“Hundred-Person Exegesis No. 89. ‘The Maniac Butcher.’ Name unknown. Age unknown. Origin: Republic of Korea.The ‘Maniac Butcher’ was active across a wide range from the to the . Several constellations attempted to recruit him on multiple occasions, but he is known to have remained solo, and he vanished during the 90s scenarios.Once he entered ‘Maniac State,’ his combat power rivaled the very top tier among incarnations; records state that when the grand fable opened, he clashed with India’s Ranvir Khan in a titanic battle.Seeking the enemy who killed his companion, the butcher wandered the scenarios like a ghost and always wore a ‘skull mask.’ It is said that no one knows the true face hidden behind that mask.”— from The Top 100 by Bicheon Hori***We headed straight for Seoul Station.There were two main reasons.First, to find the “Maniac Butcher” Yoo Joonghyuk mentioned.And second—[You are currently in ‘Wanderer’ status.][You must obtain a flag within the next 2 days.]—because it was about time to secure a new “flag.”If we weren’t going to join the “Throne War,” we could have stayed Wanderers longer and looked for another way to survive… but since this world is the 41st regression, we had to prepare for the worst of the worst.Yoo Joonghyuk might suddenly pull something crazy, and weirdos like the Misreaders’ Alliance could show up.If those guys seized the “Absolute Throne,” this round would be completely screwed.“Are you sure that butcher-whatever is around Seoul Station?”I nodded at Jung Heewon’s question.“Yeah. And I’m pretty sure there are hidden flags nearby.”How did I know?「Around Seoul Station—there are hidden ‘white flags’ in the Huam-dong and Namyeong-dong areas.」The moment I decided, We’re going to Seoul Station, a sentence like that naturally surfaced.All of it thanks to the new Ways of Survival skill.[Exclusive Skill, ‘Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World’ is activating.]I ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) hadn’t figured out the exact operation yet.I knew how to turn it on and off, but there was no function to search for what I wanted, or to open a specific Round of Ways of Survival.At most, whenever I had a thought or took a specific action, bits from Ways of Survival would pop up like a game tooltip.Even so, that alone was a huge help right now.If there was one mystery, it was why this skill had suddenly appeared.Considering the Ways of Survival lines began echoing right after I met Han Sooyoung, I wondered if she had given me this skill.But why? For what reason?No idea.What was certain was that I now had access to Ways of Survival’s information—and that put me overwhelmingly ahead of other readers or the Misreaders’ Alliance.That was all.We moved quickly down to the southwest, toward Seoul Station.Passing Myeongdong 8-gil, famous with tourists, we could still spot foreigners from time to time. Strictly speaking, not foreigners—foreigners’ corpses.Most of the bodies strewn about had been gnawed by low-tier monsters until they were unrecognizable.We forced ourselves to look away and kept walking.“Wow, this street looks so different now. Did you come to Myeongdong often?”“A few times in college.”“I used to work part-time at that theater over there.”She pointed at a half-collapsed building.“It was there…”In less than a month, Seoul as we knew it had been erased from the world.As if only after that world collapsed could a new story finally begin.“They used to sell tornado potatoes here for a ridiculous price. And lobster…”“Ever try any?”“Not once. How could I afford something that expensive?”The street once packed with stalls and thronged with shoppers was now carpeted with corpses of monsters and humans.“Still, it smelled great.”“Yeah.”The Myeongdong she remembered and the Myeongdong I remembered were different.But now, both of us stood in the same ruined Myeongdong, missing street foods we’d thought we’d never buy in our lives.“Inho.”“Yeah.”“If we’re going to Seoul Station, can we stop by Huam-dong for a second? It’s right nearby.”Huam-dong.According to Ways of Survival, one of the places with hidden “white flags.”I nodded and asked,“Got business there?”“There’s someplace I want to visit.”A place a survivor in a ruined world would want to visit.I didn’t have to ask to know where that was.***Ways of Survival doesn’t cover Jung Heewon’s backstory. Strictly speaking, it doesn’t even mention her as a person. She wasn’t a lead.And even in Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, where she was something of a lead, her past wasn’t properly explored.Then again, it wasn’t just Jung Heewon.Lee Hyunsung never got to tell his army stories; Lee Gilyoung’s mother was glossed over; Shin Yuseung’s dead dog was hidden; Lee Jihye’s friend was described in the bare minimum.If Han Sooyoung wrote this story, and relayed it to her—why didn’t ORV include their stories?It wasn’t hard to guess.Maybe didn’t think Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint was their story.In the end, that story belonged to Kim Dokja.“We’re here.”She led us to a military-housing apartment facing a dim back alley.“How many years has it been. It’s gotten old.”“Been a while since you were here?”“I ran away from home in high school. Didn’t I mention that?”Maybe she had, maybe not.“I didn’t really want to come, but… since we’re heading to Seoul Station anyway, might as well.”Maybe someone had cleared the bodies. The entrance leading to the parking lot had only a mess of bloodstains.The apartment security booth looked like a tank had run over it. Windows blown out like they’d been shelled.As the curtains fluttered between cracked glass, I thought about the things that were gone.What happened to the people who used to live here?Did they go through the first scenario too? If they did, did they kill their family? Or did they pound on the neighbor’s door and hold a knife to them?I didn’t know what tragedy had taken place here.I was afraid to find out.[There is a ‘white flag’ nearby.]What I did know was that there was a white flag here—and we had to claim it. That was the only way to live tomorrow, and the day after.To make it to the end of this damned world.“This is the place.”Her home was on the fifth floor.As she hesitated at the door, I said,“You don’t have to go in.”She’d said she didn’t like her family. But even family you don’t like is still family in the end.“Just coming this far means you’ve done enough, Heewon.”Outdated duty and guilt—somewhere between them, she wavered.Then a firm resolve crossed her face.“I’ll check anyway.”Strong, as expected.She knocked a few times, then paused to think, flipped open the door lock cover, and started entering the code.Beep-beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep-beep.After the third wrong try, the door opened.“Same as ever.”A damp, stale air met us the moment the door swung in. The smell of a house unventilated for over a week.Without even taking off her shoes, she strode right in. She didn’t ask if anyone was there, didn’t call out names.I moved to follow her and, after a moment’s thought, removed my shoes at the entrance.Neat rows of dress shoes and sneakers were lined up like towels in a locker.There was probably no one here. That was my hunch.By the time she returned, looking a bit relieved, she’d already checked the entire place.“Looks like neither of them were home.”Was that a relief—or misfortune?I didn’t know.She probably didn’t either.Whoever had lived here, they weren’t the type to cook at home.There was no food waste in the sink, no trash bags in sight.Standing at the living-room window, she looked out for a while.“See the apartments across the way? I lived there when I was little.”“…”“Then we moved over that way, up in the hillside shanties. I went to the front line too, and we stayed in Yongsan for a bit. When you’re military, you rotate apartments regularly.”So her father was a soldier.I’d heard similar stories from a childhood friend whose dad was in the service.“When Dad got a new posting, we’d move to a new neighborhood, and my little brother and I would trail after him. Just when we’d settle in, we’d move again. After Mom ran away, that cycle sped up.”She drew a circle on the dusty window.“They say ‘move,’ but the neighborhoods all felt the same. A base nearby, that refugee-like smell particular to families trailing soldiers. And because it’s military land, the country doesn’t give you the nice plots. In Seoul—neighborhoods that make you think, ‘they have places like this in Seoul?’ …That’s why I left. I was sick of it.”Her finger stopped mid-circle.“I was sick of those people.”Turning slowly, she glanced to the side.On a low cabinet up to her calves sat a framed family photo. In it were a middle-aged man in uniform, a young Jung Heewon, and a boy who looked like her younger brother.Judging by the graduation cap, it was probably taken at the boy’s elementary school graduation.She took the photo out of the frame.“But when I finally got out… the world was the same.”Looking at that picture, I found myself, for once, thinking of my parents’ faces.They were good people.So good that there’s no better way to put it.「And yet, Lee Hakhyeon didn’t particularly long for them.」Why? I wasn’t sure.Was it because it felt strange that a son like me had been born to people that good?Or else…「Because that life never quite felt like my life.」Maybe it was because I read too many novels as a kid.When I opened my eyes, I would read; I lived by writing stories.The place I had always lived was a world inside text.A world of light and shadow ruled by dragons, swords, and magic.「Maybe that’s why. Lee Hakhyeon had always lived feeling like he was living someone else’s life in their stead.」In the pitch-black of the dead TV screen, I could see Cheon Inho’s narrowed eyes.A face that wasn’t mine.Even now, I was living someone else’s story.[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ peers at your face.][The constellation ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ wonders about your thoughts.][The constellation ‘Abyssal Black Flame Dragon’ warns you to quit messing around and go kill someone else.]I raised a hand to the face reflected on the screen.Had the Cheon Inho I possessed once been somebody’s child too?Did he have a family?For the first time, I thought about the life of the villain who wrecked the 40th regression and vanished.Where had Cheon Inho’s original “soul” gone?[The constellation ‘Sneaking Schemer’ pities you.]At last, Jung Heewon lifted her head.“That’s enough. Let’s go. This isn’t why we came.”I nodded.She had probably been hearing the same messages I had, right by my ear.[A ‘white flag’ is hidden nearby.][The closer you get to the white flag’s location, the shorter the interval between messages.]Somewhere in this apartment building, there was a “white flag.”“Doesn’t look like it’s in my place.”It wasn’t inside her apartment, at least.We gauged the flag’s location by timing the interval between messages.At this range, the most suspicious spot would be… the unit next door?“I think it’s this one.”We stood before the old front door and looked at each other for a moment.“Should I ring the doorbell,” she asked first, “or break it down?”“If someone were inside, they would’ve claimed the flag already. We wouldn’t be getting messages like this.”“True.”“But just in case.”“Which one?”We pressed the empty unit’s doorbell at the same time.Naturally, there was no response.We shared a wry smile and the same thought.Even this might be the little scrap of humanity you can cling to in an apocalypse.And then—click.Someone unlocked the door from the inside.

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