Chapter 194: Episode 37 – Landscape of the Demon World (1)
“The Fourth Wall said, Whe re is thi s place?”
「 Don’t co py m e. 」
I was walking through the horizon of the story. To be exact, I had already been walking for four days. Anyone who walked through the endless piles of trash would feel like talking to the wall.
I muttered towards the fragments of the story. “Kim Dokja thought. I’m going to pick that up.”
Since there was a considerable amount of space left in the Infinite Dimension Space Coat, I stored all the stories I picked up in it. Then the Fourth Wall replied,
「 I di ot. 」
It was comforting to not be speaking to myself. I didn’t know the identity of the Fourth Wall but it clearly wasn’t an enemy. Rather, it was the one saving me from the exile penalty...
「 Sl, ee, py. 」
“Hold on a bit more. You should say something to make it easier.”
It was hard to survive the exile penalty even after gaining a body and there still seemed to be no end to the piles of trash. Maybe this pain would continue until I returned to the scenario.
[Some absorbed stories are causing a configuration conflict.]
Lamarck Kirin might be an evolutionary attribute with relatively few side effects but the story balance was causing my incarnation body to creak. It wasn’t serious yet but if I fought or did unnecessary actions, my body might collapse again.
...Well, nothing was easily solved. This was why I didn’t rush despite wanting revenge on the nebulae.
[The scenario area is getting closer.]
The first thing I had to do was enter the scenario of the Demon World. The wenny man threw me to this place but I knew how to get the scenario here.
I already had a rough plan. The route I was currently following was exactly the same as Yoo Jonghyuk of the 111th regression. Therefore, the plan shouldn’t go wrong unless there were unusual variables in the middle.
...Speaking of which, there was a lot of work in Yoo Jonghyuk’s 111th regression.
It was around the time that the author of Ways of Survival fell into a slump for a while.
It was just after passing the 1000th chapter and I remembered leaving a comment with advice on various things. I didn’t know if it was because of my comment but a new person suddenly appeared and the story changed...
Suddenly, the Dokkaebi Egg in my arm wriggled. I absorbed some of the story fragments and stroked the egg.
“Yes yes, you are cute.”
I felt the soul I saved awakening to a new life. It was very strange. The egg would probably hatch in one month. At that time, my plan would be in full swing.
By the way, once this kid hatched, she couldn’t be called Shin Yoosung... what should I name her?
「 At this time, Kim Dokja heard a sound in his ears. 」
I crouched behind a garbage pile and held my breath.
It wasn’t just one or two that I felt. There were at least dozens of maybe hundreds of individuals. I peeked out to check the situation. I saw actions that didn’t feel alive at all. Beings similar to humans were searching the piles of stories. Their identity was clear.
They were the Removal Slaves. They took orders from the rules of the Demon Realms, collecting the story fragments from the surrounding horizon to be used as fuel. They had very little intelligence and wouldn’t attack unless threatened first.
「 Kim Dokja thought: The fact that the removal slaves are moving means there is an ‘industrial complex’ nearby. 」
The industrial complexes were like cities in the Demon World. They were factories that created energy by grinding broken fragments of stories and a residential area would surround the factory.
If I remembered correctly, the closest industrial complex would be the Syswitz Industrial Complex.
“Move faster! We are running out of fuel today!”
I was surprised and hid behind the garbage pile again. A demon with small wings and a single horn was flapping his wings and giving orders.
It was a supervisor of the industrial complex. The fact that he came here meant the scale of the ‘gathering’ was quite large.
Then a removal slave approached the pile of trash that I was hiding behind. I faced it without any attempts at avoidance.
“Grrrr...?”
The removal slave that stared at me with dumb eyes had the appearance of a chimpanzee, not a human. Perhaps its planet was destroyed and it was one of the species abducted here.
They were those who lost their scenarios and relied on other beings to live. I saw the stigma ‘6424’ on his arm.
[The effect of the ‘Demon King Candidate’ has been activated.]
Demon King Candidate. It was an attribute I got from the 73rd Demon King scenario.
Then I started to hear words that were hard to understand.
-I, want, to, stop.
What?
-Kill, me.
The desire to be free filled its eyes as if this existence itself was simple. I gazed into the pathetic eyes for a moment and sighed deeply.
「 Kim Dokja thought: I guess there is only one way. 」
***
After a while, I stood with the other removal slaves at the entrance of the industrial complex. The items, including the space coat, were hidden deep inside the pile of stories I was carrying.
In other words, I was naked now. It was inevitable since I had to look like a removal slave as much as possible. In case of an emergency, I stitched the stigma ‘6424’ of the guy who died on my left arm.
“Next!”
My plan was simple. I would enter the industrial complex by mixing in with removal slaves. It was because the screening of the removal slaves wasn’t as strict as other travelers.
“What, today’s yield is zero?”
However, the supervisor was more of an obstacle than I thought. I gulped as I saw the supervisor explode right in front of me.
“Hey, you over there. Take this brat. Put him in the fuel tank.”
The supervisor threw the removal slave like he was handling a machine part.
The supervisor was Demon Baron Chechefen. He was a lower grade than the nobles I met in Dark Castle. Those in Dark Castle might have more stories but a baron was a baron. He was a guy I could kill without much strain.
“Next! 6424!”
The problem was what would happen after I killed him. The masters of the industrial complexes were the top ‘dukes’ of the Demon World. A duke was more likely to notice when the supervisor of an industrial complex was killed.
Needless to say, it was dangerous to deal with the top nobles of the Demon World with my current incarnation body.
I could use the Demon King attribute candidate but I didn’t want to attract attention from the beginning.
In any case, I couldn’t help feeling nervous for a variety of reasons as I held out my collection basket. If things became twisted here, my future plans would become considerably harder.
“W-What? You have brought a lot!”
Fortunately, the supervisor’s face flushed red after seeing all the stories I brought. I wondered if he would find the items I hid in the pile of fragments but I didn’t think he was such a meticulous person. The supervisor flapped his wings and shouted,
“Everybody, take a leaf from his book! Huh? Don’t you know that the recent yield isn’t good? At this rate, all of you will become fuel!”
The supervisor’s bluff caused fear to fill the eyes of the removal slaves. No matter how much they lost, the fear of dying remained.
“Well done 6424! Come in!”
[You have entered a scenario area.]
***
I escaped from the supervisor’s eyes and left the group of removal slaves.
I searched through the pile and wore the items one by one. I stored what I needed and discarded the rest.
I walked along the street and soon afterwards, a large square appeared.
Humans were wandering around. There were also elves, ajins and sometimes demons.
It was right to call the Demon World a place where people lived. Not only did humans come from different dimensions, but a multitude of species also lived here.
There were merchants selling various things and people bargaining to buy them. A similar village to Paradise appeared. It was a place where people lived and stories gathered.
I suddenly recalled a sentence from Ways of Survival.
「A city surrounded by a huge wall.
The low slate roofs created an unbalanced skyline.
Sometimes vehicles with steam engines were seen passing through the street.
It was a city with a mixture of civilizations at various levels.
Most constellations didn’t watch this place but it was also home to life. It was a place where everyone was living together with their own scenarios.
This was the industrial complex. 」
Sure enough, it was just as depicted. I might say these words when witnessing the Demon World’s industrial complex for the first time.
The name ‘Demon World’ made this peaceful scene inconceivable. However, this place wasn’t much different from ‘Earth’ where humans gathered.
To the people who thought such things, I wanted to tell them a sentence from Ways of Survival.
「 If you think about it in reverse, it might mean that the human world is just as terrible. 」
Yes, these words. I was reminded of the contents of Ways of Survival and immersed in deep emotions.
The 73rd Demon Realm’s Syswitz Industrial Complex. Here I had to meet a character who would fight with me against the nebulae. Of course, they didn’t know they were going to do this...
[Some absorbed stories are causing a configuration conflict.]
...I might need to move more quickly than I thought. To make matters worse, the exhausted Fourth Wall could no longer hold on.
「 Sleep y. 」
Eh? Hey, wait a minute?
[The exclusive skill ‘Fourth Wall’ has temporarily entered a silent state.]
Dammit, at this time? Suddenly, the cold permeated my body and sparks started to appear.
The exile penalty made my body unstable and some people around me noticed my presence.
“An e-exile!”
People scurried away from me like I was infectious. I quickly moved off the main streets. Time was running out.
『 Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World. 』
In this place, I had to find the story’s second ‘protagonist.’