< Episode 16. The Fifth Scenario (5) >
I slowly backed away from Yoo Joonghyuk, who was lying on the ground bleeding, and pressed the formless Bihyung.
'This was your doing, wasn't it?'
Even if Yoo Joonghyuk really had been nearby, there was no way he would have been discovered with such perfect timing. It was obvious that Bihyung had triggered a "sub-scenario" for someone nearby and dragged Yoo Joonghyuk over here.
[You suspect me first whenever something happens? Do you have any proof?]
I had no physical evidence.
But I had circumstantial evidence.
[The constellation 'Demonic Judge of Fire' is anxiously watching your judgment.]
[I have sponsored 500 coins.]
That was my circumstantial evidence.
Han Sooyoung, who had been staring down at Yoo Joonghyuk with a dumbfounded expression, whispered to me.
"…You found him. Now what are you going to do?"
"What do you think?"
"You're going to save him, right? He is the protagonist."
Of course I had to save him.
But if I saved this bastard right now, I would definitely die.
Han Sooyoung looked as if she was afraid Yoo Joonghyuk might wake up at any moment.
"Don't you have anything you can use to put a seal on him?"
"Stuff like that won't work on Yoo Joonghyuk."
"Then what about locking him up somewhere—"
"He'd just kill himself."
"…Right. He can just regress anyway. Damn it, but if this guy regresses, what happens to us?"
It seemed Han Sooyoung had finally thought of that problem.
If Yoo Joonghyuk regressed, what would happen to this world?
That question was my greatest concern as someone living in this world.
"For now, we have to stop him. No one knows what'll happen."
When dealing with the unknown, it's best to assume the worst.
If this world were to reset by some mistake, my very existence might disappear as well.
But this guy… just who beat him up like this?
I took a closer look at his injuries. Wounds spreading in a circle around his abdomen. His internal organs and ribs were completely shattered. Someone had landed an unbelievably powerful blow on Yoo Joonghyuk—
I suddenly stared blankly at my own fist.
Could it be…?
"Why that face? You suddenly look all sentimental."
"…It's nothing."
Suddenly, everything started to make sense.
Well, he did take a punch with Strength 100…
That meant he'd been in this state for a full two days.
A belated sense of guilt began creeping up on me.
At this rate, my relationship with Yoo Joonghyuk might become irreparable.
As I examined his abdomen and slowly moved my gaze toward his face, a chill ran through my entire body and I reflexively staggered back more than ten steps.
"…Fuck."
Yoo Joonghyuk was staring at me with his eyes wide open, bloody tears streaming down his face.
Judging by the way his lips were moving, he was probably saying something like, "I'll kill you, Kim Dokja," again.
I noticed Han Sooyoung was gone—she had already run far away. Keeping my distance, I shouted at Yoo Joonghyuk.
"Hey! Can't you just calm down?"
"..."
"It was a fair fight, wasn't it? Aren't you being a little petty? You were trying to kill me back then too!"
Yoo Joonghyuk's gaze remained unsoftened.
Damn it…
I had no choice. No matter what—whether he killed me or not—Yoo Joonghyuk had to survive here. Without him, even if I stopped the [Disaster of Questions], I wouldn't be able to stop the other disasters, and the world would end anyway.
Why did the protagonist of Ways of Survival have to be such a bastard?
If it had been Lee Hyunsung—or at least Jeong Heewon—it would've been so much easier to move the story forward.
…This wasn't the time to complain.
I decided to activate my skill first. I knew exactly what this bastard was thinking, but still—better safe than sorry.
[Exclusive Skill, 'Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint' Stage 2 has been activated.]
And at that moment, something unbelievable happened.
「Kim Dokja.」
I widened my eyes and looked at Yoo Joonghyuk.
…Did he just call my name?
「You can hear me, can't you? Considering everything you've done so far…」
…What?
「Please tell me you can hear this. If you don't move right now, this world will—」
I stared at him in confusion.
「…Was it just my imagination after all? Damn it.」
Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes slowly closed.
After hesitating for a moment, I approached him. Judging by his condition, he didn't seem to have any strength left to fight me. And moreover…
Whether it was my imagination or not, I could no longer sense any hostility directed at me.
"Yoo Joonghyuk. Can you hear me?"
Yoo Joonghyuk struggled to lift his eyelids, then closed them again.
Something was strange.
No matter how severe his injuries were, after taking that much damage, [Last Stand] should have activated automatically. So why was he still in this state?
[Exclusive Skill, 'Character List' has been activated!]
[There is an excessive amount of related information. 'Character List' has been converted to 'Summary List'.]
Name: Yoo Joonghyuk
Exclusive Traits: Regressor <3rd Turn> (Myth), Pro Gamer (Rare), Tyrant (Hero)
Exclusive Skills:
[Eye of the Sage Lv.8],
[Close-Quarters Combat Lv.9],
[Advanced Weapon Mastery Lv.9],
[Mental Barrier Lv.8],
[Hundred-Step Divine Fist Lv.6],
[Vermilion Bird Divine Steps Lv.6],
[Heaven-Shattering Force Lv.5]
… (omitted) …
Stigma: [Regression Lv.3], [Succession Lv.3]
Overall Stats: [Stamina Lv.60], [Strength Lv.60], [Agility Lv.60], [Magic Power Lv.60]
* This character is currently afflicted with a status ailment.
* This character is currently poisoned with 'Thousand Spirit Poison'.
There was nothing wrong with his other abilities. Yoo Joonghyuk was still the strongest among the incarnations of Seoul, and his skills had grown even more compared to the last time I'd seen him.
The problem was the status ailment.
No matter how exceptional Yoo Joonghyuk was, he didn't yet possess skills like [Thousand Poisons Immunity ] or [Ten Thousand Poisons Immunity ]. Because of that, poison was one of the few weaknesses he still had at this stage.
So this was why he'd ended up like this—poisoning.
Taking a closer look, I could see vivid blue veins standing out all over his body.
It didn't seem like too much time had passed since the poisoning occurred.
Thankfully, he could still survive.
But something about this was strange.
At this point in time, as far as I knew, there was only one being capable of administering Thousand Spirit Poison to Yoo Joonghyuk…
From a short distance away, a woman who had been watching us anxiously spoke to me.
"Um… excuse me. Are you, by any chance, Kim Dokja?"
I nodded without thinking.
Come to think of it, she was the one who had brought Yoo Joonghyuk here earlier.
"All the way here, he kept saying it. He told me to bring him to 'Kim Dokja'…"
Yoo Joonghyuk?
Looking down at Yoo Joonghyuk's face, now tinged an even deeper green than before, my mind began to race. Han Sooyoung, who had been hiding in fear, cautiously came back and spoke to me.
"Hey, what the hell is going on?"
Han Sooyoung poked my shoulder impatiently, but I didn't answer.
After a moment of thought, I spoke to Bihyung.
'Bihyung, open the Dokkaebi Bag.'
[See? Now do you get it? I told you this wasn't my doing.]
'Just open the bag.'
After checking my remaining coins, I began searching for coin items that could treat Yoo Joonghyuk, selecting them one by one.
With Thousand Spirit Poison, simply consuming [Essence of the Elrain Forest] wouldn't be enough to detoxify him. I quickly opened the text file and checked several ingredients, then completed the purchases from the Dokkaebi Bag.
[Item 'Midday Tryst' x1 has been purchased.]
[Item 'Old Barbara's Branch' x1 has been purchased.]
[Item 'Fresh Daltoon's Horn' x2 has been purchased.]
[Item 'Antidote Potato' x1 has been purchased.]
[Item 'Purifying Water of the Eintern Temple' x2 has been purchased.]
[Item 'Essence of the Elrain Forest' x1 has been purchased.]
[A total of 7,370 coins have been spent.]
An unexpectedly massive cash drain.
After asking the nearby survivors for a small bucket, I lit the fire in the mana brazier and poured in the ingredients. Han Sooyoung asked,
"What are you making right now?"
"An antidote."
"So you really decided to save him?"
I nodded as I replied.
"I think this bastard came looking for me on purpose."
"On purpose? Why?"
"How should I know?"
"Maybe he came to ask for help? No matter how much it's Yoo Joonghyuk, I don't think he'd come to kill you while beaten to a pulp."
"Yoo Joonghyuk would never do that."
"How do you know?"
"I just know. That's the kind of guy he is."
I crouched down and adjusted the flames in the brazier.
The fire burned a deep blue, and the contents of the bucket began to boil. Judging by its color and appearance, it looked like a dish that should be called something like Goblin Entrails Stew from the Valley of Death. Despite its horrific look, this soup was an excellent antidote.
Han Sooyoung leaned on her knees and peered into the grotesque concoction as she spoke.
"But you know… in Ways of Survival, was Yoo Joonghyuk really that bad of a guy?"
"…What?"
"Thinking about it, that's what came to mind. If you look closely, Yoo Joonghyuk actually saved quite a lot of people and did plenty of good deeds, didn't he? Sure, he does psychopathic things too, but in the end, isn't he someone who moves for the greater good? A guy who fights to save the world. I hate to admit it, but the reason he killed me was because I was a villain."
When you think about it, Han Sooyoung wasn't completely wrong.
I let out a short laugh and said,
"Coming from the one who ran even farther away than me, that defense of Yoo Joonghyuk is very convincing."
"That's one thing and this is another. All I'm saying is that you can't judge a person by just one side of them."
Since it was an unexpected remark, I looked up at Han Sooyoung for a moment.
Han Sooyoung continued with a cool smile.
"Just like how, no matter how much you insist my work is 'plagiarism,' the truth is that my novel wasn't influenced by Ways of Survival at all."
"…You almost had me convinced there. If only you hadn't said that last part—what a shame."
I said that, but the unexpected topic made my thoughts a little complicated.
What kind of person is Yoo Joonghyuk?
Could I really say that I truly knew who "Yoo Joonghyuk" was?
Until just a moment ago, I could have answered that with confidence.
After all, I was the only reader who had finished Ways of Survival.
But as I watched the ingredients boiling in the soup, it felt as if part of the answer I'd held onto was being diluted into it.
Was the "Yoo Joonghyuk" I knew really all there was to "Yoo Joonghyuk"?
Not long after, the soup finished boiling.
[The constellation 'Demonic Judge of Fire' is moved by your good deed.]
[The Absolute Good–aligned constellations who support your good deed nod in approval.]
[You have received a sponsorship of 3,000 coins.]
There aren't many cases where you still end up at a loss even after getting sponsored.
Damn it.
I approached the collapsed Yoo Joonghyuk with the soup. Han Sooyoung brought over a spoon from a nearby shop, and I used it to scoop up the soup and feed it to Yoo Joonghyuk. Watching me blow on the soup to cool it, Han Sooyoung sneered,
"Well, look who showed up like a devoted first wife."
"Want to do it yourself?"
"No thanks."
Even if she had said yes, I wouldn't have let her.
Because every time I fed him a spoonful, a system message appeared.
[The constellation 'Demonic Judge of Fire' is moved by your good deed.]
[You have received a sponsorship of 500 coins.]
Handing out coins every single spoonful—this was an insanely profitable business.
[The constellation 'Demonic Judge of Fire' is moved by your good deed.]
[You have received a sponsorship of 300 coins.]
I thought it was a loss, but it turned out to be a massive jackpot event.
Truly, it pays to live a good life.
But after more than ten spoonfuls like that, something started to feel off.
[The constellation 'Demonic Judge of Fire' is moved by your good deed.]
[You have received a sponsorship of 400 coins.]
…This bastard, is he really giving coins because he's touched by my good deed?
After finishing an entire bowl and waiting for a while—
Yoo Joonghyuk began to open his eyes, letting out a faint groan.
His condition was still a mess, but the poison was finally starting to be cured. I didn't miss the opportunity and took out an item.
[Using item, 'Midday Tryst'.]
[Requesting consent from the target.]
[Midday Tryst] was an item that allowed one-on-one communication with a selected target for a fixed period of time. If I'd had a bit more coin to spare, I would've learned the [Voice Transmission] skill, but since I didn't, this was the next best option.
[The target has agreed to communicate with you.]
['Midday Tryst' has begun.]
As I thought of Yoo Joonghyuk and sent the message, a small messenger-window-like interface appeared before my eyes.
—Hey, can you hear me?
Looks like the connection's good.
There were three reasons I'd gone out of my way to buy this item.
First, Thousand Spirit Poison had numbed Yoo Joonghyuk's tongue.
Second, I wanted to avoid leaking unnecessary information to Han Sooyoung.
And third—the most important reason—I didn't want to further convince Yoo Joonghyuk that I could read his thoughts.
And in the next moment, Yoo Joonghyuk's message appeared.
—Kim Dokja, move east immediately.