Chapter 9

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Translator: 8uhl

Chapter: 9

Chapter Title: Ego

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"Finally, we meet, Ji-ui."

What the hell was going on? The Ego, which had definitely been in loudspeaker mode, was now in the shape of my silhouette, holding my hand.

"Ugh..."

Ah, first things first—I needed to get inside my room.

The moment I heard Dad mumbling in his sleep, I jumped out of my seat and dragged the Ego into my room.

I sat the Ego down on the bed covers, then plopped down in front of it myself.

"You're the Ego, right?"

'What's with suddenly speaking out loud? We can just talk in our heads.'

In our heads? You mean... like this?

'Yeah. That's how we've always done it—what's with the fuss now?'

Hmph.

'Getting shy on me? You look the same age as always.'

"Ugh."

The Ego grabbed my face and poked around, inspecting me.

'How'd you survive? And how did you rewind time?'

'That's because I...'

'What happened after that? Did you make a contract with someone else?'

The Ego rattled off questions like a chatterbox, examining me down to the bags under my eyes like a doctor before finally pulling back.

'Hang on... why are you so standoffish?'

'Well...'

Bzzz.

'You don't remember?!'

"Eek!"

The Ego bellowed, and my whole body resonated with a massive vibration.

'Something felt off! So that's why you're cozying up to the Creator again!'

'No, it's...'

'What!'

'Can you give me a chance to explain?'

'Oh.'

Only then did the Ego finally quiet down.

I'd never gotten motion sickness even with my hair standing on end, but this was what it felt like, huh.

I spoke to the now-silent Ego.

'I don't know what it was like before, but right now, I somehow ended up in a dungeon and awakened. I learned the world had ended and I'd regressed when I awakened. That's it.'

'So you really don't remember anything? Not even Nokdu?'

'What's that...?'

'Hooo...'

The Ego clutched its head in agony.

Nokdu... the name felt vaguely familiar, but...

After suffering for a while, the Ego pulled itself together, straightened up, and spoke gravely.

'Alright, fine. Let's start with the key points.'

'Got it.'

The Ego took a deep breath.

'The Creator is a motherfucker.'

'What, what?'

'That bastard's the root of the apocalypse.'

The mission tied to my memories reacted, confirming the Ego's words were true.

'So my missions were spot on after all.'

When I'd tried to join hands with the Creator, both Savior of the World and One Who Steps on Karma had reacted. It was a warning that becoming the Creator's apostle wouldn't protect the world at all—and that it wouldn't resolve the karma from the previous timeline.

I'd almost repeated the same mistake.

'Here's the apocalypse in three bullet points.'

Was it because it was my weapon? It felt totally Korean.

'One: You, Ji-ui, make an apostle contract with that Creator bastard and protect his fragments super carefully.'

'And?'

'Two: Turns out those fragments are apocalypse ingredients, and the Creator collects them all and boom—blows them up at once.'

A chill ran down my spine.

'Three: Hell Paths open across the entire Earth, total chaos. The end!'

'What's a Hell Path? Different from dungeons?'

'A comprehensive gift set of every dungeon you've ever cleared.'

'Ugh.'

'But something important feels missing...'

As I quietly mulled over the Ego's words, one term suddenly flashed in my mind.

'Traitor!'

'What?'

'You said there was a traitor. Do you know who?'

The Ego tilted its head.

'...A traitor?'

'You don't remember that either?'

'Well...'

The Ego's voice trailed off weakly as it mumbled something.

'I broke in the final battle, so...'

'Ah...'

'...If I don't remember, they must've revealed themselves after I was destroyed.'

Thankfully, the Ego snapped back to normal quickly.

'Anyway, we've got the gist of each other's situations.'

Hmph.

The Ego grabbed my hand again.

'Nice to meet you again, partner. Let's do better this time.'

'Yeah!'

I squeezed back. A true ally born from my inner self, one who remembered the previous timeline—it eased the anxiety in my heart, along with the warmth and vibration from my palm.

'Alright, now let's properly dissect our partner. Open your status window.'

'You can see it?'

'Hey, my name's in there—think I can't?'

It had a bit of a prickly side, huh.

Before the nagging could ramp up, I quickly opened my status window.

'SS-Rank? What the hell.'

'Huh? What was my original rank?'

'S-Rank. Unique skill's the same, but...'

Crackle.

The Ego reached out and pointed to the passive skill at the bottom of the status window.

'This one's new.'

'Nope.'

If I'd understood right... it meant I could sway someone with words, and if they wavered toward me, I could control them to some extent. Bonus: boosted unique skill power.

It could be a really useful skill if used well, but honestly, it creeped me out a bit. My words influencing someone else's actions?

'You'll get it later. Skip for now.'

The Ego breezed past it and peered closely at the status window again, then jabbed a finger at the "Missions" text.

'What's this?'

'Missions. They feel like quests or something.'

The Ego scrolled through them, muttering as it read.

'Savior of the World, One Who Steps on Karma...'

'Random sub-quests pop up sometimes. With rewards.'

'...From this, it looks like you regressed to save the world.'

Hearing that, I turned back to the status window.

'These missions seem tied to the regression itself, but Savior of the World and One Who Steps on Karma especially feel linked to the previous timeline.'

'Yeah. One Who Steps on Karma's achievement goes up whenever I feel that sense of familiarity.'

'Exactly. Max those out, and you'll recover all your memories.'

The Ego nodded and read the others.

'Huh. Self-Sacrifice for Others—why's its achievement so high?'

'Maybe from saving kids at school?'

'Guess so. You've been busy in this timeline too.'

Ouch, right in the feels.

'Wielder of the Strongest Weapon? Oh, this one's embarrassing.'

I couldn't see its face, but the Ego chuckled and rubbed its neck awkwardly.

This thing was kinda funny.

'Wolf's Companion... right! Nokdu!'

'Nokdu?'

'Your summon. It's also ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the world's one-and-only unique item.'

I'd had a summon too, huh.

Since it showed up as a mission, it must've been incredibly precious to me.

'Where's Nokdu? How do I meet it?'

'No one knows. Nokdu chooses its own master.'

Nothing I could do about it, then. A bitter taste filled my mouth.

A ton of info had flooded my head at once, making the back of my skull throb, but at least I had a rough roadmap for what to do next.

Follow the reactions from One Who Steps on Karma, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gather my scattered memories, and correct the mistakes from the previous timeline.

'I was the Creator's apostle last time, right?'

'Yeah. The last one to join.'

'Do you remember the others?'

'Just their aliases and locations. The Creator hated his apostles meeting up.'

Afraid of betrayal? Fair enough—that was exactly why I planned to track them down now, to warn them the Creator was a bastard.

'Tell me anyway.'

'Okay. Britain's ■■, Nepal's ■■■...'

Beeeep.

"What?"

A horrific noise swallowed the Ego's words. Britain, Nepal, America... I barely caught a few country names amid the creepy static.

"Gah!"

My head throbbed like it'd been stabbed with a knife.

'What is this?! You okay?'

"Haa... ugh, yeah."

The Ego's voice finally pierced through to my ears.

'Something's blocking these ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠memories from being shared.'

'...The Creator?'

'Nah, the Absolutes don't have that power. If they did, they would've stopped me from talking now.'

The Ego fixed its gaze on the flickering text before me.

Crumble.

The text vanished like dust, leaving an awkward silence between us.

'I'll look into this part. You follow your missions and recover your combat senses first.'

'...Okay.'

'Don't get too down. We'll find your memories soon.'

Tap, tap.

The Ego patted my shoulder.

Crackle.

'Huh?'

Just then, the Ego's body glitched like it was full of static.

'Ah, overdid it. Forming a body isn't easy.'

The Ego glanced at its fizzing hand, then looked up.

'Whoa, hold up. Something's coming.'

'What?'

Whiiiine.

No sooner had the Ego spoken than my status window reacted.

Another mission had unlocked.

'See? Allies are key. You can't handle Hell Paths alone.'

The Ego chimed in. Making allies felt iffy with a traitor unknown, but flip it around—if I turned even the traitor into an ally, I could slash the apocalypse odds big time.

'I'll give it a shot.'

'Yeah. We won't fail this time.'

Whoosh.

With that, the Ego merged back into my ear, buzzing encouragement.

'You got this.'

This time, I'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠succeed perfectly and save Ji-yu.

I closed my eyes quietly, preparing for tomorrow's press conference.