Episode 2. Rewrite (5)

The people who watched the prime minister die in real time lost their minds and ran toward the

transparent wall they had pushed against earlier.

"We have to get out of here now! Break this wall!"

"Push it again, it might get pushed back!"

[Until the scenario in the area is completed, any kind of entry or exit is restricted.]

Panicked people clung to the transparent wall. They reminded me of a swarm of insects in a

mosquito net.

I took a short, deep breath and shouted in a loud voice.

"Everyone, pull yourself together. There's still plenty of time."

[The constellation 'Monarch of the Small Fries' is looking at you with a strange look on his eyes.]

[A few constellations are surprised by your calmness.]

"It was the lawmakers who died, not us."

The people look up at you with dazed faces.

[Some incarnations begin to rely on you.]

[Your influence in the scenario area has exceeded a threshold.]

Now that their reason was paralyzed by fear, I had an opportunity.

"We can still choose how to survive."

How way to survive.

One by one, the people cowering nearby stood up, looking at me.

"B-but. But they're all dead! The president, the prime minister―"

"They were just ordinary people too, who happened to wear those titles."

I heard someone hiccup.

"Get a grip. If you lose your mind here, you'll be left with only one option."

"...."

"And that's going to kill most of us here. Of course, some of us will survive, but they'll be few."

I glanced toward the big guy as I said that, and he growled and glared at me.

But that was his mistake. One by one, the people nearby swarmed toward me, wary of the man.

"What the hell, you guys."

They realized. How the weak survive in a predatory ecosystem where laws and rules are broken.

I continued speaking.

"No one has to die. The strong, the weak, everyone can survive, and there's no need to be

disappointed that the bugs failed, it was just the 'first way'."

One by one, people's faces changed. Among them, the one whose expression changed

dramatically was the deacon's, Kim Cheolyang, who had made the mistake of saying 'pretty well'

earlier.

[The character 'Kim Cheolyang' is convinced by your words.]

[Character 'Kim Cheolyang' feels a strong sense of trust in you.]

"Is there another way? Besides bugs or people... What else could we kill...."

While people were confused, I thought and thought and thought.

If we couldn't use 'bugs' anymore, now I had to find a new answer.

The first thing I did was to open my phone and check the comments on the 'first episode' of

Omniscient Reader.

—If a bug works out, what about bacterias? Bacterias are living things.

This is a story I didn't write.

—Doesn't stomach acid kill bacteria even if you don't move? Doesn't that mean you can survive

without doing anything? —Ah, that's ridiculous.

A world line that exists only as a possibility, imagined by the collective intelligence of readers.

—What's the principle of hand sanitizer? Doesn't it kill germs? —Wouldn't using a hand sanitizer on your palm save your life? —There's a lot of germs everywhere.

...

—What happens if you kill yourself?

"I'm going to tell you the 'second way.'"

*

rlaehrwk37: But does that really work?

*

[There are 16 minutes remaining.]

"Here's a lighter."

"Clothes are made of fabric, so they'll burn fast, right?"

"It doesn't matter what it is, they're germs, they'll stick to it."

To execute the 'second way', people quickly obtained the supplies I asked for.

"Are you sure this will work?"

I nodded gently and began stacking the bundles of old clothes people had collected in the center

of the station.

Our plan was simple. If the bugs didn't work, we'd kill something else. Something too small to

see that existed everywhere.

Deacon Kim Cheolyang asked with concern.

"But do germs count? Aren't germs invisible?"

"God is also invisible, isn't he?"

Kim Cheolyang seemed to get a little angry at my words. Wondering if I had gone too far with the joke, I quickly added.

"In biology class, we learn that bacteria are also living things. Even if you can't see it, it's still a

living thing."

I could tell he wasn't convinced, so I explained a little more.

"Think of it like aliens. There must be life on planets in the far universe, but we can't see them."

"Brother, there are no aliens. Only pseudo-religions believes in that."

"Anyway, I'm just giving you an example."

"I see, so you're saying they're living things even if we can't see them."

I nodded, but even I wasn't 100 percent convinced by this strategy.

Does killing an invisible creature work to clear the scenario?

In fact, there is no clear answer to that even if you read the whole novel.

[The constellation 'Monarch of the Small Fries' is interested in your strategy.]

[A few constellations wonder what you're trying to do.]

However, there is a commonly accepted 'answer' in all scenarios.

「The one that will be interesting and convincing to the constellations.」

I mutter to myself, staring at the ceiling.

"Maybe it doesn't matter so much what you kill, but how it makes the person who observes it

feel."

"What?"

"Maybe what we're killing is one of these germs."

I opened my phone and showed him a list of the germs we were likely to kill and what they

looked like.

Germs that are always present in subway stations, but we've never actually seen.

Organisms you can't see with the naked eye, so you wouldn't normally care.

Now people had to kill them to survive.

"I looked it up, and germs are actually living things."

"This time we'll succeed, right?"

Still, people's faces lit up a bit at the thought of a new breakthrough.

Not everyone, of course.

"You've all lost your minds."

The big guy grumbled, glaring at me and the others as if he didn't like the situation.

But then he glanced away, and he opened his phone and began to surreptitiously search for

something.

I peeked my head out to see what he was searching for.

—bacteria life —insect life —life —athlete's foot —propecia side effects

As he was excitedly perusing the list of search terms, reader ahjussi next to me whispered.

"Will this work? We won't be able to identify the germs we kill."

"Well, we'll do what we can. Just because you can't find the bodies of the people you kill with

missiles doesn't mean you didn't kill them."

If we had an electron microscope, it would be possible to confirm the death of the bacteria

directly, but we didn't.

So for now, we had to do whatever we could.

If we can't see the bacteria, we have to at least do something that makes it clear that we intend to

kill them.

That way, the constellations would understand what we were trying to do.

"Will burning really kill the germs? What if they don't die?"

"They're going to die. Why do you boil water? Because it sterilizes everything."

"Is that so?"

"Brothers, didn't you look it up earlier? You should know exactly how to kill them."

"Oh, deacon. We're old and don't know what you mean."

Kim Cheolyang explained to them in frustration.

"Ah, germs die because their proteins are denatured when they're heated, right?"

I glanced at Kim Cheolyang with a questioning glance, and he nodded wordlessly.

A moment later, a small campfire blazed in the center of Geumho Station.

*

—rlaehrwk99: But by that logic, shouldn't you live because the bacteria in your stomach will die

even if you stay still? —rlaehrwk24: The stomach is an involuntary muscle, so it's hard to say there was an intention to

kill. —rlaehrwk99 : Isn't it possible to kill by controlling the stomach with force? —rlaehrwk24: The involuntary muscle is.... —rlaehrwk37: Yoo Joonghyuk would be able to control his stomach with force.

*

People threw the bodies of dead bugs and other miscellaneous items they had into the fire.

Kim Cheolyang threw his cell phone case into the fire, and reader ahjussi tore receipts from his

wallet.

Others threw their shoes into the fire or pulled out their hair.

The big guy, who was wary of people, secretly took off his socks and threw them into the fire.

"My sock...."

No one brought up the last words of the big guy.

10, 20...

The people stood still and watched the bonfire burn.

Sitting around the campfire with such a serious look in their eyes, it felt like we were at a

religious retreat.

They were praying to an invisible god, thinking about invisible germs.

I did the same.

The invisible bacteria burned in the sacred flame.

They were burning.

I believed they were burning.

However, imagining the death of unknown germs was as difficult as imagining the faces of

nameless readers.

What happened to them?

As the reader ahjussi with his hands clasped together, muttering something, others must be alive

somewhere in this world.

Judge Heewon who sat next to me in the theater, the girl who wondered if Kim Dokja was alive

or dead, the reader who knew the secret of 1,863, and the reader who memorized the number of

■....

I closed my eyes and imagined them safely completing the first scenario.

"Did anyone get a message or anything?"

I said, and they looked at each other. Eyes nervous, like worshippers waiting for a message from

God.

"Oh, there's something in front of me...."

At that moment, God's message appeared in front of everyone.

[There is currently an error in the system message output and reward payment due to excessive

scenario modification.]

[Whether the scenario is cleared or not will be automatically noticed after the time limit has

expired.]

Someone muttered in surprise.

"What the hell is this...."

No need to ask, the message was simple.

No matter what we do next, we won't know if the scenario is cleared until 'the end of the

scenario'.

I was stunned.

No way, I didn't expect this from the administration.

It was at that moment that a tsuchuchut went off in my head.

[What the hell are you thinking?]

The image of a tired face appeared.

[This season is so weird. What is wrong with you people? Killing bugs, and now you're killing

germs... You guys are causing the scenario system to crash. It's clogging up the message output

and won't let me preview the results!]

Judging by what Bihyung said, the situation was not intended by the Bureau.

Meanwhile, people were also getting annoyed.

"What's up with that? We can't know if we've passed this or not."

"Hey, did we solve our scenario?"

"Bacterias are living things, right? Please answer me!"

Bihyung frowned at the people.

[That's....]

The moment Bihyung opened his mouth, sparks flew in the air once again.

[The constellations of the 'absolute evil' system warn the dokkaebi 'Bihyung'.]

[The constellations of the 'absolute good' system warn the dokkaebi 'Bihyung'.]

[The constellations watching the scenario do not want the dokkaebi to intervene in the scenario.]

Something doesn't feel right about this.

[Hmm... If the constellations say so.]

Bihyung looked around at the incarnations with a frosty gaze.

[Finding the answer is part of the scenario, so I can't give you the answer, but as a special

service, I will tell you what will happen if you fail the scenario.]

The moment I heard that, I checked the timer.

[There are 10 minutes remaining.]

It was time for 'that' to show up.

Author's Note

Thank you. There is one more.