Singularity (3)

After having dinner with the others and taking a short rest, a single system message floated up before my eyes.

“…Why the hell have system messages been going off so much lately?”

I scowled at the messages that had been blaring nonstop these ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠past few days and fixed my eyes on the window in front of me.

“Ohh….”

This time it wasn’t a bad message. No—it was actually a good one. With this Cooking skill, I’d be able to make food that tasted even better.

…Those bastards really are something else, spamming indirect messages nonstop for a full thirty minutes without a single break….

They say even a dog won’t bother you while you’re eating… but apparently Constellations are worse than dogs.

I’d been eating delicious Galala Gator for thirty minutes straight, and those messages had been popping up every ten seconds—no, every five seconds. Thanks to those damn things, I nearly choked on the meat.

“……Haa. Fine, I get it, I get it already. Stop sending messages. I’ll take the coins and offer up the meat.”

“They’re completely losing their minds. Absolute lunatics….”

I muttered a quiet curse under my breath, staring at the Constellations’ indirect messages with a thoroughly fed-up look.

I wanted to cut down on the swearing for Shin Yooseung sitting right beside me and for Lee Gilyoung, whom I’d be reuniting with in a few days—but looking at those Constellations, I just couldn’t hold it in.

“…Haa. To think I’m the same kind of Constellation as those things. Makes me feel ashamed for no reason.”

I let out a small sigh, opened the Story Shop, and shouted up at the night sky.

“Hey! Today’s max is one ton—so one thousand kilos only. Three hundred coins per kilo! Prepaid!”

“Fifteen hundred coins.”

I shot a sidelong glance at the indirect message from the modifier-less Constellation whose hobby was cooking, then shouted again.

“Next!”

One hour later, after taking coins from all sorts of Constellations and selling off Galala Gator, I finally had the last stretch right in front of me.

“…Haa. Ten kilos left. Next!”

I hadn’t counted them, but by feel I’d taken coins from nearly a hundred Constellations and handed out meat. I shouted with an exhausted face.

“…Three thousand coins.”

“Ah, done! No more selling?! No—I’m just not selling any more from now on, damn it.”

From now on, even if I sold, I’d only do limited drops of fifty or a hundred kilos. Goddamn….

“…Don’t keep pestering me. I’m genuinely exhausted today.”

A lot had happened today, and I was mentally drained. Beating down the Antinous group members, taking out the Disaster of Questions, becoming a Constellation, screwing over that bastard Dokgak, selling meat to Constellations….

…Somehow selling meat to the Constellations was more tiring than taking down the Disaster of Questions….

I frowned at the sudden stiffness in the back of my neck and kneaded it with my right hand.

Clunk!

Just then, the sound of a door opening came from behind me. I turned my head that way and found Yoo Joonghyuk standing there, holding a meat dish.

Yoo Joonghyuk approached me with the meat dish in hand, shot my face a single glance, and opened her mouth.

“You look rather tired. Something happen?”

“…Ah. There was a little something for about an hour.”

It was a small matter if you called it small, a big one if you called it big. Yoo Joonghyuk, who knew nothing of my circumstances, simply nodded with a “is that so” expression and handed me the meat dish she had made.

“You grilled it as barbecue? Looks delicious.”

It seemed she had barbecued the Galala Gator meat the same way I had. The color and aroma of the barbecue were truly excellent—the kind of look and smell that made you hungry all over again even though I’d eaten only an hour ago.

“I’ll dig in, Joonghyuk.”

“Mm. Then we’ll be going.”

“We?”

Ignoring my words, Yoo Joonghyuk casually stuffed her belongings into her subspace coat, then looked at me and spoke.

“Lee Seolhwa has decided to join my group.”

Clunk!

Along with Yoo Joonghyuk’s words, Lee Seolhwa stepped out of My Room. Seeing her, I rose from my seat and asked,

“Are you all right moving without resting more, Seolhwa-ssi?”

At my question, Lee Seolhwa smiled faintly and answered,

“Yes, thank you for worrying. Thanks to you, Jinwoo-ssi, I got even a little proper rest, so I’m better than earlier.”

“That’s a relief, then.”

I nodded at Lee Seolhwa’s words, then turned my head to look at Yoo Joonghyuk and said,

“You’re not fully healed yet either. You sure you should be moving? Want another potion?”

“…Unnecessary. This level of condition heals with just two days’ rest.”

“Come on, don’t be like that.”

I bought an Intermediate Stamina Recovery Potion from the Dokkaebi Bag and forcibly pressed it into Yoo Joonghyuk’s hand.

Yoo Joonghyuk glanced once at the potion forced into her grip, then glared at me and said,

“I said it was unnecessary.”

“Then just count it as payment for the food.”

“…Do as you like.”

Yoo Joonghyuk let out a small sigh, turned her head toward Lee Seolhwa, and said,

“Let’s go.”

“Yes. Ah, Jinwoo-ssi. Stay safe until we meet again.”

“Yes. You and Joonghyuk stay healthy until next time too, Seolhwa-ssi.”

With those words, Lee Seolhwa and Yoo Joonghyuk left our side and began walking somewhere. My guess was they were heading first for the military unit where Lee Hyunsung was, or else going to find Lee Jihye at Taepung Girls’ High.

I watched them leave for a moment, then started eating the meat dish Yoo Joonghyuk had given me.

The springy texture, the sweet sauce brushed on the outside, and the meat juices were simply divine.

“Wow… our Joonghyuk’s a cooking master, huh?”

In Peace Land, Kim Dokja had eaten the barbecue skewers Yoo Joonghyuk made and rated them incredibly delicious—and that evaluation had been the truth. It was the kind of taste that made you want her cooking again next time.

Anyway, after polishing off her cooking in an instant, I washed my hands simply in the My Room kitchen and stepped outside.

Out of My Room, I tilted my head and began recalling what came next in the plot.

“Next is definitely….”

Olympus… more precisely, the three questions between Ariadne and Kim Dokja, wasn’t it?

I started walking quickly toward the others, and a short while later I spotted Kim Dokja and Yoo Sangah in the distance, chatting quietly in front of a campfire.

Han Sooyoung and Yooseung… aren’t around.

Probably Kim Dokja had asked Han Sooyoung to give them some space, and Han Sooyoung had taken Shin Yooseung out for a short walk.

I was slowly approaching Kim Dokja and Yoo Sangah by the fire to join them when—

“We… can’t go back anymore, can we?”

Yoo Sangah’s tearful voice reached me then.

Her words, heavy with so many meanings, made me naturally stop walking and roll my eyes toward her.

Kim Dokja quietly watched Yoo Sangah, who was sniffling little by little, and murmured softly,

“…It’s not your fault, Yoo Sangah-ssi.”

At Kim Dokja’s comfort, Yoo Sangah slowly lowered her head. Then her body trembled, and tears poured from the corners of her eyes.

Watching that, I quietly closed my eyes.

It had been barely a month since the destruction—since the scenarios—began.

In that single month, so many things had happened.

Ordinary children, ordinary high school students, soldiers, bartenders, office workers, and finally one civil-service exam prep student had learned to kill, and had killed people.

And it wasn’t just us—most of the people currently living in the Seoul Dome were the same.

In just one month.

I stayed silent out of consideration for Yoo Sangah, who sat with her head bowed, her shoulders occasionally shaking.

……What a bitter reality.

Yoo Sangah had been the kindest person among everyone I’d met so far. But in the end, even she had changed in the span of a month.

So much had changed that Yoo Sangah, who had hated harming people to an extreme degree, now swung a dagger without hesitation.

Right now she was longing for the everyday life before the scenarios, grieving over the broken present world, and hating and blaming herself for so lightly taking other people’s lives.

Even though not a single thing that had happened was her fault.

Kim Dokja knew that, which was why she was comforting Yoo Sangah like this now.

Kim Dokja looked down at Yoo Sangah, whose shoulders shook as she quietly shed tears, and murmured softly,

“It really isn’t your fault.”

“……………….”

Perhaps Kim Dokja’s words acted as a catalyst. Yoo Sangah trembled even harder than before and wept.

Yet, in contrast, not a single sob escaped her. She was that sad—her body shook that much with grief—yet no sob came out.

“……………….”

Watching that, I quietly walked over to Yoo Sangah and took off my subspace coat. Kim Dokja looked a little surprised when I suddenly appeared, but she stayed silent and simply watched me.

I brushed past Kim Dokja’s gaze and draped the coat I’d just removed over Yoo Sangah’s head.

Twitch!

Yoo Sangah flinched reflexively when something suddenly covered her head.

Thud!

I sat down beside her, stroked her hair, then gently pulled away the hand she had pressed over her mouth and said,

“No one here is going to say anything if you cry out loud, Sangah-ssi. So cry as much as you want.”

“…Hic. Ha, but….”

“I used to have a lot of sad things happen to me too. There were plenty of times I cried quietly, holding my breath.”

I quietly closed my eyes and recalled some of the deeply sad things I’d experienced long ago.

When I was little, after a bad accident left me badly hurt, I’d put on a brave face while watching Mom cry hard—but once my parents left the hospital room, the pain from the wounds and the guilt of making Mom sad made me cry in secret.

The day our family’s little darling dog, who used to greet me every day, passed away from old age and illness, and the year of Pet Loss Syndrome that followed, when I’d been in so much pain.

Breakups with lovers, fights with friends, and countless other things after that—I recalled them all as I spoke to Yoo Sangah.

“Sangah-ssi. Crying isn’t a sin. If a person doesn’t pour out their sadness when it comes, they can’t endure.”

People cry a lot while living. They have no choice. Whether from sadness or from joy, people always shed tears.

Until the day their lifespan ends.

“So cry your heart out. Until no more tears come. Until you’re not sad anymore. And if you’re still sad even then… you can borrow my arms.”

“……I might cry a lot. I might cry loudly. Is that still okay?”

“Of course. Of course it’s okay.”

“…Then excuse me for a moment.”

With those words, Yoo Sangah truly began to cry out loud. Endless small teardrops fell from her eyes onto the dirt path.

I gently patted her back through the intermittent trembling of her shoulders and the falling tears, and looked up at the night sky.

The Constellations above that sky sent not a single indirect message in this moment.

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠messages that usually poured in so heavily didn’t ring even once.

Was it because they deeply empathized with the crying Yoo Sangah’s words? Or were they recalling the things they themselves had gone through because of what she said? Or did they simply hate “melodrama”?

I didn’t know what the Constellations were feeling from our appearance right now that made them stay silent—but in this moment, I felt grateful for that silence.

As I stroked Yoo Sangah’s back and head, comforting her while she wept endlessly and cried in a loud voice—

At some point her sobs began to subside, and then she slumped against me like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

I looked down at her with a startled expression, but soon let out a small sigh of relief.

“…Sorry, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry….”

Because she had simply passed out cold.

I looked at Yoo Sangah’s face as she snored softly in her sleep, then scrunched my face a little.

It was a bit awkward to say this, but her snot had… gotten on my pants… ahem….

I quietly bought a handkerchief from the general store and wiped her eyes and nose for her.

Then I threw that handkerchief far away.

Someone might call it a sacred handkerchief stained with the goddess’s holy water, but it wasn’t my taste….

I looked down at her for a moment, carefully stroking her hair with the wish that she wouldn’t have nightmares and would sleep peacefully—

when Kim Dokja’s voice came from beside me.

“Jinwoo.”

“Hm?”

“Stay still for a second.”

Knowing why Kim Dokja was saying that, I quietly nodded. Then Kim Dokja looked down at Yoo Sangah sleeping on my lap and began speaking in a cold voice.

“I think it’s about time you revealed yourself.”

Kim Dokja continued while still looking down at the deeply sleeping Yoo Sangah.

“Playing dumb, are we? I don’t know what purpose you’ve been watching us for, but if you’ve been watching us all this time, you should know by now.”

Kim Dokja rose from her seated position, drew Unbreakable Faith from its scabbard, and pointed the blade at Yoo Sangah’s nape.

Shing.

“I don’t hesitate when it comes to reaching my goal. So you’d better open your mouth quickly—if you don’t want to see your precious Incarnation die.”

Kim Dokja looked up at the sky for a few seconds, waiting, then let out a small sigh and began slowly pressing the blade toward Yoo Sangah’s neck.

The blade advancing slowly toward Yoo Sangah’s throat finally began to pierce her skin. A drop or two of blood started flowing from her neck under the sharp edge of Unbreakable Faith—

and then the eyes of the unconscious Yoo Sangah snapped open.

Right after that, a massive bolt of lightning began crashing down from the night sky. Straight at Yoo Sangah and me.

Wait a second.

Yoo Sangah and me?

I lifted my head in panic and stared at the lightning falling toward us.

“Shit…?”

KRA-KOOM!

“―――@$*#)#)_#(?!!”

The power of the lightning that seared through my entire body made me scream at the top of my lungs.

Thud!

Then I slowly toppled backward and lay flat on the ground.

“…Cough!!”

Swoosh.

I lifted my head a little and looked at my body. Because I’d taken a direct lightning strike, my whole body was blackened and charred. Looking at that while coughing up blood, I cursed inwardly.

Fucking hell, what godawful timing.

Then, unlike me who had become a charcoal briquette, Yoo Sangah—no, Ariadne—rose with a clean body.

She looked down at me with a flustered expression.

『Th-that… is this perhaps my fault…?』

“…Wh-at? Whose fau… cough?! …lt is it… you, fucking…!”

『I-I’m sorry…. I didn’t intend it….』

Ariadne, who had descended into Yoo Sangah’s body, bowed her head and apologized to me. If my body had been fine, I would have wanted to fire off a whole string of curses in a row—

but with the searing heat and horrific pain still running through my whole body, and the electricity still thrashing every nerve, I just frowned and said,

“Haa… shit. Thanks a fucking lot? Because of you, I get to use this skill for the first time….”

「I will activate Combat Continuity.」

The ‘Combat Continuity’ I’d obtained while enduring the monster wave all night long at Chungmuro Station.

At last I activated that ‘Combat Continuity’ for the first time.

The moment Combat Continuity activated, the charcoal blackening that had covered my whole body vanished, and the color of my skin began to return.

Then the searing heat, the pain, and the electricity that had been thrashing through me started to fade little by little.

“…Huuuu.”

Once my wounds had fully recovered, I slowly pushed myself up. And then I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fell into thought for a moment.

…That’s weird? The description for Combat Continuity said it only restores your body to a state where combat is possible…?

Did I actually get hit by that one lightning bolt and go right to the brink of death? Is that why my body healed all at once?

Anyway, I felt grateful that the pain that had come flooding in all at once had disappeared, and I got to my feet.

Then I glared at the Constellation in front of me who had put me in this state and slowly opened my mouth to hurl curses.

“You fucking piece of—”

『I-I’m truly sorry…. As I said earlier, it really wasn’t intentional. I can swear it on the name of my nebula! No—if you wish, I can even swear it on the River Styx!』

I froze.

The moment the name of the River Styx left Ariadne’s mouth, I stopped the curse I’d been about to spit and looked at the Ariadne in front of me.

The River Styx.

The River Styx was the name of a river in the underworld (the realm of the dead) of Greek mythology.

In Greek myth, an oath sworn on that River Styx had to be kept even by the gods of Olympus. Even Zeus himself.

The fact that she mentioned the River Styx meant Ariadne was serious.

But there was still one problem here.

“So what? You still caused me damage, didn’t you?”

『Th-that… is true, but….』

Ariadne averted her eyes from my gaze with a look that said she had no idea what to do. The fact that she was doing it in Yoo Sangah’s body made my heart soften for no reason.

“Haa… fine, whatever.”

Hearing my words, Ariadne’s eyes lit up as she asked,

『Th-then are you forgiving me?』

“No? What kind of bullshit is that. If words alone were enough to forgive, why would we need police and judges and lawyers and prosecutors?”

I bought a single outfit from the general store. Then I held it out to Ariadne and said,

“While you’re here, talk to me while wearing this.”

『Th-this is…?!』

Ariadne stared at the clothes in my hand, eyes going wide in pure horror.

“Y-you crazy bastard….”

And Kim Dokja was the same. Kim Dokja, just like Ariadne, widened her eyes and stared at me as if looking at a madman.

Why were they reacting like that? It was very simple.

Because the outfit I was holding was a black bunny girl costume.