Chapter 71: The Mourner (1)
Yidhra, the Dream Witch, is an Outer God who appears in the Cthulhu Mythos, and among them, she is the only deity to genuinely harbor affection for humanity. Put simply, she is a god from another dimension and an aberration who has whimsically joined the games of other universes. Despite this, there is no one who can criticize her actions. She held a status that allowed her to be forgiven for anything she did. Among the gods of other dimensions, her personality is relatively mild. Perhaps that’s why the system, the publishers, and even the GMs left her to her own devices. Anyway, I was an avatar of such a deity. I have no idea why Yidhra chose me as her avatar. She rooted for my survival, and after humanity’s destruction, she ultimately abandoned me, my god.
“Hmm, anyway. Today is a bit of an unusual day, isn’t it?” Yidhra said, avoiding my gaze. It seemed she was a bit embarrassed by her earlier careless laughter.
“So, what did you want to ask?”
“I have a question regarding the Dream Dungeon.”
“That’s an unexpected question.”
“It just popped into my head.”
Yidhra narrowed her eyes at my evasive answer. It was understandable that she found it strange, considering I suddenly mentioned a dungeon entirely unrelated to our current situation.
She stared at me for a while without saying anything. I thought she might ask why I suddenly asked about the Dream Dungeon, but she showed no sign of it. About five minutes later, Yidhra quietly said,
“Do you mean to say that our current situation is the very dream you’ve envisioned?”
I didn’t respond because her words struck a nerve.
I never thought she would retort in such a way just from hearing that question.
“Indeed.”
Yidhra laughed pleasantly.
“The Dream Dungeon… I see. So, that’s why you called my name.”
“No, it’s nothing special.”
“Beings like humans do not change their attitudes overnight. Rather, any entity with a personality would be the same. As with humans, so with gods who take on human forms.”
If one has a heart and can feel emotions, it would inevitably be so.
Yidhra spoke like that.
“You aren’t the type to dwell on the past nor have you ever visited the Dream Dungeon. Besides, the current situation has nothing to do with the Dream Dungeon, so I had no choice but to think that way.”
Her casual words left me flabbergasted.
“Do you not care if you’re just a fake?”
“It doesn’t matter to me one bit. Ah… hold on.”
Yidhra put a finger to her lips and smiled seductively.
“You never called me by the name you know, did you? That’s quite delightful to hear indeed.”
Her expression was unreadable as she looked at me intently.
“After all, I am known as the Dream Witch. Any fantasy or dream, whether it exists at the boundaries of my concern, I might not know about this place as the real me.”
“Can you really know that?”
“By nature, the very existence of a god is irrational.”
I wasn’t sure if she was real or not, but if it were her, she might really know something. However, it seemed she didn’t know about my return to the past, so she was likely bluffing.
“There are just a few strange points that I notice… but I shall not ask about them.”
The Dream Dungeon no longer exists in this world.
It was destroyed long ago.
That means if I used the Dream Dungeon, I am someone from the past. It was certainly strange to Yidhra that someone from the past could be aware of future events in such a way.
“Anyway, I would like you to tell me more about the Dream Dungeon. There are a few points that are bothersome.”
“Bothersome in what way?”
“It’s too perfect.”
Human memory is not perfect.
But the world around me now was too perfect.
I am not so detail-oriented to have engraved the entire world in my head.
With the experiences of others, I might go along with it, but now that I’m experiencing it myself, it’s more than just odd.
“I can’t even remember the faces of players I happen to pass by. But they were clearly humans who exist in this world.”
I don’t remember, but I have a feeling that such people existed.
I wanted to know whether they were just randomly generated by the dungeon or if they were real humans of this time. If I knew how the Dream Dungeon operated, it might help me complete my current quest.
Upon hearing my words, Yidhra nodded arrogantly.
“As expected of my avatar. Indeed, human memory is all too imperfect. Thus, usually, it’s not possible to create such a world merely from human memory.”
“What does that mean?”
“Simply put, it searches the era based on human memory. Then, the world of that time is copied exactly as it is. If it’s processed through the system, it’s entirely possible.”
I see, even the reward of the dungeon, Laplace’s Hourglass, was about borrowing time from the future.
If the Dream Dungeon operated on such a mechanism, it made sense.
After all, I am someone who has returned to the past with a DLC package.
I might have doubted it in the past, but not now.
“Your world, past or future, is accurately depicted here. Beings here will act and think just like the individuals from that time. Of course, they are not real. They are merely fantasies created by the dungeon.”
Yidhra said, pointing at herself.
“Even this me.”
The way she said it, she really did seem unconcerned.
Knowing that she was a copied fake and still being so nonchalant, I honestly found it admirable.
Or perhaps, that was typical of her.
‘If I recall the words from my past life, Yidhra’s words seem correct.’
Those who visited the Dream Dungeon often found that facts they were unaware of were realized within the dungeon. And astoundingly, those were true.
That means there is a high chance it was exactly copied, as Yidhra suggested.
“Alright… if that’s the case, I think I get it.”
“Oh? What do you understand?”
“How to beat this quest.”
If the world was fully copied, then the quest would be the same as well.
And so would be the system.
The way to clear the Dream Dungeon is to complete this horrible quest given to me in my past life.
I might be able to clear the quest even using the same methods as before.
But there was one thing that puzzled me.
Some players who visited the Dream Dungeon received no reward.
In fact, more players did not get any reward than those who did.
Why was there such a difference?
I was curious about that.
‘Perhaps it’s because I shouldn’t clear it with the answers I already know.’
And that was the thing I regret most.
Repeating the past was certainly not what the Dream Dungeon desired.
It required completion in the most ideal way, a way I hadn’t attempted in my past life.
And I was also genuinely curious.
If I had saved that child…
If so, what would have happened?
***
“Are you looking for someone?”
“Yes, there’s someone I need to find.”
My sudden statement seemed to catch Song Siwoo off guard.
His expression read, ‘Why such a foolish act in this urgent situation?’
“Who are you looking for?”
“Lee Min-ah.”
Her name seemed to startle Song Siwoo, possibly because Lee Min-ah had been missing for quite some time. Once a prominent figure, she had disappeared from the public eye at a point in time.
“Do you intend to enlist her help in combat? Would the whimsical Lee Min-ah be willing to assist?”
“Yes, that’s part of it. But more than that, I need something she can make.”
“Something she can make?”
Although I found out later, Lee Min-ah was also quite knowledgeable in alchemy. Thanks to her eclectic god-given talents.
Though her iconic skill was transformation, the true value of Lee Min-ah was not limited to it.
She owned a variety of utility skills and had considerable skills in both alchemy and magic.
That’s why, despite not being very active, she became a renowned top player.
“An Elixir. Can you make one, Song Siwoo?”
“Ah, I’m afraid that’s beyond me.”
For him, a blacksmith, alchemy was a different discipline.
He smiled wryly and shook his head, continuing his thought with a nod.
“However, I doubt any player knows where to find Lee Min-ah. She’s infamous for being elusive, isn’t she?”
“Indeed, that’s likely.”
If Song Siwoo didn’t know, other players probably wouldn’t either.
Well-known players would inevitably have connections with Song Siwoo.
Since the equipment he made was the best, it was natural.
If he didn’t know, it meant no player knew Lee Min-ah’s whereabouts.
At least not among players.
“So then…”
Song Siwoo wished me luck finding her before disappearing.
He was probably busy crafting equipment for other players.
If they fail the quest, their lives are in jeopardy, so it was a natural response.
‘Lee Min-ah must be doing this quest too.’
Why isn’t she showing herself?
She must know she would die if she failed the quest.
After all, she has always been free-spirited, making her hard to predict.
Later, her emergence among the living suggests she chose the 1,000 players over 10 million civilians.
But the current problem is where she is.
‘…Can’t be helped.’
If players don’t know, there’s only one answer.
Asking a god.
If I could access the chatroom, I could easily find out, but I couldn’t connect to the chatroom currently.
“Yidhra, do you know where Lee Min-ah is right now?”
I asked, hoping she was watching from somewhere, but no notification pinged in the message window.
Only black smoke billowed behind me.
Hush.
In an instant, the smoke coalesced into the figure of a person.
A golden-haired woman with golden eyes.
“You’ve become quite demanding, Contractor.”
She seemed quite amused as she spoke.
“You normally ignore me so much.”
“Since it’s just an illusion, I thought I could afford to be a bit shameless.”
At my words, Yidhra gave a light chuckle.
I couldn’t fathom what she found so amusing.
“Besides, couldn’t you have just sent a message? Is there a need to manifest here in person? I know that appears quite costly in terms of points.”
“It’s trivial to me. As you said, it’s all illusion. What’s the point in saving up points right now?”
Her response made perfect sense.
“So, where is Lee Min-ah?”
“That girl is in Cheonan.”
“What?”
It was an unexpected location.
I thought she’d definitely be in Seoul.
Now, Korea is almost completely destroyed everywhere but Seoul.
There are barely ten million people left alive, and half of them are in Seoul.
That’s because Seoul has the highest concentration of players.
Civilians had no choice but to move to Seoul for survival.
But Cheonan?
‘Min-ah seemed to hate leaving Seoul.’
Was there another reason for the discrepancy between the Min-ah of the past and the present?
Or was it a difference related to the Dream Dungeon?
‘My head hurts.’
Going to Cheonan wasn’t difficult.
The trains were still running, so I could get there in about a day.
Since the opposing forces hadn’t attacked before the last day of the quest, the likelihood of a raid was nonexistent.
Min-suho’s survival was a variable, but as I saw earlier, he didn’t harm others recklessly.
Except for the Contractor of the Demon.
“We’ll go to Cheonan.”
“Are you sure it’s alright to leave this place unattended?”
“Yes, but just in case, I should warn the other players.”
In my previous life, I fought all the major players of the opposing forces and killed them.
Not because I was stronger, but because I knew how to counter them.
If I passed on some of that knowledge to the players, even if they were attacked, they might not defeat them but could chase them away.
Chapter 71: The Mourner (1)
Yidhra, the Dream Witch, is an Outer God who appears in the Cthulhu Mythos, and among them, she is the only deity to genuinely harbor affection for humanity. Put simply, she is a god from another dimension and an aberration who has whimsically joined the games of other universes. Despite this, there is no one who can criticize her actions. She held a status that allowed her to be forgiven for anything she did. Among the gods of other dimensions, her personality is relatively mild. Perhaps that’s why the system, the publishers, and even the GMs left her to her own devices. Anyway, I was an avatar of such a deity. I have no idea why Yidhra chose me as her avatar. She rooted for my survival, and after humanity’s destruction, she ultimately abandoned me, my god.
“Hmm, anyway. Today is a bit of an unusual day, isn’t it?” Yidhra said, avoiding my gaze. It seemed she was a bit embarrassed by her earlier careless laughter.
“So, what did you want to ask?”
“I have a question regarding the Dream Dungeon.”
“That’s an unexpected question.”
“It just popped into my head.”
Yidhra narrowed her eyes at my evasive answer. It was understandable that she found it strange, considering I suddenly mentioned a dungeon entirely unrelated to our current situation.
She stared at me for a while without saying anything. I thought she might ask why I suddenly asked about the Dream Dungeon, but she showed no sign of it. About five minutes later, Yidhra quietly said,
“Do you mean to say that our current situation is the very dream you’ve envisioned?”
I didn’t respond because her words struck a nerve.
I never thought she would retort in such a way just from hearing that question.
“Indeed.”
Yidhra laughed pleasantly.
“The Dream Dungeon… I see. So, that’s why you called my name.”
“No, it’s nothing special.”
“Beings like humans do not change their attitudes overnight. Rather, any entity with a personality would be the same. As with humans, so with gods who take on human forms.”
If one has a heart and can feel emotions, it would inevitably be so.
Yidhra spoke like that.
“You aren’t the type to dwell on the past nor have you ever visited the Dream Dungeon. Besides, the current situation has nothing to do with the Dream Dungeon, so I had no choice but to think that way.”
Her casual words left me flabbergasted.
“Do you not care if you’re just a fake?”
“It doesn’t matter to me one bit. Ah… hold on.”
Yidhra put a finger to her lips and smiled seductively.
“You never called me by the name you know, did you? That’s quite delightful to hear indeed.”
Her expression was unreadable as she looked at me intently.
“After all, I am known as the Dream Witch. Any fantasy or dream, whether it exists at the boundaries of my concern, I might not know about this place as the real me.”
“Can you really know that?”
“By nature, the very existence of a god is irrational.”
I wasn’t sure if she was real or not, but if it were her, she might really know something. However, it seemed she didn’t know about my return to the past, so she was likely bluffing.
“There are just a few strange points that I notice… but I shall not ask about them.”
The Dream Dungeon no longer exists in this world.
It was destroyed long ago.
That means if I used the Dream Dungeon, I am someone from the past. It was certainly strange to Yidhra that someone from the past could be aware of future events in such a way.
“Anyway, I would like you to tell me more about the Dream Dungeon. There are a few points that are bothersome.”
“Bothersome in what way?”
“It’s too perfect.”
Human memory is not perfect.
But the world around me now was too perfect.
I am not so detail-oriented to have engraved the entire world in my head.
With the experiences of others, I might go along with it, but now that I’m experiencing it myself, it’s more than just odd.
“I can’t even remember the faces of players I happen to pass by. But they were clearly humans who exist in this world.”
I don’t remember, but I have a feeling that such people existed.
I wanted to know whether they were just randomly generated by the dungeon or if they were real humans of this time. If I knew how the Dream Dungeon operated, it might help me complete my current quest.
Upon hearing my words, Yidhra nodded arrogantly.
“As expected of my avatar. Indeed, human memory is all too imperfect. Thus, usually, it’s not possible to create such a world merely from human memory.”
“What does that mean?”
“Simply put, it searches the era based on human memory. Then, the world of that time is copied exactly as it is. If it’s processed through the system, it’s entirely possible.”
I see, even the reward of the dungeon, Laplace’s Hourglass, was about borrowing time from the future.
If the Dream Dungeon operated on such a mechanism, it made sense.
After all, I am someone who has returned to the past with a DLC package.
I might have doubted it in the past, but not now.
“Your world, past or future, is accurately depicted here. Beings here will act and think just like the individuals from that time. Of course, they are not real. They are merely fantasies created by the dungeon.”
Yidhra said, pointing at herself.
“Even this me.”
The way she said it, she really did seem unconcerned.
Knowing that she was a copied fake and still being so nonchalant, I honestly found it admirable.
Or perhaps, that was typical of her.
‘If I recall the words from my past life, Yidhra’s words seem correct.’
Those who visited the Dream Dungeon often found that facts they were unaware of were realized within the dungeon. And astoundingly, those were true.
That means there is a high chance it was exactly copied, as Yidhra suggested.
“Alright… if that’s the case, I think I get it.”
“Oh? What do you understand?”
“How to beat this quest.”
If the world was fully copied, then the quest would be the same as well.
And so would be the system.
The way to clear the Dream Dungeon is to complete this horrible quest given to me in my past life.
I might be able to clear the quest even using the same methods as before.
But there was one thing that puzzled me.
Some players who visited the Dream Dungeon received no reward.
In fact, more players did not get any reward than those who did.
Why was there such a difference?
I was curious about that.
‘Perhaps it’s because I shouldn’t clear it with the answers I already know.’
And that was the thing I regret most.
Repeating the past was certainly not what the Dream Dungeon desired.
It required completion in the most ideal way, a way I hadn’t attempted in my past life.
And I was also genuinely curious.
If I had saved that child…
If so, what would have happened?
***
“Are you looking for someone?”
“Yes, there’s someone I need to find.”
My sudden statement seemed to catch Song Siwoo off guard.
His expression read, ‘Why such a foolish act in this urgent situation?’
“Who are you looking for?”
“Lee Min-ah.”
Her name seemed to startle Song Siwoo, possibly because Lee Min-ah had been missing for quite some time. Once a prominent figure, she had disappeared from the public eye at a point in time.
“Do you intend to enlist her help in combat? Would the whimsical Lee Min-ah be willing to assist?”
“Yes, that’s part of it. But more than that, I need something she can make.”
“Something she can make?”
Although I found out later, Lee Min-ah was also quite knowledgeable in alchemy. Thanks to her eclectic god-given talents.
Though her iconic skill was transformation, the true value of Lee Min-ah was not limited to it.
She owned a variety of utility skills and had considerable skills in both alchemy and magic.
That’s why, despite not being very active, she became a renowned top player.
“An Elixir. Can you make one, Song Siwoo?”
“Ah, I’m afraid that’s beyond me.”
For him, a blacksmith, alchemy was a different discipline.
He smiled wryly and shook his head, continuing his thought with a nod.
“However, I doubt any player knows where to find Lee Min-ah. She’s infamous for being elusive, isn’t she?”
“Indeed, that’s likely.”
If Song Siwoo didn’t know, other players probably wouldn’t either.
Well-known players would inevitably have connections with Song Siwoo.
Since the equipment he made was the best, it was natural.
If he didn’t know, it meant no player knew Lee Min-ah’s whereabouts.
At least not among players.
“So then…”
Song Siwoo wished me luck finding her before disappearing.
He was probably busy crafting equipment for other players.
If they fail the quest, their lives are in jeopardy, so it was a natural response.
‘Lee Min-ah must be doing this quest too.’
Why isn’t she showing herself?
She must know she would die if she failed the quest.
After all, she has always been free-spirited, making her hard to predict.
Later, her emergence among the living suggests she chose the 1,000 players over 10 million civilians.
But the current problem is where she is.
‘…Can’t be helped.’
If players don’t know, there’s only one answer.
Asking a god.
If I could access the chatroom, I could easily find out, but I couldn’t connect to the chatroom currently.
“Yidhra, do you know where Lee Min-ah is right now?”
I asked, hoping she was watching from somewhere, but no notification pinged in the message window.
Only black smoke billowed behind me.
Hush.
In an instant, the smoke coalesced into the figure of a person.
A golden-haired woman with golden eyes.
“You’ve become quite demanding, Contractor.”
She seemed quite amused as she spoke.
“You normally ignore me so much.”
“Since it’s just an illusion, I thought I could afford to be a bit shameless.”
At my words, Yidhra gave a light chuckle.
I couldn’t fathom what she found so amusing.
“Besides, couldn’t you have just sent a message? Is there a need to manifest here in person? I know that appears quite costly in terms of points.”
“It’s trivial to me. As you said, it’s all illusion. What’s the point in saving up points right now?”
Her response made perfect sense.
“So, where is Lee Min-ah?”
“That girl is in Cheonan.”
“What?”
It was an unexpected location.
I thought she’d definitely be in Seoul.
Now, Korea is almost completely destroyed everywhere but Seoul.
There are barely ten million people left alive, and half of them are in Seoul.
That’s because Seoul has the highest concentration of players.
Civilians had no choice but to move to Seoul for survival.
But Cheonan?
‘Min-ah seemed to hate leaving Seoul.’
Was there another reason for the discrepancy between the Min-ah of the past and the present?
Or was it a difference related to the Dream Dungeon?
‘My head hurts.’
Going to Cheonan wasn’t difficult.
The trains were still running, so I could get there in about a day.
Since the opposing forces hadn’t attacked before the last day of the quest, the likelihood of a raid was nonexistent.
Min-suho’s survival was a variable, but as I saw earlier, he didn’t harm others recklessly.
Except for the Contractor of the Demon.
“We’ll go to Cheonan.”
“Are you sure it’s alright to leave this place unattended?”
“Yes, but just in case, I should warn the other players.”
In my previous life, I fought all the major players of the opposing forces and killed them.
Not because I was stronger, but because I knew how to counter them.
If I passed on some of that knowledge to the players, even if they were attacked, they might not defeat them but could chase them away.
