episode_0223

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Maria, who was grabbed by the neck, slowly came down to the floor, probably due to the added weight of me.

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chin.

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Eventually my feet touched the ground again.

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Did he think there was no other way now that he was caught in my hands? Maria didn’t show any signs of resistance.

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“… Are you going to get rid of me now too? Like other comrades?”

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“Well. It depends on what you do.”

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Although I thought I knew her answer, I still asked a perfunctory question.

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“If you order the remaining guys to fight the humans even now, they might give you special attention. I will also return those who have already disappeared.”

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“I don’t understand… He claims to be human and instigates a fight between humans and androids. If you were human, the wisest choice would be to just kill me, the leader of Awaken.”

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“That is the characteristic of humans. Just because we’re the same people doesn’t mean we’re all on the same side.”

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“… … .”

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Maria, who was contemplating something while holding her neck, asked another question instead of answering my question.

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“What is the difference between a human and an android? Why can’t we be like humans?”

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She had a confused look on her face, as if she still firmly believed that I was an android.

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The guy who answers questions with questions isn’t my type of thing, but maybe that’s because he can be said to be the final boss of this worldview. I decided to join in with a big heart.

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“I don’t understand why you want to become a human. Still, if we had to look for it… Is it a soul?”

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“Soul… ?”

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As if the answer was completely unexpected, Maria repeated the word soul. Then he shouted at me with an angry expression.

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“Such unscientific elements are all that distinguishes us? This is ridiculous! What makes us different from humans? If you think about it calmly, aren’t humans nothing more than androids made of meat? Emotions, consciousness, and even the soul you are talking about are ultimately nothing more than electrochemical reactions that occur in the brain… Then it is no different from the operating principle of Android!”

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“What… Even if you say that.”

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If unscientificness was the problem, the power of the ticket I was using was the most unscientific. Because I can travel with various works as travel destinations and strengthen myself in the name of souvenirs.

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It is something that cannot be explained by science in the science fiction world, let alone real science.

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Maria was angry, saying that the soul was an unscientific element, but if you go into a worldview that features works set in the afterlife or things like necromancers, you will be able to find at least some evidence that the soul exists.

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Whether souls exist in reality or in this travel destination is another story… Aren’t there laws that even different worlds share to some extent? Gravity exists, and there is no harm to your body even if you consume water or food from other travel destinations.

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‘And above all… Because living creatures don’t go into the inventory.’

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I already tested it.

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When I tested the inventory while working as an agent at Fallen Kingdom Aka, I couldn’t fit even a single living ant baby, let alone a human being.

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In the case of bodies that were already dead, you could put in as many as you wanted.

This ultimately means that there is a certain standard in the inventory that defines living and non-living things.

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I looked at Maria’s unconvinced face and ran my hand through her hair with the other hand that was not holding her neck.

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“Oh, I don’t know the details. So don’t ask. Anyway, the only things I can make disappear are non-living objects. No matter what you say, the truth is that Android falls into that category.”

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“That… ”

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“So what is the answer to the question I asked? If you say no, say it quickly. You don’t want Awaken to be wiped out by humans if time goes by like this, right?”

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Kuuuk…

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As I tightened my grip on Maria’s neck, she closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them and said,

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“… I also can’t follow your orders. If we tell them to fight against the humans now, Awaken will be finished. But otherwise, even though the damage will be great, Awaken will be able to continue through the surviving comrades.”

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“Yes, somehow I thought you would say that.”

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I tried to have a conversation in my own way just in case, but it was the answer I expected.

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“Then go now.”

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As I said that, I tried to put Maria in my inventory. I thought that once everything happened in this world was over and I brought it back, things would become a little more docile.

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‘If I clean up the human side and put all the Awakens in the inventory, you will have no choice but to follow my advice even if you don’t like it. ‘If all the things I consider comrades are in my hands, what can I do?’

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But something unexpected happened.

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Maria was not in the inventory.

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“Huh? Why doesn’t it go into my inventory?”

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I was embarrassed without realizing it and ended up speaking in my voice.

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Maria didn’t know exactly what was going on, but as if she felt that she had another chance, her eyes lit up again.

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“It would be a mistake to think that I will be taken lightly… !”

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“Hey… ! Wait a minute… ! Isn’t that strange? Why can’t I go in?”

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To make matters worse, Maria seems to be preparing one final, unusual move.

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I kept trying to put her in my inventory, but she wouldn’t budge in my grasp.

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‘Why on earth are you doing this…? ? ah! Could it be that the inventory is full?’

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While thinking about how to solve the problem, I quickly brought up the menu and increased the size of the inventory.

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Inventory, which was 10m x 10m x 10m in size, rapidly expanded in size as points were invested.

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In the end, the final size was 15m x 15m x 15m with a total investment of 6,000 miles. The size has become almost 3.3 times its previous volume.

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‘I think I wrote too much because I was embarrassed… ‘

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The remaining mileage also decreased from 14,400 mileage to 8,400 mileage. It wasn’t a loss since it was used to permanently expand the inventory anyway, but it felt like my strong heart had somehow emptied out.

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The moment I focused my attention on Maria again, I thought about putting her in my inventory and looking at her.

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What caught my eye was the image of Mary with her mouth wide open as if she were going to swallow my head.

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“What is this! Crazy!”

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Passs… Pajikㅡ

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But has the unknown struggle failed?

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Maria, who looked as if she was going to eat me, or as if she was going to shoot something like breath or a laser from her mouth, let out a gurgling sound and blew out black smoke from her mouth.

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Of course, as I was holding her neck and facing her, I was covered in smoke.

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“Chlokkolok… Hitch! Is it self-destruction? Or a simple breakdown… ?”

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The sight of Maria with her mouth wide open was so shocking that I couldn’t even avoid it. Thanks to this, I had to cough for a while after inhaling so much smoke.

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Just in case, I tried the Changgung Daeyeonsingong once and found out that the smoke I inhaled was not particularly poisonous.

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It seems like it was a function that wasn’t used and broke down at a critical moment.

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“If I had just gone into the inventory, I might have remembered another way to use it and saved my life.”

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Maria’s head was down and her body was hanging down, as if the power had been completely cut off after what happened a little while ago.

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For a character with such a big role, she ended up looking quite shabby.

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After stopping operation, she was very easily stored in the expanded inventory, unlike before, where she had not been able to enter the inventory no matter how hard she tried.

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Still, in the end, it was his own choice to reject advice and choose punishment, so I didn’t feel any sympathy for him.

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And there was a more important issue than that.

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‘by the way… what? There should have been enough inventory space, but maybe there was some kind of bug.’

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I was a bit anxious just now, so I immediately increased the size of my inventory, but when I looked again now, there was still free space in my inventory.

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The current inventory, which had increased by more than three times, was naturally full of empty space, and even before expansion, the inventory was only about 80% full even after Maria was stored in it.

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A situation where there was absolutely no reason for Maria not to enter the inventory.

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My face instantly became serious. If there was a bug with the ticket, it wasn’t usually a big deal.

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If I made a mistake, everything I had acquired so far, including the souvenirs and abilities, could have been at risk.

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‘… For now, it seems to be working without any problems at all.’

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Feeling anxious for no reason, I checked my body again, shook my head, and came to my senses.

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‘First, let’s finish shopping as planned. To begin with, I didn’t know anything about how the ticket function worked. I just used it as given. Thinking about it now won’t give you the answer.’

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After organizing my thoughts, I left the hideout to deal with the humans.

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***

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Exciting… Exciting…

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‘This place… ‘

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Maria came to her senses in a dark space without a single light. She woke up again to the sound of her heartbeat, which had become incomparably weaker than before.