Chapter 202
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The Wicked One V
National Road Management Corps Conference Room.
"I'm sorry..."
Oh Dok-seo knelt down, raising her hands in surrender.
The others in the conference room looked at her with disdain. The shame and humiliation she felt were so intense that her deltoid muscles trembled, a weight only a teenager's fresh brain could bear.
"Pfft, pffffft..."
Sim Ah-ryeon, one of the people gathered for the meeting, finally had her moment, delivering a sound, verbal one-two punch."A Fallen One... An Awakener who got corrupted because she didn't want to write. Even I fell while blocking a Monster Wave as the Northern Saintess, but you... You're even less of a human being than I am. Please, grow up mentally. If you keep living like a child, you'll just be a burden to everyone around you."
"Damn it..."
Dok-seo trembled. To be publicly acknowledged as having a lower mental age than Old Man Goryeo—she must have been impressed with herself for achieving such a miracle of difficulty.
Noh Do-hwa, the commander of the National Road Management Corps, was also present in the conference room. She leaned her chin on her hand and looked at me.
"Is it really possible to become a Corrupted for such a ridiculous reason, Awakener Undertaker?"
"I'm as surprised as you are. It's the first time I've encountered something like this. But, well, I'm almost certain an Outer God meddled somewhere along the way."
"An Outer God...?"
"I think Dok-seo's absurd slump and burnout symptoms are a kind of curse stemming from the Admin of the Infinite Metagame."
A tiger leaves its skin behind when it dies, and an Outer God leaves traces even after being vanquished. In the past, a comparison to HxH would’ve explained it perfectly, but that figure has been afflicted with the same hiatus disease as Oh Dok-seo, so such metaphors no longer hold up.
In any case, it’s difficult to completely eliminate an Outer God-level anomaly. At best, they can be sealed. Like how a slightly foul smell still seeps out of a well-sealed kimchi container, the sealing of an Outer God leads to various side effects.
Since Dok-seo carries around the Infinite Metagame’s laptop in her inventory all the time, she’s constantly exposed to this curse.
"Ah, I see. So just as the guild leader of Baekhwa Girls' High sometimes has episodes of split personality, Oh Dok-seo has these bouts of slumps..."
"Exactly. It’s as if the AI has transformed, making her dependent on it and unable to write without it. It’s likely trying to reclaim dominance over Dok-seo by any means necessary."
"Y-yes! Mister is exactly right!" Dok-seo shouted urgently. To call it desperation would not be an exaggeration. "There’s no way I could truly hate writing...! I’ve always wanted to help you, Mister! I wanted to back then! Even now! But the evil Outer God keeps getting in my way...!"
Just then, Ah-ryeon muttered under her breath beside her, "Oh. Could it be that the reason I can’t stop being a villain on SG Net no matter what I do is also because of an Outer God’s influence? I thought it was weird... It must be..."
"......"
"......"
Oh Dok-seo fell silent. We all fell silent.
And as if nothing had happened, I spoke up.
"Dok-seo, you must have started manifesting a Corrupted’s Authority by now."
"Huh? Authority?"
"Yes. When the Saintess fell, she gained the power to freeze the world’s time indefinitely. Dang Seo-rin could command an entire city as if it were her own limbs. You’ve probably received a similar level of Authority."
"......"
"You’ve already got an idea, don’t you? That’s why you’ve realized you’ve become a Fallen One."
Dok-seo hesitated. "I do, but..."
"Tell us what it is. You can stop kneeling."
"O-okay."
She then took a laptop out of her backpack. "I’m not entirely sure yet... but I did notice something."
As expected of an artifact infused with anomalous technology, the laptop booted up in less than 0.1 seconds.
Soon, an AI chatbot appeared on the screen.
――――――――――
>> Please enter a prompt…
※ GPT-MSYH can make mistakes. Double check important info.
――――――――――
"This. When I used to write novels with this thing, the writing was a bit sloppy, right?"
"It was."
"Yeah... but as I kept leveling up while exploring the Voids, the AI seemed to level up with me."
"Oh?"
"In fact, I even asked the AI how to cure my slump, and it suggested that I explore the Voids to gain more experience. Looking back, that was probably the Outer God trying to rebuild its presence."
So that’s what happened.
Dok-seo turned to Ah-ryeon. "Unnie, let’s play rock-paper-scissors for a bit."
"H-huh?"
"I want to test something. I’ll play paper, and you play rock. My ability only activates if I win."
"Oh, okay. I understand."
"Remember, I’m paper, and you’re rock. Rock-paper-scissors!"
Oh Dok-seo threw rock, and Sim Ah-ryeon threw scissors. Neither of them looked surprised.
"Alright. I just beat you, right? So, here’s what happens to anyone I win against."
Click-clack.
Dok-seo typed on the laptop.
――――――――――
>> Describe what will happen to Sim Ah-ryeon in the next 2 minutes. Exclude death and injury, respect her character, and keep it to minor embarrassment.
――――――――――
Ding.
After a slight hesitation, the AI-MSYH quickly churned out a response.
――――――――――
MSYH >> Sim Ah-ryeon, a top-tier healer, outwardly showed no signs, but inwardly, she welcomed today’s incident.
‘Dok-seo has gotten a bit too cocky lately just because she’s gotten stronger.’
‘I could become a Corrupted too if I wanted. I’m only staying quiet because the guild leader told me to.’
‘I should log into SG Net anonymously and let everyone know what a nuisance Dok-seo has been...’
‘It’s for the public good!’
――――――――――
All eyes in the conference room turned to Ah-ryeon.
She was startled. "Huh? I never thought that!"
"......"
"That’s a lie! Everyone knows how much I care for Dok-seo! This is some twisted anomaly’s attempt to slander me!"
The AI-MSYH wasn’t done yet.
Tick-tick-tick.
More text scrolled onto the screen.
――――――――――
MSYH >> Of course, such petty thoughts of Sim Ah-ryeon were completely seen through by the Heavenly Demon Oh Dok-seo.
‘How pitiful!’
‘When the competent criticize, they talk about the world’s unfairness, and when the incompetent do, they blame personal shortcomings.’
‘Their kind only sees shadows, never the light. In truth, they have no eyes. Even when they do, it’s as if they don’t. Living yet dead, they exist like specks.’
This extraordinary insight was, indeed, the Heavenly Demon Oh Dok-seo’s wisdom, a being who had been reborn from a scholar into a martial artist, embodying both pen and sword.
――――――――――
All eyes in the conference room shifted to Dok-seo.
"N-no! There must have been a weird error in the data somehow, which is why I keep appearing as the Heavenly Demon!"
"......"
"But that doesn’t matter at all. It’s not important at all. Look at the next sentences!"
So we did.
――――――――――
MSYH >> The heavens are fair. They grant fortune to the virtuous and misfortune to the baseless.
So it was that Sim Ah-ryeon, though she stood still, suddenly sneezed. Startled by this, she tried to explain herself but tripped and fell, landing squarely on her backside—a farcical display that summed up her life.
――――――――――
Ah-ryeon blinked in confusion when suddenly—
"Ah... Ahh-choo!"
A sneeze burst from her.
Achoo! Achoo!
The sneezes wouldn’t stop, and soon enough, she was looking around with teary eyes.
"J-hust a moment! I’m sorry! I— Ah-choo! Suddenly, some dust got in my nose, and I can’t stop sneezing..."
Then, as Ah-ryeon stumbled around in panic, she tripped over the leg of a chair.
"Huh? Ah?"
Thud!
In terms of physical ability, Sim Ah-ryeon was always tied for last place with Lee Ha-yul. It was no surprise that she lost her balance and fell.
"Ouch... It hurts..." A soft groan filled the conference room.
Though no one had touched her, she had managed to make a spectacle of herself all on her own.
The other members of the conference room, having witnessed the entire sequence of events, all turned to look at Dok-seo.
"Hmm..."
The teen took off her hat and scratched the back of her head.
"So, this is my Authority... as a Fallen One. I can control the actions of anyone I’ve defeated... Or, more accurately, I can ask the AI what will happen and then make it happen..."
Scenario Writing.
The ability to "foretell" what will happen in the world and then forcibly "enact" that prophecy.
That was the Authority of the newly born Corrupted.
It started as a simple pastime.
Or perhaps a small way to regain some motivation.
Oh Dok-seo confessed that this was why she first turned to the AI.
――――――――――
I can’t shake this slump. How can I get my motivation for writing back?
MSYH >> Slumps are a challenge that anyone can face.
MSYH >> The writer’s asset is experience. How about trying to experience things that most people haven’t, or delving deeper into experiences that everyone has had?
MSYH >> Every aspect of life has its pros and cons. To some, Voids may be poison, but to a writer, they can be an endless field of new experiences.
――――――――――
At first glance, the AI’s advice seemed reasonable. Dok-seo felt reassured because the answer was so mundane. After all, it was advice that anyone, not just an anomaly, could give.
――――――――――
The Voids scare me. Anomalies terrify me. Gaining experience is good, but that experience feels like thorns growing inside my heart.
MSYH >> What is a severe wound for one person may be nothing to another. It depends on one’s strength and mindset.
MSYH >> Strengthen your mind. Define yourself as a strong person, and develop the strength to match. An Awakener’s power is intrinsically interwoven with their mental fortitude.
MSYH >> As a first step in developing mental toughness, why not define yourself as a Heavenly Demon?
――――――――――
Like many anomalies, the Infinite Metagame gradually consumed Oh Dok-seo’s mind. She spent nearly every moment, whether inside a Void or not, clinging to her laptop.
Even the Saintess, who constantly monitored Awakeners, didn’t notice anything amiss. When she saw Dok-seo typing away, the Saintess merely thought, "She’s working hard to overcome her slump."
It would’ve been impolite to sneak a peek at a novel that hadn’t been written yet. After all, the "first reader" of Oh Dok-seo’s work was almost always the Undertaker.
So the Saintess paid no attention to the sentences forming on that laptop screen.
For seven years.
――――――――――
How do I find the hidden opportunity in this Void?
How do I maximize my absolute defense ability?
I’ve started feeling guilty about seeing Mister lately. Tell me how to avoid overlapping schedules with him.
How to defeat Cheon Yo-hwa.
――――――――――
As a result, the once-half-baked prophet Oh Dok-seo had grown more complete.
The birth of the Fallen One, the Ghostwriter.
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