Surviving Every Worldview

Chapter 20: Adapting to a routine (2)

The next day, I woke up with two things on my mind, so I laid down and activated the status window.

Luckily, both were things I could do while lying down.

[Your story has written a new page.]

[You can create a new story based on the page.]

The first was a reward for yesterday’s work.

I had two choices: improve my proficiency in Text Thief or create a new story.

The decision was harder than before.

Considering what I did on campus yesterday, I should have earned a lot of proficiency.

However, I was also excited to think about the stories that could be created with this proficiency.

[The page was made a part of Text Thief.]

Again, my decision was the same.

As I wrote, I realized that Text Thief had some surprises of its own.

[Skill level increased by +200%]

[Text Thief’s has reached Lv. 5!]

That was the end of the first task.

For the second thing, I turned on my cell phone and left a message for senior Kang Hyunseok.

-Yoo Seon-woo: Senior? Yesterday, you told me to let you know if there’s anything I can do to help.

– Yoo Seon-woo: Can I borrow your car for a day or two?

Just when I thought he couldn’t read my message, he replied within a few minutes.

-Kang Hyunseok: Where are you going by car? Isn’t it dangerous?

-Yoo Seon-woo: I have to pick up a friend.

-Kang Hyunseok: You won’t be able to find a gas station for long, will you be okay?

-Yoo Seon-woo: It’s okay.

-Kang Hyunseok: Okay, we’re on the first floor.

Fortunately, it wasn’t hard to get permission.

The reason for borrowing a car was simple.

I had to pick up one person as promised yesterday.

Today, I had to bring Seol Do-yeon back to my place.

* * *

After dodging the undead, the terminal seemed to have settled down a bit.

No shops were open, of course, but there were plenty of normal people around the shelter, talking in the breeze.

People leaning against the department store building with their backs to it, looking somber.

People sitting on benches, eating bread and drinking sodas from unknown sources.

And police officers patrolling the streets without stopping them.

Did they somehow establish some sort of temporary discipline overnight?

It was so peaceful that I felt like I had just walked into the terminal in the early morning hours when it was deserted.

I checked to see if any of the people on the sidewalk were members of the club.

“You’re back again?”

At that moment, someone recognized me and said hello.

It was the same guy who stayed up late last night looking for the Hidden Piece.

This guy recognize me?

Somehow, I must have stuck in his memory in an unusual way.

“I’m Lee Jung-min, we ran into each other a lot yesterday, haha.”

“I see you’re alone today.”

“Oh…….”

He gave me a shaky look.

“Everyone gave up or said they’d find another way, so now I’m left with people I don’t know.”

“You had no income?”

“Yeah. Even if there aren’t any hidden pieces, my proficiency should at least improve, but that’s not happening either. I thought my story was so simple that I’d get stronger quickly, but… ”

It’s exactly the same rule as I know.

Everyone probably just hit them like they were hunting monsters in a game.

If they were consciously trying to learn the skill, they would have gotten better at it.

“Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask you something!”

“What?”

“This is you, right?”

Lee Jung-min suddenly thrust his phone at me.

I wondered if he had been preparing to meet me from the beginning, since he showed it to me as soon as he unlocked it.

It was a picture of me jumping off the bus and making a path.

“That’s the bus, the one from yesterday.”

I nodded.

I’d hoped word would spread one way or another.

…But I was hoping to remain as an unknown person.

“How the hell did you do that? You certainly weren’t that person when I saw you yesterday during the day!”

“I can’t do that twice.”

“Aww. Don’t say that, but maybe you could give me a sneak peek, huh?”

Lee Jung-min thinks I’m being silly.

I’m serious.

The energy contained in the statue was halved when I did that.

I didn’t want to do it again because it was inefficient and I needed to conserve the remaining energy.

I wish I could become strong enough to use it without tools.

“Please, tell me something. I don’t know of any special way to become stronger than others…….”

Lee Jung-mid said to me desperately.

I panicked and took a step backwards, but he followed me, looking straight at me and demanding an answer.

Is he trying to hold me back until I give him a real answer?

Should I go borrow a car?

……Do I really have to tell him?

I have no use for special methods, but there is one that might work for this person.

A way that will help me if he does what I say, but won’t hurt me if he doesn’t.

“Okay, so stop…….”

“Oh, right!”

He threw his head back in delight as soon as he heard the answer.

I briefly explained the method in a voice only he could hear.

“…….”

At first, his face was full of anticipation but then the corners of his mouth slowly twitched downward, and his expression soon changed to one filled with doubt.

“Uh, excuse me, but you’re not making stuff up, are you?”

“You don’t have to believe me. There’s more than just one way.”

What would I get by deceiving someone whose name I only know?

He still looked unconvinced, but he stopped asking questions.

“Well, thank you, I’ll have to think about it, excuse me…….”

He jerked his head in acknowledgment and went back to his work.

He waded back into the crowd of Awakened, which was half as large as yesterday’s, and began to organize the undead again.

I’m sure he’ll stay and hunt the undead today, just like he did yesterday.

“Hmm…….”

After telling him the method, I felt hopeful.

Would Lee Jung-min really try the method I told him?

Even if he did, wouldn’t he give up halfway through?

If he doesn’t give up, what kind of ‘story’ will unfold for him?

At first, I just thought that if he got stronger, the people in the city would be safer, which would benefit me but then I realized that I’ve adapted to the changes.

I realized that it would be fun to watch him if I could.

[※ Story completion level: 2 → 3]

At that moment I suddenly felt a strange sensation, and then it disappeared like a mirage.

“What was that?”

I looked back but Lee Jung-min had long since blended into the crowd and disappeared from sight.

Something must have just changed.

……I wonder if I was just mistaken.

* * *

At the same time, Lee Seorin also arrived at the terminal, packed with supplies and food for the club members.

‘Ah…where did you say you were going?’

She hadn’t planned to come at first.

She had so much going on yesterday that she actually wanted to rest without thinking about anything.

But the thought of being alone kept reminding her of her colleagues at the terminal, so she grabbed what she needed and headed out.

After a while, Lee Min-seo came out to greet her.

“Ah, senior, over here!”

“Hi. Is everything okay?”

“Yes, but…….”

“What’s wrong-?”

Lee Min-seo looked at Lee Seorin with regret.

As the youngest member of the club, a drunken club president was a difficult person to deal with.

He had expected her to be sober today, given the dangerous situation, but she was drunk again.

“Ah…No, follow me!”

The members are sitting at a table of six in a restaurant on the first floor.

Thanks to Min-seo’s guidance, she didn’t have to wander through the crowded terminal to reach them.

…Sure enough, they were all awake, though most of them were dozing in their chairs.

“What the hell, why are they all sleeping again! I didn’t even know you were here!”

“Ai. Don’t wake them up. What’s wrong-?”

Lee Seorin put down the things she had brought on the table.

Lee Min-seo, who was watching from behind, was startled by the sudden appearance of so much luggage from nowhere and asked.

“What’s all that?”

“I thought you might need some necessities! Do you have a shower here?”

“Uh, no. The vending machine for disposables is out, and there are some people outside with a few things they’re selling for a lot of money.”

“Don’t buy it! If you need anything, just tell me directly.”

“Yes, yes…….”

Lee Min-seo nodded.

For now, the immediate problem was solved.

‘It’s good that I came to see how they are doing.’

But at the same time, she was worried.

How much longer can these hundreds of people hold out?

Should she ask them to stay here until the problem is solved?

‘Maybe I should ask Seon-woo to send them all back home, but it’s hard to go help if they’re scattered.’

Lee Seorin’s thoughts were getting deeper and deeper.

“Huh?”

Outside the restaurant, she saw a man running around, shooting here and there.

It was Yoo Seon-woo.

* * *

I went into the shelter of the building and started looking for them.

In the crowd, they were usually in the same age group, so it wasn’t hard to figure out where to start looking.

I guess everyone feels more comfortable in a situation like this with someone they know or someone their own age.

“Yoo Seon-woo-”

I was about to say when I couldn’t find them.

Suddenly, someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I heard a familiar voice.

“Why are you here today?”

I turned around to see sister Seorin with her half-open eyes and laughing hysterically.

I hadn’t noticed, but the other club members were sitting together not far away.

“Why are you here?”

“Huh. Who’s going to take care of the guys if I’m not here? What about you?”

“I had to ask senior Hyunseok for a favor.”

“Oh!”

Seorin pointed at herself and asked.

“How do you like the clothes I’m wearing now? I bought them a while ago.”

“You just bought them, can you wear them on a day like this?”

“It’s okay, I bought them for comfort, so what do you think?”

“You always dress well.”

“…Yeah.”

I glanced over at Seorin to check her condition.

Fortunately, she didn’t seem to be in any trouble.

Being drunk…well, that’s not unusual.

“Anyway, if you want to see the guys, follow me. They’re over there.”

Before I could say anything, she dragged me to where the men were sitting.

There was a pile of convenience store food in the center of the room, as if they were about to eat.

“Hey, guys-”

“Ah! You’re here. Hi, it’s so nice to see you.”

“Someone famous is here.”

Hyunseok and Lee Min-seo were the first to greet me.

Both of them had tiredness in their voices, and everyone else was sleeping.

“Did everything go well? Was the early morning okay?”

“Yeah. It was a little noisy outside, so some of us didn’t sleep well, but we were pretty safe. They took turns watching over us.”

Beside me, Seorin was listening carefully since she was curious as well.

From what he said, it seemed like this shelter would remain stable for a while.

If there’s a change, it’s that there will be fewer and fewer people protecting it……..

I decided to put a little more faith in people like Lee Jung-min.

It’s people like him that keep the shelter bustling and active.

…Wait, something’s wrong.

Does this atmosphere even make sense?

“But Sis, don’t you think it’s a little too lively in here?”

“Why, why, what?”

These are the questions I’ve been hearing for a while now.

It’s strange that it’s livelier than the usual terminal.

“I bet you all have a lot to worry about… Are you trying to cheer up because of that? Aren’t you worried?”

“Uh-huh, I guess that’s right.”

Seorin clapped her hands in agreement.

However, the reactions of the other two were strange.

“Do you know anything?”

“I went back home, so I don’t know… Keep quiet.”

I could hear Hyunseok and Lee Min-seo whispering in front of me.

Their voices were low enough.

I don’t think Seorin even heard them but Text Thief made my hearing too high.

“What don’t I know?”

“Oh, I think he heard everything.”

Lee Min-seo turned to Hyunseok with a despairing look.

“Just tell me, I don’t think it’s a bad thing.”

“Okay, it’s not a big deal.”

Hyunseok reluctantly opened his mouth.

He first pointed to the two men sitting nearby, discussing.

He wants me to listen to what they’re saying.

“So the bus we saw yesterday is from the university, which is about half an hour away?”

“Mr. Ai, yes, it is. Why don’t you go to the parking lot and check it out? Doesn’t it have the name of the school on the side?”

The man started to get angry, but the other man threw up his hands and changed his demeanor.

“Okay, okay. Okay, I’ll believe you. So the bus in the video was the one we saw?”

“Yep. That’s what I was going to say.”

“Wow, how did that happen here…….”

Their conversation went on from there, but I got the gist of it.

I turned my head back to Hyunseok and asked him.

“Are you saying that the atmosphere got better because of us?”

“Not us, but you, to be precise.”

He showed me a video uploaded to the internet on his tablet PC.

It was the middle of the night, looking down a straight road from a tall building.

Eight cars bunched together and raced down the road, followed by a crack of thunder and a red bolt of lightning that broke through the blockage.

The cars continue straight ahead and disappear from view.

……it was definitely us from last night.

Thanks to the effects of [Text Thief], my appearance didn’t look like it had been artificially erased.

[Awareness rating increased significantly!]

[Text Thief awareness rating is now B!]

[Awareness rating: B (B+)]

As if waiting for me to observe this, the status window shot in my direction.

Apparently, this status window was set to be visible only to me, because the others continued to talk.

“There’s no one who lives nearby who doesn’t know this, whether they know the place or saw the bus coming last night, do you know what I mean?”

“They don’t know who it is, but they expect that the person in the video will solve everything.”

Before I could answer, Lee Min-seo spoke up.

“Did anyone pretend to know you when you came? I feel like they might have.”

Did Lee Jung-min come to me because of this video?

……This is why Lee Min-seo said that a celebrity came.

Why did the youngest become so annoying?

“I won’t be here long. Hyunseok, I’m going to borrow a car like we talked about earlier. Where did you park it?”

“Fourth floor of the terminal parking garage. It’s next to the bus, so you’ll find it in no time.”

Hyunseok dug in his pocket and handed me the keys.

“Sister, I’ll be going. Don’t get back too late because it’s dangerous.”

“Be careful, I’m worried about you.”

After a final goodbye to Seorin, I set off for what I had to do today.

I don’t know if this is a good analogy but just looking at the atmosphere, it felt like I was on a trip with my club members.