Chapter 113

Non-Player I

I’ll tell you in advance, don’t expect a neat ending from today's story.

This time, it's undeniably a bad ending.

Let's talk about a disastrous game called reality.

The Infinite Void.

Since the extermination of the Outer God, much had changed in the world.

Later, I realized that each of the Outer Gods had their own domain.

You might call it a divine realm.

If the term "divine realm" is unfamiliar, you could call it a sanctuary. For the Infinite Void, the 'Tutorial Dungeon' was its representative divine realm and sanctuary. Among these, Baekhwa Girls' High School was its headquarters.

When one religion declines, others rush to fill the void.

Monsters declared Earth a battleground for religious wars to spread their doctrines instinctively.

During the holy crusades, humans were dying, but frankly, the monsters didn't care. On Earth, it was a long-standing tradition to not treat those with different beliefs as civilians.

The important thing was that the moment the Infinite Void was defeated, the delicate balance of power that had been maintained like a house of cards collapsed instantly.

From the defeat of the Infinite Void, the suppressed monsters started to run rampant.

“Where am I...?”

“I’m not Kim Jun-young from Anyang! I’m Moon-cheong Namgung, the first disciple of the Namgung family!”

“Please, take me back to that world again... Wait, why are there tears?”

A prime example was the ‘Hero Syndrome.’

As I mentioned earlier, I first witnessed Hero Syndrome in the 118th cycle. And the extermination of the Infinite Void occurred in the 117th cycle.

I’m not trying to test your memory. Thanks to my [Complete Memory], I can recall it in detail.

What I want to tell you is—don’t you find the timing quite ironic?

Doesn't it seem like they were waiting for the Infinite Void to be defeated?

Let’s revisit this. During this period, the monsters that newly increased their gacha pick-up rates on the Korean Peninsula weren't just the Hero Syndrome.

-Baaang!

-Bang! Baaang! Bang!

-Baaang! Bang!

The ‘Isekai Truck,' the nemesis of all writers and readers, first appeared in the 119th cycle.

Looking broader, there were many other monsters. In the 126th cycle, there was the ‘Savior Syndrome.’ In the 141st cycle, the fictional structure ‘Korea-Japan Undersea Tunnel’ appeared.

Hero Syndrome, Isekai Truck, Savior Syndrome, imaginary buildings... Don’t you feel a certain pattern?

Indeed. All of these were hints and signs of a massive trend.

Every oven-cooked dish needs preheating.

Today, before I submit the answer to that question, I want to talk about one of the most absurd yet impressive signs.

A virtual reality MMORPG.

The so-called ‘online game’ would be the protagonist of this story.

Occasionally, there were persistent posts on SG Net, a recurring topic that was periodically mentioned.

-Anonymous: Status window! Status window! Status window!

-Anonymous: I shouted 'open status' as soon as I woke up today. Did it appear? (Day 31)

-Anonymous: Am I the only one who can see the status window??

-Anonymous: When I shout 'open status,' it actually appears, lol

-LiteraryGirl: Honestly, if you’ve secretly shouted 'open status' in this messed-up world, thumbs up, lol

It was the status window topic.

Of course, as a mature adult, I had never muttered ‘status window’ to myself.

Did I shout it in the 1st or 2nd cycle? My memory starts from the 5th cycle, so anything before that is ancient history.

There’s no irrationality in blaming a modern country for a crime that happened in ancient times. Does Greece get treated as a war criminal by Turkey because of the Trojan War?

Anyway, there was no such thing as a status screen with ‘ability scores’ and ‘skill descriptions’ in this world.

Awakeners had to figure out their abilities through countless trials and errors.

For example, without SG Net, Sim Ahyeon didn’t realize that her healing ability was [Grudge Orb]. In other words, she didn’t know that the more attention she attracted, the stronger her healing became.

This is why awakeners with ‘simple abilities’ had an advantage early in the cycles.

Abilities like Lee Baek’s [Lion’s Roar], which simply made his voice louder, were easy to recognize.

A world endlessly unfriendly to awakeners.

And this unfriendliness was precisely the secret to my overwhelming popularity and trust among awakeners.

“Seo Gyu, your ability is [Ubiquitous]. With a smartphone, you can create an internet community that anyone can access. The more users there are, the more your ability develops, and you can add various systems to the forum.”

“Huh?”

“Ah-yeon, your ability is [Grudge Orb]. If Seo Gyu creates SG Net, you’ll be one of the original members and the most famous villain, growing stronger by absorbing all the animosity from people.”

“Heh?”

Monopoly on information.

The identity, strengths, and weaknesses of abilities that even the awakeners themselves didn’t know, as well as how to develop their abilities further.

I held all this information in my hands, releasing it to whomever, whenever, and as much as I wanted.

I didn’t even have to act directly.

[The Saintess of National Salvation bestows an ability upon you.]

With a slight ‘distortion,’ I could make it seem like their abilities were awakened and developed by the constellations.

[The Saintess of National Salvation grants you the ‘Low-level Healing’ ability.]

[The Conqueror of the Alps grants you the ‘Hammer Proficiency’ ability.]

[The Chancellor of the Red Cape grants you the ability to ‘Adjust Pain Perception to the Point Where Stubbing Your Little Toe Doesn’t Hurt.’]

The constellation talk functioned flawlessly.

For the awakeners, the abilities they didn’t know about seemed to be given miraculously by the constellations.

[The Chancellor of the Red Cape hints that if you stub your toe on a desk or doorframe 999 times, your ‘Pain Perception Adjustment’ ability will improve.]

Sometimes I did it myself. Sometimes the Saintess disguised as a constellation.

The regressor schemed back and forth.

Those who awakened (or discovered) their abilities through me followed me personally, while those who believed the constellations gave them their abilities worshiped the constellations. Either way, they were in my palm.

By releasing information that the awakeners might have discovered themselves 2, 6, or 10 years later, we gained absolute support.

This was one reason why the guilds on the Korean Peninsula were quieter than in other places. Military and civilians were one; they were all like disciples who owed me. Even Dang Seo-rin quickly mastered ‘Equivalent Exchange’ magic thanks to me.

Therefore,

-Anonymous: I shouted 'open status' as soon as I woke up today. Did it appear? (Day 191)

-Anonymous: It appeared, so I’m posting, lol (Day 191)

A sudden post in the 133rd cycle threatened not only my position but also the security of the Korean Peninsula.

At first, I dismissed it as a joke post and ignored it.

But about 30 minutes later, it became clear that I had been too complacent.

[Mr. Undertaker. This is a serious matter.]

“Yes? What is it?”

[Status windows are appearing before the eyes of awakeners across the Korean Peninsula.]

“What?”

I immediately accessed SG Net.

-Anonymous: What the hell? A status screen actually appears before my eyes like a hologram?

-LiteraryGirl: Evaluate your own status.

-Anonymous: Are these guys collectively trolling now? Has SG Net gone mad? Ban this boring topic.

-Anonymous: Did S-class power appear??

-Anonymous: Guys, my status window shows an A-class charm. Is this good?

The community was in an uproar.

“What is this...?”

“Guild leaderrrrr!”

Crash! Someone barged into my room.

There were two notable points about this recent event.

First, the person had opened my private room’s door without any prior notice, showing they had no concept of courtesy.

Second, the fact that they didn’t ‘walk’ or ‘run’ in but ‘rolled in’ indicated that the person possibly lacked even the ability to walk on two legs.

Mentally and physically, this creature was unfit to be recognized as Homo sapiens. This unidentified cryptid's name was Sim Ahyeon.

“Guild leaderrrrr! It appeared! It appeared!”

“......”

“An S-S-S-class appeared...!”

I didn’t need to ask Sim Ahyeon ‘What?’ or ‘What appeared?’ after reading the dialogue.

And I didn’t need to ask what ‘S-S-S-class’ meant either.

But to a cryptid, human conversation didn’t work. The creature before me opened a sketchbook and scribbled furiously with a marker.

“L-Look at this!”

I didn’t want to see it.

But the trained senses of a regressor gave me many advantages and one disadvantage.

The disadvantage was that even a quick glance at Sim Ah-ryeon's sketchbook revealed all the characters and content.

――――――――――

[Status]

Name: Sim Ah-ryeon

Title: 'Bird That Drinks Poison'

Occupation: Healer, Pharmacist, Artist, Saintess (Potential), Novelist (Potential)

[Stamina: E-class] [Strength: E-class] [Intuition: S-class] [Agility: E-class] [Intelligence: B-class] [Charm: F-class]

Personality Traits: [Loyal] [Social Anxiety] [Careless] [Arrogant]

Unique Skill: [Bird That Drinks Poison (SSS)]

*Bird That Drinks Poison (SSS): Converts the overflowing poison in this world into medicine.

The more resentment and curses you receive from others, the stronger your healing abilities become. The greater the resentment and deeper the curses, the stronger the healing.

Transforming evil into good. Turning resentment into opportunity. You were born with the fate of being the savior, the Saintess of this land.

May fortune be with you.

――――――――――

“D-Did you see? Guild leader, I’m an S-S-S-class...!”

“......”

“Bird That Drinks Poison... Hehe, Bird That Drinks Poison... And also the savior, the Saintess...!”

It was only then that I realized ‘S-S-S-class’ was Sim Ah-ryeon's way of saying ‘SSS-class.’

Why she pronounced ‘SSS-class’ that way, I had no choice but to acknowledge my ignorance.

But my ignorance did not end there.

I only got into web novels and genre fiction in general from the 555th cycle. Therefore, I couldn’t be angry or denounce the sight of this cryptid proclaiming itself as Bird That Drinks Poison, the mockery of this world, the disgrace of this universe.

I simply remained silent. As Wittgenstein said, we must remain silent about what we do not know.

“G-Guild leader, you should try shouting it out too.”

“What?”

“Status window. If you shout ‘Status-Open,’ it will appear... You can also just think it, but the first time, you must say it. Oh! When you say it, you must firmly hold the intention and desire to see your own stats...!”

Then what about the mute? This status window thing, which was obviously an anomaly because only an anomaly would pull off such nonsense, did this anomaly discriminate against people with speech disabilities?

“C-Come on, guild leader! Quickly!”

“...Ah-ryeon, it’s not advisable to rashly expose oneself to such an anomaly.”

“Hmm?”

“You’ve been in our guild long enough to know a lot about anomalies. Like how a red light means you shouldn’t cross the street, calling out your name might be the condition for triggering this status window anomaly. You shouldn’t call it out recklessly.”

“...Oh.”

Sim Ah-ryeon then showed a look of understanding.

“G-Guild leader... Are you afraid your stats might be worse than mine, so you don’t want to call it?”

“......”

“S-Sorry. As you know, I often lack consideration... Hehe. I won’t boast about my stats in front of you anymore.”

Sim Ah-ryeon left the room, mumbling about showing off to Seo Gyu.

More precisely, she left the room and then peeked her head back in.

“Ah, by the way...! Even if you don’t have an S-S-S-class ability, or if you’re an S-class or A-class, I will never look down on you, guild leader...!”

“......”

“Isn’t it wrong to look down on someone based on their abilities? Right? Hehe. So... G-Good luck, guild leader...!”

Bang.

The cryptid left, closing the door behind her.

The room was quiet.

Silence filled the air.

“Saintess.”

[Yes.]

“Gather all the information on this anomaly as soon as possible. Quickly.”

[...Understood.]

Despite the hesitation in the Saintess’s tone, I had no doubt in my mind. In retrospect, this was a significant historical event, akin to a reform in genre fiction.

I had declared war against the 'Status Window.'

Footnotes:

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