episode_0066

My head was spinning. The sudden influx of information mixed in my mind, causing nausea, and I couldn’t control my body as I leaned against the wall, one hand rubbing my forehead.

“Are you okay?”

“No.”

Shin Yujoo, the girl who introduced herself as a hybrid, looked at me swaying and approached me in confusion. Her hands, from what I could see, were perfectly normal, except for the hybrid features mixed in with the fingers.

“Oh, actually, in the novel, I was a female hybrid. Without a chance to maintain my male identity, I had to lay eggs, take care of them, and produce nutrients…”

“Why does it have to be a hybrid?”

“I thought it needed to be that provocative to make it interesting…”

Is this really what madness is called? My mind was distant. Or maybe I never imagined that the female hybrid in the novel would become me.

Her fidgety appearance was truly that of a twenty-year-old girl. Cute and adorable, yet somehow awkward, just like a girl her age.

Her actions were so natural that I began to wonder if her name, past occupations, and previous deeds were all lies.

“How long have you been here?”

“I didn’t keep track of the dates, but the last day I remember living on Earth was early October.”

Early October. It was similar to the time when Min Jisoo, who was Lager, cursed me with “Fall into female corruption.” It seems like it wasn’t a lie timing-wise.

“Is it because the role itself is full of maternal instincts that your gender identity changed quickly?”

“I think so. I just feel like I was originally a woman!”

Yuju shrugged as if it was no big deal.

Will I eventually become like that too? My thoughts became complicated.

“No, more importantly, I need to know why I’m here. Can I meet him?”

“Who?”

“Lager Godin!”

Oh, right.

Realizing that this wasn’t the time to chat leisurely, my heart raced.

But didn’t he say that even a tiger comes when you call? Slow, sticky footsteps approached from behind.

A man wearing a halberd on one shoulder, covered in the bodily fluids of hybrid creatures. His eyes flickered like a monster as he approached me, scanning me up and down.

“It’s so damn hard, can I borrow a cigarette?”

Here we go again.

“Carry cigarettes with you. When are you going to buy me cigarettes?”

“I’ll go buy them today. I’ll buy them as soon as I go. I’ll bet everything, so please lend me one.”

“This is getting ridiculous. Ugh.”

While shaking my head disapprovingly, I handed him a cigarette and he casually examined Lager’s body.

“Any injuries?”

“None.”

“Really?”

“I’ve been squatting every day, so I’ve gotten insanely strong. Expect me to reach Tier Gray on the next measurement.”

With a cigarette craving, he activated the ‘bet everything’ skill and even equipped with a show-off attitude, Lager was clearly descending from a simple man to a macho man. After all, if you’re a man, you should cast the ‘bet everything’ skill at least once.

Lager, now emitting smoke with a lit cigarette in his mouth, seemed to exude an atmosphere that suited sunglasses.

In the midst of this, Lager looked behind me and saw Yujoo, who was staring wide-eyed, and exclaimed, “What’s with her?”

As Lager opened his eyes fiercely and showed a threatening gesture with the halberd, Yujoo, who was staring at him with fear, cried out, “A suspicious person, please save me!”

Yuju knelt down, trembling, and wiped her palms nervously. Her hand-wiping was so intense that it made me think she was not a human, but a fly.

“What is it?” I asked, stepping in for her, unable to even raise my head in fear.

“I’m a female webnovel writer. Do you know anything?” she replied.

At the sudden change in expression on my face, she quickly stiffened. It was a look of embarrassment at being caught lying, far from being genuine.

“You’re hiding something from me,” I accused.

Her eyes started to shake rapidly. It seemed like there was no need for an answer. I still knelt, pointing at the trembling Yuju, and asked, “Tell me. What is this about?”

As soon as Lager spat out that strange novel title, the girl who had been trembling in fear suddenly raised her head, wiped her tears, and clasped her hands together with a face of excitement.

“Wow! You know ‘Pregnancy Poisoning of Female Flies’! It’s a masterpiece! Except for the fact that I’m the female fly protagonist, it’s really the best. Raising flies and all that….”

“Not the best,” Lager cut in abruptly, as if spitting on the ground. “If it’s so great, why did you declare ‘suspension of serial publication’?”

Confused, I looked at Yuju in response to Lager’s words.

Yuju, with a bewildered expression, stammered, “No, it’s just… It was just too hard! It wasn’t that I didn’t like it, I was just tired of being stuck in a narrow burrow every day, unable to move, and becoming a lump of protein.”

“….”

“So, I just wanted to quit this silly contest once and for all, but it turned out like this….”

Looking down at the desperately defending Yuju, Lager clicked her tongue and put away her halberd.

Then, she approached and squatted in front of her.

Bringing her face close to Yuju’s.

She whispered.

“What you gave up on isn’t your work.”

“It’s everything in that world that you brought to life.”

And then, grabbing Yuju’s back, she lifted her up abruptly and said, “Wait a minute! Wait!” as she struggled, then threw her to the ground as soon as they went out into the alley.

With a thud, Yuju stumbled.

Before I could even shout at Lager for what she was doing, Yuju turned around and froze.

Transparent fluids flowing on the ground. Brown legs lying haphazardly like branches broken by a typhoon.

What formed a mountain there was.

The corpses of flies.

“Why are they here…?”

As Yuju looked around at the pitiful sight of the flies, Lager spoke up behind her.

“Now I understand why the flies were so agitated and rushing towards this alley.”

Yuju turned around with a helpless expression, looking back with a sense of despair.

Stop.

Please stop.

It was as if she was pleading with her eyes.

“Do you know why I remember you?”

Lager continued to approach steadily.

Yuju remained silent.

But Lager didn’t seem to be waiting for an answer.

“You cursed at me yesterday. Frustrated. Saying you could write better than me.”

“No, that’s…”

“I now understand why these human-like monsters, which I never imagined, keep popping up.”

Lager approached Yuju once again, without a hint of hesitation.

“You spent more time envying others’ worlds than cultivating your own, so as a consequence, you were bounced into their world.”

He firmly crushed her guilt-warped heart.

“These golems ran all the way here to protect you.”

“They all died because of you.”

Yuju shook her head, shoulders slumped, remaining silent.

She simply touched the legs of the golems that were already broken and no longer moving, in a futile manner.

“These golems ran to protect you until their bodies were torn apart and they couldn’t move anymore. What did you say to me earlier?”

“….”

“Because they’re suspicious, you want me to spare them?”

Lager mocked her with disdain, as if she was ridiculous.

The creatures, the cat and the golems, were not mindless monsters. They were not enemies of humanity that must be defeated to maintain peace.

They did not attack us without any purpose.

As a price for being consumed by desire, the author who fell into jealousy of the world he created was saved by the creatures who threw themselves into that world to save him.

Lager simply looked down at her in silence. Yuju, the creator who belittled the world she created, was overwhelmed by the countless broken golems that had become insignificant lives as she belatedly tried to comfort them.

“Golems, the golems I birthed, raised, and cared for….”

Lager showed no hint of sympathy towards Yuju.

Just cold indifference.

He simply made her face the reality of the consequences of her mistakes.

Lager opened his phone and showed it to Yuju. She looked at the screen, then vigorously shook her head before breaking down in tears.

I cautiously approached them and glanced at the screen Lager was showing.

In a strange screen, a message appeared in a white box against a gray background.

[The author has lost the will to participate in the contest, this world has been deleted.]

“You have nowhere to go back to now. Live as a monster in this world for the rest of your life.”