Chapter 52: But it actually happened

[The re-establishment of the narrative begins.]

The moment the Notification Window activated the re-establishment of the narrative.

– Flash.

In the dark, desolate void, sparkling objects began to emerge one by one.

The identity of the objects, which hovered around Sihyun emitting small lights like fireflies, was:

“These are… puzzle pieces?”

They were puzzle pieces containing stories.

Countless fragments of light surged from the void’s sky, ground, and sea, gathering around Sihyun.

They resembled galaxies and stars in the night sky.

“Ha, what is this… just a rough estimate, there must be hundreds of millions. This is way too many.”

Sihyun slowly swept his hand over the puzzles orbiting him.

– Shimmer.

The sensation of countless stories brushing against his fingertips felt like truly experiencing an ‘omniscient observer’s viewpoint.’

“So this is what it feels like to look down on stories from above. It’s more interesting than I thought.”

Sihyun carefully touched a few pieces with his finger.

Tap.

Tap.

[No. 342: An afternoon when young Luna played hide-and-seek with the head maid.]

[No. 7873: The King and Queen smiling happily, holding Luna in their arms.]

[No. 199231: Luna running around the palace like a playground, laughing brightly.]

Hundreds of millions of tiny pieces each contained their own story.

“Are the brightly glowing or warmly colored pieces happy memories?”

Sihyun then touched the slightly darker-colored pieces one by one.

Tap.

[No. 892: The day I got scolded by Mom for not brushing my teeth before bed.]

[No. 131: The day Lucian, who said he’d be right back, came two days late.]

[No. 9776: Luna crying tears of loneliness while staying up all night alone.]

“Are all these countless pieces stories…?”

He couldn’t help but unconsciously swallow.

Hundreds of millions of pieces instantly filled the dark void with a golden glow.

And the ability to rewrite those pieces from scratch, the re-establishment of the narrative.

Only now did Sihyun realize how incredible this ability was.

“Notification Window, you really had reason to be so confident in explaining it. Honestly, it’s beyond goosebumps; it’s almost awe-inspiring.”

The puzzle pieces were a world unto themselves.

A story built layer by layer from countless memories and emotions.

And within these, there was only one flaw of greed.

Sihyun had to find it now.

‘The old book the Notification Window showed me was a greatly condensed, highly abridged plot of a story, so it was easy to find the awkward parts… but Luna’s story isn’t like that. I have to find it in the raw, unorganized narrative.’

It was literally like finding a needle in a haystack.

No, it felt like finding a single, slightly different grain of sand among countless others.

But Sihyun wasn’t discouraged at all. Instead, he looked full of fighting spirit.

“The moment you give up, the game ends. As I said last time, I’m Yoon Sihyun, a man who doesn’t know how to give up.”

Sihyun opened his eyes wide and meticulously examined the pieces.

“The numbers attached to them seem to be random. It’ll be harder to find since they’re not in chronological order.”

Where did Luna’s story begin to twist?

Touching a small pebble on the road might have been the start of the twisted part, or not eating a single snack one day could have become a butterfly effect that changed everything.

‘Still, it’s a relief that there doesn’t seem to be any penalty—’

The moment Sihyun felt relieved and was about to choose a story.

Ding!

A familiar notification sound rang in his ears, and a system window appeared before his eyes.

“Of course. It appears right after I spoke.”

[Find the flaw of greed that plunged Luna, the Princess of Seleneum, into despair.]

[Remaining attempts: 3]

“By the way, this even contains stories from when Luna was born? It really holds an entire person’s life.”

Sihyun glanced at the system window, then, as if nothing had happened, carefully examined the puzzles again.

His demeanor was utterly nonchalant.

Ding!

[S-Sihyun-nim! O-Only 3 attempts? I didn’t know that…!]

“Oh, this? Honestly, it’s too much like a cheat ability. If I could do it infinitely, that would be a balance breakdown. I kind of expected it. That there would be a penalty like this.”

[…Sihyun-nim, you don’t really have any reaction? I thought you’d say, ‘I knew it! A restriction? Are you kidding me?! Notification Window, come here!’]

“……I guess I have a rough idea of how you perceive me. Well, I might actually react like that, but the ability’s already activated, and there’s no going back anyway. And if you had known this beforehand, you would’ve told me.”

Sihyun had anticipated that such a situation would arise.

▪︎Beginner Package → Can only transform at night. Sometimes speaks whatever comes to mind.

▪︎Shadow Movement → Activation conditions not fully known. Sometimes moves to strange places.

‘Just thinking about these two cases, I can tell. The Notification Window’s ability isn’t omnipotent. There’s some kind of limit on it.’

Sihyun had expected there would be some limitation to the re-establishment of the narrative, and his prediction was spot on.

[Huu… I really didn’t know. That there would only be 3 attempts…]

“It’s fine. Anyway, there’s no other way to save Luna besides the re-establishment of the narrative, right? I’ll figure something out.”

[B-But, I don’t know what happens if all the attempts are used up! What if something terrible happens…! I-I don’t want Sihyun-nim to get hurt! Even though I asked you to end the story of destruction… I-I don’t want that kind of thing to happen…! *Sniffle*…]

The Notification Window began to sob, its voice small and trembling.

If something were to happen to Sihyun because of the ability it created…

[N-No… I don’t want… that…]

The Notification Window blocked Sihyun’s path, expressing its refusal.

But Sihyun, as if unbothered, calmly smiled and patted the Notification Window.

“I didn’t hide it on purpose, but should I tell you a secret?”

[Hiccup…! A s-secret?!]

Sihyun put his index finger to his lips and whispered in a very gentle voice.

“This is just between us, okay? Actually, I have a trump card. So don’t cry anymore.”

[Huh…? A trump card…? Really?]

“Hehehe, have you already forgotten? My thoroughness in preparing the moonlight’s power during the Eclipse! My meticulousness in bringing along the Fragment of Greed beforehand! The one by your side is such an amazing man.”

[Really…?!]

“That’s what I’m telling you. Now stop crying, okay?!”

At Sihyun’s confident remark, the Notification Window finally stopped whimpering.

[Huuu… S-Stop… Sihyun-nim, I can really trust you, right…?]

“I’ll solve this quickly, so just wait a little bit.”

Sihyun smiled brightly and walked among the glowing puzzle pieces.

[Hehe… As expected, ‘my’ Sihyun-nim is so cool… *Kuh-hit*.]

****

‘I’m screwed. Actually, I don’t have any trump card!’

Why am I suddenly sitting here putting on a stupid act?!

To calm the whimpering Notification Window, I bluffed again.

‘Thorough preparation, my ass…!’

Both the crescent moon hairpin and the Fragment of Greed were all illusions created by ‘coincidence.’

There was no intention or calculation whatsoever.

“Hehehe… If I keep lying like this, a meteor might really fall on my head someday, huh?”

But the words were already out.

He had no intention of taking them back, not even 1%.

‘And there’s a reason for that…’

I subtly turned my head and looked behind me.

The Notification Window, blinking with a pink light a little distance away, looked like a girl with flushed cheeks.

‘How can I tell her it was a lie when she’s staring at me with such sparkling eyes!’

And a man has his pride.

When a girl is crying and worried, you can’t just go, ‘Oh no, what do I do?’!

“But is the Notification Window really female…? If it turns out to be male after all this, I swear I’m going to flip everything over.”

I have my pure feelings too.

But if the Notification Window betrays those pure feelings…

Then I’ll become a gangster too!

‘Phew… Anyway, what’s important now isn’t whether the Notification Window is male or female.’

– Flash.

– Flash.

The puzzle pieces glowed, as if asking him to look at the stories they held.

“You guys just sparkle without knowing my feelings. Well… you are pretty.”

He had to resolve these countless story fragments immediately before him.

Ding!

[Find the flaw of greed that plunged Luna, the Princess of Seleneum, into despair.]

[Remaining attempts: 3]

Only 3 attempts.

Within them, he had to find the twisted point in Luna’s story.

“The milk’s already spilled. Let’s just give it a try.”

I raised my hand and touched the system window.

Ding!

==========

[Please select the twisted story.]

.

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[No. 887: The day I secretly snuck out of the palace to play with the children.]

.

.

.

.

[No. 21837: The day I fell soundly asleep on Mom’s lap.]

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[No. 99321: A happy outing with Lucian.]

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==========

“Whew… just scrolling through this will take an eternity, won’t it?”

Honestly, he couldn’t even scroll to the end.

Happy stories, sad stories, angry stories, joyful stories, and so on.

Every single minute and second Luna spent in Seleneum was contained within the puzzles.

“I might waste an attempt meaninglessly, but I need to pick one to narrow down the scope.”

The first thing to choose was the decisive moment when Luna lost her memories and became a ghost story.

[No. 144887: The moment Lucian’s heart was pierced.]

“Circumstantially, it’s the most likely one, but…”

I took a deep breath, then grabbed a glowing puzzle piece and brought it to the system window.

Ding!

[Incorrect. The princess’s story was already twisted before then.]

[Remaining attempts: 2]

He hadn’t expected to get the correct answer on the first try.

“So, it’s not the reason she became a ghost story, but rather the point where the story itself started to go wrong.”

Although the scope had been significantly narrowed, an enormous number of pieces still remained.

First, all brightly glowing and warmly colored puzzles must be excluded.

“Then there’s only this left.”

[No. 64432: The day Luna and the black entity became friends in the basement.]

No matter how much he thought about it, nothing else made sense.

The whole story went wrong after she met Greed in the first place, so what if this isn’t it?

“That makes no sense. Or it’s just pure, unfair—”

Ding!

[Incorrect. This is not the decisive event that twisted Luna’s story.]

[Remaining attempts: 1]

“Shit… I’m really screwed, aren’t I?”

Honestly, he hadn’t expected this to be wrong.

It was twisted even before she met Greed?

There’s absolutely no part that comes to mind.

“Did not eating a single snack one day really become a butterfly effect or something?”

Only one attempt left now.

If he fails this time, all attempts will be gone.

“Honestly, can’t you just give me one hint? Having to find just one out of hundreds of millions, and only 3 attempts, isn’t that too much even for you to think about?”

Knowing there wouldn’t be a reply, I still grumbled towards the system window.

‘Haa, there’s no way it would answer—’

At that moment.

Ding!

“Damn it, I knew I could count on you! System!”

Was it because I sounded pathetic complaining?

The brightly glowing system window displayed a message before his eyes.

[You already know the answer.]

[Trust yourself, who turned a lie into truth for the sake of precious Luna.]

“I turned a lie into truth?”

What the hell is this nonsen—

Wait.

‘If it’s a lie I made for Luna…’

One night, under the beautiful moonlight.

I told Luna one small lie.

– “Luna, the King and Queen collected treasures for the princess. They never fell into greed.”

– “To protect the princess from a very wicked monster.”

– “Because they loved their daughter so much, they could never give up on the princess.”

“No way… could it be…?”

His mind was wavering, but his body, as if possessed, had already raised his right hand and picked up one of the sparkling fragments of light.

[No. 740: Luna watching her greed-tainted mom and dad through the crack in the door.]

Ding!

[Correct answer. You have found the false story created by greed.]

[Re-establishment of the narrative: Confirming the truth of story No. 740.]

It was just a story he’d hastily made up because he didn’t want Luna to be sad.

“That was the real one?”

What the hell, is this a dream?