episode_0028

Yoo Eunhye lost her parents when she was young.

In her still young days, she lived resenting all the urban legends of the world.

‘Why did you take away my precious Mom and Dad? What did I do wrong to deserve this?’

As she got a little older, she realized it wasn’t that strange.

It was definitely a sad thing, a pain so terrible it was unbearable.

But such people were common in this world.

A common tragedy that could happen to anyone.

That was all.

Because so many people die from urban legends every day.

Her parents’ death was nothing special, just another “accident.”

The emotion she felt when she first realized that was emptiness.

I’m so sad, like I’ve lost the world.

But her parents’ death was just an incident that couldn’t even be used as material for a drama.

People dying from urban legends is like a disaster.

Her parents hadn’t done anything wrong; they were just unlucky.

Ironically, that was what allowed her to accept her parents’ death.

But she couldn’t bear the thought that their death was meaningless.

Perhaps the time she spent resenting urban legends had helped.

Yoo Eunhye was able to awaken her spiritual abilities.

Recognizing her power, she was able to join Cheonjihae.

She also had a dream of growing her strength here and saving children who were going through the same painful experiences as she had.

But reality wasn’t so easy.

‘I… I don’t have talent.’

The people who gathered at Cheonjihae were all geniuses.

In fact, Yoo Eunhye was good enough to reach the average.

The problem was that there were too many ‘real’ geniuses around her.

Her closest friends were the top and second place entrants.

Nam Dohyeong, who was called a talent for the ages, attracted attention from every instructor.

Cheok Jiyeon, the head of the famous Cheok clan, already possessed swordsmanship beyond that of a current exorcist.

And even Yoo Yeonhwa, who was somehow interested in Nam Dohyeong.

Besides them, there were so many other talented people, like Go Jooyoung and Mina Hye.

‘Can I keep up if I try hard?’

It’s easy to think that you just need to keep running at your own pace.

It’s easy to say don’t compare yourself and blame yourself.

But every time she saw her friends who were already far ahead of her.

She became anxious, wondering if she would be left behind.

‘What if those kids keep going forward and I’m the only one left behind…?’

She could accept her weakness.

But she was so afraid that her friends would leave her behind.

Being alone again, like when her parents disappeared, was scarier than any urban legend.

Yoo Eunhye didn’t know it yet.

That she possessed something that could definitely be called a ‘talent’.

And that there was a being in the darkness that was targeting that talent and her clouded mind.

****

“Eunhye! Snap out of it, Yoo Eunhye!”

I called Eunhye several times, but she didn’t respond.

She just sat there, her eyes dyed black.

‘Could it be… she really made contact?’

Something similar happens to Yoo Eunhye in the original story.

The reason I didn’t expect this was because it was deeply related to Eunhye’s mind and spiritual abilities.

She definitely shouldn’t be at this stage yet.

I don’t understand why it turned out like this from the first contact.

‘Is it because of me again? Is this a butterfly effect caused by my presence?’

All I did was become friends with my classmates.

It’s too much to have that lead to a doomsday-level event.

“This is really dangerous if we don’t stop it quickly…”

If I remember correctly, this is a direct route to the bad ending.

I clearly remember the screen suddenly going dark, the game ending, and the chat window being filled with ‘?’.

‘Is it fortunate that Eunhye hasn’t grown up yet?’

Originally, this event happens later in the story.

Yoo Eunhye, who has had some interaction with the protagonist, feels inferior after seeing the people around her, and that’s what triggers it.

But now it’s the very beginning, right after she joined the company.

Like the others, Eunhye’s spiritual abilities haven’t increased much.

‘If it’s now, it won’t affect the world like in the game. But…’

Eunhye’s condition isn’t good enough to be relieved.

Her eyes, which have turned completely black, with the whites completely gone, showed that she wasn’t normal.

‘If I don’t save her quickly, Eunhye’s body won’t be able to handle it.’

I have to somehow drive out the monster that’s entered Eunhye’s body.

But how?

My instant death doesn’t work for remote sniping.

I’ve already experimented with the urban legend that appeared on live TV.

Whatever it is, to ‘instantly kill’ it, it has to be within my range of perception.

In other words, to defeat it, I had to ‘directly’ enter Eunhye’s inner self.

‘Go directly into a place with a doomsday-level urban legend that leads the game to a bad ending, kill it, and come out safely?’

Just thinking about it was difficult.

Fortunately, it’s not entirely impossible.

If I’m right, it might be easier to solve than I thought.

But it’s also true that I have to risk my life.

‘…Eunhye was a supporting character in the game, and she’s already a dangerous element. Considering future stability, it might be better if she didn’t exist.’

Yes, Eunhye has many risk factors, like now.

If she disappeared altogether, it would be like removing a bomb.

It’s not my fault anyway, so no one will criticize me for giving up here.

No, nobody will even know that I abandoned Eunhye.

…Is that really true?

“The hell there isn’t. I know, so what.”

I took Eunhye’s hand, which was holding the talisman.

Bad ending, doomsday-level urban legend.

I don’t care about any of that.

Eunhye is the first friend I’ve made since coming to Cheonjihae.

That alone is enough reason not to give up.

‘If I run away here because I’m scared, I’ll hate myself for the rest of my life.’

Why was I so obsessed with surviving?

At least it wasn’t because I wanted to survive by abandoning my friends.

I can’t let Eunhye die here.

No, I don’t want to give up without even trying.

There’s still a chance, and a life where I abandon my friend and let her die isn’t worth living.

“Let’s do it.”

I immediately poured my spiritual power into the talisman and sensed Eunhye’s ‘that’.

Soon after, the world turned upside down and my consciousness was sucked into the darkness.

It’s time to meet the being from another dimension.

****

The place where I opened my eyes was a black space with nothing in it.

It’s just endlessly black.

It’s different from being dark because there’s no light.

Rather, it feels like the space itself is darkness.

Only my body is recognized.

If I lose myself, everything will disappear.

That alone is enough to scare a human being.

That darkness continued beyond the horizon.

‘This is Eunhye’s inner self… No, I should think of it as a space created by an otherworldly urban legend.’

I’m not even sure if the place where I stepped is the ground.

No, does gravity even exist here?

Nevertheless, I was able to ‘walk’.

Feeling that strange sensation, I went forward and saw Eunhye lying in the distance.

Only Eunhye was emitting white light in the dark space.

However, something was filling up around her.

[Oh… It’s a shame, so sad. To have this much sensitivity and not enough spiritual power to properly call me forth.]

A black ‘something’ with no shape or identity.

Something that was clearly not of this world was approaching Eunhye very slowly.

[I can’t descend. As a consolation, this body will do.]

“Hey, get away from her. Unless you want to die.”

I shouted and approached Eunhye.

‘It’ stopped in surprise and ‘looked’ at me.

It couldn’t have imagined that another person would enter here.

No, maybe it didn’t think there was a human who could look at it and be okay.

[What is it? How can a human be okay after seeing me? Just how sublime is your spiritual existence that…]

“What do you mean, how? It’s because you’re a son of a bitch with no roots.”

[What, what?!]

The metallic voice raised its voice as if it was angry.

[Don’t you know who I am! I am the chaos of the entire universe itself, the great one whose name must not be spoken…!]

“Great my ass. If you only count the years, you were born later than Sherlock Holmes.”

[Wha, what?!]

As if it had lost its words, or as if it was absurd.

It stopped talking and began to convulse.

[A mere mortal dares to speak nonsense to me. Or are you so ignorant that you have lost all fear?]

Whether it was surprised or not.

I shrugged lightly.

[I am the true myth that even God fears and hides from, the one who transcends the universe…]

“Whatever. You’re just a figment of imagination born from a fucking racist’s self-insert.”

[You, you…!]

“You’ve only been around for less than 100 years, and you call yourself a myth? Are you kidding me? If a guy like you is a great destruction, then the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the creator of the entire universe.”

[You rootless Asian monkey…!]

“The reason you spread those legends is because you’re an urban legend that feeds on human fear and makes it a reality. But what a pity? There’s only one angry human here instead of someone who’s afraid of you.”

Even with my sarcasm, ▣▣▣ couldn’t do anything.

It claimed to be able to drive people crazy just by hearing its voice.

It claimed to be a monster that could make people’s heads explode just by looking at it.

Why is that?

It’s because it doesn’t have that ability.

“If you’ve figured out the situation, get lost. Don’t obsess over a cute girl like some pervert in a hentai. Bring a hypnosis app if you’re so upset.”

[Ughhhhh! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you! I will definitely kill you. I will tear your limbs, take out your intestines, and show you your collapsing body in front of your eyes and make you despair…!]

Black smoke came out and wrapped around Eunhye.

It was just weakened by me, but it wasn’t a useless idiot who couldn’t do anything.

“That’s not how you say you’re going to kill someone, you idiot.”

But, looking at the current situation and its reaction, I could be sure.

I can ‘kill’ it.

“Die.”

With the instant death I activated, the black smoke scattered in all directions.

Soon, the light returned to the space that had been filled with darkness.