[ TWATF ]

Chapter 64: Last Hope (13)

Chapter 64: Last Hope (13)

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“Sure.”

“…You mean you will accept the ‘Question of Righteousness’?” Ryung asked, to which Jaehwan nodded.

“What do I need to do?”

“It’s simple. You just need to answer my questions.”

She smiled as she continued, “Everyone, please close your eyes.”

Everyone, including Jaehwan, closed their eyes. They felt the darkness then turn into something else.

A chill began to overcome them. It was the beginning of the question. When Jaehwan opened his eyes again, and he found himself standing on top of a vast ocean.

‘Hallucination?’

The crowd buzzed with astonishment as they found themselves above a vast ocean. Ryung’s voice could be heard.

“The stage of this question is the ocean region where I live. As you know, the region outside of Dryad Fortress is comprised of this rough ocean. And as you can see, it makes a lot of ships sink.”

It was as she said. The sea began to rage and at the center of it was a sinking ship. The people who were on the ship were fighting desperately to keep themselves alive.

-H-help!

They were at the brink of death in the chilly water. It was too real to be considered a hallucination. A short while later, a rescue boat appeared to save the people from drowning. The boat that had an occupancy of 10 began to save those who were in the water. But there was a problem.

-We need one more spot!

The total occupancy was 10, but there was still one more in the sea.

-We can’t take him in, or else we will sink!

-Let him die!

When Jaehwan came to his senses, he found himself as the captain of the rescue boat. One of the people in the boat shouted to him.

-Captain! Make a choice!

Jaehwan thought, ‘I see. So this is the question.’

He saw Ryung smiling in the distance. There were choices in front of him.

[1. Give up on him! We will save the ten!]

[2. No one is left behind. We will all die together!]

There was no correct answer to either of those choices. It was a trap from the beginning to disparage Jaehwan for his ability to lead the expedition team.

“Now, Master. What will you do?”

Jaehwan looked at the two choices and stated firmly, “I will choose the third option.”

“…What? There is no third option.”

Jaehwan shook his head.

“Third option. I will save everyone and not sink the ship.”

She then turned grim.

‘Wait- did he?’

Unlike most other ‘Question of Righteousness,’ this one had a correct answer in hiding. This was shown only when the one being questioned found the answer himself.

[3. “We will not give up on anyone! Save him and we will take turns to jump in the water to survive until the next rescue boat comes to help!]

It was the correct answer that did not force one to lose their humanity and allowed them to save everyone. Ryung was going to disparage Jaehwan’s ability if he had chosen 1 or 2, but her plan had failed.