Chapter 57
Chapter 57
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: The Mass of Forgotten Things
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With the fall, light enveloped us all at once.
It was filled with a yearning so deep it hurt, and an indescribable warmth.
Soon, my senses began to fade, and I lost my grip on Mer's hand.
“Mer! Where are you?!”
“H-here! I'm here!!”
I threw my body toward the direction of the voice. If I lost her here, I might never see her again.
“Got you!”
“Yeah! I... I've got you too!!!”
I finally grasped her hand.
The moment we saw each other, Merhele and I naturally fell into an embrace.
And so, we continued to fall into the light that stirred that inexplicable yearning.
Soon, we lost consciousness.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Ugh...”
Everything was white.
A void with nothing in it.
I was collapsed in that very space.
“Mer... Mer! Where are you?!”
I was sure I was holding her just before I blacked out.
For some reason, I was left alone here.
“Mer!!!”
I screamed out for her.
But no answer came back.
Only a faint, sorrowful cry, presumably from her, could be heard.
“Are you over there?! Mer! Say something!!”
I chased after the sound of Mer's crying.
It was so blindingly white that I couldn't even tell if I was moving in the right direction.
“Found you...!”
After running for what felt like an eternity, I found Merhele sitting on the floor, crying.
“Mer. Hey! Hah... Hah... Mer!”
“Sob... Wh...? M... Master...?”
“What the... Hah... I'm out of breath. Why are you alone here? Why are you crying again...”
“Sniff...”
I looked down at the crying Mer for a moment, then hugged her from behind.
I'm not the type to comfort people, but seeing this giant woman sobbing so miserably was just too pathetic and pitiful.
“It's okay, Mer. Tell me. Why? Did you see something scary?”
“Th-that's... I know now. I didn't want to know... I didn't want to see it... but I saw it...”
“What? What did you see...?”
I held Mer in my arms and stroked her arm as I asked.
Mer, who had barely suppressed her sobs, spoke to me.
“I don't even know what that was. I don't know what it is at all. It was... like... giant pupils. Looking at me. No. Reading this world... countless pupils.”
“Pupils...?”
“Yeah... This world... is someone's dream. Or maybe someone's story. I don't know. All I knew for sure was that I was being read. Those countless pupils... I, maybe we, are created beings... Just characters in some narrative... It's terrifying... Master... It's so terrifying and scary I can't stand it.”
Merhele burst into tears again.
“My life... my choices and thoughts... were all for nothing...? Master... No, Jo-jun... tell me. Am I... just a created being? What value does my life have? Are we, is this universe, just being carried on by someone's will...? This is a closed world. The ending is already decided... Master. What should I do now...? I... I... I who learned the secret...”
“Merhele...”
She spoke of an old dream.
She even scoffed, saying this world was just the trick of some god-like being created for amusement.
Furthermore, she wailed that her very existence and the life she had lived had been completely denied.
Just what did she see?
It didn't seem like she just felt the gaze of a god.
She had come into contact with something far more high-dimensional.
“Mer. First, take this pill.”
“Wh-what is this...?”
“It's medicine. A very good antipsychotic. Here, just take one.”
I took Krann's neuro-stabilizer from my bag and put it in my mouth.
Then, I kissed Mer, who was still crying.
Using my tongue, I pushed the pill into her mouth.
Along with my saliva.
Soon, like a baby bird, she received the neuro-stabilizer and my saliva and swallowed it.
Her breathing soon became calm, and she completely melted into my arms, relaxing her tense body.
The tears streaming from her eyes stopped as well.
I gently stroked her head and spoke.
“Mer. Listen closely.”
“Yeah... I'm listening...”
“As you said... this world might be someone's dream. Or maybe it's just a story. But does that matter?”
Mer looked up at me slightly.
I continued, looking into her clear, innocent eyes.
“If someone has already decided the story. If the ending is already set. So what? We just need to find our own happiness.”
“Happiness... our happiness?”
“Yeah. So don't get swayed. Even if someone is reading us like a novel. What does it matter? If a bad ending is already set for me, for us. We'll just fight with everything we've got to survive, right?”
“Fight with everything we've got...”
“Right. Let's fight together. I've done some pretty nasty things... but maybe those pupils you saw will like this kind of story.”
Mer closed her eyes tightly.
“Is that so... Yeah... Master. You're right. If the ending is already decided. If all the misfortune that happened to me was just created for someone's amusement. Then I want to give them the middle finger. I want to fly in the sky again. And... I want to live however I want...!”
She opened her eyes again and smiled at me.
It was a beautiful smile.
A clean smile I wouldn't dare to defile.
She was so beautiful it was enough to make me fall for her.
She burrowed even deeper into my arms.
“Thank you, Master. I've calmed down a little. It's all thanks to you.”
“Yeah...”
The moment I hugged the now-calm Mer back...
Psst...
She vanished, turning into white smoke.
“Uh...? What is this...”
Nothing was left.
As if she was never there to begin with.
Mer had disappeared.
“What is... this...”
As I stood there flustered, a hazy figure appeared before me.
The moment I saw that figure, I thought it might be the god who led me here.
The presence I felt from Kashnax and Indicron.
This was an illusion of a god.
The god's illusion changed from a child-like appearance to a man, then a young woman, then an old man, and then back to a girl.
At the same time, the figure changed rapidly and spoke to me.
“[Rise. There is no time to sit.]”
“[Run. And reach me.]”
“[Twist the predetermined ending.]”
“[Take it. Cultist.]”
A voice I was hearing for the first time, yet felt so familiar.
It was a man's voice.
He warned me sternly.
A voice I missed so much it hurt, but didn't know who it belonged to.
She gave me a goal.
A strict but also warm old man's voice.
The old man lamented what was lost.
A mischievous but cute child's voice.
The girl showed me the future.
Soon, the figure made of smoke flickered and vanished.
A shock ran through the white space, and it began to crack.
Giant hands burst through the space, trying to grab me.
However, their hands were blocked by an invisible barrier and could not reach me.
“Tch!”
I stood up.
And ran.
In an instant, everything around me shattered and rushed to engulf me.
But only the single path I was running on endured the impact intact.
A god was calling me.
A malevolent god I had yet to face had laid a path for me.
The white ceiling shattered, revealing the cosmos.
Giant beings were looking down at me.
They were furious.
⚠️ CRITICAL WARNING ⚠️
[Stop!! Please, stop!!]
[You wretch already expelled from the game board!!!]
[If you were forgotten!! Just disappear already!!!]
They were shouting at me, and at something other than me.
They were also holding scales, a staff of justice, lanterns, and other items.
I knew by their symbols.
They were good gods.
They were enraged.
They were intervening to stop me from reaching the end.
“Uwaaaah!!!!”
I dodged their reach and ran like crazy.
And so, at the end of the path.
I threw my body into a dark, gloomy hole.
At the same time, the white galactic path I had just been running on was smashed to pieces, and the hands of the good gods swept over it.
“Hah... Hah...”
I rolled and tumbled for a long time.
Finally stopping, I caught my breath and lifted my head.
“What the... hell is that...”
A vast, incredibly expansive space.
Down below, a star resembling the sun was burning, and the ceiling was stained with holy light.
It was an astral place that was hard to describe with words.
And at the center of it, there was a massive snake bound by iron chains.
A white snake, floating in the void, coiled in a circle and turning like a celestial sphere.
Soon, between the snake's rotating body, a red eye appeared.
“[You've come.]”
“[Finally, you've come.]”
“[The being who will inherit my karma.]”
“[This place is too suffocating.]”
“[Being alone is so tedious.]”
“[I want to go outside already!]”
“[Please. Remember me.]”
“Kuaaaaa!!!”
My head was a mess.
I had now learned something I shouldn't have.
The feeling of yearning I had vaguely felt was no longer yearning, but pain.
“Y-you are!! What are you!!!”
I clutched my splitting head and asked the snake.
The moment I perceived and recognized that existence, I naturally realized I had to ask who it was.
Soon, the white snake that was spinning around flickered its tongue and answered.
“I am the forgotten one.”
“Also the one not yet known.”
“I know everything.”
“But know nothing.”
“I am the beginning of mutual destruction.”
“And the end of all things.”
“I am the dismantler and the eraser.”
My name is Voidilly.
Lord of the Void, God of Oblivion.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
[You have encountered ‘Voidilly’!]
[Congratulations? You have become a follower of Voidilly!]
[You have grown closer to a god!]
[The secret of the Void is revealed.]
[All players of the Good God faction will now target you as their highest priority.]
✨ LEVEL UP! ✨
• Achievement Unlocked: ‘Something That Should Not Be Known’
• Achievement Unlocked: ‘Follower of Voidilly’
• Achievement reward granted.
• Achievement reward granted.
Something was being engraved on my hand.
It was a triangular shape.
“Kuhup...!”
I endured the pain from my hand and saw the snake reaching out to me.
I couldn't understand why it had a hand, or why a snake would have a hand.
My eyes just perceived it that way.
It was as if it was censored; the arm was mosaicked.
No, the snake's form had vanished, and in its place stood a being whose entire body was distorted and mosaicked.
“[When you leave this place.]”
“[You will forget me.]”
“[So I must engrave myself upon you.]”
“[I want to make a place for myself in your soul.]”
“[Please. Lend me a spot.]”
Voidilly asked to be allowed to make a place for itself in my soul.
“Kuhup...! I get it!!”
I allowed it, thinking that if I refused here, a great catastrophe might occur.
Moreover, my soul and body already belonged to Kashnax and Indicron, so they could fight over the ownership among themselves.
“[Thank you.]”
Soon, a finger touched my forehead.
Something was being embedded.
⚡ SKILL CHANGED ⚡
‘Twisted Carapace’ → ‘Distorted Scale’
Creates a barrier that reflects all types of skills 3 times.
“Kuhup...”
The skill had changed.
At the same time, I felt Voidilly's presence filling my insides.
Voidilly could now see the world through me.
Just like Kashnax and Indicron.
“[Good. Finally, I've stepped back onto the board.]”
So it had been kicked out until now?
What kind of act would lead to being trapped in a space like this?
“[I committed a minor foul. As a result, I got trapped in a place like this.]”
A minor foul?
It must not be a typical form of intervention.
“[To think they'd imprison you in a place like this.]”
“[Making me swallow errors. It's so painful.]”
Voidilly started complaining.
This guy was a talkative god.
As it started chattering, the story went on and on.
“By the way, you said you'd give me the power to change the ending?”
“[Oh. I forgot.]”
“[Understandable. Being the God of the Void.]”
“[Oblivion is my daily life.]”
The snake spat something out at me.
It was a bead tinged with a red light.
“This is...”
“[Swallow that.]”
“[Then you can twist the already set fate significantly.]”
“[Furthermore, at the final moment, your choice can change the ending.]”
“[Of course, to do that, you must survive until the very end!]”
“[And overcome all calamities.]”
“[So you can reach the room of choice.]”
I picked up the red bead.
No description appeared on the bead.
It wasn't an item belonging to the system.
‘Should I really swallow this?’
After a moment of intense hesitation, I put the red bead into my bag.
I should ask Kashnax and Indicron about it before swallowing it.
I might cause a big problem if I swallow it carelessly.
Soon, light gathered before me, and a door appeared.
“[Thanks for coming to find me, Cultist.]”
“[And sorry for dragging you here by force.]”
As expected, it was Voidilly who led me here.
The sudden commotion with the underground security, the door to the ground floor appearing just in time, and even the voice that led me—it was all her doing.
I don't know if it's a he or she, but I'll just call it ‘she’.
More importantly, where did Mer go?
Surely... she didn't disappear...
“Where is Mer? Where is Merhele?”
“[She's safe.]”
“[The moment you leave this place, she will appear by your side again.]”
Voidilly twisted its body once.
The chains wrapping around her crushed her scales and dug into her skin.
She seemed to be in considerable pain.
It meant her time was up.
“[It was nice meeting you. But time must have passed outside.]”
“Huh?”
Time had passed.
Did several years pass...?
Damn it...
If that's the case...
I might never forgive this snake.
“[Not to that extent. Just 4 days. 4 days have passed.]”
“4 days...”
Luckily, it didn't seem to be in the order of years.
‘Still, 4 days... A new calamity must have been updated by now.’
I pray Eun-ji and the kids are safe.
“[Now, I'll let you out. Just open the door and go.]”
“Then... I'll be going.”
I left the Lord of the Void behind and hurriedly opened the door.
Clunk.
Finally, I could end this wretched underground market ordeal.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“This is...”
“Uh, Unnie...”
Listening to Seong Ha-rin's groan, Lee Eun-ji swallowed hard as she watched the zombies pouring in.
“Why now of all times... when Oppa isn't here...”
She saw the monsters commanding the zombies from afar.
“Kieeeeee!!!!”
Draugr.
A newly evolved elite zombie after the update.
An intelligent, martial artist-type zombie.
An undead that crushes Awakened with its physical abilities, including body regeneration and overwhelming strength.
“Kuaaaa!!!!”
Revenant.
Another newly evolved elite species after the update, an intelligent warrior-type zombie.
An undead that wields armor and weapons, and shreds Awakened with its skilled weapon arts.
“Le...via... Gran...cio...”
Wight.
Also an evolved species.
It is intelligent as well, and wields a staff to use black magic.
Monsters that were difficult to deal with one by one were attacking the supermarket.
And they came in a horde, including the Special Zombie War Boy and Zombie Gine, along with all kinds of other zombies.
“Oppa... when will you come...”
Eun-ji, with a tearful face, fired shadow arrows at the approaching zombies.