The 31st Piece Turns the Tables

A lot of things went into a person's life.

Their values, aspirations, worth… Life is a record of a person's life from the cradle to the grave and death was the period that signaled the end.

"No, that's what I'm saying! What's going to happen next after we rest for a month?"

"I think that…"

Seol felt that his surroundings were a bit loud and got up from his seat.

"Let's go somewhere else. It's too loud here."

"Sure."

After paying, the two went outside the bar.

It was a dim evening.

The people that were freed from the fear of death all acted in all sorts of different ways.

"We humans have committed countless sins. This is our judgment!"

"We must purify ourselves! Purify ourselves!"

People who were wearing strange clothes were shouting that out.

Even though they probably believed in different gods on Earth, their actions now only contributed to the current turmoil from the World Merge.

"Darn, it's loud here too. I know a place where we can have a quiet conversation. How about we go there?" said the old man.

"Where is it?"

"...It's my old workshop."

"Okay."

Why was the old man calling it his 'old' workshop?

'Is he not using it anymore?'

Because Seol lacked information about the sidequest, he couldn't refuse the old man's proposal.

And just like that, Seol headed to the old man's workshop.

The old man looked a bit sad and alright at the same time.

He looked like someone who was preparing himself for bad news.

"So… you mentioned it was a workshop. What kind of workshop is it?"

"What's the point of telling you now when you'll find out when you get there?"

- You can still tell us, sir…

- I've definitely heard that before kek

Seol thought to himself while trailing the man before opening his mouth.

"It's a watchmaking workshop, isn't it?"

"At least you can read context clues. Didn't I tell you that already at the bar though?"

The old man took a glance at the pocket watch before letting out a sigh.

"I told you that I thought that I made that watch."

Eventually, Seol and the old man reached a remote area of Kongory.

It wasn't an underdeveloped or poor area but it was definitely away from the main market.

Click.

The old man pulled out a key and gripped it tight as he opened the door.

"It's… still the same."

The interior was filled with cobwebs and had a bit of a moldy smell to it. However, Seol didn't feel particularly uncomfortable by it. It just felt like entering a workshop that hadn't been maintained.

'I guess it really was a watchmaking workshop.'

He was surrounded by walls filled with clocks.

There were multiple types of clocks filling up the workshop, even a grandfather clock.

"It's nice to meet you, my name is Bill Marcus. You can just call me Bill."

"My name is Snowman."

"...What?"

"My name… is Snowman."

Seol and Bill both froze.

'Bill?'

His name sounded familiar.

Even though Seol had an exceptional memory, he couldn't remember why he knew Bill's name.

'It's like this again.'

Why was he unable to remember him when he could remember things way older?

Seol thought that he might've done the 'A Lost Pocket Watch' side quest before.

There was no other way Bill's name would sound familiar to him.

'The problem is… I don't remember anything about this.'

Bill turned his body around to look at a few clocks before facing Seol over his shoulder.

"I see… What a strange coincidence…"

"Huh?"

"It's nothing. Now, could you please tell me how you were able to acquire that pocket watch?"

Seol dramatized how he got the watch a little for Bill.

He told him that he went near the cliffs of the Pointy Mountains to look for an herb and found the watch like that. He didn't necessarily lie… he just didn't tell Bill everything.

"I see, so that's how that happened… So you found it there…"

"Is there something you know about this?"

"Of course. I finally understand everything that happened now. Could you please pass the watch?"

Place.

Seol passed the pocket watch over to Bill.

"I definitely made this watch. Do you see my signature here?"

"Signature? Oh, that was a signature."

"I don't know if it's faded because of the passage of time or because the clock's been through something but my signature is here."

It was true.

Bill's name was definitely written on the back of the clock in illegible handwriting.

Seol was only able to tell now because Bill pointed it out to him.

"20 years ago, I gifted someone this watch. It was because of my granddaughter."

"Granddaughter? Did you just say, granddaughter?"

"20 years ago, she was kidnapped by the trolls of the Pointy Mountains. She made a mistake crossing the Mountains trying to make it in time for her performance."

Throb.

Seol felt a headache coming.

But because it was an important conversation, Seol persevered through the pain and asked another question.

"What happened to her?"

"......"

"...I see."

"No one stepped forward to help. The Lord of the city didn't, the free knights obviously didn't either, even the mercenaries and adventurers didn't… I requested everyone for help, but the only answer that I got in response was that it was impossible."

His granddaughter was dead but Bill still didn't talk about who the watch's owner was.

Seol patiently listened.

"But then… someone appeared. He said that he would help rescue my granddaughter."

"…And who was that?"

"I engraved it into the watch."

"But I didn't see any name on that watch—"

"That's because it was hidden on the inside. See, look here."

Click.

Bill messed around with the watch a little to reveal a hidden compartment.

And inside of it was a fine phrase… and a name.

- May Fortune Follow the Brave.

'...No way.'

The name of the pocket watch's owner shocked him.

- Snowman.

Bill continued while looking at Seol.

"And to think that after 20 years, a man with the same name and around the same age would show up with the watch… I wonder what all of this is…"

Seol also didn't know what was going on.

Bill continued to talk.

"But the owner of this watch didn't return. Neither did my granddaughter. After that, I left Kongory for a long time and only returned to this city recently."

"Urgh…"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"I-It's nothing. I just have a bit of a headache. Please, continue."

"I've already finished the story and I was only trying to tell you that something like that happened in the past. Ah, right! There's a place we can visit together… what do you say?"

"Where…"

"My granddaughter's grave. It's also that Adventurer's grave as well."

"...What?"

"He was the only person that stepped forth to help my unfortunate daughter… I might not be able to recover his corpse but preparing a small grave for him was nothing. What about it? Do you want to go toget–" said Bill while scratching his nose.

"Urg– Urghgh…"

"Are you alright?!"

Seol remembered it.

He remembered everything that happened between Bill, his granddaughter, and the Adventurer named Snowman.

'He was my first piece…'

This wasn't the first time that Seol used Snowman as an alias.

He also used it the first time he stepped into Pandea, the World of Eternity.

Snowman was the first of the thirty pieces he created.

He was 'Snowman, the Frost Magician'.

"C-Could I come back here tomorrow?"

"S-Sure. I'll be waiting for you here at noon."

"Thank you, then I'll…"

"Hurry and get some rest."

And like that, Seol left the watchmaking workshop.

* * *

Translator - goguma

Proofreader - Karane

* * *

What in the world happened?

'What is this…'

A game piece which he created left a mark in The World of Eternity.

It was a shock to Seol.

'Don't tell me… Did everything that my pieces do leave a mark on this world?'

The World of Eternity definitely worked like that.

A piece's actions influenced the world.

But wasn't that just a system in the game?

Why did the things that he did in the game leave a mark in the real world?

'Was everything real?'

Even though Seol thought The World of Eternity was a game, it was, in fact, real life.

That wasn't the only thing this truth revealed.

"Gasp… Gasp…"

Seol went to Kongory's library.

"We close after an hour. If there's a specific book that you're looking for…"

"I'm fine. I'll look for it myself."

Books are a record for something.

And if you wanted to store information from the previous decades, it was a good medium to do so.

Seol found a bookcase filled with many history books and quickly skimmed through it.

There were many history books but he was looking for something specific.

'If my first character died 20 years ago… Then this Pandea is 20 years in the future from when I first started playing.'

So, he decided that all he had to do was find information from the recent 20 years.

'Where is it…. Where is it?!'

Seol's first 10 characters didn't set that many achievements but it was a different case for his latter 20 characters.

His last 10 characters especially should've left their names in history as they all even challenged Ascension, the Final Adventure.

Tap.

Seol's finger and eyes both stopped on one book.

- The Turbulent Decade

Seol pulled out that book without hesitation.

The title was very eye-catching.

- Stories about the superhumans that changed history.

Flip.

Seol quickly flipped through the pages.

Since the fastest way of learning the contents of a book is through its table of contents, Seol flipped to there first.

- The Beginning

1. How was the Grand Duke of Frost born?

2. The Grand Duke of Frost's correlation to the Zodiac.

3. The one who dug up the grave of Emperor Leo, the man who shocked the continent.

4. The Immortal who disappeared at an unfortunate time.

5. Does a sword that can cut through anything really exist?

6. ……

……

'They're… all my characters?'

Every person that the book was referencing were all characters that Seol created.

"No way…"

Many things go into a single person's life.

But Seol had lived and died 30 times in Pandea, the World of Eternity.

Before he realized it, Seol had become the history of Pandea himself.

* * *

"Here. It's here."

"So your granddaughter is…"

"She isn't. Because we never found her corpse. But even if we don't have a corpse… it's a place that I cherish so it still holds some meaning."

Seol nodded and followed Bill.

They were both quieter than yesterday.

- Does anyone know why Snowman is so serious today?

- Because the quest is more boring than he thought. Duh.

- I'm pretty sure he's just shocked that someone with the same name as him is dead

- He's so sensitive! How is he going to be the secretly OP former-loser MC like this…

- Does he have to be a loser though?

"Alright, it's here."

It was a grave with an appropriately sized tombstone.

There was a sentence that Bill wrote himself on the tombstone for his granddaughter.

- The loveliest woman in the world.

"It's good to cherish someone. It might be an empty grave, but it makes you remember that person."

"I see…"

"The grave next to that is the grave of the adventurer with the same name as you. Now… Why don't we return the watch to its rightful owner?"

"Okay."

Seol slowly approached the grave.

He held the watch as he looked at the tombstone with a plain expression. He then paused.

- A man who did not turn a blind eye to those in trouble.

Seol felt something rise up within his chest.

It was not a desire for revenge against the gods nor was it an excitement to explore a new world.

His hand trembled as he gripped the broken pocket watch ever harder.

"...I'm sorry."

Seol finally realized now why he forgot about the pocket watch and the incidents surrounding it as well as Bill's name.

It's because he chose to not remember it.

This was a memory that he pushed far, deep into his subconscious.

There is a word in English called 'Fumble'.

It's used for huge, catastrophic failures.

In The World of Eternity, rolling a 1 and bringing the worst-case scenario is also called a fumble.

Seol's first character, Snowman, lost his life to a fumble. Seol, who was just a kid back then, was shocked and did his best to forget it.

And that's why he forgot.

"I'm sorry, I… I found it too late."

Seol placed the pocket watch on the tombstone.

And just like that, Seol was able to repair one of his 30 lives.

In an instant, his vision was covered in messages.

[The pocket watch has returned to its rightful owner.]

[You have received skill points as a reward.]

Seol thought it would end here but once again, there was more.

"Krgh…"

Another message popped up alongside his headache.

[<Snowman>'s inheritance is starting.]