< Episode 19. Singularity (5) >
I thought I'd only dozed off for a moment, but when I opened my eyes, it was still early dawn.
[Constellation, 'Demonic Judge of Fire' urges you to take care of your incarnation.]
Uriel's message jolted me fully awake.
Damn it. Ever since I'd made the "Rear-Constellation Declaration" yesterday, the Constellations had been acting like this nonstop.
[Constellation, 'Prisoner of the Golden Cage' chuckles at your choice.]
Calling it a rear constellation was one thing, but with no proper myth built yet, there was no way I could actually become one. A constellation that couldn't even lend out a single stigma—what kind of rear constellation was that? Still, I probably had more money than most hero-grade figures.
[A significant number of Constellations are intrigued by your choice.]
[Some Constellations think your actions are arrogant.]
The reactions to my incarnation registration split neatly into two camps.
Those who liked it were probably the "Incarnation Seekers."Those who found it arrogant were the "Entertainment Seekers," especially the ones who already disliked me.
Of course, there was also one whose allegiance was unclear.
[Constellation, 'The Secretive Plotter' watches your strategy with interest.]
[You have received a donation of 1,000 coins.]
When I first saw that modifier, I assumed they were a hero-grade constellation. But lately, watching this one made me rethink things. The average size of their donations, that relaxed attitude—this one was at least myth-grade. And yet, no matter how much I searched Ways of Survival, there was no constellation named 'The Secretive Plotter.'
Which meant either an otherworldly constellation, or one not properly covered in Ways of Survival.
Just who the hell were they?
Uuuuuung.
Since last night, Shin Yoosung had been relentlessly practicing her skills in a corner of the abandoned building. She had piled up the mana recovery potions I'd given her and kept casting skills on a baby Groll she'd caught nearby.
Krr! Krrr!
A faint aura extending from Shin Yoosung brushed against the Groll's hide.
It was the power of [Multispecies Communication], the same ability I'd seen in Lee Gilyoung.
Looking at Shin Yoosung, dark circles hanging heavily under her eyes, I asked,
"Yoosung, did you get any sleep?"
"Not yet."
"You know you'll get penalized if you don't sleep, right? Go get some rest."
"...Just a little more."
[Character 'Shin Yoosung' is activating 'Multispecies Communication Lv.8'.]
[Character 'Shin Yoosung' activates 'Taming Lv.7'!]
But her concentration soon broke.
['Taming' has failed!]
[The monster has gone berserk!]
The Groll, slipping free of control, lunged at Shin Yoosung. Before I could even move, Han Sooyoung—murmuring in her sleep—threw a dagger.
Whoosh! Crunch!
The baby Groll was slammed into the wall of the abandoned building and died instantly.
Han Sooyoung rolled over, still half asleep.
As Shin Yoosung stood there, breathing hard with a hollow expression, I asked,
"Not going well?"
"...No."
Her face was gloomy. Understandably so.
[Activating exclusive skill, 'Character Roster'!]
Summary version.
Name: Shin Yoosung
Exclusive Traits:– Beast Tamer (Rare)– Reflective Killer (Common)
Exclusive Skills:[Taming Lv.7], [Multispecies Communication Lv.8],[Agile Step Lv.8], [Heterospecies Favor Lv.6]
Stigma: None
Overall Stats:[Vitality Lv.19], [Strength Lv.14],[Agility Lv.44], [Mana Lv.45]
Growth Package I currently applied.
Growth Package II currently applied.
New Scenario Commemorative Package currently applied.
No surprise—the growth speed was insane after feeding her two growth packages.
Add in the commemorative package that accelerated trait evolution, and she was probably receiving better support than almost any incarnation on the Korean Peninsula.
She was talented to begin with, too. At this rate, [Multispecies Communication] would soon hit level 10 and evolve into Advanced Multispecies Communication.
The problem was that with stats like these, she couldn't even properly tame a single Groll—a mere 8th-grade monster species. From a system standpoint, that shouldn't have been possible.
Shin Yoosung lowered her head, looking ashamed.
"...I guess I just don't have talent."
If you don't have talent, then I might as well kill myself.
"Don't worry. You're talented."
I couldn't let a precious incarnation I'd worked so hard to obtain fall into despair.
The reason she couldn't use her strength properly was probably her trauma.
"Is there something bothering you?"
"...I'm scared."
It wasn't hard to guess what she was afraid of.
"Monsters aren't pets."
"I know."
"But maybe it's okay to make them companions anyway. They're tough and strong."
Shin Yoosung had once killed her own dog with her own hands.
And she'd survived.
That fact still lingered deep in her heart.
After a moment of hesitation, I said,
"You know, if you clear all the scenarios, you can make a wish—"
"Ajusshi, your face gives it away when you lie. Your nostrils flare."
Now that she mentioned it, Gilyoung had said something similar.
Maybe kids with [Multispecies Communication] were especially sensitive to body language.
I decided to go full thug mode.
"...So what do you want me to do?"
"I'll be able to do well, right?"
"Yeah. You'll do well."
"Don't say it so half-heartedly..."
"I chose you."
Shin Yoosung's eyes wavered.
"I chose you over Seoul. And I don't regret it."
"..."
"You'll do better than anyone."
After staring up at me for a long moment, Shin Yoosung lowered her head, clenching and unclenching her fingers. Then she started scrutinizing my face from every angle.
"Ajusshi, if I really become strong..."
"If you become strong?"
After hesitating for a long time, Shin Yoosung smiled faintly.
"It's nothing. I'll try harder."
She turned away and began casting her skills again.
...Why do I suddenly feel uneasy about this?
Suddenly, I remembered what kind of kid Shin Yoosung had been in the original story.
「"Joonghyuk oppa is so handsome."」「"Joonghyuk oppa is the best."」「"Joonghyuk oppa is my favorite."」
…Right. In the original Ways of Survival, this girl had been Yoo Joonghyuk's fan.
Given her age, she was obviously never a heroine candidate—just the little-sister type who followed him around everywhere.
If I remembered correctly, she'd fought a lot with Yoo Mia…
Thinking about that suddenly made me uneasy.
I'd worked so hard raising her—what if Yoo Joonghyuk stole her away later?
When I turned my head, Han Sooyoung was stretching as she sat up. Our eyes met, and she immediately clicked her tongue and turned away.
She's been sulky since yesterday.
"Hey."
"What."
"You planning to stay mad forever?"
"Don't talk to me."
"There's something I want to ask."
At the words something I want to ask, Han Sooyoung's eyebrow twitched.
Lowering my voice so Shin Yoosung wouldn't hear, I asked,
"...How do I rate, looks-wise? Compared to Yoo Joonghyuk."
Han Sooyoung stared at me like a bug had crawled into her ear.
"What kind of intention is that question supposed to have?"
"No, I'm genuinely curious."
Ever since graduating high school, I'd never once cared about what I looked like.
But between Yoo Joonghyuk's little sister back then, and the reactions of past prophets, it felt like everyone thought I was ugly.
When I occasionally took selfies in the bathroom, I didn't think I looked that bad.
[One flirtatious Constellation gazes at you with pity.]
"Just accept your life."
"No, I wasn't asking for comfort, I was just curious—"
"All I can offer you right now is comfort."
Damn it.
"...Is it really that bad?"
I quietly looked toward Shin Yoosung.
Decision made.
I can never let that kid meet Yoo Joonghyuk.
Whenever we had time, we hunted nearby monster species and gathered coins.
Every coin I earned went straight into Shin Yoosung, and thanks to that, her stats were increasing at an astonishing rate.
Most of the coins went into Agility and Mana.
Those two stats were the most important for fully utilizing [Agile Step], [Taming], and [Multispecies Communication].
As another day ended and night fell, Shin Yoosung finally mastered [Advanced Multispecies Communication]. Even so, she still couldn't succeed at Taming. She asked,
"...Future me will be much stronger, right?"
Of course.
If they fought head-on, the current Shin Yoosung wouldn't stand a chance.
But if she trained intensively now, we could at least seal away one of future Shin Yoosung's key abilities. The reason the Disaster of Flooding was so dangerous was because she could command an entire army on her own.
"Try trusting the present you more than a future that hasn't even arrived yet."
If the future Shin Yoosung could do it, then the present Shin Yoosung still had potential.
And just the fact that she'd be opposing her own future gave us a chance to win.
Because future Shin Yoosung would never be able to kill present Shin Yoosung.
"Thank you for the meal."
After cleaning up the Groll meat she'd eaten down to the bone, Yoo Sangah offered a short prayer.
"Ms. Yoo Sangah, do you have a religion?"
"No, I'm not religious."
"Then why the prayer…?"
"I prayed to the gods of Olympus."
It was such a practical prayer that I was left momentarily speechless.
Come to think of it, the gods we'd known were now real, so the objects of prayer had become extremely clear.
"Tonight, Han Sooyoung and I will take first watch. Ms. Yoo Sangah, you should sleep first."
"Are you sure that's okay?"
"Yes."
Yoo Sangah bowed slightly and went to sleep. Han Sooyoung leaned against the opposite wall, fiddling with her smartphone.
Of course it was uncomfortable.
We were enemies by nature, and Han Sooyoung's ideology stood at the complete opposite end from Yoo Sangah's.
No matter what happened in the future, the two of them were more likely to clash than cooperate.
Once even the exhausted Shin Yoosung had fallen asleep, the quiet night was filled only with the crackling of the campfire. Han Sooyoung spoke first.
"Get some sleep too."
I lay down on the floor, but sleep didn't come easily.
There were four days left until the start of the Fifth Scenario.
Shin Yoosung hadn't made much progress, and earlier that afternoon, a message had come from the Gangseo area.
[Someone has defeated the 'Disaster of Ice' that descended in the west.]
There was no need to ask who had done it.
If it had been allowed to fully descend, it would have turned the Seoul region into an ice age—but Yoo Joonghyuk had personally stepped in and stopped it.
He'd probably handled his encounter with Lee Hyunsung safely as well.
As she stared into the burning embers, Han Sooyoung suddenly spoke.
"Hey, there's something I'm curious about."
"You're ugly."
Han Sooyoung scowled.
"Who the hell said I was curious about that? You petty bastard."
"...Then what is it?"
"What are you even trying to do?"
"What do you mean?"
"Your goal. Every time I look at you, you're strange. Smashing the throne, not killing her… What are you trying to accomplish?"
"There's an ending I want."
"An ending?"
I nodded lightly. Surprisingly, Han Sooyoung didn't press further. Instead, she brought up something else.
"There was an ending I wanted to write too."
"Your novel?"
"Yeah."
"Then let me ask you one thing too."
"What?"
"Why did you plagiarize? You're a good writer."
"I told you, it's not plagiarism. You treat Ways of Survival like it's the Bible, but even that thing borrowed everything from somewhere else. Transcendent beings sponsoring humans. Survival missions. Game systems with a regressor protagonist. Try finding a novel these days that doesn't use those."
"The problem is that yours is the most similar."
"There's a reason for that. Want to hear a story? Once upon a time, there was a poor girl—"
"If this is a story about a starving literary girl who gave up on her dreams and plagiarized someone else's novel just to survive, I'll pass."
Han Sooyoung froze, mouth hanging open, then her lips twitched.
"You… you can read people's minds, can't you?"
"...What?"
"Anyway, you can do something similar, right?"
"You think I'm a god or something? If I had a skill like that, I wouldn't be struggling like this."
[Character 'Han Sooyoung' is using 'Lie Detection Lv.3'.]
[Character 'Han Sooyoung' has confirmed that the statement is false.]
Han Sooyoung chuckled.
"Can you do it on me too?"
I didn't answer.
"Well, whatever. You don't have to say it. If you can do it, try reading my mind right now."
"I told you I can't."
"I didn't plagiarize."
When I looked at her suspiciously, Han Sooyoung deliberately used [Lie Detection] on herself.
[Character 'Han Sooyoung' has confirmed that the statement is true.]
…What?
"I did read Ways of Survival, but writing something similar was just a coincidence. I only wrote down the dreams I had."
[Character 'Han Sooyoung' has confirmed that the statement is true.]
…So that's what this is. She's using her subconscious as a shield now.
"Either way, you saw it. If you saw it, then you must've dreamed about it."
"Maybe. But…"
After hesitating, Han Sooyoung continued.
"Lately, I've been thinking about this."
"About what?"
"If this reality has an original story, and I'm just a reenactment of that original… then doesn't that mean my very existence is plagiarism too?"
"What kind of bullshit is that? So now you're saying you didn't plagiarize?"
"Who said that? I'm just saying the thought crossed my mind."
Truth be told, it wasn't a thought I'd never had myself. Ever since Ways of Survival had become reality, it had lingered in the back of my mind.
Was this world reality layered on top of a novel?
Or was reality turning into a novel?
I shook my head hard and stood up.
"Hey, let's switch watches. You sleep first. If you keep bringing up depressing crap like that, the Constellations are gonna drop our channel."
"...They already have. Ever since I started traveling with you, their donations dropped."
"That's because you keep doing stuff that gives people mental cancer."
We traded a few more barbs, then fell silent. Leaning against the wall of the abandoned building, I looked at Han Sooyoung, already asleep and snoring softly.
It was stupid, but I found myself thinking this.
Maybe it's a good thing she's here.
At least I'm not the only one who knows that this world is a "novel."
That strange sense of comfort.
At some point, I must have dozed off.
Maybe I was just too tired. Or maybe I let my guard down because of that unexpected solace. Either way, I fell asleep.
It was a short but sweet sleep.
But maybe… I shouldn't have fallen asleep.
When I opened my eyes the next morning, Han Sooyoung was a cold corpse.