Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint (Web Novel KR)

“Demon King of Salvation! Watcher of Light and Darkness! Please!”
With Gyeong Sein’s all-or-nothing prayer, the box erupted in blinding light.

And then—
[An item of unknown lineage has been placed inside.]
[There is a strand of someone’s hair inside the box.]

…Hair?
Wait, hold on.
Did some foreign substance get mixed in?

[The synthesized item undergoes a strange transformation!]
[The lineage of the sacrificed item has been fixed.]
[A higher-grade item has appeared!]
[The Random Item Box’s available uses have reached 0.]

A moment later, the radiant beam faded.
Gyeong Sein, Uncle Dansoo, and I looked at one another, swallowed hard, and then opened the box together.
Inside lay a lump of “Thought,” about the size of an adult man’s fist, glowing a vivid sky-blue.

Gyeong Sein frowned.
“The color changed? Looks kinda like… cheap diarrhea.”
“Let’s check it.”

I reached out to touch the slime-like thing—but just before I did, it squirmed and dodged my hand.
Looking closer, I saw it had eyes. Narrow, slitted ones.
“Jyo—ba.”

It even had a tiny mouth.
Was it just my imagination, or did it look a bit like me (Cheon Inho)?
“Jyo—ba. Jyo—ba.”

Gyeong Sein tilted his head.
“Is it cursing at us?”
“No, I think it’s saying, ‘Give me. Give me.’ Sounds like it’s asking for food.”

“How do you even know that?”
“Sounds kinda like Jiyoon’s baby babble…”
After a moment of hesitation, Uncle Dansoo held out the leftover mole cricket meat, coaxing gently.

The slime stared at the meat, then suddenly leapt toward his hand.
But what it devoured wasn’t the meat—it was the bracelet on his wrist.
Uncle Dansoo yelped in horror and jumped back.
“Wilson!”

So he’d already named the bracelet.
Apparently the slime didn’t like the taste; it soon spat the bracelet back out with a “Ptooey,” then curled up with a groan.
And then—

“Huh?”
The slime had turned into the bracelet.
We finished organizing the items and quickly escaped from the Shadow Corridor. Luckily, thanks to Uncle Dansoo having pocketed a cockroach, finding our way out wasn’t difficult.

But… why did the back of my neck itch so much?
“Inho, what’s wrong?”
“No, it’s just…”

I stared into the empty darkness of the Corridor and added:
“Feels like someone’s watching me.”
“Eh, just your imagination.”

“The bugs say there’s nothing either.”
If Uncle Dansoo said there was nothing, then there was nothing. At this point, the only one who could slip past [Multiple Communication] would be someone like Killer King.
I imagined him right now, clutching an empty box and muttering, ‘I’ll kill you, Cheon Inho.’

Well… at least I hadn’t given him a completely empty box.
If he made good use of the note I’d slipped inside, he could still get something worthwhile out of it.
Of course, nothing compared to the bracelet now around my own wrist.
+

Name: Thought of Almost Everything
Grade: Relic 
Description: An unidentified jelly created by a Constellation who once researched “almost everything,” forged at the end of an endless obsession.
When equipped, increases Agility and Magic Power by 1 each.

“Thought” can use the Stigma [Imitation].
+
Stigma — Imitation.

The Thought of Almost Everything can mimic an item through contact.
For high-grade items, mere contact is not enough; specific conditions must be fulfilled before imitation succeeds.
Once it successfully imitates an item, that form can be ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) used continuously until destroyed.

However, the Thought of Almost Everything also has free will, and may refuse to obey its owner’s Imitation command.
+
Just from the description, you could tell it was a busted item. In theory, it could become “almost everything.”

But it had two fatal flaws:
First, without meeting the “imitation conditions,” it couldn’t transform.
Second, the “Thought” itself could refuse commands.

Looked at that way, maybe it wasn’t quite as broken after all.
Gyeong Sein’s eyes sparkled with envy as he gazed at the bracelet on my wrist.
“I’ll get you a fine Relic too, Sein.”

“Really? Ah—no, never mind.”
“What do you want?”
“『Shield of Heracles.』”

What the heck?
As we chatted idly, we arrived at the Geumho Station platform.
But Jung Heewon was nowhere to be seen.

“Heewon…?”
“She woke up half an hour ago. Went out with some people to get food.”
Food.

Right, it was about time to worry about that.
I turned to Bang Cheolsoo and asked what had happened while we were gone.
“There were a few incidents.”

His first report was about strange creatures lurking around Geumho Station.
“Not quite monsters, not quite humans…”
According to him, they had appeared a few hours ago.

Something clicked in my mind.
“Did they look like rats?”
“Some did. Some looked like lizards.”

I had a pretty good guess. Probably Incarnations carrying out Misreader’s Association’s orders.
“What else?”
“There was a new Scenario penalty.”

Scenario. Now that he mentioned it, a message had popped up for me too.
When I opened it, lines appeared one after another:
[A Scenario Penalty has been added.]

[From now on, food stockpiling is prohibited.]
[All existing stockpiled food has disappeared.]
[A new parameter, ‘Survival Fee,’ has been added.]

[From now on, every midnight, 100 Coins will automatically be collected as ‘Survival Fee.’ If you cannot pay, you die.]
[The ‘Survival Fee’ penalty will remain until the second Main Scenario is cleared.]
Food stockpiling forbidden, and now a survival tax.

So that was why Heewon had gone out in search of food.
“Gather everyone.”
Despite their stockpiled food disappearing, the people weren’t in despair.

Probably because this group’s starting point had been different from the third regression.
They had shared food together, and in the face of crisis, they stuck together.
“Gather round! The boss is calling!”

“Come on, hurry!”
The scattered, hungry people began to gather one by one.
“Inho Ajusshi!”

Little Dayoung, perched on Bang Cheolsoo’s shoulders, waved at me. I held her tiny hand lightly—and suddenly remembered Yoo Joonghyuk.
The day I was swallowed by the ichthyosaur, Yoo Joonghyuk had come to Geumho Station.
「‘Cheon Inho is already dead. So the isolated groups can come out. I’ll show you how to get food from now on.’」

That day, he hadn’t come to kill people.
He had come to save them.
It didn’t make sense when I thought about it.

This was the 41st regression.
The regression with the coldest, most ruthless Yoo Joonghyuk in Destruction of Death.
And yet, here he was, trying to save people.

“Inho?”
“Ah—yes. Is everyone here?”
I looked around. Roughly eighty people.

Fewer than before. Besides those who had gone with Heewon to get food, some must have left for other places.
I began to speak.
“You’ve all received the Survival Fee penalty, right?”

At the word “Survival Fee,” several people stirred.
“Yeah! Suddenly it said we had to pay something every night…”
“How are we supposed to earn Coins?”

I explained calmly.
“Coins can be earned through Constellation sponsorships or by clearing Scenarios.”
“Scenarios… like the first one?”

“Do we have to kill people again?”
Their eyes filled with fear.
Most of them had already killed once in the first Scenario. But few had done it willingly.

[The Constellation, ‘Abyssal Black Flame Dragon’ scorns the Incarnations’ weakness.]
[The Constellation, ‘Rat Who Eats Nails’ says useless ones should be crushed.]
[The Constellation, ‘Monarch of the Small Fries’ advises you not to waste time on nonsense.]

They weren’t wrong.
But if we only fostered the strongest, most of these people wouldn’t survive.
Then I wouldn’t see Dayoung tugging at Bang Cheolsoo’s ear—or her mother scolding her for it.

[The Constellation, ‘Dog Who Threw Himself into the Flames’ understands your intent.]
[A Constellation who has yet to reveal their epithet is watching your choice.]
So this was the least I could do for the extras who had died offscreen in Ways of Survival.

“Killing to steal Coins is one way—but I don’t recommend it. Honestly, none of you want that, right?”
“Is there another way?”
“Yes.” I nodded, glancing toward the tunnel.

“And as luck would have it… food has run out too.”
“What do you mean…?”
Just then, Jung Heewon returned with citizens dragging a mole cricket carcass.

“Inho!”
I waved back at her.
***

“No matter where we searched, there was no food. The surface is filled with poison gas, so we couldn’t go up. So we brought this instead. Maybe it’s edible…”
“Well done.”
I ordered the Cheoldoo Group to haul the carcass onto the platform.

Some people recoiled in shock.
“From now on, this is your food.”
“W-we’re supposed to eat that? Do you even know what it is…?”

“It’s just meat. Cooked differently, that’s all.”
Declaring myself a “professional butcher,” I began carving the carcass.
Heewon, Sein, and Uncle Dansoo—already used to it—helped me calmly.

“Line up!”
Heewon handed out chunks of meat to the citizens.
Once everyone had a piece, I pulled out the Mana Brazier we’d obtained in the Shadow Corridor.

“This is called a Mana Brazier.”
I laid a slice of meat onto it. Turning up the output, the meat was sizzling and cooked deliciously within seconds.
“Mom, it smells so good…” Dayoung whispered.

I took the first bite as a demonstration. Immediately, the others surged toward the brazier.
Rolling up their sleeves, Bang Cheolsoo and the Cheoldoo gang helped grill meat for everyone.
“Anyone got salt?”

“Salt? In this place? Just eat!”
Gasps and exclamations rose across the platform. No wonder—it had been three days since any of them had eaten meat.
But feeding them wasn’t my true purpose.

[You have prematurely cleared the Sub Scenario, ‘Obtain Food.’]
[You have received 500 Coins.]
The Sub Scenario Obtain Food was only cleared by cooking a monster you’d personally hunted.

And these corpses Heewon had brought back were from mole crickets hunted by me, Sein, and Uncle Dansoo.
The others wouldn’t receive any reward.
“From now on, all food must be obtained by hunting monsters.”

At the word “hunt,” faces froze mid-bite.
“Right now, we gave you the meat from monsters we hunted. But we can’t keep doing that forever. You need to learn to hunt yourselves. Only then can you survive.”
It was no different from what Yoo Joonghyuk had once said.

He had been right. He had wanted to give them what they needed.
They just hadn’t been ready to receive it.
“If you read your Scenario windows, you’ll see: hunting and cooking mole crickets will give you Coins. Even those without Coins now—hunt one today and you’ll gain 500.”

People checked their windows and murmured.
“It’s true. It says so.”
“But how can we possibly kill such things?”

“Don’t be afraid. I did it. So did this uncle.”
Sein and Uncle Dansoo stood beside me. Some people nodded, seeing their small frames.
Before negativity spread, I quickly added:

“We’ll teach you how.”
***
Together, Heewon, Sein, Uncle Dansoo, and I taught them step by step how to hunt mole crickets.

It was precious knowledge, absent from the original, earned with our own blood.
Even with bite marks all over his body, Sein stood tall and declared:
“The mole cricket’s patterns are simple! Stay calm and you can beat it!”

For someone so bitten, he sounded awfully proud.
[The Constellation, ‘Commander of the Red Cosmos’ takes delight in your deeds.]
[The Constellation, ‘Commander of the Red Cosmos’ spreads news of your virtue.]

[Constellations of the Absolute Good system look upon your actions favorably.]
[You have received 1,200 Coins in sponsorship.]
In this world, virtue was Coin.

No matter what I did, the result always tied back to Coins.
Was this how Kim Dokja had felt?
But there was no time for sentiment. Considering the Scenarios to come, we were still far too weak and unprepared.

Now I understood why Kim Dokja had obsessed over Coins. Having a lot didn’t make you strong right away—but it gave you choices.
Our next destination was Chungmuro.
Facing the bald man there would be dangerous even if we saved every Coin.

The Ten Evils of Chungmuro.
Warlord Gong Pildu.
In the original, he had all the presence of a hair on a melon—but in the early game, Gong Pildu was a terrifying villain.

[Current Coins: 11,800C]
In a world where even early skills like Moonlight Swordsmanship cost 8,000 Coins…
Even what I had wasn’t enough for myself, let alone the others.

If only a bundle of Coins would fall from the sky. Kim Dokja practically earned them just by breathing.
[The Constellation, ‘Lily Blooming Under Aquarius’ has entered the channel.]
I looked up at the sound of an entrance alert.

[The Constellation, ‘Lily Blooming Under Aquarius’ is hovering around Geumho Station.]
Lily Blooming Under Aquarius.
The Archangel Gabriel of had entered the channel.

What was she doing in a place this obscure? Her gaze soon fixed on something unexpected.
[The Constellation, ‘Lily Blooming Under Aquarius’ is gazing at the Incarnation, Gyeong Sein.]
“No, no, hold your sword like this.”

“Like this?”
“Stay still, I’ll adjust your stance.”
Jung Heewon corrected Sein’s stiff posture. Even from afar, I could see Sein’s ears burning red.

I’d momentarily forgotten.
His original nickname had been [JudgeHeewon].
[The Constellation, ‘Lily Blooming Under Aquarius’ tilts her head.]

[The Constellation, ‘Lily Blooming Under Aquarius’ tests the Incarnation Gyeong Sein with a sponsorship of 100 Coins.]
Receiving the Coins, Sein shivered.
“L-like this? Is this right?”

“Stretch your arm more. Like this.”
Watching them, my heart bled.
O holy Archangel Gabriel.

The man you just sponsored is actually a buff middle-aged guy. You’re being deceived.
I was about to call everyone to head toward Chungmuro when—
[The Constellation, ‘Lily Blooming Under Aquarius’ calls her friend.]

When I saw the Constellation’s name appear, my eyes narrowed.
[The Constellation, ‘Demonic Judge of Fire’ has entered the channel.]