Chapter 28
Chapter 28
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: He Who Would Be a Hero
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Isaac glanced at Nina, who had become an ice statue.
A lonely smile graced his lips, but his eyes were so indifferent, it was hard to believe they’d been comrades for so long.
“She was a fairly useful and rare NPC…. But what can you do? I can’t let her ruin the plan, so I had to act first.”
Despite having harmed a colleague with his own hands, he felt not a shred of guilt.
His attitude was merely one of regret for losing a valuable piece, which was chilling.
“My, my, how did she find out this place existed…? Well, she was an intuitive one, so it wouldn't have been strange if she'd found out eventually. But to find out now, of all times…. *Sigh*~ This is why I always told you. Be moderately curious.”
It is difficult to win over an NPC who is both highly skilled and of good character.
Especially in a cruel world like this, where one doesn’t dwell on sentiment and death is taken for granted.
He would have liked to keep her as an ally, but he couldn't leave a loose end that might ruin his plans.
If Nina had been a heroine or an important NPC, he would have captured her and then brainwashed her to erase everything she had seen here.
But Nina was an ordinary NPC.
As regrettable as it was, for the sake of security, she had to be discarded.
Isaac lightly patted Nina's shoulder.
Cracks began to spread across the ice statue.
“Well, don't resent me too much. This is all for the sake of the world. If anyone asks where you went, I'll say you lost your life during a request.”
Isaac gave a casual wave, as if bidding her farewell, and walked past Nina toward the giant glass tube.
The ice statue shattered into a thousand pieces.
His steps were light.
Isaac stood close to the glass tube and looked down.
It was pitch-black, without a single light.
But Isaac knew well what lay below. His eyes were gleaming like a child's.
A pleased smile spread across his lips as he looked at the successful creation sleeping at the very bottom.
“It’s been a long road. A very long road to get here. I absolutely can't let it be ruined.”
Before Isaac became Isaac, he was an ordinary man living somewhere in the Republic of Korea, on Earth.
The man had been playing a game.
The name of the game was *Apocalypse World*.
As the name suggested, it was a game set in a futuristic city mixed with fantasy, depicting a world that had declined due to excessive technological advancement and human conflict.
The game's difficulty was quite high.
It was so hard that he’d slammed his keyboard countless times, screamed out loud, and constantly felt the urge to quit.
But the man didn't give up.
It was a matter of pride.
Only after playing for over 500 hours was the man able to see the true ending.
“What the—!! What is this?! This shitty ending is all there is!? For real?!! After all the time I put in. Aaaargh!!!”
The man was consumed by rage.
He couldn't accept it. He didn't want to accept it.
It wasn't that the ending was bad.
It was just that, in the man's opinion, it wasn't an ending that rewarded the journey.
His mind swallowed by anger, the man's fingers moved furiously. More than ever before.
He poured every emotion he had felt while playing the game.
The result was an 11,400-character review.
Of course, it was a text filled only with emotion, rather than an objective, rational, or logical critique.
Feeling relieved, the man lay down on his bed and fell asleep.
When he opened his eyes again, the man had become the game's protagonist, Isaac.
“What? What is this?! Why have I become Isaac? Don't tell me this world is…!”
The man quickly understood his situation.
The world he had woken up in was *Apocalypse World*, and he had become Isaac.
He was utterly bewildered.
He couldn't believe that a situation that only happens in fiction had happened to him.
Still, the man quickly accepted the situation.
“It's fine. Nothing to worry about. I have my knowledge of the original story. Besides, I'm the protagonist, Isaac. There's no problem at all.”
Rather, the man found a new purpose in this new world.
To use his knowledge of the original story to achieve a far more perfect ending than the game.
In other words, he decided to aim for world peace.
He had no doubt that he had awakened, possessing Isaac, to save this world from its path to ruin. The thought made him seethe with ecstasy.
For the sake of his dream, the man cast aside his past and resolved to live as Isaac.
“Who’s that kid? His skills are incredible.”
“I heard he was the most active in the last joint request.”
“To have such outstanding skills at such a young age. Talent is a scary thing.”
“I’m going to be like him someday.”
Exclamations of admiration from countless Fixers.
Despite having lived in a peaceful world, the work of a Fixer was surprisingly not difficult.
For some quests, he knew the original story's settings, allowing him to achieve far more perfect results than in the original.
Defeating villains was also simple.
Isaac's power was astonishingly great, and with the Status Window and his knowledge of the original story, he could draw out Isaac's abilities far more efficiently than in the game.
“Thank you, Fixer. We survived thanks to you.”
“*Sob*. We’re so lucky to have a Fixer like you.”
“Thanks, man.”
Gaining the public's trust was also easy.
Actions he took for future gains resulted in a good reputation for Isaac.
“You are…?”
“My name is Isaac. I've heard a lot about you, Ms. Red. I look forward to working with you.”
“Is that so? Hmm, I heard you also run an orphanage. You're a strange one.”
“Haha, I just do it because I like kids.”
“Why are you so stiff? Just speak comfortably. I feel like you and I will get along well.”
He made contact with the heroines early on.
With his knowledge of the original story, he knew all about the heroines, making it easy to build their affection.
Like a ship with a favorable wind, Isaac's life in this new world was smooth sailing.
His knowledge of the original story and Isaac's talent.
Everything Isaac did went frighteningly well.
Isaac never harbored a single doubt.
He thought it was only natural for things to go his way.
And why wouldn't it? He was the protagonist of this game, after all.
The protagonist can't go wrong. All stories revolve around the protagonist. He considered it a kind of destiny.
He was certain that if things continued to go this well, he could achieve a far more perfect ending than the game.
As long as there were no variables.
“The Grim Reaper…? The Cult of the Grim Reaper…? What the hell are these guys? They weren't in the original story.”
For the first time since awakening in this new world.
That was the day Isaac's face twisted into a grimace.
The Grim Reaper.
One of the Four Great Organizations that ruled the underworld.
And the Cult of the Grim Reaper, which worshipped her.
A mysterious character and organization that did not exist in the original story.
The Grim Reaper was an unknown. Her identity, her purpose—nothing about her had been clearly revealed.
What was certain was that the Grim Reaper was strong, and whenever she appeared, the city was thrown into an uproar.
‘Where did a monster like that come from?!’
He fell into deep contemplation, wondering if his actions had twisted the original story.
Isaac concluded that they had not.
Because a powerful being like the Grim Reaper simply did not exist in the original story.
If she had been in the original, she should have appeared at least once.
Isaac was annoyed.
More than that, he was anxious.
He was afraid that the Grim Reaper would shatter the ideal flow he had planned.
Isaac's thoughts, his heart, sounded an alarm.
That unless he could conquer the Grim Reaper, he would never achieve his ideal story.
To defeat the Grim Reaper, Isaac first approached the Cult of the Grim Reaper.
He needed information to devise a strategy to figure out the Grim Reaper's identity.
He easily built a friendly relationship with the Cult of the Grim Reaper.
He shared a few pieces of knowledge from the original story to help them, and they quickly opened their hearts to him.
Furthermore, the Cult of the Grim Reaper was foolish, so he found them quite useful.
But he couldn't see a way to conquer her.
There was an absolute lack of information about the Grim Reaper.
‘Useless fools…. They call themselves the Cult of the Grim Reaper, but how can they not know anything about her.’
Isaac used his knowledge of the original story and tried to formulate his own plan.
All of them were high-risk.
If he used characters from the original story to catch the Grim Reaper and something went wrong, all his efforts up to now would be for nothing.
The losses would be great either way.
‘That’s it! Why didn’t I think of that?!’
As his worries deepened, a brilliant idea flashed in Isaac's mind.
A way to eliminate the anomaly known as the Grim Reaper without harming the characters from the original story.
As they say, fight poison with poison. An anomaly should be eliminated with another anomaly.
Isaac decided to create a very powerful creature himself.
And he had just the thing.
The monster from the game that had brought him countless frustrations and failures.
Creating it wasn't difficult.
He had already eliminated all the mad scientists from the original story who had created the boss and stolen all their data, and with the support of the Cult of the Grim Reaper and the use of the Status Window and his knowledge of the original story, progress was steady.
However, he hit a single wall.
The most crucial ingredient needed to complete the monster.
The pure magical energy and bodies of children.
The children of this world were special.
As if adapting to a dying world, quite a few children were born with special powers.
Such children were essential for the monster's creation.
‘The mad doctors in the original story saw that point, too, which is why their research led to the creation of that monster.’
But to conduct the research, he had to sacrifice children.
Naturally, their lives could not be guaranteed.
His hesitation was brief, and the decision was easy.
He calculated that if the children's lives could eliminate the Grim Reaper, it was a cheap price to pay, and that their deaths could serve as a catalyst for gaining sympathy and comfort from people, especially for forming a deeper relationship with the heroines.
Isaac abandoned the children.
He felt no guilt for his actions.
Because he didn't think he had done anything wrong in the first place.
They weren't important NPCs anyway.
They were just children he'd taken in to curry favor. Their role was over.
‘They would have died long ago if it weren't for me anyway. Thanks to me, they lived longer and happier lives, so it shouldn't be a problem for them to use their lives for me and the world. The children will feel less wronged that way.’
After the children went missing, no one suspected Isaac.
It was just as Isaac had calculated.
However, a variable arose when Red began to distance herself after the children's funeral.
But Isaac wasn't too concerned, thinking that part could be easily resolved. With his knowledge of the original story, capturing the heart of a character was an incredibly easy task.
Isaac pushed forward with his research.
He brought in more from the outside to fill the gaps, and as a result of his research…
He had nearly completed the monster.
And with the help of the Status Window's power, it was a monster far more powerful than the one in the original story.
“It's still not enough. Not enough, but with just a little more research, it can be perfected. Once it's complete, it's the end for the likes of the Grim Reaper!”
Isaac imagined the future he dreamed of.
A hero who saved the world.
A happy life with the heroines.
Everything he had ever dreamed of would be in his grasp.
Isaac's face was intoxicated with joy and happiness.
Beep—!
“…?”
Beep—!
Just then, an unfamiliar sound, like an alarm, shattered his happy fantasy.
Isaac frowned, annoyed by the interruption.
He slowly walked toward the source of the sound.
The sound was coming from among the shards of ice that had once been Nina.
Beep—!
Isaac started to kick away the ice fragments with his foot, then stopped.
His expression hardened.
A small device, flashing a red light.
Isaac knew very well what that object was. He also knew whose it was.
“Why do you have this…?”
Naturally, there was no reply.
What was certain was that information about this place had been leaked.
And to someone who absolutely must not find out.
Nina had activated a device given to her by Red in case something happened to her.
The device had recorded the scene and data from this location, and the moment Nina lost her life, all the information and her location were sent to Red.
Isaac felt a wave of dizziness, his mind a chaotic mess.
‘It's fine. It'll be fine. No problem. If I explain it to her, she'll understand. Who wouldn't understand that this is to save the world?’
The plan had gone completely awry. He had to advance his previously laid plans ahead of schedule.
Isaac immediately destroyed the device and then made a call to the Cult of the Grim Reaper.
After giving his instructions, he hurriedly left the place.
Heading towards the orphanage, where another anomaly, aside from the Grim Reaper, resided.