#141

The string wrapped around my neck slid off.

It was absurd that he recognized me just by that.

I mean, if he was going to ask, he should have asked something more difficult and complex.

Isn’t the Listrosaurus—the most prosperous land animal before humans dominated the Earth—something quite a few people know, even if it’s not common knowledge?

“Was that question enough? It’s too well-known. Even if it wasn’t me…”

“Only someone like you, Hyung, would think that’s common knowledge.”

‘And yet, whenever I didn’t know some “What-the-Hell” battle, he’d jump up and down saying, “Isn’t this common knowledge?”’

Pandemonium chuckled.

“And if it were a dinosaur enthusiast with no memories of me, wouldn’t they have asked first which dinosaur fossil and where it was excavated from upon hearing that?”

‘Now that I think about it, he’s right.’

Pandemonium slipped his hands under my armpits, lifted me up high, and then slowly lowered me back to the ground.

‘…At this height, I could have just released my Telekinesis and landed on my own.’

Why go through the trouble of lifting me?

To humiliate me?

To show off his strength?

“I felt it while you were hanging, but Hyung, aren’t you too skinny?”

‘You little shit.’

“Are you bragging?”

“…Huh?”

“Are you bragging about being a privileged class who ate well and grew up in the Middle Ages, where calories were a measure of wealth, you piece of shit?”

Unlike the actual Middle Ages, serfs in the Dark Realm didn’t suffer from extreme starvation, but they couldn’t have nutritionally excellent meals either.

Since hunting was forbidden, the protein they could consume was limited to the occasional rabbit or livestock they raised, so opportunities to eat high-quality fats and proteins were quite rare.

‘Ever since I possessed this body, I’ve had to eat nothing but shitty boiled turnips.’

I mean, really? How could I possibly gain weight?

I had to wake up at the crack of dawn and work after eating only that.

There were no surplus calories left to be converted into fat.

“No, I just thought maybe Hyung was skipping meals…”

“Yes, yes, of course. Do you know? I was among the well-fed among the serfs. I’m confident that if you weighed the serfs, I’d be in the top 20%. Of course, compared to a noble lord who lived eating meat three times a day, I probably look like a scrawny goblin!”

“…Are you sulking?”

I wiped my cheek with my sleeve.

Everything felt embarrassingly pathetic for some reason.

If I had known it would turn out like this, I would have just paid my taxes voluntarily before showing him the sight of me sobbing that I didn’t want to die.

“You… would you have actually killed me if I wasn’t someone you knew?”

“No way!”

Pandemonium denied it urgently.

“You know, Hyung. If I really intended to kill you, I wouldn’t have even spoken to you. It was just a threat. Uh, I learned this method of intimidation from my family. I didn’t come up with it myself.”

“…Then what about the part where you killed people in the four-digit range?”

“That was a lie too, obviously!”

“For real?”

‘…The War God must have conditions to achieve as well, right?’

Considering the condition for the Distorted One was the disappointment of 10,000 people, the condition for the War God likely wasn’t small in scale.

At least the Distorted One would prefer ‘humans who feel humiliation while alive,’ so those poor serfs probably didn’t die…

‘But there’s no way no one died when a war broke out.’

Does he not count people he didn’t kill personally?

Or maybe there were deaths, but not in the four-digit range?

“Really. I’ve never committed murder once.”

I felt something chilling coming from his smiling expression.

“…You’ve never killed an NPC?”

“Hmm… I’ve destroyed the bodies of NPCs, but can you call that killing? Anyway, it’s not murder, right?”

‘What?’

“Anyway, this place is either a simulation or a repeating world, right? Even if you kill them, they aren’t truly dead.”

“What the…”

‘Has this bastard actually gone insane?’

The people here are not clumps of polygons.

They are ‘people’ with blood and flesh, and he thinks breaking them isn’t murder?

‘Did he develop a defense mechanism after killing a person for the first time?’

Or was he ‘Arranged’ to think that way from the moment he possessed the body?

Either way, it was clear he wasn’t in his right mind.

“Ah, my explanation was a bit lacking. Look at the Gray Saintess, for example. She wouldn’t have made a wish to the Distorted One at this point, right? But her soul has already passed over. That means the NPCs in this world are replicas derived from some original.”

“…Whether they’re replicas or whatever, the fact that they feel pain and fear death is the same.”

“I don’t think it’s right to inflict meaningless pain on NPCs either. But isn’t there a big difference between assault and murder?”

“What does that even mean?”

“The reason murder is a serious crime in reality is because it’s irreversible. Even the crime of injury is punished more severely when it causes permanent functional damage. But in a world where you can recover quickly even if your eye is gouged out, would there be such a thing as ‘grievous bodily harm’?”

“…So, you’re saying that if there’s a way to bring dead people back, killing them isn’t murder?”

“Exactly! As expected, Hyung is quick to understand.”

‘What kind of bullshit is this.’

“Are you saying that seriously?”

When I looked at him with a dead serious expression, Pandemonium looked a bit flustered and read my face.

“…Sorry. Did I say something too absurd?”

“I’m glad you’re at least aware that it’s absurd. Otherwise, it would have been truly terrifying.”

“Hyung’s mind works much faster than mine, so why would you say I’m quick to understand…”

Pandemonium rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

“I didn’t know it was you, but comparing you to Skydes earlier must have been really ridiculous. I’m truly sorry.”

“…….”

“Uh, did it make you feel really bad? You really hate that kind of thing, right? I really didn’t do it on purpose…”

My stomach churned.

I opened my mouth, but closed it again, not knowing what to say.

“…No, but isn’t it also partly your fault, Hyung? If you had pretended to know me as soon as you realized it was me, I wouldn’t have done that.”

Seeing him execute the ‘but-you-were-also-wrong-you-bastard’ move while apologizing, he was indeed that socially inept prick.

But…

‘…Let’s let it slide for now.’

It was clear he wasn’t speaking in his right mind.

Even if he truly thought that way, he had enough intelligence to pretend otherwise on the surface.

Seeing how he didn’t even realize why I was shocked, it seemed more likely that an Othergod had messed with his mind rather than a defense mechanism.

‘I hope I can fix it with Forced Persuasion.’

To do that, I’d have to establish Influence first.

Since we have a lot to talk about, it will happen eventually.

I decided to ask about the things I was curious about first.

“…What’s the way to save NPCs? The only things a player can resurrect are the souls they’ve obtained.”

Units killed before conversion or corruption cannot be saved.

Because the moment they die, the unit’s soul returns to the god they believe in.

For the same reason, our own units who have been condemned cannot be resurrected. The moment they are condemned, their soul is trapped in the Hell of Order.

Of course, resurrection costs an enormous amount, so it’s always more economical to just produce a new unit.

‘…The only ones the War God can bring back are those who died while siding with the War God.’

He shouldn’t be able to resurrect people from the opposing camp.

Loclem is a god who allows absolutely no exceptions, claiming that the return of the dead goes against Order.

“It doesn’t matter after seeing the ending.”

“…Did the System say so? Or the War God?”

“Huh? No. Because if you kill another god, you can take over the souls belonging to that god. If you win the game, don’t you eventually own all the souls in the Dark Realm?”

‘Is this bastard seriously planning to win the game?’

“I plan to bring back the NPCs I killed unnecessarily. I’ll have points to spare after the ending anyway.”

“…I see.”

“Before that, I should farm enough Sacred Relics. It’ll be inconvenient if all the gods are dead.”

“What about the other players?”

“Huh?”

“To win the game, all other players have to be eliminated.”

“Ah, that?”

‘”Ah, that?”’

Pandemonium paused for a moment before answering.

“…There must be some way, right?”

“If you can’t tell me, just say so.”

“No, I really have a guess…”

“You do have one, don’t you?”

Pandemonium rolled his eyes awkwardly and waved his hand.

‘Telekinesis?’

As I stepped back, Pandemonium hurriedly made an excuse.

“No, no. Don’t be surprised. A notification window just popped up.”

“…Chat? Or a Quest?”

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Pandemonium scratched the nape of his neck and continued.

“Did you say Hyung doesn’t have a Helper? Well, then it’s okay to tell you.”

‘Does that mean it’s a method I can’t use even if I hear it?’

“The Helper explained that the Tutorial is a kind of offline mode, so there are various restrictions. Have you heard about the shop?”

“…I was told I can only buy items listed by the Helper.”

“Right. But they said even that list is part of the ‘Arrangement.’ You can’t put anything in the shop window other than the items pre-selected before the game started.”

“Doesn’t that make the gap between the rich and the poor too wide?”

“They have no intention of balancing it. Anyway, they said that once the Tutorial ends and the contract is made, you can buy ‘anything’ with points as long as the System can provide it.”

‘Anything?’

“Then is something like a ticket to return to reality also possible?”

“…There’s no way an Othergod would let you buy something like that, right?”

Ah.

Right.

That would be the case…

“…Then what are you planning to buy?”

“Who do you think brought us here?”

“…The System?”

“Correct. And where do you think we go when we get a Game Over?”

I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it.

Isn’t it just Annihilation?

Even if we’re condemned, it doesn’t seem like we fall into the Hell of Order.

“Wherever that is, the System must know.”

“…No way.”

‘Is he saying he’ll buy players who suffered a Game Over with points?’

“It’s just a hypothesis for now. I’ll have to try it after the Tutorial ends to see if it’s actually possible.”

“Are you planning to resurrect the Pioneer of Civilization with that?”

“…If it’s possible?”

Pandemonium answered ambiguously.

‘What is this?’

Considering how friendly he had been to Reyes, I thought he was much closer to the Pioneer of Civilization, whom he had interacted with first.

‘…Was the reason he hated Insanity not because he trapped and killed the Pioneer of Civilization?’

“More than that, there’s something I want to ask Hyung.”

The broken string of the reliquary moved on its own and tied itself into a double fisherman’s knot.

I had a bad feeling.

“So, what exactly is your relationship with the Heretic Butcher?”