Chapter 151 - The Strategist III

3

This world is not a game.

Progressing through the scenario will not make midbosses, final bosses, and mastermind bosses obligingly appear one after another, as they would in a game.

The anomalies must have drawn tremendous inspiration from Joseon’s military genius, King Seonjo.

When the daimyo born in Japan, the land of classic RPGs, congratulated themselves with cries of “Yoshi! Hanyang boss stage cleared!” “Man, wasn’t that no-hit Tangeumdae clear a beauty?” and “Imjin War speedrun complete!” Seonjo coldly taught them that the world was not a JRPG.

Flee. Hide. Wait.

Exactly. Why be stupid enough to show yourself to your enemies? Stay hidden to the very end, and you can eliminate even the possibility of defeat.

Anomalies likewise do not show off their power for no reason. A God of Alienation, in particular, very rarely deigns to reveal its august countenance to lowly humans.

Just look at Gapless.

Coiled on the fourth basement floor of Hundred Flowers Girls’ High School, Gapless erected a barrier that made even approaching it impossible by ordinary means, then attempted to rule the world by dispatching only its colonial troops, the “tutorial fairies.”

And Gapless was merely the weakest of the Gods of Alienation. The [Operator of All Things at Play] took things a step further.

“This thing is basically the lurker among lurkers,” I told Oh Dokseo.

“Status windows, experience systems, damage indicators, leveling, gaming communities. Only after all those mechanisms have completely infected the Earth—and then hundreds more years have passed—does it finally show itself, at the moment of ‘server shutdown.’”

“That really is fucking brutal...”

It was the middle of the night. We had paused the speedrun stream for a brief rest to regroup.

[“...”]

Oh. For the record, the Saintess was still hiding nearby while Oh Dokseo and I talked.

There was a vaguely awkward atmosphere between us.

Naturally. Now that we had both taken hate potions, I felt an aversion to Oh Dokseo, and she felt an aversion to me.

At least her feelings were probably very faint. There had been few opportunities for her to grow fond of me in the first place.

I, on the other hand, was different.

‘... I can feel the murderous urge.’

I wanted to kill her. I wanted to tear her limbs apart. I wanted to annihilate her very existence.

My hand twitched.

Watching her stretch out her neck as she yawned, I wanted to draw my sword cane and cut her in two right then and there.

Without any prompting, dozens of ways to cripple the self-proclaimed book transmigrator named Oh Dokseo sprang to mind.

It was the effect of all the affection I had felt for her reversing in an instant.

‘Is this what Dang Seorin and Yohwa felt toward me in run 590?’

Once again, I realized I had done something I owed them an apology for.

But I could endure it. No matter how thoroughly the hate potion manipulated my emotions, how could it distort my memories as well?

I remembered perfectly well what sort of girl Oh Dokseo was. Centuries of memories stood firm within me like a fortress.

And so I buried my endless desire to kill Dokseo beneath those memories.

“... Mister Undertaker?”

“Mm.”

“A-are you okay? You look like you’re having a hard time.”

She kept flinching.

Despite my efforts to contain my emotions, a few fragments of murderous intent had apparently slipped free.

That alone was enough to cow Oh Dokseo into watching me nervously.

“Don’t worry. Anyway, if we do nothing, the status window anomaly will appear sometime between years five and six.”

“Huh? Wait, Mister. Year five? Isn’t that way too late for something we’re calling a speedrun?”

“Yes. We need to drag the Logout Game out into the open ourselves. That’s why I brought you to Japan.”

“...?”

The following day, after getting plenty of rest, we resumed the speedrun stream.

[“All God of Alienation-class anomalies have domains of their own.”]

[“Among them, the ‘Operator of All Things at Play’ exerts influence not only over games, but over creative works in general.”]

[“This is clear from the anomalies under its control alone. Hero Syndrome, Salvation Narrative Syndrome, Reincarnation Truck, Chekhov’s Gun. All are anomalies connected to creative works.”]

“Huh,” Oh Dokseo murmured as she tied her shoelaces.

“So that’s why we’re using a speedrun stream format? A ‘stream’ is a kind of creative work too, after all.”

[“Precisely.”]

As usual, the Saintess relayed my words to Oh Dokseo in a whisper.

[“The more we become part of a creative work, and the greater our power grows, the more likely the ‘Operator of All Things at Play’ is to appear before us.”]

“Ahh—okay, okay. Got it.”

[“I’m glad you understand. Now, let’s change your class to magical girl.”]

“...?”

I guided Oh Dokseo toward Japan’s Noto Peninsula, where the Magical Girl Council’s headquarters was located.

She had been about to follow the navigation instructions without a second thought, but slammed on the brakes.

“Ack, wait! Wait! Magical girl? Where did that come from? Why do I have to become a magical girl? You said they were all crazy!”

[“Because magical girls—in other words, Japan’s awakened—are a textbook example of a class that draws its power from ‘creative works.’”]

Indeed.

Though it was partly coincidence, in a sense, every awakened in the Japanese archipelago was effectively a believer serving the [Operator of All Things at Play].

Magical girls always embodied justice, fighting against evil. Except in a handful of wicked works, magical girls always won.

Relying on these “clichés” of magical girl fiction, the awakened of the Japanese archipelago resisted the anomalies eating away at the world.

I treasured comrades like Manyoneko.

But from the vantage point of run 593, a somewhat colder assessment was this: to fight anomalies, they had themselves become “anomalies” called “magical girls.”

It was a textbook case of a fall.

[“But not every fall is a bad thing.”]

In a speedrun, we had to use everything available.

[“The stronger a magical girl’s inherent power becomes, the more closely connected she becomes to a God of Alienation. In other words, under the right circumstances, we can bring the appearance of the ‘Operator of All Things at Play’ forward considerably.”]

“Ah...”

[“Oh Dokseo. You have already used a creative work called <Hamel’s Journal> and embraced the cliché of the <hate potion>. Moreover, you have begun living according to a creative format called a <speedrun stream>.”]

“...”

[“Your entire existence is becoming steeped in creative works. No one is better suited than you to serve as the shrine maiden of the Operator of All Things at Play. All the more so if you become an honorary member of the Council and are reborn as a magical girl.”]

Of course, the Magical Girl Council was extremely hostile to outsiders.

Now that Oh Dokseo made an unfavorable first impression on every other human, joining the Council would be even harder.

But as I had already revealed several times, there was an established strategy for getting registered with the Council.

Three days later.

“... Thank you. I never imagined an awakened from Korea would clear Inunaki Tunnel. As the Council’s representative, allow me to express my gratitude.”

The High Shrine Maiden, chair of the Magical Girl Council, bowed her head politely.

Despite being a hardcore otaku, Oh Dokseo was terrible at conversational Japanese. The Saintess therefore had to serve as a real-time translator.

“But...”

The High Shrine Maiden raised her head slightly.

“May I ask why you’re covered in bird droppings?”

That was because The Total Fortune System had begun inflicting small misfortunes on us. Not only Oh Dokseo, but the Saintess and I had also been showered in bird shit.

Oh Dokseo looked miserable.

“Oh, it’s fine. Please don’t mind it...”

“Hmm. Very well.”

The High Shrine Maiden opened her fan.

“Still, your wish to join our Council is quite unexpected. We’re a small organization that was only recently founded. May I ask why a foreigner from another land has taken an interest in us?”

“Oh, um. Because... I guess you could say I saw potential in you. Friends! Tomodachi! Friendship grows deeper when you stick together through the hard times, right?”

“...”

“Ugh...”

The High Shrine Maiden gave her a suspicious look over her fan.

Here was someone who had felt inexplicably unpleasant from the very first impression. And even if these were apocalyptic times, she had entered the guest room covered in bird shit.

An instinctive aversion must have welled up inside her.

But Oh Dokseo had successfully cleared Inunaki Tunnel by following my instructions.

If the Magical Girl Council accepted her, it could dress up that achievement as its own.

“Hmm. We’re not yet prepared to admit foreigners. Arranging a proper position for you would be difficult in several respects...”

“Oh! That’s fine! Honorary membership is enough. All you need to do is recognize that I qualify as a magical girl!”

“Oh, really? Then that’s simple.”

SNAP

The High Shrine Maiden closed her fan.

“Find a god to form a contract with. We magical girls each fight alongside a god of our own as our partner.”

They called them gods for convenience, but magical girls could take anything as a partner.

Whether a human, a pet, or even an anomaly, a magical girl could serve it as her god if she wished.

“Come back to me with your god later, and I’ll grant you magical girl status as well. Oh, and if you don’t have a suitable god to serve, I could introduce you to one...”

“Oh. That won’t be necessary.”

Oh Dokseo smiled sheepishly.

“I already have one. A god I serve.”

“Hm? What god?”

“The Undertaker.”

Listening to the conversation from my distant hiding place, I froze.

Because just before coming here, we had agreed that she would serve the “Saintess of National Salvation” as her god.

The Saintess commanded several constellations. That alone was enough to say she was deeply connected to the clichés of “constellation fiction.”

More importantly, placing her in the position of a god would give her whispered Telepathy the character of a “revelation.”

For several reasons, the Saintess was better suited to being her partner than I was.

Yet Oh Dokseo had broken our agreement of her own accord and brought up my alias instead.

The High Shrine Maiden tilted her head.

“The Undertaker? I’ve never heard of that god.”

“Yes. He’s my own god.”

“I should warn you that inventing a god that doesn’t actually exist won’t establish a contract. The god must be present here.”

“That’s no problem. He definitely exists. He’s always watching, and he’s here right now. You just can’t see him.”

“... Oh my, really? He must be a deity of quite high standing.”

The High Shrine Maiden chuckled.

“Then I’ll conclude the contract here and now. However, if it fails, consider the matter of your membership closed.”

“Please do.”

FLUTTER

The High Shrine Maiden opened her fan.

“In the name of Tamamo-no-Mae, I call upon you, O god. O god called by the name Undertaker. Bestow your care and protection upon the human before me.”

I felt my body float slightly.

At the same time, I sensed something like a thin, transparent thread connecting Oh Dokseo and me.

“... He really does exist? And he’s powerful.”

The High Shrine Maiden was astonished.

“No, is powerful the right word? This is... The very fact that he accepted the contract makes no... Undertaker? Undertaker. I’ve truly never heard of this deity, so how...”

“Is something wrong?”

“... Nothing is wrong. But you serve an exceedingly dangerous deity. The stronger your god, the stronger you will become, but borrowing a god’s power is by no means an interest-free loan.”

The High Shrine Maiden folded her fan.

“The more a shrine maiden depends on her god, the more she is reduced to a mere tool. In the end, she becomes the god’s plaything, transformed into a conduit through which the god itself can descend to earth. Be careful.”

“Thank you, for concern,” Oh Dokseo said in awkwardly pronounced Japanese.

“But will be fine. Probably.”

After learning various other guidelines from the High Shrine Maiden—mostly useless things like having to shout “Transform!” whenever she transformed into a magical girl—Oh Dokseo left the base.

That night.

Once the stream ended and it was time to rest, I approached Oh Dokseo and asked her a question.

“Why did you say you would serve me as your god instead of the Saintess?”

“Hmm...”

Oh Dokseo scratched her cheek.

After a long silence, she spoke bluntly.

“I thought it made more sense. Mister, you said magical girls are all actually becoming addicted to the clichés of creative works... and that makes them believers being consumed by the God of Alienation called the [Operator of All Things at Play], right?”

“Yes.”

“Then what does that make me, someone who read about this world in advance through a novel called <Omniscient Regression Viewpoint>?”

“...”

The soft cries of starlings sounded around us.

“From the beginning, I’ve half seen this world as a story in a creative work. Ever since I was suddenly summoned to Busan Station. After all, I’d definitely read a novel with you as its protagonist not long before that.”

“...”

“So I wanted to ask you, Mister. Could it be...”

Oh Dokseo adjusted her baseball cap and turned to look at me.

“Was I someone consumed by a God of Alienation from the very beginning?”

Yes.

This was why I had not dared attempt to defeat the [Operator of All Things at Play] before Oh Dokseo appeared.

Just as Cheon Yohwa had been Gapless’s apostle and shrine maiden, the shrine maiden of the [Operator of All Things at Play] was the self-proclaimed book transmigrator, a being fated to view this world as a creative work.

Oh Dokseo.