Chapter 158

He hadn’t met Yoo Sangah in a week and she seemed more haggard than before . However, her eyes were more dazzling than usual .

“It seems you have inherited a pretty good story . ”

Yoo Jonghyuk slowly pulled out the Heaven Shaking Sword . The second floor of Dark Castle was a suitable stage for taking away the stories of others . Yoo Sangah’s story would be well worth it .

‘This woman also wasn’t there in my previous regressions . ’

He saved her last time because of circumstances but he couldn’t leave an element of insecurity alone forever . One element in Kim Dokja was enough . Yoo Sangah raised her hands and stepped back . “I didn’t come to fight . ”

“Then why did you come?”

“I need your help . ”

“I told you not to get involved with me anymore . I rescued you at that time to repay my debt to Kim Dokja . ”

“It is related to Kim Dokja-ssi . ”

Yoo Jonghyuk’s killing intent slightly subsided . “What do you mean?”

The energy that was pressing down on her disappeared and Yoo Sangah opened her mouth . “In this scenario, Dokja-ssi is going to die . ”

Kim Dokja would die? Yoo Jonghyuk laughed . “Kim Dokja is capable of resurrection . I thought I told you before but you must’ve not heard it . ”

Yoo Jonghyuk could guess Kim Dokja’s abilities to a certain extent . It wasn’t an endless resurrection but Kim Dokja would be able to survive death a few more times . Thus, Kim Dokja’s life wouldn’t be threatened for the time being .

“He should’ve resurrected by now… you haven’t met him yet?”

This time, Yoo Sangah’s eyes shook . Still, she didn’t give in and spoke again .

“It’s not like that . If you leave it like this, Dokja-ssi will ‘really’ die . ”

“…How do you know?”

“I saw it . ”

“You saw it?”

The next moment, a giant thread appeared behind Yoo Sangah . It wasn’t a strand from Ariadne .

Looking closer, the thread wasn’t made of yarn . It was made of very small strings . The strings were made of countless stories . Yoo Jonghyuk knew the identity of the thread in the air that flowed like the giant fabric of fate .

He knew but couldn’t help feeling surprised . This was the symbol of the three goddesses of fate, the Moerae .

Yoo Jonghyuk thought about it . “You stole a prophecy from a constellation?”

Yoo Sangah gently nodded .

The enraged Yoo Jonghyuk shouted, “Do you know what you have done . Fate…”

“I know! That’s why I’m asking for help, Yoo Jonghyuk-ssi . ”

Yoo Jonghyuk’s mind was complicated . The Moerae’s ‘fate’ wasn’t simple a power to see the future . Rather, it was a prophecy that came from ‘conclusions’ through ‘big data . ’

The most reasonable future was predicted through a combination of countless stories . In this way, ‘fate’ wasn’t absolute and seemed like it could change, but this never happened .

So far, the prophecies of Olympus had never been wrong . Even Zeus, the lord of Olympus, couldn’t escape from his fate . It was because the moment a prophecy was made, the whole probability of Olympus was used to realize this fate .

“Please stop Kim Dokja-ssi . Otherwise…” Yoo Sangah couldn’t finish her words . The sparks around her body blocked her mouth .

However, Yoo Jonghyuk could clearly read the strings behind her .

「 Incarnation Kim Dokja will be killed by the person he loves most . 」

***

“Wow, the plains are huge!”

“Is this really the Dark Castle?”

Lee Hyunsung stared at the horizon with admiration . The vast expanse of plains and forest areas spread out in front of us . A river with an ominous aura flowed through the centre of the plains . This river was a tributary of the Phoenix River .

We finally arrived at the second floor of Dark Castle .

“That’s right . This is the second floor . It is a completely different place from the first floor . ”

Unlike the first floor where a new scenario was in progress, the second floor had a scenario that had been going on for a very long time .

I could see the appearance of some incarnations in the distance . They were Seoul incarnations who newly entered this floor with us .

The incarnations didn’t react when they saw us . Looking closely, they were receiving guidance from a dokkaebi .

[…Congratulations to all the new incarnations who came to the second floor . The Abyss Plains is an opportunity for you to do anything . ]

It was a dokkaebi with a peculiar tone of voice whom I had never seen before . He had a visibly old appearance . He was a dokkaebi who seemed to have worked for the bureau for a very long time .

It was natural if he was in charge of the scenario for the Abyss Plains . Demoted dokkaebis were assigned to this scenario .

I turned on my smartphone and found information on the second floor of Dark Castle in Ways of Survival .

「 The Abyss Plains . The dokkaebis call it the tomb of the scenario . 」

…The tomb of the scenario . The words caused me to feel refreshed . I had already come this far .

Han Sooyoung listened to the dokkaebi and opened her mouth . “Another jerk . What opportunity? He will just adjust the difficulty once he becomes angry . ”

It wasn’t just her . The other incarnations had become familiar with the dokkaebis and they looked at this one with distrust . This was the ninth scenario and there was no way they would make a fuss about an opportunity .

The dokkaebi laughed as if he knew what they were thinking .

[Don’t worry . There will be no interference from the dokkaebis in this scenario . Regardless of whether the story is interesting or boring, we won’t touch it .

The incarnations murmured . to each other So far, the dokkaebis had never said anything like this . They always wanted a more stimulating story . Why were they suddenly not interfering?

“What the hell are you planning?”

“What does this mean?”

[I know that you’re all tired from the scenario . Still, I am telling you the truth . ]

[The updated main scenario has arrived!]

+

[Main Scenario #9 ― ???]

Category: Main

Difficulty: ???

Clear Conditions: ???

Time Limit: ―

Compensation: None

Failure: ―

+

All the conditions were private and there was no time limit or failure condition . The incarnations had never received such a scenario before and were greatly confused .

“What? Nothing is revealed?”

“Are you trying to fuck us with a shitty scenario again?”

The dokkaebi laughed at the incarnation’s violent reactions .

[So far, what have you been running for? For your family and friends? To become stronger? Or to reign over others? Each one of you have your own answer . In my opinion, it is all a lie . You came here because you ‘followed’ the scenario . ]

The eyes of the incarnations were shaken as their recent life was dismissed .

The dokkaebi continued speaking . [However, future scenarios will be hard to overcome with such a mind . Passive beings can’t survive in the Star Stream . Thus, this scenario won’t ask for anything . ]

A scenario that didn’t require anything . The bodies of the incarnations trembled .

[There is no time limit or failure conditions . There is nothing to fail . You have to find the clear conditions yourself . Only beings who want to tell a story themselves will be able to move forward . Huhu, I wonder how many people will make such a choice? I pray that you won’t fall asleep in this ‘tomb . ’]

The dokkaebi disappeared with these words . The incarnations lost their sense of purpose and started making a fuss . It was a bizarre sight .

This was more peaceful than any scenario so far but the incarnations seemed somewhat uneasy . It was like people were happier when there was an impossible goal .

Lee Hyunsung asked, “Dokja-ssi? What is this?”

Lee Hyunsung was terribly confused . He had been filled with motivation to raise his rankings, only for a scenario with no clear conditions to appear . He must be discouraged . On the other hand, I was a bit worried .

This scenario might be the most dangerous scenario for my party . The moment I was about to open my mouth, a voice was heard behind e .

“Uh… where is this place?”

Lee Jihye and Lee Gilyoung had woken up .

***

Lee Jihye was in great despair after confirming that her ranking was number 98,761 .

“I’ve never received such a rank in the mock tests…”

Of course, this was a lie . According to Ways of Survival, Lee Jihye wasn’t good at studying .

“…Dokja hyung?” Lee Gilyoung jumped like a grasshopper as soon as he saw me . Then he curled up and pretended to be calm . “I knew you were alive . I believed in Hyung until the end!”

Lee Jihye ridiculed him . “Kid, what are you talking about? You cried so much with a runny nose . ”

“Cried?” Lee Gilyoung argued that he never cried and that he naturally knew I was alive .

10 minutes later, Lee Gilyoung couldn’t control his emotions any longer . He let out a bit sob and rushed forward to hug my thighs . ”

“…A scenario without a scenario?” Lee Jihye heard the description from us and asked with a confused expression .

“How can we clear this?” Lee Hyunsung was worried .

“Is there something hidden? We will be able to clear the scenario if we find the hidden condition . ”

“I guess? If we all work together…”

I smiled bitterly as I watched Lee Jihye and Lee Hyunsung . Indeed, simplicity was helpful . However, not everyone was simple .

“Excuse me… do we really need to clear it?” It was Pink Kid Kim Yongpal who spoke .

Lee Jihye wondered, “Who is this woman?”

“She’s just a… woman who happened to accompany us . ”

I was too lazy to explain . She wouldn’t believe me if I said this person was an uncle in his 40s .

Meanwhile, Kim Yongpal was stuttering with half-closed eyes . “J-Just, isn’t it okay to stay like this? If we clear it…”

“What nonsense are you suddenly saying?”

“…D-Do you know what is at the end of the scenarios?”

Kim Yongpal penetrated the essence of an unexpected place . I hadn’t expected him to say such a line .

Lee Jihye was confused . “What?”

“I-I don’t know if it is bad or good for us to keep doing the scenarios… In the constantly occurring scenarios, we are just the toys of the constellations . Even if we clear this scenario, we don’t know what the next one will be like . W-We can die at any time . ”

The expressions of the party members became disturbed by Kim Yongpal’s words . It was because he was right .

No one knew how these scenarios would end . No one knew how and when they would die . Everyone ran up to this point because they would die if they didn’t clear the scenarios .

However, this scenario had no time limit or failure condition .

Lee Jihye bit her lips . “Then what? You will stay here? Where do you think this is? It is a dangerous place where demons are wandering around…!”

Before Lee Jihye finished talking, large demon species started to gather on the plains . They were demons higher than 5th grade . Lee Jihye laughed like she expected it .

“Look, they’re already here . ”

“Everyone gather!”

The incarnations nearby gathered around our party . The ones approaching were the fourth grade demon species, devil bears . There was approximately 20 of them . We could overcome them if I used Electrification and my party members worked together .

Of course, the other incarnations didn’t know my strength and felt despair .

“These monsters…”

At this moment, a bright light shone from the other side of the devil bears . It was due to the white flames . The devil bears shrieked as they were burnt by the divine fire . How powerful was the ability to be able to slaughter a 4th grade demon species? This stigma was…

“Unni!” Lee Jihye shouted .

It was naturally Jung Heewon’s Hell Flames Ignition . Jung Heewon discovered us and made a startled expression . In particular, she was shocked by the sight of me .

I waved awkwardly at Jung Heewon who nodded hesitantly . There was some discomfort in her gaze .

…What? Jung Heewon was riding a black unicorn . How did she tame that monster? Other people riding black unicorns came over with Jung Heewon and quickly defeated the devil bears . The incarnations called out Jung Heewon’s name .

“Wow! The Judge of Destruction!”

Jung Heewon came closer and Lee Jihye ran towards her .

“Unni, you are really alive! Did you come here first?”

“Jihye, I’m sorry . Let’s talk later . ”

Jung Heewon turned her back to Lee Jihye . Lee Jihye was grouchy and walked back to my side . Jung Heewon led the people in a natural manner, as if she was already accustomed to this .

“Everybody follow me! I will guide you to a safe place!”

…A safe place? The discomfort inside me increased .

The incarnations were bewitched by Jung Heewon’s overwhelming force and followed her . We also followed her . We spent approximately one hour crossing the plains . Then a high wall hidden in a forest was revealed .

It was a solid wall that no demon species could surpass . The incarnations were captivated by the sight when a voice came from somewhere .

[Welcome . Was it difficult to come here? Thank you for the trouble . Now you are safe . ]

The incarnations murmured . Jung Heewon was staring at me with a complicated gaze .

At this moment, I realized what happened . Dammit . I see . This place was ‘that guy’s fortress’ .

A man appeared on top of the parapet . He gave off a powerful atmosphere that made it clear he was the owner of this place .

The demon, who embraced the most peaceful despair in the world, laughed as he looked down at us .

[You no longer have to complete the scenarios . ]