READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 75
“Shut up, as if fake Han Si-Hoo would ever keep his mouth shut.”
“Han Si-Hoo, how should I put this… your very existence feels contrived. Yoo Seo-A is the same. They seem proactive and assertive in some ways, yet they’re incredibly passive.”
“…What?”
“You’ve lost your goal. You’re a character created for the story of saving the world.”
He says it as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
“What the hell are you trying to say?”
“Is it okay if I say this?”
Fake Han Si-Hoo chuckles as if he finds this amusing.
“Wow, can I really say it? Honestly, you’ll probably find it hard to believe.”
What could he possibly want to say?
There’s something Han Si-Hoo is unaware of.
“What…?”
“Seo-A knew about this inconvenient truth.”
“Spit it out.”
“There are enough hints, and you still don’t get it? Didn’t any thoughts even flicker in your mind?”
Fake Han Si-Hoo glances at the location of the Saint.
He probably doesn’t want to pass the information to her, but whispers to Han Si-Hoo.
“Hey, what does Seo-A call you?”
“Si-Hoo.”
“Not your name.”
“…Not really anything.”
Nothing comes to mind.
The term Seo-A uses to call Han Si-Hoo.
Usually, she calls him Si-Hoo and then giggles.
“No, there’s something! That thing.”
That thing?
Han Si-Hoo desperately tries to remember.
Si-Hoo, Si-Hoo.
And what did she call him?
– Si-Hoo, you…
You, what did you say?
He thought Seo-A was just saying something weird.
A few times when Seo-A was in a strange condition, he’d heard that.
– You’re the protagonist, so…
“Protagonist?”
“Yeah, you’re just that kind of existence.”
“What…?”
“Whether it’s a book, movie, or game, you’re the protagonist, I’m telling you.”
Han Si-Hoo pondered.
If he were the protagonist in a story, it would undoubtedly be a tragedy.
A tragedy so full of absurdity it’s ridiculous.
From afar, would it look like a comedy?
“On the other hand, Yoo Seo-A is an extra.”
“……”
“But Seo-A found out about this. She saw a future where she dies.”
“Wh-what…”
Han Si-Hoo couldn’t comprehend.
“So she ran away. But what happens if an actor refuses to play their role and runs away?”
The play falls apart.
Because the actor refuses to act.
“It blew up, the whole play. No happy ending, the protagonist doesn’t get a chance to shine… and world peace is harder to achieve.”
“In a way, Yoo Seo-A is a traitor to humanity. She did this knowing everything.”
“What nonsense…”
“I’m like Yoo Seo-A’s conscience, always telling her what the right path is. And yet this catastrophe happened anyway.”
Fake Han Si-Hoo sighs.
Then raises his voice again.
We’ve reached a point where the Saint wouldn’t mind hearing this.
“Everything I said is true. At least from Yoo Seo-A’s perspective. Did I mention the inner world?”
He asks the Saint.
“Uh, yeah… I’ve never seen anything like you but…”
The Saint stammers.
“Isn’t it true? This is how Seo-A’s inner self is. I explained it from her standpoint. Anyway, she’s lost her memory now, so she can’t explain it herself.”
“…I…”
Han Si-Hoo still couldn’t accept the truth.
Protagonist?
In a play?
It feels like a statement from a scripted story.
But that can’t be right.
This is clearly vivid reality.
The actor going off-script?
It starts to make some sense.
This fake Han Si-Hoo tells Han Si-Hoo that he has a purpose.
Seo-A also expects Han Si-Hoo to do something.
As the protagonist.
To save the world.
“Aren’t you a splendid hero going to save the world? Right? The Saint next to you probably feels the same.”
“…That’s just nonsense.”
He can’t be that grand of a person.
Nobody is born the protagonist from the start.
He understands that everyone is the protagonist of their own life.
But if life itself is intentional, then that’s a problem.
Fake Han Si-Hoo lowers his voice again.
“When you think about it, it’s odd. Why didn’t Seo-A reveal this fact to you, Han Si-Hoo? You’re just a character in a novel; if she said the future is already set in stone, it would be the end.”
“Speak sense.”
“I’ve… kept saying it. What are you doing? The real, proper Han Si-Hoo has already saved the world.”
“……”
It’s just a voice from inside Seo-A.
There’s no evidence for it.
It could simply be a ploy to disturb Han Si-Hoo’s mind.
But why does it feel oddly trustworthy?
Looking at their past actions, he ends up believing the words of Seo-A and this fake Han Si-Hoo.
“The script is a mess. Then you’ve gotta improvise. Don’t famous actors do that to leave legendary scenes?”
The script suddenly went awry.
The audience watching must be bewildered too.
And he thinks, ah, this must be part of the act.
It’ll probably get better with time.
“What do you want me to do?”
Even if that’s the case, will it change anything?
Even if everything fake Han Si-Hoo said was true.
“The only ones who know this are you and Seo-A. The doctor… seems to have caught on, but he can’t possibly imagine. This whole world is fake, you know?”
Yoo Seo-A already had mumblings about Han Si-Hoo being a protagonist in front of the doctor.
The doctor must have heard it as some strange ramble.
“Well, what you do doesn’t matter, right? After all, you’re all made-up characters. The real plot exists elsewhere… This world is just… an ‘if’ story.”
“What you do doesn’t create a problem.”
“And the only ones who know this fact are you and Seo-A… No, now it’s just you.”
Somewhere along the way, the fake Han Si-Hoo’s form disappears.
A whispering voice and darkness remain.
“Do whatever you want. Seo-A was just deceiving you too. It’s all fake, so who cares?”
“Logically, an Awakener and magic shouldn’t exist. What is this, a shonen manga?”
“Gates, dungeons, items. They’re things you only see in games.”
He’s thought from long ago that this world is strange.
Swing a sword a bit and someone gains a swordsmanship skill, run well and someone gets a sprint skill…
It’s nothing but child’s play.
It certainly is bizarre.
The more he thinks it’s strange, the stranger it becomes.
“The original story’s creator is like a god. And the god has abandoned this world. The actors threw away the script and acted on their own.”
“If there’s no god, there’s no justice. There’s no absolute standard for judging sins. Whether it’s morality or law, without a god, it all appeals to a vague conscience.”
“And that’s why those who tormented you aren’t being punished. Because it’s a world abandoned by the god, the author. The storyline where good is rewarded and evil is punished has vanished and become the opposite.”
Han Si-Hoo was submerged in darkness as he thought.
Indeed, neither Han Si-Hoo nor Yoo Seo-A received any help.
He even appealed to public authority.
To the people he was told to trust.
Even to the seemingly kind institutions.
But that feeling.
Frustration.
Despair felt when the last bastion of faith crumbles.
Those who said they’d help showed only lukewarm responses when he asked for help.
It was always like this.
A scum of the slums, just barely left alive.
Anyone who’s experienced that unique sense of despair knows it.
The heart breaks.
Strength drains away.
His voice trembles, and words won’t come out.
Yet still, he held on!
Han Si-Hoo was the protagonist.
He had to protect Seo-A.
Then suddenly, with a twist of contrived fate…
By mere coincidence, Han Si-Hoo leaves Yoo Seo-A, and by coincidence, the doctor’s dropped medicine is used by Seo-A, and by coincidence, oh the coincidences…
Misery breeds more misery.
What kind of piece of trash wrote this story?
“Hah… ha ha. Yeah. You’re right.”
“-Han Si-Hoo?”
The Saint had been calling Si-Hoo beside him all along.
“Are… are you okay?”
Of course, it isn’t okay.
And now, it doesn’t even matter.
“Let’s get out of here for now. My abilities have reached their limit…”
Bang.
The space shatters.
He escaped from a world akin to hallucination.
Seo-A was still fast asleep.
Seo-A had a secret she never told Han Si-Hoo.
That this world is fake.
So that’s why she struggled so much with her existence.
Han Si-Hoo stared blankly at Seo-A.
Was this the only way he could understand Seo-A?
“…Han Si-Hoo? Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Can I head out now? I’d like to rest a bit.”
The Saint spoke uncertainly.
His contact with fake Han Si-Hoo had been the biggest issue.
Whatever Han Si-Hoo talked about, the atmosphere changed significantly.
“No.”
“H-huh?”
“You’re still useful.”
“Uh…”
Han Si-Hoo reached a conclusion.
This world is rotting anyway, and it’s all fake.
Han Si-Hoo and Yoo Seo-A didn’t create this problem through some grand fault.
At its core, this world is just broken.
Click.
In an instant, a collar wraps around the Saint’s neck.
“Ah, huh? What’s this—”
“It’s originally used for this purpose.”
It’s proper to use it on the Saint, not Seo-A.
The magical control collar is indeed convenient.
From what Han Si-Hoo gathered, there are a few restrictions when using the collar, but well, it’s not a problem.
“Si-Si-Hoo?”
“You like this kind of thing, don’t you? You liked being stepped on by me, too.”
Han Si-Hoo says with a laugh.
Now he starts to wonder if the fake Han Si-Hoo he saw earlier was truly the fake one.
Something within Han Si-Hoo has broken.
There’s no longer a reason to treat another existence as an individual.
They’re just puppets, equally controlled.
Fake.
“This… is-”
The Saint trembles.
She’s afraid to an abnormal extent.
Han Si-Hoo knows it too.
She’s already been captured once in the laboratory.
So, might she have trauma associated with being captured like this?
But he doesn’t care.
Now, he’ll do anything for Seo-A.
Anything at all.
There are no limits.