would create a golem of quite decent quality. Without hesitation, Jeong-hyeon thrust the core into Marpe’s heart and waited for the transformation into a golem to take place.

*-*

[Transformation into a golem is in progress.]

– Please input materials to construct the golem’s body!

*-*

A message appeared as soon as he inserted the core into Marpe’s heart. Realizing that there were no corpses nearby to use as materials, Jeong-hyeon briefly considered killing some of the people in the vicinity to use them. However, a better idea struck him, and he shook his head.

‘No, now that I think about it, there are better materials available, aren’t there?’

He recalled the preserved corpses of former kings and royals kept in the summoning chamber by magic. Deciding to use those corpses to create the golem, Jeong-hyeon made his way directly to the summoning chamber.