Chapter 412
Chapter 412
My mind turns ice-cold.
This thing knows I call it the System.
How much does it know? No, before that…
‘…It can speak?’
Communication was possible this whole time?
[You are questioning my existence.]
The world, now reduced to mere outlines, warps every time a sound is heard.
An immense presence fills the space, exerting a crushing pressure that feels unbearable to a lowly creature…
‘Shut up.’
What the fuck is it talking about?
A parasitic bastard that jumps from human host to human host shouldn't act so high and mighty. I need to keep my head straight and not get sucked into its pace.
I bit the inside of my cheek. The sharp pain seemed to bring my senses back.
A soft voice hummed through the air.
[Do you not like it here?]
[I thought I had crafted it well.]
The vocabulary is remarkably human. That makes it even more skin-crawling.
“Did you make this?”
[Yes.]
[This sort of act… is what you would call receiving feedback.]
Thump.
The space surged.
The framework surfaced, and then even the vague shapes and traces vanished, bleached away.
All that remained was a colorless void.
[Is something lacking?]
But I was still here.
I bit my tongue and forced my mouth open.
“Lacking or not, you’ve got a lot to say for a guy who uses someone’s parents to scam them.”
A wave of will fluctuated. I couldn't tell if it was agitation or laughter, but it felt disgusting either way.
I straightened my back and stood facing forward.
My legs were trembling.
However, I forced strength into them and didn't budge.
“There’s no way I’d like it. …And, come out.”
I spoke calmly.
“I have no intention of talking to thin air anymore.”
A moment of silence.
Slowly, a sluggish will resonated.
[So that is the procedure.]
And then, I realized where that feeling of ‘I think I’ve heard this before’ came from.
“…!”
It appeared suddenly.
It didn't fall from the sky, nor did it rise from the ground.
It just popped up, as if it had been there all along.
Right in front of my eyes.
[Hello.]
It was a familiar face.
Tall, a body maintained to the absolute limit, a man in his early to mid-twenties.
Cheong-ryeo.
The bastard was wearing a black uniform. It was the outfit VTIC wore for their famous first comeback stage of Hone six years ago.
Looking as if he had jumped straight out of the days when I used to sell data, the System nodded with a smile.
The Shin Jae-hyun from VTIC’s golden age stood there.
Chillingly identical.
‘Fuck.’
[I chose an appearance close to you.]
There was only one difference: the pigment.
As if it belonged to this colorless space, it was ghostly white, devoid of any color.
“…….”
Feeling cold sweat run down my spine, I lifted my head again.
[Now, let us talk.]
The sound resonated. An even greater presence filled the invisible air, leaving not a single gap.
[This is a proposal I am giving only to you.]
Yet, it was soft. As if it were truly making a wonderful offer.
The System declared:
[I will incorporate your feedback into this world.]
“…!”
What?
[Shall I adjust your age and the era to suit your preferences? Shall I change your affiliation? Or… shall I return you to Park Moon-dae’s body?]
“…!”
[As long as you provide your opinion, almost anything is theoretically possible within the environment settings. Provided it allows for verisimilitude.]
I kept my mouth shut.
The voice rippled even more craftily.
[Everyone close to you is here as well. You woke them up yourself. There is nothing lacking.]
[But if there is still something you find insufficient, I will allow you to purchase it.]
Purchase?
[With Fame Exp.]
Fame points.
The currency that serves as experience points in this game system.
[Its uses have been limited until now, but I will release many more from now on. Since it is a new chapter.]
The System was talking about an update.
[Let us implement your parents more perfectly as well. They were lacking this time because they were prototypes.]
This crazy son of a bitch.
[You are refusing. Even so… the conditions are the same as before. Is that not right?]
…Are you saying I didn't have parents to begin with?
I realized it clearly then.
This thing isn't human. It’s not just a matter of appearance; it doesn't understand human emotion at all.
It can't even grasp the problems that even that bastard Cheong-ryeo understood.
‘Don’t get sucked in.’
I took a short breath.
‘Calm down.’
What I need to do.
Is find out information.
“Why are you making this proposal?”
I asked a question that was neither an affirmation nor a denial.
“Are you trying to suck up to me because you’re afraid I’ll try to get rid of you again once I’m out? What do you want?”
[---]
The world shook again. I knew what that meant.
It was ridicule.
A distantly overbearing vibration descended like needles from high above before turning into a voice.
[I request only one thing.]
The System raised a finger.
[Idol.]
The figure, looking like the incarnation of that profession, moved its lips.
[Do not retire; just continue being an idol. Until you grow tired of it.]
[It is a choice that is neither difficult nor taxing.]
I let out a deliberate smirk.
“Don't make me laugh.”
[…….]
“A suggestion? If it were me, I would have killed me instantly. There are plenty of people who are idols or want to be idols.”
Ever since this bastard started talking, I’ve been deliberately scratching at it, slowly raising the intensity, but it still hasn't said it would kill me.
How about this?
“You’re doing this because you can’t kill me, aren't you?”
I declared.
The System stood still.
“Because I….”
[I cannot kill you?]
A flat voice resonated.
And suddenly.
The world came crashing down.
Vrrr—
Vrrr—
Vroom—
Pressure, heavier than anything, suddenly crushed my head and brain, a deep-sea pressure that felt like it was wringing out my entire body.
The System is this world.
The world it constructed asked:
[I cannot kill you?]
You damn bastard.
My body felt like it was burning with cold sweat and fever. But I gritted my teeth and answered. In fact, I knew for sure now.
“That’s right!”
It’s overreacting because it can't kill me.
‘It’s agitated.’
I’ll stab it right here.
“And you. …That appearance.”
I thought of Keun-dal, who was being assimilated into the status window.
It seemed he had been almost unilaterally influenced and absorbed by the System. But at the same time, he exerted influence on the System.
If so,
“You didn't choose it.”
This bastard repeated countless lives with Cheong-ryeo for a very long time.
In the raw, without a status window.
If so,
“Is it that you can’t be anything else but that?”
I shouted.
“Isn't it because you were influenced by a human too?”
The world stopped.
And.
[Correct.]
The vibration of the voice vanished.
I gasped for breath.
In a voice that sounded almost human, the System muttered.
[When you are involved with one mind for a long time, you become submerged in it. It is a significant side effect….]
[But because the gains were greater, it was a successful direction.]
For a moment, I thought I detected joy in the System’s voice.
‘Fuck.’
I straightened my body and asked again.
“What the hell are you?”
[I have been here since long ago.]
[Inside the minds of sentient beings.]
It really is a parasite, fuck.
[I fulfill the desires of a sentient being, and the intense emotions and chaos produced in that process are resources. Mental energy.]
[That energy maintains and grows my intelligence.]
It sure knows how to dress up its words. I swallowed hard.
“Then why an idol?”
Why emphasize that?
Moreover, from Cheong-ryeo to Kwon Hee-seung, it doesn't seem like a coincidence that three people in a row have the profession of an idol.
“On what basis did you choose us?”
The System smiled like a photograph.
[Because there has never been anything with such high efficiency.]
Efficiency?
The bastard, raising its hand, spoke like a polite salesman.
[I searched for energy like that for a very long time…. Then, I met a new individual.]
Cheong-ryeo.
His longing and obsession for a successful idol group.
[To think that such direct, vast, and living torrents of emotion could gather into a single sentient being.]
[Overwhelming envy, the crushing pressure of responsibility, happiness, pain, the king and the jester. Countless emotions that the leader of a cult might receive.]
[I harvested so much energy.]
“…….”
Heat seeped into its voice as if it were intoxicated.
But it wasn't in a human way. The System spoke flatly.
[Your identity, which carries the meaning of an 'Idol' (U-sang), receives so much worship, affection, hatred, and loathing simultaneously.]
[Truly… a magnificent individual.]
[It was very good. But it ended.]
Because Cheong-ryeo eventually succeeded in ending the status effect.
[So I looked for a similar sentient being.]
Me.
[You.]
[You were also magnificent.]
“…….”
The thing reached out its hand.
[You were happy. I know.]
[You will do that here forever. Live as the most famous idol in this country, in this world, until you grow tired of it. And if you make a mistake, again; if you are about to fall, again; if the end is in sight, again.]
[An eternal star!]
Click.
A brilliant radiance flashed in the world that had been empty.
[Until the day you grow weary and exhausted, you can live a successful life.]
And then it whispered again.
[But if you eventually want to stop everything, it is fine to stop.]
As long as it can find the next host.
[You only need to enjoy this right until then. As much as you want.]
The world glowed.
A strange, overwhelming emotion surged, making it feel like everything would go well if I just accepted this.
As if a perfect world, incorporating only the advantages of reality, would be created.
I looked at the System, which had regained its color before I knew it, and asked.
“What about Kwon Hee-seung?”
[……]
“What happens to him?”
The light of the world vanished.
And a soft voice was heard.
[A server performs the role of a server.]
[That is the business of another person that has nothing to do with you. There are countless deaths and pains in the world. It is not a problem for you to concern yourself with individually.]
Is that so?
[Still, if you wish, I can create him here….]
“Just like my parents, you mean.”
I cut it off, my voice low.
“While you use the real one as a server.”
[---.]
Affirmation.
I interpreted the vibration that didn't even become a voice.
And I asked again.
“Is this a dream Kwon Hee-seung is having?”
[It is not like that.]
The voice returned.
[However, it must be based on the mental structure of that medium to become solid. To implement it as reality rather than a dream, a server is necessary.]
[That is all.]
[Since nothing will change regardless of the choice you make, it is merely the circumstance of another person that will not affect your decision.]
The System reached out its hand again.
The white hand with distinct joints felt powerful and overwhelming. As if it could grant everything. I opened my mouth.
“I refuse.”
[…….]
“I don't make deals with things I can't trust.”
The vibration stopped.
White noise, as if it were performing calculations.
Contemplation.
Result.
[In that case.]
[I must change the roles.]
The System spoke quietly.
“…!!”
I felt myself melting away.
‘Fuck.’
My body, which had a form, gradually disappeared, and my sense of touch slowly vanished.
In a bizarre situation where only sight and hearing barely remained, a sound hummed.
[I must use you as the server.]
[And….]
In a world where everything had blurred, a single outline became clear.
Another figure appeared.
“…….”
The real Cheong-ryeo.
The bastard, whose outline was much clearer than the System’s, didn't even waver at the sudden situation and stared straight ahead.
The two figures, identical in appearance, faced each other in the same posture as if looking into a mirror.
[You were watching, right? I will make the proposal immediately.]
[It would be more efficient for you to play directly instead of being the GM. Ryu Gun-woo is uncooperative for the role of a character.]
The System spoke with the same tone and voice.
[If we use the server well, the side effects will not progress further. Let us live the life of the perfect idol you desire forever.]
[It is your most core desire.]
Cheong-ryeo tilted his head to the side.
And he answered.
“No.”
At that moment, the bastard activated the GM authority.
A status window popped up before me.
‘…Plan B.’
—We need an alternative.
That’s right.
Another method of generating an error that we had devised in case things went wrong.
—What if I regain all the memories the System distorted?
—Starting from the memories that were cut off at the very beginning… when I entered Park Moon-dae’s body.
Awakening returns the forgotten memories of a previous life.
[An awakened colleague remembers all timelines and grows.]
And there are two forms.
First, awakening a colleague.
This is the method I’ve used until now, returning memories to the other guys.
‘And the second.’
Awakening myself.
[Would you like to Awaken?]
—Use 1,000 Exp
I pressed the button.
Pouring in all my fame points.
—Use 2,000 Exp
—Use 4,000 Exp
—Use 8,000 Exp
—Use 16,000 Exp
—Use 32,000 Exp
—Use 64,000 Exp
…….
Rapid fire.