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Chapter 224

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The Concealer I

1

As you may already know, there are certain topics in this story that I deliberately refrain from mentioning.

For instance, the moment of the world\'s destruction.

Despite always chanting about the end of the world, surprisingly few instances of "world_destruction_1_second_before.avi" end up being captured by my camera.

There are two perfectly reasonable explanations for this, given that I embody rationality.

The first is a highly altruistic reason.

That is, to protect the honor and reputation of my comrades.

[Dad] [Dad] [Dad] [Dad]

[Die] [Die] [Die] [Die]

For example, in several episodes, I was killed by Hayul.

Of course, it only resembled Lee Hayul on the outside. In reality, calling it an anomaly completely corrupted by the Void was more accurate.

It wasn’t that Hayul was especially possessed by an Oedipus complex and decided to carry out a Succession of Father.

-Guildmaster, please, just die.

-Doctor Jang, sorry, but would you mind dying with me?

-Fall into hell, teacher.

-...

Sim Aryeon, Tang Seorin, Cheon Yohwa, Saintess, etc.

Other people also stabbed holes in my heart without hesitation.

Regardless of the episode, anyone who survived with me until the end had an extremely high chance of turning dark and landing the finishing blow on me.

(Noh Doha would sometimes strike the final blow even if the conditions weren’t met, just for fun.)

For the record, I bear no grudge.

No way my comrades did it of their own free will. They didn’t do anything wrong. It was all the fault of those anomalies that ensnared and manipulated people.

But from the perspective of others—people like you readers—what would it look like?

“He, he—how could they burst the protagonist\'s head? What wickedness!”

“I feel the rage building. Let\'s kill them before they become comrades.”

“Throw them out! Throw them out immediately!”

I could easily foresee, as someone well-versed in subcultures, that witch hunts and slander would erupt among some readers, heating up the discussions.

Surely there’d be comments like, "As expected, Koyori, who only killed the protagonist once, is the true comrade!"

What a horrific scene. As a well-mannered time traveler armed with common sense and culture, I could not tolerate such things.

Thus, from a global perspective, I deleted most episodes where I was killed by my comrades. It’s a lamentable decision for lovers of dark stories, but I hope you understand.

So, what’s the second reason?

"Hyung-nim."

"Ah, Seo Gyu."

"I, this SG man, am the mastermind behind everything."

The second reason is, uh…

Because sometimes, it’s just incredibly funny.

No matter how dire the situation, even if the world is literally about to end, if our SG man Seo Gyu suddenly says something like that with a serious face, it inevitably raises a philosophical question: "Was the world\'s destruction ever that serious of a subject?"

This is what I call the Mastermind Syndrome .

When any person other than me survives until the very end, they are designated as the "mastermind" who destroyed the Earth and become a bit… strange.

In turn 243, Seo Gyu happened to be that person.

It was also the first time in the Doctor Jang\'s life that Seo Gyu was the last man standing (aside from me).

SG man, who always had his head blown off first, had now survived until the end of the world, and it made my heart swell with pride.

"Seo Gyu."

"Yes, hyung-nim."

"If it weren’t for me, you would\'ve been game over the moment you met the tutorial fairy. What kind of nonsense is it for you to be the mastermind?"

Seo Gyu clicked his tongue, shaking his finger left and right.

"You don\'t understand, as usual."

"......"

I almost lost my cool right there and turned him into /Seo Gyu/.

That he could shake the calm equilibrium of a seasoned time traveler with such a trivial provocation—what tremendous trolling.

"As with all creative works, the true mastermind always appears in the prologue, hyung-nim. For you, the prologue is none other than the waiting room at Busan Station, correct? Now, who was the first person to make a strong impression on you in that waiting room?"

"Uh... That was you, right?"

"Exactly. So naturally, I’m the most fitting person to be the mastermind. I’ve been hiding the truth all this time."

"No..."

You were supposed to die there, you crazy bastard.

I tried to convey my thoughts to Seo Gyu by openly controlling my facial muscles, but it was useless. He was completely consumed by the Mastermind Syndrome .

"I’ve always been treated as nothing more than an SG Net errand boy. That, too, was part of my disguise. The first person to appear, yet thoroughly hidden in importance... isn’t that the very definition of a mastermind?"

"Or maybe you just literally had no importance."

"Hoo."

Seo Gyu flashed a deadly smile.

"What if I intended for you to think that?"

I decided to return that deadliness to Seo Gyu himself. I squeezed out my aura and pummeled him with my fist.

"Haha, how barbaric, hyung-nim. Cough. Using violence at this stage won’t change anything. Haha... cough..."

It wasn’t very effective.

Mastermind Syndrome gave the afflicted boundless confidence, fixed their laugh as "haha," reduced their pupils to mere slits, and, above all, fueled their delusion that everything had gone according to plan.

But it didn’t grant them any actual power.

I picked Seo Gyu up.

"Ah. Haha, even if you eliminate me now, I will return someday..."

Then I hurled him off the cliff.

This was no ordinary cliff. In the 243rd turn, the Flat Earth theory came true, causing the land to flatten literally, and I tossed Seo Gyu off the edge of that world.

He fell into the void, scattering his creepy "haha" laugh as he went.

He wouldn’t have been lonely when he died.

I died shortly afterward too.

In the turns where the Flat Earth theory became reality, the world\'s edges closed in, and eventually, the entire Korean Peninsula fell off. I couldn’t escape the fall either.

Originally, Mastermind Syndrome was just a spice that mildly annoyed me toward the end of certain episodes.

That is, until the next turn, 244.

2

The moment I woke up in the waiting room at Busan Station, I had a strong feeling something was wrong.

‘What the hell?’

This hardly ever happened.

‘What the…?’

This rarely ever happened.

Except for the 135th turn that ended due to the collapse caused by The Admin of All-Play, and the time when a laptop was placed on my lap. But this felt different from that.

It wasn’t as if something new had been “added” to my regression.

Rather, it was the complete opposite.

“You fucking bastard! What the hell are you talking about?!”

As usual, Seo Gyu was roaring furiously at fairy No. 264, but… something was missing from his head.

He had no hair.

I know it sounds odd to say his head had no head, but in short, his hair was gone.

To put it another way, all the hair follicles on Seo Gyu\'s scalp had just abandoned him.

“Pfft—!”

“Uh, what?”

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“That\'s… pretty gross.”

I unintentionally spat out the Ceylon tea I’d gotten from the vending machine into the air, causing the people around me to cringe and move away.

But I couldn’t even think about wiping my mouth. Along with the tea, it felt like my soul was leaking out too.

What in the world was that?

“You son of a bitch! If you suddenly drag people into this mess, the first thing you should say is sorry, not spout that nonsense…!”

“Excuse me. Just a moment. Ah, excuse me. Sorry, yes. Could you move aside for a bit? Thank you. Seo Gyu? Seo Gyu?”

“Yeah?”

I waded through the crowd and approached Seo Gyu.

He was just in the middle of screaming at the fairy when he froze upon hearing his name called.

A look of confusion flickered in Seo Gyu’s eyes as he gazed at me. Of course, in this turn, he and I were complete strangers.

“…Who are you, and why are you butting in?”

“Don’t you recognize me? You gave me personal training lessons a while back.”

“Huh.”

“In Namgu. Fourth-floor PT center. Don’t you remember?”

Seo Gyu looked flustered.

He really had worked as a PT trainer at a center. And the address I’d just mentioned was indeed one of his previous workplaces.

Naturally, the anger in his eyes started to fade. Instead, fear crept in—the fear of becoming “that trainer who can’t even remember his own client despite them paying good money.”

“Oh, oh… Ah, yes. Member. It\'s been so long that I didn’t recognize you.”

“Geez, Seo Gyu, you were so diligent in teaching me that I really got into personal training thanks to you. I used to be skinny, but now I’ve built myself up, all thanks to you.”

Seo Gyu’s eyes quickly scanned my upper and lower body. A typical ability of personal trainers.

Of course, my muscles, which had been inherited through the [Continue] ability and compressed through many turns, were in prime condition.

Seo Gyu’s expression grew even darker. Had he really forgotten such an outstanding client?

“Ah, thank you…”

“You really shouldn’t be fighting with a weird fairy here. Why don’t we step aside for a chat?”

“Oh my… Weird? It’s scary when humans start picking fights and then slander us without reason…”

By the way, this was the fastest and most effective method I knew to prevent “Seo Gyu from blowing up” without actually killing fairy No. 264.

As unruly as Seo Gyu could be, he was surprisingly responsible about the roles he was given.

In any case, I dragged Seo Gyu aside and, as diplomatically as possible, asked without offending him:

Q. When did you start going bald?

A. Huh? I’ve always been like this.

What?

Before Seo Gyu’s eyes could turn to “Are you really my PT client?” mode, I excused myself.

Then, finally, I had the time to glance around at the other members of the waiting room—those who were, in MZ generation terms, bound by the same fate.

It didn’t take long to realize that Seo Gyu wasn’t the only one who had something missing.

“I have no intention of joining your group, Lee Baek!”

“Ah?!”

“Even if you glare at me and try to intimidate me, no means no!”

Sim Aryeon’s stutter had vanished.

Originally, if I hadn’t intervened, she would’ve been forcibly dragged away by Lee Baek, but for some reason, in the 244th turn, she was confidently asserting her stance.

Is this some kind of anomaly?

“Oh my, oh my, heehee.”

Koyori’s shadow had disappeared.

Though no one else had noticed, it was obvious to me. While her clothes cast shadows, her head, limbs, and everything else didn’t.

Definitely an anomaly.

‘What the heck is going on? It’s way too early for the butterfly effect to have this kind of impact.’

I was utterly bewildered. Did the timeline suddenly change in the 244th turn?

But the waiting area in Busan Station was merely the tutorial.

The real shock came after I left the station.

“Hello. I’m Tang Seorin.”

“...”

“From now on, I’m gathering people to try and survive in this chaotic world. You’re the undertaker, right? Would you like to work with me?”

Dang Seorin reached out to me, inviting me to join her venture—but she didn’t have her witch’s hat.

Nor did she have her broom.

In a trembling voice, I asked:

“Excuse me… Sorry for asking out of the blue, but… Didn’t you used to like Harry Potter and trains?”

“Huh? What are you talking about? I like Pokémon and cars more.”

“...”

Anomaly!

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