Episode 158. Gain?
The grass on the lakeside was stained red. The elements that made up a person’s life were all spilled onto the ground.
No matter how strong a body is, if the source of consciousness is separated, life is lost. The sight was as eerie as the cold darkness that fell over Gahee.
The death of another is always a fearful thing. There is no need to explain the part where the body is torn apart and covered in blood.
The lakeside, with cherry blossom petals fluttering in the bright sunlight, suddenly transformed into a place like a cold night road.
Fortunately, the surroundings were quiet. No one was watching, so no screams could be heard.
And to me too… that cold sensation was transmitted as is. Because I had directly shared the ‘cutting of the neck’, my body also grew cold.
Dying without being able to fight back. What could be scarier than this?
Wiggle-
… existed.
As I said before, death is scary. Just looking at a corpse stained with blood makes my heart pound.
What’s even more bizarre is that the dead body suddenly starts moving.
Ssuk… –
A horrifying thing happened. Lyman’s decapitated upper body raised itself up.
This is ridiculous. It’s obvious that someone is controlling it with telekinesis or something.
However, for something that was being controlled, its movements were precise. It wasn’t a strange movement like a mannequin… it was a real ‘human’ behavior.
Chuck chuck-
The corpse walked over nonchalantly and picked up the severed head. It was the moment when it was attached to the cross-section of the neck like a helmet.
“Tch, tch. My neck feels so sore after dying for the first time in a while.”
The decapitated corpse came back to life. Lyman, his eyes focused again, moved his neck as if nothing had happened.
Did he never die in the first place? But the blood still remains on his neck. It’s not like it never happened.
“Hey, wake up.”
Lyman said, shaking the noose of pain around his wrist. He didn’t know how he had been resurrected, but there was still another body left.
Lyman approached the corpse and pinched its face. Then warmth returned to his cold face.
“Eww! My neck!”
I woke up with a start and immediately felt my neck. I checked it out, wondering if it was cut in the same way, but fortunately it was fine.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Lyman smiled brightly at my appearance and said:
“It’s okay! Do you know how much this hurt?”
“Anyway, I’m alive, so that’s okay. Right?”
Lyman speaks nonchalantly and releases the noose.
While he was smiling provocatively, I wanted to punch him in the face.
-Emotions towards user: Neutral
It was fortunate that at least his mind changed.
* * * * *
Lyman washed the blood that had splattered all over his body with lake water. Then he killed the monster that had attacked him from the surface and cooked it to death.
Me and the guy were sitting on a rock and eating that for lunch.
“Is it not tasty? Why are you frowning while eating it?”
“You just experienced that, how can you feel good about it?”
“Are you still joking? I knew you’d come back to life.”
“Still, how painful this is.”
You may have been through this before, but this is the first time I’ve ever felt the pain of having my neck cut off. If I hadn’t been tied to that noose, I would have just been lying there, cold.
“Anyway, you already knew that the noose of suffering wasn’t just about sharing pain?”
To be precise, it is a connection of souls. The pain that soul experiences is naturally shared, and so is the loss of breath.
Normally, I should have died when his throat was cut off. But since Lyman’s soul was intact, I was able to remain intact as well.
In other words, if I connect with an ‘immortal being’, I too will not die.
“So you knew you’d be okay. That’s why you didn’t try to stop me.”
“I told you. I know most things.”
“Then you know how I ended up in this state?”
“….”
Death is fair to everyone, even in this world. No matter how strong you are or how great your achievements are, once you die, you are nothing more than a corpse.
Even the annoying-looking Enviel and King Talema could not be safe.
But Lyman is different. It may be an excessive protagonist compensation, but he is immortal… a fate that is ‘unable to die.’ This is because the concept of ‘death’ was taken away from him long ago.
“Does that mean… you know how many days I’ve lived, and who I was born from?”
“that’s right.”
“Then all the secrets I’ve been keeping hidden?”
“….”
“Wow, I don’t know if I should keep this or not.”
I felt goosebumps when I saw Lyman suddenly release his wrist. He clearly had the expression of a villain trying to silence me.
‘Where does that look like the main character?’
Then Lyman looked at me with a meaningful look in his eyes and asked me.
“Then is the conversation we’re having now also a future that is included in the information you know?”
The future, yes. As someone who has cleared the entire main story, there is no way I wouldn’t know the future. That is, unless there is some kind of intervention.
So when I waved my hand, Lyman said,
“Then you’re saying that knowing everything doesn’t necessarily include the future?”
“It was included. Until recently.”
“Before?”
I told Lyman, who was questioning again, how the future had become distorted.
What I mean is that it was unclear how the main story was supposed to flow and how it would change in the future due to my intervention.
“No, then, in this timeline, you were destined to be expelled, and you didn’t want to end up like that, so you struggled and ended up going astray?”
“I was sweating bullets cleaning up the mess.”
Thanks to that, the flow was roughly similar to the main story. The aftermath of trying to turn the flow around was like bringing back a stone that was thrown into the river.
I threw it thinking that I would just collect it on the road anyway, but the ripples that spread out then came back as huge waves.
Eventually, everything was scorched to the point where it was beyond repair. An example of this is that people who should have died are still alive.
“Then, Saint Nevia and Bishop Heidern should have died originally.”
“Saint Nevia was saved because she was absolutely necessary. Principal Heidern was unexpected, though.”
“Then Professor Radian too…”
He was the only person he had ever known in his academy life. What would have happened if he had died like in the original? Lyman asked, clicking his tongue in disbelief.
“Then, if everything goes badly… do you know what kind of future will be drawn?”
“….”
The bad ending route is fully opened up with Radian’s death as the turning point.
Lyman is left reeling from the deaths of his former comrades and Mirona, thanks to the incited Imperials and various extremist xenophobes.
“Everyone dies. And you die too.”
All power is released, and the entire continent is shattered into pieces. It is truly a punishment from the heavens.
I’ve eliminated all the worst things to prevent that, like preying on Envyel.
“Then what if we go with a good flow?”
Then, at least the continent will not be destroyed. At the same time, the ‘unknown being’ who was controlling the empire from behind will be defeated, and peace will be found.
But the characters shed more tears than joy, because he, the main character, eventually leaves for good with ‘rest’.
“I see.”
“….”
“Haa… Then I feel relieved.”
Lyman was strangely delighted when he heard that sound. Even though he had heard of his future death, he was satisfied as if it was a goal he absolutely had to achieve.
“How did you feel when you saw that?”
“well.”
Although it is called a positive route, it is not always a good feeling. It is sad that the main character who was controlled with affection dies in the story.
It was ironic that the main character himself was asking how he felt about seeing such an ending.
“So can I ask now?”
“…?”
At this point, I feel like I’ve answered enough. Now that I’ve answered enough, it’s time for him to answer.
“Have you ever thought about wanting to live?”
“….”
“You shouldn’t feel wronged either. You didn’t want to have that ‘body’.”
It was strange to ask such a question to an immortal, but the question itself was a question about Lyman’s purpose.
I’m asking the main character what I wanted to ask him. How dreamlike is this? If there’s a fan this successful, I want to ask them to come out and see me.
“You say that even though you know about me?”
But the answer I heard from him didn’t seem very satisfying.
“You know what kind of life I’ve lived.”
What a foolish mother, taking responsibility and taking the lead, brought a curse upon her own children and disciples.
The child became immortal, and the disciple ended up meeting an unfortunate ending every time he was reincarnated.
There are a total of five reincarnations, with one remaining.
Lyman lived with the single-minded determination to break the curse, even if it meant sacrificing his own life.
“300 years, or 320 years to be exact? This may sound like a lie, but living long isn’t a good thing.”
Lyman said, tearing at the fish with the bones intact. The answer seemed to indicate that he was still not without his will to live.
It’s a waste of effort to go to an academy when there’s nothing more to learn. In a place where you go just for the sake of a goal, you’re just an ambiguous being who can’t be called a cadet.
He probably never thought of himself as a cadet.
“I will lift the curse and disappear from the world as planned. If I didn’t do that, it wouldn’t be good for you either, right? If you know everything.”
Lyman dying at the end is a happy ending for the world. Although it is sad, we have no choice but to choose to live rather than the continent being destroyed.
What I asked a little while ago was purely based on personal feelings.
“In the end, it’s a good ending for you and for me.”
“That’s true. If it doesn’t get twisted again.”
Even though the ending of the world was spoiled, the protagonist was not shaken at all. The world runs on the unfolding rails, but because of the existence of ‘me’, it cannot be allowed to change.
That is a good ending for the ‘main character’ and for ‘me’.
After finishing his meal, Lyman stood up and said.
“I don’t care if you’re a creator or a prophet. You don’t really interfere with my goals, so there’s no reason to be hostile.”
As long as we don’t get in each other’s way, we can do whatever we want. Then Lyman looked down sharply and continued.
“Of course, it’s a different story if you make someone look bad by swearing or laughing.”
“….”
I felt my liver turn cold again. I couldn’t refute it because it was definitely my mistake.
“But if the future is wrong, does that mean we don’t know what will happen next?”
“I guess so.”
Why is ‘Aisha’, who would never have popped out in this part, popping out now? It is clear that she has already stepped into uncharted territory.
“Then, is there another ending waiting for us that is neither ‘good’ nor ‘bad’?”
Lyman, who had floated a hypothesis, smiled slightly. Then, as if his business with me was over, he began to put on his shoes. He had taken them off when he entered the lake a little while ago.
“Anyway, don’t worry, I won’t use you just because you know everything. If I cling to you for no reason, there’s a high chance that I won’t see a good ending.”
Lyman has seen countless people over the years he has lived. He must have seen firsthand how a group that relies on just one person can end up in misery.
“I go my way, you go your way. Of course, we will meet often to share opinions.”
Lyman, who had finished putting on his shoes, started walking out of the forest. Surprisingly, for a guy with such a fierce temper, he seemed to let me go easily.
Usually, they use intimidation and other means to make them unable to use their hands or feet and then force them to do whatever they want.
“Oh, and.”
At that moment, Lyman stopped dead in his tracks. It was still possible to converse from a distance.
“I’m sorry I brought it up earlier when I mentioned your family.”
It seemed like he was talking about the incident where he was grabbed by the collar while sleeping and said something about ‘making my family look bad’. Even if it was a fake threat, it would be hard for a human being to just ignore it.
Why does the ‘devil’ look more human? I was wondering why Lyman looked so different.
“Can I ask you one last favor?”
“…?”
Lyman’s face, which had been looking out at the forest, was turned towards me. His eyes, which were always rough, had a mysterious look in them.
“I used to train with Jenny, Mary, and Ruska, and they often talked about you.”
“….”
“If anything happens to me, I’ll leave it to them.”
It was Lyman who had never asked a favor of me, not even to a professor. I could tell that he trusted me.
And on the rock where Lyman was sitting, there was a black bead. At that moment, I touched the black bead, wondering if it was something that had been left behind.
[The ‘Black Orb’ reacts to the user’s focus.]
As the beads seeped into my body, several windows opened.
[Activation of previous route! The path to the higher class of ‘Outlaw’ is now open.]
‘Isn’t that a huge gain?’
Surviving as an Academy Fraudster
