Chapter 191 : Chapter 191

Chapter 191 - Epilogue (1)

A long time ago, before Kim So-jin’s illness had worsened.

I recalled a conversation I had with her as she sat on her bed, clicking away at a keyboard.

“But honestly, I don’t know why you put this in.”

She said, pointing a finger at the screen where the data she was currently coding was being uploaded.

The ‘dimensions’ a player could get involved with or set foot in within the game were largely limited to three.

The material plane, where most of the main scenario took place, the spirit plane, which could be accessed through a special route, and Pandemonium, where the demons lived.

“Honestly, even three seems like a bit much, don’t you think? What’s the point of having a lot of content in a game made by unknown nobodies like us?”

“...Do you have any affection for the game we’re making at all?”

“Would you call it having an excellent grasp of reality?”

“...”

Aside from our bickering, the data I was coding at the time was indeed absurd.

The settings for over ten dimensions were being tightly packed into data chunks and shoved into the game.

The main story ends within just three dimensions, and you want to add over ten more? Are you insane?

It was a volume of content that would require making several more full-length games, let alone a DLC, just to unpack it all.

“It’s good to dream big! Who knows, maybe it’ll be a huge hit and we’ll get to sell all of it as a series!”

“Yeah, no. That’s never going to happen.”

“Well, if it fails, I can just die~”

“...”

What a crazy woman.

I glared at Kim So-jin with a look that conveyed that exact sentiment.

She was never normal, but she seemed to have gotten even crazier since we started making the game.

“What, it might be my posthumous work anyway, so I’m going to put in everything I want. Got a problem?”

“...Saying it like that is a bit cheap.”

I sighed and continued entering the data.

To be honest, I thought there was no way this data would ever be used, but if she was going to put it like that, wouldn't I be the trashy one if I didn't add it?

As I was putting it in with that thought.

A good idea suddenly came to mind.

“Then how about we use this as a gimmick?”

“A gimmick?”

“Yeah. We plant a hidden boss you’d never meet through normal progression, and make it so that taking his route gets you involved with this stuff. Like a teaser saying all this will be in the sequel.”

“Didn’t you just say it would never become a series?”

“We can just make a new one if this one fails.”

“Hey, you think I have time for that?”

“You just have to be alive until then.”

Kim So-jin’s jaw dropped as she looked at me.

“...Don’t die. That’s what I mean.”

As I said that, feeling awkward for no reason and just clattering away at the keyboard, I felt Kim So-jin come up behind me and pull my head into a hug.

“Aigoo, aigoo, my dear Gyu-sik. What are you going to do without me?”

“...Let go. It’s hot.”

“Alright, alright. Even if I die, I’ll find a way to come and see you. Hmm? So you can’t be lonely, okay?”

“Shut up.”

As I grumbled, Kim So-jin, who was behind me, chuckled and continued speaking.

“But, so, what kind of gimmick are we talking about, exactly?”

“Hmm.”

Right.

How should I use it?

Generally, trying to unravel this kind of setting one by one is meaningless and just tiring.

In that case, wouldn't it be better for it to go out with a powerful impact?

“How about this?”

As I said that and laid out my idea, Kim So-jin narrowed her eyes and looked at me.

“Are you, by any chance, a piece of trash?”

“...”

Hey.

We were just creating a nice atmosphere a moment ago.

Stay in character.

***

“...Unbelievable. Truly.”

The Platinum Knight let out those words with a gasping breath.

Well, I used the authority granted by the interpreted source code to thoroughly search for his weaknesses and then struck them all with a fatal blow.

According to my ‘calculations,’ it certainly had enough power to take down even the final boss in a single strike.

“This person has always been a little unbelievable.”

The Guardian replied with a bitter smile.

“You were just unlucky this time. Your opponent was a monster who transcended the category of human, wasn't he?”

“...Excuse me. Isn’t that guy a Knight of the Round Table who’s hundreds of years old?”

“You stay quiet.”

“That’s right, that’s right.”

“...”

Seeing Seo Ah-in, who had been quiet on the side, nod in agreement, I felt a headache I didn't have before start to throb.

Her expression was filled with a sense of futility, as if to say she hadn't been cheering for this guy earlier for nothing, but she still seemed to know what she needed to do.

“Stay right there. There was a huge commotion, but... this much can be cleaned up.”

With those words, ‘schematics’ and ‘strings of characters’ began to pour out explosively from the Guardian's body.

This was the first time I'd seen her use mana directly.

“...”

I stroked my chin and observed her for a long while.

Then I nodded and spoke to Seo Ah-in next to me.

“You know what.”

“Yes?”

“No matter how I look at it, that’s more ‘programming’ than ‘incantation.’”

“...Pardon?”

“It’s plain as day. It’s a pattern I’ve seen so much of.”

With narrowed eyes, I carefully observed the programming languages being emitted around her.

Anyone who has coded would understand, but the unique ‘habits’ that people have definitely exist in programming as well.

And the mana this Guardian was currently handling.

It was clearly similar to a ‘habit’ I knew.

“...Sigh.”

If what I knew was correct.

I was in a very tricky situation right now.

“...”

Well, that was that.

For now, what I had to do was also clear.

I fiddled with the PC still in my hand and prepared for the events to come.

“Alright. Now that the gatekeeper at the Gate of Judgment has been subdued, all that’s left is to properly sink the gate on this side, and everything will be over...”

The Guardian, who was trying to explain something, stopped mid-sentence when she saw me.

Then, with narrowed eyes, she muttered in a slightly sulky voice.

“...Are you listening?”

“I’m listening, and I also know what process to follow.”

“...Right, right. What is it that you don’t know.”

The Guardian sighed as she said that.

Just then, a gurgling laugh mixed with bloody phlegm came from the Platinum Knight, who had been lying quietly on the side.

It wasn't the kind of laugh a boss who had been taken down in one hit should be making, so Seo Ah-in and the Guardian both widened their eyes and turned to look at him.

“I think this person has also been affected by the Kim Gyu-sik effect. He’s lost his mind.”

“...”

What kind of effect is that now.

As I was sighing at Seo Ah-in’s nonsense, the Platinum Knight, who had been laughing like a madman, cackled and opened his mouth.

“Yes. Do you know what even a clever fellow like him cannot stop?”

“...What are you talking about?”

The Guardian asked with narrowed eyes, and the Platinum Knight let out another hollow laugh and answered.

“Reversing what has already happened.”

“...What?”

“Only an amateur would create an opening for interference right before fulfilling a long-held wish. I am a man who was willing to sacrifice the world to save you.”

And in his eyes.

A sallow madness took hold.

“My goal is already achieved.”

And with those words.

The Guardian’s incantations that had been deployed around the area shattered all at once.

The source was the pulsation of mana flowing madly from within the Gate of Judgment.

Slowly, but surely.

“...It’s increasing by exactly double per second.”

Seo Ah-in, who was observing the area with her Mind’s Eye activated, said in a hardened voice.

“And if I’m understanding this correctly... there’s no upper limit. It’s just going to keep expanding until it literally swallows the entire world.”

While she was speaking, the Guardian stared with wide eyes at the torrent of mana that had begun to flow around them.

This deluge, pouring down in streams intense enough to tear the skin, pointed to only one phenomenon.

“...Are you out of your mind...?!”

The Guardian approached the Platinum Knight, who was slumped against the wall and coughing, and shrieked.

“What were you thinking, doing something like this...! This is...!”

The mana pouring into the vicinity began to form ‘gates’ one by one.

Of course, they weren't the simple gates for mere ‘spatial teleportation’ that she could easily create.

Each one was tearing open a dimensional rift to create a bridgehead to another dimension.

“If you unleash these, the material plane of this dimension will be completely annihilated! What on earth were you thinking, doing something like this...”

“I told you. It’s for you.”

The Platinum Knight said, coughing.

“...If the world is wiped clean, the Tower will disappear, and the duty of ‘management’ you bear will also vanish. Then, the two of us can rebuild the remaining world-”

“Mister.”

I yawned and cut into the Platinum Knight’s words.

“Being clingy to that extent is an art form, but first, two things.”

I continued speaking as I strode toward him.

“First, the world isn't going to end. Because I’m going to make sure it doesn't.”

“...Ha. You. Confidence is good, but can you really handle it? The invaders from other dimensions are monsters that make even that King of Flies look like child’s play-”

“Second.”

I know better than anyone how strong they are.

I’m the one who wrote their settings, you punk.

And I also know how to ‘deal’ with them.

I grabbed the fallen Platinum Knight’s ankle.

“To deal with them, you’re going to have to suffer a bit.”

“...What?”

“You started it, you finish it.”

As I said that, I looked at the gates that were beginning to open one after another throughout the great cavern.

Well, what was it, the sinister forms of Outer Gods, the likes of which you'd find in myths about some octopus god buried deep in the sea, began to reveal themselves beyond the dimensions.

They were grotesque beings that would likely shatter a normal person's mind just by looking at them.

If even one of them were to be unleashed, it wouldn't be strange for the world to be destroyed.

“So brace yourself. Got it?”

“...You, what on earth are you...”

The Platinum Knight, who was about to say that, clamped his mouth shut.

It was probably because I had started dragging him by the ankle.

And I assumed a certain ‘stance.’

A stance that anyone who had participated in some neighborhood recreation activities in their youth would know.

“...Wait a minute. Wait. That’s not it, is it?”

“...As someone who’s seen Mr. Kim Gyu-sik for a long time, I think he’s more than capable of it, but I’d like to have hope that his character isn’t that broken...”

While the peanut gallery was chattering.

I took a deep breath and finished my preparations.

“...”

The Platinum Knight, who seemed to have vaguely realized what I was about to do, also turned slightly pale.

But by then, it was already too late.

His body was already flying through the air.

Because I had thrown it.

“Alright. Let’s do this.”

The top-tier veteran's ultimate secret technique to close out this game.

A five-star skill, ‘Pongdang-pongdang.’

The demonstration by a skilled instructor begins now.

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