It wasn’t until I transferred an advance of one billion won into his account that Joo Seowon finally cald down. Maybe because he was a money-crazed bastard, his whole attitude shifted the mont he got paid. He still went in and out of his banking app a few tis to make sure the balance was real, though.
Anyway, I gave Joo Seowon his first job. What I wanted from him was obvious—after all, I’d been seriously eyeing that healer I saw this morning.
I did consider killing him on the off chance I really was a Plunderer, but I dropped the idea after realizing how inefficient it would be.
First of all, I was only F-rank right now, so even if I was a Plunderer, there was no way I could properly use healing abilities yet. Second, I had my Mimic (S) skill. If I needed to, I could just copy him, so it was better to have a fully functioning healer intact.
And above all, Do Yehyun wasn’t in the original novel. I was confident that even if I took him in and molded him to my liking, the so-called “causality” wouldn’t screw over with so penalty for breaking plausibility.
Seems like that whole “causality” thing is applied more loosely than I thought.
When I told Joo Seowon what I wanted, he looked at in horror and shook his head.
‘So you’re saying you want to find this twenty-year-old kid nad Do Yehyun? Where does he live?’
‘Korea. Uh... Seoul?’
‘Wow, thanks for narrowing it the fuck down, asshole. ...And the deadline?’
‘Today.’
‘You seriously out of your goddamn mind?’
‘Kidding. ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) I’ll be generous—three days.’
‘What the fuck did you just say? Shit, my client’s insane.’
Still, I had to admit he was good at what he did. Chain-smoking while digging up information, he tracked down Do Yehyun’s movents in no ti. Naturally, I didn’t stick around in that cancer factory and instead headed to my hotel.
Once inside, there was sothing I’d been aning to do—sothing I couldn’t risk with other people around.
“Status window.”
Welco, ‘Seo Jehyun’!
I needed to ground myself a bit. Honestly, I still wanted to deny this was real.
“Can you talk? There’s gotta be soone behind you pulling the strings. If you’re a program, then there’s a programr, right?”
Welco, ‘Seo Jehyun’!
“Show yourself. If you don’t, I’ll show you just how petty a human can get.”
Yeah, I figured it wouldn’t work on the first try. Still, I was confident that if it ca down to a contest of persistence, I’d win in a landslide.
I decided to start by spoiling things live on social dia. Or maybe YouTube would be better? Without overthinking it, I pulled out my phone and logged in. The text in the status window suddenly changed.
Switching to 1:1 system chat mode.
Knew it—machines only listen after you beat them a bit.
I’d thought of so questions, but order matters. Like, there’s no way the system would answer “why did this happen to ” straight off the bat. So I’d start with sothing easier to confirm.
“Are your answers pre-written prompts? Or is there actually soone out there answering through you?”
Like figuring out whether the custor service rep you’re talking to is a bot or not.
system: Based on the information entered, I provide answers matching the question.
“So, prompts, then.”
Which ans soone did input information behind this thing. But who?
‘Alright, put that thought aside for now—ask the important stuff first.’
I stared at the patiently waiting status window, thinking for a mont.
“What exactly is ‘causality’? I could already guess what those censored letters were, so forget that. If I’m the ‘Seed of the Great Apocalypse,’ does that an I have to follow the original story for causality to hold?”
system: As long as there is a probability of it happening, cau■lity will not be broken. Anything is fine as long as you can reach the ending.
“And this ‘ending’—specifically, does it an I have to destroy the world, kill Kwon Taehan, or both?”
system: Any process toward destruction is permitted if it maintains cau■lity.
So basically the sa answer as before? Destruction matters more, and killing Kwon Taehan is just part of the process?
“When you say destruction, do you an wiping out humanity? Or are we talking about heat death of the universe or a big crunch? Or maybe you want sothing mythical, like Armageddon or Ragnarok?”
system: The Great Apocalypse encompasses all.
“Whoever made this thing has a real shitty sense of UI. Stop being so goddamn vague. Anyway, why the hell should I do that? What’s in it for ?”
system: This is the path ‘Seo Jehyun’ has chosen, and the duty assigned as the Seed of the Great Apocalypse.
“Bullshit. I never chose this, you bastard.”
What the hell is it talking about? Even after my swearing, the letters stayed unchanged.
“...What happens if I don’t fulfill this ‘duty’?”
system: History will repeat endlessly until you reach the ending.
“So you’ll make regress? Ah, so it’s the Kwon Taehan route.”
What a shitty system—nothing but sticks, no carrots. I paced the room, mulling it over. Was I supposed to obediently survive and bring about the world’s destruction? Then Kwon Taehan would just kill . Was the plan to get to wreck the world and then let him finish off?
Why the hell would I?
If there was so benefit after my death, maybe, but there’s nothing in it for —so why should I play along?
But... is this even soone’s “order” in the first place?
Right—Lim Sungyeon said that shitty novel of his was basically a prophecy. If there’s a prophecy, there’s gotta be soone giving it. Hunters, Gates, the status window, the power that sent here, Kwon Taehan’s regression—obviously it’s all connected.
And whoever could pull that off... was far beyond human.
‘So a god... maybe not exactly a god, but sothing with that kind of power.’
Round and round, but the conclusion was surprisingly simple. Hands in my pockets, I stared out the window at the setting sun between the high-rises.
“Can the information in you be modified?”
system: Correct.
I drew the curtain all the way open and watched the sky turn gold as the sun dipped lower. When I was a kid, the myth comics I read always drew gods up in the clouds. I believed it for a long ti.
“Who entered that information?”
No, wrong question. I turned to face the floating status window.
“Can I et them?”
The letters vanished completely, then reappeared slowly.
system: Once you approach the ending, it will be possible through the establishnt of cau■lity.
For the first ti in a while, I smiled genuinely. That was exactly the answer I wanted.
***
After that, I spent the whole day beating on the status window for anything worth hearing. The thing that stuck with most was the penalty for breaking causality. The term itself was vague, so I had the system clarify, and I got a rough guide.
‘It’s more sensitive about revealing the existence of the original than about changing the plot.’
So eting Joo Seowon and altering his future was fine, but telling him this world ca from a novel was not. The penalty I got for spoiling sothing to Ryu Taeyoung lined up with that.
‘Can you even call that “causality”?’
Maybe not, but I shelved the thought. What mattered was that I now had a clear goal.
One day I was living a normal life, and the next I was thrown into a world full of dungeons and hunters. I needed to find out why—and there’s no way a human like could figure it out alone.
‘Which ans I need to target soone directly connected to making like this.’
The system said I had to get close to the ending to et that “god,” so I’d follow the original’s ending as closely as needed. The process might... vary a bit, but whether I destroyed the world or killed Kwon Taehan, it didn’t matter. Since Kwon Taehan saved the world in the original, they were practically the sa thing.
‘I’ll gladly go kill him.’
With my ultimate goal set, I actually felt more alive.
I treated the spots that still ached from getting hit by Joo Seowon. My body felt weaker than it should—probably because hunter ranks ca with automatic physical enhancents, and I’d been nerfed compared to my previous self. Still, potions could heal almost anything instantly if you had money.
This ti I didn’t even need that much—he hadn’t hit intending to kill, probably because I knew Joo Minha. I mulled over my next move, then made a call.
—What’s the occasion, client? Huh? I’m busy as hell here.
I scoffed at his tone and cut straight to the point.
“How far along are you? Tiout’s coming up.”
—You gonna hound like this every day?
“...”
—...Anyway, I dug up Do Yehyun’s personal info, but I’m still pinning down his exact location. Looks like he bolted today.
“Personal info? Forget that—what do you an, bolted?”
—He’d been working off a debt for an illegal guild.
Figures. The way he was overly wary at the center made sense now.
“A twenty-year-old? Ninety percent chance it wasn’t even his debt.”
—Yeah, you’re right. Said it was sothing his uncle left him. Want to send you the info?
“No, hold onto it. I’ll co to you later anyway.”
—...Seriously?
Seriously? I raised an eyebrow.
“Seriously?”
—...Well, if my client insists on gracing with his presence, I guess I’ll welco you.
“Good. Wait for .”
I was about to have the hotel call a cab when I rembered I didn’t have a car right now.
‘Guess I’ll need to get a new one soon.’
But for now, I’d just “borrow” one. And right in front of , I had an option.
“You got a car?”
—...Yeah, why?
“Lend it to .”
—Hey! I haven’t even paid off half the loan yet! You’re loaded—don’t you have one?
“I did, but it got blown up when a dungeon broke out.”
When I said that honestly, the line went quiet for a mont. Really? Feeling sad over sothing like that? Tch. People and their obsession with money.
I clicked my tongue openly, and I could hear him grinding his teeth on the other end. Ignoring it, I rembered why I’d called in the first place.
“Joo Seowon. Where do you buy items?”
—Huh? There are a few shops that only deal in items. Check the hunter market... so departnt stores have them too.
Yeah, sure—but that’s not what I ant.
“Seowon, you gonna keep playing dumb?”
Pretty convincing act. If he was starting this already, it could get annoying. After a pause, he let out a heavy sigh.
—What... exactly are you? What the hell have you heard?
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