Ch.67The Librarian of the Infinite Archives (End)

I slowly closed and opened my eyes. I focused on the sensation of my breath circulating through every part of my body.

The pain from earlier had disappeared as if it were a lie, and death still remained far away. My heart, full of vitality, was pumping blood at a sufficient rate.

I had returned to the Wanderer’s Library.

Without a single wound, completely unharmed.

“Dabin. You’re back?”

The first person I saw was Choi Serim.

Her usual indifferent and somewhat mysterious demeanor was nowhere to be found, and she looked anxious.

“Yes.”

I got up.

The Word Key was now floating in front of me instead of Choi Serim, glowing with a golden light.

As if it had accepted a new master.

I had passed the test.

I showed my resolve, and the library confirmed my potential.

When I reached out toward the empty air, it came into my hand without any resistance.

Word Key.

A metal ornament radiating warm energy.

A symbol representing the authority, wisdom, and power held by the manager of the infinite archives.

But its true identity is a shackle that binds and completely controls the fate of others.

Choi Serim looked like she had a lot to say but couldn’t easily speak. It’s impossible to feel at ease after passing the shackle that had bound her to someone else.

So, I spoke first.

“I know.”

As the manager of this vast library, the Librarian is given a certain amount of authority and knowledge.

It’s the minimum ability needed to protect the Wanderer’s Library.

And the standard for “minimum” always changes depending on the situation.

The existence of “Seven” is a threat to the library.

Just a few days ago, I saw it positioned below the library cliff, endlessly devouring precious information.

Moreover, it’s a being with enough power to completely erase an entire world.

I passed by Choi Serim and headed into the fog.

Confronting Seven was something only I could do, not Choi Serim who was the original Librarian. Because that’s how the “ending” of this story was written.

Now countless knowledge enters my mind.

The library allows only minimal knowledge to the Librarian, but the current situation has raised the standard of that “minimum” to the extreme.

“Still, it’s okay.”

I have no restrictions placed on me.

The library, containing all the information in the universe, has handed over full authority to me.

“There are too many! We need to find a way to escape, at least just us!”

“If we get separated here, we’ll never see each other again! Move!!!”

The voices of Jung Haewon and Yoon Daju came from the thick fog.

Around us, there were still many monks gathered.

Rotting corpses wandering the library while wailing meaningless prayers.

They had been submerged in oblivion and emptiness for too long. Protecting the library is just an excuse. Their tearing apart intruders is nothing more than entertainment to soothe the void.

I moved past the battlefield. The Word Key followed alongside me, drawing a golden line.

The fog fled to the side to avoid me, and thanks to that, I didn’t lose my way.

“Oppa…?”

Yoon Daju was covered in blood.

“What happened?”

Even while catching her breath, Daju didn’t stop fighting.

Her hammer, tied with a string and swung far, smashed another skull.

Crack!

How many monks had she taken down like this?

Countless motionless corpses lay around her. Jung Haewon was also collapsed at her feet.

“Is Haewon okay?”

“I don’t know… He got hit really hard on the head earlier and still hasn’t regained consciousness.”

Even while answering calmly, Daju didn’t turn her gaze.

In her eyes, fixed on the approaching monks, remained traces left by numerous souls.

Whoosh-

She skillfully wielded her weapon and avoided the hands trying to grab her with elegant movements.

Another monk fell to the floor.

Daju shook off the blood and asked me:

“So is there a way out of here? You always used to come up with ideas at times like this.”

“Yes.”

Daju, who had asked, was the one surprised.

“What? Really?”

I nodded.

The abilities of the Librarian of the infinite archives are largely threefold: the authority to access desired information, the ability to protect oneself, and some essential knowledge about the universe.

Even though I learned about the tragic events to come, my personality hadn’t changed much.

“Oppa! Duck!”

Yoon Daju shouted urgently, preparing to swing her hammer.

A monk with a torn jawbone was trying to ambush me from behind.

I slowly turned around to check his appearance.

Information freshly surfaced in my mind. One of the abilities of the Librarian: “insight” that allows access to desired information.

His height exceeds 2 meters, and he wears black clothing worn by medieval monks.

He has almost no intelligence.

His arms are thin but supernaturally strong, able to twist a person’s neck as easily as opening a bottle cap.

“Oppa!!!”

An arm with rotting flesh flapping comes rushing toward me.

And then.

Thud!

It bounced off lightly right in front of me. As if blocked by something invisible.

The momentarily confused monk’s head was crushed like pudding.

Daju pulled her hammer out of his head.

“Good job, Daju.”

“Tell me what you just did.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“How can you joke around in a situation like this! Quickly tell me what you did!”

As if she had become a different person, Daju demanded an explanation from me in disbelief.

“Wow. I never thought I’d hear this from you, Yoon Daju.”

“Ugh.”

Daju was speechless, as if I had hit the mark.

But thinking about it, I’ve changed quite a bit too.

When I first came here, I was trembling with fear, and at one point, I was manipulated by Choi Serim and changed into something like a fragile girl.

To be able to laugh and chat in a situation like this. I feel like I’m becoming more and more indifferent as I learn more about this place.

In truth, I’m slowly going insane.

Just like the monks wandering around trying to kill us.

These beings, who were once human, knew too much about the world.

The first knowledge learned upon becoming the Librarian of the library is as follows:

Reality and oneself are nothing more than stories in a novel.

A fragile world that can be deleted at any time. One volume. Or one page. In other words, the Librarian’s job is to protect the narrative hierarchy.

Therefore, the confrontation between the Librarian and beings that erase stories was inevitable, and inevitably, they failed.

Because they couldn’t stop Seven.

The story was written that way from the beginning.

The Word Key shone in the air above me.

A monk rushing toward me collapsed weakly on the spot.

And after that. And the one after that too. The monks fell one after another and tumbled to the floor.

As if someone had pressed a power button to turn them off.

No one else had such authority.

Even Choi Serim could only forcibly use this ability.

The last monk knelt down, and finally, the fog lifted.

I was the last Librarian of the infinite archives.

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[A significant event has been recorded in the designated book.]

[Narrative: ■萍達$@!■$^■ is in progress.]

[Progress: 44567897.4444444444444444 %]

[Call number issued. Automatic index registration in progress…]

[Checking shelf location.]

[Error: Cannot add new book to this area.]

[Searching for another area…]

[Call number issued. Automatic index registration in progress…]

[Checking shelf location.]

[Error: Cannot add new book to this area.]

[Searching for another area…]

[Call number issued. Automatic index registration in progress…]

[Checking shelf location.]

[Error: Cannot add new book to this area.]

[Searching for another area…]

[Fatal error: Cannot add book.]

[The narrative may be lost and recovery may be impossible.]

[Suggestion: Please designate a new location to save the book. Or, organize existing shelves to create space.]

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For a moment, messages flicker over my blurred vision.

“Oppa?”

“Dabin! Are you okay?”

Yoon Daju and Choi Serim approach in alarm.

Jung Haewon is still collapsed in the same spot.

“Yes. But it seems I still have something to do.”

Leaving them behind, I slowly approached the bookshelf.

With the [Pointer] in one hand.

The arrow drawn on the page pointed to the exact location.

I stood in front of the bookshelf and took out the book I had been searching for so desperately.

[Extinction Scenario: 5000]

A thin book with a crimson cover.

And in its place, I inserted a new story.

[Survival Log of the Anomalous Apartment]

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*Warning!

The narrative is still in progress.

Moving certain chapters, including multiverse narratives and past iterations, may cause timeline collapse, causal confusion, narrative contradictions and loss of plausibility, and information deletion of multiple characters.

Do you wish to continue?

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The Librarian’s “insight” warned me, but I didn’t change my mind.

It was time to leave the library.