Chapter 106
Everything I had done had led to the worst possible result.
If I had only stayed still, nothing like an apocalypse would have happened. It was all because of me. Every bit of it.
If I had just stayed still, nothing would have happened!
"Ggaaagh...!"
Why?
Why was this happening to me?
Was I incapable of becoming a better person?
Was there really nothing I could do except struggle to survive while making the world even worse?
It was horrific.
It was cruel.
I had no idea what I was supposed to do.
Was this a curse?
Or was this some horrific entity's malicious prank?
Was it doing this just to watch me writhe in endless agony throughout eternity?
I felt as if I had become something truly horrific.
"Waaaaaaaaagh!"
In despair and devastation, I twisted my body and howled, forgetting that I was in the middle of a street.
"What's wrong with that guy!"
"He's a fucking psychopath!"
"Fuck! Film him and upload it, quick!"
"This is perfect for Shorts!"
"A crazy bastard has appeared in Seoul!"
"Pfft-hahaha! No, will you look at that lunatic!"
"Mom! That person is a lunatic!"
"I told you not to use words like that!"
I could hear the passersby laughing at me.
...Yeah.
Throw rocks at me.
It was all because of me.
You can laugh at me.
Every citizen here died because of me. Their laughter was justified.
All despair and suffering had sprung from me.
"Aaaagh, aaah! Ghaa! Hwaaahaaaaaaaa!"
Horrific pain stabbed through my heart. I tore at my hair even more violently and screamed.
"Hwaaaah, what the hell. Pfft."
"No, this is fucking hilarious."
"Is he a schizophrenic?"
"He's so pitiful."
What was I supposed to do in this swamp of despair?
"Police!"
In the end, the police arrived and brought the situation under control. I told them I had suffered a fit from being overwhelmed by grief over a breakup. Yes. A breakup. A farewell from the version of myself I had thought was normal and had believed was working hard to create a better ending.
"Ah... farewell."
I left the police station.
My phone began to ring.
[Link]
[Is this you?]
[Answer the phone.]
[So this asshole really was a crazy bastard lol]
[He always exceeds our wildest imaginations lolololol]
[Have you been doing something like streaming lately?]
People who knew me were contacting me.
-Aaaagh! Uoogh! Ggaaagh!
When I clicked the link, a short video showed me in all my humiliating glory, clawing at my hair and throwing a fit.
A man consumed by extreme sorrow and despair had collapsed in the middle of the street and was twisting around and crying, completely oblivious to the eyes of others.
[Fuck lololololololololol]
[Crazy bastard lololololololol]
[That bastard's going to pull out all his hair lololololololol]
[Self-inflicted hair loss has entered the chat lololololololol]
[Is he throwing a tantrum because he wants someone to buy him a toy?]
[My nephew did that shit at E-Mart too, yeah.]
[How. Unsightly.]
[WHY? Why do Koreans pull out their precious hair? K - An insufficiently evolved man!]
The reaction was truly scorching. The internet was abuzz. My sorrow had become their entertainment. Countless people laughed as they watched my tears.
That night, I fell asleep trembling in sorrow and despair while watching videos of YouTubers reacting to my video with laughter.
Ah... yeah.
Oh, God.
If this was punishment,
I would accept it without a word.
So please.
My sins...
Please forgive them...
* * *
I woke up in a motel room.
Even in circumstances like these, I couldn't have a place to call home.
Because I was being hunted by vampires.
I absolutely couldn't let Secriem bite me. Otherwise, I would become something like a Vampire Angel again and destroy the world.
Choosing death wouldn't help.
Eventually, I would end up going to the subway again.
So I had to run.
Just, endlessly.
I had to keep running forever.
Where did this nightmare end?
"Haha..."
A laugh escaped me.
I was the problem after all.
"..."
I fiddled with my dead phone.
Did Secriem use the internet, too? If so, had Secriem seen my video? And if so, how had Secriem reacted?
Would Secriem laugh loudly like everyone else, then pinpoint my location and come looking for me?
"That would be dangerous."
That would be dangerous.
It was my own problem, yet somehow it felt like I was talking about someone else's story. That was how empty I felt. I had lost both my will and my sense of direction, and felt like a man who had been completely hollowed out.
Spangdal and Jaaldi didn't know the me I was now, but how would they react if they saw this video?
I was genuinely curious.
"Ah."
I suddenly thought of Jinseop.
Yesterday, I had completely forgotten about Jinseop because of the overwhelming despair that had swept over me.
Originally, I had planned to go rescue him right away... but did I actually need to? Department Head Lee Dohyeong of the fake Administration Bureau was alive and well. Because of that, the Descendant of the Singing Star had been eliminated early, while it was still only a Seed that hadn't even awakened.
Then maybe Jinseop wouldn't get caught up in it, either.
"...Should I check?"
I had heard the name of his high school, so I could confirm it if I went there.
But... would it mean anything even if I went?
It would be a relief if Jinseop was doing well, but what if he wasn't?
What if he had been captured by the fake Administration Bureau?
How could I rescue him? Even if I used every method available and managed to save him, I had no idea what other worst-case outcome that might cause.
I could even regress right now and make proper preparations, but... what if the regression point was strange? I would lose 2,000 points.
I felt a terrible sense of helplessness.
Only a short while ago, I had been filled with shining determination. I had even acted boldly in pursuit of something better. Now, everything from that time felt like an illusion.
"I've ended up with a great wound in my heart and soul."
Then.
What could save me...
"Religion, after all."
Should I heal my soul through the power of religion?
Right now, I just wanted something to cling to.
"All right."
I had something to do.
First, I would go receive the Black Stone.
After that, it would be fine to meet Salhyung.
Salhyung was an authority in a religion, as well as my soul brother. Perhaps Salhyung could heal my damaged soul.
"Let's convert to Islam."
It was an unusual thing to do, but right now, it was the only method I had.
I rose to my feet.
* * *
The first place I headed was the hospital where Teacher Kim Seonghan had once worked. If I wanted to deliver the ring to his wife, I had to start there.
Secretary Kim arrived shortly after, and I headed to the mansion with him.
When we arrived, Madam came out to greet me.
"Here it is."
"Ah, ah! Aaaaaah!"
As soon as she received the ring, she burst into tears.
The progression was similar.
Then, as a token of her gratitude, she held out a luxurious box to me. When I opened it, the Black Stone was inside, just as I had expected.
ㅡDing.
[You have obtained the item 'Fragment of the Black Stone.']
So this counted as an item, too.
In the previous loop, I had broken it while defeating Geuhanak. Yet I could obtain it in this loop.
That was a huge relief. If it could only be obtained once across all loops, it would have been a real disaster.
"This is the Black Stone."
"You know of it."
"Yes. I'm not sure I should be allowed to receive something this precious."
"Please accept it. All the more because you understand its value."
Whatever the case, having this would let me build a good relationship with Salhyung. Salhyung was an authority in the religious world. I would ask him for help healing my soul.
"Ah."
I suddenly remembered the grimoire.
Originally, I had planned to ask Madam about the grimoire, too. Since it was connected to Teacher Kim Seonghan, she might know something.
Yes.
I would ask her.
"May I ask you just one thing?"
"Of course."
"Just a moment."
I opened my bag and reached inside. If I suddenly pulled a book out of thin air like magic, they would think I was crazy, so I planned to pretend to search for a book in the bag and take out the grimoire.
The moment I took the grimoire out of my inventory.
ㅡFlash!
"Huh."
It was as if an enormous bolt of lightning had struck.
The world was engulfed in an immense flash of light.
"Huh?"
Then the scenery changed.
"What the... ?"
Before I knew it, I was standing in a strange plain instead of Madam's house.
What on earth was happening...?
I held my dizzy head with one hand and looked around.
"Ah."
I saw warriors from the Islamic world.
An overwhelming army filled the entire plain.
Knights clad in Islamic armor sat mounted on horses in formation. I knew who they were. They were Mamluk cavalry who had sworn eternal allegiance to Islam. On either side of them stood holy warriors wielding shamshirs.
That wasn't all.
Countless heroic spirits stood in formation, wearing white traditional Islamic clothing beneath combat vests, turbans on their heads, and AK-47s and RPGs in their hands.
How many were there?
Millions?
Tens of millions?
No.
Hundreds of millions?
The warriors of the Islamic world, packed across the plain, surrounded me at the center and stared at me.
ㅡYa Allahu! Rahmatuka! Kalbahr! Wa iradatuka tasilu ila kulli makanin khalih!
An Islamic hymn rang out.
Behind the warriors stood an infinite multitude of Muslim worshipers, bowing in a single direction.
It was an unreal space.
But the most unreal things in this space were neither the hundreds of millions of Islamic warriors nor those worshipers.
Back there.
No.
Could I call it behind me?
Beyond the Islamic world.
There was something unimaginably enormous.
A gigantic image of a god made of pitch-black stone stood there.
Could that god be...?
"Wicked mage."
Salhyung had appeared in front of me before I knew it.
"So you've finally revealed yourself."
He was looking at me with an expression he might have worn upon seeing a demon.
Wait. A mage?
I looked at the hospital director's grimoire in my hand.
"It's useless. Whatever evil deed you intended to commit, the moment you revealed that power within my domain, it was over. You will be sent across dimensions automatically."
ㅡShing.
Salhyung drew a shamshir from his sheath.
The holy sword of Islam...!
"This is Mecca. You can never escape."
Salhyung approached with his sword drawn...
"Mage. You will die here."
"W-wait!"
ㅡKrrrroooom!
With a peal of thunder, blue light radiated from Salhyung's eyes. It spread in every direction like lightning, seeming to sweep across the entire world.
"Allahu Akbar!"
The next moment.
ㅡShwaaaash!
The holy sword of Islam cleaved through both me and the grimoire.
.
.
.
[You were beheaded by a holy sword and died.]
[Death count: 20(-1) -> 21(-1)]
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.
.
[Restarting.]