Episode 2. Rewrite (6)
A giant holographic screen appeared in the center of the subway station.
People screamed in surprise.
The screen showed a classroom.
Shaking girls in navy blue school uniforms.
It was a scene I recognized.
「Daepong Girls' High School.」
The girls on the screen were working together to break down the classroom door.
Of course, their efforts will fail, because this is such a story.
An ominous beep, beep, beep, beepᅳ
The girls screamed.
[The given time has run out.]
[Paid settlement will begin.]
With the announcement, the girls' heads began to explode one by one.
I opened my eyes and stared at the scene. I had a responsibility to see the story through to the
end.
On the screen, the last remaining girl clutched her friend's throat.
A choked groan.
Then the only survivor on the screen looked around.
[#Bay23515 channel. Daepong Girls' High School, Year 2 Class B Survivor: Lee Jihye.]
The exact same development as 'Omniscient Reader'.
Lee Jihye, who was glaring at the screen, disappeared and Bihyung laughed.
[How about it. It's funny, right?]
"H-how—"
The people in the room froze in horror.
Even the big guy was quite surprised, and the eyes of the reader ahjussi, who probably already
knew the story, were shaking.
I was the only one who didn't panic.
[The character 'Lee Hyunjoo' is freaking out!]
[The character 'Yeom Baekhoon' is freaking out!]
Psychological messages from characters were coming from all over the place.
Bihyung touched the exact spot where people's anxiety was coming from and disappeared again.
"T-the kid who survived at the end. She must have killed someone."
Someone muttered as if possessed.
The chorus of voices around him spread like wildfire.
"Are we wrong? What if the germs aren't the answer?"
"Are you sure you know what you're talking about? Are you sure we can survive?"
I had to appease them somehow.
"Wait a minute. Can you all calm down?"
"How are we supposed to calm down now?"
The excited people shouted at me.
The reader ahjussi, who had been watching the situation from the sidelines, stepped forward to
dissuade them.
"We don't know the outcome yet, do we? This guy wants to save you all too, so come on—"
"The problem is that we don't know the outcome! If we're wrong, we're screwed!"
"You're the same! You two are friends, aren't you?"
"We're all going to die now because of you, what are we going to do!"
In an instant, the people surrounding us were ready to lynch us. There was also the big guy in the
middle of the crowd, smiling with satisfaction. When I first set up this plan, I knew this would be a crisis point.
I also had a plan for this moment.
[There are 9 minutes remaining.]
But then I got tired.
I wondered if it would be wiser to just run away with the ahjussi and kill the nine minutes. With these cowardly thoughts running through my mind, I searched the subway for a suitable
hiding place.
As soon as I did that.
[The character 'Kim Cheolyang' is looking at you.]
[The character 'Kim Cheolyang' wants to do something unexpected.]
A message rang in your head.
[The activation conditions for the exclusive skill '⬜⬜' has been met.]
[The exclusive skill '⬜⬜' has been activated.]
...⬜⬜?
[The character 'Kim Cheolyang's attribute is preparing to bloom.]
[You can interfere with character 'Kim Cheolyang's attribute blooming.]
[The exclusive skill '⬜⬜' is activated!]
The scenery around me turned colorless, and people's actions slowed down drastically.
I, too, stiffened and stopped moving.
In a world where time had stopped, only the letters floated in the colorless background.
「Lee Hyekyung thought, 'It's all because of him.'」
「Kim Haemoon thought, 'I'm being punished by heaven for killing a bug.'」
「Ji Hyungdong didn't like those narrow eyes from the beginning.」
When I looked closely, there was another sentence floating above my head.
「And Lee Hakhyun realized what the skill was.」
Then a message appeared in the white space in front of me.
[You have entered the 'Snowfield'.]
[Describe the next action of 'Kim Cheolyang'.]
+
# Kim Cheolyang's Awakening
「At that moment, Kim
Cheolyang⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜....」
* At your current skill level, you can write a total of 150 additional characters.
+
Spaces that emerged like unfinished manuscripts.
It wasn't hard to understand what those blanks were.
[You can stay in the 'Snowfield (雪源)' for a total of 3 minutes.]
Just as Kim Dokja had a 'reader' skill, I had a 'writer' skill.
Skill '⬜⬜'.
Will what I write come true?
Since I didn't have much time, I decided to write a sentence in the blank first. The purpose was
clear.
Use Kim Cheolyang to save me and the ahjussi from the crisis.
As I concentrated, the sentences flowed out of my head.
It was natural.
I'm Omniscient Reader's author.
「At that moment, an unknown loyalty sprang up inside of Kim Cheolyang for the man with the
narrow eyes (meaning Lee Hakhyun, but Kim Cheolyang didn't know his name yet). This loyalty
soon awakened him.
[The character 'Kim Cheolyang' evolves into 'Judge of Destruction'.]
"Stop. Don't touch him." (149 characters in total)」
That's it.
At a glance, it was a perfect development.
Using the fact that his attribute is 'Crouching Figure', I evolved Kim Cheolyang into a 'Judge of
Destruction' like Jung Heewon.
As far as I'm concerned, it's an excellent double-entendre.
[This story is ridiculous.]
[This story's reproduction success rate is 1%.]
[You're running out of probability.]
Huh?
[Do you want to check the reader's feedback?]
I nodded in agreement.
+
rlaehrwk37: I'm getting off
+
I stood dumbfounded for a moment, then regained my composure. Now was not the time to be
shocked.
I resumed writing my sentence.
「At that moment, Kim Cheolyang realized that he was actually a martial arts master in his
previous life..... (147 characters in total)」
[This story is impossible.]
[This story's reproduction success rate is 0.1%.]
[You're running out of probability.]
[Do you want to check the reader's feedback?]
+
rlaehrwk37: I'm getting off
+
「At that moment, Kim Cheolyang realized that he was Kim Namwoon's cousin. The unknown
affection towards his own blood that flowed from him.... (143 characters in total)」
[This story is bizarre.]
[This story's reproduction success rate is 3%.]
[You're running out of probability.]
[Do you want to check the reader's feedback?]
+
rlaehrwk37: Do you want to die?
+
I wrote a couple more times like that with no luck.
After taking one comment punch after another, I was mentally exhausted.
[There are 30 seconds remaining.]
I started to feel self-deprecating. I couldn't think of anything to write or how to write it.
I closed my eyes, watching the time tick away in real time.
It's times like these that I need to go back to the drawing board.
「"Author-nim."」
Then I heard the voice of the dokkaebi Ji Eunyoo in my head.
「"What does this character want?"」
Ah.
[There are 20 seconds remaining.]
[The exclusive attribute is in effect!]
I thought about Kim Cheolyang, a character who existed only as a setting.
[There are 15 seconds remaining.]
How he would act in this situation, what he would say, what he would want to be.
Just like the day I first wrote 'Omniscient Reader', I frantically wrote sentences.
I spoke as Kim Cheolyang and acted as Kim Cheolyang.
At that moment, I was Kim Cheolyang.
The moment I typed the last word.
[The time limit has expired.]
[This story is plausible.]
[This story's reproduction success rate is 90%.]
[There's enough probability.]
[Do you want to check the reader's feedback?]
+
rlaehrwk37: Oh
+
I don't know what that "oh" means, but at least it surprised the reader.
By the way, this asshole, I'll remembered your ID.
[Successfully recreating the scene.]
[Leaving the 'Snowfield'.]
I felt the power draining from my body, and the colors around me returned to normal.
The excited people came toward me and reader ahjussi and I could see the big guy come to us.
Then.
"Everyone."
「At that moment, Kim Cheolyang stepped forward.」
The sentence I had written began to come to life.
"Our faith is being tested right now."
「Not anyone could do it. But the moment he stepped forward, he was seized with an intense
belief that he had been chosen by God.」
"Faith?"
「Maybe it was the fire. I could see the fire burning beyond their pupils.」
That's all I wrote. However, it was enough for an introduction.
According to [Character List], Kim Cheolyang sees this scenario as a test of faith.
"I'm sure you've all noticed by now that someone is watching us from the sky."
[The eyes of a few constellations light up.]
The crowd roared at the timely message.
Encouraged, Kim Cheolyang became more determined and shouted.
"The 'gods' are watching our choices, whether we choose justice or evil."
[Evolution of character 'Kim Cheolyang' is imminent!]
[The words of the character 'Kim Cheolyang' move people's hearts.]
"Think about it with common sense. The one who killed a human and cleared the scenario, and
the one who cleared the scenario without killing anyone. Which one is more just, and who would
the gods be rooting for?"
The listeners shook their heads. Some muttered, 'That's right' and 'murder is a big sin'.
Kim Cheolyang continued.
"The answer is set. We chose the right side, and the only thing left is our faith in ourselves. We
even met a 'God's emissary' who knows the future."
God's emissary?
Kim Cheolyang, who suddenly stood up from his seat, pointed at me over the campfire.
"We listened to him and found a way to solve the challenge without anyone dying. We've already
passed the ordeal."
That's a line I didn't mean him to say?
The moment Kim Cheolyang looked at me with passionate eyes, people also looked back at me.
And then.
"Maybe the deacon is right. There's no way we'll be asked to kill human beings."
People started talking.
"Look at those kids in the video. They're all dead because they were trying to kill each other."
"People's lives are so precious!"
A life-threatening situation in an unrealistic scenario.
There's a god watching over them, and a religious person affirming and encouraging their
choices.
Killing was scary, faith was close.
Survival, in which they all believed, was sweet.
Hope, which was powerless when they were separated, became a religion when a single event
brought them together.
"Kim Cheolyang! Kim Cheolyang!"
"We were chosen, we were chosen...."
Someone cried out in excitement.
I could see reader ahjussi sighing lightly from the side.
Anyway, thanks to the great work of the awakened Kim Cheolyang, the crisis for me and the
ahjussi seemed to have passed safely.
But that wasn't the end of the story.
[The character 'Kim Cheolyang' has awakened the new attribute 'Cult Leader'.]
[The character 'Kim Cheolyang' has acquired a new religious view.]
[The character "Kim Cheolyang" has acquired the basic doctrine of the 'Life's Teachings'.]
Life's Teachings (生命敎).
The moment I heard the name, a chill ran down my spine.
One of the ten thousand notes in my head came back to me clearly.
「At that moment, Lee Hakhyun remembered exactly who 'Kim Cheolyang' was.」
[The character 'Kim Cheolyang' had accepted your 'view of life'.]
[You had a great influence on the establishment of the religious view.]
I realized what I had done.
The character Kim Cheolyang.
My first notes about him are as follows.
「From the Ten Evils (十惡), the Life Leader Kim Cheolyang.」
The Ten Evils, the worst villains of Omniscient Reader.
I just raised one of them with my own hands.
Author's Note
Thank you.