Chapter 119. Becoming Reality
A dark, empty space.
Nothing filled the world except the cold sensation occasionally brushing against my body.
And there, I…
I….
My eyes were open.
I could feel.
I could see ahead.
My ears were listening.
But nothing reached me.
There was so little sensation that I couldn't even tell whether I was truly alive.
Only once in a while—very rarely—the sudden touch of something cold against my body would snap me back to my senses.
And only occasionally would a scorching heat bloom inside my chest, twisting my insides and making me writhe in pain.
[ASKU#$&*(FIBUQ@$&]
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Back when I first encountered that indescribable, terrifying residue of the world with Flying Fish inside that deep, dark pit, I remembered seeing broken text like this.
At least back then, there had occasionally been recognizable words mixed in.
But this….
There was no way I could understand it.
Haaah, damn it… Is this seriously a game? Chairman, I swear I'm really going to kill you once I get out of here.
This thing was so persistent that I was starting to wonder whether that bastard had personally done something.
I'd never encountered anything this stubborn before.
I genuinely hadn't expected it to throw its entire body at us and dive toward us at the very end.
It had felt like some enormous giant had opened its mouth wide and thrust its head straight toward us.
Like I had suddenly become prey.
Ien… I wonder if she's okay….
The moment I thought about Ien, anger surged up from somewhere deep inside my chest.
Yet at the same time, it felt like my emotions were being sucked away somewhere, leaving my heart hollow again.
Seriously….
Seriously, that castle wasn't even going to have ashes left when I was finished with it.
What kind of shitty thing was that?
There was a limit to how far something could go.
And the Chairman too.
Because of what had happened on the rooftop, I'd decided I should just live quietly in reality from now on.
But….
I should at least warn him to stop screwing around.
And tell him to fix his damn game's bugs.
The more I think about it… the more pissed off I'm getting….
It felt similar to when Modak-hyung had been stepped on by the wolf.
It also felt similar to when Mallang died during the battle against Corruption.
Compared to when Ien was kidnapped not long ago, I was even angrier now.
At this rate, I might actually die from rage.
How did I end up with this kind of anger problem…?
Was I always like this?
I don't think I used to be this bad.
Maybe becoming healthy had simply revealed my true nature?
Haha. What a piece of trash.
If the one who had suffered this time had been Pai instead of Ien, maybe my Madness would've transformed into something related to rage.
Still….
Ien was….
How should I put it?
For now?
For now, she was still just a bundle of data, wasn't she?
I definitely cared about her.
And it was true that anger was boiling inside me.
But….
Ah, whatever.
[A@#Q^* : ASDUI&QWEBKCWQEI<K]
Huh?
This text felt….
A little different.
I still perceived it as text, but if I had to compare it to something, it felt similar to when Modak or Hayang spoke.
Or when Jjikjjiki sent me a report.
My god….
Don't tell me some residue of the world had entered my body now too?
Seriously, isn't this too much?
What am I, a trash can?
Why does weird stuff keep entering my body?
Fragments of the World.
Then suddenly Hope.
Then Rage….
Well….
To be fair, I put most of them inside myself willingly.
Hehe….
I have nothing to say.
[ㅁㅗEkR : 아Qk1]
…Whoa, wait.
No way….
When we'd been swallowed by the castle, I'd sent Jayeon into the Abandoned Zone while making sure everyone else was safe.
But I hadn't managed to send Modak away.
I didn't regret it.
If I'd sent Modak away, I wouldn't have been able to plant Hope inside Ien at the very end.
But if Modak was still here with me now….
And if that occasional scorching heat in my chest was Modak getting irritated….
Then I felt a little sorry.
[Modak: Da… d…!]
My god, it really is you?!
All kinds of ridiculous things kept happening.
If this was part of the game's presentation, I'd almost want to bow toward wherever the Chairman was.
Almost.
There was no way I could actually do it after everything he'd put me through.
He'd stolen twenty years from me, for crying out loud.
Modak… can you hear me?
[Modak: Waaah! Waaaaah!! Finally! You can finally hear me?!]
Hahaha, I'm incredibly happy to hear you too.
[Modak: I'll get straight to the point! Dad! The chain you planted on Ien is still connected!]
…As expected of my son! You're incredibly dependable!
I had no idea what he was talking about, but if Modak said so, then it had to be true!
That meant there was a way out of this place.
What a beautiful thing!
Long live Modak!
Hmm.
But….
He said the chain was still there, yet I couldn't feel anything like I normally did.
Usually, it felt like a rope resting over my arm was slowly sliding away.
There was nothing like that now.
Maybe because my senses currently felt completely identical to reality, I had to use the chain differently this time?
[Modak: …What? Am I the only one who can feel it? Why? Uh… then I can pull it, right?!]
Why are you asking something so obvious? If you can, do it.
Pull!
Clatterrrr!
Something suddenly yanked me at incredible speed!
It felt like someone had shaken me awake from an incredibly deep sleep, my consciousness rushing back into my body all at once!
“KUH!”
I jolted violently as though I'd suffered a seizure.
Even though I hadn't been sleeping, I experienced the bizarre sensation of waking from sleep while still dazed.
I'd awakened violently, but my eyes refused to open properly.
Rubbing them, I sluggishly sat up and brushed away the annoying things clinging to my body.
My vision flickered.
I could barely distinguish objects.
And each step I took felt strangely weightless, as if my feet weren't fully touching the ground.
Apparently, my senses hadn't completely returned yet.
Then….
Was I still inside the game?
My god.
Don't tell me all of that had actually been a scripted sequence?
There's no way this game was good enough to pull off something like that.
“Dad? Are you starting to come to your senses?”
“Yeah. Somehow I'm coming to my senses even though I don't have any.”
“Wake up! I don't even know where we are!”
Hearing the panic in Modak's voice, I staggered forward.
My hand instinctively reached for something.
I turned it without thinking.
Then I planted both hands against something and stood there, head lowered, blinking my blurry eyes.
An extremely familiar slipper entered my vision.
I quickly raised my head.
And inside the mirror….
There I was.
Not my in-game body.
The exhausted version of myself with absolutely no heroic presence whatsoever.
Dark circles hung beneath my eyes.
The man in the mirror blinked back at me.
“…What the hell? Why did I get logged out?”
“Ah! So this is where Dad used to live?!”
“…Huh?”
Modak's voice came from right beside my ear.
As my vision gradually sharpened, I finally saw what was reflected in the mirror.
Sitting on my shoulder was Modak.
A wolf no bigger than my palm.
There was a chain collar wrapped around his neck.
His tail wagged happily while he repeatedly pushed his head against my cheek.
Back in the game, he had been huge.
He'd looked vicious enough that I'd probably have freaked out if we'd met as enemies.
And he had multiple eyes.
Now that terrifying appearance had been deformed into a tiny little creature sitting on my shoulder.
And this was….
Reality.
“What?”
“I don't know either!”
“…Seriously, what the hell?!”
“I told you, I don't knooow!”
Modak….
Modak was….
He looked like a creature that wouldn't even qualify as the villain mascot in a magical-girl anime.
And somehow he was standing here in reality…!
He's my child, so obviously I find him cute.
But objectively….
Other people might find him a little disgusting.
…Don't tell me what was at the center of that castle wasn't part of Asset's body but residue of the world.
Is that why Modak appeared in reality like Pai did? Seriously?
If that were true, then unlike Pai, Modak had probably been born using my own body as a medium.
My god….
We'd been calling each other Dad and son all this time as a joke.
But now we'd actually become father and son?
And I gave birth to him without a mother?!
What the hell?!
Hallelujah?
“…Wait. Then what about Ien?”
“Hmm… I can faintly sense something, but… honestly, I'm not sure.”
I see.
So that's how it is.
In other words, there was a high possibility that Ien was somewhere in reality right now!
Just like what had happened with Pai, both Ien and Modak had come into contact with residue of the world.
And because of that, they'd manifested here in my reality?
And Modak had appeared right beside me because he'd already been fused with me?
“Hmm. I think I have a rough idea where Ien might be.”
“Where?! Where is she?!”
“…Modak, want to go for a walk?”
“A walk?! I love walks!”
“Aww, my good boy~ Shall we go for a walk, Modak?”
“Heehee! Hehehe! Walk!”
I gently scratched underneath the tiny talking wolf's chin.
Then, for the first time in a while, I pulled back the curtains and checked the weather.
The wind wasn't too strong.
It was warm for autumn.
And since the sun was still high in the sky, the streets would probably be crowded.
Meaning….
There would be too many witnesses to do anything unusual.
Click, click, click—whoosh~
I turned on the gas stove.
Then I placed Modak on top of it.
His expression immediately relaxed, apparently enjoying the warmth.
“Before that, Modak! Want a snack?!”
“Snack! What kind?!”
It felt like his mental age had become younger along with his body….
Well, let's not worry too much about that.
For now, I should focus on raising this child who could help me.
“What food does Modak like?”
“Uhh~! Uhh~!! Burned things! I like eating things alive too! Slurp… I can still remember that special taste from when I ate those elves!”
“Hmm… we don't really have anything like that here….”
I opened the refrigerator.
“Could you put up with vegetables? I have salad and sweet potatoes. What about eggs? Ah, the chicken breast is mine.”
“Anything! Fresh would be better!”
“Wow~ Look at my Modak! You're not picky at all! Your dad's about to cry….”
“No tears! Tears are water!”
“You little brat, you drink juice just fine…. Wait here.”
We had plenty of time.
I had no idea what Modak's definition of fresh was, but starting now, I'd burn every possible edible thing I could find in my house and at the supermarket and feed it to him.
Just thinking about going back and forth to buy groceries was already exhausting.
By nighttime, Modak had grown into a massive adult wolf that looked like he could effortlessly chew apart a human being—exactly like those wolves I'd only ever seen in documentaries.
After confirming once that I could still merge with him even in my current body, the preparations were more or less complete.
And once I opened that door and stepped outside, surely plenty of people would welcome me.
"Wow~! It's a flaming wolf!"
"Look at all those eyes! It looks like a monster!"
"Oh my, did that household seriously use such a crude iron chain as a dog collar?"
"Oh my goodness! That's animal abuse!"
Ahem!
Everyone, please be quiet!
I'm heading somewhere important on urgent business without an appointment!
Don't you dare block my path!
You might get seriously hurt!
Whoooosh~
Cold wind.
A dark hallway.
Flickering lights.
The metallic smell of blood vibrating at the tip of my nose.
And my fists trembling from an emotion I couldn't tell was excitement or shock.
My breathing grew faster.
My heart was pounding so painfully that it felt like it had already exploded several times.
Yet apparently my brain hadn't realized my heart was doing its job, because it was making me dizzy while screaming about a lack of oxygen.
“It's been a while, In-gwang. I thought I might never see you again.”
“Damn it. You made the traitorous woman start a fight at that exact place, at that exact time. It's pretty damn obvious who arranged it.”
“Was it that obvious? Hahaha! I must be getting old! Twenty years ago, I could've stolen twenty years of your life without anyone ever noticing.”
“Exactly. Old people are supposed to die. Right?”
“I'm still young, you bastard! Hahahaha!”
Creak.
Thud.
I sat on the sofa.
I didn't remember very clearly, but apparently it had been torn apart when I'd thrown some guy wielding a blade into it.
Was that the same bastard who had yelled about animal abuse?
“Haaah… Don't you even serve tea to guests here?”
“I actually called Secretary Lee just now. But you've caused quite the mess, you see. Even Secretary Lee is probably too frightened to come upstairs quickly.”
“What are you talking about? Did anyone die?”
“Exactly. That's what's so fascinating. Why didn't you kill anyone?”
“Come on. Killing people makes you a murderer. A criminal. Don't you know that? Who do you think I am, some lawless barbarian?”
“Isn't this trespassing?”
“Then call the police. I thought this entire incident was an invitation from our dear Chairman.”
“Well, well. Something really must have happened.”
I picked up a cracked teacup sitting on the shattered glass table.
After brushing out the dust, I ripped open a packet of instant coffee scattered across the floor and poured it inside.
Wait….
Why the hell did the Chairman's office even have instant coffee and an electric kettle?
Was this some demo version of Experiencing the Lives of Commoners?
This didn't even feel like Early Access.
I poured the water from the kettle into the cup.
Then I placed the warm kettle on top of Modak's head as he sat quietly beside me, panting.
That should warm him up.
“Give me Ien.”
“I don't know anything about that.”
“Stop pretending you don't know.”
“I'm serious. I'm quite a busy man. That's why I assigned someone else to monitor you. Do you think I would've bothered doing that if I had all the time in the world?”
…That actually made sense.
“…Give her to me.”
“I said I don't know, damn it. Secretary Lee, whom I assigned to monitor you, didn't send me a single report. I was about to record today as an uneventful day.”
“Beep, beep! It's warm now!”
I stroked Modak's fluffy fur while quietly sipping my coffee.
Mm.
As expected, my cheap taste buds preferred this kind of cheap coffee over espresso or whatever.
“Chairman, I'm already being very patient.”
I stared at him.
“You didn't exactly leave the traitorous woman who attacked me that day completely unharmed either, did you?”
“Hey, now. What do you take me for? I worked very hard to raise that child.”
The Chairman smiled.
“Though recently, as you said, she does seem to be showing signs of betrayal. Apparently, she found something over there that she likes.”
Was he talking about Manga Guy?
That seemed to be the usual direction these stories went.
If the Chairman writing this scenario liked tragic stories, then the traitorous woman was probably no longer in a healthy condition.
An enemy turns into an ally.
But the betrayal gets discovered soon afterward.
And when we finally meet her again later—
She's in some horrible, miserable state!
A classic storyline.
“She's in the underground laboratory beneath this place, isn't she? Hurry up and hand her over.”
“My, my. You're guessing so accurately it's as though you've already seen it yourself. I like that very much.”
He smiled broadly.
“Life becomes interesting precisely because things don't go the way you want. Don't you agree?”
“No.”
“Destruction was the same way. Couldn't you occasionally just behave yourself and listen to your elders?”
“You said you weren't old.”
“So I did.”
Chuckling, the Chairman stood.
Like me, he poured himself coffee.
Unlike me, though, he used some kind of magic to create hot water himself.
Then he left his Chairman's chair and sat on the torn sofa across from me.
“Still, you're quite something yourself. You've only met that girl once, yet you speak of her like she's an object.”
“That's because one of my kids is probably inside her.”
I took another sip.
“And aren't you the last person who should say that to me? Isn't the traitorous woman already dead?”
“No, you idiot. She is being held inside the underground laboratory, and while she isn't exactly sane anymore, she hasn't yet been swapped with that precious Ien of yours.”
“You know Lucy Lowell.”
“Of course.”
“Then didn't you experiment with something related to her using the traitorous woman? Seems like something you'd be curious about.”
“Why would I bother with such a half-finished result?”
He waved dismissively.
“Though I admit the current situation is quite interesting. If you want, I can bring her here immediately.”
Then he smiled.
“Ah. You're probably doing all of this because if I don't bring her to you, you may never see her again anyway, right?”
More precisely….
I simply had that feeling.
Even Pai had been separated into two halves, with parts of her memories cut away.
If Ien had no body like Pai's to remain inside….
There was no telling what would happen to her.
That's why I was doing this.
I was busy.
We had promised to meet again.
And she'd answered me.
A promise had been made.
Being late would be rude.
I needed to go see her off quickly.
“I didn't receive any reports, but I can roughly guess what happened.”
The Chairman leaned back.
“And today, I realized something for certain.”
“What?”
“You're not normal either.”
“Huh? Who was it that raised me into this?”
“Hahaha! Hmm. I'm actually rather proud.”
His smile widened.
“I never imagined you'd smash apart all my hands and feet just because of a bundle of data. As expected of Doridoradorpin's prized disciple.”
“The Chairman's hands and feet? You mean those hired thugs?”
“Why? Are you confident if they're merely hired thugs? People that realistic are actually more troublesome for someone like you, aren't they?”
He knew me well!
The moment I entered this place, all I'd heard was—
"An intruder!"
"Do you even know where you are?!"
"Move aside! With my new technique—!"
"What a perfect opportunity to test my new equipment!"
It had been so ridiculous that I almost laughed.
Maybe some of them had become Modak's food without me realizing.
Compared to when we'd left home, his fur looked significantly shinier and thicker.
“So? Should I prepare several bodies for your companions?”
The Chairman continued.
“We've obtained plenty of useful experimental subjects this time anyway, so it wouldn't be a bad idea.”
“You called them your hands and feet.”
“Are severed hands and feet still mine?”
He shrugged.
“Several have already been swallowed by your pet. Surely you noticed. Or would you like me to charge you compensation?”
“That would be a little….”
“Exactly. Thanks to this, I've learned to appreciate that Doridoradorpin and that bastard Jin don't interfere too heavily with this world.”
He chuckled.
“I've even gained a chance to reorganize my organization. If anything, perhaps I should give you a reward.”
“Oh, now that sounds—!”
“Anyway, understood. I'll do whatever I want.”
He stared directly at me.
“You don't object, do you? Even if you do, I'm going to do whatever I want anyway, so you'd better not object.”
“…Fine. Whatever. That's all good, but….”
Warm heat spread through my body, which was covered in cold wind and sticky blood.
I began synchronizing with Modak's emotions.
He was excited from all the destruction.
And because of that excitement, a smile began spreading across my face too.
“First, let's beat each other up.”
The Chairman laughed.
“Hahaha. Go ahead and try.”
By the time the burning building had transformed into a giant wolf and escaped the cage the company had built around it, leaving nothing but ashes behind….
Secretary Lee, who had been busy helping survivors escape, stared at the place where the Chairman's private building had once stood.
Her face went pale.
It hadn't happened instantly.
While wandering through the building filled with groans of pain, she'd responded to someone's outstretched hand and someone's orders.
Before she even realized what she was doing, she'd begun carrying the wounded outside one by one.
That was when the trembling started.
At first, it was faint.
Then it gradually grew stronger.
And the moment that vibration finally stopped—
A massive wolf appeared and sprinted away in a hurry.
“…Am I dreaming?”
It was a wolf she'd seen through a screen before.
And riding on its back was a man she'd also seen both through a screen and in reality.
No matter how she looked at it, the sight was completely unrealistic.
“Hahaha! This is rather surprising.”
A voice came from the ruins.
“I didn't expect things to reach this level. Not only did he see through everything, but… but my goodness!”
The voice burst into delighted laughter.
“Where else would you find a user stronger than his own game character?! Hahahahaha!”
“S-Sir Chairman?!”
Her employer slowly walked out from the collapsed wreckage.
He looked as clean and tidy as usual.
He laughed heartily while emerging from the ashes.
Even Secretary Lee, despite having little involvement in matters like these, understood immediately.
The person responsible for all of this….
Was the Chairman.
“Ah, Secretary Lee. Aren't you a little late?”
“B-But… there were people outside…!”
“Indeed. You must have rescued all these children.”
He smiled approvingly.
“Excellent. Just as expected of the secretary I selected.”
“…Chairman, what… what is all of this?!”
Thud.
One person collapsed.
Thud.
Thud.
Then another.
And another.
One after another, they continued falling.
Before long, only the Chairman and Secretary Lee remained standing before the ashes.
Thud.
“W-What… what is this?!”
Now….
Only the Chairman remained standing.
“I had great expectations for you.”
He looked down.
“I told you to report everything. But when you failed to do so, I assumed someone as intelligent as you must've had some intention behind it.”
“…Chairman…?”
“You've caused quite a few deviations from the plan.”
His tone remained cheerful.
“You performed unnecessary actions and accelerated Karantria's recovery.”
He raised another finger.
“You even helped In-gwang achieve his Hero promotion, despite that not being part of the plan.”
“C-Chairman! That wasn't me!”
“No.”
His smile widened.
“It was you.”
“…….”
“It was you because your actions impressed me.”
His voice began rising with excitement.
“Just how far will this woman deviate from my plans?”
He laughed.
“How far?!”
His eyes gleamed.
“I love it!”
His laughter echoed through the ruins.
“Absolutely wonderful! Exactly as I expected!”
Still laughing loudly, the Chairman pulled out his phone.
He sent a message somewhere before looking back down at Secretary Lee.
“Which is why I'm disappointed.”
The smile remained.
“You're too much like what I expected.”
He tilted his head.
“I don't want someone without unpredictability beside me.”
Tap.
His finger lightly moved.
“Of course, that's all merely an excuse.”
He smiled.
“A justification, if you will.”
The Chairman's fingertip touched Secretary Lee's forehead.
Her body immediately collapsed.
“Haaah….”
The Chairman sighed.
“I created this child as another piece for the story too….”
He looked down at her.
“She would've been perfect material for shaking the emotions of our enemies later… but, well.”
He walked beside her.
Then slowly raised one foot high into the air.
There wasn't even the slightest trace of disappointment on the Chairman's face.
There was only the innocent, childlike grin of someone delighted by an unexpected development.
“I pray that you can become the second Lucy Lowell, Secretary Lee.”
He paused.
“Or perhaps… the third?”
CRUNCH!
The following morning, the news contained nothing more remarkable than a monotonous announcement.
Winter had begun.
