Chapter 438
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 438
[‘Take 1st Place at the Song Camp!’]
A familiar blue window appeared.
[The final survival round.
Take 1st place at the Song Camp.
Success Reward: 70,000 Points
Failure Penalty: A Rift in the Worldview
※ Due to the rift, a maintenance period will be required. The Player may suffer from random status effects for the next year.]
A nauseating quest.
[※ Frequent loans taken due to failure to clear quests/scenarios will result in physical penalties leading to death. Please be advised.]
Beside the text, a golden trophy spun in circles.
At first, I couldn't say a word, unable to process what I was seeing. Once the situation finally sank in, I turned my head to look at Kang Yi-chae.
“…What the hell is…?”
My voice, thick with intense emotion, broke and scattered into the air. I covered my eyes with my palm, trying to suppress a feeling bordering on pure rage.
Ding!
Along with the notification sound, text appeared through the gaps between my fingers.
[It’s highly unlikely.]
[Even if the world were to end, it wouldn't happen, but…]
[Are you… crying?]
“…Cry…”
In an instant—
“I’m going to lose my mind from pure rage, you crazy bastard!!”
The surge of emotion was so great I couldn't hold back the curse. I began pouring out a waterfall of profanities starting with 'f' and 's,' only stopping when I caught sight of Kang Yi-chae’s pale, ghostly face.
I took a moment to calm my heart, ran a hand through my hair, and spoke again.
“Kang Yi-chae, come here.”
Ignoring the system windows popping up urgently, I grabbed the arm of Yi-chae, who was trying to slip away, and pulled him to my side. Then, I glared at the System and jerked my chin.
“You. Explain.”
[…U-Uh… well, you see…]
The System, sensing my mood, began to slowly explain the situation.
The gist of it was this: The System, already weakened to its limit, had regained some stability after being formatted during the ‘Unknown Actor Tycoon’ incident. However, an unexpected error had caused Kang Yi-chae to get entangled in it. When we failed to win the Grand Prize, the penalty for failing the main quest—which should have been mine—was transferred to Yi-chae during the calculation process.
And in the midst of all that, new quests were still being generated.
Ding!
[This was truly an uncalculated variable…]
I forced the rising curses back down my throat and turned to Yi-chae.
“Why didn't you say anything?”
“Well.”
Yi-chae simply shrugged with a nonchalant expression. Instead, a system window popped up to make excuses for him.
[I-It’s just that Mr. Kang Yi-chae was prohibited from disclosing this to others! It’s not his fault!]
It was almost touching how the System was shielding him after spending a few months together.
I clicked my tongue in annoyance, then looked at Yi-chae, who was still breathing heavily with a pale face. I jerked my chin toward him.
“…Is his illness also because the System was transferred?”
Perhaps he was suffering from all sorts of side effects because he took on the System while it was calculating the failure penalty.
[No, since Mr. Kang Yi-chae is a proxy and not the original owner, the burden of the System was simply too much, and his physical strength reached its limit.]
[Now that the authority has been returned to Mr. Seo Ho-yun, he will recover soon.]
“Cough! Hack, cough…”
But as soon as the System finished its explanation, Yi-chae broke into a fit of violent coughing.
“…….”
Should I… just kill it?
When I turned my glare from the agonizing Yi-chae to the system window, the blue light flickered as if it were trembling.
[I-It’s not a lie! He’ll get better gradually! The system windows he can still see will also vanish from his sight soon!]
“…It better be true.”
I rubbed my face roughly, trying to swallow my irritation.
‘It’s my fault.’
I had thought the System was being unusually quiet lately. It was suspicious, but I had been so busy cleaning up the mess that I’d pushed the matter aside.
It was my mistake. That was true, but one question remained.
‘Why is all of this permitted for Kang Yi-chae?’
Back when Seong Ji-won identified me as someone from his past, numerous errors had occurred. That was why I had been as tight-lipped as possible with Yi-chae.
‘Why is he an exception?’
Because we were entangled together in ‘Unknown Actor Tycoon’?
Why did it have to be Yi-chae who got caught up in it?
How much does he actually know?
A multitude of thoughts tangled and unraveled repeatedly. I stared at Yi-chae, whose face was flushed with fever, and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Yi-chae… thanks for the help.”
I felt him flinch under my touch.
Anyone who would volunteer to help after seeing such an unrealistic sight—and even after being trapped in ‘Unknown Actor Tycoon’—couldn't be entirely sane. But then again, I was the piece of trash who caused all of this in the first place.
The cleanup was rightfully my responsibility.
“…Setting everything else aside, don't worry about the Song Camp anymore. I’ll handle it.”
The failure penalty was deeply unsettling, but considering it mentioned ‘status effects’ and the like, it didn't seem like anything new.
More than that, there was something I wanted to confirm with Yi-chae first. I cautiously began to speak again.
“And, you know…”
“…Ah, wait.”
A sharp voice leaked from Yi-chae as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He lifted his head and met my eyes. A clear, piercing gaze landed directly on me.
“Handle it?”
“…….”
“Ah, right. Of course. You’d pull it off, Hyung. Just like you always have.”
Doing noise marketing for the team, using paparazzi, and even selling out his own family history.
Though he didn't explicitly mention those things, the unspoken words seemed to ring in my ears.
“But I can't just stop caring. I’d hate for everything I’ve done so far to go to waste.”
As if a bit piqued, Yi-chae roughly rubbed the back of his reddened neck.
“I admit you might not trust me because I’ve shown you my pathetic side. I have been acting a bit impatient lately. Baek Ji-jun was much more impressive than I expected.”
I knew that too, having watched from the side. I knew he had been anxious.
“But… can't you just try trusting me for once?”
He had been so prickly and impatient until now, yet he was strangely calm.
Was it the overwhelming confidence of youth? Or perhaps the boldness of a child who had never experienced a crushing defeat?
As I carefully picked my words, my lips merely hovering, Yi-chae’s eyes crinkled into a smile.
“…I guess that’s a no for you, Hyung?”
“…….”
“You’re thinking, ‘How could a kid who was so anxious change in just a few days?’ right?”
Saying that, Yi-chae pulled his phone from his pocket.
“There’s no point in shouting for you to trust me all day. So, you do things your way, Hyung. I’ll do things mine.”
“…….”
“If we’re done talking, let’s go. Seong-hyeon Hyung is looking for us.”
With a joke about how Kim Seong-hyeon had left multiple missed calls and that their team’s ‘little softie’ was probably about to cry, Yi-chae started walking toward the emergency exit.
I ran my hand through my hair as if to clear my cluttered mind, then quickly chased after him and grabbed his arm.
“Wait a minute.”
“……!”
Yi-chae looked at my outstretched hand with wide eyes, then slowly turned his face toward me. I wasn't ready to let him go just yet.
“What…”
“Yi-chae, did you see it?”
Now that I knew no errors occurred—as if he were an existence outside the System’s rules—there was no longer any reason to be cautious.
“The quest in progress.”
After the events related to ‘Unknown Actor Tycoon,’ Yi-chae had already been ‘assuming’ things. That this place was merely a temporary stay for me, and that I would eventually return to my original world.
But through this incident, that assumption had essentially been validated as an absolute ‘fact.’
I was worried about whether he would be okay after seeing that.
At my question, Yi-chae’s eyebrows shot up.
“…What kind of answer do you want?”
Questions that hadn't yet formed into sentences crumbled in my mouth, unsaid. Yi-chae sighed as he watched me struggle to respond.
“Ha…”
“…….”
“Don't worry. The fact that I’m helping you hasn't changed.”
That wasn't what I wanted to know, but no words would come out.
“…….”
He was a guy who was happy as long as the people he liked were healthy and doing what they enjoyed. Because of that, I had always thought Yi-chae’s actions were driven by fleeting whims.
“……Hey…”
But now, I found myself unable to trust my own judgment.
“What.”
How could I look lightly upon someone who was confronting me with such sincerity in those burning eyes?
“…I was going to let it slide because I didn't think it was necessary, but now… I’m actually curious.”
I finally asked the question I had thought would bring no good.
“Why are you going this far?”
“…Wow.”
Yi-chae blinked a few times, staring at me, then covered his mouth as if surprised.
“You’re usually as silent as if your lips were sewn shut… why the sudden honesty?”
He brushed back his hair, which had been ruffled by the wind, and added:
“First of all, I don't do this for just anyone. I’m shy around strangers. Of course, seeing the way you act makes me angry several times a day… but what can I do? With a penalty like that, we have to keep promoting first.”
“…Is that all?”
“……And I still believe. That at the end of all this, there might be a new solution.”
“…….”
“I’m a bit of an optimist, you see.”
I simply couldn't find the words to respond to his statement, but Yi-chae seemed to take my silence as a demand for more reasons, as he let out a small groan.
“…What, you still don't get it? Even after I’ve said all this?”
Looking flustered, Yi-chae turned his gaze toward the distance as if embarrassed. Deep shadows fell across his face, cast by the moonlight and the artificial lights.
“Ah, I really wanted to keep this hidden until the end because it’s so embarrassing……”
Yi-chae, his face now fully showing the features of a young man, carefully met my eyes.
“The truth is… I get incredibly lonely.”
Then, he gave an awkward laugh.
“That’s why. That’s all it is.”