Chapter 419 |
The Possessor I
Oh Dok-seo.
The miko of Admin of the Infinite Metagame.
And also, the miko of the regressor.
A reader who had observed the entire life of the regressor.
And also, the author who had put the regressor's humanity on display.
"Haaaah... I'm so bored..."
"Isn't there a single fun novel out there?"
"Really, all authors should just be locked up in a back room and forced to do nothing but write."
First Ability.
‘The Slowest Prophet’.
Oh Dok-seo could foresee the calamities of a world that would begin its full-scale destruction in seven days.
This prophecy was embodied in the form of a novel.
"Hm? Did I favorite something like this?"
Once Oh Dok-seo started reading a novel she liked, she had a tendency to read straight through it, even if it meant pulling an all-nighter.
However, she had a strong habit of putting aside works that hadn't accumulated a decent number of chapters, letting them bulk up until they were ready.
"Oh. This one has quite a few chapters."
Furthermore, from Oh Dok-seo's perspective, the prophecy was nothing more than a mere novel, so it was impossible for her to accept the prophecy as a ‘prophecy’.
"This will be my daily bread for today."
Hence, [The Slowest Prophet].
A blind woman who acquired the prophecy faster than anyone else but could not recognize its precious value.
A Cassandra who prophesied everything but could save nothing, an Epimetheus who could only leave Pandora's box unattended.
"Huh?"
"...What's this? It's the first time a character's name in a novel has overlapped with my real name. Even the surname is the same? Ugh. The hanja... is identical, too."
"..."
"Huh?"
Condition cleared.
Oh Dok-seo finished reading the entire prophecy. And at the same time, she became certain that the character named ‘Oh Dok-seo’ in the story was identical to herself.
May 1st.
At this point in time, Oh Dok-seo was among the very fastest of all humanity, not just the prophets, to realize her own awakening.
"What is this... Is this… for real?"
"Sixteen billion? Ha, sixteen billion people die in a single day? Uh... W-wait a minute! June 17th, that's right around the corner!"
"No way."
"..."
"Everyone dies...?"
First Ability.
Unlocked.
‘The Fastest Prophet’.
"Wh-what do I do?! Crap. What, what am I supposed to do! I'm just an ordinary person!"
"Gasp. That line just now sounded a bit like a protagonist's."
"But, damn it! What am I really supposed to do?!"
"And why did this Undertaker guy entrust such an important mission entirely to me?! ...Ah. It was because he needed a prophet who awakened earlier than his own regression point to save Old Man Scho..."
"N-no. But still. How...?"
Second Ability.
‘Absolute Defense’.
Oh Dok-seo had a tendency to treat all events occurring in this world as stories within a ‘work of fiction’.
Even if a nuclear bomb were to go off inside a work of fiction, there was no way a real person would be exposed to radiation.
Therefore, Oh Dok-seo could declare any physical impact inflicted within the work of fiction as ‘null’ within her vicinity.
"...It works?"
"Wow, I'm a superhuman too! Status Window!"
"Hmm. No status window. Right, I remember it said the status window was a trick by some Outer God called Admin of the Infinite Metagame..."
But that was all.
[Absolute Defense] did not have a long duration.
At this point, it lasted for about a minute at best. No matter how much she trained, it would be difficult to dramatically increase the defense barrier's duration.
It was an ability that was ambiguous to a fault.
"Wait. I'm her miko, so shouldn't I be able to see the status window freely? Ah. She's sealed in the laptop, right."
"...I need to get the laptop. At this point, Admin of the Infinite Metagame is the safest Outer God. The only one who can't bring harm to humanity."
"Where on earth could it be—"
[Hello there?]
"It was my laptop!"
"No, no. Come to think of it, this laptop first appeared in the tutorial dungeon. That means there's a high possibility it belonged to someone summoned at Busan Station..."
"I'm part of the Busan Station family too!"
[I see. So my miko whelp was already enjoying a social life of her own by chattering away to herself even back then.]
[I suddenly feel the urge to strangle my past self for choosing a moron like this as my miko, thinking, ‘A habit of talking to herself, what a perfect trait for a protagonist!’.]
"Oh, she really has that sarcastic, white-haired, red-eyed noble lady attribute, just like I saw in the novel..."
"Ah. More importantly, I need the rest of this story! You have to tell me what happens later!"
[Yes.]
"Oh."
"..."
"Hmm. I see."
"We're screwed."
"Right. First, I think I need a power-up. Ah, my status window! Give me my status window!"
[I do not mind giving it to you, but are you sure you will be fine?]
"With what?"
[The more you rely on my power, the more you become a ‘character in a work of fiction’. Because I am the Outer God who governs works of fiction.]
[Your special status stems from the outrage of dismissing this world as a mere novel.]
[From the moment you begin to treat yourself as a character in a novel, your Ability will weaken accordingly.]
"Oh..."
"No. Wait a minute. Miss God. Couldn't that, somehow, be resolved?"
[Somehow?]
"I just need to get stronger and beat everyone up, then I can just make this novel into ‘something that never happened at all’, right."
[...]
"I… I think I know why that Undertaker guy passed the final baton to me."
"I don't need to use all sorts of strange and mysterious methods to eliminate my own anomaly, like the regressor or the reincarnator in this place."
"I. Only I, at this point in time, no matter how powerful I become… the very moment I wield that great power to go on a rampage ‘so that the events of the work of fiction do not occur’, I will lose that power."
"It's only natural."
"Because the time that unfolds in that place where nothing happened will no longer be a novel, but only ‘reality’."
"Am I wrong?"
[No.]
[You are correct. You have seen through it quite well for a beginner with no experience whatsoever.]
"The other mikos... the sacrifices, the stronger they become, the more they are contaminated by the Outer Gods. They themselves degenerate into a anomaly by the name of the Fallen or Corrupted."
"This contradiction. The trap of becoming stronger to defeat anomalys, only to become closer to a anomaly the stronger one gets, is what ultimately drove the world to ruin."
"Both the reincarnator and the regressor."
"That's why they had no choice but to reach the conclusion of sealing themselves away."
"But not me."
"I still have the time to set everything right. It's only about a month, but…"
"Until the day June 7th arrives, I can get stronger however I want. Without thinking about the consequences. Without worrying about corruption."
[June 17th.]
"..."
[It is June 17th, not June 7th. You are truly terrible at remembering numbers. Are you even confused about such an important date?]
"Sh-shut up! Anyway!"
"...Until June 17th, I can just get stronger without worrying about any side effects or aftereffects."
"And..."
[I will seal everything so that none of it ever happens.]
"Seal..."
"Yes."
"This novel. The hundreds of regressions and hundreds of millions of reincarnations that were said to have happened in this novel."
"I will seal that time."
Second Ability.
Unlocked.
‘Absolute Seal’.
"Demoting the story in the novel to just a story in a novel. Connecting with reality."
"If that's my ability, I'll give it a try."
[...]
Third Ability.
Writing a Side Story.
Oh Dok-seo is, for all intents and purposes, a writer who holds absolute ability in composing the life story of another.
Before her eyes, all human beings are demoted to ‘characters’.
Therefore, Oh Dok-seo can empathize with any character from any regression cycle and act as if she has become that person.
For it is only natural that an author can immerse themselves in their characters.
[Why?]
"Hm?"
[You must know, having prophesied this far. In truth, there are no longer any obstacles that will stand in your way.]
"..."
[The reincarnator.]
[The Prometheus who shared the ‘fire’ known as awakening with the fangless and clawless humans so they could stand against the Outer Gods, has crawled into the regressor's subconscious and memories on his own.]
[The regressor.]
[He, who inherited the reincarnator's will, willingly chose to become a mere character in a novel and entrusted his entire humanity to you.]
[Outer Gods like Infinite Void and whatnot are not even worth a first glance. You will one day be able to demote even them to mere elements within a novel.]
[Just as I did in my prime.]
"..."
[Is reality not worthless?]
[At least, you do not feel any particular value in reality. You are the type to think of works of fiction as a more truthful world.]
[That is why you are my miko.]
[Go on and demote the reincarnator and the regressor to characters in a novel.]
[Furthermore, adjust the difficulty so that the void poison can wreak a moderate amount of havoc and anomalys can roam about.]
[You can become the one and only god of a new world.]
"But then I'd be ignoring the Undertaker's feelings."
[...]
"You're an anomaly, so you probably wouldn't understand."
"To hand over the achievements one has made, the story one has built, a domain that one can decide and monopolize for oneself, to another person."
"That is the most noble thing for a human."
[I cannot understand.]
"Of course you can't understand. Because you have never been someone's child, nor will you ever be a parent."
[...]
"Children can understand their parents' stories from their own perspective."
"Yes, parents willingly permit the outrage of letting those far, far younger children judge their own lives."
"A king to his people."
"A friend to a friend."
"A buddha to a buddha."
"A person does not judge their own story entirely by themselves. No, they can make the decision not to judge it."
[That is why you people are weak.]
"That's right. But then why is your almighty Outer God, who has become so strong, currently living as a small-time VTuber with a single viewer on my laptop?"
[...]
"People don't hand over judgment because they can't become strong."
"They just hand it over because there is an existence they hold a little more precious than themselves."
"And as it happens, I'm the type of person who considers myself to be a moderate piece of trash."
"So to the guy who handed over the right to decide his entire life to trash like me, I'm thinking of betting my own life as well."
[Where are you going?]
"Yu Ji-won."
Third Ability.
Unlocked.
‘Writing the Main Story’.
"The most powerful person at this point in time. Leviathan invaded this world several years ago."
[That is correct. It is just that Yu Ji-won, who was chosen as the sacrifice, is sealing the anomaly with her longing for the so-called ‘Mr. Matiz’, the one and only humanity that exists in her heart.]
"I need to meet that person first and ask for her cooperation."
[Because she is the strongest?]
"Yes. And above all else... Just as you said, Yu Ji-won only has eyes for ‘Mr. Matiz’. If I just mention the keyword ‘Mr. Matiz’, a serious conversation and cooperation will immediately become possible."
[So you are saying that even you, in your current state with no experience points whatsoever, can get her to join your party just by clicking the ‘Recruit’ button.]
"Status window. And turn on the map, too."
[Very well.]
"First, I'll recruit Yu Ji-won as a companion. Next is Lee Ha-yul. She's probably confined in Busan right now, being called the child of a concubine. I can just go and drag her out."
[And after that?]
"The Saintess. Before the Great Void known as the White Night occurs in Seoul on June 17th... what is this? Its name keeps appearing in the story, but there are no specific details?"
[...]
"Anyway. The Saintess is already in an awakened state before the White Night occurs. She's a little slower than me, but it's still a sufficiently early point in time. It was emphasized that the Saintess has a consistently logical personality, so if I speak calmly, I can persuade her by any means."
[Next?]
"I have to crush Cheon Yo-hwa's cult."
[Even if it has been split in two, it is still at a level capable of summoning an Outer God to the mortal plane. You are saying that you, who have just awakened, will crush the worst pseudo-religious cult on the Korean Peninsula with a hastily assembled party of heroes?]
"Yes."
[Is that possible? You will die.]
"If I die, then you tell the me of the next life how I died, in text."
[Ha? The next life... You are not a regressor. You merely have the attributes of a book possessor. If you die, it is the end.]
"I suppose so."
"—But what will happen when the Undertaker, who regressed on June 17th, looks around the Busan Station tutorial dungeon and sees that I'm not there?"
[...]
"The moment the Undertaker determines that I have died, he will move on to the next cycle. It's only natural. The feelings the old man has for me are real, after all."
"The story hasn't even begun yet, and a child named Oh Dok-seo has died. From the old man's perspective, it's a situation that he cannot allow, cannot accept, and cannot forgive."
"That's why I can be sure. If I die, the regressor will definitely move on to the next life."
[Even if you, in the next life, having received the strategy guide from me, fail again and die.]
"He'll just regress again."
[Until you, having inherited the experience points from your past life, become strong enough—]
"To reach June 17th. The Busan Station tutorial dungeon. That starting point, that prologue."
[In effect, you become no different from a regressor.]
"That's right. Because there's a grateful existence who regresses solely for me."
[Ha.]
[The reincarnator to the regressor. The regressor to the possessor. And the possessor, in turn, entrusts her fate to the regressor.]
"Do you get it now? You anomaly, this is humanity."
[If humanity were filled with only people like you, the Outer Gods would never have descended in the first place.]
[Very well.]
[The end of this story, I have become curious to see it myself.]
[I shall witness your deaths to my heart's content. My worst miko.]
"Yeah. I'll probably get strong after rolling around for about 10 turns? It can't be compared to that old man who's practically a non-ability user."
"I'll be fighting with a status window, an inventory, and even a map turned on. Wow, what an easy win!"
"A mode that was Very Hard difficulty for the reincarnator became Normal for the regressor! Which means for this body, a possessor, it's finally on Easy!"
"It's so... Easy."
[Hmph.]
[Well now.]
[I wonder if it will truly be that easy?]
"Hm?"
And so.
Epimetheus blossomed into Prometheus.
---
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