Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation
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“Give me a pack of the usual.”
“Yes. That’ll be 4,500 won.”
I bought cigarettes at the convenience store and headed back up to the rooftop. It’s probably just habit, but I feel like my mind works better when I’m smoking.
“Fuu.”
The broadcast had already ended, and 「BJ Constellation」 had left a message saying they’d return tomorrow at 7 p.m.
‘They left me with homework even they couldn’t solve.’
As I put the cigarette in my mouth, a sudden thought struck me.
‘Have my genes and cells improved in physical performance too? If so, no DNA damage, and no cancer risk from smoking either.’
I shook off the idle musing and sank into contemplation.
‘Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation.’
Memories from when I first encountered it in my original world.
By the time I got seriously hooked on 「Surviving the Entities」, short for 「EntitySurv」, the game suddenly exploded in popularity.
[Today’s challenge: Surviving the Entities! Kenwang Challenge!]
[Uwaaa! What’s wrong with this game! Everything leads to extinction!]
A game that had only a tiny banner ad and posts from hardcore fans like ‘Try it! It’s good, come on, come on!’ suddenly rode the wave of a popular internet streamer and became a hit, drawing in tons of new users.
[Whoa! Entity! Whoa! Extinction!]
[How many extinction endings does this have? No happy endings?]
[EntitySurv Day 120 cleared! New record!]
Naturally, the EntitySurv Gallery—the community for sharing and adopting user-created entities into the game—boomed, with countless users showing off their creativity.
[Whoa! SCP! Foundation! Lobotomy Corporation!]
[They’re adding user-created entities! Awesome! Gotta make one right now!]
And then, little by little, posts from users who seemed younger started popping up more and more.
[Developer! What do you think of the entity I made?]
[Developer! Please add my entity to the game!]
At first, there wasn’t much backlash. The EntitySurv Gallery was made for that purpose, and plenty of adults were registering their creations too.
[Fruit that stretches the body—eat it and your body becomes rubbery.]
[Bag that produces anything—connected to the 4th dimension.]
[Door to anywhere—install it in midair and open to go wherever.]
But soon they started making entities that blurred the line between parody and plagiarism.
[Dark ninja who embraces the dark—wields dark power, shoots dark matter from eyes. Uses black arts instead of ninjutsu because of dark power. Ultimate move: summons a black hole the size of the sun.]
[Fastest thing in the world, monster made of tachyons in its DNA—crosses the universe end-to-end in 1 second, so fast it always time-travels backward. Ultimate move: bite, with a mouth so huge it can swallow 100 galaxies at once.]
And they churned out entities with settings so over-the-top they couldn’t possibly be added to the game.
[The entity I made is immune to all physical attacks and magic, so it doesn’t die.]
└[Psh, mine can cut souls, so one-shot to me lol go]
└[Still, it has 99 trillion 9999 billion 9999 million souls, so it doesn’t die.]
└[Psh, I can destroy 99,999,999 trillion souls at once.]
└[Still, it can revive a million times in 0.000000000001 seconds.]
└[Psh, I can swing my sword 999,999,999,999,999,999 quadrillion times per second, so I keep killing you.]
In the end, they equated their entities with themselves and chased endless munchkinism, hoping their creations wouldn’t be destroyed by others’.
[Jammies are hyped? Munchkin Mary Sues, doing whatever they want lololol]
[Agh, jammies’ braindead posts killed the gallery’s momentum, wtf, kids go away for real.]
Up to that point, it was fine. The community was just more active than usual. But then came a problem we couldn’t ignore: one kid apparently stole their parents’ card and donated money to EntitySurv.
[Developer! I donated 10 million won! Please add my entity to the game!]
[Entity Name: Strongest Man in the World / Ability: Truly the strongest in the world. Weakness: mint choco, dies if eaten. Immune to all other attacks, sincere punch destroys 1 trillion dimensions per hit.]
I don’t know how it got resolved. But a few days later, the gallery required 19+ verification to enter, multiple moderators were added, and a downvote system was introduced—posts with too many downvotes for creations got deleted.
‘But that incident sparked a trend of making Munchkin Mary Sue entities for a while.’
Trolls teamed up to spam nothing but Munchkin Mary Sues to mess with the developer, who responded by creating one entity in retaliation.
‘That was the Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation.’
A fun response, I thought. Its spawn rate wasn’t disruptive—in fact, players bragged about encountering it—and true to its name, the unavoidable game over fit perfectly.
[Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation appeared fml!!!! Was gonna buy lotto today!!!]
└[Lotto jackpot kekeke!]
└[Wasting lotto luck here lololol]
“That’s how it was.”
I lit another cigarette from the chain.
“But now that it’s real, I can’t see a way out.”
I recalled the wiki entry for Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation.
[Entity Name: Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation]
[Grade: Extinction]
[Capricious lifeform descended from a higher dimension to ours. Possesses infinite power and calls its chosen human an incarnation, granting them its strength. Starts at superhuman levels but adapts over time, eventually wielding the constellation’s full power.]
[Upon appearance: Earth extinction in 5 turns.]
‘Come to think of it, this is the first Extinction-grade one.’
How do I stop this?
‘Through another constellation?’
There are other constellation entities besides Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation. But they’re all Danger or Extinction grade, uncontrollable.
‘Can’t even find or reach constellation entities in the first place—meaningless.’
Destroy it with another entity?
‘Impossible in-game, but maybe in reality.’
The issue is where the constellation’s true body is and whether I can even attack it.
“Nothing’s clear at all.”
I smoked a whole pack. The only hopeful part is that reality differs from the game.
‘From what I heard, it appeared ages ago. The five days are long past. Yet the world hasn’t ended.’
Maybe, just maybe.
“Will it just pass without destroying the world?”
I finished the cigarettes and returned to my room. On the desk lay the Otherworld Transfer Tome, which I’d definitely put in my bag, now open.
[You are appointed as an apostle for your efforts on behalf of otherworld transferees.]
[Apostle perk! Transfer now for 100% chance of soft, happy-happy otherworld!]
[Massive cheat-level fraudulent abilities granted!]
[In exchange, swear firmly to continue recruiting otherworld transferees and improve their survival rates even in the otherworld. [Yes] <-Press any finger firmly for 3+ seconds.]
I carefully closed the book.
“Thanks for the thought, but I’ll pass.”
Even if destruction awaits at the end.
“Even if Earth’s end comes tomorrow, I’ll plant Han Groo’s apple tree today.”
Because that’s what it means to be human.
[Do you know anything about constellations?]
As Sun Tzu’s Art of War says, know yourself and your enemy, and you’ll win every battle.
[Constellations? First time hearing it. What’s that?]
Shin Goo Hwan didn’t know about constellations.
[Any good constellation stories lately?]
[Constellation genre’s passé.]
[Wanna read a well-written constellation story.]
The internet only had knowledge of it as a webnovel genre.
“So that’s why you came to me.”
“Yes.”
The woman across from me nodded. Her six arms gracefully curved as she lifted her teacup.
“Constellations? Nothing I can’t discuss.”
The shady merchant had shifted from an androgynous freak to something 70% monster, 30% woman.
“They reign at the highest dimensions—far from death, wielding near-omnipotent power in your dimension.”
“Not omniscient, though.”
“Omniscience is a blessing for a rare few. Constellations don’t qualify.”
Fortunately, she knew about constellations and shared even rare info freely.
“If I use entities from my dimension, can I destroy or expel a constellation?”
“Impossible. Regardless of strength, lower-dimensional beings can’t interfere with constellations. You could interfere with their incarnation, but even that’s tough.”
“So interference with the incarnation is possible.”
“Yes, but only with specific entities. Like those from the same dimension as the constellation or made by beings for whom dimensions are meaningless.”
A few items came to mind, but I couldn’t acquire or use them now.
“Thanks for the info. Could I buy an entity that affects incarnations with this?”
I offered the Dream Bead holding my first artwork. She stared piercingly, then shook her head.
“We don’t handle lewd content.”
“It’s art.”
“It’s lewd.”
“It’s art.”
“It’s lewd.”
“It’s art.”
“Please leave.”
She handed me an invitation and shooed me out. Not the fancy one from before, but the plain first one.
‘Knowledge gained.’
I jotted the new knowledge in my mental notebook.
[Knowledge 1 for countering Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation: Constellations and their incarnations are omnipotent and uninfluenceable. However, entities tied to constellation-equivalent beings or those for whom dimensions are meaningless can affect incarnations.]
‘What entities fit that?’
[BJ Constellation’s broadcast has started!]
Then the incarnation’s broadcast began.
[Hello everyone! Did you all sleep well last night? I really agonized over what content to do, what would best show you our constellation’s greatness!]
The background was dark. Nothing visible around. The screen was pure darkness and the incarnation—no clue where they were.
[Now, you’re all wondering where I am, right? Where is this? First to guess gets my autograph—I’ll be the most famous and great person in the future!]
Chats flooded in, but the incarnation kept shaking their head.
[Ha! Such a lack of creativity! The answer’s obvious, right? Only me visible, everything around pitch black! No hints, so I’ll reveal it!]
The camera panned.
[Tada!]
There burned a massive celestial body.
[What’s it called? Supernova! If this explodes, it could wipe out Earth later! Gamma-ray burst or something!]
The swollen body, on the verge of bursting, wasn’t spherical but potato-like, its size impossible to gauge without reference—but if truly a supernova, bigger than the sun.
[Our constellation said so, so it must be true! Anyway! Today’s content: some good deeds plus smashing this!]
The chat erupted again. Was that real? Would that planet’s explosion really end Earth? Was it God, not a constellation?
[Alright then!]
One thing was certain: the celestial body before them vanished.
[Done!]
With just a clap.
As if nothing had been there from the start, without a trace.
[Aw, content ended too quick?]
The incarnation gave an awkward smile.
[Big bros! Big sis! Kinda boring, right? Shall we destroy another supernova? Flashier this time!]