Hidden Scenario — Escape from the Ichthyosaur's Stomach (2)

"Hell yeah! I believed in you, damn it!"

The crushing pressure of a single shot at a mere twenty percent chance, the gnawing dread of what would happen if I failed — I had shoved every last one of those negative feelings aside, and the message confirming I'd extracted Kim Namwoon's Blackening skill filled me with a joy so pure I could barely contain it.

"Status window!"

"Blackening."

Thrilled to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠see the Blackening skill sitting safely in my status window, I watched a dark aura bloom around the index finger ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of my right hand.

"So this is the sensation ability users in comics and novels feel when they use their powers."

The first time I'd used Enchant, I'd been fleeing zombies and activating it in a desperate scramble for survival — I hadn't had the luxury of noticing anything. But using Blackening made it clear. A black aura rose from my fingertip, faintly asserting its own presence. With Blackening active, my strength felt greater, my senses sharper. That strange, intoxicating sensation washed over me like a return to childhood wonder, and I smiled in satisfaction as I focused on it—

…Read the room, will you?

I was a grown man rediscovering the pure wonder of childhood and trying to savor it — and these tone-deaf Constellations had to go and spam messages until that childlike feeling shattered into pieces. I snuffed out the Blackening rising from my fingertip, reined in my excitement, and turned my head toward where Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja were standing.

Apparently their conversation still wasn't over. I watched Kim Dokja take a gut punch from Yoo Joonghyuk, then shifted my gaze back to the bridge of light and started thinking again about how the three of us were supposed to get across.

Then a scene from the Omniscient Reader webtoon flashed through my mind.

Right. I already knew a method from the webtoon that would earn coins and spare us the trouble of crossing the bridge at all. Why had I been fretting over this?

In the early scenarios of the Omniscient Reader world, nothing mattered more than coins. With enough coins, my abilities would let me play merchant NPC to the protagonists' party — hop on the bus and ride out the apocalypse in comfort. Nearly nine thousand coins, practically free, handed over at the start of the story? How could I possibly refuse?

As expected — a sharp mind spares you a world of suffering. With that thought, I grabbed the leg of Kim Namwoon's sprawled corpse and started dragging it toward the Han River.

"Hm?"

I could feel Yoo Joonghyuk, mid-conversation with Kim Dokja, looking my way. I ignored her and kept walking toward the shattered railing at the edge of the bridge.

"Quite the view, I'll give it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that."

I set Kim Namwoon down beside me at the end of the bridge — the railing gone thanks to an ichthyosaur's single bite — and took a moment to admire the scenery. Across the sunset-drenched Han River, ichthyosaurs glided back and forth on their long bodies, while far off in the city black smoke rose from every direction: a landscape that left no doubt the city was finished.

"If this view were a movie scene, it'd be a box-office smash."

I murmured the words to myself before the grand, sweeping vista, then shoved Kim Namwoon's corpse into the Han River. Turning back toward Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk, I opened my mouth.

"You two can cross on your own."

"What…?"

"What do you mean by that?"

They'd figured out what I was about to do. Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja's eyes went wide, staring at me in pure horror. The Constellations, for their part, flooded me with messages calling me insane. I'd half-expected Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja's reactions — but the Constellations were a surprise.

KRAAAAAANG!

Mere seconds after I'd shoved Kim Namwoon into the Han River, a sound like a bomb going off tore through the air, and a massive ichthyosaur's head burst up through the surface. It rose from the water, its red eyes fixed squarely on me standing at the end of the bridge — a bridge that sat lower than the creature's head.

From that ichthyosaur's perspective, this was probably like a great whale snacking on shrimp or plankton. And yet here it was, waiting patiently for even a tiny scrap of plankton to fall its way.

Well then — time to live up to those expectations!

"Open wide! Dinner's coming!"

I crouched to jump. The ichthyosaur, eyes glittering at the free meal, stretched its jaws wide. Watching that enormous mouth open, I hurled myself with everything I had straight into the ichthyosaur's maw.