Chapter 94

Episode 19 – Singularity (3)

It was already morning when I opened my eyes . Han Sooyoung saw me wake up and smiled . She was the last person keeping guard . “Did you have a nightmare?”

“A little bit . ”

The embers of the firewood burning all night was white . I put out the fire and touched my forehead, which had a splitting headache . The scene that I saw through Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint…

Gilyoung, I didn’t know if he was okay . “Where is Yoo Sangah-ssi?”

“She went to scout . ” Han Sooyoung answered while touching her smartphone .

I asked her, “What are you looking at?”

“A novel . ”

“Your novel?”

“What other novel would I look at?”

Indeed, it would be strange to read other novels under these circumstances .

“I always wondered, is it fun for a writer to read what they wrote?”

“It is very fun . ”

“Even though you know all the details?” I actually asked without thinking but Han Sooyoung gave me an unexpected answer .

“I sometimes feel that the story is different despite reading the same thing . ”

“What?”

“A writer doesn’t have complete mastery of the novel . There are many holes whenever I look back . In the end, reading is the process of keeping the irregular holes in place . ”

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about . ”

“…It means that after some time, I can see it as someone else’s writing . Ultimately, every human is their own writer . ”

The words were unexpected and I felt surprised . Han Sooyoung was able to say such a difficult thing .

I told her, “Come to think of it, you are like that . You really wrote someone else’s novel . ”

Han Sooyoung yelled something back but I blocked my ears for a while . Who told her to plagiarize in the first place? Han Sooyoung turned off her smartphone and asked me, “By the way, what are you going to do next?”

“What will I do? I will wait for the start of the next scenario . ”

“Who would believe that? I’m sure you have a plan . ”

She seemed to have something to say so I let her speak . In fact, she kept on talking anyway .

“Yoo Jonghyuk is taking charge of the west and the Wanderer King is handling the north . What about the centre?”

“We will stop it all together . ”

“Isn’t there an easy method? Have you forgotten?”

I stopped for a moment and stared at Han Sooyoung . “Did you copy that as well?”

“…When did I do that? I just came up with it in my novel . ” Han Sooyoung fumbled with her words while pouting . “In any case, aren’t I right? As far as I know, there is an easy way to prevent the disaster in the centre . ”

Certainly, her words were right . If we did that, we could clear the fifth scenario and prevent all disasters without difficulty . Han Sooyoung looked at me with piercing eyes . “Are you going to do it?”

“That… let’s think about it on the way . ”

I looked around and saw Yoo Sangah waving her hand in the distance . Han Sooyoung grumbled, “Why do you look so happy after seeing her?”

“It is because she is a trustworthy person . ”

“Che . Untrustworthy people will survive . ”

We set out again . There were five days remaining until the start of the scenario . We moved west along the Han River .

There were two purposes behind this . One was to look for the missing Gong Pildu around Han River and the second was to collect coins from nearby monsters . More than anything else, it was currently a coin event so I should gain as much as possible .

“Yoo Sangah-ssi, to the left! Han Sooyoung, take the lead!”

We hunted all the visible 7th grade monsters . Once Yoo Sangah joined us, we were able to hunt 7th grade species and even 6th grade . I had a thought while watching Yoo Sangah .

Maybe she didn’t know about those from Olympus . I called them out to figure out their intentions . They had used up their assigned probability and couldn’t interfere with Yoo Sangha for the time being . The battle ended and I approached Yoo Sangah .

“Yoo Sangah-ssi . You should only use one stigma at a time in the future . ”

“Ah, I’m sorry . Was I a big problem last time?”

“No, that isn’t the reason . ”

The people supported by a nebula were special . Of course, being sponsored by a nebula didn’t mean all constellations in the nebula would support her . However, the laws of the Star Stream applied to the constellations and incarnations .

The price for going against the laws would eventually be returned to the constellations and incarnations . The constellations might have a way to escape but the problem was the incarnations .

“Using multiple stigmas will place a burden on Yoo Sangah-ssi’s body . ”

The damn Olympians wouldn’t tell her this but there was a limit to the story that a single being could afford . Every stigma contained the history of the constellation and the random blend of histories would impair the human spirit .

If Yoo Sangah borrowed the stigmas of a large number of constellations, her remaining vitality would be reduced in an instant . Then in probably one year…

Yoo Sangah smiled faintly . “Thank you for your concern . ”

I realized something and opened my mouth . “Did you already know?”

Yoo Sangah’s eyes moved downwards and she spoke quietly, “Dokja-ssi, do you still think that I’m a competent office worker?”

Yoo Sangah continued speaking . “I’m different from Dokja-ssi . I can’t do anything in this changed world . This is a world where the TOEIC, degrees and service scores are useless . ”

I wondered, “Do you think everything can be resolved if you become stronger?”

“A little bit . ”

Her words were correct . In fact, strength only made up for some of the world’s problems .

“I have decided to build up useful specifications of this world . That is the only thing I can do . ”

There were numerous wounds on the back of Yoo Sangah’s hand as she spoke . The wounds felt like a big hole for me . Han Sooyoung had said, ‘In the end, reading is the process of keeping the irregular holes in place . ’

If there was something a reader had to do, I needed to read it properly . I felt a vibration in my arms . I opened my smartphone and saw that there was a notification window .

–Han Donghoon: Hyung, are you okay?

The Hermit King of Shadows, Han Donghoon . I was stunned when I read the message .

–Han Donghoon: I haven’t been able to connect to the Internet recently so the messages are delayed . I am struggling with my ability…

He had been sending messages for a long time and they stacked up . It seemed the piled up messages arrived at the same time once the Internet connected .

I showed the messages to Yoo Sangah in order to change her mood . I looked at Yoo Sangah’s smile and thought .

I wasn’t a completely incompetent reader .

***

I connected to Han Donghoon through the messenger but I could hear news about other people through it .

–Han Donghoon: I am on the Yongsan-gu side . There is also Gilyoung .

-Kim Dokja: Gilyoung is there?

–Han Donghoon: Yes .

The location of my main party were roughly grasped . Lee Hyunsung and Jung Heewon’s positions were also confirmed through Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint .

I was a bit curious about what happened to Jung Minseob and Lee Sungkook but it was difficult to care about them . They had some prior knowledge so they should manage . Lee Jihye… well, Yoo Jonghyuk would take care of it .

-Kim Dokja: For the time being, don’t leave Yongsan . I’ll be there soon . If possible, try contacting other people .

A reply didn’t come back . Perhaps it had disconnected again . I looked around at the party members and said, “I think we’ll have to cross the river . ”

Currently, we were south of Han River . North of Han River was Yongsan-gu .

“We have to cross that?” Han Sooyoung asked me with a dumbfounded expression .

It wasn’t strange . I looked at Han River with her . Flickering shadows could be seen from the swirling water . The ichthyosaurs that had travelled near Dongho Bridge had once again filled Han River . We had been following the river but I never thought of crossing because of them .

“Have you seen Cheonho Bridge? It is broken . ”

The ichthyosaur was a 7th grade monster species . It wasn’t a problem to hunt but there were too many . It wasn’t just one or two so it would take a few days to deal with all of them . We were going to cross Han River in such a situation? It was unthinkable .

“We will move along the river . There might be a place that isn’t broken . ”

We moved along the river for several hours but an intact bridge couldn’t be found . Instead, we found a group of wanderers .

Han Sooyoung was going to raise her weapon but Yoo Sangah moved first . She took meat out of her backpack, making Han Sooyoung irritated . “What are you doing?”

“The people are hungry . ”

“So what? You want to share that? Are you crazy? Don’t you know that people are the most dangerous existences in an apocalypse?”

“I can kill all of them if I want . ” Han Sooyoung saw killing intent for a moment on Yoo Sangah’s face and shut her mouth . “Therefore, I can save all of them if I want . ”

Yoo Sangah took the meat from the monsters and distributed it to the people . Some people felt sorry and bowed to her .

“Ah, this…”

“It is just leftovers . It doesn’t matter . ”

I left Han Sooyoung alone and pulled a yanaspleta stem out of my bag . It wasn’t possible for everyone to become a ‘hunter’ in this world . By now, there would be a great deal of research about the monster species all over the world . The man who received the plant from me bowed deeply .

“Ah! Thank you…”

“It’s nothing . Difficulties should be shared . ”

Of course, I was essentially a different person from Yoo Sangah . All my good deeds were planned activities .

[A few people have a great liking towards you . ]

[Your understanding of the character ‘Shin Yooin’ has increased . ]

[Your understanding of the character ‘Ma Kangcheol’ has increased . ]

[New characters have been added to your bookmarks . ]

Han Sooyoung said sarcastically, “You’re a fake . ”

“…Sometimes I do good things . ”

[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ is impressed with your good deed . ]

[400 coins have been sponsored . ]

Han Sooyoung grumbled as she watched Yoo Sangah, “Damn, she is like a woman from a novel . ”

I agreed with her words . Yoo Sangah was like the heroine of a novel even before the fall of the world . Now that reality had become a novel…

From among the crowd, a child approached me . She was a young girl around the same age as Gilyoung .

“What is it?”

The girl who bowed had a Western look . Her eyes were bright and her face was full of an exotic cuteness . The child bowed 90 degrees towards me .

“Thank you . ”

She was a very polite child . I looked around but didn’t see anyone who looked like this child’s parents . The child noticed my gaze and said, “They aren’t here anymore . ”

“Both of them?” The child nodded .

I was a bit confused . A child without a guardian survived alone until the fifth scenario . It was almost impossible in Ways of Survival .

…Wait a minute? The moment I used Character List, the child spoke again, “Then I’ll be going . ”

Did she come just to thank me? I tried to grab the child and reflexively looked back at Han Sooyoung . She happened to be looking elsewhere .

“…Be careful . ”

It would soon be dark . I worried for a moment before summoning the party members together .

“We will rest here today . ”

We looked for a place to sleep . Han River was cold even when we lit a fire, so we decided to use a partially destroyed building . Han Sooyoung became firmly determined and warned Yoo Sangah .

“Just watch . Those people from earlier will be back . Didn’t you see them covet our weapons? They will clearly bite the hand that fed them . ”

Han Sooyoung declared that all humans were wicked and trash who would repay goodness with malice . I carefully looked at Yoo Sangah who said, “Not every person in the apocalypse is bad . ”

“No, they are all bad . Almost everyone is bad . ”

One hour passed .

“They’ll come soon . Then you will be crying . ”

Two hours passed .

“Um, they are patient people . ”

Three hours passed .

“…Is this possible?”

Finally, four hours later, noises started to be heard outside . Yoo Sangah’s expression darkened and Han Sooyoung smiled with satisfaction .

“Look, what did I say?”

Han Sooyoung had just taken out her weapon when someone entered the building .

“H-Hello?”

Han Sooyoung stopped as she was about to get up . The one who came was a young girl . It was the child who politely thanked me during the day . The little red-eyed child held something out .

“T-This…”

It was a blanket . She must’ve grabbed it from the area because she was afraid we were cold . Han Sooyoung made a surprised expression while Yoo Sangah looked blank . In the apocalypse, goodwill wasn’t always repaid with malice .

[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ is making a loving smile . ]

[2,000 coins have been sponsored . ]

Yoo Sangah acted as the representative of the party . “Thank you, I’ll use it well . ”

“Yes…”

“By the way, are you alone? It is dangerous to wander around at night . ”

“It is the same everywhere . ”

Yoo Sangah’s expression darkened at the words . “Would you like to stay with us?”

“Huh?”

“It will be fine if you are with us . ”

Yoo Sangah looked at me like she was asking for permission . However, the child’s answer was faster . “I don’t want to be a nuisance . ”

It happened when the child was trying to run away . A flag flew from somewhere and fell in front of the child’s feet . The frightened child feel down and Han Sooyoung’s scathing voice followed .

“Wait a minute . You can’t leave . ”

“What are you doing right now?” Yoo Sangah looked at Han Sooyoung and spoke in a cold voice . However, Han Sooyoung was looking at me .

“Kim Dokja, don’t you know what to do? Isn’t that why you wanted to sleep here?”

I slowly closed my eyes . Damn, she had noticed… It was a miscalculation . I didn’t know this person could use Detect Attributes . Han Sooyoung asked, “Ah, are you going to act as a hypocrite? Is it because the other person is a child?”

“…”

“The other person is a child? Then the villain must solve it . ”

Han Sooyoung approached and Yoo Sangah blocked the way .

“Stop . ”

“Get out of the way . Do you want me to kill you?”

“Why are you killing an ordinary kid all of a sudden?”

“An ordinary kid?” Han Sooyoung laughed and pointed towards the child .

“I told you to stop . ” At the same time, Yoo Sangah’s dagger pointed to Han Sooyoung’s neck . Then Han Sooyoung summoned dozens of avatars . Han Sooyoung grumbled .

“Kim Dokja, explain it quickly . Before I turn around and kill everyone . ”

It ended up like this . I sighed and opened my mouth . “This child…”

The child looked up at me with innocent eyes and I felt a sense of urgency .

“…Five days later, she will destroy Seoul . ”

Yoo Sangah’s eyes shook . If Han Sooyoung hadn’t found out, I might’ve let it pass by but now it couldn’t be helped . This damn scenario never gave us the happy endings we wanted .

[The constellation ‘Abyssal Black Flame Dragon’ is smiling . ]

[Many constellations are interested in the development of this scenario . ]

It had been a long time since the messages of the constellations seemed so hateful .

“This child is the last disaster of the fifth scenario . ”