Surviving Every Worldview

Chapter 30: Interlude: The Story That Happened

One day after the episode ended. December 23rd.

The world was getting back to normal incredibly quickly.

I walked around with the two of them, checking on the status of various places.

Finally, we headed to the shelter.

The troops had long since gone home, and most of the ordinary citizens had left the shelter.

The only people left were the police and those hired to rebuild.

Sister Seorin rubbed her hands together and looked around the shelter before speaking.

“It’s almost back to normal, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Thank God.”

“To be honest, I thought things were a little more serious before we got here.”

“We resolved it before it got that far.”

The reasons were varied.

Perhaps the biggest reason was that the crisis hadn’t even lasted a week.

There were only a few reports of collapsed buildings across the country.

Some of them turned out to be false rumors.

The undead, or at least the bodies of the undead, have all disappeared.

It’s not too much to hope that the streets will be restored by Christmas.

“But maybe, next time, it won’t be like this.”

“Why?”

“Because this was the first episode.”

In Dreams’ game, only Episode 1 had difficulty adjusted, so traces of the outside world view disappeared automatically and no additional quests were created.

Instead, this is the last time we’ll see them.

From now on, no matter what worldview traces remain, we need to clean them up ourselves.

There will soon be organizations that specialize in that.

“Look! So you think these rumors are real?”

“Why do you keep bringing rumors to me? I’m not interested.”

“If I ask you, you can usually tell me whether it’s real or not!”

Out of the blue, Do-yeon grabbed her cell phone, which was filled with rumors.

There are four people driving a special car and doing medical work, someone is blackmailing people with stories to make money, and there are even people who call themselves ‘heroes’ or ‘hunters’.

Compared to the usual rumors, they all seemed true.

“It all seems real, right? Even if the author made it up, it must have happened somewhere.”

“Then it’s not true……?” muttered Seorin’s sister next to me.

“Do you think they could have found it like we did?”

“I guess so, we were just a little faster.”

I just happened to be the one who finished the episode first.

There were plenty of other “protagonists” who were closer to the story.

There are so many people with more awareness and ability than us.

If I want to take up an episode even after waking up with a chin-up, I have to put in that much effort.

And then, no matter what worldview invades.

“So, is everything okay with you guys? Nothing bad happened?”

“Yeah! My friends are safe, and my parents are back home. They keep asking where I am…….”

“What about you? Don’t you still have exams?”

Seorin looked straight ahead and replied.

“It’s okay, I’ll find out about the exam later.”

“Isn’t it hard to procrastinate?”

“Not really. It’s not like I’m the only one who didn’t have time to study. If we all fail, our scores will be the same.”

Is that how it works?

It seems right, but it also seems a bit strange.

“I want to go karaoke.”

“I don’t think there’s one open.”

“I wonder if there are any unmanned stores.”

“It’s either not cleaned or closed, right……?”

“……That’s a shame.”

Well, I guess it’s okay to be so nonchalant.

“Anyway, if you guys have plans for New Year’s, cancel them now, because the world is a horrible place and you’re going to get in trouble.”

“I didn’t have any! Never mind.”

“Should I drop out?”

“You’re not dropping out, you’re graduating in one more year…….”

And just like that, I’d had enough and was heading home.

From the sidewalk across the street, I heard someone calling my name loudly.

“Yoo Seon-woo! Yoo Seon-woo!”

The voice was loud enough to be heard by anyone at the shelter as not even a car was passing by.

He waved his hand to get my attention, just in case I didn’t see him.

“Wait, I’m on my way, I’ll be right back.”

Here he comes.

I didn’t know what I was going to hear from Lee Jung-min but I had a feeling.

He crossed the street and greeted me.

“You’re safe, thank God.”

“Yeah…….”

Lee Jung-min spoke with difficulty.

“It’s all thanks to your help that I didn’t give up until the end.”

“I didn’t do anything to help you. Whatever you went through, you did it yourself…….”

“They don’t call it advice for nothing, and I’ve had enough of that.”

I could tell by the look in his eyes.

I couldn’t think of how to explain it, but Lee Jung-min felt somehow ‘complete’, different from when I first met him.

His tone of voice no longer had the same urgency.

[Lee Jung-min’s story is complete.]

Before I could even guess why, the status window told me.

“Without your advice, I would have given up long ago, stayed put and died yesterday…or rationalized that doing what I was told wouldn’t have changed anything. I’m that kind of person.”

“…….”

“Whatever you think, I know I owe it to you that I’ve gotten a new story and I’ve been able to help people, so just, thank you.”

Her bowed his head and left the shelter with a wistful look on his face.

It’s not like we’ve made a connection or agreed on a mutually beneficial deal.

[NEW GAME’s rating became E]

My own determination had come to fruition, leading to this conversation.

It tickled my fancy.

I was just sticking my neck out because they needed someone to protect them.

Things worked out the way I wanted, and I’m glad something good came of it, even if I don’t know him.

I didn’t do anything to be thanked.

[Choosing the correct option increases your Text Thief proficiency by +15.0%]

After the conversation ended, I saw the results of the options that hadn’t been showing up all along.

I wonder if the options I saw were presented with the intention that this would happen.

Now Lee Jung-min faced stronger undead and created a new story as a result.

……I wasn’t sure at first.

In any case, everything that bothered me about this story was finally resolved.

“……Go back.”

I didn’t thank them, but I felt good.

I rejoined the two of them, finished my walk, and called it a day.

[New information about the NEW GAME has been unlocked.]

That night.

When I got home and checked my pending messages, I found an unimaginable reward waiting for me.

……Dreams, it seems you were very pleased with what I went through today.

* * *

—

[NEW GAME – Rank E]

Congratulations on completing the first episode.

Please continue to discover all the hidden meanings in the traits with your own power.

[Restore Settings]

[Guess]

[Unwritten Rules]

Clearing episodes will allow you to level up and expand the features you can discover.

Help others complete their stories to earn rewards.

—

December 24th. Christmas Eve.

I’ve been trying to look at this trait since last night to try and figure out other effects, but I haven’t been able to find any until the next day.

“I don’t have anything else to figure out right now…….”

I sighed and turned off the status window.

The trait called [NEW GAME], it’s a complicated gift, no matter how I look at it.

At first, I thought it was just an unusual talent, even for a gift from Dreams.

But then I realized that the method of raising its rank was weird.

Now that I’ve seen it add abilities, I realize it’s just something disguised as a talent.

It’s like a big, fancy vault that’s locked, but must contain something.

If I could open it, I could get something unexpected, but I have no idea how long it would take.

Luckily, I learned how to open it.

Not only that, but I also got paid for completing Lee Jung-min’s story.

[You can now have two stories at the same time.]

[Story list (1/2)]

[Text Thief], a power that allows me to use another story as an ability.

This was the reward for increasing the rating of [NEW GAME].

I don’t know if I’ll get the same reward each time I increase my rating in the future to increase the number of stories I can tell, but…….

First of all, I already knew what I wanted my second story to be about.

[Would you like to make a sequel based on Episode 1?]

[However, since it is a sequel to ‘Text Thief’, it may be adapted to fit the genre.]

I was rewarded with something that was too good to be true.

Such coincidences are the best use of the unwritten rules I’ve been keeping an eye out for.

I reached over to the status window.

The text in the message glowed brightly, and what looked like torn pages appeared around me, gathering in my hand.

The pages flattened and gathered on top of the status window, and the status window folded in half to enclose the pages.

The resulting form was like a book with a black cover.

[Your second story is ‘Puppetry of the Dead’]

[All stories share the same rank.]

The book immediately disappeared before my eyes, but I knew it had been saved as my story.

I began to feel as empowered as I had when I first awakened the story, it was natural for me to think of ways to use that power.

—

[Puppetry of the Dead]

☆Episode, #Fantasy, #Stealth Action

Awareness Rating: B (B+)

Skill level: Lv. 1

Traits: [Puppet making], [Substitution], [Self-destruction]

Modern-day thieves and fantasy undead are worlds that don’t usually coexist easily.

That being said, don’t you think that ‘puppets’ and ‘undead’ are sometimes similar in the sense that they can be someone’s puppets?

They’re just made of different materials.

—

Unlike Text Thief, I was very familiar with the story, even though I didn’t create it.

Thus, I can contain two stories at the same time in one body.

Unfortunately, the “adaptation” prevents me from getting completely different stories, but that’s a minor limitation.

Having more than one story wasn’t even a setting in Dreams’ game.

It’s such a central tenet of his world that I never questioned whether there were exceptions.

The only thing I could tell right away was that having more than one story gave me more power.

Other than that, I really didn’t know anything.

If I had asked Dreams a question in the past, it would have been remembered as a trait effect.

Since I can’t remember, I guess I never asked.

The difference between the two stories is that I have to figure it out for myself.

But it’s something I can learn slowly and practically, so there’s no rush.

Instead, my mind automatically went to Seol Do-yeon, who was playing a game in the other room.

When I finished the story of a person I didn’t even know well, the story that had been [undecided] awakened and I also received a reward.

I wondered if completing Do-yeon’s story would have the same result.

She seemed strangely conscious of her own story being [undecided].

Maybe if I complete her story, she’ll be able to awaken a new story sooner.

Tomorrow is also the promised Christmas.

I got up from my seat and approached Do-Yeon through the open door, hoping to make plans together.

“Hey, tomorrow.”

“…… Seon-woo, look at this news.”

As soon as I entered the room, Seol Do-yeon’s voice was low.

……I had never heard her speak so gravely before.

I bent down beside her, and together we listened to the news channel anchor’s voice playing on the laptop.

[Rumors of the destruction of Gimpo Airport, located in Seoul’s Gangseo District, have turned out to be true.]

[The entire airport, including the runway and nearby roads, was destroyed, and police are investigating to determine the exact time of day when the incident occurred…….]

In the meantime, the internet rumors that Seol Do-yeon had shown me flashed through my mind.

The airport disappeared without a trace.

It was a rumor I had seen many times while browsing the internet.

I had heard the story before, but had always dismissed it as a ridiculous rumor.

But is this true?

“Do-yeon.”

“Yeah…….”

“Don’t go back for a while. I’ll look into it, and if it’s okay…I’ll tell you.”

I can send her home since the road back to Songdo is not destroyed but not far away, there was a major catastrophe that even I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

What if something unknown happens again near the airport, and Do-yeon gets caught up in it?

Just like before.

As much as I knew almost everything, I was wary of what I didn’t know.

“…… Okay.”

Seol Do-yeon didn’t return for a while, even after the situation stabilized.

I waited for the next episode with a slightly heavier heart.