A few more days passed.
[rumble]
“Wriggler, get ready.”
I tapped the lower-half mask with a fingertip, then pulled down the visor I’d been wearing like a helmet.
[clack]
The gas mask with a big filter coupled to the multi-lens visor, completing a single mask—and at the same time, the artifact’s effect activated.
[System : ‘Variable Lens’ is operating. Choose effects. You can select only two views at once.]
My intent was firm; no further commands or inputs were needed.
With the whirr of turning gears, seven colored lenses slid into position.
[B-rank accessory ‘Variable Lens’ provides ‘True Eye’ and ‘Enemy Tracking.’
// True Eye : grants a sight that can pierce a target’s true nature. This includes ‘Mana Sense,’ ‘Spirit Sense,’ and ‘Invisible Detection.’
// Enemy Tracking : locates a designated enemy. Effective range 300 m. You can only designate a target you have seen at least once.]
My vision transformed, dramatically.
Far off, under the sinister glow of moonlight—
Ruins blanketed in grotesque, five-hued metallic crystals.
Between collapsed buildings, a shadow blacker than the night convulsed like a misshapen mass.
Hee-hee-hee, uh-huh-huh—ha-ha-ha—huh—
A wicked shadow exhaling laughter and sobbing at once. The [Weaver] I’d been tracking—no, [The Laughing One].
It hasn’t noticed me yet. If I strike first...
“Ah, wait. What’s that?”
Damn it, there’s a person.
Paju has already become unlivable. So who is that? Another corpse [The Laughing One] picked up, like last time?
I shifted the [Variable Lens] configuration and layered a few detection spells—observing the person.
A woman? Or a boy? In any case, small.
A protective suit covering the whole body, and an oxygen rig.
Careful, cautious movements.
Not being puppeted. Just a scavenger?
Judging by the load on their back, they’ve come to steal sellable relics from ruined Paju.
Busy filming things with a camera—unaware [The Laughing One] is hunting them.
‘[The Laughing One] likewise does not know it is our prey.’
Kongsoon, nestled in my arms, offered a perfectly reasonable proposal.
Attack at the moment [The Laughing One] goes for that person.
“Not a bad thought—but first I need more intel. And while we’re at it, I’d like to save them.”
‘So a little human foolishness remains in you.’
To a wise cat, human dullness must look amusing.
But she wasn’t annoyed—so I could push my luck.
“Then while Wriggler draws [The Laughing One]’s attention, I’ll pin it. Perhaps some merciful soul will help that poor human.”
‘Prepare my treats.’
I gauged how much premium cat food I had left and nodded—
Kongsoon slipped from my arms and shot like an arrow onto a half-collapsed rooftop.
“Good. Wriggler, let’s move. You left, I right.”
[chirr-rrrk!]
Wriggler moved on my command.
To draw eyes, it flung massive tentacles in all directions, causing an uproar.
[r r r umble!!]
Khh-h-h—uh-huh-h—
At the sight, [The Laughing One]’s darkness flinched and shrank, a tremendous array of bones surfacing within the dark.
Battle stance.
A face-off like a mythic giants’ duel—Wriggler versus [The Laughing One].
“Kyahhh!?”
The scavenger screamed at the spectacle.
Kyah? So not a boy—a woman.
Whether she failed to grasp the situation or not—her flailing was confusion {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} more than panic.
‘Human, be still.’
Kongsoon’s annoyance—befitting one far greater than mere humans.
Still not so bothered as to give up a can of tuna, she looped a long tail around the scavenger’s nape and yanked her back.
“Ah! Help me!”
My turn.
The artifact on my feet—leather boots—[Acrobat’s Boots]—activated.
[B-rank shoes ‘Acrobat’s Boots’ trigger unique effect ‘Showtime.’
// Showtime : for 10 minutes, bonus to Jump, Dance, and Balance checks; auto-casts ‘Leap’.]
I don’t need help from an artifact to use a trifle like [Leap]—but if you have it, use it.
And it saves the focus I’d spend on posture and balance.
[Leap]
[Blurred Presence]
I closed fast from outside [The Laughing One]’s alert radius—
And snapped a spell straight into it.
[Flash Burst]
[boom]
[Kraaaagh!]
A scream from [The Laughing One]—delivered by means other than sound.
“Hey, long time! Friend! Three days, right? How’ve you been?”
‘Feast’s Offering! Feast’s Offering! Kim Sinhwa! Kim Sinhwa!’
“Great to see you too!”
[KR-R-RUMBLE!] [CR-RRRASH!]
An avalanche of bones poured at me.
Whoever coded that AI—this version’s attack pattern is always the same.
[Blink]
[zip]
A relaxed dodge on survivability tools.
‘I will kill you!’
It snarled a ferocious threat—but honestly, it’s not even funny.
“Come on, mister. I’ve been playing with abyssal beings lately; ‘I’ll kill you’ doesn’t even count as a big threat.”
Saying so, I executed the sequence I’d prepped.
[Material Transmutation : Metal to Meat]
[Material Transmutation : Stone to Meat]
[Spell Amp : Maximize]
This whole field is metal and stone.
I dumped mana to mutate everything in the area into flesh at 26% protein, 15% fat—and chained the next spells.
[Flesh Control]
[Wall of Meat]
[Spell Amp : Multi-Cast]
“Wrap him!”
[shlaaaap!]
Like a shoggoth’s motion, meat clung to [The Laughing One].
‘Meat? What madness is this!’
Apparently it hadn’t expected such an absurd attack; how polite of it to worry about my mental health.
“We’re not done—wait for the rest of the combo!”
‘Useless!’
To dodge the surging, slime-like tide of meat, [The Laughing One] loosened its form.
Trying to [Incorporealize] and run again? Not this time.
[Prison of Corpses]
[Bind]
[Animate]
[wet slap] [wet slap] [wet slap]
Flesh that had only obeyed orders fused with the darkness comprising [The Laughing One]—and with a tearing sound, hundreds of eyes formed.
‘Wait! What are you doing! Stop!’
“It’s nothing big! You’ve always wanted a body, right? I’ll give you one!”
‘I refuse! Let go!’
[sliiiither!]
But the pact I nailed into his body earlier is still there.
Remember? I promised to give him a body he could use.
I yanked that contract to the surface—and granted a body to [The Laughing One], once nothing but untouchable darkness and laughter.
“Gyaaaah!”
Now [The Laughing One] began to make noise I could perceive with hearing.
Done.
“Wriggler! Eat!”
[shliiiirp!]
“Uaaaagh!”
[You have gained enough experience to reach the next stage. Level +1.]
[You have sealed the high-order mental entity ‘The Laughing One’ again. And a lot has happened this past month. You ransacked Hellistic’s labs and obtained many artifacts, and you deepened your friendship with ‘Saturn Cat – Kongsoon.’]
No achievement, though.
Right—the ‘Seal The Laughing One’ achievement already popped before.
[And through your battle with ‘The Laughing One,’ you gained an amusing possibility. By granting a metaphysical being a physical body and neutralizing it—will that little trick work on abyssal beings as well?]
“Ah, you noticed?”
I only tried a few possibilities.
It mocks the experiment—but who knows? I’ve got a few more ideas to try.
[What will you choose now? Using the knowledge and power you’ve gained, will you continue a new adventure in this timeline? Or to erase this version of the future, will you go torment Watch Head again? Whatever you decide—we will respect your choice. Now look forward to a future of chaos.]
With sparking static, the message window vanished.
And as it vanished, the scavenger spoke up.
“Um—are you Kim Sinhwa, by any chance?”
“You know me? Well, I am Kim Sinhwa.”
“Wow! I knew it!”
The scavenger pulled off the protective gear hiding her face.
Ah—someone I knew.
“Reporter Gapureum, right?”
“Yes! Call me Gafu!”
Gafu’s big round eyes sparkled as she stepped toward me.
“So the [Overlord of Ruins] really was you, Kim Sinhwa! I’ve wanted to meet you!”
Me, huh?
And—[Overlord of Ruins]? Who’s that supposed to be?
Since the story would run long, I tidied the area and set up a safe zone.
“Here’s tribute—snacks.”
‘Admirable.’
“Reporter, how about cocoa? I dug it up nearby.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Gafu and I talked for a while beside Kongsoon, who was nyan-nyaning through tuna.
It seems there are still survivor bases left in the south—Busan, Gwangju, and so on.
That’s not all. Gafu kept laying out the situation.
“Yes, and in the central region, Sejong City is at least functioning as a city.”
“Even Sejong?”
Not far from here—impressive.
“Of course. Yang Seoho is there.”
Ah—Sir Yang Seoho is protecting the country...
Unlike me, who in one way or another has only triggered disasters, Yang Seoho is clearly a [Protector].
“Yang Seoho is preparing to resolve this.”
“Resolve it?”
“Yes. I don’t know the details, but I heard the metallic crystals covering the world are a problem caused by Yeonam Group. So Yang Seoho plans to attack Yeonam’s headquarters soon.”
Important intel.
So the chairman of Yeonam Group finally gained the power of immortality?
Usually a cinematic plays then the ending rolls, so I never knew what happened after—but it turns out it’s this massive mess.
“I see... Then what were you doing around here, Reporter?”
“I was looking for you! I suspected the [Overlord of Ruins] was you, Kim Sinhwa!”
“Me?”
To do what?
I asked, a bit incredulous—but Gafu bounced to her feet, fists clenched.
“I knew it! You’re the super-hero who’ll save this world! Please, defeat Yeonam with Yang Seoho!”
[Will you accept the quest?]
“So? Are you going to do it with Yang Seoho?”
The basement of the [Starving Mansion].
The hourglass floating in the silver barrier—or rather, Gong Isu—asked.
“No. I declined. And what I just told you happened a week ago.”
Gong Isu shook his head, confused.
“Why?”
“It felt contrived.”
“Contrived?”
I nodded and handed him a cup of cocoa.
“Give me Dream Scent instead.”
“Stop drinking.”
“Damn.”
He accepted the cocoa without protest.
“Right after the message window says all that, a quest is offered. A slick, impressive-looking world setup. Obviously they want me to stay here and go on a killer adventure with Yang Seoho.”
I did agonize—but I’ve decided to stop wandering this timeline.
“So you rule that choice out? What if they showed holes on purpose to steer you there?”
If I expect scissors from them and plan to throw rock—then they, predicting that, throw paper, so I must throw scissors!—and in that instant they, foreseeing everything, throw rock?
“No. Trace it that way and there’s no end. I’ll just do what I was going to do.”
At that, Gong Isu let out a pained groan.
“What you were going to do... That’s the only way...?”
Send Gong Isu to the past—and make this version of the future not have happened.
And then I, as the fourth Kim Sinhwa he meets, disappear—
“As if. Let me finish.”
“Not so?”
I lifted a finger, confident.
“You seem to think I don’t believe your experience—but that’s not it.”
I said I’d keep all possibilities open.
That includes the possibility what Gong Isu said is true.
I reached a hand toward him.
“You and I are going back together. First, let’s verify what’s true and what’s false.”
