< Episode 4. An Unwalked Road (3) >
We stood side by side, holding on to one of the thorns.
"You can't pass out!"
"Don't worry!"
I said, but I wasn't sure if my physical strength would hold up.
Normally, I would have used my 'Elaine Forest Essence' to heal my wounds and get moving, but
I was in a hurry now that I'd lost [Purest Sword Force].
The sooner I could get out of here and get the other hidden pieces, the safer I would be.
Especially if this world is the one I think.
What happened to Kyung Sein and Dansoo ahjussi? I need to tell them about the 'Yoo
Joonghyuk' I saw as soon as possible.
My eyelids kept dropping.
I don't know how many times I blacked out and woke up again.
"Wake up!"
Jung Heewon pinched my waist with her left arm.
"Inho-ssi!"
"Ah."
The ichthyosaur's movements had slowed down. The crimson-colored stomach walls had turned
almost grayish white.
"I think it's done. Just a little more to go...."
It was then that something unexpected happened.
I heard a sound like a wind leak from somewhere, and a large, sharp set of teeth appeared, slicing
through the guts from the outside.
I instinctively screamed.
"Hold your breath!"
The black river rushed in through the cracks. We clung to each other's arms and were swept away into the Han River.
[An error has occurred in the hidden scenario.]
[The hidden scenario was partially completed.]
Something attacked the ichthyosaur, targeting the 'stomach'.
The gut of the torn ichthyosaur scattered in the dark river. Through the swirling blood, two
hideous eyes glared at me.
A monster twice as large as the one that had devoured us.
I recognized it immediately.
The ichthyosaur that swallowed Kim Dokja.
Sea-commander.
My heart sank as I saw the sea commander charging to devour us and Jung Heewon's horrified
expression.
「Jung Heewon is going to die.」
From the first scenario to being eaten by the ichthyosaur, what I did ran through my head like a
movie.
How I had changed the story with the arrogance of writing the original.
I shouldn't have rehabilitated the Cheoldoo Group.
I shouldn't have gone out looking for Kim Dokja or Yoo Joonghyuk.
「Are you really Cheon Inho?」
It would have been better if I had been killed by Jung Heewon while pretending to be a villain
like in the original novel. Then she would have awakened safely as the 'Judge of Destruction'.
She would have survived.
I began to untie the knot on my right arm with my teeth.
Jung Heewon looked back at me in horror. When I finished, I felt rather at peace.
「This is a fitting end for the villain Cheon Inho.」
My body slowly sank beneath the water, along with the loose knot.
Bubbles of air flowed out of Jung Heewon's mouth as she shouted something at me.
I saw the sea commander opening his mouth at me and Jung Heewon reaching for me.
In my fading consciousness, I heard the tick, tick, tick of time stopping.
[A new day has begun.]
[Your creativity has been recharged.]
I realized what was about to happen.
[The character 'Jung Heewon' wants to do something unexpected.]
[The exclusive skill '⬜⬜' is activated!]
[You have entered the 'Snowfield'.]
Looking at the blank space in front of me, a bitter laugh escaped from his dwindling
consciousness.
Damn it. I'm supposed to write until I die.
+]
# Jung Heewon's Awakening
「Jung Heewon
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜....」
* At your current skill level, you can write a total of 180 additional characters.
+
[You can stay in the 'Snowfield' for a total of 4 minutes.]
I looked at the first sentence of the blank line.
「Jung Heewon.」
I wonder if it's okay if I keep writing.
[There are 3 minutes remaining.]
For some reason, I was not confident. Something was different from Kim Cheolyang and Bang
Cheolsoo.
I remembered how I felt as a child when I received my first manuscript.
As I looked at the vague blank page, I naturally remembered the snowy landscape I saw with
Kim Dokja.
In my dream, Kim Dokja said.
「It's dazzling.」
He said.
「Anything can become a reality in this place.」
It snowed heavily from the sky, and we lay side by side in the snow and looked back at the
footprints we walked together. Before I knew it, the footprints were hard to see.
「Because no one remembers what they were.」
I don't remember if he said that.
But the spot where I laid with Kim Dokja was strangely comfortable and warm. If I could, I
wanted to stay there forever, curled up in a tight ball and writing nothing.
Nevertheless, I couldn't.
Because I am a writer.
「Jung Heewon remembered that day」
If I don't write, I can't live.
「for the first time in a long time.」
So I wrote the sentence.
I chose words like I would choose clothes for Jung Heewon, and I chose endings like I would
choose shoes for her.
I imagined her wearing those shoes, walking down a road that no one remembers.
[This story might be possible.]
[This story's reproduction success rate is 50%.]
[Current Accumulated Probability: 10]
[You can increase the reproduction success rate by investing more probability.]
'I'll do it.'
[You have spent 10 probability points.]
[You can write an additional 160 characters.]
I continued to write sentence after sentence. Would these lies I wrote save her life.
I don't know.
But I had to try everything I could.
[This story is plausible.]
[This story's reproduction success rate is 88%.]
[Do you want to check the reader's feedback?]
'Yes.'
There were three comments this time.
+
rlaehrwk37: Cheer up
rlaehrwk61: Cheer up
rlaehrwk99: Cheer up
+
I thought, my mouth open in disbelief.
Thank you.
[Successfully recreating the scene.]
[Leaving the 'Snowfield'.]
Time began to pass again. My breathing unraveled, and weak bubbles escaped my mouth.
I didn't write about whether I would survive; there was no room for that.
But I did write at least one thing for sure.
「Jung Heewon remembered that day for the first time in a long time.」
That you, who live this story, will surely survive.
「'Heewon, you're too aggressive. This is a sport. You can't really hurt your opponent.'」
「'This month alone, three people have quit because of you. There's a kid with a broken arm. If
you continue like this, I won't be able to keep protecting you.'」
A pure white light emanated from Jung Heewon's body.
「Jung Heewon couldn't quite understand the couch's words. Wasn't the sword made to kill
opponents?」
Kim Dokja once said. He said that he likes the moment a character's attribute blossoms the most.
「Isn't it more strange if you don't get hurt while fighting with a sword?」
Now I agree with Kim Dokja.
[The attribute of the character 'Jung Heewon' is blossoming.]
I couldn't put it any other way.
The figure of Jung Heewon, who is now cutting through the tide and approaching, is truly
dazzling.
Her hot hands grabbed my hands strongly. I felt my body being firmly anchored.
Jung Heewon looked back at the sea commander as she clutched the ground rat knife.
Riding the rapids, she swooped toward the sea commander as if she had wings.
[The character 'Jung Heewon' has used 'Kendo Lv.3'!]
[The character 'Jung Heewon' has used 'Demon Slaying Lv.2'!]
No matter how strong Jung Heewon is, she can't defeat a sea commander with just [Kendo] and
[Demon Slaying].
But I wrote that it is possible. So it should be possible.
It will be possible.
「Jung Heewon wanted to ask the couch.」
It is possible.
「'Is it okay to kill this thing?'」
In my fading consciousness, the words were slurred.
Somewhere in the distance, I could hear Jung Heewon's shout.
「The dormant senses in her soul were awakening.」
In the blink of an eye, the ground rat sword broke through the spray and plunged into the sea
commander's left eye. The bleeding sea commander howled wildly.
Jung Heewon didn't stop and pulled the thorn from my waistband. The sea commander's tail cut
through the water and grazed her waist.
The enormous impact jolted the view.
She squinted her bloodshot eyes, clutched me tightly with one arm, and drove the thorn into the
ichthyosaur's tail.
「'This is not a sport.'」
That was a sentence I didn't write.
「'If I don't kill this monster, someone else will die.'」
[A constellation who hasn't revealed their modifier agrees with incarnation 'Jung Heewon's will.]
And a message came from somewhere.
[The constellation 'Nail-Eating-Rat' agrees with incarnation 'Jung Heewon's will.]
The light emanating from her body grew stronger and stronger.
[The constellation 'Rice Cake-Eating Tiger' agrees with incarnation 'Jung Heewon's will.]
[The constellation 'Monarch of the Small Fries' agrees with incarnation 'Jung Heewon's will.]
[The constellation 'Pig Living in a Brick House' agrees with incarnation 'Jung Heewon's will.]
[The constellation 'Primordial Cow' agrees with incarnation 'Jung Heewon's will.]
[The constellation 'Sneaking Schemer' agrees with incarnation 'Jung Heewon's will.]
....
I felt an invisible Libra tilting.
[All constellations in the channel agree to the use of the skill.]
['Hour of Judgment' has been activated.]
Hour of Judgment.
A skill that grants invincibility when activated against the wicked.
However, the enemy in front of us was a monster.
[The attribute of the character 'Jung Heewon' has blossomed to 'Demon Slaying Judge (Hero)'.]
With a dazzling flash of light, a blood-colored aura enveloped Jung Heewon's body.
Demon Slaying (滅魔) Judge.
Surely, there was such an attribute. It was one of the three great judges' attributes, but it hadn't
appeared in the main story.
It wasn't a class that specialized in hand-to-hand combat like the Judge of Destruction, but it was
an indestructible hero class that increased its combat power many times against monsters.
[You have contributed greatly to the blossoming of the attribute 'Crouching Figure'!]
[The character 'Jung Heewon' won't hesitate to be your sword in the future.]
With an eerie trajectory, the thorn moved forward and stabbed the sea commander's body.
Jung Heewon stabbed and stabbed and stabbed at the sea commander like a madman. From the
tail, to the body, to the neck, to the crown. When she finally stabbed the second eye, it jerked as if it had been electrocuted, and then went
limp.
Its lifeless body floated to the surface of the Han River.
Jung Heewon, with me on her back, soared into the sky on the back of the sea commander.
Along with the rushing river, I could see the ruined city of Seoul.
Smoke rising from everywhere. Collapsed buildings, and the indifferent moon hanging over the
ruins of civilization.
The destruction I wrote became the landscape.
「'Dazzling.'」
Looking at the landscape of the end of the world as we knew it, Jung Heewon was thinking the
same thing I was.
Perhaps this was the landscape that Kim Dokja and Jung Heewon shared.
['Hour of Judgment' has ended.]
And now I was looking at that astounding world with her.
Jung Heewon, who had landed on the ground with me on her back, fell forward.
In the distance, I could see a poisonous mist rolling in.
I tied another knot in her arm, then dragged her to the basement of a nearby building to hide.
[You have bought 2 'Elaine Monkey's Lungs'.]
I popped a lung into Jung Heewon's mouth, and I popped a lung into mine.
Starlight streamed in from the basement window. It was a little cold, and strangely, my heart
didn't stop pounding.
The night of destruction was long.
I looked at Jung Heewon as she slept and thought long and hard about the lies I had written and
would write in the future.
*
On the Han River, in the solitary moonlight.
The dead sea commander's stomach lurched several times, and then a figure crawled out of the
faded scales.
"Ha, I almost died. Really."
She brushed the blood off her coat and looked around, sighing softly.
"That's the first time I've ever had a scenario stolen from me, by the way. What an asshole."
But there was no one to hear her. Well, there was one.
[The constellation 'Sneaking Schemer' chuckles and says this place is a bit unusual.]
"What are you laughing at, dude. Why do you have that modifier?"
[The constellation 'Sneaking Schemer' asks what's wrong with his modifier.]
"What about the others?"
[The constellation 'Sneaking Schemer' says not yet.]
She pursed her lips lightly, as if in disbelief, and sighed deeply again.
After a moment, she looked up, an odd smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"Well, it's my first scenario in a long time."
Her eyes sparkled intensely for a moment as she stared off into space, searching for a star
somewhere in the night sky.
"I'm going to live for myself first."
Author's Note
Gasp