Unique Ability

Jin Sian’s words weren’t wrong. My goal of doing anything for the sake of those precious to me might have been just words. I smiled bitterly and sighed.

,…If I accept that I’m a disgusting hypocrite, what changes?

Jin Sian smiled at my self-deprecating question.

,Your heart will be at ease. Just like calling someone acting like an idiot ‘idiotic’ is a compliment, you won’t be weighed down by guilt anymore.

,…That’s exactly what I need right now.

,Right, not being afraid of hypocrisy. Maybe that’s the greatest advantage I can give you. It’s the perfect prescription for you, who amplifies feelings of inferiority and depression with guilt.

With those words, the conversation ended. After a long silence, I opened my mouth with a vague feeling.

,…If I’m with you, a lot will change for me too, right?

,You’re mistaken about something. Us becoming one isn’t possession or souls mixing together. It’s just something that was once one regaining its original form. Rather, you won’t feel any change. Because the change will feel natural.

At Jin Sian’s words, I smiled and said playfully.

,For someone who says to think simply, you sure give long explanations.

,…I’m regretting not just saying that I’m the perfect medicine for a patient with severe depression; it would have been much easier.

Our eyes met, and we both burst out laughing without knowing who started first. *Psh*

,Alright, then is it time to fleece Loss of Yearning of his capital?

Saying that, I smiled and grabbed the hand Jin Sian offered.

*

,You’re back, idiot.

At Jin Sian’s voice, my vision suddenly returned. I can see the sofa and the universe. I’ve returned to the living room where Loss of Yearning was.

Jin Sian, who was sitting on the sofa eating popcorn, stared at my face and then gave a mischievous smile.

,Judging by the looks of it, you’ve regained your essence. How is it? Do you feel anything different?

,What’s different is… it feels like I washed my hair with toothpaste, my head feels refreshed, and the synchronization rate is floating in front of my eyes.

The last synchronization rate I saw was 42%. The synchronization rate floating in front of me now is 28%. I still don’t know why the synchronization rate keeps dropping. I also don’t know what will happen if the synchronization rate becomes 0. Before I could even ask about this, Jin Sian spoke first.

,Be careful. If the synchronization rate drops below 10%, it’s over.

,You seem to know what the synchronization rate is?

At my question, Jin Sian made an absurd expression.

,There’s no Loss in the multiverse who knows it better than I do. Look at my state.

As he said that and gestured to himself, I wondered what he meant, and then suddenly I understood what Jin Sian had said. Why Loss of Yearning was in the form of Jin Sian, not Loss. The question I had when I first saw him was resolved.

,Could it be that the synchronization rate reached 0%?

At my question, Jin Sian let out a satisfied sigh with a comfortable expression.

,Haa, finally I can have a conversation without having to explain everything. That’s right, I reached 0% synchronization rate and was recognized as the author Jin Sian, not Loss, in the world I was in, so I fled the world’s denial and came to this outer universe.

From Jin Sian’s words, I was able to learn various things. That when the synchronization rate reaches 0%, synchronization is released and it becomes the complete Jin Sian, and that if that happens, you’re banished from the world.

From the conversation just now, I could guess why my synchronization rate had dropped so far.

Because I broke free from the Saintess’s restraints and regained the essence of the author, the synchronization rate of Loss set by the Saintess dropped. The fact that the synchronization rate also dropped when Jin Sian inside me took control of my body to save my life adds credibility to the speculation.

One fortunate thing is that my synchronization rate is currently 28%. Unless there’s another Jin Sian secretly hidden by the Saintess inside me, the synchronization rate won’t drop any further than it is now.

With a bit of relief and remembering that I need to pay attention to the synchronization rate in the future, I suddenly had a question for Loss of Yearning. Suddenly, I felt like the author’s curiosity in my head had grown tremendously.

The conversations I had with Loss of Yearning so far flashed quickly through my mind. Somehow, now that I retrace my memories, it seems like Jin Sian gave various explanations, but he subtly left out the important content. I asked directly, so that Jin Sian couldn’t avoid answering.

,I think you can tell me now why you attached the word ‘Yearning’ to yourself.

Jin Sian, who pushed aside the popcorn bucket he was holding, laughed only with his mouth.

,You’ve become sharper because you’ve regained the essence of the author. Did you develop it to the extreme in that direction? Well, I wasn’t going to hide it anyway, so I’ll answer you. Before that, what do you think yearning is?

,Isn’t it desperately wanting something, endlessly desiring something… that’s yearning, isn’t it?

At my answer, Jin Sian nodded as if it were the correct answer.

,The Losses of the multiverse have various unique abilities to break free from the predetermined cycle. They wanted to add variables to the predetermined ending by diversifying the routes. I observed them, understood their unique abilities, and named them.

When Jin Sian waved his hand, the universe that was visible in the place where the wall had collapsed quickly moved away. Like the glow-in-the-dark stickers Aria had stuck on my room’s ceiling, very small universes were endlessly repeating extinction and birth.

,I wanted to observe, understand, and predict all the events happening in the multiverse, and find out why we can’t escape the cycle of eternal recurrence. That’s why I introduced myself as Yearning.

Looking at Jin Sian’s appearance, as if asking if this was enough to satisfy me, I didn’t nod my head right away like a fool like before. The questions about Loss of Yearning weren’t all resolved yet. I have to get everything I can from the conversation. This kind of opportunity might not come again.

I believe the explanation that he became Yearning because he wanted to understand the universe while living as an observer in the outer universe, but I haven’t heard yet why Loss of Yearning’s synchronization rate became 0%. If my synchronization rate dropped because of the backlash from trying to forcibly break free from the Saintess’s restraints, then I had to ask clearly what actions Loss of Yearning had taken to make the synchronization rate drop to 0%.

,Then in the world where you possessed Ross… what kind of Ross were you?

Jin Sian, who noticed that the question contained an implicit meaning, laughed. It was a completely different kind of laugh than before. I didn’t avoid the eyes that were emitting an eerie light and faced them straight on.

,Did you read my plausibility? Or is it the author’s intuition… Keu keu, to notice my secret in an instant. Well, I was going to explain it later, but… since it’s come to this, I’ll tell you what you’re curious about.

Jin Sian picked up a piece of popcorn from the popcorn bucket he had thrown aside and brought it to his mouth with his fingers.

,Originally, I was Loss of Greed. After coming to the outer universe, greed just changed its nature to yearning. The object of my greed was talent, and the heroines of Roel who appear in the novel were all talents of the highest level that couldn’t be reached by anything else.

For a moment, I thought that Jin Sian had NTR’d Roel’s heroines and built a harem. But soon I realized that even if he did that, it would be strange for the synchronization rate to decrease.

The synchronization rate was a problem related to the inner soul. Even if you date several women, even if they are Roel’s lovers, it shouldn’t have any effect. Then, in what way did he satisfy his greed that the synchronization rate decreased….

In an instant, my eyes widened as I looked at Jin Sian. Jin Sian smiled slyly, as if he had noticed that I had realized something.

,The reason I became a Great Wizard was thanks to my childhood friend Ellie’s magical talent and Flavia’s infinite mana. The reason I was able to become a Sword Master was thanks to Illia’s innate talent for swordsmanship, and the reason I was able to become the owner of the Emerald Tablet was thanks to Rosalyn’s alchemical talent.

Goosebumps ran down my skin. I got goosebumps not from Jin Sian’s words that he had obtained other people’s talents, but from the words that he had obtained Flavia’s infinite mana. That wasn’t talent. It was just the innate ‘setting’ that Flavia had.

The fact that he obtained Flavia’s infinite mana means that the unique ability of Loss of Greed is not simply imitation or theft of talent. That means….

,…Yeah, I wasn’t satisfied with just staying as an extra. Actually, that’s what book possession is like, right? You possess an extra and do more than the protagonist, and from the middle you become stronger than the protagonist.

Jin Sian gave a cool smile. He looked somewhere far away as if recalling the past and continued to speak.

,When I first opened my eyes after possessing Ross, I was surprised the moment I saw my parents. People looked like jelly. When I entered the academy, it was all jelly. Sometimes I saw cookies too. But Roel and the heroines were different. Maybe it’s because they’re characters in the novel, but they didn’t look like jelly, but like delicious chocolate. The moment I saw them, I realized what kind of nature my greed had.

Jin Sian, who scooped a handful of popcorn from the popcorn bucket he had carelessly thrown aside, showed it to me with an ominous smile and brought it to his mouth one by one.

,Just like you preempted the magic book of the Parel family that Rosalyn should have obtained, I just used my unique ability to become stronger.

The popcorn that went into Jin Sian’s mouth broke with a sound.