Singularity (2)

After handing Lee Seolhwa the call signaler etched with Bihyung's mark, I stepped out of My Room.

…Ah. Come to think of it, I forgot to check the system message log.

I only belatedly remembered clearing the system messages that had popped up while I was giving Dokgak a hard time. I opened the message log.

“……………….”

Am I completely fucked?

Cold sweat beaded on my forehead as I stared at the system messages floating before my eyes. I had pulled way too much aggro.

…Shit. I overdid it with the aggro. There's no way I drew the gaze of that Constellation, right?

I wasn't receiving any indirect messages right now, but I thought of one particular Myth-grade Constellation who was definitely present in Bihyung's channel.

Back when I was a kid, I had happily read about him—the one evaluated as one of the three chief gods of mythology, the kidnapper who, unlike the other chief gods, looked only at a single woman, and a pure-hearted romantic.

His modifier was Father of the Rich Night. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠His true name was Hades.

One of the three chief gods of Greek mythology, and the god of the underworld who ruled over the entire Netherworld.

How did I know Hades was in Bihyung's channel? There was a reason for that. An utterly ridiculous reason, mind you.

That reason was that I had been spoiled out of nowhere on the internet.

The spoiler post I had seen said this: Hades and Persephone had been watching Kim Dokja ever since the first main scenario—in other words, from the moment she was on the subway.

I still didn't know why Hades and Persephone had been watching Kim Dokja from the very beginning, but at least they were the kind of good Constellations who helped her rather than harmed her.

So I probably didn't need to be too scared. Probably…

“Huh?”

Another system message flew in. Wait, had there been more left in the system log?

…Does this mean I already have seven Stories? And I still haven't even been given a modifier as a Constellation yet…

I was starting to get confused about whether I should be happy about this or not. Becoming a Constellation was definitely a good thing.

But there was one small problem.

I lowered my gaze, clenched my fist with the desire to use a Story, then opened it again.

Zzzt! Zzt!

“……Tsk!”

The moment the Story inside me stirred even a little in response to my thoughts, pale blue-white current began flowing from my fingertips.

Along with the tingling sensation at my fingertips came the instinctive warning that if I pulled even a little more power, things could get seriously dangerous.

I scrunched my face slightly and thought,

So this is why they said it would be a problem if Kim Dokja became a Constellation on the first floor of the Dark Castle?

Some kind of restriction had been placed on me. Of course, since the Star Stream still hadn't assigned me a modifier, the restriction didn't seem all that severe yet.

Even so, I didn't feel great about it. In the scenarios, you could pour everything you had into a fight and still die the moment you slipped up even a little. Having any restriction at all was bad news.

What is it this time?

I scrunched my face again at the familiar system chime and checked the messages floating in front of me.

I propped my chin on my hand and sank into thought at the system messages.

…If I go by the timing when male Kim Dokja got his modifier in the Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint webtoon, the earliest would be around the end of the fifth main scenario.

At the latest, my modifier would appear during the sixth main scenario.

“This is going to get a little rough.”

“What is, Oppa?”

Shin Yooseung, who had overheard my muttering, tilted her head and looked down at me. I let out a small snort of laughter and brushed it off.

“Mm, it's nothing. By the way, is our Yooseung hungry? How about we have meat for dinner?”

“I like that!”

“Then how about kimchi and beans? They go really well with meat.”

“……I don't like kimchi and beans.”

“…Whew. Our Yooseung is such a picky eater. This Oppa is shocked.”

“…Oppa, you hate eggplant and pickles too, don't you?”

“…Eggplant and pickles don't count because they're not food of this world.”

Those things truly were not food of this world. There was no way food that tasted that godawful could exist in this world.

Shin Yooseung stared at me with an incredulous look, but I ignored it and walked over to the others.

“Ah, Jinwoo-ssi. You're finally out?”

Yoo Sangah, who had been warming herself by the campfire on the ground, greeted me with a small smile as I emerged from My Room.

Next to her, Yoo Joonghyuk quietly watched me, while Han Sooyoung and Kim Dokja glanced at me from the corners of their eyes.

I carefully set Shin Yooseung, who had been sitting on my shoulder, down on the ground and spoke to the group.

“Yooseung and I are starving, so we're gonna eat now. Anyone want to join?”

At my words, Yoo Sangah, Han Sooyoung, and Kim Dokja raised their hands a little. I nodded, then looked at the only one who hadn't raised her hand—Yoo Joonghyuk—and asked,

“You're not eating?”

“I don't eat food made by others.”

“You ate those Murim Dumplings just fine back then.”

“That's different.”

“Then I'll give you the ingredients. You can just cook them yourself, right? There's a kitchen inside My Room.”

“…Hrm.”

Yoo Joonghyuk propped ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her chin on her hand and sank into thought for a moment. Was this really something that required such a serious expression?

Why was I going out of my way to give Yoo Joonghyuk ingredients and make her cook? The reason was simple.

Because Yoo Joonghyuk's Cooking skill is a full Lv.10.

I was just handing over some ingredients, getting her to cook, and hoping to freeload off her cooking since I'd heard Yoo Joonghyuk's food was that good.

If we were going to eat anyway, having the best cook prepare it so we could all freeload a little was a win-win.

“Oh, right. Today's meat is something special.”

Kim Dokja tilted her head at my words and asked,

“Special meat? You mean like Igneel's meat we had last time?”

“Nope. Even more special than that.”

“There's meat more special than dragon meat…?”

“Yeah. This is a very special meat that only I can get.”

After all, it was meat that only ever appeared in a manga.

A few Constellations seemed to have taken interest in my words as well; several of the stars in the night sky above twinkled more brightly than usual.

Under the intense gazes of my companions and the Constellations, I activated Shop User.

The meat I was about to buy was extremely special. It came from a rather unique manga that was both a battle series and a cooking manga at the same time.

“I will purchase 'Galala Gator' meat from the Story Shop.”

I read the note under the Galala Gator meat, then turned to look at my companions and asked,

“Ehh… there's eight of us total, so 10 kg should be plenty to eat, right?”

Han Sooyoung looked at me like I was insane.

“…Do you even know how many servings 1 kg of meat is before you start spouting nonsense?”

“It varies by person, but usually three to five servings, right?”

“Yeah, you know that much. So why the hell are you suggesting we eat 10 kg?”

“What, our Sooyoung can't handle 10 kg?”

“Are you seriously asking this genius beautiful girl author if she can eat thirty to fifty servings? A normal person would explode and die if they ate that much, you bastard.”

“Aww, it's fine even if we can't finish it all. If there's leftovers, we can just dump them on the Constellations.”

“…………Good grief.”

Han Sooyoung narrowed her eyes at the Constellations' indirect messages floating in front of her and let out a hollow laugh.

“Ah, whatever. Order 10 kg of Galala Gator.”

The moment I ordered the Galala Gator meat from the Story Shop, the meat appeared right in front of me. I snatched it up and examined its condition.

“Ooooh… look at that marbling.”

An incredible amount of lean meat, just the right amount of fat, and a deep red color that practically screamed I am insanely delicious—I stared at the meat with pure admiration.

I bought a long skewer from the General Shop that could hold the Galala Gator meat, threaded the meat onto it, and walked over beside the group.

Then, holding the meat in one hand, I pulled out the Magic Hearth from My Room with the other and set it on the ground.

Next I bought a wooden stand from the General Shop, set it up next to the Magic Hearth, and placed the Galala Gator meat on top of the stand.

If I slowly turned the skewer so the Galala Gator meat cooked evenly, it would come out perfectly delicious.

Shin Yooseung, who had been watching intently from beside me, sparkled her eyes and cried out,

“Wow! This is the first time I've seen meat this big other than the dragon meat Oppa gave me last time!”

“Looks tasty, right?”

“Yes! But what kind of meat is this?”

“Crocodile meat.”

“Huh…?”

“It's the meat of a crocodile called the Galala Gator. An 18-meter-long, 4.2-meter-tall monster crocodile that weighs 13 tons.”

Kim Dokja, who had been staring blankly at the meat slowly roasting to perfection behind me, heard my words and looked at me with a startled face.

“Galala Gator…? That's a monster name I've never heard before.”

“Huh? You've never heard of it?”

“Yeah, I've never heard of a monster by that name.”

Did the Japanese manga Toriko not exist in this Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint world? That was a little unexpected. Or maybe Kim Dokja only ever read web novels and just didn't know Japanese manga?

I turned and asked Yoo Sangah and Han Sooyoung,

“Sangah-ssi, Sooyoung. Do either of you know a Japanese manga called Toriko?”

“To…riko? No, I'm not really familiar with manga…”

“I've never heard of a manga by that name either.”

Yoo Sangah and Han Sooyoung both wore expressions that said they truly had never heard of such a manga.

Sangah-ssi might not know because she was always busy building her career… but Han Sooyoung is a bit surprising.

Could it be that in this Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint world—no, this Ways of Survival world—the manga Toriko really didn't exist?

Well, it didn't really matter if they didn't know, so I decided not to think about it any further.

Right now was the time to focus on grilling the meat.

Sizzle—!

“………….”

“………….”

“………….”

“………….”

Shin Yooseung, Kim Dokja, Han Sooyoung, and Yoo Sangah all stared fixedly at the Galala Gator meat as juices dripped and the entire surface began to gleam.

The four of them now watched the Galala Gator I was grilling in complete silence, as if entranced.

“……………….”

Looking at them like this, our companions and the Constellations all felt like a bunch of greedy gluttons coveting someone else's food.

The meat must have looked so delicious that even Yoo Joonghyuk, standing far away, was staring fixedly at the Galala Gator meat from behind me…

After several minutes of carefully, devotedly grilling the meat, it was finally done.

I removed the fully cooked Galala Gator meat from the Magic Hearth and carefully examined it.

Just like it had been depicted in the anime and manga, a frost-like sheen of oil had spread across the entire surface of the meat, glittering like the starlight of the night sky.

“…This is practically a work of art. Almost a shame to eat it.”

“………….”

Gulp!

Shin Yooseung, who had been stuck to my side like glue, swallowed hard the moment a single drop of Galala Gator juices fell to the ground, fidgeting as if she couldn't wait another second to eat the meat.

No, it wasn't just Shin Yooseung. Yoo Sangah, who went crazy for meat, wore the exact same expression. Kim Dokja and Han Sooyoung just didn't show it as obviously as Shin Yooseung and Yoo Sangah, but the two of them were clearly the same.

“Whoa… the smell is absolutely killer.”

“Hey, hey. It's done, right? Let's eat already, yeah?”

“A-Alright. Stop shaking me!”

I answered the two who were grabbing my shoulders and shaking me in their impatience, then pulled out bowls and utensils from My Room.

Next I took out a cutting board and kitchen knife, divided the Galala Gator into five portions, and handed them out to the four of them.

“Alright, dig in. It won't taste as good if it gets cold.”

“Thanks for the food!”

With those words, my companions fell upon the Galala Gator like they were possessed, chewing the meat with abandon.

“Mmm~! Wow… this is seriously delicious, Jinwoo-ssi!”

Of everyone here, only Yoo Sangah actually evaluated the taste of the Galala Gator.

The other three were simply too busy eating.

Shin Yooseung, Kim Dokja, and Han Sooyoung were so focused on chewing the Galala Gator that they looked ready to bury their faces in their plates, and as a result their cheeks puffed out like squirrels storing food.

I watched the sight with a fond smile, then finally reached for my own portion of Galala Gator meat.

Chew, chew.

“Mm…!”

The springy texture of the meat, followed by the juices exploding across my entire mouth. Then the rich oiliness of the meat sliding smoothly down my throat.

It was pure, absolute deliciousness!

“…Holy shit. This is fucking amazing.”

I ignored the Constellations' indirect messages and sponsorship notifications floating in front of me and focused on my Galala Gator mukbang.

No—more precisely, I deliberately made loud, juicy chewing sounds while eating the Galala Gator meat specifically to mess with the Constellations.

Thud, thud.

Then I heard footsteps behind me. When I turned my head, I saw Yoo Joonghyuk, who had somehow approached right behind me.

“…………….”

“…Nom nom.”

Yoo Joonghyuk looked down at me in silence, staring fixedly at the Galala Gator I was eating. I looked up at her while quietly chewing my meat, and finally our chronically uncommunicative Yoo Joonghyuk spoke to me.

“…I recall you said earlier that you would give me whatever ingredients I wanted.”

“Yeah, and?”

“…………….”

At my reply, Yoo Joonghyuk opened and closed her mouth for a long time, scrunching her face and then relaxing it over and over. Watching her, I could tell exactly why she was reacting like this.

Ah, this girl right now… she can't bring herself to ask for the Galala Gator meat because of her pride, huh?

I grinned from ear to ear as I looked up at her, having figured out her feelings.

Seeing my grin, Yoo Joonghyuk scrunched her face slightly and asked,

“What is that smirk for?”

“Hmm~? Nothing?”

“…There is no way you would make that face over nothing. Speak. Why were you smirking?”

She really was an honest-to-a-fault woman. I let out a small sigh and said,

“Sigh… Joonghyuk-ah. All you have to do is say one sentence: 'That meat looks delicious. I want to cook with that meat too.' How hard is that…?”

“…Shut up.”

At my scolding, Yoo Joonghyuk whipped her head away. I stared at her face, rolling my eyes, and noticed that the tips of her ears had turned red.

Even Yoo Joonghyuk herself seemed a little embarrassed by the fact that her pride wouldn't let her answer honestly.

I snorted at this side of her I had never seen before and purchased an additional 5 kg of Galala Gator from the Story Shop.

I held out the 5 kg of Galala Gator to Yoo Joonghyuk and said,

“Here. What you wanted.”

“…I never particularly wanted it.”

“Ah, enough, enough. I know our Joonghyukie's heart completely. Right? Our Joonghyukie never particularly wanted it, and I'm just handing it over for free.”

“…Who are you calling Joonghyukie.”

At my words, Yoo Joonghyuk's brow furrowed. But even as she frowned, her eyes were fixed on the Galala Gator she was holding.

I snorted at the sight of her, created a door to My Room right beside me, and said while looking at her,

“I'll give it to you for free, so in exchange, share a little of what you cook. Oh, and share some with Seolhwa-ssi and Lycaon who are inside too.”

She nodded.

“That much is fine.”

She ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠readily agreed to my request and soon disappeared into the My Room I had opened for her.

I watched her go with a grin, then devoted myself to finishing off the remaining Galala Gator.

All while listening to the Constellations' screams that weren't quite screams.