< Episode 10. Writer (2) >
I looked around the theater.
There were seventeen people waiting on the first floor of the basement.
At first glance, they were not ordinary people.
[Someone has used 'Sneak Peek' on you!]
[Someone has used 'Attribute Detection' on you!]
Detection skill messages flew in as if they'd been waiting for me.
[Sneak Peek] and [Attribute Detection].
They weren't as high-level detection skills as Yoo Joonghyuk's [Sage's Eye], but they weren't
easy to get at this early stage. Readers, too, are out of the ordinary.
['Sneak Peek' failed for an unknown reason!]
['Attribute Detection' failed for an unknown reason!]
Of course, they didn't work on me.
I don't know why it didn't work on me. Come to think of it, I can't even see my own 'Attribute
Window', so it would be odd if they can see it.
Maybe I do have a [Fourth Wall] after all.
'Fourth Wall.'
I called out inside, but there was no response.
I'm strong-minded, so maybe I just blocked them with my mind?
"Ugh."
Anyway, I noticed those who were affected by the rebound of the skill. There were two people
who had a strange reaction.
One was an old man leaning against a stall with a pipe in his mouth, and the other was a woman
with a long cheolgon[3] on her back.
Perhaps they were the ones who had just used the detection skills.
I quickly checked their information using the [Readers' Comments List].
[Checking the reader's profile information.]
+
ID: barampoong
Platform: Textia
Total Comments: 31
Reader Level: 35
Number of Reads: 6 times
+
ID: strawberry1137
Platform: Series
Total Comments: 112
Reader Level: 46
Number of Reads: 8
+
The old man is 0.06 of Killer King.
The woman is 0.08 of Killer King.
Somehow, I ended up evaluating all readers based on Killer King.
I looked at the other readers one by one.
The man standing over there is 0.005 of Killer King, the one next to him is 0.001 of Killer King,
the other next to them is 0.0006 of Killer King... There were quite a few people who didn't
finish the novel.
Other than that, I didn't see anyone with a particularly impressive number of reads.
Everyone's working hard.
"Isn't that Lee Jihye?"
Someone muttered in a low voice.
I looked back at Lee Jihye with a sense of regret.
Lee Jihye couldn't help but stand out, even if they didn't know anyone else. She was described in
a novel.
A hood zipped-up and a ponytail. She carried a long sword. Plus, she has a cute face, so they
couldn't help but notice.
"Hmm?"
Lee Jihye glared in the direction of the sound, and people quickly averted their eyes.
Kyung Sein whispered to me.
"Do you want me to try talking to them?"
I shook my head.
Kyung Sein is a friendly person, so he wouldn't have a problem getting to know them, but....
"We'd better be a little cautious here."
So far, I've been lucky. Kyung Sein, Dansoo ahjussi and Ye Hyunwoo. They've all been good
people.
But Killer King's advice is right. As he said, there was no guarantee that every reader would be a
good person.
[Oh, that's a lot of people now.]
The theater doors at the back slammed shut, and the voice of a dokkaebi called out from the air.
[Now that the last of you have entered... Those of you still in the basement, please come up to
the first floor.]
'Theater Dungeon' is a hidden scenario.
Originally, the dokkaebi wouldn't intervene.
"There are more people upstairs. We should be careful."
At Dansoo ahjussi's words, we exchanged a quick glance and went up to the first floor.
As we entered the lobby, the first thing we saw was a dokkaebi in a suit.
[Welcome. My name is Paul, I'm an intermediate goblin.]
The intermediate dokkaebi Paul.
He appeared in the Omniscient Reader. Messing up the 'Disaster of the Floods' scenario, getting
beaten up by Kim Dokja, and being exiled.
It felt strange to run into him in the 41st turn.
[Hmph... So many people came here this time. We can't even call it a 'hidden scenario'
anymore.]
By now, there were at least 40 people in the lobby on the first floor.
[And you guys are a little late. A few hours ago, the people who discovered this theater went
already pretty far upstairs.]
A screen floated up on the lobby ceiling.
The screen showed the other incarnations attacking the upper levels of the theater dungeon.
—What the hell, it's no big deal, right?
A young man chuckling and slashing at zombies in the movie, his hair dyed white and a tattered
school uniform. A dark aura wrapped around a sharp knife.
I realized who he was.
「Kim Namwoon.」
I wasn't the only one who recognized him. Some people covered their mouths to hide their
surprise, others widened their eyes.
—Hey, soldier, hurry up and follow me. I'll go up before the captain. If you delay me....
The 41st turn Kim Namwoon was still Kim Namwoon.
I could see some readers smiling faintly. Others stiffened their expressions.
Both reactions were understandable.
That 'Kim Namwoon' was definitely the Kim Namwoon we know, and therefore a Kim
Namwoon that was extremely dangerous.
—Namwoon-ssi. This stage is not just about killing zombies....
I could tell even though it was just a voice.
It was the unmistakable Lee Hyunsung.
The readers' expressions changed one by one. They could finally meet another member of the
Kim Dokja's Company.
It was then that Kim Namwoon's scream rang out.
—Uaaaak! What!
The screen shook ominously.
A sharp series of squeals.
A white coat fluttering lightly at the end of the screen.
Immediately, the broadcast stopped.
[That's it for the preview.]
Paul laughed in amusement. There was a mild commotion in the lobby.
"Was that... right?"
"As expected, yes. As long as you manage to get up there somehow...."
"It's a little different from the original development."
I could see where they were coming from.
The 'white coat' is too symbolic an item in Omniscient Reader.
"Inho-ssi. That's Kim Dokja, right?"
Kyung Sein whispered. Her[1] eyes shook with anticipation.
「There might be a Kim Dokja somewhere in this world.」
I can understand that. I don't think there's a reader here who doesn't expect that.
I steeled myself and said.
"This is the 41st turn."
"Well, but what if something happens that we don't know about, and there's a Kim Dokja here—"
"Maybe."
I replied, fiddling with the lemon candy in my pocket.
"And even if he came here like we did, it's not time to get the coat yet, you know."
"Ah. That's right, the Infinite Dimension Space Coat is...."
Kyung Sein's expression turned sour.
"Then who was that person just now?"
"We'll find out when we go up there."
Lee Jihye, who was looking up at the screen from the side, chimed in.
"Ahjussi. Let's go quickly. I don't want to lose to that guy."
I wondered who 'that guy' was and asked.
"Kim Namwoon?"
"What. How do you know his name?"
"He looks like that."
"No, what—"
I looked at Paul, the intermediate dokkaebi.
He had to show the video of the upper floors at this time.
And he's adding psychological pressure by emphasizing that we're 'late'. Normally, this would
have been an unnecessary performance.
That said.
[As you can see, no matter what you do now, you can't keep up with the incarnations of the
upper floors.]
Maybe there's a new scenario I'm not aware of.
[That's why I've organized an event specifically for the latecomers.]
[The constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' wonders what that is.]
[A constellation who hasn't revealed their modifier is curious.]
[The constellation 'Rice Cake-Eating Tiger' worries about the incarnations.]
From the looks of it, I can guess what he's trying to do.
That damned intermediate-grade dokkaebi had started playing games with the owner of this
'Theater Dungeon'.
[Read the scenario description for yourself for more details.]
[A new sub scenario has arrived!]
+
Category : Sub
Difficulty: B
Clear Conditions: The staircase of the 'Cinema Trip' will open in the Theater Dungeon.
You can use the 'Cinema Trip' to quickly catch up to the starters.
Roll the dice, clear the stages, and complete the 'Theater Dungeon' faster than the starters.
Time Limit: —
Reward: ???
Failure: —
+
* You can team up with up to 3 players to start your 'Cinema Trip'.
*From the 1st floor to the 8th floor, every 'staircase' you can step on hides a [Normal Stage],
[Bonus Stage], and [Trap Stage] respectively.
* Each stage has a certain probability of a mission associated with a specific 'movie', and
completing that mission awards a 'dice'.
* You can climb stairs equal to the number of eyes rolled on the 'dice'.
+
I roughly understood the scenario.
So, it's a kind of movie version of a 'board game'.
We're the pieces of the board game in groups of three, and we roll the dice, and if we get a high
number, we go up the stairs. If you get stuck on a stage, you have to complete a mission.
If this is a scenario where you're trying to catch up to the upper incarnations, the stages will be
much shorter than the movie.
"It's like Bl⬛Mar[2], right? Ugh, the filtering."
Both Kyung Sein and Dansoo ahjussi seemed to have figured out what the game was about.
So did other readers.
After all, there's no one in Korea who doesn't know this game.
[I'll give you 10 minutes to form teams.]
The incarnations looked at each other in unison.
Those who already had teams seemed intent on participating as they were, while others looked
around frantically.
—The two next to you. They're Jung Heewon and Lee Jihye, right?
A voice in my ear made me look around.
[Full Voice.]
I didn't realize that someone had already bought the skill.
—Don't look around.
A high-pressure tone.
I scanned the area out of the corner of my eye.
[Full Voice] is a skill that seals sound with magic and transmits it.
The user of this skill couldn't help but move their lips.
—I don't know how you got the S-grade characters already, but come join our group. There are
three of us. Some of us have contracts with narrative-grade constellations, and some of us have
S-grade items.
S-grade items and narrative-grades constellations.
Not a bad offer.
If only it hadn't been for the words that followed.
—You, Lee Jihye and Jung Heewon. I'll take up to three. We can split into two teams and go up
together.
It didn't take me long to find the user of [Full Voice], the woman with the cheolgon on her back
who had used [Attribute Detection] on me.
—Please think about it and answer quickly. Remember, this is real life, not fiction.
Nickname strawberry1137.
8 reads.
I don't know how she could be so confident after reading Omniscient Reader 8 times.
But then I heard another [Full Voice].
—Do you want to team up?
This time, it was the old man. I could tell just by looking at him. He was the only one mumbling
as if he were ventriloquizing.
Nickname barampoong.
6 reads.
—There are two of us. We're fewer in number, but as you can see, I have [Full Voice] and one S-
grade skill. I think you're five... Why don't you join forces with us?
Again, not a bad offer.
By the way, there was already a behind-the-scenes war of nerves, they were meticulous people.
However, they weren't the only readers.
"Excuse me...."
He raised his hand cautiously, he wore a faded sweatshirt and clutched a toothless sword. He
looked around, wondering how he'd gotten here.
He glanced around and asked the innocent question I wished he hadn't.
"H-has anyone read Omniscient Reader?"
There was a collective sigh of despondency. Judging by the looks on people's faces, he was
going to have a hard time finding teammates. It was then that a group of people walked out from
the stalls in the back of the lobby.
"What are you all shaking about? I don't think there's anyone here who hasn't read the novel."
A group of five men and women.
They were the ones I hadn't yet used [Readers' Comments List] on.
The man who seemed to be the leader of the group spoke up.
"It's not a good time to be looking at each other like that."
Several of us gasped at the man's attire.
A white coat and long sword.
Obviously, he wasn't Kim Dokja.
"We're not here to fight amongst ourselves, are we? Isn't the purpose to work together to clear
the dungeon? I'm sure you all received the scenario at the Banquet."
He used his deep voice to dominate the room. He was a good talker.
"I don't think you're all planning on getting blown to bits. Have you forgotten what kind of world
this is?"
The mood turned sour, and the cheolgon woman, who had been listening silently, asked.
"What are you up to?"
"You mean me?"
The man smirked, as if he were Kim Dokja.
"I'm closer to being a 'Kim Dokja' than anyone else in the world right now."
The cheolgon woman smirked.
"You?"
"Yes."
"Are you that confident?"
Indeed, the cheolgon woman, who had read Omniscient Reader 8 times, arrogantly drew out her
cheolgon.
Then the man laughed.
"I'm not just talking about skill."
He drew the sword at his waist.
I could feel Kyung Sein beside me breathing in. Perhaps anyone would have.
A sword broken in half.
A keen reader would recognize the item.
"Broken Faith...!"
There was a commotion in the hall.
The cheolgon woman narrowed her eyes.
"You think a broken sword is enough to make you Kim Dokja—"
Wuuuuh.
A blue-white glow emanated from the man's sword.
An ether blade.
Someone cried out in surprise.
"P-Purest Sword Force?"
"It's the Purest Sword Force!"
For once, the cheolgon woman's expression stiffened.
The man smiled faintly at her, then slowly turned around.
"It's understandable that you're so frightened. But you don't have to worry."
"W-who are you. You're not even the real Kim Dokja."
"Of course I'm not Kim Dokja."
The man laughed, looking a little sad.
"Probably even 'Kim Dokja' wouldn't know more about this world than I do?"
The man, who had overwhelmed everyone in the room with his performance, casually revealed
his identity.
"I'm the one who wrote 『Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint』."
Author's Note
It's not us.
+) Readers, we're really sorry. Due to our scheduling mistake, the upload of the series on Munpia
was late. ᅮᅮ We will be careful not to do this next time.
[1] They used "her" now so I'll go back to she/her unless stated otherwise.
[2] Blue Marble Game is a Korean board game similar to Monopoly (Wikipedia).
[3] 철곤: I think it's something like an iron rod.