The fourth day in the detached laboratory of the Grand Magician was heralded not by the sun, but by the rhythmic, bone-chilling thwack of a mop hitting a stone floor.
A Regressor didn't need the comfort of dreams, especially not when the "Spatial Lag" in the room was still hovering at a disgraceful 12%.
To anyone else, the lab was a disaster zone of ancient scrolls and bubbling reagents.
To Joonghyuk, it was a dungeon where the boss was a layer of dust that had survived for five centuries.
[Your 'Janitor' Acting Rate has reached 55%.]
[Attribute unlocked: 'Microscopic Vision' – You can now see the 'Stories' of bacteria.]
"You're still doing that," a voice groaned from the corner. Han Sooyoung was leaning against a shelf of pickled chimera eyes, her face pale. She was currently wearing the tattered leathers of a 'Bandit King,' a role she had taken with entirely too much relish, though her stats were currently as suppressed as Joonghyuk's. "Joonghyuk, we've been here for almost a week. Harin has explained the 'Leon Clan Bloodline' six times. Fors is basically becoming a Sequence 0 librarian. And you... you're still trying to wax the logic out of the floor."
Joonghyuk didn't stop.
He wrung out [The Janitor's Sturdy Polearm] into a bucket of water that was now glowing a faint, holy silver.
"He's right, you know," another voice chimed in, "The faster we return our stats, the better."
Fors Wall emerged from a mountain of scrolls, looking both exhausted and enlightened.
Near her, the snow-white rabbit nibbled on a piece of paper that Shimurin had discarded.
Fors's eyes were bloodshot, but they sparkled with a strange, high-sequence intensity.
"Shimurin's magic isn't just formulas," Fors explained, adjusting her spectacles. "It's a search for the 'One Truth.' If I wasn't an Apprentice of the Abraham family back home, I truly think I would have stayed here as her disciple. She's... terrifying. She treats the multiverse like a puzzle that's missing a piece, and she thinks Biyoo is that piece."
At the center of the room, Shimurin was currently hovering in a cross-legged position. In front of her, Biyoo floated, letting out a series of confused ba-ats. The Grand Magician's fingers were moving like a weaver's, pulling threads of white light from the air.
"The 'Source' of your world is fascinating," Shimurin murmured, her voice vibrating with enough power to crack the glass jars nearby. "It doesn't follow the laws of Mana. It follows the laws of Observation. You exist because you are being watched. If I can graft this 'Audience' logic onto my Teleportation spell, I won't just cross the continent. I'll cross the Void."
Joonghyuk stopped mopping.
He looked at Biyoo.
The little Dokkaebi looked tired. The "Channel" was still open, and the messages from the Constellations, Gods, Outer Deities, Devils and Demon Kings were scrolling by at a dizzying speed, but the Rejective Force of Arunheim was putting an immense strain on her small body.
"Harin," Joonghyuk said, his voice a low command.
The woman on the sofa sat up instantly.
Harin Von Leon, the last survivor of the Greatest Devil Hunter clan. In this world, she was the key to the final battle. Her short blue hair was messy, and her sharp eyes were fixed on Joonghyuk.
"Are we starting the training again?" she asked, her voice rasping.
"Yes," Joonghyuk replied. "Han Sooyoung. Stop looking for food and get over here. We need to master 'Exorcism' before Shimurin moves us back to the city."
Harin stood in the center of the lab.
"Exorcism isn't magic," Harin said, her tone cold and instructional. "It is a rejection. My ancestors, the Leon clan, were executed because the Prince feared our blood. Our blood screams against the demonic. To use it, you must mix your mana with the intent of 'Cleansing.' You don't strike the demon. You strike the 'Evil' within the demon's Story."
Joonghyuk watched as Harin pricked her finger.
A single drop of deep crimson blood fell into her palm.
She simply willed her mana to vibrate.
The blood expanded, turning into a mist of red-gold energy that smelled of ozone and incense.
"Try it," she commanded.
Han Sooyoung went first.
She pricked her finger, her purple mana—the power of [Black Flame]—clashing with the blood.
"Tsk, this feels like I'm trying to mix oil and water."
"You're trying to dominate it," Joonghyuk noted, his [Sage's Eye] analyzing the flow. "Exorcism is a vacuum. It is the absence of corruption. You must 'Clean' your mana before you mix it."
Joonghyuk stepped forward.
He didn't use his blood.
He used the mop.(;3)
He dipped the mop into the bucket of "Spiritualized Soap" he had been brewing.
He gathered the 1% output of [Torch That Swallowed the Myth].
He treated the mop as an extension of his soul.
(MOP BREATHING FIRST FORM: Sterile Sweep...) ;3[1]
He swung the mop.
The water vaporized into a brilliant, golden light that mirrored Harin's exorcism energy. The lab was suddenly illuminated as if the Sun had entered the room. The dust that Joonghyuk hadn't managed to reach was instantly disintegrated.
[You have successfully integrated 'Exorcism' into the 'F-Grade Janitor'!]
['Exorcising Mop' – Your cleaning deals True Damage to Demonic Entities.]
"I think I'm gonna cut this system," veins started to buldge on Joonghyuk's neck as he felt that he was getting to comfortable with it.
Harin stared at the mop, her jaw dropping.
"You... you just used a high-level Leon clan technique using a piece of wood and wool."
"It's a tool," Joonghyuk said, his expression as stoic as a statue. "A tool for removing waste."
Shimurin looked over from her experiment with Biyoo, a smirk playing on her lips.
"We're moving?" Fors asked, her rabbit jumping back into her coat.
"Now," Shimurin said. She didn't use a circle. She didn't use a chant.
She simply grabbed Biyoo and snapped her fingers.
They landed in the middle of the Lorenzio Grand Square, and the first thing Joonghyuk felt wasn't the ground, but the pressure.
The sky above the city was a bruised, sickly violet. The "Spatial Lag" here was so intense that the buildings were literally flickering. Half of a tavern would be stone, while the other half was a transparent wireframe of violet mana.
And then, there was the attack.
"KIEEEEEEE—!"
A scream that bypassed the ears and struck the spirit erupted from the ground.
Several streams of magic power shot up through the cobblestones.
Like the tentacles of an Outer God, they coiled around the panicked citizens who were trying to flee. The Demon Realm Gate had begun its true "Synchronization."
Harin yelled, drawing her short sword:
"And high-tier demons! They're using the Prince's connection to anchor the Demon Realm to the square!"
"Prince?" Joonghyuk asked.
A group of robed figures appeared atop the flickering buildings.
These were the Djinns.
"Look at that," Han Sooyoung said, her eyes turning purple as she drew her dagger. "The casualty rate is going to be a nightmare."
Indeed, the palace guards were being slaughtered.
Without the long-range support of a Master Sharpshooter, the flying demonic beasts—Void Wraiths—were picking them off with impunity.
"Joonghyuk!" Han Sooyoung yelled. "What's the play? We can't fight them all with these stats!"
Joonghyuk looked at the chaos.
He saw a child being dragged toward the crack in the earth by a mass of writhing black worms.
A cold, familiar rage began to simmer in his chest. This was a world he was supposed to "Clean."
"Biyoo," Joonghyuk said.
Ba-at!
[The Channel #BY-9158 is intensifying!]
[The Constellations are demanding a 'Show of Strength'!]
Joonghyuk gripped the [Janitor's Sturdy Polearm] with both hands.
===
< Sub Scenario – City Siege >
Category:Sub
Difficulty: A-
Clear Conditions: Repel the attack of Demonic Creatures and Djinns
Time Limit:2 hours
Reward:20,000 coins
Failure: Further Demon Realm Transformation of Arunheim
===
He didn't look like a janitor anymore.
"Han Sooyoung, cover the left. Fors evacuate the civilians. Harin, follow me."
Joonghyuk moved.
He swept.
He lunged toward the demonic tentacles, the evolved mop glowing with a blinding, white-hot Exorcism light.
Clang!
The mop hit the first tentacle.
Instead of bending, the demonic power disintegrated upon contact.
It was as if the "Evil" was being chemically scrubbed away.
"Hahaha! Look at them run!" A Djinn atop a roof laughed, preparing a ball of corrosive mana. "A janitor? Are you going to mop us to death?"
Joonghyuk looked up.He used the first level of transcendence, finally his stats allowed that.
He threw a wet, soapy rag he had been carrying in his belt.
The rag flew with the velocity of a railgun slug.
[Skill Activated: 'Transcendental Rag Throw'.]
"I'm gonna destroy that System one day."
The rag hit the Djinn's face.
Because it was infused with Exorcism and the [Torch That Swallowed the Myth], it burned through his mask and his skull. The Djinn fell from the roof, his body turning to ash before he even hit the ground.
[The Constellation 'Mass Production Maker' is laughing so hard he's losing coins!]
[The Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is cheering for the 'Sanitary Hero'!]
But the ground continued to shake.
From the central crack, a figure began to emerge.
It was a man with long, golden hair and eyes that contained the void.
The Prince. Bell.
Bell looked at the group, and then his gaze settled on Yoo Joonghyuk. He smiled—a sad, knowing smile of a host who had already lost to his guest.
"The Supreme King," Bell whispered, his voice echoing through the square. "To think you would take the role of the one who cleans up the mess. My brother would have loved you."
"Brother?" Harin gasped, her sword trembling. "The Prince has no brother. He was an only child!"
"In the 'Original Story,' perhaps," Bell chuckled. "But in a 'Convergence,' anything is possible."
Suddenly, the air behind Joonghyuk fractured. A glowing gate appeared, and from it, a woman stepped out.
She was dressed in the royal silks of a kingdom.
Jin Sahyuk.
She looked at the ruined city.
She looked at Bell.
And then, she looked at the tall man in the burlap tunic holding a mop and a bucket of grey water.
There was a long, agonizing silence.
Then, Jin Sahyuk's face twisted. She clutched her stomach. Her knees buckled.
"Pfffffft—! AAAHAHAHAHA!"[2]
The Royal General of Knights literally fell to the ground, rolling on the dusty cobblestones, her royal cape getting stained with the very filth Joonghyuk was trying to clean.
"THE SUPREME KING!" she shrieked between gasps for air. "THE 1864TH TURN! YOU'RE... YOU'RE A MAID! YOU'RE A FLOOR-SCRUBBER!"
Joonghyuk's grip on the mop handle tightened until the stone beneath his boots cracked.
[Acting Rate as 'Janitor' has reached 60%!]
[Giant Story 'Season of Light and Darkness' has been unsealed.]
[■■ 'The Last Witness of the Unwritten End' has sponsored you for 100 coins!]
"Jin Sahyuk," Joonghyuk whispered, the killing intent radiating from him so thick it actually suppressed the demonic energy of the square. "If you do not get up, I will mop this entire city with your face."
[1] Oops, sorry wrong Universe...
[2] that's me laughing