Same World

What can I be sure is right? The definition of what is right differs depending on education, experience, and background of growth. What is praised as a good deed to one person may be punished as an evil act to another. There have been times when I thought a method was the best, but it was actually clumsy hypocrisy.

Even if Jin Sian ate Roel’s lovers, do I have the right to criticize him? I naturally have a sense of revulsion towards cannibalism, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that his unique ability had no choice but to make Jin Sian choose that path. It wasn’t greed, it was something that wouldn’t have happened if he had obtained a different unique ability.

More than anything else, I was curious about the butterfly effect that Jin Sian’s actions would have on the world. If he absorbed an important character who would lead the story, how would the flow of the story have changed?

,I don’t think you acted impulsively with the thought of simply making an extra the main character.”

At my question, Jin Sian twisted one corner of his mouth with an expression that said it was obvious.

,Of course, I planned it out and trapped them one by one. I wasn’t confident I could beat Roel back then. When someone fell into the trap I designed, I leisurely ate them.”

The image of Jin Sian opening his mouth wide and devouring someone popped into my head, so I sighed and stopped imagining it.

,If a character who leads the story disappears, haven’t you ever thought that the flow you knew would change?”

What I was most wary of was variables. Because Roel messed with Konfucion during summer vacation, Mesmer and Jamie, who didn’t appear in the novel, became new members of Konfucion. Creating unexpected variables almost killed my beloved Luna.

,I thought that variables would arise anyway due to my possession. If I couldn’t block all the variables, I decided to gain a strong power that could overcome any variable. I also wanted to beat Roel, the protagonist of the novel.”

I understood Jin Sian’s choice. It was an extreme choice, but rather than worrying about numerous variables, increasing one’s own capabilities might be a simple but best method. If I could have grown so much that I could overcome variables, I would have seriously considered that choice as well.

,After absorbing all the talents I wanted, I ran away from the academy and wandered around the continent. I needed time to make all the talents my own, and I was planning to collect all the scattered pieces of the Emerald Tablet. Eventually, I completed the Emerald Tablet in a year.”

Suddenly, something flashed in my head. I realized that something I had taken for granted until now was wrong. The Emerald Tablet is an item that doesn’t appear in the original novel. It was a discarded setting. The fact that he collected it meant that the world Jin Sian was in was the same as mine.

,…The world you were in was also a world where discarded settings existed.”

Then, the reason why Jin Sian focused only on growth without worrying about the story’s flow being twisted is explained. Just by having discarded settings exist as they were, variables are created in the original story.

Jin Sian smiled bitterly and stroked his chin.

,Yes, the world where discarded settings were used was the last one for me. I guess my failure was a painful one. Maybe they judged that controlling variables was impossible.”

However, Ross of Hope made the choice to revive the discarded settings that he had given up on in the beginning for the very last world. There is definitely some meaning in that choice. A reason why discarded settings should exist. If I can find it, I will be able to reach the ending that Ross of Hope wanted.

After organizing my thoughts for a moment, I focused on the conversation that had been interrupted. If the world Jin Sian was in was the same as the world I was in, it meant that I could complete the Emerald Tablet in the same way.

,How did you complete the Emerald Tablet?”

,Keu keu, are you greedy because it’s the same world where discarded settings have been revived? You’re taking away my capital so easily… Even if I’m the narrator, it hurts too much, doesn’t it?”

When Jin Sian distorted his face as a joke, I also replied in a playful voice.

,I’m going to make you spill everything you know, so be prepared.”

,…You unlucky bastard. You used to at least pity me, but now you’ve completely accepted that I’m the narrator. Puh keu keu, good, I’ll tell you everything. What can’t I do to see the end of all stories.”

Jin Sian spoke as if acting, then leaned back on the sofa like a deflated balloon.

,The Emerald Tablet is divided into a total of 8 pieces. Each piece contains clues to reach the truth of alchemy. If you have a natural talent for alchemy and a little luck, the alchemist can complete the Emerald Tablet himself.”

,…The truth of alchemy, when I thought about the setting of the Emerald Tablet, I just attached plausible words, but I don’t know what kind of ability it is because I didn’t set an exact setting. Please explain in more detail.”

At my request, Jin Sian sighed and looked at me with a clearly troubled face.

,I can’t explain it.”

,The words that you would tell me everything are still ringing in my ears, are you changing your words?”

Jin Sian distorted his face and shouted in a rough voice.

,You fucking idiot. You don’t know how much I care about giving you information! What I’m telling you is just a clue. How you cook it is something you have to do when you go back to your world. Just by telling you information that you can’t find out at this point without processing it, causality is applied and a big variable is created! Are you going to create a probability where the cult leader will immediately invade the academy just to get information about the Emerald Tablet?”

I was embarrassed by Jin Sian’s words. I had never thought that causality would create probability in that way. Jin Sian, reading my embarrassed expression, continued speaking, emitting a fierce aura.

,Listen carefully. If you do something that goes against the principles of the world, karma will come back. Our enemies are using that law. Remember that just by possessing Ross, you have given the enemy the right to intervene in the world.”

When I nodded, remembering it clearly, Jin Sian stopped emitting the fierce aura and wiped his face once.

,…Anyway, after becoming a great magician and a sword master, I returned to the academy to defeat Roel. If I beat Roel, the overpowered protagonist, I would become the true protagonist. Even though Roel had grown tremendously at the time, he was no match for me, who had absorbed so many talents.”

,You beat Roel?”

When I asked that with a surprised voice, widening my eyes, Jin Sian frowned and made an unpleasant expression.

,I used magic to quickly seize the victory. But just before the sword touched Roel’s neck… the sword went astray in an impossible trajectory.”

,…What?”

,Whether it was the protagonist buff or the setting that Ross had that he couldn’t beat Roel… Even if I used magic, I only narrowly threatened his life, and I failed to kill Roel. Rather, as the battle continued, Roel grew tremendously and quickly surpassed the realm of transcendents.”

That was probably because of Ross’s setting that he would soon be caught up by his brother no matter what he did. As much as Ross grows, Roel grows even more than that. Then am I… saying that I won’t be able to beat Roel in the future?

,I thought that the reason why I couldn’t kill Roel was a combination of the never-losing overpowered setting, the protagonist buff, and Ross’s setting that he could never beat his brother no matter what he did. So I thought about overcoming the setting by using the Emerald Tablet.”

I felt my heart pounding at those words. If it was possible to overcome the setting, it might be possible to surpass Roel.

,But that was an act of violating the probability, which is the law of the world. The method using the Emerald Tablet failed, and as a result, the synchronization rate dropped rapidly to 0%. When the synchronization was released, I turned into Jin Sian and faced the denial of the world.”

,Are you saying that trying to overcome the setting goes against probability…?”

,If it’s just a setting that you like beer, you might be able to overcome it, but if it’s a setting that plays an important role in the flow, probability will act arbitrarily if you touch it carelessly because it’s intertwined with probability.”

I was silent for a moment. It was unavoidable in order to suppress my anger. Jin Sian’s words meant that no matter what I did, I couldn’t beat Roel as long as probability existed.

Jin Sian, who was staring at me silently, smiled in vain.

,Roel is not the enemy. He is the hero we have so desperately desired and longed for.”

I couldn’t easily nod at Jin Sian’s words. The appearance I saw in the cult leader’s trap, the current situation where I suspect he has regressed, and Roel’s actions of hiding that he is stealing everything from me were something I couldn’t possibly think of as the Roel I knew.

When I hesitated to answer, Jin Sian put his hand on my shoulder.

,You may not understand Roel right now, but as time passes, you will be able to understand his actions. The beliefs of the protagonist we imagined have not changed in any multiverse.”