Chapter Text
[The free service of planetary system 8612 has been terminated.]
[The main scenario has started.]
Excuse me?
Why would you word it like that?
"W-what bullshit?! My wife is terrified, stop this nonsense!"
"Yeah! What the fuck is going on?! Is this some sort of social experiment?!"
'So much swearing for being a priest, uncle.'
I looked around me, not much change aside from the glass shards everywhere, but.. What the hell happened outside? Did the zombies evolve already?
What I am more worried about is this 'smart system', most zombie apocalypses I'm used to happen because of some sort of.. Disease, or virus, or a human made catastrophe.
But this kind of.. Supernatural setting is a little weird, but whatever, it could be just some dramatic announcement.
Psssfh! A hot sweep of wind passed us, wood torches that weren't there before were now on the wall, burning.
'Where the hell did these come from!? Did a zombie group stick them on the wall while it was dark?'
It wasn't doing much lightning , if anything, it just made it scarier, because you could see in some spots, and it was pitch black in the other.
'Shit, this is unsettling, why didn't the pop-up creature warn me about it being a supernatural apocalypse? Not like zombies are natural, but torches randomly appearing on the wall and some sort of free trial ending..'
Looking back at the front of the cathedral, where light emerged and the sounds were coming from, there was something like a tiny firework pop, and it released a bunch of confetti and glitter.
"W-what is that?!"
"A.. A fairy? An angel..?"
'An angel? As if! That thing looks mischievous as hell!'
A fluffy yellow creature with one of its horns broken was smiling wide after it came out in the middle of the confetti, and it started talking in a high pitched voice.
「哦，終於，現在我有了自己的人類了！」
?
Pardon?
Silence took over the nave all of a sudden, and everyone was looking up at the creature.
"Did that thing just speak chinese?" The little girl from earlier asked, she looked up at the creature in confusion.
The thing's smile dropped, and it looked confused too.
「等一下。」
"What?"
'What the fuck is going on? Why is there a floating strange creature and why the hell is it speaking chinese?'
The creature started fumbling around, looking clearly nervous, as it clicked on a blue.. Screen? Pop up window? And muttered things under its breath.
It looks exactly like the pop up window from a couple hours ago.
'At least now I'm sure i wasn't hallucinating.' 「这样好一点吗？ 我现在在使用简化补丁。..」
It started talking in Chinese again, I think it was talking to us.
It seems that the other buddies with me were getting impatient too, and some started yelling again.
"Just what the hell are you doing?! If this nonsense continues by the time I count to three, I guarantee I will be contacting my lawyer!"
The thing turned its back on us, ignoring the yelling man, and continued using its screen.
"I mean it, one!"
Tap, tap tap!
「你这是什么意思哈？我在韩国？你是在跟我开玩笑吧？ 我应该被分配到中国！」
It looked angry while talking to the screen, was it calling someone?
"Are you making fun of me?! I mean it, when I get to 0, you and whoever staged this up will regret it!!"
「你没办法修是什么意思？你-」
"Two-!"
But the moment he talked again, it turned back to him, and yelled something.
「呃，他妈的闭嘴！」
Its eyes became red, and its teeth—more specifically fangs— sticking out as it pointed its finger at the yelling man, and-
Crackle!
"A..aa..aaa.."
The man's head had been pulled back.
And I mean, pulled back hard.
Everyone in the nave could see his cervical bones sticking out on the front of his neck.
'Oh.. My God. What the fuck, what the fuck what the fuck!? I didn't sign up for neck snapping demons, where the hell are the stupid zombies?!'
The woman that was with her husband looked on the verge of screaming, regular 'aa..aaa..' Sounds coming out her mouth, but her husband managed to hold her and hush her, same thing with the daughter and mother.
And although you can't say the same about a couple others who couldn't help but scream, half the people here seemed smart enough to not start screaming too, which was a relief, I don't think I currently have enough mental capacity to take another snapped neck..
'It's.. Been a while since i saw a dead body, nobody can blame me, can they?'
「漂亮的！！但我保证你会为此付出代价，只要等我的状态升级！」
The thing huffed as it stopped talking, it still had its back on us, pressing a few more buttons then crossed its tiny arms.
Finally, it started talking again, as if nothing happened, clapping its hands and smiling wide.
「Sorry about that, humanthings! Had a little technical difficulty, but we're fine now! Anyways!」
It flapped its hands, and the—seemingly— corpse of the man disappeared into thin air.
'Okay, this is freaky, I'm starting to get scared too, I'm gonna need a warning next time we have a fluffy satan coming to visit.'
"W-what's going on?! Was that man an actor too? Do you think we're stupid?!"
"Yeah right, as if anyone believes that wasn't a hologram! That man was in an empty seating area anyway!"
"Right, I'm not an idiot! The only creature that can possess such abilities is god, and god would never abandon his humans!"
The mention of god seemed to have lit up something in the count of some of those 40-50 something people that mostly consisted of elderly, and they seemed to have the idea that if they screamed at it loud enough, it'll go away.
"Wow, These people are fucking stupid.."
A teenage boy that was 3 seats away from me said that in an almost impressed tone, he looked shocked that someone can be so in denial.
'Me too, kid, next thing you know they're gonna splash it with holy water.'
"Oh, I understand your trial, god! I understand it! You!!"
The cursing priest from early on was clutching a big cross he grabbed, and he pointed at the rest of us.
"If you people are truly men of god, then you will lend me a helping hand to purify this rotten spirit! if you won't, the lord will smite you forever!!"
'Did he tell you that?'
"Oh my god, these people are really stupid!" The teenager exclaimed in shock again, I get it..
Although to be honest, this kind of reminds me of my time back on the continent when I accused people of being demon summoners, so nostalgic! I should draw Itou Souta inside the statue as he drowned when I get the chance.
And weirdly enough, the bullshit the priest said worked on them, and around 10 people —who seemed to be the same ones yelling in denial— gathered with him.
The rest were all looking at them like they were crazy.
"Are these people deadass reading it the bible..? Nah.."
The teenager had his hand on his forehead with his mouth wide open.
Both of us were.. Shocked. And so was the floating thing, it was looking down at them silently, as if flabbergasted.
It put its tiny arms around its head, and was muttering things as if calming itself down.
It sighed, maybe I'm imagining things, but it's getting chilly..
「This isn't a joke. I'm not a hologram, and it's not a movie.」
'Its voice got deeper.. Shit, this is scary. I hope it doesn't massacre all of us, cause I would.'
The thing's attitude reminds me of someone I know too.
「You know what? No, this is great, the less stupid humanthings, the better, right?」
I can tell what the thing was planning just from that sentence. The group of men were saying the Bible verses even louder and faster, and even tried throwing holy water.
'Oh my god, you're really using holy water.'
「Just how many of you are here? 40 ? 50? That's really too much.」
I gulped, I think this creature is only gonna kill the people it finds annoying, and I was quiet this whole time, so i should be fine, right?
'But what if it does kill everyone? It can just move on to a new place, can't it? Maybe if i sneak under the seat-'
Crackle, crack! Crack!
Too late.
"Aauuggghhhhh!!!"
"No, nooooooo!!"
"God, god, please, not me, not- ugggghhh!!!"
One after another, necks were twisted in all kinds of ways, the priest's head was spun in a 180° degree angle and it snapped right off.
「Okay, that's better!!」
Some of the people who screamed now and earlier and made a scene had their necks twisted and heads torn off.
Now, it looked like.. Less than 35 people were left.
'Aren't places supposed to be less busy when they're going to close anyways? What an unlucky day for people who stayed overtime..'
「That's better! Now, we can finally turn on the channel! Goodness, we are so late, I bet I'm barely getting anyone.. Damned star stream..」
[#SU-2124 channel is open.]
"Channel.. SU 2124?"
「That's right, what a smart humanthing!」the thing was smiling wide, as if it didn't murder almost 20 of us.
'Let's just imagine this is like the tutorial dungeon, just.. no matter what, Don't lose your cool, do not lose your cool even if you had to swallow human organs!'
「No constellations yet.. Damn it. Okay, in the meantime, let's explain things a little alright?」
The thing tried not to look too angry, but it was clearly nervous. What are those 'constellations' that it's talking about?
「Have you guys ever heard of a YouTube channel? Yes yes, I did my research! Well, this is like a youtube channel!」
"A youtube channel?" Someone mumbled under their shaky breath.
「Yes, yes! And you humanthings are gonna be my.. Well.. Let's call it my actors! Except your real actions are gonna be live streamed to a screen, yes, yes?」
"Yes..?"
"Actors? Live streamed..?"
"What is it talking about..?"
「You rude little humanthing! Well, let's introduce ourselves! I am a, what you call, a 'dokkaebi', yes? Call me Su Tengfei, yes?」
'A dokkaebi.. Makes sense, no wonder it looks like that. But Su tengfei? A Chinese name? Why would a monster have a human name? Well, whatever, let's not question mama and papa dokkaebi or something.'
"I don't understand.."
「You guys must be visual learners, haha! Okay, I'll show you guys exactly what i mean, just in a second..」
The thing looked at the screen again, until..
[The constellations have entered.]
「Perfect.」
And the moment we heard it say that, it became transparent, Gradually disappearing into thin air.
「Good luck, human things! I hope the cute ones survive!」
And with a ding, the familiar blue pop-up screen has appeared again, with an odd text on it.
[The main scenario has arrived!]
+
[Main Scenario #1 – Prove Your Value.]
Category : Main
Difficulty : F
Clear Condition : kill one or more living organisms.
Time limit : 30 minutes
Reward : 300 coins
Penalty for failure : Death.
+
'Main scenario? What..'
"W-what..? K-kill..?"
"What kind of bullshit is this?"
"So you want us to kill each other?!"
「If you want to live, Bahahaha!」
'.. Call me crazy, but i.. I don't think this is supposed to be a zombie apocalypse.'
The fear in their faces was interrupted when the woman with her husband suddenly yelled.
"What?! Are you crazy?! Why would your mind immediately jump to murder?!"
"Then what do you want me to do?! Get my neck snapped?!" The man yelled back, sweating.
"W-we can figure out something.."
"Isn't a living organism anything that's alive?"
"Hm?"
The girl with her mother asked hesitantly, and they looked at her like she was asking nonsense.
'Killing an animal or bug was the first thing I thought about, maybe panicked people wouldn't think of that?'
I finally decided to say something. I have been quiet the whole time, mostly observing and knowing exactly who I wanted to mess with, because..
"Living organisms, huh..? How.. Vague, must be a reason behind that, don't you guys think so?"
I looked down, smiling.
[Lee Kiyoung's status has been updated!]
[Player → Incarnation.]
[Incarnation Lee Kiyoung's abilities have been put on the waitlist.]
[Incarnation Lee Kiyoung has unlocked a part of 'Mind's Eye'!]
'Nice.' I couldn't help but smirk when I looked at those lovely, lovely blue screens again.
Simply being able to look at the status window of something or someone, it was extremely advantageous in such a situation.
And it seems that I am going to gradually unlock each and every one of them.
They all looked at me now, I walked out of my seat to the space between the two rows in the middle hall, and I walked forward, approaching the front.
"Killing at least one living organism.. It's a trick question, I really wonder.."
They seemed to finally get what I mean, but I could sense the teenager from earlier looking at me acting like some sort of big shot, unimpressed.
[The constellations raise an eyebrow at the incarnation Lee Kiyoung's words.]
'Constellations, incarnations.. Yes, I'm sure now. We're the incarnations, and the constellations watch us, like a channel.'
"Yes.. Yes! Of course! We should find bugs and kill them! If we find an ant colony.."
Another guy here, who seemed to be an office worker, jumped up from his seat, nodding eagerly.
"That's true.. Anything is a living organism if it has muscles!"
"But plants are alive too, just don't have muscle, shouldn't they count as a living organism as well?"
I groaned internally, we have less than 30 minutes to find an ant in this clean ass cathedral, why are you having a debate?!
"Oh, don't start the theories, let's just look for an ant and get this 'scenarios' thing done with."
I clapped my hands to get their attention back, I can tell that nobody here would survive without a proper leader, and I already have experience being as such.
'That's mostly in the orphanage though, it's been so long since I've been on the continent that I'm starting to forget what it was like.'
"We need a plan to not lose ourselves and panic, if we don't find a bug, or only some of us do, we will need to dig underground or break down a wall, and we can hope that the behind of these tiles isn't very clean."
I looked at the cathedral door, there were two men that had been trying to open it from the moment the lights went out.
"The exit is obviously not an option, and you guys can try breaking the windows, but I highly doubt that'll work."
At my words, one of the two men by the door approached one of the cathedral's stained windows, and began trying to break it.
I made eye contact with each one of the people left as I talked, they all looked pretty nervous, although it seemed that the younger people here were less nervous than the others.
"Look under the seats, the choir loft, find a hidden spider web, anything will do! Anything alive can help you live and exit this hellish cathedral and go back to your families!"
'Hopefully this will hold them off for the next 30 minutes, and will stop them from killing each other, my body is still pretty bad.'
"He is right, we can't keep stalling and shaking in our boots! If you want to live, you'd better start looking immediately!"
"Y-yes.. Yes sir!"
"Quick, break down the seats!"
"I'm gonna get on the choir loft!"
"If you find anything heavy, throw it on the windows!"
Perfect. The least blood shed, the better.
It's all going smoothly, by this rate, everyone might find an ant or two.
"It's time for me to start looking as well.. But I should find a bathroom, these have a lot of bugs.. But do cathedrals have bathrooms..?"
I mumbled to myself, looking around to find the bathroom, until I reached a wooden door, and I hurriedly opened it.
"Nice!" A clean looking bathroom was in front of, I immediately started looking inside the drawers and in corners you'll assume to be neglected, most importantly, behind the vanity cabinet itself.
It was decently sized, not for a lot of people to use at once though, but people probably just use the bathrooms outside instead of this one.
The sink was on a big vanity cabinet made of wood, which connected to a big mirror.
It was old fashioned enough for the cabinet to not be built onto the wall, and after searching through the drawers with no luck and only getting some dust, I decided to use as much power as I had to push this cabinet to the side.
"Ugh… fucking.. Heavy.."
'You'd think I'd use the time I had in this world to work out or something.. The only thing that changed was my brain, and I doubt the change was for the better.'
'Fuck it. '
I held onto the thin mirror section, and with all my might, I pushed that whole thing to the ground.
Crash!! I panted and walked back, it made quite the loud noise, but i didn't care, i immediately started looking at what was behind the cabinet.
"Oh, fuck yeah!" I quickly crouched down, there was a spider net! It was thin, so I couldn't know exactly, but I could make out.. 2 egg sacs! That's easily hundreds of coins!
I reached out my hands, and in that one moment I completely forgot about how disgusting it was to touch a spider nest with your hands.
I snatched the spider egg sacs with a desperation I didn't notice I was even feeling, and I quickly..
Smush! Rip! I teared and pressed on the nest with my hands, and all the tension left my body when I heard that sweet, sweet, pop up window noise.
[The 'First Kill' Mission Has Been Accomplished!]
[You Have Received 300 Coins!]
[You have killed a living thing.]
[100 coins have been earned as additional compensation.]
[You have killed a living thing.]
[100 coins have been earned as additional compensation.]
….
'Finally! The stress almost got to me!'
I wiped my hands on my clothes and quickly ran out of the bathroom, and I couldn't help but laugh like a lunatic.
I smiled wide, looking at all those people still looking. I can see the little girl with her mom on the choir loft, looking desperately and carrying furniture, and the teenager from earlier was looking more serious for sure, he was dead silent while going through all the crevices.
I approached multiple people, helping them push things— although I couldn't help much— and calmed them down when they were getting worried.
'I think my understanding of others has been getting a little worse though, because a lot of them were glancing at me. I'm sure it didn't mean what I thought it did, but they looked kind of uncomfortable for some reason.'
.. Bad news though, only 3 people managed to get a kill.
My happiness and peace didn't last longer than 10 minutes either, as that nasally, grating voice appeared again.
「well, well, it seems that some of you humanthings have already cleared the scenario!」
All the tvs in the cathedral lit up out of nowhere, and on it, was that all too familiar, annoying one horned creature giggling.
「But, that's weird.. Cause i don't see any bloodshed!」
Its voice echoed as the unsynchronized televisions produced its image, its eyes changed from yellow to bright red, and its teeth grew in size uncannily.
[The constellations are rolling their eyes in boredom.]
「And that's.. No good.」
'What? Fuck you mean 'no good'? You won't mess with the scenario, will you? That's gotta be illegal in the dokkaebi universe or what not!'
"W-what..?"
"Yeah, and you won't get any bloodshed! We have already figured out our own way to survive this sick game of yours! In fact.."
The office worker from earlier seemed to have grown more courageous, he shouted his words, then he raised his fist in the sky towards the dokkaebi on one of the tvs, and-
Crush!! He crushed something in his hands, then opened it, he was smiling wide with a smug look, as the cockroach corpse laid motionless in his palm.
"I already got my way out this mess!"
「...」
People looked at the office worker with inspired eyes as they continued searching, ignoring the dokkaebi completely. I nervously looked up at the dokkaebi, he seemed to be growing more irritated by their attitudes.
「This won't do at all. 」
Gulp.
'Shit, it's over, isn't it?'
「This is so boring that I feel like leaving my own channel! Imagine how my poor constellations feel!」
[The Constellation 'Protectors Of The Natural Order' yawns and crosses their legs.]
[The Constellation 'Writer Of A Fortune' twirls his pen around.]
[The Constellation 'The Rat Who Ran From The Trap' huffs in Boredom and threatens to leave a bad review on the channel.]
「Oh, no no no! Don't worry dear constellations!」
'Tengfei' was floating on the tvs, messing with some screens, and after a few seconds of waiting, he smiled again and nodded.
「Let's do this!」
Suddenly, another blue window appeared right in front of us.
[The Request Of A Small Modification To The Main Scenario Has Been Approved!]
"What the fuck?!" Angry voices immediately emerged from around me, I gulped again, I should probably be safe, right? I already killed the first one.
'Maybe one of those constellations is interested in me, and can support me a little.. You won't let your smart kiyoung die like that, right?'
There is no way all the constellations on this channel are evil anyways, we are at the cathedral!!
..Or maybe that's why evil constellations are here, to see religious humans do bad things.
I snapped out of my thinking after I realized another blue window popped up, and I was mostly distracted by the terrified shouts around me.
"This can't be allowed, it can't!"
"This is so unfair!! There is no way all of us will find so much in 15 minutes!"
「Figure it out! Hahahaha!!!」
I looked back down at the scenario window.
+
[Main Scenario (edited) #1 – Prove Your Value.]
Category : Main
Difficulty : F
Clear Condition : kill three or more living organisms.
Time limit : 30 minutes
Reward : 300 coins
Penalty for failure : Death.
(Incarnations that cleared the previous condition are still counted as successful and will pass to the next scenario.)
+
'Oh..'
3 or more? Are the motherfuckers brain dead? How was this approved? They didn't even add onto the reward.
"What the hell is this?" I looked up at the people, the ones who have been having trouble finding anything looked the most dangerous right now.
'The worst mistake I made coming to this world was not investing in my physical strength enough, I really don't learn from past mistakes. Wasting time being depressed like a fucking idiot.'
"Finding bugs.. That's bullshit!"
'There goes one.'
"I knew this was stupid anyways, how the hell will we find enough non-human beings for all 40 something people?!" The man screaming looked a little overweight and sweaty, like some dad with anger issues.
"Half of us were meant to die! Now we took advice of that stupid fucking emo looking guy and now less than a quarter of us are gonna make it out alive!"
"What?!" I immediately shouted back at him as he pointed at me, other people looked at me too, some looked ready to defend it was not my fault, while most were probably cursing me under their breaths.
"Are you crazy?! He suggested a peaceful way for nobody to die in such inhumane ways and you're gonna pin the blame on him cause it didn't go as planned?! All of you were saying the idea was smart, now you're all saying it's bad!"
My eyes widened when the teenager from before yelled at the stinky man, I didn't expect him to defend me out of everyone..
'I'm getting old, already assuming that teenagers would be moody and hate adults..'
"You shut the hell up! You're already safe and cleared the scenario, we are the ones that are gonna get our heads twisted in 15 minutes!" The crowd looked conflicted on who to side with, as they probably wanted to live, but were still hesitant on killing other people.
'They aren't desperate enough, they would have probably already struck a knife to my chest if they didn't see others peacefully making it alive out of this.'
「Think well, little humanthings! Do you want to live? Or do you want to die ?」
The annoying creature said again, giggling with a mischievous expression that I would've probably called a little cute if it didn't belong to that heinous thing.
Bam!
…
Everyone's head snapped when they heard the sound of something big dropping.
"..wh..wha..whaa.." Terrified gasps soon erupted, and after getting on top of a chair, I could clearly see what happened.
A body of an adult woman, by the side of the chairs, laying with a pool of blood under her.
Her skull was bleeding excessively.
Everyone, including me, slowly started raising their heads at the same time, only to see a young girl by the edge of the choir loft, peeking down with an expression that sent me through waves of nostalgia.
Terror. Regret. Dread. Hate.
'Such an expression on a little girl's face already..' I clicked my tongue. I recognized the two.
This is the mother and daughter duo from earlier.
But how did such a little girl push an adult mother? She either was caught really off guard, or.. She let her do it.
'..how silly.' I sighed, this is bad, this will probably be the kickoff to something terrible.
I immediately got off the chair, and ran off right back to the toilet
'I won't enter it just yet, cause I kind of.. Really want to know what's gonna happen next.'
"What did you do?!"
"Crazy child! To your own mother?!" Angry voices erupted between the scream of terror and hurried steps towards the mother to check if she was still breathing.
Some were already on their way up the choir loft, I didn't know why the hell they wanted to go to the girl, maybe use what she did as an excuse to kill her.
Smart girl though, she already blocked the stairs with a bunch of furniture when they weren't looking, but I'm sure it was her mom who did it before she.. Well, died.
I instinctively started tapping my thigh, if this makes them more desperate, then they might really..
「Oh, I forgot to mention! If the living organism killed is a human, it'll count as a scenario clear!」
"What?" I said with disbelief, staring up at the tv, slowly opening the bathroom door and locking it as silence took over the whole cathedral.
'Shit. Shit. Shit! Fuck, god damned cheating deokkaebi! This can't be legal in the dokkaebi world! I'm filing a lawsuit!'
I started trying to carry the cabinet that I knocked over earlier, but it was heavy, and I was weak, so I ended up hastily pushing it towards the door while holding in tears of both frustration and humiliation
'Fucking bastards. Fucking- fucking dokkaebi bullshit.. I just wanted to go home with hyunsung now i have to fight for my life on this terrible fucking version of earth like a-'
"Stop, stop! Are you crazy! You can't do this to me!"
"My wife is pregnant, I can't leave her!"
"My siblings depend on me, I raised them like my own children! Please don't resist!"
I heard yells, excuses after excuses, all followed by screams of terror, I gulped, my pupils trembling.
I haven't been to a scene like this ever since the tutorial dungeon.
'They're too far gone.' I bit my bottom lip, frowning deeply, there were some.. incarnations that i was interested in, i hope they survived.
[The constellation 'Writer Of A Fortune' disapproves of Incarnation Lee Kiyoung's cowardice.]
"Huh?!" I paused in the middle of my process of pulling up the cabinet against the door now that I pushed it near enough, and I read the pop up window that just appeared.
"That's ridiculous, you want me to go out there?!" I couldn't help but exclaim, my face distorting.
I pushed the cabinet up for a few more inches, until it finally stood up against the door, I pushed it just a bit closer into the door. Now I should be safe.
"Let's.. Collect ourselves. Haaah.." I sat on the floor, taking deep breaths. Now that I think about it, snapping at that constellation was definitely a mistake..
[The Constellation 'writer Of A Fortune' Frowns, Criticizing Incarnation Lee Kiyoung.]
"... My apologies that I don't suit your taste, dear constellation, I truly don't deserve your forgiveness, but please don't take what I said personally" I let out light kiyoung, one that i haven't used in a while.
'Light kiyoung always works, no matter what.'
"I apologize for snapping at you just now, it was really just a stress response, but now i would love to actually show you what I'm capable-"
[The Constellation 'protectors Of The Natural Order' Roll Their Eyes And Scoff At Incarnation Lee Kiyoung's Change Of Attitude.]
My eyes twitched. 'This damn..' I took a deep breath, then I repeated. "I was stressed, I mean it, forgive my earlier actions!"
[The constellation 'Writer Of A Fortune' squints and reluctantly nods.]
"Thank you!" I said with a smile, what the hell should i say now? Are incarnations supposed to make chit chats with constellations..?
'No, they're supposed to go to the battlefield and fight, not hide in a bathroom..'
But why are they here anyways? Were they curious seeing the first kill incarnation hiding in a bathroom? Must be it.
"Haaahh.." I slowly laid on the floor, avoiding the area that had glass chunks on them from me pushing the cabinets early on.
I started zoning out slightly. I wanted to entertain the constellations, but I just.. Don't feel good.
'.. There is probably no way the cathedral, or just Korea in general, was the only place that got attacked.'
I closed my eyes shut and started thinking. 'The dokkaebi talking to someone, and being granted permission to do things proves it isn't the only one out there, there are most probably other 'channels' in all different parts of korea, or the world even.'
"How am I going to survive this, alone..?" I sighed.
I stood up and approached the door again, I could hear a lot of fighting and screaming, they're still going..
「Hahahaha! Yes! Yes!!! That's what I'm talking about! Fight for your lives like the humanthings you are!」
I heard the voice of the dokkaebi again, since it was already pretty loud for being played on the tvs.
"They can play the tvs but can't provide normal lighting? How cheap." I mumbled under my breath, still bothered by the fact the lights exploded, and i only have some creepy wood torches to-
"Wait." I froze.
Wood torches..
I slowly approached one of the two wood torches in the bathroom, and took one.
"Huh.. This.. So I'm not completely defenseless.."
I lightly swung it around, testing it a little. It can definitely help push people off me when they try to attack.
'Why didn't these people try to use these earlier anyways? Actually, it was pretty high up, and maybe no one got time to get on the seats and grab one yet.'
'How did they manage to look for bugs in the dark then though? Oh, They probably used their phone flashlights, it's definitely much more practical, and safer too.'
"Hm." I considered leaving the bathroom now so I can establish some dominance, and maybe protect the ones I wanted to take with me, but..
No, i won't do that, maybe I'll do it at the very end of the scenario, so i can save one and they think they owe me something
I nodded to myself, and checked the scenario window again.
[Time Left : 05:22]
5 minutes…
I can't hold on for more than 2 minutes with my current physical state, I'll wait a bit more..
"Aaaaahhhh!!" Another high pitched scream, and I bit my lip.
'that's another-'
"H-help, help!!"
"Huh??" I flinched when the scream suddenly came much closer, and I started to hear slams on the door.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Please, open the door, he is trying to kill me! Please! Please!"
I blinked, and gulped, what a pity, I can recognize this voice.
'She is the woman that was with her husband earlier. Her husband is probably already dead. She is one of the people I considered taking with me.'
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Please! P-please! Open the door! Please! Fuck!"
"Auntie, what are you doing?"
"N-no, no, stop, you motherfucker!!!"
My eyes shone slightly when I heard the other voice outside.
"Oh..?"
Due to him not screaming and talking in a normal voice, I recognized him quickly.
'That has to be the teenager. But why? Didn't he already clear the scenario?'
I couldn't help but get curious, I considered moving the sink cabinets slightly so I could see from the peephole, but I didn't want to risk it falling too soon, so I just placed my ear on the door to hear better.
"Don't touch me! Don't come any closer, I'll kill you! Go away!! Leave me alone, you fucking psychopath!"
Her screaming didn't get any lower, along with the screaming for the rest of the incarnations that are still fighting.
"Auntie.." The teenager spoke again, I gulped, he sounded a little scary.
"Don't call me auntie! Go away, I'll kill you!" I can hear her terror in her voice. I think I'm starting to get used to it now.
'This is pretty nostalgic, screaming was something I heard plenty of times in the past. Although back then I was much safer than now.'
'Even before I met hyunsung, I had deokgu, my meat shield. huh..' I zoned out for a moment. 'I wonder how deokgu is now. Hopefully he didn't get lazy with his training.'
I shook my head, now isn't the time to think about the past!
I checked again how much time we had.
[Time Left : 3:36]
"Auntie, why are you cursing me out like I'm the one who attacked you?"
"Oh?" My interest was back when I heard the teenager say that, and I turned my attention back to them.
"Wh-what are you saying?! You hit me like your life depends on it, you crazy brat!!!"
"Auntie.. You're the one who tried to attack me, I was defending myself."
'Oooh??? So auntie wasn't as nice as i thought.'
"I wasn't attacking you!! I was just trying to survive!"
"So am i. I'm defending myself, auntie." The teenager's calm voice was truly impressive. Even I barely managed to stay calm in this setting, and he can somehow cope so quickly with someone out to get him.
'His physical strength is very impressive as well, having a teenage boy like him in my team is going to be a great investment.'
I nodded to myself, already thinking of some sort of plan to take him in..
"Auntie, I'm not going to kill you, go try to kill something else."
"U-uh?!"
"Go."
The boy ordered, assumingly staring down at the woman without saying a word.
"U-ughh.." I heard some taps on the door, most likely her shaky body leaning on the door to get up.
…
It's safe to assume she is gone now.
I gulped, because I figured that the boy was yet to leave.
Knock, knock.
"W-what.."
"Uncle, are you inside?"
"Uh.." What does he want? And, why are you referring to me as uncle?!
I wanted to scold him for the disrespect, but he reminded me of someone, so I let it slide.
"You are, aren't you? The guy that suggested killing insects, got the first kill, then disappeared when things went south?"
"You should guard your back instead of criticizing me." I responded, I leaned my back on the door, my eyes checking on how much time was left occasionally.
"I'm not criticizing you. Actually, I kind of admire you for it." I turned my head slightly when he said that, it was a little unexpected..
"Really?"
"Yeah. Really. I managed to find an insect, one, singular, tiny fly. It was so small I thought it was dust at first, but when I clapped my hands on top of it, and got that 'scenario cleared' window... I was so happy I wanted to thank you repeatedly."
He spoke again, and I couldn't help the big grin that was on my face with every word he said, especially the last sentence.
'I have a follower already!!! Fuck, this is the best way this could've went, i really wanted this kid on my team, i would've been so annoyed if i lost him!!!'
My sweet, sweet attacker! You're too small to be a meat shield, but if I teach you some more I'm sure you'll protect me well, won't you?
"I'm not worthy to be a role model, so don't become a fan, you'll regret it." I spoke, making my voice a bit deeper than it is… simply to build the dramatic atmosphere. You're going to be stubborn, and insist that I'm a great person for wanting to save everyone without spilling blood, right?
"Haha, I know."
'U-ugh??!'
"I can tell, but I don't care, you know how to survive a world like this, and being barely scared to do so. I kept staring at you the whole time while trying to clear this, I mimicked you, so I can stay calm too."
"Oh.." I'm touched, but I'm still offended! What the hell is 'I can tell' supposed to mean? Is this an underhanded statement? You brat…
I sighed, a couple silent moments passed, and I looked down again, checking the time.
[Time Left : 1:32]
I think I can go outside now, I can't hide here forever.
I grabbed the cabinet, and took a deep breath, starting to push it back on the floor with all my might.
"Hhh.. Haaa-"
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!??!!"
"Oh, shit?! Fuck, what the hell?!" I jumped in place when I heard the most blood-curdling scream ever since the scenario started, followed by the teenager also starting to yell.
"Fuck, don't come any closer!!"
"Push him, push him!!"
"Who the hell did this?!"
Other voices were heard, screaming similarly, while the first same terrible scream kept coming over and over again.
"The chair, the chair!!! Be careful!"
"H-holy shit, that crazy bitch..!"
'Now that everyone is suddenly screaming, I don't want to leave anymore!'
I gulped, and finally asked. "H-hey, kid!! What the hell is going on?!"
"O-ooh..!" I heard the kid stumble upon his words for a moment, then he talked. "Someone was just lit on fire, and one of the chairs here is also lighting on fire!"
"What?!"
I yelled, and my breath quickly became shaky again. I need to leave this room immediately, what if I got stuck inside while this place is on fire?!!
I went right back to pushing the cabinets, and in a few seconds, it slammed back on the floor, making a loud noise.
"U-uncle?! I just heard a bang inside, what are you doing?!"
I bit my lip hard enough that I wouldn't be surprised if it started bleeding, as I crouched and started pushing it away from the door.
'This place has stone walls, right? So at least we know not the whole thing will be caught on fire, but I'm sure the chairs aren't supposed to be caught on fire so easily, such a popular church must've used inflammable materials on the wood, right???'
I can't believe someone actually used the wooden torches like I thought about earlier, just in a bit more.. Dangerous way.
"Oh, there we go, haaaahh!" I took a deep breath, the cabinets were enough inches away from the door that I could squeeze myself outside.
"O-oh, uncle!!" I saw the boy's face just by the gap I made, he seemed a little bit more relieved.
"Hey." I smiled at him slightly, i was still hesitant on whether i should go out yet, but when i noticed that there was less than a minute left, i decided to just go.
'It's very likely that the exit would be granted once the time is over, the dokkaebi shouldn't want all of his actors dead, right?'
"U-uncle, you actually.."
"Yeah, I'm here, let me.. D-damn."
I blinked, registering the absolute chaotic scene behind me.
I started to examine everything around me in a hurry, which was possible thanks to part of my mind's eye being unlocked.
The person who was lit on fire was clear out of everyone, as their body wasn't completely extinguished yet, and they were lying motionlessly on the floor.
Everyone left was stained with blood, and I wasn't sure if it was theirs, or their victim's.. They all looked extremely disheveled and shaky, especially the ones trying to put out the fire in one of the chairs.
I looked at the teenager, who already seemed to be looking at something, so I followed his gaze.
When I did, I saw a woman, seemingly in her thirties, looking like a mental hospital escapee, breathing heavily, her eyes on the burned corpse.
".. Hey, do you think she.." I mumbled to the boy, and he quickly answered.
"I don't think so, I know it, I saw her putting the torch on the bench."
"Fuck." I swore under my breath.
'But since she did kill someone using the fire, did it count as a scenario clearance?'
I didn't get to think about that long, as a familiar voice was heard, making us look up.
「Jeez, what is this mess?! I knew i wanted blood shed, but i didn't expect you to actually go this far.」
the dokkaebi appeared on the screen, and clicked his fingers, making one big screen show up just under the roof.
[Time Left : 0:37]
「You guys should hurry up though, cause some of your heads are gonna be lying on the floor soon! Hahahahaha!!」
"That son of a bitch.."
I bit my lip, and my eyes quickly scanned the whole room again. Thankfully, some of the people I was interested in were still alive, and pushing away anyone who tried to fight them.
'I feel like I'm missing someone though..'
I squinted, and looked harder.
"Oh!"
"Ah! go away! No, please! Mom, mooommm!!!"
A little girl's screams caught my attention, and I looked up.
"The choir loft..!" looking up, I immediately found what I was missing.
Right there, in the choir loft, was a girl standing motionlessly, aside from her trembling, while an adult man—seemingly the stinky one I saw earlier— was easily throwing away the furniture blocking the stairs, and started approaching her.
"U-uncle-!?"
"Stop!!" It was regrettable that I had to ignore the teenager, but that girl..
'I was interested in that kid the moment I read her status window, losing her would be my worst regret.'
I ran to the stairs, and went up, my field of vision soon displayed that man towering over the little girl.
"Don't you dare touch her!" I screamed, I'm honestly terrified at the idea of such a good card getting killed, and killed by an ugly stinky man like him.
"H-huh? You! Fuck off, or I'll just kill you in her place!!" The man barely turned towards me, and quickly looked back, his hands on her throat, as he was in just as much hurry as I was.
He easily lifted her, and walked towards the railing.
[0:10]
'Shit, he is gonna throw her..! That would be an instant kill!'
[0:09]
"No, stop!!" I ran towards them, and jumped on him. He was much bigger than me, so I can only rely on disturbing his motion.
[0:08]
"Youu!?! Fuck off!!"
Bang!
Slam!
….
[0:05]
"U-ugh, shit.." I grabbed my face, biting my lip to hold in any pained noises.
'He punched me, he punched me.. The motherfucker, how dare you.. How fucking dare you..!! The moment my babies find out about this..!'
I looked up at him with trembling eyes while I was thinking, he looked back at the timer, barely any time left, he raised her in the air, and before I could even get up, he..
Bang!