Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Chapter 4

Commencing the Paid Service (4)

A burst of laughter escaped me. Rubbing my eyes, I checked the screen once more, wondering if my mind was playing tricks on me. The file extension read .TXT. Did that mean... the gift sent to me was actually a manuscript of his novel?

[You have been granted an exclusive attribute.]

[The unique skill slot has been initialized.]

As I opened the file, a notification chimed in my ear. It struck me as entirely plausible that the world had transformed into the reality of ‘Ways of Survival.’ Every survivor of that story was bound to possess exclusive attributes and skills.

I mentally commanded, ‘Attribute Window.’ I needed to understand the nature of the power I had just acquired.

[The Attribute Window cannot be initialized.]

What? I tried invoking it again, but the response remained unchanged.

This was preposterous. Am I truly blocked from it? If the Attribute Window was inaccessible, how could I possibly identify my own status or abilities?

To know yourself and your enemy is the path to certain victory. Yet, here I was, unable to even discern my own capabilities, let alone judge the threat of my adversaries.

After staring blankly into the abyss of my thoughts, I surrendered and turned my focus back to reading the author’s text.

[Your reading speed has accelerated due to the influence of your exclusive attribute.]

I didn't know what this attribute actually was, but the effect was undeniable; I burned through the first arc of Ways of Survival in less than a minute.

There it was. My eyes locked onto the passage describing the protagonist’s initial ‘action’ during the train sequence.

「 He surveyed the group huddled near the back doors of carriage 3707. The iron wheel of his lighter felt bitterly cold against his skin. In this incarnation, failure was not an option. He would stop at nothing to fulfill his objective. He observed the pure terror etched onto their faces, feeling absolutely no remorse. Existence itself was ephemeral. With eyes devoid of mercy, he watched them. Moments later, his thumb flicked, and the flames roared to life. And thus, it began. 」

A shiver crawled down my spine. I was forced to reread the lines multiple times. The source of my growing dread soon became clear.

“...3707.”

Instinctively, I glanced at the identification number of my current carriage.

[3807].

I was in the carriage directly behind the one the protagonist occupied. My hands began to tremble.

...Wait a heartbeat. Exactly how many people survived that carriage?

「 He peered through the frosted glass at carriage 3807. It was already too late. Tragedy was inevitable. Ultimately, only two souls survived that carriage. 」

Only two survivors. That meant everyone else had perished. And I already knew exactly who those two survivors were.

I lifted my head and turned to Yoo Sangah with a vacant gaze. Perhaps she was destined to die. And I, as well.

“Dokja-ssi, shouldn't we try to stop this?”

Action had broken out exactly where Yoo Sangah was pointing. A low, pained groan drifted over. A young man was looming over an elderly woman who had collapsed.

“Damn it, I’m in a foul mood and this old hag won't stop whining! Can’t you just shut your mouth?”

The youth was a student who had been loitering by the entrance. He was thin, his hair bleached a stark white. A badge pinned to his uniform clearly displayed his name: Kim Namwoon. I knew that name all too well.

「 Only Lee Hyunsung and Kim Namwoon survived that carriage. It matters little. Regardless, they are the only two I require. 」

“I told you to be quiet, didn’t I?”

The volatile Kim Namwoon yanked the grandmother’s collar. Her frail legs wobbled as she struggled to stand. His hand swung through the air.

Smack. Smack.

Normally, someone would have rushed to intervene. Now, however, the crowd remained paralyzed. It wasn’t long before the sharp slaps devolved into heavy punches.

“H-Help me. Please, save me!”

The sickening sound of fists striking flesh rang out. Several men near Kim Namwoon shifted uncomfortably, yet none dared to step forward. To my surprise, the first to act was Han Myungoh.

“Kid, have some respect for your elders...!”

His protest was met only with a sneer.

“Old man, do you want to die?”

“...What?”

“Are you still too slow to grasp the situation?”

“What kind of insanity is this punk spouting?”

Kim Namwoon merely laughed at Han Myungoh’s indignation. He gestured upward toward the ceiling of the subway car.

“Can’t you see it?”

A holographic display was flickering above them.

[P-Please, mercy!]

[Aaaack!]

[Die! Die!]

It wasn't limited to the subway; the feed showed people perishing across the entire country in real-time. Kim Namwoon continued, his voice dripping with malice.

“Still don’t get it? No army is coming to save us. One of us has to die.”

“W-What are you saying...?”

“We have to choose a victim.”

Han Myungoh stood frozen, unable to find his voice. The hair on his arms stood on end.

“I know what’s going through your head. You think killing a fellow citizen to survive is something only a monster would do. But look at the reality—this is a force beyond our control. If we don’t kill, we perish. Who will judge us for that? Will you choose to die for the sake of your precious morality?”

“T-That...”

“Think hard. The world as you knew it has officially ceased to exist.”

Han Myungoh’s shoulders shook violently. He wasn’t alone; panic was etched into the eyes of everyone nearby. The collective sense of morality was splintering, and Kim Namwoon was driving a wedge into every crack.

“A new world demands a new set of rules.”

Kim Namwoon. He was the first to fully adapt to the brutal reality of Ways of Survival.

He turned back and resumed his assault on the grandmother. This time, no one made a move to stop him. Not Han Myungoh, not the other men... not even Lee Hyunsung.

The soldier’s fists trembled as he stared into the distance with a hollow expression. Perhaps he, too, had reached a dark decision.

“Sigh... Taking a life is such a chore. Are you all just going to watch? Do you want to be the ones left behind?”

The crowd recoiled at his words. Their expressions were as transparent as the lines of a cheap, poorly written novel.

「 If no one is killed within five minutes, everyone in this carriage will be executed. 」

The gazes of the people began to shift.

「 If the grandmother doesn’t die, we will all perish in five minutes... 」

It was the primal, desperate look of a cornered beast.

“Yes... this kid is right. If we don’t do this, we’re all dead.”

The first man lunged toward Kim Namwoon, kicking at the curled-up figure of the old woman.

“Have you forgotten? Someone has to die so the rest of us can live!”

“Ah, damn it... I don’t know anymore.”

The second, then the third joined in.

The bystanders, the cowardly men, the university student filming the carnage—even the mother and Han Myungoh—began to circle in, complicit in the upcoming murder.

“Die! Hurry up and die!”

They acted like executioners acting in unison, spreading the burden of the crime so no single person would bear the weight of the sin alone. And I watched. I stood apart, observing as if this were unfolding in a distant reality.

The grandmother, whose name I would never know, was simply not a character meant to survive. In the original scenario, she died. Therefore... observing her demise wasn’t an act of cruelty.

Suddenly, Yoo Sangah stood up.

“You’ll be killed.” I grabbed her arm, my grip tight. “I told you not to move.”

Her arm was shuddering. She clenched her fists, desperately trying to contain the tremors.

“I know, I know...!”

“Yoo Sangah-ssi, if you walk into that, you’re throwing your life away.”

Fear clouded her eyes. Even so...

I realized then that even when the genre of a story shifts, some people simply burn with a brighter light.

“Yoo Sangah-ssi. Sit back down.”

But she wasn’t the one who could alter this tale. Yoo Sangah was not the protagonist of this world.

“Huh? But—”

“Just do as I say, this once. I won’t stand in your way again.”

After forcing her back onto the seat, I took a deep breath, turned around, and exhaled with a sharp tremor. I stretched my ankles and wrists, preparing myself.

In truth, my interference was premature. This wasn’t part of the original plan.

“...Dokja-ssi?”

I ignored her, focusing entirely on the crowd. They were intent on the slaughter.

I hadn’t hesitated out of cowardice toward Kim Namwoon or the mob; nor did I condone their savagery. I was simply biding my time. Waiting for the exact moment to strike.

BOOM!

Now.

“Ack! What was that?”

A deafening explosion rocked the carriage. People screamed as smoke billowed from the front right corner. It had begun. ‘He’ had made his move.

I pushed off the ground with maximum force, sprinting past the panicked masses toward the grandmother.

“What? Eeeeok!”

Kim Namwoon collided with me, collapsing with a howl. To the untrained eye, it looked like a desperate rescue, but that wasn’t my ultimate goal.

Where was it? I scanned the area frantically.

The explosion had caused someone to stumble toward the grandmother. It was that child, the one who had been holding the insect collecting net earlier.

“Pardon me for a second.”

I snatched the net from the boy’s hands.

I plunged my hand inside, the chitin of a grasshopper brushing against my fingers. I pulled one out, handed it to the child, and pivoted toward the mob.

“Everybody, stop. You don't have to kill the grandmother to survive.”

My voice cut through the momentary silence following the blast. One by one, their eyes turned to me.

“Let’s say you kill her. What happens next?”

Their stunned faces were delightful. I continued, driving the point home.

“Her death might satisfy the dokkaebi’s ‘first murder’ condition, buying you a bit more time. But what do you do afterward? If the dokkaebi’s rules hold true, everyone needs to kill. Who will you target then? The person standing right next to you?”

Panic surged through them as they backed away from one another. In truth, they already knew. The grandmother was only the beginning.

Kim Namwoon, sensing the shift, tried to regain control.

“Haha, what are you worried about? Just kill him next! Don’t be cowards. The odds are equal for everyone!”

I had anticipated his retort. I cut him off with a dismissive wave of my hand.

“There’s no need to resort to gambling. You don’t have to become murderers to survive.”

“What?”

“W-What are you talking about?”

The crowd erupted in confusion, and Kim Namwoon’s face twisted in rage.

“Have you already forgotten? The condition for clearing the scenario was never to ‘kill a person.’”

Most remained baffled, but a few faces sparked with realization.

[Kill one or more living things.]

Exactly. The scenario never specified ‘human.’ Any living creature would suffice. A shrewd observer spotted the net in my hand and shouted.

“Insects! We can use insects!”

The grasshoppers were frantically leaping inside the mesh. I gave a single nod.

“Precisely. Insects will work.”

I reached into the net, extracting a plump grasshopper I had spotted earlier.

“G-Give that to me! Now!”

“Just one! I only need one!”

I retreated slowly as they surged toward me. I was facing the same homicidal mania that had just sought to kill an innocent woman, yet a smile tugged at my lips. Why was my heart racing with such exhilaration? Even in this suffocating tension, I felt alive.

“Do you want one?”

I waved the net like a tamer teasing a beast. Several desperate people leapt toward me.

“Then go catch them!”

I crushed the grasshopper in my palm.

[You have completed the ‘First Kill’ achievement!]

[100 coins have been awarded as a bonus.]

Simultaneously, I threw the net with all my might toward the opposite side of the carriage, away from the grandmother and the crowd.

“This is madness!”

The insects spilled out, leaping toward every corner for their freedom.