Chapter 299 — Reader and Writer (4)
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Yoo Jonghyuk died.
[The ‘Fourth Wall’ is shaking violently.]
It didn’t feel real.
[The ‘Fourth Wall’ is severely shaking!]
[The exclusive skill, ‘Fourth Wall’ is strongly activated!]
I couldn’t breathe from the horror that filled my lungs. Why did Yoo Jonghyuk suddenly get the ‘writer’ attribute and why did he choose to die or regress? I seemed to know but it was hard to understand. There was no more of the original Yoo Jonghyuk that I knew. Only a handful of stories proved his absence.
...I felt like this.
「 This is a novel. It is a story in a novel. 」
I slowly inhaled and breathed out again.
「 Yoo Jonghyuk escaped from being a character. 」
I got tinnitus and my heart beat like crazy. I once again breathed in and out.
[The exclusive skill, ‘Fourth Wall’ is activated more strongly!]
My senses slowly returned and the murmurs of the party members were heard.
“...What happened?”
“Didn’t you just hear? The scenario is cleared!”
I slapped my cheeks twice and raised my head as I felt the status of the apocalypse dragon flowing from the seal.
[The nebula ‘Olympus’ is preparing the battlefield for the Apocalypse Dragon.]
[The nebula ‘Vedas’ is preparing for the disaster.]
[The nebula ‘Tamna’...]
If my prediction was correct, there was still time. I shouted towards the party members scattered all over the place. “Everyone gather together. I have a story to tell.”
The party members gathered around me despite their wariness. Someone was supporting the fallen Han Sooyoung while Kim Namwoon and Lee Jihye showed strong hostility towards me.
“After a while, the Apocalypse Dragon will be released. In relation to that―”
“Shut up! What were you doing earlier? You and Yoo Jonghyuk joined together to attack Master!” Lee Jihye screamed as she aimed her blade at my neck. Then Lee Hyunsung muttered, “Dokja-ssi, that thing...”
“Captain! What about this jerk? Should I take care of him?”
Kim Namwoon filled his hands with the black flames. Han Sooyoung shook her head. “...Everybody, listen to him.”
“Huh?”
“Listen to him.”
Han Sooyoung’s eyes were open but the empty pupils proved that he gave up everything. Han Sooyoung resembled me. She might look like this on the surface but she already understood the situation in her head. Maybe she was thinking about the next plan.
I looked around at the party members. Lee Hyunsung, Kim Namwoon, Lee Seolhwa, Lee Jihye, Shin Yoosung...
The people who survived the 1863rd round. I could’ve told them the truth about Han Sooyoung. Han Sooyoung was using you. In order to make a new world, she wanted to end your story here. Even so, I couldn’t say it.
“Everybody, take care of the captain. Don’t jump to rash conclusions. Listen to Dokja-ssi.”
It was because they were seriously following Han Sooyoung. The group’s hostility towards me was dampened by Lee Hyunsung’s words.
I started the story. “The liberation of the apocalypse dragon isn’t over when the seal is released. You might not know it but the end of this scenario...”
I looked up at the sky. The other party members also looked up with me. The sealing sphere was crumpled. The fragments of the seal were breaking little by little. As time went on, the density of the sky was becoming thicker.
I relied on the Fourth Wall and spat out empty words. “Go back to the headquarters and prepare for the next scenario. Maybe there will be three days left.”
***
I could immediately leave the 1863rd round. However, I couldn’t do this because the characters in this turn were people I liked.
I earned some time from the liberation of the apocalypse dragon by using the Grass-Cutting Sword as the last key. It was lacking a bit of status to be used as a key, slightly delaying the release of the apocalypse dragon.
I had to use this time wisely. Now that Han Sooyoung had chosen this route, the destruction of at least one nebula was determined. The most important thing was to avoid Earth being destroyed.
The next day, I handed Lee Hyunsung a considerable amount of information. They were all plans that I had mapped out beforehand. From avoiding the disaster of the apocalypse dragon to gaining new stories and items. I also handed over the list of the strongest people.
Lee Hyunsung listened to my story from beginning to end and suddenly looked up. “...How does Dokja-ssi know all of this?”
“It is the reason why Han Sooyoung knows.”
I tried to avoid unnecessary explanations but Lee Hyunsung’s expression was unusual. Lee Hyunsung hesitated for a long time before saying something unexpected. “Is Dokja-ssi a ‘plagiarist writer?’”
“...Plagiarist writer?”
“You... aren’t? I’m sorry.”
I was filled with confusion. “Did Han Sooyoung talk about her attributes?”
“Ah, well...”
Lee Hyunsung scratched his head with a troubled expression. I couldn’t believe it. The prideful and selfish Han Sooyoung showed her original attribute? Why?
“Everyone get out.”
I was just thinking this when the door to the situation room opened and someone entered. It was Han Sooyoung who was wearing a hat deep over her face.
“Yes, I understand.” Lee Hyunsung bowed, packed up and went out of the room. The only ones left in the room were Han Sooyoung and me.
Since I cleared my Outer World Covenant, it must be the same for Han Sooyoung. In such circumstances, there was no reason for her to show hostility to me.
“Your mental state seems better.”
“Shut up.” Han Sooyoung answered as she folded her arms and sat down on the chair. I asked, “Why are you complaining?”
“Complaining? Is that what you’re calling it? Thanks to you, all the people here might die.”
I saw the party members waiting outside the room for us. The people gathered outside the transparent wall were talking with serious expressions. It was probably because of Han Sooyoung’s desperate expression shortly after Yoo Jonghyuk’s death. I stated, “It is better to go to the next scenario than fall asleep forever.”
Outside the window, Lee Hyunsung met my gaze and smiled faintly. Lee Hyunsung knew that Han Sooyoung was a plagiarist. Maybe Lee Hyunsung knew that Han Sooyoung would abandon them. He was bear-like but he had a deep heart. Lee Hyunsung might’ve predicted that this would happen. Nevertheless, he decided to follow Han Sooyoung.
I continued speaking, “It isn’t over when the apocalypse dragon is released. Don’t you also know?”
Han Sooyoung bowed her head and didn’t answer. The apocalypse dragon that was gradually being freed from the seal. Once freed, there would be a disaster in the Star Stream. This didn’t mean that all future scenarios would end.
In fact, in the 1863rd round, Yoo Jonghyuk freed the apocalypse dragon and saw the end of the scenario.
“Explain it to the members. Everything you did and everything you hid. It might not be a perfect development but there is a way to do it.”
“...”
“There are still many places where you can borrow power. Anna Croft’s Zarathustra, the Seekers of the End, the Transcendent King and ‘the person’ who lives on the reincarnation planet...”
“I told you to shut up.” Han Sooyoung looked up and glared at me. The prideful eyes glared at me from below the hat. By the way...something was strange.
Han Sooyoung’s eyes were swollen. As I stared at her face, Han Sooyoung growled and pressed her hat lower.
I didn’t like Han Sooyoung of the 1863rd round. Even so, I could understand Han Sooyoung. The world that she wanted to make was a bit like the world I dreamt of.
Han Sooyoung spoke through gritted teeth. “Yoo Jonghyuk became an ‘author.”
“Why did he suddenly get such an attribute?”
“I guess he wanted to write a new story in a very sincere manner. That is the condition to opening the ‘author’ trait.”
I could understand but also didn’t understand. A world that couldn’t complete the round but was struggling to survive... Yoo Jonghyuk went out of it in order to write his own story.
Han Sooyoung didn’t speak but we could clearly see what the other was thinking. Han Sooyoung raised her head, took off her hat and lit a cigarette.
I asked, “How about a question and answer exchange? Don’t use the system because it is annoying.”
Han Sooyoung smoked with an emotionless face. “Lies are included?”
“Okay.”
“You first.”
I nodded. “Who do you think is the author of Ways of Survival?”
Han Sooyoung once again sucked in smoke and blew it out. Then she replied, “A very big baby.”
“...Baby?”
“In a world without scenarios, only the desire to see the next story... a baby with a terrible imagination.”
Something came to my mind. A world without scenarios. There was only one such world in this Star Stream.
“Don’t tell me...”
“You better not say it with your mouth.” Han Sooyoung pointed at the sky. “It might be listening.”
I closed my mouth. It wasn’t impossible if that ‘existence’ was really the writer. However...
My head was in a complicated state as I told Han Sooyoung, “It’s your turn. Ask.”
“I’m thinking, please wait.”
“...There isn’t much time so ask me quickly. I’m leaving tomorrow morning.”
“Tomorrow morning?”
“I have fulfilled the Outer World Covenant and need to go back to my original world.”
Han Sooyoung frowned slightly. “You are finished and you’re going to throw us away? That’s great. My world is ruined...”
“Everything I know was handed to Lee Hyunsung. They can proceed to the end without any other help.”
I thought as I glanced at the people outside the situation room. From the beginning, this world was ‘their world.’ I asked, “When are you going to leave?”
“Leave?”
“You have also fulfilled the Outer World Covenant.”
I wasn’t the only one to finish the Outer World Covenant. Yoo Jonghyuk had died and Han Sooyoung fulfilled his mission. She would now leave to complete her ‘world’ with the help of Secretive Plotter.
“Han Sooyoung?”
Han Sooyoung stared at the floor and replied, “I’m not going.”