"I am."
I couldn't answer right away.
Obviously, I wasn't that 'Cheon Inho'. Their way of thinking was different, and their likes and dislikes were different.
Their soul was different.
But can I really say that I have nothing to do with that 'Cheon Inho'?
I possessed his body, and before I possessed it, I wrote a sentence about him.
I made 'Cheon Inho' with my own hands.
Even if Han Sooyoung wrote the first draft, I had plenty of opportunities to change the sentences.
If so, maybe I—
"You are a different person."
Jung Heewon frowned as if she didn't understand why I was taking so long.
"No matter how you look at it, you're a different person. I also saw that world. You have different personalities, and you look closely... Cheon Inho here is more attractive."
I couldn't figure out what the hell she was talking about.
"Inho-ssi said, 'Another world'. Then, isn't it a world that doesn't exist on this side? It's like a world in a novel."
A world of fiction.
"The reason I asked is because I just wanted to hear a set answer. That's all. So tell me. Inho-ssi, are you the same person as Cheon Inho in that world?"
I suddenly came to my senses.
The hand that Jung Heewon reached out to first. If I didn't hold this hand, that wasn't polite either.
"I'm not like him. At least I think so."
"Yes?"
But is that really enough?
Will she be able to understand and move on with that alone?
"The Cheon Inho I believe in is only the Cheon Inho in front of me right now."
As if [inciting] herself, Jung Heewon said.
"So Inho-ssi too."
Jung Heewon, who came towards me, said while putting the blade on the floor.
"Think of the me in front of you right now as Jung Heewon. Except for Jung Heewon from 'The Future You Know'."
Only then did I know why she brought up this topic.
「 The Jung Heewon in front of me is not the Jung Heewon of 『Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint』. 」
Jung Heewon, who was the sword of Kim Dokja.
Jung Heewon, who killed Cheon Inho.
Jung Heewon, the only incarnation of the Demon-like Judge of Fire and the guardian of
That Jung Heewon is not here.
As I am not 'Cheon Inho', she is also in the stories of the apostles.
She is not that 'Jung Heewon'.
[There is only one Jung Heewon in the 41st turn.]
I sincerely nodded.
Jung Heewon smiled.
"If I fall off a bridge again, will you save me?"
"A few times."
Jung Heewon sighed lightly, bent down to pick up her sword from the floor, and lightly tilted her head.
"I said something too complicated, not like me. Actually, I don't want to think difficult things right now. I like simple things."
Certainly, the Jung Heewon I knew wasn't one to talk about things like this.
"I just want to cut, stab, and somehow survive. That's all I want to do."
"That's enough for now. Instead, please do it by my side."
At those words, Jung Heewon lifted her head at a subtle angle and looked at me.
"I could stab Inho-ssi by mistake?"
"Then I'll die."
Jung Heewon thought it was a joke and laughed.
"That can't be done. Inho-ssi, please come so that I don't stab the wrong person."
"Of course. By the way."
As I slowly looked around the restaurant, I asked a question I had been wanting to ask all along.
"Haven't you already stabbed one?"
There was only one other person in the restaurant besides us.
To be precise, at Jung Heewon's feet.
The man was still breathing.
He was a man whose peculiarities were hard to find except that he was pretending to be homeless.
Well, even that is a feature that has little meaning at this point when everyone is homeless.
"The sniper you just caught? Was there a real sniper?"
"There is."
The man, whose whole body was tightly bound, let out intermittent moans as if he were trying to detach himself.
"Even though the gun was a toy gun."
I checked [character list].
Although he didn't have any particularly great stats or characteristics, there was one skill that stood out.
[Strengthen bullets.]
A skill that changes toy bullets into power comparable to normal bullets. It seemed that he was targeting us with this skill.
After hitting the man on the cheek several times, the man who suddenly came to his senses began crying and begging her.
"Sa-save me! Please!"
"Which group do you belong to?"
I slammed the pot on the floor next to the man's head and asked. After all, this guy is the one who tried to shoot on us.
I was wondering if I should pretend to torture him, but the man shouted in a fit.
"Damn, Beggar! Beggar Sect!"
He spit it out easier than I thought.
By the way... Beggars?
Jung Heewon asked if she had read my expression.
"A group you know?"
I subtly nodded.
There is probably no web novelist who is unaware of the concept of the Beggar Sect.
Because it is the name of the Bangpa that appears regularly in martial arts novels.
The Beggar Sect was a place that represented 'one of the old sects' in Murim.
That is to say, if it was set at a normal time, it was like that.
If there's a problem, I know that the 'Beggar Sect' doesn't come out in Omniscient Reader.
"Where are your headquarters?"
"That, that's..."
Jung Heewon, who was by his side, picked up a knife.
"Above, the location! It's hard to tell because it's so wide, but the main base is on the Seoul Station side!
"Who is the head of the group?"
"It's Cheongae!"
Opening, Cheongae, Seoul Station.
The first two were never described in detail even when reading the book, but it was different for Seoul Station.
According to my memory, it is because Kim Dokja once monologued as follows.
「 Still, that's cute enough. Compared to those in Chungmuro or Seoul Station. 」
That was the only description of 'Seoul Station' I read in all of the novel.
I tried to think of other notes, but nothing particularly came to mind.
This is because the vicinity of Seoul Station was only mentioned, but no specific framework was established.
In other words, it means that Han Sooyoung did not convey it to me.
"Why were you spying on us?"
"Chew, the commander told me to keep an eye on the road to expand our power. That's really all. I didn't mean to hurt you!"
Looking at his expression, I thought it was real. After thinking for a while, I suddenly looked down at the man's waist.
Three knots hanging from the waist.
Look at this.
Looking at the knot, I pondered and asked the man.
"Can you specify?"
The man could only be released from us after repeated [oaths of existence].
The specifications were simple.
「 About us, don't report it to the representative no matter what. 」
The leaving man kept bowing his head this way and repeating his thanks.
[Currently, a number of targets have contracted the 'Oath of Existence'.]
[As the number of targets of the 'Existence Specification' increases, the power of the 'Oath' weakens.]
This is another penalty I didn't know about.
Maybe that's why they didn't make the 'Oath to Existence' often in the main story?
Jung Heewon, who watched him walk away, asked.
"Can we let him live?"
[The constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' is startled by your behavior.]
"Do you think my judgment is wrong?"
"I just think it's Inho-ssi."
"There is a reason I saved him."
Perhaps that group has already obtained permission for [group chat].
In other words, there was a high possibility that the man did not give information to nearby group members the moment he was caught by Jung Heewon.
In other words, in some way, the information has already been passed on to the other group.
"It's not an ordinary group. The hierarchy within the organization has already been established."
"A hierarchy?"
I explained about the knot tied around the man's waist.
Originally, the group called 'Beggars Sect' is the group of 'beggars' in martial arts novels.
Unusually, they reveal their rank with a 'knot' on their waist. For example, regular members have one 'knot'. Buntaju-class knot 'three'. Dangju's level is the same as 'five'.
"That person had three knots. That means he's on the Buntaju level."
"What is Buntaju?"
"That… In terms of a company, you can roughly think of it as an assistant manager or a manager."
"Isn't it high?"
"Yes, but it is important that there is a rank."
As far as I know, there are up to nine open knots in total.
Just now, since that guy was in the middle ranks, it means that there are six more levels above him.
It's only in the early stages of the scenario, but it was truly surprising that they had already created a group of that size.
"Is this a group created by people who like martial arts novels?"
"It could be that way, or-"
It could be that the constellation is related to Murim.
Either way, it was an opponent that could not be good because we were now hostile.
Above all, 'Kim Dokja' had a group comparable to Chungmuro, so it must be judged that they have at least ten medicines.
Of course, this side has Jung Heewon, but Jung Heewon's real skills are displayed when dealing with monsters rather than people.
"What if he brings a gang? He said he swore, but you never know."
"It'll be all right if he comes."
"Yes?"
If they still come to attack us, then it is a war with clear intentions.
"At that time, you'll be free to kill them."
I wondered if I had made a great remark, but Jung Heewon smiled.
"I like that."
Somehow, it felt like a very bloody duo was created.
I replied with a wry smile.
"Then let's set off. Did you say Yoo Jonghyuk went north?"
"Well, there's one thing I didn't tell you about earlier," Jung Heewon added, scratching her cheek.
"That person, Yoo Jonghyuk, said one more word before he left."
I thought it might be. Yoo Jonghyuk looks cool on the outside, but he is secretly a guy with a lot of lingering feelings.
"The current Cheon Inho cannot be recognized as Cheon Inho. But-"
"But?"
"If we recruit a person as a colleague, he says he will think about recognizing you as 'Cheon Inho'."
It's not about acknowledging me, thinking about acknowledging me is also good.
"The mad butcher... he said you would understand."
"A mad butcher?"
A sentence came to mind.
Apparently, there was one incarnation with such a nickname.
["One of the 100 strongest people in Ways of Survival, the 'Mad Butcher', eventually evolved from the 'Crouching Figure'.]
Surprisingly, however, this person was only mentioned once and passed by. After that, it is not even mentioned whether he is dead or alive.
It's the 100 strongest people in Ways of Survival...
After all, Han Sooyoung didn't tell me this, so there's probably no mention of it.
By the way, Yoo Jonghyuk is looking for that mad butcher...
The story turns out in a fun way.
"Anyone you know?"
"That's what I've heard of."
As soon as I was about to say, "I don't know him," I felt a slight pain in my head once again.
[A new skill is active]
New skill?
「 'Mad Butcher' was born at 'Seoul Station' that day. 」
A thought that came to my mind.
Since when was it?
Goosebumps slowly formed on my forearms.
It wasn't a sentence that I came up with in particular, nor was it a sentence that originally came out in 'Omniscient Reader'.
It wasn't even a setting I made, and it wasn't a sentence I would write in the future.
[Exclusive skill, 'Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World' is active.]
That is the story that Kim Dokja loved more than anyone else.
It was a sentence of 'Ways of Survival'.