Episode 2. Rewrite (4)
I stared down at the bug's body for a long time.
It didn't make sense. Something must be wrong with the
this bug to be 'alive'.
"Now I just have to wait, right? I did as I was told."
"Hey, we've completed our assignment, let us out!"
Why isn't there a scenario completion message. A system message should have appeared as soon
as the bug was killed.
[There has been a problem with the main scenario system.]
With a tsuchuchut sound, Bihyung appeared out of thin air. He looked back at me and the others
with a troubled look on its face.
[Hey... everyone.]
The moment I saw his face, I realized what I missed.
I was an idiot. Why didn't I notice sooner?
—Here's another one who's playing tricks.
A little while ago, Bihyung said that in the dokkaebi communication.
That meant that I wasn't the only one who was playing the scenario in an unusual way.
At first, I thought he was referring to Kim Dokja.
But there was something I hadn't considered.
There wasn't just one 'reader' in this scenario.
Bihyung, who was twitching his lips, spoke up in a disapproving voice.
[You think this is some kind of bug killing game. This scenario is really weird. How can the
same thing happen at the same time....]
The exact same thing happening at the exact same time.
I looked at the ahjussi. He seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"No way...."
Somewhere in the world, there are readers who have read 'Omniscient Reader' just like him.
They knew the solution to the first scenario, just like we did, so they chose to catch bugs and
clear the scenario. What we didn't realize was that too many people had used that solution.
[The Bureau has detected an unnatural flow in the scenario.]
[The probability of the scenario beings to tilt.]
[The will of the
A trope that has been tried so often, it has lost its novelty.
[You've got to hand it to humans for being cruel, killing poor bugs to save their own lives....]
I glanced down at the bug carcasses strewn throughout the station. Miserably squashed and
trampled corpses.
The recognition of bugs as 'living things' might mean that they were also 'scenario participants'.
So what did we look like in their eyes?
Bihyung looked at the bug carcasses on the floor, shook his head, and turned away.
"W-what's that all about?"
"I thought we were supposed to kill bugs to live?"
"It'll be fine, I'm sure he's just trying to scare us."
"Right, right, we played by the rules!"
In this world, the rules of the 'scenario' were absolute.
In particular, the 'Main Scenario' had an authority that even the dokkaebis could not violate.
No matter how much Bihyung disliked the situation, the main scenario could not be changed
unless the entire Bureau moved.
Tsuchuchuchut.
It had to be like that.
"U-uaaa! What's going on?"
This had never happened in 'Omniscient Reader'.
Not even when the
I instinctively looked up into the air.
I couldn't see any stars in the ceiling-blocked sky. However, somewhere in that unseen sky, there
must be constellations watching our underground struggle.
[The probability of the
I remembered the grand principle of the
years.
「The probability of a
interested in.」
[The main scenario contents have changed.]
It felt like the celestial body of the universe was tilting.
And at that exact tilt, I could hear the laws of the world twisting.
[For this scenario only, 'bugs' are excluded from 'living creatures'.]
[For the purposes of this scenario, 'bug killing' is no longer recognized as 'killing a living thing'.]
People screamed everywhere.
In the center of the abyss, I saw my own reflection in a window.
Through a door's window, a strange man was smiling at me.
「Now that's more like 'Omniscient Reader'.」
*
I once wrote that a story becomes a different story when you read it again. I still think that's
right.
I didn't mean it like this.
+
Clear Conditions: Kill one or more creatures.
Time Limit: 30 minutes
Reward: 300 coins
Failure: Death
* In this scenario, 'bugs' are not treated as 'living things'.
* Clearance conditions for this scenario will no longer change.
+
When I read it again, the scenario actually changed.
The 'killing bugs' that Kim Dokja used is no longer allowed in this scenario.
"H-how can you do this all of a sudden!"
"Did anyone get a different message?"
Judging by the looks on their faces, no one had cleared the scenario.
I glanced in the reader ahjussi's direction, and he lowered his voice.
"It says I cleared it."
Luckily, the reader ahjussi was the first to kill the bug, and the scenario was recognized as
cleared.
"Don't make a fuss, and pretend you didn't clear either."
"Okay, but you...."
I shook my head, and his face turned pale.
He must be blaming himself for my death.
"Oh, my. Then―"
"Don't worry about me. It's not really me you should be worried about."
"What?"
"The rules have changed, and the person who was supposed to live may to die."
The person who was supposed to live.
That is, those who had survived by 'killing bugs' in Omniscient Reader.
"No way."
Reader ahjussi seemed to have thought of that as well.
「Kim Dokja might die.」
We didn't yet know if the changed rules were specific to some regions or if they would apply to
the entire scenario area.
But now we had to assume the worst. If, in the unlikely event that this change kills Kim Dokja,
thenᅳ
「Someone will have to replace Kim Dokja.」
Reader ahjussi asked, his lips trembling.
"What do we do now?"
"We'll have to think about it, I don't know yet."
The terrified people raised their voices to the air.
"We killed a creature, what the hell?"
[A few constellations are giggling.]
For the first time, we heard a message from the constellations.
The stunned people looked around in horror.
Deacon Kim Cheolyang, who came rushed over, grabbed me by my shoulders.
"Brother, what are we going to do? Is there any other way but the bugs?"
Not only Kim Cheolyang, but all the other people who were looking for bugs rushed toward me.
"You got us into this mess! What are we going to do now?"
"Take responsibility!"
They shouted at me. As if I was responsible for this whole mess.
I calmly retorted.
"Because of me?"
"Uh, well, you're responsible anyway! You're the reason we're all going to die!"
"Calm down. No one's going to die. Just because the bugs failed doesn't mean there no a way
out."
"You're right. I can kill you if I have to."
The big guy who had stopped trampling on the bug was coming toward me, dragging the soles of
his sneakers.
I looked at him and said.
"Of course, that's one option, if you're willing to deal with the aftermath."
"What?"
"After that's over, people will remember the killer."
If he was Kim Namwoon, this logic wouldn't work.
But the big guy wasn't as crazy as Kim Namwoon, and he stopped approaching me.
In the future, only murderers will survive. However, that's not something that ordinary people
can easily conclude.
It was the lack of imagination that I dug into.
"Then what? We have to kill living things to live."
"We can kill something. Not bugs nor people."
"What if the conditions change again? We just failed."
"They won't change this time."
"How do you know that?"
"Have you even read the scenario?"
I could see people opening the scenario window in a panic.
"It's true, the conditions won't change now."
"Can we believe this?"
I hadn't intended to go this far, but now the tables had turned.
"There's going to be a prime minister's speech on the news soon, and level one national disaster
is going to be declared."
"What?"
"Here's what he's going to say."
I said like a newscaster, recalling the opening lines of 'Omniscient Reader' I'd revised dozens of
times.
"To all my fellow citizens, unidentified terrorists are currently active in an unspecified number of
areas, including Seoul."
At my words, people opened their phones and started browsing the internet.
I quickly added before they could find the video.
"For your information, the president is already dead, and the prime minister will be killed during
his speech."
Less than a dozen seconds later, someone screamed.
"The prime minister is really speaking!"
The prime minister's voice came from cell phones everywhere.
—To all my fellow citizens, unidentified terrorists are currently active in an unspecified number
of areas, including Seoul.
Those were the exact words I spoke. The next sentence was no different.
The current government will fight against the terrorists with all means and methods, and there
will be no negotiations. Therefore, the people should go about their daily lives with peace of
mind....
As the Prime Minister continued to speak, people looked in my direction as if possessed.
Then.
"U-uaaak!"
A startled citizen dropped his cell phone.
The prime minister was dead.
His head exploded in real time.
"What the hell is this....!"
As events unfolded as I said, the big guy stuttered.
"You must have secretly looked it up online."
"W-what are you talking about, it was live!"
"How the hell do you know that, brother?"
I didn't answer back.
A few gunshots rang out, and Bihyung's face appeared on the screen, replacing the prime
minister.
I could hear gulps of breath all around me.
[Everyone, I've told you already. This isn't a game like 'terrorism'.]
I'm sure other readers are seeing the same thing I'm seeing right now.
But from now on, they were about to see something a little different.
[Do you still not understand? This still feels like a game to you, and killing a few bugs isn't going
to fix it.]
Normally, at this point, the remaining time would be reduced by 10 minutes, and if the first kill
didn't occur within 5 minutes, a penalty is triggered that wipes out all life in the area.
This will not be the case this time around.
「Because the scenario's clear conditions can no longer be changed.」
After the Bureau intervened once to remove the 'bugs' from the scenario, the first scenario's
clearance conditions were completely locked.
Therefore, the 'time penalty' will not be triggered this time.
[There are 20 minutes remaining.]
With a beep, a timer appeared out of thin air, and Bihyung laughed.
[20 minutes to go. Everyone, if you don't want to die, hurry up. Unless you want to end up like
your leaders.]
With those words, the screen flashed with images of the National Assembly members' heads
exploding.
The frightened people stood back Inhorror.
"What the hell is this―"
"U-uwaaa!"
A sense of dread settled over the entire station. Strangely enough, the horror actually uplifted me
deeply.
Suddenly, I wanted to write like crazy.
「We gained 10 minutes, so 'killing bugs' wasn't all for nothing.」
If I survive this, I might write the side story.
[The 'exclusive skill' becomes more active.]
Author's Note
There's 3 consecutive chapters today.