Chapter 129: Fiction in Fiction – III
Jinhee stared at the horde of zombies- No. 'Demonic Humans.'
She wrote the setting, so she should stick with it.
Anyway, Jinhee stared at the horde of Demonic Humans and stopped for a bit to think.
She was at a street just outside the entrance to the underground subway system, but it looked like the broken bridge wasn't too far away.
If this was the beginning, the objective should be to cross the bridge and reach the subway station-
Wait.
Jinhee glanced at the nearby name of the station, a faint hope in her heart.
...But nope. It wasn't 'Oksu Station' like she hoped.
Which meant that she was on the other side of the bridge.
...Which meant that her characters should be arriving soon?
Right! If this was the beginning, then the timing should just be about right.
Although it was similar, the train they were on at the start didn't have the main characters, so there was a chance that they'd show up soon.
And if this 'world' or rather 'game' they were in followed the concept of 'probability' and 'narratives' then the flow of the plot should stay the same.
Well, there was Oppa and Seonhwa who were so strong they forced the Disaster of Floods to spawn early, but since they were probably also strong enough to contain it, the rest of the story should be flowing like normal.
Which also meant...
"I need to get rid of these guys." Jinhee took a look around.
In the time she spent thinking, even more zomb- 'Demonic Humans' had appeared.
Was it because more people had died?
She noticed that there were also quite a few people from before they stepped into the portal as well.
Idiots. When the system Guide says that it's certain death, it's certain death. Who did they think they were, the protagonists?
The only reason underdog protagonists won in stories was because the author lined up the perfect sequence of coincidences. 99 times out of 100, that sort of person would just straight up die.
But enough thinking about that.
"Let's see..." Jinhee muttered and focused on her senses.
If this was really 'Energy Manipulation' by the books, it should include every sort of energy.
In that case...
Jinhee kicked off the ground and ran through a chain of logic in her head.
Moving converted potential energy to kinetic energy. A lot of energy was actually wasted in that conversion to heat, so if she pulled that back and pushed it all to kinetic energy... And if she pulled the air resistance to add into kinetic energy...
"W-Wait a-"
*BOOM*
An explosion of gore and black smoke.
Jinhee felt over a dozen things smack into her body before crumpling like paper. She also felt a bunch of icky stuff splash against her, but it quickly flew away before she could think about what it was.
And then when Jinhee came to a stop, she was standing an entire city block away from the subway station with a giant gash in the ground.
The horde of Demonic Humans was also parted like the Red Sea, a giant gap cut clean through the mass of undead.
Jinhee blinked and then said, "Huh." She checked her clothes and her shoes. When she saw that it was completely unscathed, she tilted her head and said, "Okay. Didn't think it'd be that ridiculous."
It was just some random BS logic. She didn't even think that hard about how it worked and then it suddenly just did.
And that skill was apparently borrowed from Oppa... So what kind of ridiculous person was he?
'I mean, I knew he was different ever since that day, but...'
Jinhee clearly remembered how her Oppa had charged in to help her with blood on his body back in the Young Sins club.
At the time, she thought it was just because he knew how to fight well. But...
'Could he use it all the way back then?'
There *had* been that week where Oppa just kept popping up out of nowhere. But that meant that her Oppa was definitely a superhuman.
So...
'Holy crap. Is he really a regressor?'
She had been kind of joking, but at this rate...
Was it true? Does the apocalypse happen on Earth or something with a giant gate opening up like in "The One who Levels is Me" or "EX-Ranked Disaster Hero"?
Flone Unni kept insinuating that Oppa knew a lot about time and dimension stuff, and then there was the whole top secret clearance thing they had to go through...
"Graaagh..."
A gurgly moan echoed from nearby. Another Demonic Human.
Jinhee blinked and then shook her head to focus. "Ugh. Whatever. I can grill Oppa later."
Right now she had to get out of this mess first.
Yuri and Seunghae were probably fine.
Yuri was apparently a hax female protagonist in hiding, so she would be fine. Not only that, but she was definitely genre-savvy from all the web novels she read, so Yuri would be able to figure a way out. Especially since she should be able to use magic now after her abilities were unlocked.
Seunghae... Well. She could use heal magic and she was fairly smart. If she was in danger, she'd probably figure out how to use the Necessary Box.
And besides, this entire thing was a set piece run by Oppa and his friends. They were in danger, but they weren't in *real* danger.
Oppa wouldn't allow that, after all. If something like that happened... and if he had something ridiculous like Energy Manipulation from the time he went into save her at the Young Sins club, he was probably a complete cheat character by now-
Oooooh. So THAT was why he had so many girls around him.
Definitely a regressor. Those guys always had a harem popping up out of the blue around them. Just like how Kim Deokja technically had a single love interest, but other popular and likable female characters kept popping up out of the woodwork.
Though there were serious boy's love vibes going on with him and the original MC.
But anyway, getting out of this mess.
[The constellation 'Secretive Plotter' has sponsored 100 coins.]
[Error. You are unable to use the coin system in the first phase of the Tutorial.]
[Your coins have been automatically assigned to your parameters.]
[Stamina: Low (Lowest) has become Stamina: Low (Intermediate)]
Jinhee glanced at the flurry of messages and then frowned.
That was a lot of useful information being dumped at once. But right now...
'So it's not like I *can't* get stronger like the characters here, right? Then...'
Jinhee brushed off her clothes and then held up her fists, copying a pose she saw once on YouTube. "You bastards think you can get me, huh? Tough. I'm not a damsel in distress."
[The constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' likes your spunk!]
[The constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' has sponsored 100 coins.]
[Doting Big Brother is annoyed at the attention.]
[Doting Big Brother has sponsored 1000000000 coins-]
[Error! The sponsored coins have caused an error.]
[Doting Big Brother curses out the system restraints.]
[The Sacred Empress clicks her tongue.]
[The Foxy Wife laughs.]
[The Grand Architect says to just go with the flow.]
[The constellation 'Demon-Like Judge of Fire' is flustered at the sudden activity.]
[The constellation 'Demon-Like Judge of Fire' says she won't lose!]
[The constellation 'Demon-Like Judge of Fire' has sponsored 101 coins.]
[Doting Big Brother retracts his sponsored coins and gives a gift instead.]
[You have received the skill 'Item Box.']
[The constellation 'Demon-Like Judge of Fire' is shocked at the lavish waste of probability.]
[The constellation 'Secretive Plotter' is curious.]
...Okay. She wanted to become stronger, but this is getting a bit ridiculous. At this rate, won't the rest of the scenarios be a cakewalk even if that ridiculous real main character showed up?
xxx
Seunghae was annoyed beyond belief.
First there was her Unni who kept insisting everything would make sense and dragging her into this extremely shady and dangerous mess.
Then there was Jinhee and Yuri who were CLEARLY crazy in how they took everything in stride.
And THEN there was the fact that the entire world had apparently fallen apart and freaking zombies were running all over the place.
It was enough for Seunghae to want to pull out her hair.
But if there was any consolation, it was the fact that she somehow got super powers and could use light magic to zap the zombies into dust.
That still didn't solve the fact that she was completely and utterly lost though.
"Ugh." Seunghae rummaged through the shelves of a convenience store and looked for food. "I swear to god, Unni better make some delicious food and that cheating scumbag ex-fiance of hers better come up with a good explanation..."
Not only was she putting off an entire semester of university for this, but Seunghae was also skipping out on her job too.
Which meant she wouldn't have any spending money for the next month since Unni had stopped giving her allowance after she badmouthed that scumbag.
She'd been getting by since Yuri was filthy rich, but at this rate-
"You."
A sharp and cold voice.
Seunghae froze and turned around, her hands held up to blast magic the moment the speaker moved.
But when she saw the person there, she subconsciously came to a stop.
An extremely handsome young man. Wide black eyes with thin double eyelids and thick eyebrows. Short black hair that was slightly wavy and cut short. A sharp nose ride, strong jawline. A muscular and well-toned body.
He was a lot younger than he should have been. But the face of that person and the face of the family picture that Unni kept framed at home...
"Fa-"
Before Seunghae could finish, the man spoke.
"Ami?"
Seunghae blinked.
The man, Yoo Junhyuk, frowned. "How are you here?"
"...It's complicated?"
xxx
"Thank you for saving me, Miss Yuri." A plain looking young man let out a deep sigh and said, "A lot of unexpected things have happened."
Yuri's head nodded like a swivel and she said, "Don't worry, Deokja-ssi! I'll make sure you see the ending!"
The man, Kim Deokja, laughed and said, "I'm grateful. Although..." He tilted his head, a puzzled look on his face. "You seem pretty relaxed about all of this."
Yuri laughed, doing her best not to show how nervous she really felt. "Well, it's been fun. I mean." She held out her hand, causing ice crystals to bloom. "It's a bit scary, but when you can use magic, it's hard not to have fun, right?"
Deokja smiled. "That's right. Then..." He adjusted his tattered work suit and said, "Let's get going. I'm worried about my friend..."
"Leave it to me!"
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