TSDSE 4

Chapter 4: Here One Second, Gone the Next (4)

I moved quietly and swiftly in the direction Shin Zia had run.

First, I needed to grasp the situation.

“Pialle Allo…!”

As I drew closer, Shin Zia’s voice, thick with rage, reached my ears.

I quickly concealed myself and observed the two of them.

She held a elegantly shaped curved bow in her hands.

“Hmm.”

Pialle Allo didn’t seem to care about her at all; he stroked his chin and scanned his surroundings.

The people who had become burnt corpses from the sudden explosion.

The people fleeing like mad, seized by terror.

Watching them, Pialle smiled.

“To these beasts who live in leisurely comfort under the Absolute God’s protection, I have bestowed the mercy of purification. Please, forgive their sins. Amen!”

To define this man in a single word: he was insane.

He claimed it was the “Absolute God” who created this world’s “Status Windows,” and he was a fanatic who worshipped that Absolute God.

And he firmly believed himself to be that god’s apostle.

“What business does a sinner who has lost the grace of Genesis have with me?”

Pialle asked Shin Zia in a flat voice.

“…Do you really need to ask?”

That people who received the supreme grace of a Status Window live comfortably without doing anything is blasphemy. This was the reason Pialle Allo committed terror attacks across the world.

“But why today…”

According to the setting, that bastard was supposed to cause his terror attack tomorrow.

Something formless surged around Shin Zia’s body.

“You…!”

Even at this distance, the chill was so intense that goosebumps rose across my entire body without my realizing it.

That was killing intent.

It was a sensation I was feeling for the first time in my life, but I could be certain of it.

The reason was simple.

To Shin Zia, Pialle Allo was an enemy beyond reconciliation—a nemesis.

“Kgh!”

Shin Zia bit her lower lip and desperately reined in her emotions.

It must have been because she knew how foolish it was to fight while surrendering to a momentary surge of feeling.

The formless aura that had been swirling around her gradually settled.

But Pialle Allo was not so foolish as to simply watch his opponent regain her composure.

“Ah! Now I remember! The daughter of that trash of a woman! She was so revolting I didn’t want to remember her, so I must have forgotten on my own.”

“Euk!”

Kugugugugugu—!

Shin Zia’s aura, which had been gradually settling, exploded once more.

I understood.

That Pialle Allo was the one who had killed Kang Su-gyeong—Shin Zia’s mother, and one of the world’s foremost superhumans.

No one could keep their emotions steady with their parent’s murderer right before their eyes.

“Even now, just thinking about it makes my skin crawl. She was a disgusting, loathsome woman.”

Pialle’s eyes became bloodshot red.

“Ah. Of course, the same goes for you.”

His eyes looked at her as though she were a repulsive insect.

“…You beast.”

In the original work, the protagonist defeats Pialle Allo, which creates the connection between him and Shin Zia, and she becomes the protagonist’s ally.

That was the original story.

“Ahh. O Lord. The time is soon approaching when You shall judge the sinners who abuse Your power to revel in wealth and glory. Please, bring down Your divine hammer upon them!”

Suddenly, Pialle cried out.

But when I considered the meaning of his words, I couldn’t simply dismiss them as the ravings of a madman.

He had said the time was soon approaching when he would judge the sinners.

Which meant that Pialle knew other superhumans would soon arrive here.

Knowing that, he showed no intention of fleeing.

He looked utterly convinced that no matter who came, he would win.

“…Bluffing?”

Shin Zia seemed to have reached the same conclusion I had.

As expected of Shin Zia, I supposed.

Even with her nemesis right before her eyes, she maintained a certain degree of composure.

But a normal person could never read the mind of a madman.

“Judgment upon the sinners who use the Absolute God’s grace for personal gain. Amen.”

Shin Zia frowned, looking uneasy.

But soon her expression returned to calm.

She must have judged his words to be bluster.

Even if it wasn’t bluster, she was probably trusting in the power of the other superhumans who would soon arrive.

Unfortunately, however, the defeat in this battle was a foregone conclusion.

His “unique skill” was not the kind of ability one could deal with without knowing about it.

An absurd power that could shake the very foundations of this world.

**[Status Window Interference]**

An out-of-spec ability that interferes with Status Windows within a certain range, temporarily shutting down both the Status Window and the consciousness of those affected.

The reason that man believed himself to be the Absolute God’s apostle was also because of that ability.

Before that unique skill, it didn’t matter whether you were a superhuman or an ordinary person.

Any being possessing a Status Window was no match for him.

Its only weakness was that it couldn’t be used consecutively.

“Hmm. I’m starting to feel the mana. It seems the insects have come close.”

Of course, even he had a weakness.

The only being in the world who did not possess a Status Window.

In other words, me.

Status Window Interference backfires on the protagonist, instead serving as the trigger that awakens his S-rank Status Window.

This was the content of the novel’s Chapter 1.

I felt relieved inside.

Apart from the change in date and Shin Zia’s presence, everything else seemed the same.

If so, there was no need to panic.

It was right as I was reassuring myself like that.

“Miss!”

Just then, the other superhumans arrived.

Because the descriptions in the novel had their limits, I couldn’t tell who was who.

Surely some of the famous superhumans I knew were among them.

“To think he’d really appear in the middle of Seoul.”

“Arrogant bastard. First surround him, form a formation, and seal off his escape routes. Capture comes after that.”

“Yes! Understood!”

They surrounded Pialle and sealed off magical escape.

It was textbook procedure.

“Ahh. How sorrowful. It seems your prayers have not reached Him.”

At the center of the encirclement, Pialle Allo spread both arms wide and looked up at the sky.

“Yes. Of course I know! Bring down the judgment of blood upon themmm!”

Kkigik, kkigikk.

His face twisted grotesquely, and at the same time both eyes became bloodshot red.

“Please judge the sinners of this landdd!”

Wuuuuuuung—!

With a chilling, manic laughter, crimson mana erupted from his body and spread outward like an explosion.

“What the—euk!”

Shin Zia, the closest to him, was the first to lose consciousness and collapse.

Thud—

“Fall back for now—!”

Thud—

One by one, the other superhumans began to collapse as well.

It took less than a second for every superhuman in this place to fall.

“Amen.”

It wasn’t that they were incompetent.

Status Window Interference was simply that overpowered.

“…I felt it.”

A moment ago, I had felt some unknown force sweep across my entire body.

It was exactly the sensation described in the novel.

I was certain.

Status Window Interference had definitely affected me.

The Awakening would begin soon.

“Ooh. Once again I offer my prayers to the almighty Absolute God who has bestowed this authority upon me.”

I readied my stance so I could charge at him at any moment.

Three seconds.

The Awakening message should appear soon.

Five seconds.

Just a little more.

Ten seconds.

Right now.

Fourteen seconds.

Immediately now.

Twenty seconds.

But even after twenty seconds had passed, no change occurred in my body.

“…Why?”

No system message appeared either.

Nothing changed at all.

I looked at Pialle with trembling eyes.

“Please, bestow eternal suffering upon these sinners.”

Pialle Allo was spouting nonsense and scattering bombs in all directions.

They didn’t explode.

Probably he intended to detonate them all at once as he made his escape.

If so, there was still time.

“Kgh!”

I had no choice but to crouch down again and sink into thought.

Why aren’t I awakening?

Because the date was a day early?

No, that couldn’t be it.

A single day’s difference couldn’t possibly determine whether I awakened or not.

There had to be another reason.

…Think. Think.

There’s no time. Hurry!

Pialle’s installation of the small bombs would be finished soon.

If I couldn’t find the cause by then, a massacre would unfold.

That must not happen.

This many superhumans must not die here.

And above all, Shin Zia. She absolutely must not die here.

‘Think. Think!’

I racked my brain even more desperately.

The reason.

The reason the Status Window hadn’t awakened.

The reason I had been transmigrated into the novel.

There had to be a clue.

If the one who put me in this situation was the author, Kim Shin, he would never do something like this without leaving any clue.

I knew that hyung’s personality better than anyone.

There had to be some trigger.

For example, something that happened at that drinking party that night…?

“…Huh?”

Perhaps because I was desperately squeezing my brain, the memories of that day slowly began to surface.

Slowly, like thick fog clearing away with the sunlight.

—…Yul. In my novel, something’s lacking…

—No readers… just the two of us…

—Hyung. Do you want the cold truth? Or do you want the sweet truth?

Thump, thump.

My heart raced.

No way. No way. No way…!

—Hyung, your novel’s problem is the Status Window. Eh? That damn Status Window! Status Windoooow! If it weren’t for that, it would’ve been a huge hit, I’m telling you!

It can’t be.

Just because of something like that?

There’s no way…

—No, even so, I can’t just remove the Status Window. The whole worldbuilding would completely fall apart.

My pupils trembled.

—If changing the whole worldbuilding is too much… That’s it! How about just lightly removing the protagonist’s Status Window? Doesn’t that sound fun?

The moment all the memories came back.

Everything went dark before my eyes.

I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t even speak.

…Haha. So then, that day.

Because I said I wished there were no Status Window.

Because I said remaking it like that would be a huge hit, and that I’d help with anything to make it happen.

So this was the result?

“…Fuck.”

It was such an absurd reason that a curse escaped me without my realizing it.

But in this quiet situation, carelessly letting a curse slip out of my mouth was an utterly idiotic thing to do.

“…What?”

Pialle’s bloodshot eyes turned precisely toward me.

“You are… what?”

His eyes, which had been scattering bombs, shook violently with shock.

“Why? Why? The Absolute God’s authority… why?”

He dropped all the small bombs he was holding and came trudging toward me, one step at a time.

“That can’t be, no, no!”

His head creaked intermittently as he walked like a zombie.

It was terror itself.

Pialle Allo was weak.

But that was only weak among the worn-out superhumans.

He was not an enemy I could handle.

I bit my lip and desperately scanned my surroundings.

“Kgh!”

But around me was only an empty park.

With my physical abilities, there was no way to escape from this place.

“Why. Why? Why!”

No, wait. There was exactly one way.

I could see it.

The World Tree’s core.

I had definitely read that the inside was nothing short of a natural labyrinth.

If I fled inside, maybe—just maybe!

I immediately kicked off the ground and ran.

If I drew that bastard’s attention now, the superhumans here might survive.

I ran toward the World Tree’s core.

“Ahh! So that’s it!”

A grim voice echoed from behind me.

“This is a trial! A new trial the Absolute God is giving me! Through this ordeal, I shall become even stronger!”

The roar of a madman.

I ran even more desperately.

But compared to Pialle, I was nothing more than an ant.

The presence or absence of a Status Window and stats was that overwhelming.

Fwoooosh—!

“Keheok!”

Suddenly my body flew through the air.

My stomach hurt.

Mid-flight, I caught a glimpse of Pialle with his fist clenched.

I hadn’t registered it, but he had probably punched me in the stomach.

Kwaaang!

“Kuh, ruk!”

My body flew and crashed into something. A fierce impact struck my back.

Blood gushed from my mouth.

“Ah, fu…”

It hurts.

It hurts so much.

An incredibly intense shock reverberated through my entire body.

I’d only taken a body blow, yet I felt like I could lose consciousness at any moment.

“Ahh. Please watch over me. As Your young lamb passes the trial.”

My mind was hazy and my vision blurred.

Through the blur, I could see Pialle’s silhouette.

The silhouette drew closer.

Little by little.

Very little by little.

“Ooh. O Lord.”

Perhaps because he was offering prayers.

His steps were very slow.

“…Ha, ha.”

A hollow laugh escaped me without my realizing it. How had it come to this?

To be honest, I had been a little happy to enter the novel.

As a web novel reader, falling into a situation like this was the kind of thing you’d dream about at least once.

I was even happier because I had transmigrated as the protagonist of a satisfying, low-suffering novel.

That was why I hadn’t desperately searched for the cause of this situation or a way to escape.

Because even if I returned to reality, all that awaited me was company life with overtime and late nights.

And this was the result.

That negligence back then had led to this outcome.

If I had recalled the memories of that night even a little sooner, this wouldn’t have happened.

If I had suspected even slightly that my Status Window might have disappeared, that there might be no Awakening, I would never have let things come to this.

“Kuh… ruk.”

I was filled with such regret.

“Please, become the stepping stone for my growth.”

I was probably going to die here.

I resented Shin—hyung.

If you were going to put me in a novel, just put me in normally with an S-rank Status Window.

Or at least throw me some other special ability.

Who reads a novel where the protagonist is just an ordinary regular person?!

Fwoosh.

In that moment, rage surged up.

“…A piece of trash… novel, like this!”

I desperately moved my body.

Because it was so unfair.

Because it was too unfair to just sit here and give up on life.

“Kuh, eup!”

I strained with all my might to rise from where I was, to resist even a little.

Thud—

But my body could no longer function properly.

Strength wouldn’t enter my legs.

“Kkeueup!”

Then I just needed to lean on something and stand.

I pressed my hand against the World Tree behind me and slowly raised my trembling body.

That was when it happened.

Piiiiiiing—!

“Kkaak! My eyes!”

Intense light burst from where my hand touched.

A blindingly bright, pure white light.

But unlike Pialle, my eyes were fine.

It was simply warm.

Like a mother’s embrace.

“…The pain?”

As I surrendered myself to that light, the pain in my body suddenly vanished.

Instead, strength surged through me.

I could feel the cells and muscles of my body pulsing.

Along with a sense of elation, as though I could do anything.

The light gradually began to fade.

“What… is that?”

Pialle’s voice was trembling with bewilderment.

He was staring at my right hand.

I slowly turned my gaze toward my right hand as well.

Wuuuuung.

“…A bow?”

In my hand was a bow made of wood.

“This is—no way!”

A bowstring of the same material as the World Tree, and iridescent flower buds attached to its tips.

There was only one bow in existence with such a peculiar appearance, as far as I knew.

An ancient legacy sealed within the World Tree.

**[Blessing of the World Tree]**

It was a bow with many settings, but to name one of them:

“…How?”

The equip requirement for the ‘Blessing of the World Tree’ included an ‘Elf race restriction.’