Chapter 185 :

Episode 36 : Upskilling (4)

In the evening, after relaxing in the sea for a short period of time, it was time to fill one's stomach with delicious meals made by clone JoonChul together with Louis.

"A votre sante!" Alaine toasted to everyone with a glass of coconut water.

* ( "A votre sante." French → English "To your health." )

"Cheers!"

..Tchin-Tchin!

There were meals consisting of different varieties of fish and vegetables, leading anybody to be hungrily drowned in the mouth-watering scents and looks of these dishes.

Eating vegetables as much as possible, Mya munched on it, along with trying the sushi for the first time ever. 

"Mhm!"

Considering her expression, she seemed to be stunned by the taste and texture of the so-called sushi.

"Amazing.. This tastes so good!!" Mya commented with sparkling eyes that wanted to eat more sushi.

"Mya, you should dip the sushi upside down where the salmon would soak the soy sauce instead of the rice." Louis said before picking one of the sushi with his chopsticks.

"Uhh.. Maybe you should have said that sooner, Louis! Now the rice on my sushi is just falling apart!" Alaine spoke as she looked at her ruined sushi. 

"But yum! It still tasted good!" Alaine added, and continued to eat the sushi properly. "By the way, what about that food?"

Having heard that question, Louis turned his gaze over to the dish that clone JoonChul and clone HwanGi were eating.

"I don't know. It could be one of their country's cuisines, I think?"

While Louis and Alaine laid their glance over to clone JoonChul, watching him grab the pork and spice before wrapping it with the lettuce, including other stuff that Louis and Alaine couldn't figure out, they were seriously getting extremely curious about the taste.

Eventually, Alaine asked as she appeared to be drooling. "Alright! I'm gonna say this! HwanGi, what are you eating?!" 

At the moment, clone HwanGi felt surprised by Alaine's eager suddenness, secretly hiding his unease expression beneath his smiling face toward Alaine.

Clone HwanGi thought, taking a deep breath. ‘Act like HwanGi, just act like HwanGi.’ 

"You want to give it a try? Here, this is a Korean cuisine called 'Ssam'." 

Her eyes shone brightly and hungrily when Alaine received the 'Ssam' clone HwanGi made for her. "Ooohhh! So that was what it was!"

"With soju, it would taste more delicious." 

"Soju?" Alaine asked after having the 'Ssam' in one bite. 

"How is it?"

"Oh my.. god.. Where have you been all my life!?! Why didn't I discover this sooner!? It tastes good! Very good!"

"Glad you like it."

..Rustling~

The sound of the wind brushing past the moment of ease that ‘The Rebels’ Guild was having, began to turn stranger and more violent in a short amount of time.

When one minute passed, it was a normal wind. Then two minutes switched to a gale and three turned into a swirling mess.

Once it hits six minutes, a hurricane has arrived, creating a force to be reckoned with by the sheer dread of water flying into the hurricane.

"Holy cow.." 

Further increasing the dire dilemma, the hurricane not only carried water, it also lifted up sharks, whales, any sea animals that one can think of.

"What is this? Isn't that a sharkna—Are we in a movie or something?!" Alaine gasped once she witnessed the hurricane filled to the brim with tons and tons of creatures.

On the other hand, Louis got up from his spot before looking horrified by how dangerous the hurricane would be for anyone. 

‘Could anyone survive that?! We would die first in the hurricane instead of dying from the impact of landing if we were caught in it!’ Louis thought, gritting his teeth at how powerless he felt.

Right when Louis expressed his fragile ability in protecting anyone, his glance caught on a relaxed clone JoonChul who was sitting and eating the 'Ssam' without a care to the hurricane behind him.

‘..Why isn't he scared or startled? Doesn't he notice what's happening around him? Is this safe then?’

Minus clone JoonChul, Louis had finally realized that even JoonChul's comrades weren't afraid by the dread at their back, talking casually and enjoying their meals at the moment.

However, Louis didn't have enough time to sort out his thoughts when Alaine spoke of something odd. "Hey, guys. I was just curious about the time. And I noticed that something is wrong with it.."

"The time? What's wrong with it, sister Alaine?" Mya asked after opening a panel to check whatever Alaine was talking about.

So did the perplexed Louis. 

"What?" Confused as Louis should be, he thought that his eyes were playing a trick on him.

..But it wasn't Louis' eyes' fault since even Mya appeared to be alarmed by it, asking Louis. "Brother Louis, do you know what this means?"

..The timer was off..

[6:66PM]

After that, Louis spoke in a puzzled manner, gazing at Mya with a clueless look. "I.. don't know."

Feeling a bit stressed and slightly panicking, Alaine exclaimed while ruffling her hair. "The hurricane, and now the time is in a questionable number.. What's next?!" 

"Calm down." Clone JoonChul calmly reassured everyone.

"How can we be calm when there's a literal storm coming at us!? There's no way I would want to get wet from that!"

‘You're more worried about getting wet than dying? Really?’ Thought, Clone JoonChul while staring at Alaine.

WHOOSH!!!!

"Gah! It's almost here! The hurricane is swaying so close to us now!" Alaine gasped, stepping back more and more.

While everyone was fearing for their life, clone JoonChul and his comrades remained composed and carefree, not bothering to escape from the hurricane and just taking a sip of their beverages.

"Sensei, should I get more coconuts for later?" Raiden asked, chugging his drink in one go.

"What 'later'?! We're about to get crushed by a massive storm, Sensei!!" Alaine bawled in fear.

"No, we aren't."

Seeing as Alaine was this fearful and almost half of ‘The Rebels' Guild's members were trembling a little from the seriousness of the situation, it was sensible to be agitated and afraid at this moment.

However..

SPARKK!!!

..Their fears weren't needed.

"Like I said, calm down." 

The moment clone JoonChul uttered his line, he could witness everyone except his comrades were dazed by what was occurring behind him.

CLASH!!

By then, clone JoonChul could already imagine the hurricane that they were concerned about, wasn't moving any inches near the island.

And to add to that, there should be a protective defense that was shielding everyone in the island from the hurricane's wrath as well as knocking down potential sharks and sea animals from slamming down randomly onto the island.

RUMBLLLEEE!!

Flabbergasted, Alaine asked. "Wut in the world is even happening now? Wait.. Are we in one of those safe zones?"

RUMBLLLINGG!!

Sooner or later, the constant collision was getting out of hand by the amount of quaking it was causing to the earth.

Even though the earthquake wasn't at all horrible, it was causing some annoyances to the ones standing, and prompted everyone to sort of stagger from the non stop shaking.

Suddenly, Clone JoonChul called out. "Sit down, Louis, Alaine, Mya, Noel and HwanGi."

Composing himself, Louis exhaled a deep breath before sitting back down. "Can you explain the situation, JoonChul?" 

"Did you read this stage's description?"

Not long after, Louis tilted his head slightly as if he didn't understand what JoonChul was talking about, only to be dumbfounded by what he saw from the stage's information.

"..! Is it the part where it said 'Beware of the calm before the storm’ twice?!" Alaine gasped.

Clone JoonChul informed them. "Islands are a safe zone for us players."

By then, Alaine groaned. "Jesus Christ.. Isn't that too hardcore sending a giant storm at us? Wait.. Wait a minute.." 

With mouth half open from shock, Alaine became more bewildered when she thought it through. "If we hadn't found this island, wouldn't we be dead by now?"

"That's why I wanted to find an island quickly from the get go." 

"Then why didn't you tell us earlier, JoonChul? We were so scared that it's bad for our hearts! My heart!" Alaine dramatically spoke.

"Alaine is right, even Mya is shaking."

"Louis, that's just the rumbling ground's fault." Clone JoonChul uttered as he looked at Louis.

Eventually, clone JoonChul laid his glance over to Noel and Mya, musing. ‘Mya is fine with Noel holding her hand tight. Either Noel is scared and needs to hold hands just to feel safe or he did it to ease and comfort Mya.’

‘..Or both.’ 

Having to wonder, clone JoonChul shifted his gaze over to Noelle as he was curious why she didn't stand up like the others when they saw the hurricane.

‘..Ah, I see.’ Clone JoonChul's expression fell flat. ‘So you were scared that you couldn't even stand up.’ 

"What about the time?" Louis asked.

"It's a normal occurrence at this stage to confuse those outside of the safe zones. It'll go back to normal tomorrow."

"Oh."

In any case, Alaine finally seated herself down while beginning to entirely ignore the hurricane in front of her. "So we're safe now right? No more craziness? Okay? Okay! Back to eating 'Ssam'!" 

Meanwhile, Louis was staring at Alaine who managed to disregard the storm and was now munching on food with a well pleased expression.

No words to describe what Louis felt from watching Alaine acting like this. 

‘Sometimes, I just don't get her, so how did I even come to like her?’ Louis thought inwardly as to figure out why.

"What are you daydreaming about? The food isn't going to fly into your mouth, Louis." Alaine said with her mouth full.

"Don't speak while you're eating, Alaine! You're teaching the kids bad manners!"

———

BANG!!

The thunder loudly flashed with the swirling wind of the hurricane, reverberating in a deafening volume enough to wake anyone up in the middle of the night.

‘The Rebels’ Guild's members who had finished their dinner, were now laying and sleeping down on thin ice covered with silk to give them a comfy rest instead of the shaky ground disturbing their slumbers.

Bannggg!!

Thunders zapped louder and louder, almost like a malfunction alarm clock trying to abruptly wake everyone up.

But too bad..

All of the bawling noises were immediately silenced by the earmuffs that Mirai had created in advance, enabling everybody to have a good night's sleep.

Speaking of sleep, there was someone who couldn't close their eyes despite the long hours.

Clone JoonChul uttered with a blank expression. "Is this what you wanted, Michael?" 

…Whoosh… 

Somewhere that wasn't near the asleep members of ‘The Rebels’ Guild, clone JoonChul was standing right in front of a comatose body with devilish horns and demonic wings sprouting on the back.

"..."

In that moment where time was slowly passing by, clone JoonChul was staring blankly at his real body.

A body that was unconscious and was left unresponsive to its surroundings, was resting normally on the coffin with a blanket inside made by Frostina and Mirai. 

"Unlike the time where I died by the hand of my son, Noel, and failed to do anything to stop him because I felt guilty and reluctant from Lucas Absolute's subconscious.."

"I managed to make a clone of myself this time without causing my comrades to take a detour to resurrect me."

Weirdly yet solemnly talking by himself, clone JoonChul rested his hand on the coffin before narrowing his gaze.

"If death was what you wanted from me, why begin now when you could have ended me in my earlier lives?" 

"Oh, wait. You've been doing that already, haven't you?" Clone JoonChul let out a scoff. 

"That moment when you came to rescue HwanGi, why didn't you use that chance to kill me right then and there?"

Slowly but surely, clone JoonChul's hand that was on the coffin, soon folded into a fist. "Tell me, Michael. What's your plan?"

… 

..There was only silence..

… 

"The one time I wanted you to talk, you won't speak a word. How amusing."

Upon removing his hand from the coffin, clone JoonChul was preparing to leave the permafrost room until he halted his steps in an abrupt manner.

..Why did he suddenly stop midway to the exit? It was all because of someone's voice..

[Satan..]

"So you finally bring yourself to speak to me."

[...]

"No words to say? Are you afraid I might curse you or something?"

[...]

"Speak to me, Michael."

[...]

Within a short yet silent period, clone JoonChul spoke. "How's HwanGi-ssi? Is he doing well up there?"

[He's… He's doing fine.]

"That's good."

[Why must you be kind to him now when you were murderous to him during your last fight with him?]

"I wonder why." Clone JoonChul spoke before covering his lips to hide his smirk.

[..Oh, fallen angel.. Must thou always act like this?]

"Oh, archangel of protection. Must you always ask me an obvious question? I am who I am, so never question my acts."

[..Satan. Please.]

"Hm?"

[I beg of you.]

"Are you seeking forgiveness? Consider the answer to be a no, I will never forgive you, Michael."

[..No, I wasn't speaking of that.]

"What is it then?"

[Fallen far from the high. Lived farther than a lamb. Ends at the blessing number..]

"..You."

"Do you really think I would allow such a fate to happen to me?" Clone JoonChul gritted vexedly when he understood what Michael was speaking in a vague and extremely confusing way.

[...]

"Your way of speaking changed. Did you make it more puzzling to puzzle me of its meaning behind your words?"

[..Let there be another. Thereupon shall arise a pardon.]

"Begone." Having enough bullshit, clone JoonChul said his goodbye.

[..If not. Let there be grief. For a fated final.]

"Then, goodbye. It was unbearably unpleasant to speak to you, Michael."

[...]

"If I had known this was the conversation I would receive from you, then I wouldn't have calmed myself for such a waste."

"Just the sound of your voice angers me. I wish I could just get to you and kill you with my own hands as pay back for betraying me, Michael."

"I thought we were more than that, but I guess time does change a person, even for an archangel." Clone JoonChul said after leaving the room abruptly.

"Including me too.."

[..I have sinned and I'll pay for it. But.. I'll sin again if it means your life is pardoned from all the torment you experienced..]

Michael's voice that couldn't reach JoonChul who had left, resonated in a grief-stricken manner while fading away.

[Oh.. Satan.. I'm deeply sorry…]