Hidden Scenario - Escape from the Ichthyosaur's Stomach (3)
Two fully grown adult women stood staring blankly for a long while at the spot where a man had just willingly thrown himself into the ichthyosaur's maw.
Why would he make a choice like that…
Kim Dokja's face twisted with anguish as she recalled the final moments of the man who had made such a tragic decision right before her eyes. She had been so caught up in conversation with Yoo Joonghyuk that she had failed to notice his actions in time. But her own current situation was hardly ideal enough to wallow in grief over his death, so she forced down the pain and the expression on her face, carefully turning her gaze toward Yoo Joonghyuk, who still had a grip on her collar.
Jumping into an ichthyosaur's mouth of his own free will. What a fool.
He was a variable who survived even the explosion. To die so meaninglessly like this…
With Kim Namwoon dead, he might have been someone who could replace him.
But it's strange. That look in his eyes that said he wanted to live—that wasn't a lie.
So why did he jump? Could it be that he threw himself in because of the bridge's conditions?
Does every story have to begin with someone's sacrifice from the very start…
Thanks to Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint activating while she was talking with Yoo Joonghyuk, Kim Dokja could read the regressor's thoughts as clearly as if they were her own. The negative thoughts and emotions of the woman who had already completed her third regression poured into her mind like the currents of the Han River beneath her feet, and Kim Dokja's expression grew complicated.
3 minutes remaining until scenario ends.
"He sacrificed himself. And there isn't much time left…"
"……."
"So how about letting go of this already? We still have to cross the bridge."
Ah, and what about the offer to become companions? Are you going to accept it?
Desperate to somehow lift the gloomy atmosphere left by his sacrifice, Kim Dokja brought up the conversation from earlier. At her words, Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes twitched. She looked at Kim Dokja and twisted her expression into a scowl.
With the man named Park Jinwoo out of the way, Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk had managed to exchange quite a few words. About how she had survived the subway thanks to Lee Gilyoung's insects. About how Yoo Joonghyuk's Sage's Eye had been automatically blocked by the Fourth Wall, putting her in slight danger—and how she had used that to scam her way into claiming she was a prophet, insisting she was useful enough to be taken on as a companion.
"I'll say it again. Take me as your companion. I can fill in the parts you're lacking."
"A companion…"
1 minute remaining until scenario ends.
Yoo Joonghyuk lowered her head and closed her eyes, lost in thought. Kim Dokja watched her with a restless expression, her gaze flicking back and forth between the timer messages and the woman in front of her.
40 seconds remaining until scenario ends.
"I've decided. I'll take you as my companion."
Excessive immersion has severely depleted your mental strength.
Exclusive skill, Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, has been deactivated.
She felt a flicker of unease at the skill deactivating, but relief washed over her at Yoo Joonghyuk's acceptance. And yet Yoo Joonghyuk kept her grip on Kim Dokja's collar and began crossing the bridge created by Deus Ex Machina without letting go.
"H-hey! You just said we're companions—so let go of me already!"
"………."
Yoo Joonghyuk completely ignored Kim Dokja's near-shouting protests and continued across the bridge with her still dangling from her fist. Then, with the safety zone right in front of them, she suddenly stopped walking. Slowly, she turned to look at Kim Dokja and opened her mouth.
"One last question."
"What is it?"
"If you're really a 'prophet,' then you should also know about your own future. Correct?"
Ah. Of course.
The relief Kim Dokja had felt looking into Yoo Joonghyuk's cold, quiet eyes plummeted straight back into the depths. She realized exactly what this damned regressor was about to say—and do—as she was dragged dangling toward the edge of the bridge, still held by the collar.
"Should I let go of this hand right now, or should I not?"
Kim Dokja, suspended in midair by her collar, looked at Yoo Joonghyuk, then glanced down at her feet. Directly below her, an ichthyosaur was staring up at her with gleaming eyes, licking its chops in anticipation.
Damn it, you psychopath…
"Yoo Joonghyuk."
No matter what I say or do right now, the Yoo Joonghyuk I know will ignore everything and do exactly what I think she's going to do.
Her body had gone rigid with tension at what was about to happen. She forced every bit of strength out of it, hanging limp, and spoke to the woman staring down at her.
"First, let me say two things."
"…What?"
"One. I am not your subordinate. So from now on, I expect you to treat me fairly."
"Two. Just as I will cooperate with you, you will also promise to cooperate with me."
"I see. And your answer?"
Kim Dokja smiled weakly, as if resigning herself, and answered Yoo Joonghyuk.
"Just let go of this hand and get lost, you damn bitch."
The moment the words left her mouth, the force gripping her collar vanished, and her body began to fall. As she plummeted, she lifted her head and looked up at Yoo Joonghyuk's face. Yoo Joonghyuk was smiling brightly, as if something had delighted her.
Crazy psychopath bitch.
"I'll trust you. You really are a prophet."
You have failed to clear the scenario.
A large number of Constellations look at you boiling ramen inside the ichthyosaur's stomach and ask if you've lost your mind.
"Ah, come on…. Even a dog doesn't get bothered while it's eating. Why are you picking a fight?"
Constellation, Demon-like Judge of Fire, shouts that this is no time to be calmly eating ramen!
Constellation, Secretive Plotter, nods and agrees that you are indeed a completely unhinged Incarnation.
Constellation, Prisoner of the Golden Headband, snickers as he looks at you.
A large number of Constellations nod in agreement with the words of Constellations Demon-like Judge of Fire and Secretive Plotter.
"Hey, a person can get eaten by a giant fish-like ichthyosaur, and after getting eaten they can get hungry and boil some ramen! Why are you all being so picky about it?!"
Just like in a webtoon, the ichthyosaur could simply gulp me down whole, I could safely slide down the esophagus into its stomach, swim over and climb onto a floating chunk of bridge debris, and—being way too hungry—boil ramen on top of that debris. Why are the Constellations making such a big deal out of this?
Grrrrumble!
"Huh?"
The area around the esophagus began to tremble as a massive roar echoed through the chamber—the ichthyosaur had swallowed something else.
"Aww, come on. I was eating ramen."
Moments later, a torrent of water came cascading down from the esophagus like a waterfall, bringing with it bridge debris, corpses, and all manner of other things.
"Pwah!"
"What the—?"
Urgh—! Uweeeek—!
The water that had been churning from everything pouring out of the esophagus eventually settled. A short while later, Kim Dokja suddenly burst up from the pool of water collected in the ichthyosaur's stomach and began dry-heaving.
Ah, damn it. I was eating ramen…