Chapter 158: Episode 31 – Tomb of the Scenario (2)
He hadn’t met Yoo Sangah in a week and she seemed more haggard than before. However, her eyes were more dazzling than usual.
“It seems you have inherited a pretty good story.”
Yoo Jonghyuk slowly pulled out the Heaven Shaking Sword. The second floor of Dark Castle was a suitable stage for taking away the stories of others. Yoo Sangah’s story would be well worth it.
‘This woman also wasn’t there in my previous regressions.’
He saved her last time because of circ.u.mstances but he couldn’t leave an element of insecurity alone forever. One element in Kim Dokja was enough. Yoo Sangah raised her hands and stepped back. “I didn’t come to fight.”
“Then why did you come?”
“I need your help.”
“I told you not to get involved with me anymore. I rescued you at that time to repay my debt to Kim Dokja.”
“It is related to Kim Dokja-ssi.”
Yoo Jonghyuk’s killing intent slightly subsided. “What do you mean?”
The energy that was pressing down on her disappeared and Yoo Sangah opened her mouth. “In this scenario, Dokja-ssi is going to die.”
Kim Dokja would die? Yoo Jonghyuk laughed. “Kim Dokja is capable of resurrection. I thought I told you before but you must’ve not heard it.”
Yoo Jonghyuk could guess Kim Dokja’s abilities to a certain extent. It wasn’t an endless resurrection but Kim Dokja would be able to survive death a few more times. Thus, Kim Dokja’s life wouldn’t be threatened for the time being.
“He should’ve resurrected by now… you haven’t met him yet?”
This time, Yoo Sangah’s eyes shook. Still, she didn’t give in and spoke again.
“It’s not like that. If you leave it like this, Dokja-ssi will ‘really’ die.”
“…How do you know?”
“I saw it.”
“You saw it?”
The next moment, a giant thread appeared behind Yoo Sangah. It wasn’t a strand from Ariadne.
Looking closer, the thread wasn’t made of yarn. It was made of very small strings. The strings were made of countless stories. Yoo Jonghyuk knew the ident.i.ty of the thread in the air that flowed like the giant fabric of fate.
He knew but couldn’t help feeling surprised. This was the symbol of the three G.o.ddesses of fate, the Moerae.
Yoo Jonghyuk thought about it. “You stole a prophecy from a constellation?”
Yoo Sangah gently nodded.
The enraged Yoo Jonghyuk shouted, “Do you know what you have done. Fate…”
“I know! That’s why I’m asking for help, Yoo Jonghyuk-ssi.”
Yoo Jonghyuk’s mind was complicated. The Moerae’s ‘fate’ wasn’t simple a power to see the future. Rather, it was a prophecy that came from ‘conclusions’ through ‘big data.’
The most reasonable future was predicted through a combination of countless stories. In this way, ‘fate’ wasn’t absolute and seemed like it could change, but this never happened.
So far, the prophecies of Olympus had never been wrong. Even Zeus, the lord of Olympus, couldn’t escape from his fate. It was because the moment a prophecy was made, the whole probability of Olympus was used to realize this fate.
“Please stop Kim Dokja-ssi. Otherwise…” Yoo Sangah couldn’t finish her words. The sparks around her body blocked her mouth.
However, Yoo Jonghyuk could clearly read the strings behind her.
「 Incarnation Kim Dokja will be killed by the person he loves most. 」
***
“Wow, the plains are huge!”
“Is this really the Dark Castle?”
Lee Hyunsung stared at the horizon with admiration. The vast expanse of plains and forest areas spread out in front of us. A river with an ominous aura flowed through the centre of the plains. This river was a tributary of the Phoenix River.
We finally arrived at the second floor of Dark Castle.
“That’s right. This is the second floor. It is a completely different place from the first floor.”
Unlike the first floor where a new scenario was in progress, the second floor had a scenario that had been going on for a very long time.
I could see the appearance of some incarnations in the distance. They were Seoul incarnations who newly entered this floor with us.
The incarnations didn’t react when they saw us. Looking closely, they were receiving guidance from a dokkaebi.
[…Congratulations to all the new incarnations who came to the second floor. The Abyss Plains is an opportunity for you to do anything.]
It was a dokkaebi with a peculiar tone of voice whom I had never seen before. He had a visibly old appearance. He was a dokkaebi who seemed to have worked for the bureau for a very long time.
It was natural if he was in charge of the scenario for the Abyss Plains. Demoted dokkaebis were a.s.signed to this scenario.
I turned on my smartphone and found information on the second floor of Dark Castle in Ways of Survival.
「 The Abyss Plains. The dokkaebis call it the tomb of the scenario. 」
…The tomb of the scenario. The words caused me to feel refreshed. I had already come this far.
Han Sooyoung listened to the dokkaebi and opened her mouth. “Another jerk. What opportunity? He will just adjust the difficulty once he becomes angry.”
It wasn’t just her. The other incarnations had become familiar with the dokkaebis and they looked at this one with distrust. This was the ninth scenario and there was no way they would make a fuss about an opportunity.
The dokkaebi laughed as if he knew what they were thinking.
[Don’t worry. There will be no interference from the dokkaebis in this scenario. Regardless of whether the story is interesting or boring, we won’t touch it.
The incarnations murmured. to each other So far, the dokkaebis had never said anything like this. They always wanted a more stimulating story. Why were they suddenly not interfering?
“What the h.e.l.l are you planning?”
“What does this mean?”
[I know that you’re all tired from the scenario. Still, I am telling you the truth.]
[The updated main scenario has arrived!]
+
[Main Scenario #9 ― ???]
Category: Main
Difficulty: ???
Clear Conditions: ???
Time Limit: ―
Compensation: None
Failure: ―
+
All the conditions were private and there was no time limit or failure condition. The incarnations had never received such a scenario before and were greatly confused.
“What? Nothing is revealed?”
“Are you trying to f.u.c.k us with a s.h.i.+tty scenario again?”
The dokkaebi laughed at the incarnation’s violent reactions.
[So far, what have you been running for? For your family and friends? To become stronger? Or to reign over others? Each one of you have your own answer. In my opinion, it is all a lie. You came here because you ‘followed’ the scenario.]
The eyes of the incarnations were shaken as their recent life was dismissed.
The dokkaebi continued speaking. [However, future scenarios will be hard to overcome with such a mind. Pa.s.sive beings can’t survive in the Star Stream. Thus, this scenario won’t ask for anything.]
A scenario that didn’t require anything. The bodies of the incarnations trembled.
[There is no time limit or failure conditions. There is nothing to fail. You have to find the clear conditions yourself. Only beings who want to tell a story themselves will be able to move forward. Huhu, I wonder how many people will make such a choice? I pray that you won’t fall asleep in this ‘tomb.’]
The dokkaebi disappeared with these words. The incarnations lost their sense of purpose and started making a fuss. It was a bizarre sight.
This was more peaceful than any scenario so far but the incarnations seemed somewhat uneasy. It was like people were happier when there was an impossible goal.
Lee Hyunsung asked, “Dokja-ssi? What is this?”
Lee Hyunsung was terribly confused. He had been filled with motivation to raise his rankings, only for a scenario with no clear conditions to appear. He must be discouraged. On the other hand, I was a bit worried.
This scenario might be the most dangerous scenario for my party. The moment I was about to open my mouth, a voice was heard behind e.
“Uh… where is this place?”
Lee Jihye and Lee Gilyoung had woken up.
***
Lee Jihye was in great despair after confirming that her ranking was number 98,761.
“I’ve never received such a rank in the mock tests…”
Of course, this was a lie. According to Ways of Survival, Lee Jihye wasn’t good at studying.
“…Dokja hyung?” Lee Gilyoung jumped like a gra.s.shopper as soon as he saw me. Then he curled up and pretended to be calm. “I knew you were alive. I believed in Hyung until the end!”
Lee Jihye ridiculed him. “Kid, what are you talking about? You cried so much with a runny nose.”
“Cried?” Lee Gilyoung argued that he never cried and that he naturally knew I was alive.
10 minutes later, Lee Gilyoung couldn’t control his emotions any longer. He let out a bit sob and rushed forward to hug my thighs.”
“…A scenario without a scenario?” Lee Jihye heard the description from us and asked with a confused expression.
“How can we clear this?” Lee Hyunsung was worried.
“Is there something hidden? We will be able to clear the scenario if we find the hidden condition.”
“I guess? If we all work together…”
I smiled bitterly as I watched Lee Jihye and Lee Hyunsung. Indeed, simplicity was helpful. However, not everyone was simple.
“Excuse me… do we really need to clear it?” It was Pink Kid Kim Yongpal who spoke.
Lee Jihye wondered, “Who is this woman?”
“She’s just a… woman who happened to accompany us.”
I was too lazy to explain. She wouldn’t believe me if I said this person was an uncle in his 40s.
Meanwhile, Kim Yongpal was stuttering with half-closed eyes. “J-Just, isn’t it okay to stay like this? If we clear it…”
“What nonsense are you suddenly saying?”
“…D-Do you know what is at the end of the scenarios?”
Kim Yongpal penetrated the essence of an unexpected place. I hadn’t expected him to say such a line.
Lee Jihye was confused. “What?”
“I-I don’t know if it is bad or good for us to keep doing the scenarios… In the constantly occurring scenarios, we are just the toys of the constellations. Even if we clear this scenario, we don’t know what the next one will be like. W-We can die at any time.”
The expressions of the party members became disturbed by Kim Yongpal’s words. It was because he was right.
No one knew how these scenarios would end. No one knew how and when they would die. Everyone ran up to this point because they would die if they didn’t clear the scenarios.
However, this scenario had no time limit or failure condition.
Lee Jihye bit her lips. “Then what? You will stay here? Where do you think this is? It is a dangerous place where demons are wandering around…!”
Before Lee Jihye finished talking, large demon species started to gather on the plains. They were demons higher than 5th grade. Lee Jihye laughed like she expected it.
“Look, they’re already here.”
“Everyone gather!”
The incarnations nearby gathered around our party. The ones approaching were the fourth grade demon species, devil bears. There was approximately 20 of them. We could overcome them if I used Electrification and my party members worked together.
Of course, the other incarnations didn’t know my strength and felt despair.
“These monsters…”
At this moment, a bright light shone from the other side of the devil bears. It was due to the white flames. The devil bears shrieked as they were burnt by the divine fire. How powerful was the ability to be able to slaughter a 4th grade demon species? This stigma was…
“Unni!” Lee Jihye shouted.
It was naturally Jung Heewon’s h.e.l.l Flames Ignition. Jung Heewon discovered us and made a startled expression. In particular, she was shocked by the sight of me.
I waved awkwardly at Jung Heewon who nodded hesitantly. There was some discomfort in her gaze.
…What? Jung Heewon was riding a black unicorn. How did she tame that monster? Other people riding black unicorns came over with Jung Heewon and quickly defeated the devil bears. The incarnations called out Jung Heewon’s name.
“Wow! The Judge of Destruction!”
Jung Heewon came closer and Lee Jihye ran towards her.
“Unni, you are really alive! Did you come here first?”
“Jihye, I’m sorry. Let’s talk later.”
Jung Heewon turned her back to Lee Jihye. Lee Jihye was grouchy and walked back to my side. Jung Heewon led the people in a natural manner, as if she was already accustomed to this.
“Everybody follow me! I will guide you to a safe place!”
…A safe place? The discomfort inside me increased.
The incarnations were bewitched by Jung Heewon’s overwhelming force and followed her. We also followed her. We spent approximately one hour crossing the plains. Then a high wall hidden in a forest was revealed.
It was a solid wall that no demon species could surpa.s.s. The incarnations were captivated by the sight when a voice came from somewhere.
[Welcome. Was it difficult to come here? Thank you for the trouble. Now you are safe.]
The incarnations murmured. Jung Heewon was staring at me with a complicated gaze.
At this moment, I realized what happened. Dammit. I see. This place was ‘that guy’s fortress’.
A man appeared on top of the parapet. He gave off a powerful atmosphere that made it clear he was the owner of this place.
The demon, who embraced the most peaceful despair in the world, laughed as he looked down at us.
[You no longer have to complete the scenarios.]