Chapter 187
Chapter 187
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 187
Chapter Title: The Doppelganger Village
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“Fruit! Get your fruit here!”
“Waaah. Mooom…”
“Sigh. I told you not to run. Does it hurt a lot? Let me see.”
I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling—no, an unfamiliar village. The subspace felt like it wouldn’t open again once closed, so I clutched the codex like a lifeline and looked around.
It was an utterly ordinary village no matter where I looked. The smell of baking bread wafted from somewhere, and children laughed as they ran through the alleys.
A scene starkly different from my previous nightmares. I glanced around for a moment before slowly starting to walk down the street.
‘Cain. Or Zero.’
One of those two nightmares. But this peaceful vibe? Why?
Nothing but ordinary people everywhere I looked. I wandered for quite a while, but found no oddities.
Yet there was this strange sense of unease brushing against my skin.
Feeling a bit tired from walking, I bought a chicken skewer and two roasted potatoes, popping them into my mouth as I tilted my head.
‘There’s clearly nothing strange, but something feels off.’
An itchy sensation, like a thought just on the tip of my tongue. The sun was slowly setting. A heavily drunk man staggered past.
‘Hm?’
I followed the man with my eyes, then slowly turned and walked deeper into the alley.
From the alleys near the taverns to the shadowy slums further in.
But the slums were empty, and though there were drunks around, no brawls could be heard.
Late at night, there were always fights or arguments somewhere, with patrol squads or vigilantes making rounds accordingly.
Yet there were no vigilantes or patrolmen, no thugs lurking in the dark back alleys, not even any poor folk?
The people on the streets all seemed happy, with no sign of great sorrow or suffering.
A chill crept over me as I scanned the surroundings. Far off in the distance, I spotted smoke rising faintly alongside the sound of a war horn.
‘Too far away.’
I wanted to check it out right away, but the distance was too great.
I headed back to the bustling main street and started asking around the shops for information.
A village this size should have carriages running, but even scrubbing my eyes raw, I couldn’t spot a single one.
In my growing urgency, I saw a man leading a small horse used for farming or hauling luggage. I rushed right up to him.
“Sell me that horse.”
I pulled a gold coin from the pouch at my waist and offered it. The man’s eyes went wide as he looked at me, his face twisting into a strange expression.
“What do you need the horse for?”
“You don’t need to know that.”
It was just a nightmare anyway—no real people here. I had no patience for haggling, so I shoved the gold into his hand and snatched the reins. Suddenly, the man clamped down on my wrist with painful strength and grinned.
“…A human?”
“A human?”
“Did you say… human?”
At the man’s words, everyone passing by snapped their heads toward me.
All of them. From the hunched old folks to the snot-nosed kids, they stared right through me and started coming this way.
Something flashed through my mind in that instant.
‘User’s Eye.’
[Jax—Doppelganger that Copied Jax], [Tom—Doppelganger that Copied Tom], [Brown—Doppelganger that Copied Brown]…
Everyone in the street—no, the entire village—was a doppelganger.
I tried to wrench my hand free from the man’s grip, but it hurt too much, so I had no choice but to open the codex.
“I caught you first, so I get to ea—Argh!”
I blasted him away with a Magic Missile, shook off my stinging hand, and hurriedly mounted the packhorse, grabbing the reins.
“Hyah!”
“Stop right there!”
“A handsome face like that would be perfect. I’m gonna eat him!”
“Let’s share. Okay?”
Men, women, old, young—they all chased after me like it was a game of tag, no exceptions.
It wasn’t a warhorse, so while its stamina was decent, its speed wasn’t. I had to hurl spells at them now and then as I desperately fled the village.
“Damn it.”
The moment I activated User’s Eye, countless doppelganger traits became visible.
The oppressive weight of it sent a cold wave of terror through me.
I shook my head once and spurred the horse relentlessly toward where I’d heard the horn and seen the smoke.
* * *
My body felt heavy.
No—more precisely, it wouldn’t move according to my will.
I was conscious, but it was like being locked in a prison; I couldn’t do a thing.
Nothing at all.
“Mon…ster.”
Someone slapped the man across the face at his words.
The small golden coronet on his head clattered sharply to the ground and rolled away from the impact.
“Even if he’s no commoner but royalty, he should at least feel honored to be brought before our sovereign.”
At the scolding voice, the man—blood trickling from his mouth—ground his teeth and looked up.
The monster reflected in his eyes had long gray hair and green, jewel-like irises.
“I hate you, Doppelganger Lord! No matter how much you devour me, you won’t break my will. I reject you! I swear it on my soul—I will remain myself forever!”
The Doppelganger Lord opened his mouth languidly at the man’s desperate cry.
“Everyone says that. Until they become my child.”
Zero.
No—the Doppelganger Lord placed a hand atop the terrified human man’s head.
In an instant, the man melted away, absorbed into the shadow at the lord’s feet, only to be reborn from the long shadow trailing behind him like a cape.
The reborn man knelt and shuffled toward the Doppelganger Lord on his knees, pressing his lips to the hem of his garment.
An unprecedented sense of sameness and belonging. Awe toward the one who granted the ecstasy of being connected to all.
With every step he took.
New life was born atop death.
“Uwaaah…! Hold the line! The front can’t fall back any further!”
“You monster! Give me back my friend!”
“Don’t you remember? Back when we were kids herding sheep, we lost a lamb and searched all night. You remember our talks from then. What’s so different now?”
“Hey, Jake. Remember trembling together in the trenches just yesterday? I’m not scared anymore. Feels freeing, even. I only regret it didn’t happen sooner.”
“Stop lying! You’re not… you’re not my comrade!”
His comrade, dead just moments ago, came back to life with a smile. The face and memories were the same, but that thing was a monster.
A monster that devoured humans to live.
Magic bolts flew everywhere on the battlefield. The one who’d died protecting his comrade just now revived and stabbed the very ally he’d given his life for, all while inviting him to join.
Those who died were swallowed by the Doppelganger Lord and reborn.
Trapped inside the Doppelganger Lord’s body with only his consciousness adrift, Zero felt like he was suffocating from the torment.
He had devoured hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of lives.
From birth to growth, aging, and death—every moment.
Lives repeated, and repeated, and repeated, and repeated, and repeated.
Those memories tangled into not a single personality, but shattered fragments that dominated the body.
Large chunks showed their divisions clearly, but the finer they were ground—smaller than grains of sand—the more they appeared as one from afar.
Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of memories entwined, dominating consciousness as if they were a single entity. And at the center, the Doppelganger’s existence remained purely intact.
Devour everything alive on the continent and become one. Each retains their memories and lives as such, but ultimately a hive ruled by the Doppelganger Lord.
One, yet all; all, yet one. Living beings.
Under the lord’s name, all would become equal and happy. “Free will” written large, “within the bounds permitted by the lord” read small.
Individuals living with their own egos, yet everything controlled by the lord—no conflicts, no sorrows.
Loneliness and pain existed because of walls between self and others, the sense that no one truly understood you.
Lack of understanding bred jealousy, envy, hatred, tragedy—all because self and others couldn’t connect or empathize.
But once devoured by the lord and reborn, I am you, you are us.
No need to clash from misunderstanding, no pity for the lesser, no envy for the superior.
Live out the given memories and life faithfully, and what remains is the Doppelganger core, linking to a new life.
So what if this life is harsh? This life is me, that one is me too.
Right now, the Doppelganger Lord was the natural predator of humans and ain alike.
Monsters, even mighty dragons.
Once all were devoured, the continent would turn like a perfectly oiled stage play—no extreme suffering or torment.
Everyone playing their roles, blissfully content.
‘No. No. This is wrong.’
Amid the flood of memories, Zero screamed in silence.
Devour and devour. With every step, blood and death scattered, and new beings emerged from the shadow cape trailing behind.
“Monster…”
Someone uttered the word, only to be reborn and kneel in submission.
No matter the hatred, loathing, or primal fear—at last devoured and reborn, nothing remained but awe.
A true monster.
‘Please… make it stop…’
To avoid this, he hadn’t swallowed Cain’s blood.
One of countless memories glimpsed through devouring Gamur’s blood repeatedly. A past that might come, or might have been—a future.
Before the entire continent was devoured, he prayed someone would stop it.
Zero prayed.
* * *
“What the hell is this?”
Spurring the packhorse up the hill, it looked like the apocalypse itself.
A battlefield devoid of corpses.
The dead revived and moved again, or melted into cores that vanished somewhere.
Blood flowed like rivers, yet not a single body lay there—a paradox.
A massive war. Humans and ain fought intermingled, one side swinging weapons in terror and grim resolve, the other tinged with pity, faces full of compassion as they “saved” their foes by killing them.
When one fell, they threw the body into the shadows with utter joy. Soon after, it revived and rejoined the fray.
At the rear of that colossal war, someone strolled leisurely, swallowing the deaths hurled his way and birthing new life.
A man standing tall amid all the tragedy.
Gray hair fluttering, green jewel-like eyes.
Not the face that always smiled so gently, but one hollow and empty.
The Doppelganger Lord. Devourer of all.
‘That’s not Zero.’
Zero, yet not Zero. Not the Doppelganger Lord we had named.
His form if he hadn’t been trapped in the labyrinth? The main streams closest to endings—there were five.
War with beastkin, plague, monster wave, imperial throne civil war, undead uprising.
But perhaps this was even nearer to the continent’s doom.
Master of all living things.
I watched the Zero at the back—empty-eyed, mechanically devouring the dead and rebirthing them—then spurred my horse forward.
“Zero!”
Look at me!
I’m your master.
At my voice, dozens, hundreds turned.
The packhorse neighed and charged with vigor. Hundreds, thousands of eyes sized me up.
Sensing I posed no threat—talentless as I was—or perhaps deeming it better to kill one more, they all rejoined the battle.
And the one at the very back.
No—the Doppelganger Lord alone regarded me fully and spoke.
“Did you call for me?”
“Yeah.”
“Have you come to kiss the hem of my garment?”
I burst out laughing at that.
Ah, good thing I hadn’t used the subspace yet.
With the most arrogant expression imaginable, I opened the subspace.
“Enough now. Time to go back. That’s an order.”
“No one commands me. Submit to me as well.”
Right—casual orders lacked compulsion.
The Doppelganger Lord approached, slowly raising his palm to my face.
And I pulled out the divine contract from the subspace, grinning darkly.
“The sub can’t perform any threatening acts against the dom, you idiot. Let’s go back, Zero. That’s an order.”
His impassive eyes, fixed on me clutching the contract and issuing the command, gradually softened, curving like those of a gentle giant dog.
“Yes. Adelian-nim.”
Zero smiled slowly.