5. Alternative Tenets

The stranger beside the man glanced at Juho for a split second, as if sensing the awkwardness. He sighed, patted the man's shoulder lightly, and muttered with a dry smile. "Aten... you seriously need to get your eyes checked. The kid answered one plus one, not two plus two, idiot."

Aten quickly turned to his friend and scratched the back of his head. “Oh, really?” he asked. “I thought it was two plus two?”

He cleared his throat for a moment and took a step back, the hem of his coat swayed slightly as he moved.

Then, a clear grin spread across his face as he continued to spoke in an exaggerated manner. "Well, what can I say? Obviously I did that on purpose. After all, there's no such thing as a wrong answer, only answers given at the wrong time."

Hearing those words, Hyesu looked at Aten with a deadpan gaze, and unimpressedly shook his head. "I'm sorry sir, but I have to agree with your friend, please get your eyes checked." he spoke bluntly.

Aten chuckled at his comment, finding his straightforwardness amusing.

"Alright, alright," he finally said, raising both hands in surrender, a smirk tugging at his lips. "You two sure make a tough combo, huh?”

While they spoke to each other, Juho quietly stared at the man named Aten. 'Is this real?' he thought. The name felt familiar. And that phrase... he was sure he'd heard it before.

The phrase originally came from Aten, a mysterious characters from Villain Overkill. He would often say those words whenever he appeared at the time of crisis in the story, usually to intervene in bizarre ways and spread his... questionable doctrines. Like what happened earlier.

And if he remembered correctly... Aten was more than just a name. It stood for Alternative Tenets, a term that sounded contradictory. It was a belief system that encourages people to break the rules instead of following them. In the story, he was also called the unorthodox.

No one knew his real name, because "Aten" was just a nickname, or so the story claimed. Then again, no one could really confirm what was true and what was not when Villain Overkill itself is still not complete.

Coincidence? No.

There was no mistaking it.

Juho's lips twitched, barely hiding his excitement, which perhaps contained a hint of doubt on it. It was hard to tell what he truly felt in this moment, even to himself.

That's definitely Aten. The same coat as described in the novel, the smug tone, even the nonsense logic. He can't be wrong, right?

And whoever wrote Villain Overkill must’ve been on something, considering how cool these characters are.

Juho took a slow breath, trying to appear calm so that he wouldn't come off as weird. However, how was he supposed to stay calm when the characters he once read about were now standing right in front of him—

...[Ka-ching!]...

Juho was startled by the sudden sound and instinctively turned his head towards the system. As he read it, his heart began to skipped a beat.

...[System]🎉 Mr. Know-it-all has grant Player_ke9QsgPF 1.000 Honor...

[Mr. Know-it-all]: Hint. Two isn't always just one plus one, it can be the start of everything.

➥ [Ra]: Who's Player_ke9?

➥ [Fortune's Fool]: What does that even mean, you think you're the fortune teller or somethin' huhhhh.

➥ [404notfound]: Mr. Know-it-all? Tch, sounds like someone who corrects grammar just for fun.

"What..."

His brows furrowed, a bit puzzled. That nickname. He knew that nickname. Wasn't that his ID?

Juho nudged Hyesu lightly and whispered. "Hyesu-nim... look." He pointed at the screen. "That's me."

He was no different from anyone else, so why would someone give him this?

Juho pondered for a moment, then he mumbled to himself. "And that hint..?'

Two isn't always just one plus one. That line. It's hard to make sense of it, but what else could he do. It might mean something, probably.

Since the notification was visible to everyone, some people couldn't help but be intrigued.

"Who's Player_ke9 or whatever that is?" someone wondered.

"Don't we have that weird nicknames too?"

"Yeah, but that one wasn't meant for us."

Hyesu, Aten, and his friend had clearly noticed it too. The three of them fell silent for a moment before Hyesu finally spoke.

"Someone who can give 'Honor', huh? What even is that?" he muttered, narrowing his eyes at the hint left by Mr. Knolw-it-all.

He studied it carefully for a moment, then his gaze shifted to Juho, expression turning slightly concerned. "You said that's you, right?

That message feels kinda personal, don’t you think?"

Juho blinked, visibly uneasy at the guess. The thought left a strange feeling in his chest as he shrugged in uncertainty. "... I don't think so. Maybe its just a coincidence."

He glanced at the message again. Honor? A hint?

Even though it hadn't been that long since all of this started, it didn't feel anything like Villain Overkill, except for some characters that has appeared so far.

'Maybe I should check my phone once this is over.' Juho thought.

After a few moment, he can't help but take a glance at Aten. The man didn't say anything at first, his gaze still fixed on the message, contemplating something only he could see.

"....Mr. Know-it-all," he murmured, then smiled faintly. "So they're observing now, huh."

Juho looked at him with a more puzzled expression. "What do you mean?"

Aten didn't answer right away. Instead, he reached up and slowly removed his sunglasses.

Click.

His eyes now fully visible, were sharp and alert, completely different from his laid back expression earlier.

"There. Now I can actually see who I'm talking to," he said with a smirk, putting his sunglasses back on the coat, eyes gleaming with interest. "Because apparently.. someone else is paying attention, too."

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