Chapter 16
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: The First Pawn's Legacy
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A single person's life holds countless things within it.
His values, aspirations, worth—life itself is a record from cradle to grave, and death is its final punctuation.
"No, I mean...! So after resting for a month, what happens next?"
"In my opinion..."
Kang Seol sensed the growing clamor around them and stood from his seat.
"Let's step outside. It's too noisy here."
"Agreed."
The two finished settling their bill and headed out.
The dim evening twilight.
Freed from the terror of death, people were reacting in all sorts of ways.
"Humanity has committed countless sins over the years. This is their judgment!"
"Purify it! We must purify everything!"
Men and women draped in bizarre garb roamed the streets shouting these words.
No telling what they normally believed in, but their antics only fueled the chaos gripping the world since the realms merged.
"Well now, it's noisy here too. I know a quiet spot—shall we talk there?"
"Where is it?"
"...My old workshop."
"Understood."
Why had the old man called it his old workshop?
Does he not use it anymore?
With so little info on the side quest, Kang Seol had no reason to refuse the old man's offer.
True to his word, he followed the elder to his workshop.
The old man seemed somehow forlorn, yet indifferent at the same time.
Like someone steeling himself before hearing tragic news.
"By the way... what kind of work do you do in a workshop?"
"What's the point of telling you? You'll see when we get there."
You could just tell him now, sir...
That way of talking lololol
As Kang Seol trailed behind, lost in thought, he suddenly blurted out,
"It's a clock shop."
"Sharp eyes. Didn't I mention it at the tavern?"
The old man glanced once more at Kang Seol's pocket watch before sighing.
"That watch... looks like one I made."
The place they arrived at, following the old man, was tucked away in a remote corner of Free City Kongori.
Not a rundown slum by any means, but far from the bustling commercial districts.
Clank.
The old man unlocked the firmly shut workshop door with a key from his pocket.
"Still... just as I left it."
Cobwebs everywhere, a faint musty smell.
Yet Kang Seol didn't find it as unpleasant as expected. It just felt like stepping into a long-neglected workspace.
It really is a clock shop.
Clocks filled every corner.
From grandfather clocks to all manner of timepieces crowding the work area.
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Bill Marcus. Call me Bill."
"I'm Snowman."
"...What?"
"Snowman..."
Kang Seol and Bill both froze for a moment.
Bill?
A familiar-sounding name.
Even with his exceptional memory, Kang Seol couldn't pinpoint why it rang a bell—the recollection was hazy.
Not again.
He could recall events from ages ago perfectly, so why this gap?
Perhaps this pocket watch side quest was one he'd already experienced once before.
Otherwise, Bill's name wouldn't feel so ingrained yet elusive.
The problem is... I remember absolutely nothing.
Bill turned back, scanning the clocks, then tossed a comment over his shoulder.
"I see... quite the peculiar situation."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing. Now, could you tell me how you came by that watch?"
Kang Seol gave Bill a slightly edited version of how he'd acquired it.
Searching cliffs on Pointed Rock Mountain for herbs, he said, and found the watch. Not entirely untrue—just omitting the surrounding context.
"I see... so that's where you found it."
"Do you know something about it?"
"Oh, I know plenty. Now I understand everything. Hand me the watch, if you would."
Click.
Kang Seol passed the pocket watch to Bill.
Bill flipped it over, inspecting the engraving.
"Definitely one of mine. See this engraving?"
"Engraving? Ah, so that's what it was."
"Not sure if time wore it down or hardship did the job, but my name's engraved here."
Indeed.
As Bill said, faint letters spelling "Bill" were etched on the back in an ornate script.
So faded that even Kang Seol had only noticed later.
"I gifted this watch to someone twenty years ago. For my granddaughter."
"Granddaughter?"
"She was taken by trolls on Pointed Rock Mountain twenty years back. Trying to cross the mountains for a performance schedule was her downfall."
Throb.
Kang Seol felt a headache coming on.
But with crucial information forthcoming, he endured the pain and pressed on.
"What happened to your granddaughter?"
"......"
"...I see."
"No one stepped up. Not the local lord, not the free knights, mercenaries, or adventurers. I begged them all, but they all said they couldn't."
The granddaughter had died, but the watch's owner's story hadn't emerged yet.
Kang Seol listened patiently.
"Then someone appeared. Offered to help rescue my granddaughter."
"Who was it?"
"It's engraved on the watch."
"But there's no name anywhere on it..."
"It's hidden inside. Here, look."
Click.
Bill fiddled with the watch's edge, revealing a concealed compartment.
Inside was an elegant inscription and a name.
- May fortune follow the path of the courageous.
...No way.
The watch's lost owner's name was a shock.
- Snowman.
Bill looked at Kang Seol.
"Twenty years later, a man about the same age shows up with the same name and this watch... what could it mean...?"
Kang Seol was just as baffled.
Bill continued.
"But the watch's owner never returned. Nor did my granddaughter. After that, I left Kongori for a while and only came back recently."
"Ugh..."
"What's wrong?"
"N-nothing. Just a headache. Please go on."
"That's the end of it. Just some old tale from the past. Oh, right! There's a place worth visiting together... what do you say?"
"Where...?"
"My granddaughter's grave. And that adventurer's too."
"...Pardon?"
Bill scratched his nose.
"The only one who stepped up for my unlucky granddaughter—I couldn't recover the body, but I made a small marker beside it. Care to join me...?"
"Urp... uurrp..."
"What's the matter with you?!"
It all came flooding back.
Everything between Bill, his granddaughter, and the adventurer named Snowman.
My first pawn...
Truth was, this wasn't the first time he'd used the moniker Snowman.
He'd used it upon first entering the Eternal World, Pandea.
It was the very first of the thirty pawns he'd raised.
Its name: Snowman.
A frost mage.
"Tomorrow... may I return here tomorrow?"
"Y-yes, of course. Noon, I'll wait here."
"Thank you, then..."
"Get some rest."
With that, Kang Seol left the clock shop.
What in the world had happened?
This can't be...
A pawn he'd raised had left traces in this world.
The realization hit Kang Seol like a thunderbolt.
Does that mean everything my pawns did is preserved here?
Undoubtedly, the Eternal World worked that way.
Pawns' actions influenced the world.
But wasn't that just the game board's system?
How could events from the game board linger in reality beyond it?
All of it was real?
To him, it had seemed like mere gameplay, but it had all been reality.
And this revelation didn't end there.
"Huff... huff..."
Kang Seol made for Kongori's library.
"We'll close in one hour. If you're looking for a specific book..."
"It's fine. I'll find it myself."
Books are records.
And excellent vessels for events spanning decades.
Kang Seol swiftly scanned the shelves packed with history tomes.
Countless histories lined them.
But he sought something specific.
If my first character died twenty years ago... then the timeline I'm in is Pandea, twenty years after I played that dream game.
So, check the last twenty years' records.
That was his plan.
Where is it... where?!
His first ten characters left no notable marks, but the later twenty were different.
Especially the final ten that reached Ascension—they had to be in the history books.
Drop.
Kang Seol's scanning finger and eyes halted on one title.
- The Turbulent Decade.
He pulled it without hesitation.
A striking subtitle.
- Tales of the Superhumans Who Changed History.
Flip flip.
His hands flew through the pages.
Best way to gauge contents: the table of contents. He stopped there.
- Introduction.
1. How the Duke of Frost Was Born.
2. The Duke of Frost and His Ties to Zodiac.
3. Who Dug Up Emperor Leo's Tomb, Shocking the Continent?
4. The Immortal Who Vanished at an Ominous Hour.
5. The Sword That Cuts All—Does It Truly Exist?
6. ...
......
...All my characters?
Every entry detailed pawns Kang Seol had raised.
"Impossible..."
A single person's life holds countless things within it.
Now, in the Eternal World, Pandea where Kang Seol stood, his own thirty lives and deaths were woven in...
And he had become part of Pandea's history.
"Here we are."
"Your granddaughter is... here?"
"No, no body. Still, it's a place I honor her, so it has its meaning."
Kang Seol nodded and followed Bill.
Unlike yesterday, his words were few and far between.
Snowman suddenly in serious mode—anyone know why?
Quest's more boring than expected ㅡㅡ
Shocked by the death of his namesake lol
Weak! Wonder if he can handle the hard mode path like this...
Does he have to be such a total nerd tho?
"Right here."
A modest grave marker stood there.
Bill had personally inscribed words for her upon it.
- The Most Lovable Woman in the World.
"Honoring someone feels right. Even without a body, it brings them to mind."
"I see..."
"The one next to it is for the adventurer with your name. Time to find the watch's owner."
"Got it."
Kang Seol strode toward the unfamiliar marker.
As he moved to place the watch with no fanfare, he paused.
- The One Who Never Ignored Hardship.
Something hot welled up in his chest—unfamiliar, not vengeance against the gods, not thrill for a new world.
His hand clutching the broken pocket watch trembled.
"...I'm sorry."
Only now did Kang Seol understand why he'd forgotten Bill's name, the watch's tale.
Because he'd forced himself to forget.
Deliberately sinking the memories beneath the surface.
There was a term: fumble.
A critical failure. Rolling a 1 on dice, or the worst outcome.
His first character, Snowman, died from a fumble. Young Kang Seol was so shocked he tried to erase it.
And succeeded.
"I'm sorry... I took too long to find you."
The watch settled atop the marker.
One of the thirty lives Kang Seol had lived tied off like this.
In that instant, messages filled his vision.
You have found the true owner of the pocket watch.
As reward, you acquire ability points.
He thought that would be it, but the messages continued unexpectedly.
"Urgh..."
A headache accompanied the next one.
'Snowman''s legacy begins.