Chapter 57
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: A Single Mistake
Even a carefully built tower can collapse from a single mistake.
Inside the orphanage, the children were bursting with frustration.
“You’re cheating, aren’t you?”
“How do you keep winning?”
“Someone, just win once.”
Hehe.
You’ve got a long way to go before you can beat me.
I placed my hands on my hips and flashed a triumphant smile.
The kids, collapsed on the floor, glared at me, but I paid them no mind.
“Ugh, you’re so annoying.”
“You suggested playing games because you knew this would happen, didn't you?”
“I thought it was weird when you suddenly suggested it. This was your plan all along.”
“Lily’s a cheater….”
The children protested.
Such harsh words.
Right now, I'm playing all sorts of games with the children.
The reason we started playing was simple.
Since I couldn't keep running away forever, I made a proposition to the children.
I told them if they won a game, I would grant them any wish they wanted.
Unlimited attempts.
In return, I added that they couldn't chase me around with strange requests until a winner was decided.
Naturally, the terms were in their favor.
The children were suspicious, but they must have decided it was worth a shot, because they accepted my challenge.
And this was the result.
“Ugh, I forgot Lily was so good at games.”
“Still, you should be tired after playing so much.”
“Why does she look perfectly fine?”
This was already their 500th attempt, and the children hadn't managed to beat me even once.
The world of competition is a cold one.
I never go easy on them just because they're kids.
Of course, the children aren't fools.
They tried to wear me down with their numbers, challenging me over and over, but my mental and physical stamina easily surpassed theirs.
If anything, it was the children who tired out first.
Normally, this would be the point where I'd let them win once on purpose.
But I will never back down!
I giggled, looking at the frustrated children.
I should have done this from the start.
“Everyone, it's about time for bed.”
At Rene's words, the children's faces fell in surprise.
They all looked at the clock.
Just as Rene said, it was already late.
Still, unable to give up, the children requested one last game for the night.
Tower building.
It's a game where you slowly stack blocks until one person makes the tower collapse.
The children and I began building the tower, taking our turns.
“You can do it. It's okay. You've got this.”
“Are you an idiot? Why would you put it there!”
“Ah, stop talking to me. I can't concentrate.”
“We're not going to make it this time either....”
The children put their heads together and placed a block in a suitable spot.
I placed mine in an awkward spot to make it harder for them.
Their glares were piercing.
But my conscience was clear.
That's how this game is played, after all.
Come on, just fall already.
As we added blocks one by one, the tower became precarious. It looked like it would collapse at the slightest touch.
They're persistent.
The kids are holding on better than I thought.
It's my turn.
It's fine. No problem.
If I place this where I'm thinking, their defeat is guaranteed.
This time, I tried to place it a bit more carefully, but just then, the clock chimed.
My concentration broke for a second, my hand slipped, and I bumped the precarious tower, sending it crashing down.
My body froze like a broken machine.
I was so shocked my mind went blank.
The children, on the other hand.
“We won!”
“We won!”
“We beat Lily!”
The children hugged each other and jumped up and down.
I fell to my knees in despair, repeatedly punching the floor.
Damn it.
This can't be happening.
I protested to the children, but of course, it was no use.
*
The man was dreaming.
A film of the past, a time to which he could never return, slowly began to play.
The man had been an ordinary office worker.
His days were a cycle of commuting, spending time with friends, enjoying his hobbies, and then commuting again.
It wasn't a bad life, but it felt lacking, and the man felt a sense of ennui.
Perhaps the man's desire had brought about a miracle.
He encountered a special event that would change his life completely.
【Do you not wish to change your destiny?】
—What is this...?
He had just finished reading a webtoon he'd been keeping up with in his spare time.
He'd been grumbling because he didn't like the story he'd spent days following.
Suddenly, that screen popped up on his phone.
【You have been chosen. The world needs your power. If you have the courage and goodwill to save the world, please press YES.】
—Is this for a second playthrough? What a novel game promo.
The man was unimpressed and about to simply turn off the screen.
When a thought suddenly crossed his mind—the stories he had read when he had time to kill.
A strange phenomenon appearing before a protagonist who had cleared a game or finished a webtoon or novel. The reasons varied, but the protagonists who faced these strange phenomena were always unexpectedly transported to another world.
It was most likely a prank, but what if it was real?
*Gulp*.
The man let out a dry laugh at his own thought, but his eyes stared at the screen in earnest.
Ordinary days.
Tedium.
For some reason, the man's heart, which had long grown cold, began to pound.
He instinctively felt that he was at a crossroads, a choice that would drastically change his destiny.
At this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the man moved his finger and hovered it over the YES button.
If this dream-like story were to actually happen, it would be a final farewell to the world he currently lived in.
Friends, parents, work, and so on.
But his hesitation was brief.
A faint smile formed on his lips at the chance to escape his boring world and enjoy a much better life.
The man pressed YES.
—What, was it just a prank? Noth—Gah! My heart!
Just as he felt a sense of emptiness when nothing happened, an immense pain shot through his chest.
The man's body collapsed to the floor.
All the strength drained from his body, and his consciousness began to fade.
So this is what it feels like to die, he thought as he closed his heavy eyelids.
And when the man's consciousness returned and he opened his eyes, a new world unfolded before him.
—Where am I!?
A city so dazzling it drove away the darkness.
Streets where humans and other races walked in harmony.
Technology that surpassed Earth's civilization.
It was a completely unfamiliar world, yet the man knew where he was.
It was the world of the webtoon he had just been reading.
The man was utterly astonished, but his heart pounded with excitement. His face was filled with joy and anticipation, and he laughed heartily for the first time in a long while.
—I see. I get it. Is this before the original timeline? It seems there are still several decades until the original story begins.
There was still a long time before the start of the original story.
In other words, it was an opportunity.
To change a destiny filled with nothing but a miserable future.
The man believed he could do it.
Because he had knowledge of the original story. He was ahead of the people living in this world.
Because one who knows the future can manipulate the present to guide it toward their desired outcome.
—Now then, what should I do first?
The man's life in this other world went smoothly.
He had been reincarnated into the body of a child and faced many dangers, but he had an otherworldly cheat.
The man used this ability from an early age to achieve his desires.
Time passed, and the boy grew into a man.
His skills were recognized, and he became quite well-known in the city.
He made various companions.
His companions and the people admired his insight and abilities, praising him highly.
The man didn't dislike the feeling of being a protagonist.
All of this was a reward for his dedication to saving the world and the people who were destined for ruin.
The man lived happily in the paradise he had painstakingly cultivated, eagerly awaiting the moment he would change even the fate of the original story.
But before that moment could arrive, his paradise began to creak.
—#$%^&%^#$!! Get out of here! Someone like you has no right to be in this village!
He had tried to save the village that had treated him like family.
But instead, the villagers yelled at him and drove him away.
—#$%?#%$$#@! Get lost! You don't deserve to be on our team.
He had helped the companions he made in this world escape their tragic ends.
But they heartlessly exiled him.
It was the same with everyone.
All the people he had saved turned their backs on him.
The man couldn't understand.
Suddenly, the man recalled the exile-trope web novels he had read on Earth.
Characters who would kick out the protagonist for various reasons.
The man found it utterly absurd that such a thing was happening to him.
He never dreamed they would repay his kindness like this.
The man was abandoned by his companions, the people, and the city.
Anger surged within him.
—I worked myself to the bone for you all. How could you do this to me?
Saving people through necessary evil.
Changing a miserable future with cruel choices.
For the greater good, the sacrifice of a few is unavoidable.
The man had made great sacrifices, covering himself in filth to save everyone.
He had never doubted that everyone would one day recognize his noble spirit of sacrifice and understand.
But to be betrayed like this!
It was a truly contrived development, so absurd it lacked any semblance of logic.
—Fine, see how well you do without me! From now on, I'm going to live for myself.
The man distanced himself from those who had abandoned him.
The man knew.
He knew what kind of end awaited the side characters who cast out the protagonist for unreasonable motives.
But he didn't care.
The man resolved to live like one of those exiled protagonists.
No.
That was too merciful.
Rage was boiling inside the man.
Resentment and hatred seeped into the cracks of his wounded heart, melting into his fury.
This anger would not simply disappear.
The man knew.
He knew what he had to do.
From that day on, the man vowed to make the entire world feel the same despair he had felt.
A world that abandons its protagonist has no right to exist.
The man believed he had that right.
*Click*.
The film that had reached its end gradually faded, and the man awoke from his dream as if leaving a movie theater.
‘Where am I...? Ah, right. I came out because I had something to do.’
Yiyeon, now awake, sensed a presence nearby.
He sat up on the edge of the bed and turned his head.
A person wearing a skull mask and holding a staff stood there.
“Prophet. I have completed everything you commanded.”
“Yes, I see. You may leave. And tell the others not to do anything until I come out.”
At Yiyeon's command, the cultist left the room.
Yiyeon filled a cup from the nightstand with water and drank it in one go.
He let out a soft sigh, and his slitted eyes opened.
His red eyes looked somewhat displeased. It was a completely different look from the one he usually showed Gray or the cultists.
‘I can't believe the plan was thwarted. How on earth did they do it? Even Red and his companions shouldn't have been able to stop the explosion.’
The suicide bombing by the cultists who infiltrated the festival.
People filled with faith and madness do not fear death.
Which means something unknown to me interfered with the plan.
“Tch.”
Yiyeon clicked his tongue in annoyance.
As he started to get up from the bed, his foot brushed against something.
A cold corpse was sprawled there.
The owner of this room.
Well, not anymore.
Yiyeon put on his coat and stepped outside.