Chapter 15: Chapter 11: King of Wanderers (1)

In a world blanketed in darkness, the only things I could see with clarity was the full-length mirror in-front of me, and the 'me' through it.

Sitting on a stool, I stared back at her, and she stared back at me.

But just as I mirrored her action of raising her hand to touch the surface, I woke up in cold sweat.

"Ugh..." I groaned, feeling a fierce throbbing in my head, my body feeling so sore after being unconscious for who-knows-how-long on the cold hard ground.

What happened to me? Where am I? I was a confused little lamb trying to get my bearings.

As my vision began clearing up, information sorted itself in my head. Before being forcefully teleported, I had been with Lee Jihye and Na Bori.

But I was confused. Shouldn't I have been teleported together with Lee Jihye and Na Bori? And, why was I teleported to this place instead of ending up originally where we all had started?

It could be possible that we were all teleported to different locations due to screwing up the dungeon.

I recalled the image of the boy with the white coat. He looked like -

My head pulsed with more pain at thinking about it, causing me to abandon the thought at the moment.

Anyways, I think I lost consciousness when the rewards were being called out, so I felt like I missed something important.

Of course, that was not the thing to focus on at the moment. Calling out my attribute window at the rare reprieve to get a general gist of what happened, I noticed something different appeared on it.

[Attribute Window]

Name: /Please enter your name/

Age: 17(?)

Attribute: None

Sponsor: None

Exclusive Skills: Mental Fortitude lv. 1, Dispel Evil lv. 1, Dagger proficiency lv. 1,???

Overall Stats: physique lv. 3, Strength lv. 4, Agility lv. 4, Magic Power Lv. 0

.

.

.

*Continued gathering of information will be required.

I had unknowingly gotten dagger proficiency at some point, which meant that I wouldn't need to spend coins to get the beginner package (each one cost around 10 000 coins I believe?) for weapons proficiency.

For me to gain a skill meant I had some talent, as least. Still, there was one thing that bothered me on the updated [Attribute Window].

'???' What kind of skill is that? This feels...like I'm missing something really important.

But even if I ran my mind in circles, there would be no answer at the end of the path, so instead I invested some coins into stats.

My stats changed.

Overall Stats: Physique lv. 10, Strength lv. 6, Agility lv. 7, Magic power lv. 0

I watched with a hurting heart as my pool of coins went from 3 655 to 55. Why was I so poor?

Well, there was a solution to this poverty problem, and that solution answered my call just as I was thinking about it.

[Finally found you! Why are you all the way over here?]

Amid a rift came a Dokkaebi. Youngkik, to be more precise.

"That's what I wanted to know." I grumbled at first. "Oh right, the commission."

[Uh?]

"The share I get from the contract." I raised my hand like Youngkik was going to pass me coins.

[...] Youngkik looked at me speechlessly as more coins poured into my account.

I feel a bit better now.

[This is why Earthlings...what audacious greed...] Youngkik had nothing good to say as they gave me a stink eye.

I merely smiled at that insult without saying anything back. Hehe.

[By the way, there is something strange about your situation. If not for our contract, even I would probably have noticed your disappearance and followed the trace here.]

"What do you mean?" I frowned.

[I mean exactly as I did. In fact, I don't think any of the constellations can see you either.]

"I'm right here though?" Confused, I looked at Youngkik, who would be the lens orchestrator of the stream.

[-sigh-, this is why Earthlings are unintelligen-]

"Ok, that's enough. Show me what you mean." I interrupted.

Youngkik just curled his lips in derision at me, but before I could react to that, a series of indirect messages popped up.

[Lily Blooming in Aquarius has popped back into the stream and is wondering why Dokkaebi 'Youngkik' is streaming at nothing.]

[Maritime War God is staring at the ground, wondering if something is there.]

[Some Constellations are confused by the stream.]

[Some constellations are demanding for Dokkaebi 'Youngkik' to switch the view.]

...What? Am I invisible or something? Or is Youngkik just trolling with the camera?

[Sorrowful Heart of Silver is saying to watch on for a little longer.]

[The other constellations are mocking constellation 'Sorrowful Heart of Silver's' streaming taste.]

My brain frantically soaked up the nuances of the messages, but surprisingly, I was calm, or perhaps the situation hadn't caught up here.

As long as I was here in one piece, even if I am considered invisible, there was no danger anyway.

[You understand now?] Youngkik said after allowing me to think.

"Well, as long as I'm here, it's all good."

Youngkik stared at me like I grew a second head.

[To be more precise, it's not that you are invisible, but you don't exist. At the very least, not in the same dimension as the current scenario.]

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"I'm still here, aren't I? If I'm not in the same dimension of the current scenario, how would I be still here?" I got more confused at Youngkik's explanation.

[Mm, you wouldn't understand.] Youngkik snorted and rolled their eyes. [Whatever the case, to uphold the contract, you need to be in a scenario, so I say this contract is-]

"The contract just states that I need to be in your channel, and I still am. So don't go trying to pull that on me."

[Tch.]

Did they just click their tongue? There certainly was no sunshine and rainbows between a Dokkaebi and Human's streaming relationship, but at this point we just found each other an eyesore. Still, I needed to stick to the contract now that it happened.

"Look, we just need to bear with this until the end of the 4th scenario, so suck it up."

Truthfully, there was one point that stuck with me: I was not in the scenario. Although it was okay for now, it wasn't a long-term solution.

Hypocritical of me to say who abandoned those classmates of mine to survive, who could continue in this state of limbo of not dealing with the scenario in the name of self-preservation, but I needed to find a way back into the scenario.

I couldn't allow that event to take place, not to my family nor Lee Jihye and Na Bori.

Besides, I didn't know what the consequences of my current state would bring.

So with that, I took hurried steps into the closest safe zone, which happened to be a prison, to my surprise.

Why would a safe-zone be a prison? It was a strange place for one.

A few people in disciplined lines shuffled down the halls in their blue prison uniforms, items held in their hands, with eyes lit up in a fire to live and see the next day.

Those were not the kind of eyes I expected to see in the dying world, where death was still clear in my mind.

Curious, I followed those people, who were surprisingly dressing the wounded or distributing food and drink.

There was such a humanitarian organization...?

To be perfectly honest, I had braced myself to see a den of all-for-one when I entered the safe zone, where only the strong survived and got stronger, while the weaker got weaker.

I expected infighting, but not this.

"Thank you so much. Come on Lee Jiwoo, say thank you to big sis." Came a voice filled with gratitude.

I listened to the conversation between a mother with her child and the woman wearing one of the blue prison uniforms.

"T-thank you big sis." The immature voice crisply said.

"Oh no, I can't accept this thanks. When you get better, if you really want to repay us, you can help with our work. I'm sure our leader can find something for you to do." The woman kindly smiled and replied.

Leader? I see. It was common sense that no matter where you go, or how much has changed, there would be humans at different hierarchies of administration. However, I wasn't sure how many leaders there were to organize everything.

This level of low entropy was amazing. I felt myself in awe as I toured the prison, finding no major conflicts that ever escalated to blood being spilled.

This also fueled my admiration for the pronounced 'leader' who made such a thing possible, as well as curiosity to meet such a person.

[Your adoring expression is sickening. Also, are you giving up already? Looks like we don't need to wait for the end of the 4th scenario.] Of course, Youngkik would shatter the atmosphere.

I wanted to ask why they were following me around instead of attending to other areas, but it was nice to have someone who could actually confirm your existence and put an end to any sprouting psychological questioning.

"A little exploring doesn't hurt." I replied with minimal thought, following after one of the women reporting to their leader.

She knocked on one of the doors in a certain manner that I presumed was a place the prison guards usually resided in on their breaks.

"Come in." A gruff and muffled voice was transmitted through the thick door.

The woman obliged and walked in, with my hurriedly slipping through underneath the arm before the door was carefully closed behind her.

Once I caught sight of the back of the woman, my breath hitched in my throat.

The way she stood there, she was like my, my -

The woman whose hair was long turned around, and what greeted my sight was a mask. I felt like my delusion broke apart, and in a way it set me free, and the other, it hurt me.

No, they were too different to be the person I thought about.

"Han Ryuyang, your report." The woman appeared to be in their mid-years from their voice, but I couldn't confirm anything because she was also wearing a coat and gloves that covered her body.

"Yes, leader Lee! There are a total of 49 survivors aside from our group. A few are injured, and many have ailments from inhaling the poisonous gas. They are all tired and need water and food." The woman replied faithfully.

"And the supplies?" Her voice was calm and soothing.

"Erm, an educated guess from consulting with my team members after recording the amount and the people, we only have enough for two days." The woman looked at her leader worriedly. "Looking at it this way, we should consider our group with top priority-"

"Han Ryuyang, what was our promise with everyone?" Leader Lee cut in, her voice becoming firm.

"..."

Han Ryuyang didn't dare maintain eye-contact with Leader Lee, her gaze turning elsewhere as she spoke more softly,

"To not abandon anyone."

Han Ryuyang looked ashamed.

"Ryuyang, proceed with the next step of the plan. You are excused."

Liberated, Han Ryuyang quickly exited with a change of purpose in her steps.

I quickly moved out of the way.

"Now, come out. I know you're there." Leader Lee commanded after the door was safely closed.

I jolted. How did she know I was here? My heart began to beat louder before I calmed myself down again. I was currently "invisible", so no one should be able to see me, and Leader Lee could have referred to another person.

But as Leader Lee turned in my direction and started to walk toward me with pin-point accurateness, I was no longer able to stay so calm.

As she reached out a gloved hand to me, I dodged to the side instinctively, alarm bells ringing.

This was scary.

"Just my imagination? No, that can't be." As the hand retracted from the spot, Leader Lee began mumbling to herself.

The heart wanting to leap into my throat settled down, and I came to the conclusion that Leader Lee could sense my presence for some odd reason, but could not actually confirm I was present.

Emboldened, I followed after Leader Lee to her desk littered with messy scribbles of writing on many pages scattered over the desk.

I hiccupped by accident after finding out what it was.

"The sub scenario after a certain period of time passes the second will be [Food Acquisition]."

In a small note beside it wrote, "What stove did that child mention about?"

This lady sitting here had read [Three Ways to Survive In A Ruined World]. A terrible web of possibilities revolved in my mind.

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