Chapter 406
Chapter 406
The system holder, who should have been on the plane with us, had evaporated from my memory.
As if they never existed.
But if this bastard in front of me, Cheong-ryeo, remembered them...
‘There’s no way this prick didn't notice that I didn't know.’
We’d been talking for over half a year; there was no way he hadn't felt a sense of incongruity even once.
He had intentionally kept quiet. His reaction right now practically confirmed it.
I spoke through gritted teeth.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Cheong-ryeo replied with a smile.
"Because I figured you’d react exactly like this, Junior."
"..."
What?
"You probably have a lot on your mind right now... but well, if you set aside your anger or annoyance toward me, there’s only one thing left."
Cheong-ryeo spoke as if it were nothing.
"It’s bothering you, isn't it?"
"...!"
"You’re worried about someone when you don't even know who they are, where they are, or what kind of situation they’re in. Am I wrong?"
"How could it not bother me?"
For fuck's sake, a person literally evaporated. Of course...
No, wait.
I recalled his reaction from the last time I brought up the memory errors regarding my parents.
‘Memories are inherently flawed, so as long as you remember the information necessary for progress, it’s fine...’
Because...
—What you need to be wary of... are the side effects caused by memories.
—Emotions.
And then I realized.
"...Because whether that guy disappears or not has nothing to do with achieving the goal?"
"Exactly."
He narrowed his eyes.
"You have a tendency to rationalize efficiency whenever something starts weighing on your mind, Junior."
Excuse me?
"Hmm, shall I give you an example? Even after the group was already formed, the reason you kept looking out for the TeSTAR members wasn't because it helped with the Grand Prize."
"...!"
Cheong-ryeo stared at me.
"Today, you even performed a meaningless commemorative stage at an awards ceremony with zero buzz."
"..."
"If you’re already paying this much attention to side matters, how much would you worry about the well-being of someone you personally dragged into this?"
I shut my mouth. He stood up from his seat, smiling.
"I think that’s enough of an explanation. If you’re still angry at me—"
"The guy who had the system... he’s in bad shape right now, isn't he?"
"...!"
That was it.
I glared at him.
"If the difference was just that I don't remember and you do, there would have been no need to push things this far."
He could have easily persuaded me by saying he’d take charge of finding the guy since I didn't remember anyway. Like he said, I didn't remember, after all.
But here he was, giving me an excessive answer like, 'If you knew the truth, you'd be too distracted to work.'
"The only explanation is that you know something happened to that guy."
And it had to be something quite... bad.
Bad enough to shake me.
I crossed my arms and glared at him.
"..."
Cheong-ryeo remained unfazed.
"Is there really a need for you to dig so deep into the business of someone you don't even recognize, Junior? You two weren't even that close to begin with."
"Does that even matter? The problem is that you’re trying to deceive me right now, you fucker."
"I didn't deceive you."
He clicked his tongue. This son of a bitch.
"Junior, you have information you haven't shared with me either, don't you? Because you thought the other person wouldn't understand."
"..."
Reflexively, I thought of the list of emoticons on the status window that showed my teammates' current states, then I kept my mouth shut.
He laughed.
"It’s the same for me. I just didn't want you to waste time and resources on someone you don't even know."
He sure was good at spouting bullshit.
"That sounds like you’ll spill if I figure out who he is. I might not remember, but we are acquaintances, aren't we?"
"Hmm?"
He tilted his head to the side.
"But you don't know right now."
I gnashed my teeth.
Getting angry or hitting him would be stupid. Like it or not, he was in my group now, and the moment a violent incident hit the press, it would be a scandal.
‘Fine, let’s approach this rationally.’
I have a brain. Use it.
In a state where the system has gone haywire, what’s the worst thing that could happen to a disappeared system holder?
It was then.
[Th-th-this guy! How can he be so shameless?! Hyung, seriously, if I had a body, I would have punched him!]
The status window.
Looking at Keun-dal’s popup, the answer slipped out of my mouth.
"That guy... he got swallowed by the system."
"..."
Just like what happened to Keun-dal.
"Right?"
Cheong-ryeo didn't answer. It was effectively an affirmation. I clenched my fists.
In that case...
‘There must be a clue.’
I racked my brain desperately.
If he really was absorbed into the system, then I, who was currently using the system, might be able to notice it.
A point where something felt off.
Like when Keun-dal glitched and gave me coins—something out of the blue that didn't follow the usual patterns.
Something exceptional, or something that didn't flow naturally within the system.
"..."
That was...
—Why does this even keep appearing when it’s useless?
Something round and gold like a coin... but only displayed as text.
[Consolation for failure has arrived...]
+ 10G
+ 10G
Gold.
I had no idea why it existed, so I just assumed it was dummy data that popped up when the format was applied.
But if this was... a kind of signal.
A loophole or a bug that was barely permitted within the system.
‘Who do I think of when I think of Gold?’
The answer came immediately.
—Let’s just... call them Gold 1 and Gold 2.
The nicknames I’d given them during <Aju-sa>.
The two who had been connected to me until recently.
‘Ha Il-jun of Golden Age, and Kwon Hee-seung of Spacer.’
"...!"
I suppressed a curse of realization.
Okay, let’s stay calm.
Between the two, whose behavior better fits someone who knows the future?
‘This is too obvious.’
I opened my mouth.
"It’s Kwon Hee-seung."
"..."
The guy who suddenly won the new season of <Aju-sa>, and the guy who had more time to contact me because we were in the same agency—it was him.
Cheong-ryeo’s face remained expressionless, but I saw his eyes narrow and then widen slightly.
‘I was right.’
I clenched my fists and walked right up to the desk where he stood.
"I know now, so answer me."
"..."
"What exactly happened to that guy?"
And how the hell did you know about it?
The expression vanished from Cheong-ryeo’s face, and he slowly opened his mouth.
"Any interest in waiting until the goal is achieved?"
"None."
"Hmm."
He looked down.
And when he raised his head again...
------------------------
[ ∥ ]
------------------------
The world suddenly stopped.
'Ah.'
I looked around.
I had thought the room was already quiet and still enough, but in reality, there were things in motion.
The sound of the TV from the living room, the ticking of the clock, the subtle shifts in light and shadow.
But everything had frozen as if it had been flattened. A world where all motion had vanished and stalled.
And in the midst of it...
"Ah, did I startle you? I was told that to fully visualize this, I had to pause the progress for a moment."
Only one person moved with vitality.
Cheong-ryeo.
"...Pause?"
"Yes. Well, it seems to be a common thing in most games."
He raised a hand.
"They say when you call up the settings menu, the play stops."
And then, countless holograms began to float before my eyes.
Whirrrrr—
The frozen world filled with boxes large and small.
But the text was facing the other way.
Meaning... it wasn't appearing for me to see, but for the guy standing on the other side.
Cheong-ryeo.
[Task: Help the character's smooth game activities!]
[▶ Quest in progress]
[Environment Settings]
Beyond those hologram windows, I also saw text that I never could have imagined, written backward. A UI similar to the one I possessed.
[Character List]
[Ryu Gun-woo (Park Moon-dae): Currently appalled by you (∑//ㅁㅍ;)]
Fuck.
I barely managed to speak.
"What is this?"
"Hmm, where should I start explaining?"
He tapped his chin with a finger. His focus blurred as if he were lost in thought.
A few months ago.
Inside Cheong-ryeo’s private jet crossing the Pacific.
[Hyung, this is strang—]
Shin Jae-hyun saw it before his consciousness faded on the plane.
The actual physical form of what was called a 'Status Window.'
‘So that’s what it looked like.’
He wasn't particularly moved, but what he saw next was a bit of a problem.
Amidst the countless holograms appearing as if they were broken, he saw Kwon Hee-seung being absorbed into those windows, looking like a graphic being disassembled.
‘Hmm.’
That might be a bit troublesome.
By the time his thoughts returned after that, he was already in the practice room with Ryu Gun-woo.
—Damn it!
—Haha.
For a while, he considered the possibility that this was ultimately a 'Restart' and diversified his plans while weighing various possibilities.
But in the end, he was persuaded by Ryu Gun-woo—no, Park Moon-dae.
—Fine.
—Let’s go back to your dog, Kong-i.
He was an impeccable ally. It wasn't that he had no complaints about Park Moon-dae’s choice of companions, but he could overlook that much.
However, there had been an incident before that.
When he returned home to accurately grasp the situation here.
Something that had never happened in all his numerous restarts occurred.
[A task has arrived!]
"...?"
A status window had appeared.
But he was not the player.
[GM: Welcome, Shin Jae-hyun.]
Server: Kwon Hee-seung (Stable)
GM: Shin Jae-hyun
Player: ■■■
"Oh dear."
Shin Jae-hyun smiled faintly.
‘A variable.’
And his hand had grown stronger.
"Yes. Kwon Hee-seung is currently in a state displayed as the server."
"..."
"There was no particular benefit to me. Just that I could monitor your progress well, Junior... that sort of thing."
I pressed my brow.
Cheong-ryeo tilted his head as if reminiscing and smiled.
"And... a few minor support abilities?"
"You."
A memory flashed, and I spoke.
"Don't tell me Kim Rae-bin coming out of the Recruit Colleague gacha immediately was also..."
"Well, once experience points accumulate, it’s possible to briefly adjust the probabilities."
Damn it.
I bit my tongue.
‘I should have suspected it.’
The first friend given in a game tutorial isn't usually a real living account.
It’s usually a GM.
A Game Master’s account.
"You... hid this?"
I grabbed him by the collar. I gripped so hard the fabric felt like it would tear.
"I have no choice but to give you the same answer."
"What?"
But he looked down at me without budging.
"I already told you, I didn't let you know because I was afraid you’d act like this."
"...!"
"It was impossible to do something like a server swap with this hologram."
"Then—"
"Then the remaining effect is obvious. You’d lose efficiency because you’d be worried about the meaning of the server..."
Cheong-ryeo muttered indifferently.
"And you’d be anxious and suspicious about what I might do the entire time."
"..."
"Rather than that, it was better to keep my mouth shut until we got the Grand Prize. It wouldn't be too late to tell you after we went back."
"So you followed those words."
"I’d say I was persuaded by your words instead."
He let out a short, dry laugh.
"The words that if we won the Grand Prize, we’d see the ending and have the option to go back."
"..."
"Ah, you told me to tell you everything, didn't you?"
I stared at Cheong-ryeo. He smiled, though it looked more like a grimace.
"That’s right. There was something else. It said it would give me something in the form of a salary."
He swiped one hologram forward, presenting it right in front of me.
[GM Ending Reward: Companion Selection]
"...!"
Wait, if this is how it is...
"So, I’ve been thinking about it this whole time."
I had a gut feeling about what his next words would be.
"If I wait until Kong-i is born here and can choose her with this selection..."
He narrowed his eyes.
"Then I have nothing to lose, do I? Even if it’s a bit of a detour."
Dammit.
"Think about it, Junior. If you can inherit everything of value, isn't it better here?"
He gently removed my hand from his neck.
"I was originally planning to just follow your lead, but now that things have turned out like this, I’d like to hear more of your thoughts."
He sat down, rested his chin on his hand, and asked seriously.
"What do you think of this possibility?"
"...You—"
"Ah, don't worry about the schedule. We can just keep it paused. It’s my first time using this properly... but there’s no time limit indicated."
He smiled and looked away from the status window.
"So tell me. Until we both completely submit to a single conclusion. Over and over."
"..."
"Because the remaining time is infinite. Haha!"
Fuck.
A tension as if I’d stepped on a landmine settled in. A cold sweat ran down my spine as a biological response.
‘Even so.’
I opened my mouth.
‘What do I do?!’
Keun-dal, the original Park Moon-dae who had become the status window, screamed and spun around in the world of consciousness. This place, which that crazy bastard had paused, had completely lost its vitality.
And a kidnapping drama Season 2 was about to air!
‘Aaaagh, isn't there anything—??’
Then he realized.
Huh?
He, who had been sharing Ryu Gun-woo’s vision, had somehow come outside as if having an out-of-body experience.
‘Wait, what?’
He shot up through the ceiling of the Wishes dorm and soared into the Seoul sky.
‘Wh-what is this?’
Why is this possible? No, more importantly, he had to go back! He couldn't leave Hyung alone.
Just as he made up his mind to somehow cram his consciousness back in...
He saw a sparkle.
‘...Eh?’
Golden circles.
Sparkling things, like Dorothy’s yellow brick road, were forming a path in the air.
And at the end of it was... as a status window, he knew instinctively.
An error mark.
‘Wow.’
I guess you can see things like this because the 'Progress Paused' state is active.
He almost lost his focus for a moment at the intense sparkle of the error, but he soon noticed something.
The only thing that could be called an error here was someone who had regained their memories in an irregular way that the system couldn't catch...
‘Seon A-hyun!’
As soon as he realized that, another possibility popped into his head.
Since his abilities were currently expanded and that person was an error, maybe?
‘I don't know! Let’s just try it!’
With his freed consciousness, he rushed toward Seon A-hyun.
And he just went for it!
[Please help my Hyung!]
"Wh-what...?!"
On the way to Incheon International Airport.
Seon A-hyun, who was getting out of his car in a panic because the world had suddenly stopped, was terrified by the hologram that suddenly appeared.