Section 17.
“Scary, scary, scary, ah, Father...!”
“Kyah—!! Help !”
“Waaah! Mother...!”
Screams echoed everywhere.
Dalia froze stiffly and looked around.
For the past few days she had been caring for people in District 17.
It was such a run-down neighborhood that they welcod even a noble lady’s help.
Just as when Crumatus served as the treatnt, the people of District 17 treated her kindly.
‘So I did my best... but why has it co to this?’
There had been patients whom even the treatnt couldn’t help.
She was thinking to watch a bit longer and then report back to the palace.
But today, suddenly those people sward her and turned into huge monsters.
A child ran toward one of the monsters.
“Mother, Mother...! Give back my mother!”
That child’s mother had also fused into the monster.
“No, no!”
Dalia clumsily grabbed the child.
“No, it’s dangerous!”
“But Mother... waaah!”
Holding the crying child, Dalia surveyed her surroundings.
‘What do I do now? The communication stone shattered in the monster attack....’
“First—run! This way!”
Dalia led the people into an abandoned building.
“A barricade... we need to build a barricade. Help here!”
The adults scrambled to pile discarded furniture and stones at the entrance.
‘Will this hold for a while?’
Dalia set the child down and clasped her trembling hands.
“Does anyone have a communication stone?”
“A communication stone...? No one around here could possibly have one....”
The elderly village head of Pedaltong shook his head.
“I heard commoners these days carry communication stones...”
“That’s only for those with money. People like us, barely scraping by day to day, could only dream of sothing like that....”
“W-Then what do we do?”
When fleeing, Dalia saw the monster absorbing fallen people to swell its body.
‘If it grows any more, it’ll smash through these barricades in no ti.’
Sure enough, with a crash—!! the barricade began to break.
A grotesque monster, with countless extra arms, legs, fingers, and eyeballs sprouting all over its body, was entering the building.
“Up... go up! Hurry!”
To avoid the monster, the people climbed higher and higher.
‘What now. There’s nowhere left to run.’
They could not jump out a window—it was too high.
Dalia and the people of District 17 hid trembling in each room.
Screams ca from the rooms nearest the stairs.
The screams spread toward the farthest room where Dalia was hiding.
“What do we do... how do we....”
At last, a scream sounded right next door.
Not long after....
Thud—!
The doorfra and wall shattered together, and the nearly three-ter-tall monster began pushing into the room.
“U-ugh... uaaa... aaah!”
“Save us!”
“Kyah!”
“Waaah—!!”
Those inside the room scread and ran for the window.
A terrified man leapt out the window.
His footsteps and screams vanished.
As a child peered out, the village head reflexively covered the child’s eyes.
“You mustn’t look!”
No one could jump after him; they rely cowered in fear.
Of course, Dalia did the sa.
Would they die here?
She felt her blood run cold from her toes up.
She had co to this peaceful world—only to die so aningless a death?
The monster was right before her.
Eyes clenched tight, Dalia sank to her knees, clutching her head.
‘I don’t want to, I don’t want to... Sobody help—!’
But sothing strange happened.
‘What is...?’
She felt no pain.
Cautiously, Dalia opened her eyes.
What she saw was....
“Wow....”
Through a jagged tear as if ripped by sothing sharp, she saw an otherworldly beautiful face.
Then the monster collapsed with a dull thud.
Beyond the fallen monster stood a man in his early twenties, fully revealed.
“What was its path of movent?”
“....”
“I asked where it moved from.”
“Ah! Um, it ca from the ruined church over there... then crossed the bridge to move here.”
The man glanced behind him.
A figure with one eye covered and long hair tied back answered.
“This place isn’t heavily populated.”
“aning didn’t move seeking prey. In that case....”
The impossibly handso man looked back at Dalia.
“If it didn’t follow you, then it followed your group.”
“?”
“What did you do in District 17?”
“I was just caring for people....”
Mumbling, Dalia hesitated, when a little boy called out.
“Sis, she’s not a bad person!”
He was the child Dalia had caught when he tried to run toward his mother.
“Before the treatnt arrived, she gave us sothing so it wouldn’t hurt. My mother said if I took what she gave, it wouldn’t hurt!”
The dazzlingly handso man frowned.
“You didn’t feed them Crumatus, did you?”
Dalia hurriedly shook her head.
“No! It was just a ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ painkiller. Ordinary stuff from the hospital. I asked my father, and I bought it—”
At that mont.
“Waaaaaah!!”
A scream rang out from the village head, whose ankle the fallen monster had grabbed.
In an instant the village head was dragged in and rged into the monster.
Wounds healed instantaneously as the monster rose again.
Alexis swiftly moved behind Dalia and confronted the monster.
‘Wow....’
Even to one untrained in swordsmanship, his skill was incredible.
Whenever the monster reached with its grotesque limbs, Alexis deftly sliced them off.
When a poisonous liquid splashed, he grabbed his own waist and stepped back.
‘He’s reliable.’
She felt certain that with him there, she would never be in danger.
Dalia spoke up.
“Should we call the imperial troops...?”
“We don’t yet know how it assimilates people. We can’t summon soldiers hastily.”
“But if you’re hurt...!”
Then.
Light pooled in the room, and soon two figures erged.
And.
“Here, what you want is over there!”
One of them—a woman—threw sothing out the window.
‘Erilot?!’
Instantly the monster shattered the window and leapt outside.
“Alexis, pursue it with the imperial troops!”
“But summoning soldiers—”
“Trust and chase it!”
The dazzling man and his aide vanished, their voices drifting from outside the window.
“Units One and Two will evacuate District 17’s residents; Unit Three will follow in pursuit of Despair!”
“Yes!”
‘Teleportation, I guess. Amazing.’
She thought so while gazing out the window.
Then Erilot roughly hauled her upright.
“What have you done!”
“I—I only cared for them! I used a painkiller, not Crumatus...!”
“You madwoman...!!”
Erilot seized Dalia by the collar; the little boy ran up bawling.
“Stop! Don’t hurt Sis!”
Tears streaked across his face as he pounded Erilot.
“The treatnt ca to our village last! You helped my mother so it wouldn’t hurt! You’re the bad one!”
The villagers glared at Erilot with accusing eyes.
Bolstered by their looks, Dalia cried out.
“Why must you always undermine my efforts!”
“There are still amplification waves emanating from your body!”
“...Hm?”
“You amplified Crumatus’s zombification!”
“T-Then you must have boosted the treatnt’s effect too...!”
“But the purification rate of the treatnt couldn’t keep up with the zombification rate, and look at this disaster—!!”
Han Jihyeok, who had traveled with Erilot, flinched.
He had never seen Erilot this furious.
“What will you do now? The mature form appeared before the treatnt fully halted the zombification!”
“....”
“There are still many areas the treatnt hasn’t reached! If the mature form goes there, nothing can stop the calamity!”
“I—I just wanted to help people... They were suffering....”
Erilot hissed at Dalia.
“You, of your own accord, gave Crumatus to all the people, then again of your own accord caused this ss.”
The villagers stared blankly at Erilot.
“Then what about my husband being absorbed by the monster....”
“And my son dying....”
“And little Moses turning into a monster!”
They pressed trembling hands to their faces and temples.
Dalia looked around at them in confusion.
Erilot ground her teeth and said.
“Do you understand?”
“....”
“These people will live haunted by guilt that they themselves brought parents, siblings, lovers, and children before you to beco monsters.”
“I—I....”
“When people are most vulnerable, their desperation is strongest. And you turned that desperation into lifelong regret.”
Erilot let go of Dalia’s collar roughly and turned her back.
“Let’s go. We must stop Despair.”
“How can we stop a Despair that’s already reached maturity....”
“We’ll have to fight with every ounce of our lives.”
Erilot glared at Dalia, then hurried off.
After she disappeared, the villagers lunged at Dalia.
“What will you do! You turned my husband into a monster!”
“Bring back Moses! I said bring back Moses!”
Dalia clasped her head with both arms and cried out.
“No! I only wanted to help. I... I truly...!”
Why is this happening?
I acted with good intentions.
I struggled and worked hard.
Day and night I cared for them.
Then why does this keep happening?
“Why does only misfortune happen to ...!”
“It’s because of the Lady.”
A strange voice echoed in her head.
Dalia jerked and stared into empty air.
“Why am I treated like this?”
“I lived earnestly. Everyone praised . Carrying my sick sister, I struggled so much.”
‘It’s her voice....’
The child whose voice had comforted her in dreams.
A true friend.
...Masa.
“Then why do you condemn so?”
“Why spread those bad rumors about ? Because of you, I couldn’t get a job anywhere, so I ended up working in this backwater.”
“Does Master Alexis... think of that way too?”
“You ruined my life, Lady. You shouldn’t have brought here from ho. If you were going to do this, why bring !”
Dalia whispered along with the voice piercing her mind.
“Why am I the only one this unlucky?”
“Why am I the only one this unlucky?”
At that mont, the people who had shoved her and scread at her turned to dust.
“Because Erilot is the protagonist of the world.”
Dalia looked at the man who had entered the room.
“Father....”
“Yes.”
“But the protagonist of the world? ...Father, did you know this world is a novel?”
“It’s different. I read the records of this world in the previous world. You are our ssiah.”
“ssiah...?”
“The one who should have been the original protagonist, but her place was stolen by a flawed being.”
Grimie knelt on one knee before Dalia.
“The misfortunes of this world are predetermined. They stem from the resentnt of Erilot having usurped the protagonist’s place.”
“I... I hate it. I hate such misfortune.”
“To reclaim your rightful place and change the world, you must traverse imnse suffering. You must punish Erilot, who leads the world astray.”
“Yes....”
“Can you do it?”
“Yes!”
Dalia grasped Grimie’s hand firmly.
Now that she thought about it, it made sense.
Erilot always irritated her.
Her expression, her tone... they brought an unpleasant sense of déjà vu.
‘Of course—it’s because she stole my role.’
Dalia resolved.
As this world’s ssiah, she would lead the world back to its original story.
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