Episode 12 – First Person Protagonist’s Point of View (1)
One of the most painful deaths in the world was burning to death and I had just experienced it. The neurons in my brain seemed to emit light at once.
[The exclusive skill ‘Fourth Wall’ has attenuated the mental pain.]
The pain was slowly reduced. It was once again the Fourth Wall. I always felt strange when I escaped from trouble with the help of this skill.
Ways of Survival had become a reality and I was living in it. Then... what was this ‘wall’ that I felt every time?
·····.
No, these thoughts were futile. I was safe thanks to the attribute ‘King of No Killing’ and had to move again.
It was an attribute that could be gained only when the conditions of King of No Killing was met. Unlike its name, the privilege of the attribute was more like ‘immortality’ than ‘no death.’ It was conditional but...
In any case, I would soon return to my flesh. At least that was what I thought.
[Due to a conflict error with your exclusive skill, the privilege of King of No Killing would be delayed.]
Huh? A skill conflict error?
[Thanks to your death, your consciousness has been completely liberated from the constraints of your body.]
[Exclusive skill, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint stage 3 has been activated!]
I was overcome with a dizzy feeling. No, wait a minute. What was happening this time?
「 “Damn, if only it wasn’t him.” 」
The dizziness flooded in and my vision brightened. Then I was watching a ‘scene.’
「 Gong Pildu licked his lips as he observed the people around the platform. Now he couldn’t run away. He thought about it but he knew better than anyone that he didn’t have the courage to do so.
“Um... Dokja hyung.”
There was a weight pressing against his knee and Gong Pildu looked down. It was a boy around 10 years or so. There was a boy sleeping on his thigh.
“Why am I like this...?”
Gong Pildu wondered as he looked down at the sleepy Lee Gilyoung. His old memories surfaced. A young child. Lee Gilyoung was his daughter’s age.
He shook his head and sighed.
–Pildu-ssi, we should stop now...
–Daddy.How long are you going to keep talking about land?
There was a time when he was the breadwinner of the family.
He earned money to feed his family and buy land. If he was lucky, he would become a landlord and then get tenants...
Finally, he became a ‘big investor’ in Chungmuro but it didn’t take long to find out that he couldn’t keep his small family.
“Isn’t this surprisingly okay? You get along well with people.”
He looked up to see a beauty with a nice face. Yoo Sangah. Two days ago, this woman had become the deputy of Chungmuro.
“Quickly stop talking nonsense.”
“You were smiling just now...”
Gong Pildu made a look of distaste. Yoo Sangah sat down hesitantly next to Gong Pildu.
“Ahjusssi, how many times did you buy land?”
“What?”
“When I look at the people in the Landlord Alliance, only you are the one with the ‘Land Owner’ attribute.”
“...It isn’t good to have a lot of land. It needs to be good land. You are naive.”
“Then what is good land?”
“Expensive land is good land.”
“What type of land is expensive?”
“It is land that many people want.”
“Was your land like that?”
“Yes.”
It wasn’t land that he wanted.
Gong Pildu looked into Yoo Sangah’s eyes. This woman’s curiosity had an oddly sharp corner. She was smiling on the outside but he couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable.
Duduk.Duk.Duk.
Then a sound was heard in the distance. Yoo Sangah’s expression hardened while Lee Gilyoung woke up in a flash from where he was sleeping on Gong Pildu’s knees. The antennae of the cockroach on his back shook.
Ku ku ku ku!
Line 4, the tunnel from Hoehyeong. Something was coming this way. Yoo Sangah stood up while Gong Pildu used a skill.
[The character ‘Gong Pildu’ has activated ‘Armed Zone Lv. 8!]
Gong Pildu bit his lips. This might be an intuition only rich land owners got. There was something like that.
“Hey! Huddle up!”
It was the feeling of someone trying to take away his land.
Dududududu!
Gong Pildu turrets fired all at once into the darkness and something fell. They were ground rats.
“The enemy! Gather around Gong Pildu-ssi! We will go with the large-scale exercise we practiced in the morning!”
Yoo Sangah called out and the people scattered on the platform ran.
“Group A is near the turrets, group B will be at the centre of the gunfire and group C will be protecting Gong Pildu-ssi!”
The people moved in the orderly ranks that they had practiced in advance. The ground rats collapsed due to the people’s quick response. It was much easier than when Emergency Defense was taking place.
As the dozens of ground rats collapsed on the ground, the same thought entered the minds of the Chungmuro members. It was easy. It truly was worth everyone cooperating.
Then they heard a voice from the tunnel.
“As expected, Hamelin’s Flute isn’t enough?”
“How can the 9th grade species compare to a place eaten by Yoo Jonghyuk?”
A group of people appeared from the darkness. Four men and one woman.
Gong Pildu’s expression hardened. He didn’t know the reason. However, one thing was for certain. These guys were different from the ones they had dealt with so far.
“Dammit... quickly call the samurai girl!”
“I am already here.” There was a cold feeling as Lee Jihye came down from where she had been. “And don’t call me a samurai. If you don’t want to get beaten up.”
Despite the grumpy answer, Gong Pildu felt a bit calmer. Lee Jihye was a great power. Yet Gong Pildu still felt uneasy. He was anxious and growled like a frightened beast.
“Who are you? Where did you come from?”
“It is real. The Maritime Admiral and Armed Fortress Master has become a team.”
It wasn’t an answer that came back but words that were close to mocking.
Gong Pildu asked, “What nonsense are you saying? Quickly go back. Otherwise I will shoot to kill!”
However, the five men and women didn’t look at Gong Pildu. They just continued talking to each other.
“Who is on the dragon side?”
“Numbers 5, 6, 8 and 9. They aren’t apostles but they are pretty good.
“With the exception of the one outside Seoul, there are five of us left.”
“The five of us are enough. Quickly sweep them away.”
The first one who came forward was a man in his 30s with a bulging belly.
He was a man with the number ‘7’ on his shoulders. He had thick eyebrows and looked at Lee Jihye’s white legs like they were to his taste.
“I will take the Maritime Admiral. She isn’t a big deal without the sea.”
“What are you bastards saying?”
Lee Jihye cried out sharply and rushed forward. Gong Pildu realized it couldn’t be helped and infused magic power into the turrets.
“Damn, just go to hell!”
Dududududu!
The man with a ‘4’ on his cloak laughed.
“As expected from one of the Ten Evils. If we came a bit later, we would’ve been swept away.”
“Numbers 3 and 4. You two take Gong Pildu. Be vigilant and attack the turrets one by one.”
The man with a ‘3’ on his forehead nodded.
“Yes... I understand. One of the 10 Evils can be handled by both of us.”
“Number 2, you handle the rest.”
The woman with a ‘2’ on her cheek frowned. She was holding a small flute in her hand.
“Why do I have to handle such petty reason?”
“It is the most appropriate for you.”
“What are you going to do?”
Then the man with a ‘1’ on the dark cloak opened his mouth.
“I will be taking the flag holder.” 」
The moment of immersion was broken and consciousness returned. Now it all made sense.
Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint. I had a similar experience the last time I was in the ichthyosaur’s stomach. At that time, I saw Yoo Jonghyuk.
By the way, it was amazing. I thought I had prepared for the apostles but it wasn’t enough. I was able to guess their thoroughness just from the items they brought.
There was Hamelin’s Flute that could control the ground rats and the Magic Power Bullet Shield that could defend against Gong Pildu’s attack.
They really wanted to capture Chungmuro, obtain Yoo Jonghyuk and devour this world.
But it wouldn’t be so easy.
「 “W-What? Was the Maritime Admiral this strong in the beginning? Hey, isn’t something wrong?”
It was the 7th Apostle who cried out first.
Lee Jihye’s sharp sword pushed the 7th Apostle back little by little. It was natural. The current Lee Jihye was much stronger than the Lee Jihye in the original ‘third turn.’
“Damn, why are these two turrets so hard?”
Number 3 and 4 were in trouble.
The 2nd Apostle playing Hamelin’s Flute was also struggling due to Yoo Sangah’s Binding Thread and Lee Gilyoung’s Mjolnir’s Thunder.
In the end, it was the 1st Apostle who came forward. He frowned before pulling something out and lighting it. Then he threw it at the Chungmuro party.
Kwaaaaang―! 」
There was a loud roar and Chungmuro’s platform was covered with explosions. I was startled.
...This son of a bitch?
[Mass Destruction Magic Bullet]
It was hard to deal huge damage to top monsters but against humans, it was the most powerful weapon of mass destruction.
It was a weapon that could be made with some items that appeared in the Gangseo and Gangnam areas, as well as some items bought from the Dokkaebi Bag.
Then he was the ‘king’ of the apostles. The purple flag on his back proved it.
The dust settled down, revealing the Chungmuro platform. My chest was becoming stuffy. If the apostles had this then the situation was unfavourable.
The dust cleared and the fallen Chungmuro group members were seen. People were coughing up blood.
Yoo Sangah and Lee Gilyoung were lying on their floor. Even Gong Pildu couldn’t completely avoid getting injured despite using Protective Wall.
「 “Phew, now it looks good. Right?”
The 7th Apostle grabbed Lee Jihye’s head while her uniform was torn. She was in the front and received the biggest blow from the explosion.
“Aren’t you just a supporting actor, huh?”
“Bastards...cough!” Lee Jihye screamed as she was punched in the stomach.
“Can I have this gurl?”
“What will you do with her? There is no time.”
“What will I do? Looking back, isn’t she destined to follow the main character and be miserable? Then I would rather...” 」
Lee Jihye’s small body shook in the air like a rag doll. Her lips were trembling. She was staring at me.
「 He...lp...me. 」
Impulsive anger filled my head. It was unlike me. Lee Jihye was clearly just a ‘character.’
[The exclusive skill, ‘Fourth Wall’ is activated!]
[Excessive immersion has restricted some of the features of Fourth Wall.]
I was too immersed. I became dizzy and nauseous.
[Excessive immersion lads to a profound increase in the proficiency of Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint.]
[Changing your viewpoint to first person.]
My consciousness narrowed and stretched like a rubber band. Then I opened my eyes. I was really in Chungmuro.
...How? Lee Jihye was looking at me with shaky eyes. It wasn’t just her. At this moment, everyone on the platform was watching me.
My field of view moved slowly. I walked towards Lee Jihye. To be exact, my body was moving regardless of my will.
One step, another step. Slowly but steadily, I was closing the distance to her.
The 7th Apostle frowned and asked, “You are...?”
I was uncomfortable, like I was wearing clothes that didn’t fit my body. The height of my gaze was different from usual as well as my five senses.
At this moment, I realized who ‘I’ was. I couldn’t help laughing.
I disliked it. I really disliked it.
Lee Jihye’s lips moved a little bit.
“Ah...”
My hand gripped the hilt of the sword like it was something I had done millions of times.
The grip of my fingers was strange. It was natural and beautiful. I was thrilled with the fantastic feeling that I felt for the first time in my life.
The blade moved silently. No one could see anything.
Just. It went through something. Something was cut off. Something fell to the ground.
Some people were shocked while other people’s mouths dropped open.
The 7th Apostle holding onto Lee Jihye slowly sank down. Blood gushed from his neck. My hands moved and I caught the falling body of Lee Jihye.
“Ah, ah...”
I lightly placed Lee Jihye down on the platform. I raised my eyes and saw the apostles looking this way. The first one to speak was the 3rd Apostle.
“You... who are you?”
How funny. It was a stupid question. I slowly opened my mouth. It was like I was this guy from the start.
“I am Yoo Jonghyuk.”
The coldest and loneliest voice in the world. The sleeping prince had finally woken up from his deep sleep.
“And you shall die here.”
Now Chungmuro would be safe.
.
.
My consciousness escaped from Yoo Jonghyuk’s body and slowly returned to its original body.
[Exclusive skill, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint stage 3 has been turned off.]
[The skill conflict error is normalized.]
[The delayed privilege of the King of No Killing has reappeared.]
[Your body is resurrected from death.]