I was in a new place. It was the infinite darkness again. I saw the white star, and the burning eye.
(What is this...?) I thought.
[It' s y ou r sa fe pla ce, it' s wh e re y ou r mi nd go es w hen y ou fa ll asl ee p,] Fragment of the 4th Wall said.
I saw their messages appear as black and white text in front of me.
(Am I... okay?)
[I deac tiva ted you r An ger Lor d attri bu te... y ou we re be co min g too en rage d... Ri ght now... you a re slee ping as y ou heal...]
(Fragment of the 4th Wall?)
[Y es?]
(Why do I have such an attribute? Private attributes relate to a person's talent before the introduction of Star Stream. Why is mine titled Anger Lord?)
[I d o n ot kn ow...]
(4th Wall.... Who am I?)
[Hm?]
(My head... I'm forgetting so much of my life. All of these new memoires are coming in, and I don't know if they belong to me.... Who are the other Fragment Holders? Why do I receive some of their memories when I interact with them?)
[I do n't kn ow w hy yo u re a re lo si ng yo ur'e mem or ies an d re ceiv ing th em.... May be th at's wh at t he wri ter w an ted f or yo u....]
(Who is the writer?)
[Th ey a re the per son who ma de the st ory y ou re ad...]
(Are they tsl123? The writer of TWSA?)
[No... the re a re mul ti ple wri te rs.... Th is writer wa nts you to suc ceed...]
(Fragment of the 4th Wall, I'm forgetting a lot of my life before the apocalypse. Why?)
[I thi nk it's be cau se o f the wr iter.... I thi nk th ey are er asing your me mories....]
(Why are they doing that?! How are they doing that?)
[I th ink th ey are do in g it to ma ke you the per fect cha racter....]
(Will becoming a character negatively affect me?)
[It mi ght.... you can av oid it thou gh....]
(How can I avoid becoming a character?)
[You ha ve to ga ther mo re Fra gm ents of t he 4th Wa ll.... to com plete the 4th Wall... T he wa ll will pro tect you...]
(Will I remember more of myself afterwards?)
[Per haps....]
(Fragment of the 4th Wall, who is the writer?)
[I d o n ot kn ow if I sh ould t ell you..... b ut their na me is EG9....]
I saw the name float in front of me. I glared at that name.
(EG9? That's their name? Eee-ji-Nine? That's how you pronounce it?)
[Yes... But it 's a fa ke na me... a us er na me.... to pro tect th eir iden tity....]
(What do they want from me?)
[To co mp lete the 4th Wa ll... and ma ke it to th e end of this w or ld.]
(How do I make it to the end?)
[Y ou mus t make it to the 99th sc en ario.... You mu st survive until th en.]
(How do I do that?)
[Ta ke the oth er Fragments. The o ther Fr ag me nts will all ow you to se e the re st of th e st ory th at y ou re ad....]
(If I gain Fragments, I will be able to remember more of the story? Why can't I just reread it online?)
[The st ory y ou re ad doe sn't ex ist online an y mo re.... Th e sto ry on ly exi sts on the Frag ment s of the 4th Wall.... By gai ning the other Frag ments, y ou com ple te the re st of the story. Then yo u can re read it.... It wi ll be hard to get oth er Fragm ents tho ugh....]
(How hard?)
[Y ou will su ffer a lot....]
I smiled from dread.
(Pfft. I've been suffering before the Apocalypse. I think I can handle more.)
[I'll be th e re to pro tect you... For now.... f or no w re st....]
I felt my conscious mind become suppressed. I didn't want to sleep, but I felt something warm wrap around my body, and gently rock me to sleep.
The scintillating white star shot solar-flares that illuminated the darkness, while the flaming eye watched me sleep. I felt comforted. It felt as if I was being guarded, warmed and watched. It felt okay to rest.
***
I woke up again. I wondered if I was in my own mind, or if I was in reality. I was lying on my back, and my body was pressed against a hard surface. I looked around in an effort to regain my bearings. I saw that I was in a little backroom filled with shopping items; I was also lying on the floor.
(Am I in a store?)
I rose a little bit, and saw the ground around me was scorched. I willed myself to fully stand, and when I did, I saw that I left a black imprint on the floor, which was in the shape of my body. I was the reason why the linoleum was scorched black. I must've generated high temperatures in my sleep.
(Where am I?)
I was in a different area from before. I wasn't near the fountain, which was in the middle of the Macy's mall. I looked at my body. I was still in my underwear, and I saw parts of my body were completely blackened. I thought I was dirty, but when I rubbed the areas, I saw that the blackened areas were my skin.
[You have acquired a new achievement!]
[You have achieved "On the Cusp of Death"!]
[Payment: 10,000 coins!]
[Constellation "Secretive Plotter" is glad that Incarnation "Ethan Nakamura" is alive.]
[Constellation "Egyptian Thought" wonders how you regrew your limbs.]
[Constellation "The Black One, Lord of Muspellheim" says that you're appearance is respectable now.]
[Constellation "The Black One, Lord of Muspellheim" says that you look similar to the fire jotuns of old.]
[You have been given 5000 coins for surviving.]
The system messages relaxed my stressed mind. I was alive. I didn't die. This was reality.
-[Hey!!]
It was Dokkaebi Herald. They must've heard that I nearly died. They were sending messages through Dokkaebi Communication.
-[Are you okay?!]
-[Yeah. I am.]
-[The Constellations were going crazy, and were saying that you died! What happened?!]
-[I'll give some exposition to the Constellations about that. Don't worry.]
-[Okay. Do you need anything?]
-[Could you open the Dokkaebi Shop?]
The Dokkaebi Shop opened soon after. I bought myself some clothes. I decided to buy some heat resistant clothing that were C-Grade.
(I wonder if my backpack was destroyed.)
I made sure to throw my backpack away while I was running and fighting. I also figured my rain jacket would be destroyed by the [Flames of Muspellheim] stigma, so I quickly took it off and placed it in the auction shop.
"Open the auction area," I said aloud.
The menus and displays quickly flicked to the auction area. I saw my rain jacket was still there. I took it off the auction shop, and it reappeared in front of my eyes.
(I'm glad that no one bought it.)
I dug into the pockets, and took out my phone. It was a cheap thing that costed 20 dollars to buy, and my mother bought it from Fred Meyer. Still, my phone was special to me.
I received this phone as a present for my 14th birthday. My mother also bought Minecraft from the Google Play-store, and I would play that game so much. I swiped through all the apps. I saw some music that I illegally downloaded, some pictures that I took, and screenshots from my favorite webtoons. I also saw videos that I recorded.
There was one thing I noticed. There were no pictures of me.
(If I remember correctly, I didn't like taking pictures of myself because I hated selfies.)
There were no pictures of my friends as well.
(I don't think I liked taking pictures of people in general.)
All of the images on my phone consisted of artwork, or something random, such as screenshots of wiki pages. I tucked away my phone into the pocket of my rain jacket, and zipped it shut. I quickly clothed myself, and wrapped my rain jacket around my upper half. I didn't have a cloth-mask, but I decided to stop wearing one in this type of weather.
[Constellation "Abyssal Black Flame Dragon" was impressed by your flames and explosions.]
(Abyssal Black Flame Dragon?)
I remembered something that I needed to ask. I stared towards the sky.
"Excuse me, Abyssal Black Flame Dragon?"
[Constellation "Abyssal Black Flame Dragon" is staring at you.]
"Is your Incarnation - Kim Namwoon - alright?"
[Constellation "Abyssal Black Flame Dragon" has said: "Kim Namwoon is alright."]
(Why is this freaking dragon lying to me?)
[Constellation "Abyssal Black Flame Dragon" wonders how you know his Incarnation.]
(Oh... Shit.... I revealed that I knew Kim Namwoon.... Abyssal Black Flame Dragon was just being careful...)
"Oh, he's famous already.... I heard that there was a powerful teenager in South Korea that wields black flames."
[Constellation "Abyssal Black Flame Dragon" is smiling.]
[Constellation "Abyssal Black Flame Dragon" has sponsored Incarnation "Ethan Nakamura" with 1000 coins.]
(Well, I hope that they think that Namwoon is famous already... I also hope that their ego is big enough that they won't question how I know about Kim Namwoon.)
[Constellation "Secretive Plotter" is staring at Incarnation "Ethan Nakamura."]
[Constellation "Egyptian Thought" is staring at Incarnation "Ethan Nakamura."]
Although, the smarter Constellations might be scrutinizing my actions much more thoroughly. I opened Dokkaebi Communication again.
-[Hey, Herald?]
-[Yeah?]
-[Are Constellations "Secretive Plotter" and "Egyptian Thought" subscribed to the channel?]
-[Let me see.... Yep.]
(Crap. They might be watching me to gain information, or maybe I caught negative attention.)
-[Hey, because of your crazy actions, I've been gaining a lot of subscribers and donations. I've been upgrading my channel a lot. I have to mess with some settings. I'll be back in a bit.]
-[Alright. See ya.]
After I sent that system message to Herald, a new display screen popped up.
[You have successfully used First Person Perspective!]
[You have entered the Perspectives of two applicable characters!]
(What is this?)
[You may copy one skill from each character!]
[Yu Junghyeok]
-Air Steps
-Red Phoenix Shunpo
-Fire Resistance
(No way... If I can use this.... wait... I need to think about this.)
Air Steps was a Moorim skill that allowed the users to convert air into steps to traverse on. Red Phoenix Shunpo increased a user's speed. Fire Resistance was a simple skill, but it was quite useful in hot environments. I was tempted to choose that skill; perhaps it could allow me to safely use the [Flames of Muspellheim] stigma.
I pondered my options. I already had plans to change my biology to accustom my stigma; that left two options left.
(Red Phoenix Shunpo would be perfect for an agile playstyle, but Air Steps seem more useful. I could have the high ground, and drop down to kill people quickly. I could also use it to escape from high places, and descend safely)
I made a decision. I chose Air Steps. I saw the next three options.
[Kim Namwoon]
-Knife Fighting
-Blackening (Exclusive to Chunnibyou)
-Unusual Adaptability
Kim Namwoon's options were less than stellar. Unusual Adaptability was perfect to conforming to new situations, but I had Asian Adaptability. Knife Fighting was pretty basic; I didn't see the use in learning that skill when I already had Self-taught Sword Fighting Lv.8. That left Blackening as the only option. Paired with my Anger Lord attribute, Blackening would do well. If I remembered correctly, Blackening encompassed a person's body with a dark aura, which increased their physical attacks.
Kim Namwoon also used this skill in the First Scenario, which showed that he had extreme talent in terms of combat. I used my Anger Lord attribute in a sub-scenario after the First Scenario; this showed similarities in our skill-set.
(Well then, I'll pick Blackening. I'm a teenager as well, so I guess I'm edgy. Blackening might work quite well with me.)
[You have acquired a new skill called Air Steps!]
[You have acquired a new skill called Blackening!]
It was cool that I was able to gain skills this way. I felt a little ashamed that I was a Kim Namwoon fan, but sticking with him and descending into him proved useful to me.
(It sucks that I can't use Character Assimilation....) I thought sullenly. (Hey, Fraggy?)
[Y e s?]
(You can see my attribute window, right?)
[Yep.]
(Can you see if I gained two new skills? Also, can you check to see if I can use Character Assimilation?)
I waited a few moments after making my request.
[Y ou s afe ly ga in ed t wo new ski lls, b ut you ca n't use Cha rac ter Ass imi lation yet.... You ha ve to ga in o ther Frag ment s of th e 4th Wall to act i va te t he ski ll.]
(I didn't know that...)
It seems that gaining 4th Wall fragments were vital for my survival.
(Well, thanks then. I'll train with the new skills later.)
First, I had to make sure George was alright. Did I infect him? Did he die? I was about to leave this little backroom, but the door that led to this room was closed.
(I'm scared to open it.)
I had seen a lot of horror movies. Opening a door without checking was dangerous.
[You have activated Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Lv.3!]
[You have activated Stigma Flames of Muspellheim Lv.7]
I linked the skill and stigma, and tried to read any thoughts. I didn't see any thoughts being transmitted, and I didn't see any approaching heat signatures. I walked towards the door of this backroom, grabbed the doorknob, and opened it. I stepped into an electronic shop. I saw the metal blinds in the front of the shop were closed. I approached the blinds, and tried to lift them up.
[You are in a safe zone!]
[Are you sure you want to leave?]
These messages flashed in front of me.
(Hmmm. It seems that safe zones are individual stores within the mall, and closing them off protects the people inside.)
I lifted the blinds. I needed to find George, and see if they were alright.