Chapter 103
Chapter 103
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: -15
Chapter Title: The Truth Revealed
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"Damn... You're really useless."
"..."
What could I even say in response?
I'd desperately hoped Hyeok Tae-jun would make it out alive after going in alone due to my screw-up, but he'd even managed to bring back Paradoxical Time.
"Isn't it because he figured out the clues Ed demanded in a straightforward way?"
When I asked how the hell he'd pulled it off, he said it was thanks to his brilliant deductive skills.
"No, seriously. How?"
But it was way too hard to buy his explanation just like that.
Sure, he'd told me who the culprit was, but aside from that, he hadn't shared any special info.
Considering I'd spent two straight days grinding away at this Tale without a guide, Hyeok Tae-jun's feat felt utterly alien.
'Especially that crucial part about time already having passed'—I couldn't fathom how he'd pieced that together.
"Even if we say you somehow escaped... how'd you snag the Paradoxical Time? You can't just take it without a trade, right?"
"I just punched it a few times, and it handed it over?"
"Huh?"
This madman—did that actually work?
I mean, it was a Tale and all...
Well, in the end, there was only one thing I could say to Hyeok Tae-jun.
"...I'm really sorry."
If he hadn't been this competent, he'd already have turned into a newborn babe inside the Tale by now.
It was straight-up my negligence.
Excuses like 'no one ever enters Tales alone in the game' wouldn't fly here.
This was reality, so I should've accounted for that possibility.
"Eh, no need for apologies. I never imagined you'd have knowledge even you didn't know about. You really have the wildest info stocked up."
"I couldn't know everything..."
The assortment of Paradoxical Times in Hyeok Tae-jun's hand ticked backward, and he just quietly stared at the clocks.
The silence stretched on until one of the hour hands pointed to 12, shattering it.
"Jin-seong."
Hyeok Tae-jun wore a grave expression I hadn't seen since the Headquarters Chief died.
"Can't you tell me now?"
"..."
No subject needed—I knew exactly what he meant.
He was asking how I'd accumulated all this info.
Yeah, he'd held out pretty long for about a month.
He'd just quietly trusted me without voicing his suspicions, so now was the time for me to reveal the source of my knowledge.
"It's..."
Still, it wasn't easy to say.
I hadn't even told the Headquarters Chief, who'd been with me for months, because of New Tale Investigation Squad Leader Park Se-jin.
The price of letting Squad Leader Park in on the secret was still piercing right through the center of my heart.
But I had to tell him.
I owed him that much responsibility, and Hyeok Tae-jun had earned the right to hear it.
"This world is a game."
"What?"
"And I used to be a player."
I trembled with every word spilling from my mouth as I laid it all out.
Hyeok Tae-jun's face twisted gradually as my secret unfolded, and I couldn't meet his eyes straight on.
When I finally looked up after finishing, the look he gave me was one of pity, like he was gazing at some pathetic creature.
Hyeok Tae-jun scanned my body with his eyes before speaking.
"So... you had mental issues."
"Eh?"
"Mental illness... that's what gave you all that knowledge. In a world overrun by Tales... yeah, that tracks."
"No, I think you're misunderstanding. Everything I said is true. Which means... the world's like this because of me. The original protagonist..."
I struggled to finish, clamping my mouth shut, but Hyeok Tae-jun just stared at me like I was some lunatic.
In the end, it took another 20 minutes to drag him to a point where he'd at least somewhat believe me.
"Alright, assuming what you say is really true, it does explain how you had all that knowledge."
"Huh...? That's it?"
"What else is there?"
"No, because of me, you—who was supposed to be the protagonist..."
"Ah. This world was originally a game, and I was set to live a glorious life as the protagonist? And... so what?"
I couldn't help but let my facial muscles slacken at Hyeok Tae-jun's reaction.
"Because of me, the people you loved died, and this world ended!"
"...I don't get why you think it's your fault."
"Obviously!"
Obviously...
"If I hadn't shown up, you'd have been the protagonist."
Hyeok Tae-jun just looked baffled.
"But you didn't choose to enter the game, and you were just struggling to survive in an unfamiliar world."
"Huh?"
"Your efforts were noble, and you can't take responsibility for them. So... Aram-ssi dying isn't on you, and neither is the whole world. I can't blame you."
Hyeok Tae-jun suddenly giggled.
"Honestly, I still don't fully buy what you're saying anyway."
"No—"
"Let's head back. Time to go erase that godforsaken sky you're so hung up about."
I tried to say more, but Hyeok Tae-jun turned away, not needing to hear it, and slipped out of the mansion.
"...Yeah, dealing with that sky comes first."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ I wanted to charge straight at that eyeball, but considering Hyeok Tae-jun's stamina, we decided to rest for a day.
The man in question had gone to the bedroom, utterly wiped out, while I wandered our temporary home—the house that had sheltered us—since sleep wouldn't come.
"Might as well prep it now."
No point wasting time, so I pulled out Mun Woo-seok's core and the Paradoxical Time to get ahead on preparations.
Outside the Paradoxical Time's range... yeah, this should do.
The reason I'd gotten the Paradoxical Time (well, Hyeok Tae-jun handled it all) was obviously to rewind the core back to its device days.
But it only went back a week at a time, so I needed six in total—and somehow, he'd brought them all.
I set the core down far off and slowly tossed the Paradoxical Times toward it.
As the clocks shattered, the scenery around them kept shifting, giving off a mystical vibe—but the dizziness from time's distortion hit harder.
Trees sprang back to life and weeds shrank amid it all, while the core slowly writhed, beginning to recreate the organ it'd once been fused with.
Mun Woo-seok's masterpiece, fueled by living humans, shamelessly reformed itself as if to prove its existence.
I stepped over the awkwardly warped seam where the regression ended and headed to the center.
The device, a bit smaller than me, looked heavy as hell to move, but the current Hyeok Tae-jun could probably manage.
"Tomorrow already, huh..."
Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow.
Not the day after or anything—actual tomorrow.
It'd been one hell of a long journey.
Over half a year since I'd been abruptly dropped into this world without warning, and I'd crossed paths with so many people in that time.
Most of those bonds ended in ruin, dragging the whole world down with them, but now I stood at the starting line to end it all.
No tension, though.
By the time the world had ended, I'd already lost any fear of death—what remained was just hatred for the sky.
Everyone around me, even Hyeok Tae-jun, would likely be wiped from this world tomorrow, but there was a chance they wouldn't.
My plans always came down to probabilities, never certainties.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Tae-jun, you ready?"
"Yeah. All set."
"Good. Let's move out then."
The deepest part of the house: the Tale I'd sacrificed my eyes for to reach that sky.
No official name.
But we commonly called it this, drawing from its metaphysical nature.
"Space."
"Yeah, see if that 'game knowledge' of yours can make it work."
What was 'Space' originally?
The Tale Management Bureau periodically visited it to craft 'Spatial Rifts'—consumables for spatial jumps.
But even they suffered chronic shortages of 'Spatial Rifts' because 'Space' changed locations every month.
Sometimes it was in an abandoned mine no bug could enter; other times, smack in the middle of downtown.
Me? I had its positions memorized for the next two years, so grabbing some was a breeze.
Anyway, using 'Space', we could head straight to that eyeball right now.
I expertly tweaked 'Space's coordinates toward the sky.
"This contraption's gonna block the mutation, right? Looks like... I dunno, an old-school printer or something."
Hyeok Tae-jun hoisted Mun Woo-seok's legacy onto his back like a fridge and spoke.
"Who knows—rewound it to the past, so fuel should be plenty... It works fine, but we'll hope it holds up even right in front of that thing."
Hyeok Tae-jun shot me an incredulous look but soon grinned and positioned himself before 'Space'.
"Eh, what's to worry? Let's go."
"...Yeah. Let's do this."