Episode 2. Rewrite (8)

The reader ahjussi standing next to me shook his stiff shoulders and whispered in a low voice.

"Don't fight, just run away on the count of three."

I couldn't know, but he probably read the whole Omniscient Reader.

I'm sure of it.

No, I forgive him if he didn't.

"You should run away, ahjussi. You don't look like you have high stats."

"No, I'll drag it out with you. We don't have much time left, just hang in thereᅳ"

Screaming like a wild boar, Lee Cheoldoo lunged at me, aiming for the back of my head.

I threw myself as hard as I could and crashed into him.

"Ouch."

Lee Cheoldoo dropped the pipe, slightly shocked. However, due to the weight difference, he

didn't fall.

In the next moment, I saw Lee Cheoldoo's golden teeth shining white.

"You're like a hero."

Lee Cheoldoo lightly pinned down my arms and then headbutted me in the face.

Luckily, I remembered seeing the Headbutting skill in the [Character List], so I reflected my

head back, but I was still shocked. My vision spun and my knees sank. When I came to my senses, Lee Cheoldoo was already mounted on top of me.

I opened my mouth to speak, pretending to be as calm as possible.

"Lee Cheoldoo, leader of the Cheoldoo Group."

His eyes widened at my words.

"What, do you know me?"

"Are you planning to be a murderer for the rest of your life?"

"You asshole...."

Lee Cheoldoo laughed unpleasantly and whispered in my ear.

"Wouldn't that be better than dying?"

[There are 2 minutes remaining.]

Instead of replying, I turned my head and scanned my surroundings. In the distance, I could see

people watching. Some were crying, others were praying.

Kim Cheolyang was singing a hymn with them. Oh worms, germs, and whatever, they were

celebrating my death.

"Are you laughing?"

Frowning, Lee Cheoldoo grabbed my throat with both hands. With a crack, my breathing was cut

off in an instant.

I suddenly realized that there was no one in this story that I knew.

[There is 1 minute remaining.]

There was no righteous Lee Hyunsung here, no Yoo Sangah stepping up for the weak, no Lee

Gilyoung collecting worms. There was no Jung Heewon standing up to villains, no Yoo

Joonghyuk going insane from repeated regressions, and....

The oxygen supply to my head was rapidly diminishing, and my entire body felt weak. The

moment my vision went dark, I heard a dull noise. Through my blurred vision, I could see Lee

Cheoldoo staggering.

Behind him, someone stood holding a pipe dangerously.

It was someone I knew.

Someone who was more ordinary than any of the other Omniscient Reader's characters.

A man whose only familiarity with the world was the novel he had read for ten years.

My protagonist, who was actually a coward, but had risked death for those he loved time and

time again.

「Kim Dokja.」

Once again, I heard a dull noise, and Lee Cheoldoo roared and drove his fist into my face.

As I coughed up blood, Lee Cheoldoo chased after Kim Dokja.

I rubbed my eyes, and the back of what looked like Kim Dokja disappeared, and I saw reader

ahjussi running away.

[There are 40 seconds remaining.]

After catching him, Lee Cheoldoo snatched the pipe.

I wiped my lips and ran.

[There are 20 seconds remaining.]

Looking at the pipe he was wielding, I wrapped himself around reader ahjussi and rolled over. A

sharp pain shot through my back.

I heard Lee Cheoldoo shout.

"You crazy bastard! I'll kill you!"

[There are 10 seconds remaining.]

"You psychopathic bastard! Now everyone is going to be killed because of you! Everyone—"

I looked up at him and smiled for the first time.

"I don't care."

Lee Cheoldoo's screams mingled with the screams of the people and the pounding of my heart.

[There is 1 second remaining.]

Then.

[The given time has run out.]

[Paid settlement will begin.]

All the surrounding sounds disappeared.

I felt dizzy, like the world was spinning.

I gasped for breath and lifted my head. I blinked, checked my vision, and checked my breathing.

Everything was normal.

The time limit had expired and I wasn't dead.

A faint emotion stirred deep in my chest.

The reader ahjussi who was lying next to me stood up and asked.

"Did... Did we succeed?"

I nodded. As I slowly opened my mouth, I heard the sound of something collapsing next to me.

It was the giant body of Lee Cheoldoo, his head missing.

The startled reader ahjussi shuddered and muttered.

"Huh...?"

Beyond Lee Cheoldoo's giant body, the desolate landscape of Geumho Station was revealed.

The first thing I saw was the Life Leader Kim Cheolyang.

He was saying something to me. I couldn't hear his voice, but it wasn't hard to imagine the

words.

「My God.」

I then looked at Lee Hyekyung, who was bringing yogurt to her son, Jeong Hancheol, who was

meeting his girlfriend, and Ji Hyungdong, who was going to run a chicken restaurant with his

wife.

I wanted to ask them.

「Does anyone here know the meaning of '1,863'?」

Kim Cheolyang's head exploded with a puff.

「Of course, no one knows.」

Starting with him, people's heads exploded everywhere.

Lee Hyekyung, Jeong Hancheol, Ji Hyungdong....

The characters' heads were disappearing one by one, as if they had never existed in the first

place.

I staggered toward Kim Cheolyang.

Looking at the empty space where Kim Cheolyang's head used to be, I tried to recall his face,

which was already hard to remember.

But I couldn't.

Because I never described their faces.

They were not used in 'Omniscient Reader'.

People who were set up in advance, but never found a home, and remained just as settings.

「Cult of Life.」

In the setting, the 'Cult of Life' was a cult that recognized only those they designated as 'life', and

slaughtered everyone else.

Lee Hyekyung, Jeong Hancheol, and Ji Hyungdong... The same was true for everyone in this

story.

「The people in this zone become part of the 'Cult of Live' in every round that they survive.」

Those who have not been recorded will never be recorded.

They will remain a 'setting' here, unread by anyone.

「Just because someone designed them to be evil.」

I looked over to see reader ahjussi mouth open in disbelief. The scenery of Geumho Station was

imprinted in his eyes.

Looking at him, I thought.

I was being thought.

「I want to write a novel.」

The blood that spilled covered the entire station like spilled ink.

Everywhere I looked, there was no one left alive but us.

Slowly, my legs became weak.

The reader ahjussi muttered in disbelief.

"How can this...."

"...."

"You were trying to save those people, right...?"

I answered after a pause.

"Yes."

In truth, halfway through, Operation Germ had been doomed to failure.

No matter how I thought about it, there was no way the constellations would find this

development amusing.

Still, I didn't let them know. With that, Kim Cheolyang, the Cult of Life members, and Lee Cheoldoo didn't appear in the

story.

I don't know about the rest of the world, but the history of Geumho Station won't be much

different from the main story.

「There is only one survivor in this area.」

I looked up at the ceiling. In a blinding flash of light, Bihyung looked down at me. His

expression was one of genuine admiration.

Looking into the dokkaebi's story-drunk eyes, I muttered a classic Yoo Joonghyuk line.

"Fuck the Star Stream."

I knew what was about to happen to me.

I could feel the blood trickling down the back of my head.

[The will of the is looking at you.]

This goddamned world, which only shows what the constellations want, is so contrived in

directing.

That's why my head will explote after everyone else's.

[A few constellations are looking at you.]

[The constellation 'Monarch of the Small Fries' is looking at you with amusement.]

I tried to ease the rising terror of death.

I'm not scared. When I die, even this fear will be gone anyway.

I looked at reader ahjussi one last time.

"Ahjussi."

His hands shook as if he knew what was about to happen to me. Tears pooled in his eyes.

"Oh, no, mate. No."

I wanted to survive, at least until I met Kim Dokja, until I saw the hero of my story.

But maybe.

"Make sure you live to see the end."

Maybe I already have.

I prayed that he would live long enough to see the end of this story.

I felt something drain from my head, and then a pure white darkness washed over me.

In my final moments, I thought about how this scene would be written if it were a novel. What would the reader say about my death, you might wonder as well.

They'd think I deserved to die.

I could think of any number of reasons why I deserved to die.

For not killing the first bug I caught.

For failing to take more control of the situation.

For having faltering sympathy for the characters I created.

...

Because the story is Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.

No matter how many reasons I listed, there were enough reasons to die.

I'm dying because I haven't proven my worth.

That's why I was surprised.

Why.

I'm not dead yet, am I?

*

rlaehrwk37: Looking forward to the next chapter.

*

I snapped out of it.

I wiped the blood dripping from my head. It was a cut I got from Lee Cheoldoo earlier. Luckily,

it wasn't too deep.

My mind became clear again. My breathing and pulse were normal.

「I'm not dead.」

Why the hell?

[You have cleared the first scenario.]

I looked down at my bloody palms.

I hadn't killed a bug.

The bacteria were not recognized as living beings.

But how.

[You have slaughtered a total of 19 creatures.]

[Slaughter story: 19 human beings.]

[You have earned 1,900 coins.]

[You succeeded in killing in a unique way that no one has ever attempted before.]

[A few constellations marvel at your killing strategy.]

When I turned my head, I saw ahjussi's face, and as if in disbelief, he was crying and holding my

hand.

As I looked at him, I realized what had happened to me.

[The has acknowledged your unique way of killing.]

[You incited people with false information, only for them to 'kill themselves'.]

.

.

.

[The Bureau has given you limited recognition for your way of killing.]

[The Bureau has named your way of killing as 'demagogy killing'.]

.

.

.

[Some constellations have sponsored you for the new scenario you have shown.]

[4,000 coins have been earned.]

[You have accomplised a non-existent achievement.]

[You have accomplished the 'Demagoge Killer' achievement for a phenomenal slaughter.]

I turned my head and saw my reflection in the screen door.

He was asking.

「Did you really not see this coming?」

Kim Cheolyang, the member of the 10 Evils who existed only in the setting, did not survive at

Geumho Station because of this man.

I knew who he was now.

He was the owner of Geumho Station before Kim Dokja came.

A man who freely used propaganda, manipulated people, and formed a 'group' in the shortest

amount of time.

An incarnation that had survived some rounds of 'Ways of Survival' and ascended to the top of

the Ten Evils.

The reason why this man is a character with narrow eyes that I have never saw before.

It was because I never described his appearance.

Because this character...

「"I love them all, except for guys like...."」

Because he was the only one of the many characters in the whole Omniscient Reader that I didn't

like.

I heard the sound of a drum being torn from somewhere, and the lights flickered harshly. I heard

the sound of something creaking and crumbling.

I could tell by the sound alone.

[Main Scenario #1 — Proof of Value has ended.]

It was the sound of reality as we knew it crumbling.

[300 coins have been acquired as a basic clearence reward.]

[100 coins have been reduced for the channel usage fee.]

[Additional compensations settlement will begin.]

One episode was ending, and the next was beginning.

[The character you are currently possessing is 'Demagogue Cheon Inho'.]

Author's Note

The side story is starting.