In 'Omniscient Reader', there is a scene where Kim Dokja is trapped in the subway and tls123
sends him a text file of 'Ways of Survival'.
Apparently, 'RepresentativeKimDokja' was parodying it now.
Normally, I would have laughed out loud, but this was no time for that.
Because I was in a situation where I could really die. Were they the one who got me into 'Omniscient Reader'?
I don't know. But the circumstances seem to point to a connection.
I'm going to reply first.
[You can't reply to this message.]
I knew it would be like this if it was 'Omniscient Reader'.
I decided to check the gift from Kim Dokja.
Let's see. Kim Dokja received a text file of 'Ways of Survival', so I assume I got something
similar.
But no matter how much I scrolled down, I couldn't see any attachments.
—We're sending you a small gift in anticipation for your series.
That was the end of the message. There was no attachments, and I didn't feel like I had a new
exclusive skill.
So what was it?
I realized that the message was sent through a web novel platform.
It happened to be the app I used to use. Wait, we have this app here too?
Most of the menus didn't work because the app wasn't from this world line.
However, I was able to check my novel, which worked fine.
+
Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint - 551 chapters
-Author Lee Hakhyun
+
A list of episodes of 'Omniscient Reader' popping up with the familiar platform screen.
+
...
Episode 1. Starting the Paid Service (4) +[117]
Episode 1. Starting the Paid Service (3) +[164]
Episode 1. Starting the Paid Service (2) +[158]
Episode 1. Starting the Paid Service (1) +[332]
Prologue. Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World +[681]
...
+
Apparently, this was 'RepresentativeKimDokja's gift.
Just as Kim Dokja received the text file of 'Ways of Survival' from tls123, I had received
'Omniscient Reader' from Kim Dokja.
It was a little disappointing, but it was better than nothing. Even if you're the writer, you're
bound to forget the setting of a story three years after its completion.
I suddenly became curious about the Kim Dokja of the first scenario. What exactly was he doing at this point?
It must be around chapter 4 or 5 by now.
I immediately pressed chapter 5.
ᅳHow is the main character so calm? Wasn't he a real loser?
But what popped up in front of me was not the text of the novel, but a comment.
I clicked on the text again.
ᅳThe scenario is too difficult...
Another comment.
At first I thought it was a bug.
But as I clicked again and again, only getting comments, I realized what "gift" I'd been given.
No way.
Some of the comments I vaguely remembered, others I didn't remember at all.
No wonder. It was already three years ago.
Wow, I'm about to die in the first scenario.
My mindless scrolling suddenly felt really heavy.
I hesitated for a moment, then pushed the scroll up.
ᅳHmm... I don't think I can do that. ᅳHe can only do that because he's the main character. If he was a normal person, he would be
dead already.
I felt the dark, still air wet the tip of my nose.
I was suddenly back in Chungmuro's theater.
I read the stories of the readers filling the screen.
Readers of those days were still in elementary school, they were in middle and high school, they
were in college, they were working..... They were preparing to enlist in the army and get a job.
The history they had lived was still there.
ᅳI don't think I'm capable of killing people... I think I'll just keep quiet and wait for the end. ᄒᄒ
I thought about 'Judge Heewon', who solved the quiz with shining eyes, and the young reader
who asked about Kim Dokja's life and death.
The reader who fluently explained the secret of the number 1,863, the reader who remembered
the total number of ■.... The readers who sat there with faces I didn't recognize.
"It isn't moving at all! What do we do!"
"Shut up and push more!"
The readers who had come to the theater, all of whom had taken the quiz and disappeared into
the lights behind the curtain.
"Somebody, somebody do something!"
If.
"Please let me out, I need to get out of here!"
What if it wasn't just me, but also other readers came here.
"Help me! Help me!"
[There are 27 minutes remaining.]
I know this is not the time to think about this. My nose is asleep right now. I have to stay alive,
and I have to find Kim Dokja somehow.
Kim Dokja.
"Hey."
Somehow.
"Maybe."
I have to meet....
"Bugs...."
I looked toward where the voice came from, dumbfounded. Where I turned, there stood a middle-aged man who seemed to be in his forties. Deep brown
eyes with dedicated eyebrows.
I definitely didn't recognize him.
What did this man just say?
I tried to calm my pounding heart and put on an exaggeratedly brash voice.
"Excuse me? What do you mean?"
He looked at me for a moment, then asked.
"I was wondering if you could teach me how to catch bugs too."
I looked at him for a moment.
His face unreadable.
I could feel people looking this way in the distance.
If I drew the wrong kind of attention here, I could ruin the whole scenario.
After a moment of thought, I blinked slowly, then turned my head and pointed to the bottom of
the vending machine with a jerk of my chin.
"Ah."
As if that was enough, he let out a small exclamation.
I said warningly.
"Don't draw too much attention to yourself, I don't know how many are left."
He nodded thoughtfully, then bent down and began whisking the underside of the vending
machine.
I pretended to be oblivious to the spectacle, shifting stealthily to shield him from the others.
I wondered if it would be right to save him here.
This choice could have resulted in a branch of the book completely separated from the main
story. But....
"I found it, thank you."
It wasn't long before he found a bug, too.
It was a tiny bug, so tiny you couldn't even tell if it was pregnant or not.
"Kill it right away."
He nodded, and promptly crushed the bug. Then.
"Ah."
A faint glow formed in his hand as he killed the bug, and then it was gone.
The man's slightly loosened eyes stared off into space.
Presumably, the scenario had been cleared.
Fortunately, 'killing bugs' still seemed to work.
"Yeah, really. This is...."
I stared at him in disbelief and then asked him by surprise.
"1,863."
"What?"
"1,863."
I wanted to be sure.
If this guy had really read 'Omniscient Reader', he had to know what it meant.
The middle-aged man paused for a moment, then opened his mouth.
I was a little disappointed when I saw the look in his eyes that said he really didn't know.
Maybe it was just my imagination.
But the middle-aged man continued.
"If it's 1,863, do you mean... from 'that novel'...."
I reflexively looked at him. He was looking at me, too.
I could see a faint mix of relief and despair in his eyes.
"Am I right?"
As expected, this man was a reader of 'Omniscient Reader'. I'm not sure if he was in the event
theater with me, but he had been suddenly transported here, just like me.
His lips trembled and he muttered.
"How in the world did this happen...."
"It's not the time to go into details. Please keep your voice down."
"Ah, yes. I wonder if there are others."
"If there are others, I'm sure they'll do something to stand out."
From what I could tell, he wasn't a very perceptive man.
Nevertheless, in this situation, he realized that this was the first scenario of 'Omniscient Reader',
and he didn't miss the scene where I captured the bug.
I'm sure other readers will feel the same way.
At the very least, they will be observing me and this ahjussi or trying to find bugs themselves.
[There are 25 minutes remaining.]
We observed people for a while. However, no one was doing anything particularly remarkable.
Ahjussi asked.
"About the rest... What are you going to do?"
"The rest?"
"Those people."
Actually, I already knew who he was referring to.
The ones clutching their phones in terror and the ones still struggling to push through the
transparent wall.
"No matter how you look at it, this is real, isn't it?"
"...."
"At this rate, they're all going to die."
I get what he's saying. If he was a reader of 'Omniscient Reader', I could understand saying that.
But I wasn't a reader.
"We can't save them all."
I said, as quietly as possible so that this conversation wouldn't be overheard by the constellations
and the others.
"If we want to safely clear the scenario, we can't change the plot too much, I'm sure you know
that."
"The bug you caught earlier...."
He asked as I paused.
"Why haven't you killed it yet?"
To say this guy is clueless is an understatement.
I said in the most stern voice I could muster.
"Even Kim Dokja wouldn't have saved them, and you know what kind of people they are."
"Kim Dokja...."
The ahjussi's eyes turned dreamy for a moment, and he opened his mouth as if to sift through a
nostalgic memory, then said with a bitter smile.
"My daughter really loved that character."
What in the world had brought this man here?
Suddenly, the old question came back to me.
「If Kim Dokja were to return to the first scenario, what would he do?」
"Hey, there!"
Someone was running like a wild boar in this direction.
It was the big guy who had been pushing the transparent wall earlier.
"What are you guys doing? Can't you see how hard everyone else is working?"
Before I could respond, the big guy grabbed me by the shoulders and shoved me roughly toward
the vending machine. His strength was incredible, like he had a strength level of at least 7.
I exhaled sharply as I was instantly lifted off the ground.
This must be how Kim Dokja felt.
Startled, the ahjussi grabbed the big guy by the arm.
"Wait, you can't do that."
The big guy frowned and looked back at him. It was like he was looking at a bug.
The big guy let go of my grip and slapped him across the face. He let out a faint groan and rolled
on the floor.
"Didn't you hear me? Can't you see the other people over there trying? Did you think I wouldn't
notice if you were hiding out here like rats?"
I steadied my breathing and stepped toward the big guy.
It was the first time I had ever seen such real violence in front of me. Blood splattered on the
floor, and the ahjussi reached for me as if asking for help.
Of course someone would stop him.
It's common sense.
There's no place in the world for that kind of violence.
"You should have helped when we asked for help. Tsk."
"They're hiding to make themselves comfortable?"
"They deserve it."
When I turned my head, they averted their gaze as if they had never said anything.
「I stupidly forgot. This world is fiction.」
I thought, clutching the bug in my pocket with all my might.
I wondered if killing the bug for a few coins would be enough to save him.
No matter how I looked at it, the big guy's physique was far superior to mine or the ahjussi's.
That's when I remembered the system messages.
[You can use the possessed person's exclusive attributes.]
[You can use the possessed person's exclusive skills.]
I was possessing a body.
And this character... was a character I didn't recognize.
'I'll use it.'
I don't know.
Anything is better than "Lee Hakhyun".
[The possessed's exclusive attribute has been activated.]
[The possessed's exclusive skill has been activated.]
With the system message, my mind suddenly calmed down. The things I needed to say and the
things I could do were sorted out.
「Don't be scared. It's actually kind of fun.」
I took a breath and swung my fist as hard as I could at the vending machine.
Bang!
The surprised people took a few steps back.
Bang, and bang.
I don't know how many times I hit the vending machine like that.
A new bug emerged from under the vending machine. Not a grasshopper, not a cockroach, but a
small, nameless bug.
I looked down at it for a moment.
"What is it, do you want to die?"
I looked up and the big guy who had been beating the ahjussi glared at me.
The crowd that had slowly gathered was looking in my direction.
I opened my mouth to speak.
"Everyone."
[The effect of the exclusive attribute is effective.]
This could have been an easy scenario.
But the constellations know, the readers know, and I know that easy scenarios aren't fun.
"I have something to say to all of you."
I could have been drawing attention to myself unnecessarily and made myself a target. I might
do something stupid and ruin everything.
But I had to do this now.
I didn't particularly want to be a hero. This was just the last bit of pride I had left, so to speak.
「"Author-nim."」
Ji Eunyoo's voice rang in my ears.
The ahjussi looked up at me, bleeding.
As I helped him to his feet, I thought to myself.
Maybe this person is one of the theater's readers. Or maybe one of the readers in the theater was
his daughter.
I imagined the audience in my head. But the darkness in the theater was so deep, I couldn't make
out their faces.
「"Have you written anything?"」
So I decided to imagine the Kim Dokja I knew.
A man with a thin face and a cheeky grin.
A friend who loved stories more than anyone else in the world. He was willing to be the
protagonist of my story, and in the end, he really became the story itself.
I sold his stories, made money, and ate.
I survived.
"Now, if you believe me and follow my words."
I must give back to Kim Dokja what I have received.
"I will save you all."
With a story Kim Dokja doesn't know yet.
.
.
.
[A constellation who hasn't revealed their modifier is interested in your story.]
Author's note
Don't tell me it's Kim Dokja?!