< Episode 9. Words That Can't Be Said (5) >
*
Everything is white. An empty, blank space, like a manuscript page with nothing written on it.
My thoughts blinked like a cursor.
「"Inho-ssi, how did you become a writer?"」
Jung Heewon asked me that question when we were trapped inside the ichthyosaur.
Strangely, the answer didn't come to me immediately.
How did I become a writer?
The memory was distant and fuzzy.
「You're here?」
I forced my eyes open and saw a snowy sky.
I immediately realized where I was.
A snowfield covered in white.
As I slowly raised myself up, I saw the face of the protagonist I knew so well.
「Kim Dokja.」
Kim Dokja nodded. Just like the last time we met, he was still standing alone in the snowfield.
He waved lightly at me, then squatted down and stared at the ground. He was looking so intently
at the ground that I couldn't help but approach and ask.
「Is there something there?」
Kim Dokja shook his head and smirked. His finger pointed down.
There was a pitch black footprint.
It wasn't the original footprint.
They were clearly recent.
I looked down at my feet, then back up at the print.
Then I slowly squatted down next to Kim Dokja.
「I wanted to be strong like you.」
I don't know why I said that, it just came out of my mouth.
「Like you....」
「You know.」
Kim Dokja said.
「I'm not that strong.」
As he said this, he slowly turned around and saw the vague trail of footsteps behind him.
Kim Dokja, as if counting the footprints, said.
「I just kept walking.」
Keep walking.
Kim Dokja continued.
「It's going to be very hard from now on.」
「...」
「It will be lonely.」
After hearing those words, I felt really lonely. I said.
「This story won't have a happy ending.」
Kim Dokja didn't answer for a moment.
We looked at the footprints. Footprints that had disappeared. Footprints that were being made.
And footprints that would be made.
Kim Dokja asked.
「Will you be alright?」
I nodded slowly.
「As long as you keep reading.」
Kim Dokja's eyes were on me. I felt awkward and averted his gaze.
He said.
「Well, it's not supposed to be like that.」
He hesitated, rummaged through his coat pockets, and placed something in my hand.
「Take it. And....」
*
I opened my eyes with a sight.
It was Chungmuro Station.
"Inho-ssi!"
I put a hand on my forehead and raised my upper body. Kyung Sein's face came into view.
"Everyone...."
"It's okay, everyone's okay."
Kyung Sein squeezed my hand.
"Hey, Inho-ssi."
It was then that Dansoo ahjussi came to my side. He sat on his knees and stared at me.
His face looked like he was scolding me, or maybe he was worried.
But he didn't ask me anything, just hugged me quietly.
Then Kyung Sein next to us suddenly burst into tears and hugged us both.
In their arms, I looked out at the scenery of Chungmuro Station.
I could see the faces of the survivors.
Gong Pildu, Ye Hyunwoo and other people were building a fort at the foot of the stairs.
I could also see a large tarp over the entrance to the stairwell to prevent the poisonous gas from
rising.
On the bench, injured people were tending to their wounds.
Some incarnations fell asleep after eating the [Elaine Forest Essence].
I could also see Jung Heewon lying on the ground and Lee Jihye sitting on the bench, staring at
the tarp.
[There are 3 hours and 39 minutes remaining until the end of the 'Emergency Defense Battle'.]
[The 'Bureau' is currently considering an early end to the 'Emergency Defense Battle'.]
A faint cheer erupted from the people building the fort.
Early termination of the scenario.
It was an option the Bureau was considering.
[The constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' grumbles about how long he has to watch the
obvious.]
[Some constellations are asking if the results are out already.]
The constellations were getting tired of the scenario, and it was clear that more time here wasn't
going to change the outcome.
Even now, behind that tarp, monsters were dying in real time from the poisonous fog.
I stared at the thin membrane that separated the life and death of humans and monsters.
"Ah, Inho-ssi."
Ye Hyunwoo spotted me and waved at me. I hesitantly waved back.
"You."
A large shadow fell over my head. I looked up and saw a head glistening in the fluorescent light.
Gong Pildu frowned and ran his eyes down my arms and legs, each one scarred with the bite
marks of ground rats.
"What were you going to do if you died?"
"I thought I wouldn't die."
Gong Pildu stared at my face for a long time, as if he didn't like my answer.
"Thanks to you, we all lived."
I swallowed hard.
It wasn't anyone else, it was Gong Pildu. The Ten Evil of Chungmuro Station. The second most
proud person in the entire Omniscient Reader.
He had just expressed his gratitude to me.
However, Gong Pildu's expression was a little strange.
"What is that?"
Suddenly, I turned around and saw a ground rat's pup with its nose stuck in my side, calmly
breathing .
Several people freaked out when they saw it.
No wonder.
They had just been in a fight for their lives with the ground rats, and now they were seeing a
baby monster right in front of them.
Apparently frightened by their stares, the pup scurried into my arms.
Gong Pildu asked.
"Why did you bring it here?"
I put my hand on the frightened pup's head and thought.
I could have said I did it out of pity, or I could have said I felt guilty.
I could have plausibly argued that there was no one here today who fought because they wanted
to fight, and that would have been the same for the monsters.
"Do you like dogs?"
Gong Pildu was silent for a moment.
As if reading our minds, the pup stuck its head out and looked at him.
Gong Pildu stared at the pup, then asked.
"Will you raise it?"
I hadn't thought about it.
I wondered if I could raise him.
Gong Pildu slowly bent down and squatted.
"Max."
Gong Pildu said in a scary voice. He spoke again, with a slight pause.
"Max."
Then with a whimper and a small cry, the ground rat pup hesitantly crawled out. After a
moment's hesitation, it scooted closer to Gong Pildu, sniffed, and wagged its tail.
Gong Pildu's pupils shook faintly. In his wrinkled face, the faintest hint of longing came and
went.
I asked.
"Have you ever had a dog?"
Instead of answering me, Gong Pildu stared at the tarp-covered stairwell for a moment.
"A dog would be perfect for guarding the land."
*
After taking the ground rat pup away, Gong Pildu turned to the group and announced.
"We're going to raise this guy."
Max yawned loudly in Gong Pildu's hands.
"As you can see from the way those guys fought earlier, they're very tenacious and strong
monsters. We're going to train him and use him as a guard dog. Anyone with a complaint, come
out now."
One of the men, who had been glaring at the pup the whole time, held up a hand in frustration.
"What if it isn't well trained and attacks us?"
"In that case, I will be responsible for killing it."
Gong Pildu said firmly, and several men nodded. Some even hesitantly approached and took a
closer look at Max.
"The pup is kind of cute in his own way."
"Huh, is that what he'll be like when he grows up?"
Dansoo ahjussi, who was watching the scene from the sidelines, said.
"When Jiyoon stayed in her room and read web novels."
"What?"
"I was in the living room watching old movies."
Dansoo ahjussi, who rarely talks about himself, brought up the topic for the first time in a long
time.
"What kind of movies do you watch?"
"King Kong, Godzilla, King Kong vs. Godzilla...."
"Oh."
The daughter read Omniscient Reader in her room, while the father watched King Kong vs.
Godzilla in the living room. With a firmly closed door between them.
"When you watch a monster movie, there's always someone who takes pity on the monster and
tries to raise it."
"...."
"Every once in a while, Jiyoong would walk by and say something like, 'There are no humans
like that. How could people who were about to be eaten a moment ago want to raise the
monster'?"
In the distance, Gong Pildu was teaching Max, a ground rat, how to 'give the paw'. Max looked
up at him and licked his hand.
"I wish I could have shown her this view."
Gong Pildu frowned, and the people in Chungmuro Station smirked.
People were laughing, like actors backstage after a curtain call. As if everything that happened
under that tarp was a lie.
Some people got hurt, some people got killed, but some people laughed.
They know that if they don't, they won't get to play the next scene.
"Mate."
"Yeah."
"I don't want to watch a movie where my mate dies."
I stare at the people laughing and talking, unable to answer.
[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' has sponsored you.]
[500 coins have been sponsored.]
*
As a reward for risking my life, I was mentally attacked by Kyung Sein for a while.
"Inho-ssi, you're just like Kim Dokja."
"What?"
"No, I mean, who in their right mind would suddenly jump into a mischief of ground rats in that
situation? Aren't you actually Kim Dokja? Do you have the King of No Killing or something?"
That comment complicated my feelings quite a bit.
I mean, I like Kim Dokja, but this was kind of....
—Hey.
There was a small spark in the air, and Bihyung's voice called out.
—Are you up?
Apparently, Bihyung was also waiting for me to wake up.
'Yes, I'm awake.'
Bihyung cleared his throat several times, then continued with a solemn voice.
—I'm really surprised this time. I didn't think you'd start a story.
At the same time as he spoke, the logs that had been pushed aside suddenly appeared.
[You have accomplished an achievement that never existed before.]
[You are beginning your first 'story' in the 3rd scenario.]
[A few constellations doubt your accomplishment.]
[Some constellations are interested in your achievement.]
[A very small number of constellations have noticed your existence.]
[10,000 coins have been sponsored.]
It's an achievement that made the nebulae pay attention to me.
Considering this is only the third scenario, that's quite an accomplishment.
—Don't get cocky. Oh, do you even know what a story is?
'I kind of know. If you collect them, you get stronger.'
—Well, it doesn't matter if you know that now.... Anyway, don't get carried away. You don't
have a story yet, just the germination of the first one, okay?
'Yes.'
I couldn't help but smile bitterly, it was as if he was trying to calm down a writer who was
excited about an unexpected box office hit.
In fact, as Bihyung said, I couldn't get cocky.
My first story was still a seed, and I wasn't sure if it would ever bloom. And even if it did, there
was a chance it would be a bad one.
—You're the worst because you look obedient on the outside. Damn it.
As I listened to Bihyung's rambling, I remembered the beginning of Omniscient Reader.
The novice dokkaebi Bihyung was surprised and horrified by Kim Dokja's behavior.
—Anyway, there will be additional rewards after the scenario is completed, since no other
incarnation has solved the 'Emergency Defense Battle' like you.
What kind of ending will this world's Bihyung have?
Will he become the Dokkaebi King of this world?
—Ha, by the way, this is really unusual. I can't believe there are already three people
germinating stories.
I paused for a moment, then asked.
'There's other ones?'
Who is it? Yoo Joonghyuk?
—Yes. They're pretty famous now. One dark person, one white person....
The dark person is definitely Yoo Joonghyuk.
Who is the white one?
'Can you tell me who they are?'
—Naturally, I can't give you that kind of information, but I think they're a little crazy. They keep
buying lemon candy from the 'dokkaebi bag'. It costs like 200 coins a piece.
'Lemon candy?'
—Anyway, I have to go. I've got a lot of other noisy places to be right now. Damn, I shouldn't
have opened the Hidden Dungeon at a time like this....
With those words, Bihyung disappeared.
I turned to Kyung Sein, who was still talking about Kim Dokja.
"Sein-ssi. Has Yoo Joonghyuk returned yet?"
"No, and you're still looking for Yoo Joonghyuk. Inho-ssi, you're really—"
"Sein-ssi."
"That bastard didn't even show his nose. Why?"
As far as I can tell, there's only one place Yoo Joonghyuk could have gone if he wasn't
participating in the 'Emergency Defense Battle'.
「The Theater Dungeon.」
I had an ominous feeling.
Of course, Yoo Joonghyuk is strong in this world, so he won't die in the 'Theater Dungeon'.
At least, that's how it was supposed to be.
「Yoo Joonghyuk is stuck on the sunfish route again」
That comment from a few hours ago stuck with me.
I glanced at my surroundings and secretly opened my phone. The battery was almost dead.
[A new chapter has been updated!]
A new chapter already?
I absentmindedly scrolled through the list and stopped when I saw the new episode title.
+
Episode 10. Writer (1)
+
As soon as I saw the title, Bihyung's words ran through my head.
「They keep buying lemon candy from the 'dokkaebi bag'.」
I absentmindedly shoved my hand in my pocket.
Since when?
In my pocket, there was something I'd never put there before.
「Take it. And....」
Too late, I remembered the words from my dream.
I took the object out of my pocket. Slowly, a chill ran down my spine.
A small candy wrapped in a yellow shell.
Surely, that's what Kim Dokja said.
「Give it to him.」
Author's Note
Sorry.
Due to health issues, we will be taking a one-day break on Monday (24th) ᅮᅮ
We will be back after a quick recovery.
Thank you!