Surviving Every Worldview

Chapter 27: Episode 1 (4)

“Where did you hear that name?”

“I asked you first. Shouldn’t you be the first to reveal something like that?”

“Well, I guess I’ll have to keep my mouth shut then.”

A response that made it clear he knew something.

But it was clear that he wasn’t going to talk unless she gave him the right answer.

‘Seon-woo asked me to ask you, not me, so how would I know…….’

She didn’t have many options and there was no additional script so she could only answer the question honestly.

“…I didn’t ask the question with my own knowledge, I heard it from a friend.”

“Was he one of the intruders?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm.”

The lantern’s intensity increased in response to the Necromancer’s response.

Soon all the undead on the rooftop surrounded Seorin, ready to pounce at a moment’s notice.

“I’ll give them time to get up here.”

“So, you’re not going to tell me where you heard about Dreams?”

“I’ll ask, and you’ll have to answer.”

“Ehhh…Well then…….”

He has no intention of giving the information.

If that was the case, Seorin had no choice but to do as she was told.

She cooled her cheeks with the back of her hand and sent a DM to Seon-woo.

She didn’t know if he heard it, but he didn’t reply.

-Ta-da!

Instead, a gunshot rang out on a rooftop in the middle of the city.

* * *

[You have been discovered.]

[The effect of Text Thief is reduced.]

The Necromancer, shot in the back of the head, fell forward but it couldn’t be dead.

I walked up to the Necromancer, trampled over his body, and rained bullets down on the same spot.

My pistol was at 100% power.

I fired relentlessly at his head until it was down to 75%, then grabbed him by the hair, lifted his face, and asked.

“You know Dreams is a name? I asked you just in case.”

“You… you’re the one who knows Dreams.”

The Necromancer reached for the lantern.

I noticed, and fired my pistol once at the back of his hand and once at the lantern before it was too late.

The lantern was not destroyed, as if it were an important object.

Instead, it was knocked back by the impact and fell through a gap in the nearby railing to the ground below.

Relieved, I finished my question.

“Have you ever talked to Dreams?”

“Even without the lantern, I can still send the undead on a rampage…If you don’t want to see the whole place fall apart, you need to-”

“Answer me quickly.”

I pulled back his hood with his hand and fired directly at his head.

His head was wounded and bleeding, but he had no trouble communicating.

The Necromancer’s body at the end of the episode is enhanced so that he is not crippled but when he reaches his limit, he dies.

Necromancers are rarely portrayed as being physically powerful, so it would be hard for him to hold on.

“Seon-woo!”

Just then, Seol Do-yeon broke through the fog.

She was a bit surprised to see the situation, but she immediately spoke up.

“The undead are weird. What can I say? Oh, they’re exploding one by one nearby!”

“Help Seorin. I still have something important to do.”

“Yeah!”

The two began to take care of the undead that were trying to self-destruct on the rooftop.

The Necromancer, having lost the lamp, was unable to summon the undead again, and the strange noises that had filled the rooftops grew weaker.

There would be no more interruptions for a while.

“It’s useless. Do you think I’d be asking questions if I didn’t have someone to help me?”

“You know how far my undead have spread. What do you think will happen to the others?”

I don’t know what’s going to happen.

“I’ve seen a lot of different people since the episode started, and I don’t think they’re going to fall apart because of your little outburst.”

Whether they awakened their stories or not, the people I’ve seen on the internet and with my own eyes have continued to find ways to protect their surroundings amidst the chaos.

There’s no way a necromancer from the first episode could bring them down.

“You have ten seconds to answer me, what kind of person is Dreams?”

I fixed my gun, ready to slip back into the fog at any moment.

Depending on what kind of being Dreams is, the reaction I get back will be different.

“……shit.”

Soon, the Necromancer’s eyes closed and his mouth opened but it didn’t appear to have given up.

“He…is who he says he is. It can’t possibly be his real name, but he must have given you and me the same name.”

“What do you mean?”

“He gave me the ability to dream when I existed as just a sentence, a scene. It’s a miracle that shouldn’t be possible.”

“……I thought he was that kind of person.”

An involuntary sigh escaped me.

If this is true, it means that Dreams was the one who caused the whole thing.

If I didn’t want to believe it, I could.

After all, it was the villain’s words, and it was not impossible that the Necromancer was mistaken.

But all the evidence points to one thing.

Just because I was close to him, I didn’t think I could unconditionally trust Dreams.

This isn’t a shonen manga where you can ignore the circumstances and trust your friendship and everything will work out.

“……So, what’s Dreams’ purpose?”

“You think I know that.”

“Get to the point.”

The Necromancer laughed, a small, breathless sound.

“I don’t care about his purpose. I’m only acting because I’ve been given the chance.”

“Even though Dreams may have woken you up to use you?”

“At a time like this, there’s nothing more pointless than worrying about the what ifs…….”

-Kugugung…….

The Necromancer gave an odd smile.

At the same time, there was a sound in the distance, as if something large had fallen.

The building shook and creepy laughter came from the side.

It’s not an earthquake, nor is it an illusion.

The rooftop we were standing on began to slowly tilt and the building was collapsing.

“What have you done?”

“Didn’t I tell you, I don’t need the lantern to give directions?”

“You’re going to die with me!”

“Well…”

Tiny bones clicked together in the prone Necromancer’s hands.

The skeleton, smaller than the palm of his hand, sprang to life and climbed onto the Necromancer’s back.

“Whatever the outcome, it will be better than this.”

The skeleton didn’t hesitate to self-destruct.

Tiny shards of splintered bone flew from the explosion and lodged in my body, but I managed to shield my eyes with my hands, escaping fatal injury.

When I reopened my eyes, the Necromancer had somehow managed to gather the undead to defend him.

From a distance, it appeared to be one giant rotting mass of flesh but it didn’t look like it was meant to stop me.

Perhaps it was to cushion the impact of the building’s collapse.

“Do you think you can protect yourselves from the fall?”

The roof tilts faster and faster.

At this rate, the roof will soon come crashing down.

Even if we survive, if we lose the Necromancer here, he’ll hide somewhere we can’t find him.

We must survive and the Necromancer must be killed here.

“Do-yeon!”

I shouted as I raced down the tilted rooftop.

“You two, get out of here on the drone! Now!”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll give you a signal and you can come and get me!”

Do-yeon replied, turning up the volume on her megaphone.

“I don’t know if I can take three people or not!”

“There’s no other way!”

“Ah, I don’t care!! If I can’t carry you, I’m just going to let go!!”

I was relieved to hear that they were going to try.

Seorin climbed into the drone and flew off the roof.

We were ready to go.

Now the only variable that would determine the outcome was whether my body was strong enough.

I scrambled down the rooftop, steadied myself, and leapt into the air.

“Whoa…….”

A panoramic view of the collapsing building comes into view.

The Necromancer was still reeling from the impact, but the undead had gathered and formed into a ball.

I pulled out my new baton and held it high, staring at the sphere.

“I can do this.”

I thought back to three days ago.

The single attack which I’ve used to clear a path to escape the campus had cost me half of the statue’s energy.

The memory of that moment had already spread through the video and become part of my story.

If the story of Text Thief is a book, the scene is already a page in the book.

I use the narrative I’ve built up as a weapon.

If I can only use standardized techniques like skills, how can I call it a story?

I take the descriptions of scenes that are already in my story and rewrite them.

It’s a lot easier than trying to figure out how to set it up from scratch.

The undead are gathered in one place by command.

They stand still for the sole purpose of protecting, but as the building tilts, they break the railing and fall through the roof.

I dropped on top of them, slamming my baton downward.

It was a scene of a masked figure wielding a red, electrified baton toward a horde of the undead.

The moment the story was replayed, the result was the same.

-Kwah!

One by one, the undead, who had been supporting each other, fell apart.

There were no longer any loyal undead left to take the blows.

They just fell unconscious next to the necromancer who was left alone.

“……Failed.”

The Necromancer muttered to himself.

He watched with his eyes as I was picked up by Seol Do-yeon on the drone.

Finally, he closed his eyes.

* * * *

[Your story has finished one chapter.]

[You have reached the end of the Necromancer’s story.]

“Phew…….”

The moment the two phrases appeared, the three of us breathed a sigh of relief.

We were worried that we couldn’t confirm that the Necromancer was dead, but the status window assured us that he was.

It’s times like this that I develop an unexpected attachment to the status window.

“Somehow…even with three people on it, it still moves.”

“It looks like it’s going down-?”

“Hang in there, we’ll find a safe place to get off soon.”

While Seol Do-yeon was piloting the drone, Seorin smiled weakly.

Around them, a 14-story building collapsed, making it impossible to land.

They had to fly across the street from the hospital before they were able to land safely.

However, the drone, unable to withstand the excessive load, made a strange noise and stopped working the moment it landed.

“Oh no…….”

Seorin was the first to get out of the drone and collapsed onto a nearby bench.

“Seon-woo…I’m tired…I’m going to bed first…….”

“Go home and sleep.”

“I don’t have the strength…….”

To put it mildly, it is clearly not a joke.

[Overdose] is a dangerous trait that can make a paper cut look like a knife wound.

After a period of time, the condition will weaken again, but the fatigue will not have gone away.

The drunkenness was especially intense.

“If you sleep here, the police will take you away, and they’ll ask you how the building came down.”

“Then you can help me get home or-”

“Okay. Get up.”

I grabbed her outstretched hand and pulled her to her feet.

The drone was destroyed and public transportation isn’t available, so we’d have to walk.

“Do-yeon, you…I’ll give you the password, but you go first. I’ll be right back.”

“What? I’ll come with you. I don’t want to go alone.”

“If you follow me now, Seorin’s going to ask you a lot of questions.”

“Isn’t it better to hang out with people you’re familiar with? Buy me a drink.”

Seol Do-yeon, who had changed her demeanor in an instant, returned the coat she had taken and left.

I put the broken drone in my inventory and headed to Seorin’s house.

“Can you walk by yourself?”

“I’m fine, I’m just a little dizzy…….”

Just as she was about to return to her normal expression, she stumbled and almost fell.

Thanks to the healing spray, all the wounds were gone but her Overdose-enhanced condition doesn’t go away like that.

Her breathing was still ragged, and her hands were shaking.

“……It’s kind of cold.”

“Hold on.”

I lent her the coat I’d just recovered.

She seemed to feel a little better, but soon muttered that she was still cold.

[Your work is being rewarded…….]

I can’t believe she awakened to something like [Death Wish], where she has to harm herself.

My head was already pounding as I realized that I would always have to bring her with me whenever I have to fight.

“Why do you look at me like that?”

“Because I’m sighing.”

“……?”

… Still, it’s my job to take care of her.

It won’t be difficult since it’s something I always did as a freshman.