[Translator - Jjescus]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 149
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Strategist I
1
It's the 593rd turn.
After pulling out Oh Dokseo from the Busan Station Tutorial Dungeon, I imdiately ford an alliance with the Saintess and launched the operation.
Today's enemy was none other than the Outer God.
There was no ti to waste.
"I'm sorry. Normally, I would have put in a lot of effort to form a stronger rapport with you, Oh Dokseo. But this ti, I have to hurry a bit."
"Oh, uh... okay..."
Oh Dokseo's reaction was sowhat reluctant.
Of course, it was. If a normal person realized that "a regressor in a novel has possessed a book and knows everything about them," they couldn't help but feel a bit of fear.
A world shattered by anomalies.
The realization that the situation was sothing they had read about in a novel not long ago, and the resulting confidence.
But that confidence crumbled imdiately the mont the tutorial started, all because of . Oh Dokseo was almost unable to take advantage of the benefits of ‘Previous Knowledge’.
How could they not feel uneasy?
Oh Dokseo exhibited leadership when dealing with people she considered complete strangers.
But with acquaintances she deed close, she went so far as to reveal her weaknesses, to the point of being excessive.
A child carrying a ntal imbalance.
And I was existing on the delicate scale of Oh Dokseo's twisted balance, with a presence that was neither a total stranger nor yet soone they were truly close to—'a character from a work of fiction.'
Instead of forming a bond while leisurely clearing the tutorial, I had practically dragged her out of the Busan Station Dungeon.
"So, um... Doctor Jang?"
"You can just call Mister."
"No, but calling you Mister when we've just t is a bit... You're not old enough to be called Mister yet... Anyway, why did you bring here?"
My heart stung just a little bit.
It was sothing I was used to.
"Oh Dokseo, have you ever heard of the genre called Speedrun?"
"Huh? Speedrun?"
Most people play gas for enjoynt.
But there are also people in this world who love speed itself. The "ppalli-ppalli" (hurry-hurry) ntality deeply rooted in the DNA of Koreans is sothing commonly found worldwide, at least in the context of gaming.
- A little faster.
- Clear it quicker than anyone else!
Speedrun. Also known as RTA (Real-Ti Attack).
A type of play where clearing the ga as quickly as possible is the ultimate goal.
Sotis, this involves using glitches in the ga to shorten the ti.
For example, in my case, making the "Hate Pill" and "Savior" anomalies collide was a kind of glitch play.
Countless gars go through repeated failures just for a single speedrun record, striving to achieve the title of "the fastest player in the world."
I'm no different.
"Oh—"
Oh Dokseo looked up as if recalling sothing.
"Now that you ntion it, I think I've seen a video of sothing like that on YouTube. An Arican cleared the community center achievent in Stardew Valley in just two hours... yeah."
"Exactly."
I pulled out my laptop.
"In this world, there is an anomaly on the level of a Outer God called 'The Logout Ga.'"
And then I explained.
As concisely as possible. Yet, in a way that was tailored to Oh Dokseo, using words and sentences that would allow her to fully understand what kind of anomaly "The Logout Ga" was.
This explanation thod was perfected after several trials and errors.
Oh Dokseo was shocked multiple tis, saying things like "What?" and "No way—how could such an anomaly exist?" But within ten minutes, she had a relatively clear understanding of the situation.
Oh Dokseo looked down at the laptop on the table.
"So, this laptop is...?"
"An item left to by the Outer God. It's a perk given to the player who kept struggling until the mont the server was about to shut down. And it's also the only clue that can defeat 'The Logout Ga.'"
Click.
I opened the notepad, the only program installed on the laptop.
From the 135th turn, where [The Admin of All-Play] first destroyed the world, to the current 593rd turn, the text in the notepad had never changed.
[W h a t i s t h i s w o r l d?]
A simple sentence.
But not an easy question.
Oh Dokseo furrowed their brow.
"What is this world...? What's this supposed to an?"
"It's a battle to take control of our world."
"What?"
"Listen carefully. That Outer God defined this world as a 'ga.' anomalies on the level of Outer Gods each have their own way of defining the world."
I spoke calmly.
"If you want to define the world, you need power to back it up. [The Admin of All-Play] introduced nurous features like status windows, leveling up, and a logout system to prove that this world is a ga."
"Ah..."
"Thanks to these chanisms, people finally accept and understand that 'this world is a ga.' I describe this as 'being possessed by an anomaly.'"
In the Magical Girl Alliance, they referred to the sa phenonon as kamikakushi.
"In other words, anomalies can never deny the chanisms they create. The mont they abandon them, the magic that ensnares people disappears."
"Oh... I think I'm starting to get it...?"
"[The Admin of All-Play] defined themselves as a ga operator. So, they can only perform actions that are permitted to a ga operator."
For instance, why was Sim Aryeon able to resist the 'Logout Ga,' even when individuals with extraordinary ntal strength, like the Saintess of Noh Doha, were easily 'logged out'? Why was Sim Aryeon the exception among us?
The reason was simple.
- Huh, reality? Enduring ti? You think you're so happy right now that you don't need the internet? Are you stupid? Guild Leader, are you really that stupid?
- Here, inside this smartphone screen, is reality! This is the truth!
Sim Aryeon didn’t treat the 'Logout Ga' as a re ga.
Just as she fully imrsed herself in SGNet activities, Sim Aryeon also fully imrsed herself in the 'Logout Ga,' which had turned the world into a void.
For Sim Aryeon, quitting SGNet was impossible. Even in the utopia of Busan created by Tang Seorin, Sim Aryeon never stopped participating in the community until the very end.
Similarly, if Sim Aryeon started playing a ga, quitting that ga would also be impossible.
For her, such an act would be tantamount to dying in the real world.
――Therefore, [The Admin of All-Play] could not eliminate Sim Aryeon.
It was impossible to forcibly delete the account of a user who was so deeply imrsed in their ga without any justification or reason.
As with all anomalies, the Outer Gods always had weaknesses.
"I am the one who denied until the end that this world is a ga."
"You, Doctor Jang?"
"...Yes. Though it's not the best analogy, from [The Admin of All-Play]'s perspective, you could say I'm the malicious critic who bombarded their ga with one-star reviews, calling it a terrible and boring ga."
To a Outer God, I was an enemy they desperately wanted to eliminate.
So, that anomaly responded with, "Well, why don't you try making your own ga, then?"
The aning of the text in the notepad file on the laptop was precisely this.
"[If this world is not a ga, then what is it?] To be precise, the Outer God is asking this question."
"Ohhhh..."
Oh Dokseo's eyes sparkled with curiosity.
I wanted to use the [Mind Reading] function to gauge Oh Dokseo's thoughts, but I restrained myself. I had promised long ago never to do that again.
"The showdown between the Outer God and is simple. If I type [This world is a ga], I lose. It would be like waving a white flag and surrendering."
"And the victory condition?"
"I have to co up with an answer that the Outer God can accept—no, an answer they cannot help but accept."
And.
So far, I had failed to provide this "correct answer" on the laptop.
[I This world is a material reality.]
[Translator - Jjescus]
[Proofreader - Gun]
[I This world is endlessly repeating.]
[I This world is devoid of anomalies.]
And so on.
I had tried various answers, but the Outer God did not accept any of them as correct. There was no discernible change.
Simply forcing my wishes through strength had no aning.
Just as I resisted the 'Logout Ga,' the Outer God could resist the 'Regressor.'
Neither of us was strong enough to impose our will on the other, but we were strong enough not to be unilaterally forced by the other.
A stalemate. A tie. A deadlock.
"But Oh Dokseo, your appearance has given hope."
"Huh?"
Oh Dokseo was startled.
"M-?"
"Yes. I am a regressor, and you are akin to a book-bound soul. Both of us occupy an 'exceptional position' in creative works. In other words, we are close to being the protagonists. Even if we're not, we hold roles significant enough to be treated as main characters."
"...."
"That's why this kind of trick becos possible."
Click, click.
I tapped the keys on the laptop.
The black wave of letters spread across the white notepad file.
[This world is a 'speedrun' ga live stream.]
Oh Dokseo muttered dazedly.
"A speedrun ga live stream...?"
"You ntioned watching sothing similar on YouTube, so it should be easy to understand."
I pointed at Oh Dokseo.
"Oh Dokseo, you are this ga's 'protagonist' character."
And then I pointed at myself.
"I am the 'player' controlling the protagonist character, you, through the computer."
"...."
"Character and player. Sotis they're considered one, but strictly speaking, they're always separate. However, both are treated as 'exceptional beings' within the ga world."
"I'm the protagonist. And... you're the player controlling ."
"Exactly."
I nodded.
"The Outer God defined this world as a 'world within a ga, where only characters exist.' That's why people easily logged out. They were possessed by the anomaly, believing that this wasn’t the death of their actual selves as players, but rely logging out as characters."
"......"
"We need to directly refute the Outer God's strategy. Both you, the character Oh Dokseo, and I, the player, must coexist. In other words, this world isn’t just a place where only 'logged-in' characters exist――."
"...but a world where players, real human beings who can 'log out' at any ti, also exist. The coexistence of characters and players. You're trying to define the world that way, right?"
I smiled.
"You catch on quickly. Exactly."
I showed the picture I had prepared in advance.
"Whether viewed on a computer monitor or a smartphone screen, a 'ga live stream' usually looks sothing like this."
The picture could be summarized like this:
――――――――――
[Ga Screen]
[Ga Screen] [Strear’s Face]
[Ga Screen] [Strear’s Face]
――――――――――
A format commonly seen on YouTube.
"The strear’s face and upper body usually appear in the bottom right or left corner, while the rest of the screen shows the ga being played."
"Right."
"Naturally, the strear represents the player. The characters on the ga screen are just that, characters. But the crucial point is that 'in the format of a ga live stream, characters and players coexist.'"
"......"
"If we define this world as a ga like the Outer God does, there's no way to resist being logged out. But, if we succeed in defining it not as a 'ga' but as a 'ga live stream'... we can neutralize the Outer God."
I folded the picture.
"This format should be familiar even to soone like you, who mainly reads novels. 'Constellation-based stories' often follow this format."
"...Yeah. The Omniscient Regressors Viewpoint was also a constellation story."
"So, what do you think, Oh Dokseo? Would you join in taking down [The Admin of All-Play]?"
I extended my hand.
Before Oh Dokseo could reflexively reach out to grab my hand, I said sothing that needed to be said first.
"It won’t be an easy fight."
"......"
"You’ll have to follow my directions, Oh Dokseo. The tasks I give you will be quite difficult. There will be frightening and disgusting things aplenty. Fighting against the Outer God will be truly, truly tough."
Oh Dokseo remained silent.
"Still, this is... the best scenario you could co up with, right?"
"...As of now."
"Then, I’ll trust you."
Oh Dokseo took my hand.
"Let’s clear this crappy ga together."
"......"
I slowly nodded.
At that mont:
[The fastest speedrun in the world. Let’s begin.]
Oh Dokseo flinched, blinking and looking around with a "Huh? Huh?" But there was no one around us.
A highly unemotional voice.
Of course, it was the Saintess’s telepathy.
[The ga I’m attempting this ti is called the 'Logout Ga.' It’s a ga created by a strange company called The Admin of All-Play.]
But I hadn’t arranged for Oh Dokseo to et the Saintess on purpose.
In this 593rd turn, the Omniscient Regressors Viewpoint that Oh Dokseo had read hadn’t progressed to the point where they t the Saintess.
So, to Oh Dokseo, the voice in their ear must have genuinely sounded like 'a constellation narrating a ga live stream.'
"Uh, um- Mister, what is this...?"
I smiled.
"I told you, didn’t I?"
[This ga has many issues, but that doesn’t an I can’t achieve the fastest clear.]
"We’re in the middle of a ga live stream."
[And among them, the character nad Oh Dokseo, with the trait of 'Book Possession,' may not have exceptional stats right now, but they have trendous potential. Perfect for a speedrun.]
"Oh Dokseo, I’ve done a lot of preparation for this turn."
The Saintess's voice flowed softly.
[Logout Ga Speedrun.]
[Now, let’s get started.]
[Translator - Jjescus]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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