Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint (Web Novel KR)

It was then that a razor-sharp throwing blade came whistling out of the brush.

Jung Heewon’s face tightened as she drew her sword, and I ducked on reflex.
A dagger skimmed past us by a hair’s breadth and jammed into a tree.
“I didn’t expect you to make it here this fast.”

Three figures—two men and a woman—stepped out from the dense tropical greenery.
A white coat and a “Broken Conviction.”
I couldn’t help a wry smile at the getup.

“As expected of a reader who’s read it a hundred times.”
The Misreaders Association team led by the text-file “author.”
How had they arrived before us? I’d thought we were the fastest.

A faint aura rippled around the text-file author.
[Incarnation ‘Yeom Il-woo’ is activating the stigma ‘King of Dice’.]
Stigma: “King of Dice.”
So he’d made the constellation “Monarch of Gambling” his sponsor constellation.

Figures. That would explain how he’d climbed the stage so quickly.
Judging by the look of things, the two at his sides weren’t incarnations but “characters.”
I used [Character Log] to check the identities of the rest.

[Viewing multiple entries. Temporarily switching to ‘Character Summary Log’.]
+

Name: Ha Min
Sponsor Constellation: The Snake That Cuts Its Tail
Exclusive Trait: Lizardman (Rare)
Composite Stats: [Stamina Lv.14], [Strength Lv.13], [Agility Lv.16], [Magic Power Lv.7]

+

Name: Kim Jeonhwa
Sponsor Constellation: The Rat That Brings Plague
Exclusive Trait: Ratman (Rare)
Composite Stats: [Stamina Lv.18], [Strength Lv.16], [Agility Lv.11], [Magic Power Lv.6]
+

Both were non-human species.
One was a “Ratman,” a vassal of the “Rat That Brings Plague,” whom we’d fought before.
The other was a “Lizardman,” a vassal of the “Snake That Cuts Its Tail.”

From the situation, it was highly likely that the “Snake That Cuts Its Tail” was also a constellation on the Misreaders Association’s side.
I raised both hands lightly.
“Hold on. Do we really need to fight each other?”

I meant it—about halfway.
Last time, the Misreaders Association member we met was a reader possessed by a “constellation,” and the one I killed was his “character” incarnation.
But this time, the one I had to face was a reader possessing an actual “incarnation.”
No matter how much of a criminal he was for producing and distributing illegal text rips, he was, in the end, someone from the same “reality” as me.

Killing him with my own hands wasn’t something I could feel at ease about.
More than anything, I believed he should pay for his crimes in “reality,” not in the “novel.”
Whatever he thought of my words, he gave a limp little laugh.

“Right. There’s no need to pick a fight with a reader who’s supported my work, is there?”
Still the same brazen attitude.
Thinking it over, maybe it wouldn’t be so wrong to have him pay right here and now.

“It’s just that, from my point of view, a reader who’s gone through it a hundred times is a little scary.”
With that chill in his voice, the text-file author gave a hand signal.
The man and woman on either side drew out half a dozen daggers each and hurled them.

So that was how they’d ambushed us earlier.
Watching those blades coming in with unmistakable killing intent, Killer King’s warning flashed back at me.
「‘The Misreaders Association are bastards who deserve to die.’」

I was beginning to understand why he’d said it with such vehemence.
As Jung Heewon batted away the incoming knives with a kiai, the daggers that struck the ground belched black smoke and oxidized.
The spots the blades touched were turning pitch-black.

Poison.
“Be careful! Don’t let them so much as graze you!”
Last time it was a poison bomb; now it was poisoned throwing blades.

At this rate I couldn’t tell if they were the “Misreaders Association” or the “Foul-Toxin Association”.
Sssssss.
The Mole Cricket blade in Jung Heewon’s hand was melting from the toxin.

“Heewon-ssi!”
I tossed her the spare Mole Cricket blade I’d been carrying. Catching it, she swung both swords forward.
[Swordsmanship] at the level of mastery.

A gale of swordwind surged before my eyes, and every additional dagger’s path bent off-course.
Sensing things weren’t going their way, the text-file author charged into the fight as well.
[Incarnation ‘Yeom Il-woo’ activates ‘Moonlight Footwork Lv.2’!]

Moonlight Footwork, huh.
He was sprinting in with a flashy-sounding step technique, but from the movement his average stats were lower than mine.
With each step he left a trail of gaudy light, then brought the “Broken Conviction,” gripped reverse, crashing down.

“Turn into a low-grade iron shield.”
At my command, “Thoughts About Almost Everything” changed shape into a shield.
Kagagagak!

Sparks flew from the clashing blade.
The text-file author muttered in surprise.
“An interesting item.”

The moment his sword touched my “Thought,” messages rang through it.
[Beginning target analysis.]
[Item analysis complete!]
[The item is ‘Broken Conviction (Mass-Produced)’.]
[The item’s grade is D.]
[The item’s grade is low.]
[You have acquired the mimic form of the item.]
Well, would you look at that. Even the “Broken Conviction” was a “mass-produced” knockoff?

And by the look of it, even that mass-produced sword had been worn down.
Because he’d shown off “Blade of Conviction” in front of the readers earlier, the durability of “Broken Conviction” had hit rock bottom.
He probably couldn’t activate “Blade of Conviction” anymore.

The text-file author smiled pleasantly.
“Keep that up and you’ll die.”
When had he grabbed it?

A small jar now hung at his hip.
[‘Yongjun’ unleashes a wondrous regenerative power.]
The Regenerative Jar, Yongjun.

Even I couldn’t help being startled this time.
[D-grade item ‘Low-grade Leather Greaves’ has been offered as a sacrifice and vanished.]
[The durability of D-grade item ‘Broken Conviction (Mass-Produced)’ has been restored.]
[‘Broken Conviction (Mass-Produced)’ responds to internal energy!]
[‘Blade of Conviction’ is activating!]
Vzzzzzzzing!

From the sword-edge pressed against my shield, a vivid blue ether blade sprouted.
I reflexively dropped the shield and sprang back.
[The mimic form ‘Low-grade Iron Shield’ has been destroyed!]

A hair more and I would have been cut clean in two.
Already assured of victory, he wore a leisurely smile.
“Didn’t know it could be used like this, did you?”

Yongjun was a reward obtainable at the National Palace Museum. At this point in time, it was an item you absolutely couldn’t get.
Except by one method.
“Seems your sponsor constellation has been spending a lot of coins.”

“My sponsor’s got deep pockets.”
He grinned, brimming with confidence. I grinned right back.
“How curious. I don’t recall that sort of information being written in an illegal text rip.”

His expression hardened. From the blade of the mass-produced “Broken Conviction,” a fierce ether edge roared out.
I hurriedly evaded the strike, watching his skills closely.
[Incarnation ‘Yeom Il-woo’ is maintaining ‘Moonshadow Internal Energy Lv.1’!]

“So it wasn’t [Baekcheong Internal Energy] after all.”
I figured as ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) much.
Killer King’s kid brother had already bought up the last of the Baekcheong stock.

Enraged, the text-file author let out a shriek and swung.
[Incarnation ‘Yeom Il-woo’ activates ‘Moonshadow Sword Art Lv.2’!]
[Incarnation ‘Yeom Il-woo’ activates ‘Weapon Polish Lv.2’!]
[Weapon Polish], [Moonshadow Sword Art], and on top of that [Moonshadow Internal Energy].

He’d learned pretty much every early-game skill you could get.
「But at that level of mastery, he’s manageable.」
With a blaze of light, “Thoughts About Almost Everything” shifted into the “Damaged Staff of Venerable Master Samyeong.”

His “Blade of Conviction” pinged off the staff with a ringing metallic screech, and the text-file author’s eyes went wide.
He’d expected my weapon to be cut in two, and fair enough: an early-game ether blade was that strong.
But that was against low-grade items. This was a holy relic.

[The Constellation, ‘Bald Militia Commander,’ nods with pride.]
Biting his lip, he attacked again, hacking down.
Kagagagagak!

Sword-edge and staff slammed together, throwing off shrill, grinding harmonics.
For all his earlier patter, his combat sense wasn’t great.
Even with [Moonshadow Internal Energy], [Moonshadow Sword Art], and [Weapon Polish], he couldn’t seize the slightest edge over me.

[The Constellation, ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband,’ marvels at the shoddy swordplay.]
Naturally.
Up to now he’d been one-tricking his way through fights with “Blade of Conviction,” killing foes in a single blow.

[The Constellation, ‘Abyssal Black Flame Dragon,’ advises that this is why you don’t shower the early game with sponsorship.]
[The Constellation, ‘Tiger Who Eats Rice Cakes,’ clucks their tongue and nods.]
At some point the durability of “Broken Conviction” reached zero, and the “Blade of Conviction” winked out.
I didn’t miss the opening and swept the staff into his flank. He barely evaded, but the hem of his coat tore and the flesh at his side split.

[The Constellation, ‘Monarch of Gambling,’ is disappointed in his incarnation.]
[An unnamed constellation who has yet to reveal its epithet advises him to choose his hand better next time.]
He forced down a scream, panic rising, and stumbled back in a hurry.
“What are you doing? Don’t just stand there gawking—help me!”

At his shout, the Ratman and Lizardman facing Jung Heewon began to show abnormal reactions.
[The Constellation, ‘Rat That Brings Plague,’ raises synchronization with his incarnate body.]
[The Constellation, ‘Snake That Cuts Its Tail,’ raises synchronization with his incarnate body.]
Jung Heewon, who’d been carving out an advantage with the [Demon-Slaying] and [Swordsmanship] combo, narrowed her eyes.

Zzzzzzzzt!
Blue sparks crawled over the inhuman bodies.
From just around Grade-8 moments ago, their demonic energy surged to near Grade-7 monster levels.

[Character ‘Ha Min’ activates the stigma, ‘Cursed Dagger’!]
[Character ‘Kim Jeonhwa’ activates the stigma, ‘Accelerated Attack’!]
Dozens of knives poured from the nonhumans’ sleeves like a waterfall.
With light footwork, Jung Heewon slipped through the flurry.

But something was different this time.
[The special effect of the stigma ‘Cursed Dagger’ activates!]
I remembered the effect of the [Cursed Dagger] stigma in a flash.

“Heewon-ssi! Block this one!”
With [Cursed Dagger], if twenty daggers missed, then the next “one” would unerringly strike.
A single jet-black knife, tracking her movement, finally closed right up to her face.

She slashed, parrying the blade—but with a screech, the Mole Cricket edge that had met the dagger began to melt.
“Uwaaaa!”
Nearby, Jung Jaewoo—who’d been hiding—screamed at the sight of the dissolving blade.

Grabbing him by the scruff, Jung Heewon beat a rapid retreat toward me.
“Inho-ssi.”
I nodded assent.

At this rate, we had no chance.
Weapons aside, they had two constellations riding shotgun and feeding them tiers.
“Jaewoo-ssi. Do you have any hidden trump card?”

White as a sheet, Jung Jaewoo shook his head.
Hoping for [Small Luck] to bail us out again was a stretch. It was, after all, [Small] luck.
“Heewon-ssi.”

She nodded.
I pressed the “Staff of Venerable Master Samyeong” into her hands.
“Let me borrow your ears for a moment.”

I hadn’t wanted to use this skill on Jung Heewon. But right now, there was no other way.
Sensing something was off, the text-file author bellowed:
“Kill them! Now!”

The nonhumans, bodies swollen to more than twice their size, charged with a roar.
Nonhumans are not “humans.”
Then are they “monsters”?

I didn’t know. But one thing was certain—
“From now on, every enemy you see—”
From now on, that’s what they would be.

“—is a ‘monster.’”
[Activating Exclusive Skill, ‘Incitement Lv.6’!]
The Ratman raked out elongated claws; the Lizardman circled behind Jung Heewon and whipped its tail.

And then—
[Character ‘Jung Heewon’ activates ‘Hour of Judgment’.]
Flames blossomed in Jung Heewon’s eyes.

[The Constellation, ‘God of the Sea War,’ doubts their own eyes.]
[The Constellation, ‘Bald Militia Commander,’ marvels at his descendant’s swordsmanship.]
[The Constellation, ‘Abyssal Black Flame Dragon,’ asks if the plausibility checks out.]
Whatever was happening, my naked eyes couldn’t even track it.
From within a rising haze of dust, a hideous symphony of tearing flesh erupted again and again.

With a bang, a flash speared upward; the Lizardman’s severed tail and the Ratman’s arm tumbled out beyond the dust.
Not even a minute later, there came a pair of thuds from inside the cloud.
As the dust slowly settled, a single silhouette stood alone within.

At her feet lay the shredded corpses of the Ratman and Lizardman.
I’d expected as much—but the result surpassed even that.
[The Constellation, ‘Rat That Brings Plague,’ vomits blood and exits the channel.]
[The Constellation, ‘Snake That Cuts Its Tail,’ cuts its tail to dodge the plausibility backlash.]
[The Constellation, ‘Snake That Cuts Its Tail,’ stares at the incarnation ‘Jung Heewon’ in disbelief.]

Realizing the tide had turned, the text-file author was already crashing through the jungle, fleeing at a dead sprint.
Jung Heewon snatched up one of the Ratman’s daggers and hurled it after him.
Thwiiiiiiiip!

The flying edge clipped his shoulder.
“Gyaaaaaah!”
Screaming, he stumbled off through the trees.

We couldn’t let him go.
He was the sort who’d stab people without hesitation. If we didn’t crush his windpipe here, he’d be back.
Just then, Jung Heewon crumpled forward. I saw the aura of judgment wreathe her body gutter out all at once.

“Heewon-ssi!”
[The effect of ‘Incitement’ has ended.]
[‘Hour of Judgment’ is canceled.]
I rushed to support her.

Her pulse and breathing were normal.
But judging from the nosebleed streaming down, the recoil from [Incitement] had hit her hard. The price of resisting the constraints of a skill on the order of [Hour of Judgment].
“I—I’ll go finish him!”

Emboldened by Jung Heewon’s display, Jung Jaewoo sprang to his feet and dashed off.
I hoisted Jung Heewon onto my back and shouted:
“Wait! Jaewoo-ssi!”

But he had already vanished into the jungle after the text-file author.
A foreboding dread gripped me.
Carrying Jung Heewon, I followed his tracks.

In the distance, metal screeches rang out several times, and a scream.
I kept running toward the source.
And then—dammit.

“Jaewoo-ssi!”
Jung Jaewoo lay sprawled between the trees.
[An unnamed constellation who has yet to reveal its epithet wears a pained expression.]

Drawing a steadying breath, I hurried to him.
「Jung Jaewoo has [Small Luck].」
At the very least, he wouldn’t die here from a random thrown blade. The wound would have missed a vital point.

He groaned in pain.
“U… uhh…”
I laid Jung Heewon gently on the ground and inspected his wound.

“I… Inho…-ssi.”
He was smiling.
“I… I got… him… too… A hit… He… won’t… get far…”

“Don’t speak.”
A dagger was lodged near his heart. Checking the wound, I saw the poison had already spread from his chest, dissolving skin and organs.
Blood soaked the ground.

“Hold still.”
Why was the injury this bad?
He should have [Small Luck], shouldn’t he?

Then it hit me—he was the incarnation of the “Monarch of Gambling.”
If their fortunes had collided and canceled out each other’s traits…
“Uhh… ah…”

I rifled through every remedy I could think of.
Elain Forest Essence?
Too late to use.

Grand Rejuvenation Pill?
I checked the Dokkaebi Pouch, but it was sold out.
Holy Oil or Holy Fruit.

There was no way to get those now.
「No method came to mind.」
If Lee Seolhwa were here, she could save him. If only we had the Life-and-Death Pills she made.

「But she wasn’t here.」
Pages of ORV flipped through my head in a blur.
I had written those countless sentences with my own hands. Somewhere among them, there had to be a line that could save this man.

“It’s okay. I can fix this. Don’t worry.”
A person was dying right in front of me.
My hands shook. My mind wouldn’t work right.

I squeezed out the last of the “Elain Forest Essence” I had, mixed it with a cream-base salve, and spread it over the wound.
To slow the spread of the toxin, I minced jerky made from Mole Cricket meat, dusted it with powder from a Rhinoceros of Poisonous Reading’s horn, and fed it to him.
His throat bobbed, then he started coughing up blood in gulps.

Weeping, Jung Jaewoo whispered:
“I don’t… want to die…”
“You won’t die.”

That was a lie. This man was going to die.
His breathing grew ragged; my own voice trembled.
“I’ll save you.”

Because of me, a reader of this story was dying.
“No matter what happens, I’ll save you.”
Facing his death, all I could say were lies.

You won’t die.
Even if you do, I will bring you back.
His lips moved. He tried to say something, but I couldn’t make out the words.

Maybe he was saying he shouldn’t have read it. Maybe he was cursing the person who wrote it.
Soon after, his breathing stopped, and his pulse stilled.
[Team member ‘Jung Jaewoo’ has died.]

I stared down at his face for a long time.
I had seen people die many times before.
「Jung Jaewoo is dead.」

And yet it didn’t feel real.
I couldn’t believe that someone who’d been alive just moments ago had truly breathed his last.
“Jaewoo-ssi.”

When I grasped his limp hand, I felt something translucent float free from within his body.
I realized it was Jung Jaewoo’s soul.
It was there.

He definitely had a soul.
In that case, maybe I could save him. If I could find where his soul had gone—if I could—
Zzzzzzzzt.

Sparks cracked down from empty air, and for an instant the outline of the soul deepened.
Space split, bleeding pitch-black darkness, and a white hand thrust out.
A terrible scream.

The hand snatched his soul in a blink and vanished into the tear.
I stared, dumbfounded. My brain felt broken; thoughts wouldn’t flow. I couldn’t make sense of anything.
From that wreckage of a mind, I managed to salvage a single line.

If I hadn’t been mistaken, the vanished soul of Jung Jaewoo had been—
「wearing the shape of Little Kim Dokja.」