Episode 19 – Singularity (4)

That night, the child didn’t die. Yoo Sangah didn’t want to kill her and I agreed.

“Do what you want.” Han Sooyoung muttered and left in a huff, leaving only Yoo Sangah and I in the abandoned building. The child was temporarily frozen with Hit a Pressure Point. Yoo Sangah stroked the sleeping child’s hair and spoke in a dark voice.

“She is a disaster?”

“Yes.”

“Dokja-ssi, do you know this with your ability?”

“It is something similar.”

I recalled a sentence from Ways of Survival.

「 The final disaster of the fifth scenario. The Disaster of Floods is the most dangerous and saddest disaster. 」

Yoo Sangah bit her lips and asked, “Is she the same as the Disaster of Questions?”

“It is similar but a bit different.”

The Disaster of Floods. If she used all her strength, she would be an unmatched disaster compared to the Disaster of Questions. The Disaster of Questions would just affect Gangdong-gu but the Disaster of Floods was different. With her power, Seoul would be wiped out in less than an hour.

“No matter how I look, she doesn’t seem like a disaster. Can this kid become a disaster in just five days?” Yoo Sangah wondered.

In fact, Yoo Sangah was right. Right now, the child wasn’t a disaster.

[The exclusive skill, Character List is activated.]

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[Character Information]

Name: Shin Yoosung

Age: 11 years old

Constellation Support: None (Two constellations are currently showing interest in this person).

Private Attribute: Beast Tamer (Rare), Reflexive Killer (General)

Exclusive Skills: Taming Lv. 5, Diverse Communication Lv. 7, Agile Feet Lv. 6, Hybridization Lv. 4

Stigma: None

Overall Stats: Physique Lv. 12, Strength Lv. 12, Agility Lv. 16, Magic Power Lv. 24

Overall Evaluation: She has good magic power but her overall abilities are low. She has excellent talent and rare attributes but isn’t receiving the attention of constellations due to her fragile nature.

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Shin Yoosung. This child’s name showed that she was the disaster. This child would destroy Seoul in five days.

Yoo Sangah said, “I heard that disasters hatch from meteorites. Yet this child didn’t come from a meteorite…”

“That’s correct. This child didn’t hatch from a meteorite. She was born and raised on Earth. She will still be a human of Earth in five days.”

“Then why…”

“The Disaster of Questions was originally from Earth.”

Yoo Sangah’s eyes widened. “This child is like the Disaster of Questions…”

“Yes and no.”

“Huh?”

All disasters from Earth were returnees. They were destroyers who wiped out another world and returned. This child could be called a returnee because she destroyed Chronos. However, that wasn’t all.

Among the five disasters of Chronos, this child was special. She was also the most dangerous.

“The one who will cause the disaster isn’t this child, but her future self.”

“Her future self?”

“This child came back from decades in the future to finish off Earth.”

The sweet and innocent child would become one of the most terrible disasters of this world in the future.

“That is why Han Sooyoung said to kill this child. If we kill this child now, we can eliminate her ‘future’.”

A disaster that even Yoo Jonghyuk couldn’t stop.

***

「 Yoo Jonghyuk looked at the empty hole in his chest. It was a wound that couldn’t be healed without using Recovery immediately. He angrily asked the woman who made the wound.

“Shin Yoosung. Why… have you thoughts changed?”

“Changed? I didn’t change.” Shin Yoosung laughed. “I’m not a regressor like Captain. I’m just a toy stuck in the cogs of the scenario. I have the same personality as the ‘disasters’ that Captain has met in the past.”

“Then why…”

“Is this currently your third regression? I must’ve given you a chance in the second regression. Yet Captain once again failed. I gave you so much information but you failed again.”

Shin Yoosung smiled sadly at the blank-looking Yoo Jonghyuk.

“You can’t change the world. Many things are still intact and nothing has changed.” Shin Yoosung spoke while looking up at the Great Hall in the sky. “Thus, I thought about it. Indeed, this world should end here.” 」

My old emotional state came back as I read Ways of Survival again. This was the taste of Ways of Survival.

“Hey, what are you doing?” I heard a voice and turned off my smartphone. It was Han Sooyoung and she asked, “What did you decide?”

“I’m still thinking.”

Han Sooyoung frowned at the indecision in my voice. She whispered while paying attention to Yoo Sangah and Shin Yoosung. “Have you forgotten? Yoo Jonghyuk almost died because of the last disaster in the third regression.”

“He didn’t die.”

“That doesn’t matter. The important thing is that we can’t win in a frontal battle.”

Han Sooyoung’s words were true. The third round Yoo Jonghyuk actually ended up dying because of Shin Yoosung.

“If you hadn’t killed him then the Delusional Demon Kim Namwoon could’ve…”

Unfortunately, this time there wasn’t the Delusional Demon to kill the young Shin Yoosung.

“I certainly said that I am opposed to it. I warn you, do you think I will do nothing?”

[Some constellations dislike the burning of the sweet potatoes.]

[The constellation ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ is preparing carbonated drinks for the sweet potatoes.] (TL: Once again, sweet potatoes describes a stuffy feeling while cider/carbonated drinks is a refreshing feeling)

[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ expects your wise judgment.]

Perhaps this conversation wasn’t properly filtered. The filtering of future information was slowly loosening up…

Yoo Sangah sighed after talking to Shin Yoosung and came this way. “Dokja-ssi, you can’t think about it.”

Her face was desperate.

“It is a future that hasn’t happened yet. If we take good care of her now, perhaps the disaster won’t happen? Like the butterfly effect…”

It wasn’t without reason. The person who came to this world was the ‘future Shin Yoosung.’ This world was the ‘first world’ that created the future Shin Yoosung.

In other words, if we changed the present Shin Yoosung then the disaster might not come. It was theoretically possible. It was the same as killing Shin Yoosung to prevent the disaster. However, there was a problem.

“The event that makes this child a disaster happens in the distant future. It won’t be affected by anything we do now.”

The butterfly effect didn’t happen that easily. A butterfly flapping its wings in the Pacific Ocean would cause a typhoon on the other side of the world?

It was theoretically possible. The important thing was the time it took for the wings to become the ‘typhoon.’

Yoo Sangah’s expression became grouchy. “You don’t know that…”

“Once again, it isn’t possible at this time. Even if we change the kid, the disaster that will come in five days won’t change.”

In fact, Yoo Jonghyuk had attempted it several times in the mid to late regressions. The first thing he did was find Shin Yoosung and try to prevent her from becoming a disaster. He failed every time. No matter what changes were made to the Shin Yoosung in the present, the future Shin Yoosung would return in five days. Then she destroyed Seoul.

Yoo Sangah voice gradually weakened. “Why is this child a disaster? What happened in the future?”

“I don’t know.”

I naturally knew the answer but I didn’t say anything. Instead, I walked towards the child who was eating meat and asked, “Is it delicious?”

“…Yes.”

I could feel Yoo Sangah and Han Sooyoung watching me from a distance.

‘No.’

‘Kill her.’

‘I won’t let it happen.’

‘Kill.’

In fact, killing Shin Yoosung wouldn’t damage the important part of the ending point. If I didn’t kill Shin Yoosung now, the slightest mistake meant Seoul would be destroyed.

Looking in the short-term, saving Shin Yoosung would only bring damages. Shin Yoosung ate the meat and looked at me with unknown eyes. “Ahjussi, can you see the future?”

“Huh?”

“I… am I a bad person in the future?”

Perhaps she heard our conversation. I replied quietly, “Perhaps.”

“How bad am I?”

“You are probably the worst person in Seoul.”

“As bad as Joker or Thanos?”

“I don’t know.”

Shin Yoosung lowered her head. “It isn’t unusual.”

“Why?”

“I am already a bad person.”

She didn’t have to tell me why. I already knew how Shin Yoosung was able to survive in this world.

[Your understanding of the character ‘Shin Yoosung’ has increased.]

[Exclusive skill, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint stage 2 has been activated!]

「 I killed him. 」

She killed her dog in order to survive the first scenario.

「 I’m sorry. 」

She stole a coat from an old man who collapsed from an attack. She killed a woman who always looked after her to protect her own green zone. She handed over a person chased by someone in order to get food.

In this world, everyone was forced to commit crimes. Not everyone could rationalize such things.

「 I will be punished. It isn’t worth living. 」

Determination filled the child’s frightened eyes. The expression of a person determined to die was no different for an adult or a child.

“You can kill me. I’m ready.”

If I was the protagonist of this story, I would’ve killed Shin Yoosung without hesitation. However, I was a reader. A reader had to make a reader’s choice.

Of course, I wasn’t a writer so the only things that emerged from my mouth were obvious words. I stroked Shin Yoosung’s head and said, “Don’t worry. Your death isn’t in the ending that I want.”

Yoo Jonghyuk’s regression would have no meaning if I killed this child. He was fighting to change the past. If someone killed another person because the future was fixed, what did this suggest?

Thus, I would prevent this child’s death for Yoo Jonghyuk.

Her eyes shook.

[The character ‘Shin Yoosung’ feels a faint loyalty to you.]

[Your understanding of the character ‘Shin Yoosung’ has increased.]

“But I must die…”

“There is a way to stop the disaster.”

I could hear Han Sooyoung sighing behind me. By her side, Yoo Sangah was watching with tightly closed lips.

“I can do it with your help.”

In the first place, the ending I wanted was impossible. Yet if I changed small impossible things one by one, I might end up changing it to the impossible ending. Shin Yoosung would be one of the small cornerstones of this impossible story.

I immediately opened the Dokkaebi Bag and bought a few items. Shin Yoosung muttered without any confidence, “What can I do? I don’t have a sponsor.”

“Why does it matter if you don’t have a sponsor?”

[You have sponsored the ‘Growth Package I’ to the incarnation ‘Shin Yoosung.’]

Shin Yoosung’s mouth dropped open.

[You have sponsored the ‘Growth Package II’ to the incarnation ‘Shin Yoosung.’]

[You have sponsored the ‘New Scenario Commemorative Package’ to the incarnation ‘Shin Yoosung.’]

……

The messages continued rising. Shin Yoosung paled.

“W-What is this?”

“It’s okay, I have a lot of money.”

“Ahjussi, who are you?”

“I am Dokja. Kim Dokja.” I tapped the head of the child who lost her sense of realism. “In the next five days, you will become stronger than anyone here.”

It was true. Beast Lord Shin Yoosung. This child would later become one of the world’s 100 most powerful people.

This child, who might become a disaster, would become my ‘first incarnation’ in this round.