Chapter 22: Chapter 17: King of Wanderers (7)

[Item: Failed Product ??? has acknowledged you as the current owner.]

[You have been teleported into the Fourth Wall]

[Rating: A --> F]

I was stunned at the rapid change of events, having no clue what destination 'Fourth Wall' was. Honestly, the next few moments were a strange ride.

I had the sense of decomposing into a series of letters and words - if that was something possible - and heard a few blurry pieces of conversation.

In the end, the outer god had no choice but to retreat under the firewall called the 'The Fourth Wall' and the Star Stream had voluntarily retreated after that.

The Fourth Wall sounds like the wall that separates the reader and the novel...I thought to myself.

[w ho are y o u ?]

Hm? Are you talking to me? The wall was actually having a conversation with me. What an experience.

In my confusion, I decided I should just give up trying to understand.

[w hy d o you k now t h a t st ory ?]

Story?

[Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World.] The words did not come out strangely.

What do you mean why? I just read it? A lot of others read it too.

[If y o u do n't w a n t to te ll me t han I w ill e at you.]

With that, I felt a different intention. It felt like the wall had developed a large mouth with a maw of canines that approached me.

Wait, hold on-! The understanding that my whole existence was in jeopardy awoke my survival instincts.

I tried running away, but that was impossible being only a series of sentences smeared on a wall.

And then suddenly I was gone.

The next time I even breathed, I stood in the place where I destroyed the pedestal and the scenario, suddenly feeling like everything became smaller.

[The Star Stream sees you.]

"Huh?"

I imagine my face looked like a fool, and I let myself be one.

After all, I had no clue what the hell happened.

I had prepared to have been erased from existence, but suddenly I was just standing here?

The message the Star Stream coalesced into something understandable still was something I couldn't understand with my mind wanting to shut down.

[Y-you really gave me a scare there.] Youngkik's paw was on their chest in agitation.

"And I don't know what happened." I blankly blinked a few times before soaking in the situation.

Forget it, I wouldn't think about it now.

"Well, there is still one last thing I want to do." I smiled at Youngkik.

[?]

Picking up the dagger I had dropped on the floor, I dusted off the debris off the blade, and with the unsheathed version in my hand, I began to walk back to the main entrance, making my way through the rubble to the final debacle about to be unfolded.

As soon as I made it out, seeing the light streaming in from the sky into the untouched area of the station, dozens of pairs of eyes swept in my direction, either from the captives or from the squad members.

The captives stayed silent, watching the drama.

Chen Ilyong, Kim Ulgaum, Jie Kushin...

They looked at me with a complicated gaze, hesitating on what to say.

"Where's Han Ryuyang?" I started for them.

Immediately, wariness grew in their faces as they drew a defensive posture, ready to attack at a moment's notice.

I raised my hands whilst putting the dagger carefully onto the ground to show I intended no harm. And then I began my delivery of information.

"It doesn't matter if you believe me, but Han Ryuyang is a mole, and the one who betrayed you all. The other squad members you thought were killed by me were actually killed by her. And, Han Ryuyang is not a person, but an 'Avatar' formed by the Avatar skill. If you don't believe me, let her cut a papercut on her hand. If there's no blood, that's the proof."

Whether they believed me was up to them.

"That's impossible, you liar," Jie Kushin immediately denied.

He made an aggressive stance like he was about to pounce over, but Chen Ilyong waved him off.

"And how do you know all this information?" His eyes flashed with suspicion.

I breathed in.

"Haven't you questioned how Leader Lee was able to get all that information about Indegwon Station? Well, I'm the one who provided it."

"No, I've never even seen you around in these parts, how could you have found such detailed info about us-" One of the captives couldn't keep his mouth shut in alarm. Quickly finding the attention turned to him, he quickly fell quiet.

My words turned their attention back to me.

"Do you trust me?"

Jie Kushin once again wanted to say 'no', but his mouth closed in hesitation. He was probably recalling the scene where I had saved them.

"...Okay, if what you are saying is the truth, then what would Han Ryuyang's motive be?" Lee Hwasan spoke up for the others.

"She is collecting flags. Before I came out to steal the flag, she had killed this station's representative to get the flag. As to why, I'm not sure, but I had a very bad feeling about it." I answered, lying a little.

She probably wants to collect flags for the King's scenario using her avatars, I thought. But I didn't tell them.

If I had too much information, I might have become more suspicious instead.

Well, I could always say that Lee Sookyung was the one with all the information, but it seems Lee Sookyung didn't want her group to know about it yet.

"Um, guys!" The diversion team spoke up in the midst of our conversation.

"The bombs are missing! And I mean, even Leader Lee's last resort bombs are gone!"

"Su Peng, what do you mean?" In the solemn atmosphere, Chen Ilyong felt that something was wrong.

Han Ryuyang wouldn't be planning to blow this place up to hide all the evidence, would she? A crazy thought popped up when I thought of the absent bombs.

"Look, we can have this Q and A later. Where is Han Ryuyang?" Feeling the urgency of the situation, I nudged the conversation into a different direction.

To my surprise, it was Jie Kushin who answered this time.

"She left the station, saying she was going to make sure there were no stragglers missing." Jie Kushin looked to the side sheepishly, "Something about her didn't seem right when she had that flag, and well, her expression was a little...yeah, when the flag was gone."

The other squad members suddenly stiffened after hearing Jie Kushin's words.

Although they didn't want to confront it before, consciously or subconsciously, Han Ryuyang had grown more and more suspicious for the past few moments, starting from when she had the flag in her possession.

From a mesh of emotions I couldn't quite decipher, they all looked at me.

"I'll go with you...to confirm if what you're saying it the truth." Chen Ilyong sighed, like he was resigned.

"Me too." Su Peng nodded.

"Well, I'll stay behind then, just in case." Lee Hwasan sighed, gesturing to the captives, "Tell me when you return, got it?"

"..." Jie Kushin didn't answer, but I could tell his intention to follow me.

"Alright." I replied curtly, worried about what Han Ryuyang might be up to.

Without slowing my speed for the others, I ran out of the station despite the cries of alarm from behind me, searching my surroundings for Han Ryuyang.

They could catch up later.

I had to admit, not being in my 'ghost' form was something I didn't think I'd miss, now that I kept thinking about how it was easy to search without being noticed.

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Not the time for laments.

I quickened my pace, thinking of what Han Ryuyang would do. Would she run away? It didn't seem likely. Her reputation was already ruined as 'Han Ryuyang', and it wasn't like she was the main body, so...

I returned to the station, or more precisely, the above-ground part of the station, much to the squad member's chagrin at running here and there after me.

"Come out! It's all over, Han Ryuyang!" I shouted, but received no answer.

Now trying to find the bombs Han Ryuyang might have placed, with two of them that would really pack a punch, I gave a warning to the squad members behind me.

"Be alert, Han Ryuyang might be in the area. And be really careful, because I have a hypothesis she placed bombs in this area to blow up the ceiling of the station below."

"What?!" Su Peng shouted, alarmed. He began to comb through his hair into a mess, worried. As one of the people who carried the bombs and set them off, he knew how powerful they were.

Along with Su Peng's nervousness, the others also began to become wary, and began to search along with me.

Crouching beneath some of the shrubs in the flowerbed along the road, I reached my hand in and grappled a bomb.

"Ack!" Someone gave a sound.

Reacting as quickly as possible, I ran back into that direction.

Chen Ilyong clutched his bleeding arm as Jie Kushin blocked a dagger's blow in-front of him.

Sensing the commotion, the other squad members also gathered.

"Tch." Han Ryuyang glanced at the surroundings, her ambush having failed.

I felt the situation laughable as I approached. Just before, I was the one being surrounded, but now our places were switched.

"Han Ryuyang-ssi, why?" Jie Kushin, flinging off the dagger from his gauntlet, full of sorrow at the betrayal, pleaded.

Han Ryuyang turned her attention back to Jie Kushin at his words, and then she looked wistful, pondering the question.

"I don't know. Maybe it's because I am a villain?" Han Ryuyang grinned wryly, shrugging her shoulders.

"But...how could you? Didn't we mean anything to you?" Chen Ilyong struggled with understanding, rage painting his features.

Han Ryuyang's smile dropped, and her eyes looked at the surroundings like they were dead.

"Don't try to twist me up with your play 'morals'. Lee Sookyung's community? Makes me sick that I have to interact with you hypocrites. We all have blood on our hands, so don't go acting buddy-buddy with me. You guys didn't mean anything to me."

The squad members became incensed with those words, their eyes turning red from either anger or hurt.

Still, no one acted.

I stepped up.

"Regardless, it's time to end this, right?" I spoke to Han Ryuyang.

Goodbye.

"Mhm, that's right." Han Ryuyang smirked, twirling the dagger in her hands as she approached me.

Farewell to the avatar who was once 'Han Ryuyang'.

And so, we clashed blades.

There was no hesitation in my strikes as she failed to get me with their inferior agility.

[Skill, Dagger Proficiency lv. 2 is activated!]

My skill leveled up.

Instantly, my strikes had an edge against the avatar who was already struggling against my agility before.

The squad members watched on as I ducked, slashed, and attacked from all directions as the avatar stumbled to block and counterattack a losing battle.

There was something that overcame them, that caused them to stand transfixed, mesmerized by the farewell dance.

Finally, I severed her head from her neck and her body collapsed in the ground in a heap.

Strangely, there was no blood that leaked on her neck.

"Why do you look so sad you motherf*cker?" The severed head mocked, discontent at the emotion on my face.

"The-the head is talking?" Chen Ilyong gasped.

I wiped the expression off my face.

"Who knows? Maybe because I feel so hurt by your pitiful circumstances?" I smiled. You just seemed...like you wanted the others to be purposely angry so they wouldn't feel sad. But even so, that doesn't mean I'll forgive you.

The head clicked their tongue.

"Well, how did you do it?" It asked.

"Sorry?"

"How you destroyed the scenario?" The head repeated, irked.

I thought about it, hand on my chin and then answered its question vaguely just in an attempt to anger it.

"Who knows? Just try your best."

The head rolled their eyes, and then closed them, the connection having been cut.

To make sure, I crushed the head with a kick.

Ending the standstill, Jie Kushin allowed his indignation to rage instead of other emotions.

"Darnit, good riddance that traitor's gone!" Jie Kushin spat, and it seemed the others shared his opinion.

I didn't respond.

"Well, what do we do now?" Looking a little lost, Chen Ilyong looked straight at me when he asked that question.

I had an inkling he was asking that question to me like I was the leader now. That made me uneasy.

Trying to shake that feeling off and not think about it, I answered,

"We still need to deal with the captives. Let them all swear an oath not to harm us, and then Leader Lee can deal with them later."

The others all acknowledged my words, and soon we were back in the station, having paid respects to the headless corpse that once belonged to Han Ryuyang.

While the squad members informed Lee Hwasan and Kim Ulgaum who kept guard, I clapped my hands to get the captives' attention.

"Your Boss is dead, and so is your Vice-representative." I began.

"Are...are you our new Boss then?" One of them asked in trepidation.

I shook my head and said, "No, the flag is no more, so none of you are bound to it anymore."

A look of relief mixed with fear toward the unknown filled the pairs of eyes of the captives as they anticipated my next words.

"You can be freed, but on one condition. Swear an oath that you will never harm 'Lee Sookyung's community'." I continued.

Some of them nodded like a chicken pecking on rice.

"If you would like, you can also join our community. Our leader is Lee Sookyung, and as long as you do some work, you can get food, water, shelter and some level of security."

At those words, the pairs of eyes lit up. The people left behind in the station, save for a few, were those who didn't want to advance proactively in the scenario, content enough with survival.

So my offer was like a pie dropping from heaven.

Well, it was good to have more pairs of hands for what was to come next.

As the squad members began freeing the captives after they swore the oath, I didn't know this was the beginning of Lee Sookyung's name spreading among the wanderers.

In the future, Lee Sookyung would be known as the 'King of Wanderers' despite never possessing a flag, having allegiance from the loyalty of her subordinates and not the flimsy authority of a flag.

And I would be known as Lee Sookyung's spokesperson.

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