Chapter 120

What I was experiencing was no ordinary lucid dream. I pulled out my phone and checked the date.

–Oct. 5, 2018. 7:42 PM.

I fell asleep on the night of October 4th, the night when a machine monster called 'Trike' appeared. I fell asleep, and now, I was seeing the future one day later.

'This is a precognitive dream.'

A dream that showed you the future.

I clearly recalled looking through my notebook before falling asleep. The dates of events in the past were fresh in my mind, and written in my notes was this:

–October 5, 2018. The 'Trike' that showed up in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province was successfully hunted.

–First successful raid carried out by the Association.

But the future I was seeing was different from what was written.

'What?'

Many Players were dying.

'They did kill the Trike.'

Jo Sunghyun was in the future I saw, and he dealt the last blow. He was known in the past to have dealt the finishing blow as well. That much was the same as the past.

'But then, it diverges.'

It wasn't that a new monster showed up. I couldn't see everything clearly, most likely because I had a fledgling level of Precognitive Dream. I could only see things in choppy pictures rather than one smooth, continuous film. What I could say for certain was that I wasn't there. Inside the precognitive dream, I existed merely as a formless ghost of sorts, an onlooker.

'What was that?'

The last scene I saw…

I woke up with a gasp.

'What I just dreamed… was definitely a precognitive dream.'

Did I always have the Precognitive Dream ability? I never once experienced anything like this in my past life.

I had a precognitive dream. I was sure it was one, and what I saw was the future.

The current time was 1 AM. I immediately called Sunghyun, and thankfully, he picked up.

"Sunghyun, where are you?"

–I'm heading to Ansan. To go kill the Trike.

"Are you alone?"

–There are a few Players with me. The Players Association provided a bus.

He and the others would successfully kill the monster.

'There's a chance the precognitive dream was wrong.'

But I had a bad feeling. The future didn't always go as seen in a precognitive dream. Variables that changed in real time could also create a completely different future. But even so, I couldn't shake off this bad feeling.

"Are they all Players you know?"

–No. The only Player I know is Mr. Gong Jinhoon. What's wrong?

"No, nothing. Ah. I'll call you back in a little bit."

–Okay, Hyung.

I hung up.

'What the hell was that?'

I closed my eyes. I recalled the scene I had just seen within the precognitive dream again and again, repeatedly examining the world within the dream with Observer's Eye. And then, I noticed a clue that had escaped my attention.

'Ah.'

All of the Players died. But not a single drop of blood was spilled. Everyone died with hard, stiff corpses.

'The world within the precognitive dream.'

I wasn't in the dream anymore, so it wasn't completely certain—

'But there was definitely a survivor in that world.'

It was hard to say they were really a 'survivor'. I sat down in the lotus pose.

'Meditation.'

Meditation, the act of reflecting or observing an object or a phenomenon with a tranquil mind. I recently had a taste of what it was like, but it was still an unknown domain for me. In my past life, meditation was known as one of the fundamental virtues a top-class Player had to learn.

I tried to consciously enter that state of stillness. I examined the precognitive dream I had time and time again as an objective third party.

Words similar in feeling to the Will Incantation seemed to seep into my mind.

'The rigid corpses were like tree bark.'

An incantation took form within my mind.

'Red thread is proof of the slaughter.'

'There, buds a tree that preys.'

Suddenly, it felt like I took a hard blow to my head.

"Ugh!"

My body unconsciously fell forward, and I clutched my head. There was nothing behind me. My head felt numb, and my eyes throbbed.

'This… is hard.'

Meditating on a precognitive dream I had already dreamt, trying to recall and observe a dream that had passed, consumed far more mental power than I imagined, and my mental fatigue translated directly into physical exhaustion.

'But I saw it in the end.'

One survivor. Hardened, stiff corpses. A skein of red thread. And even the smell of rotten milk. A piece of information came to my mind based on these clues.

–The Red Demon Ahn Seohye. She first made an appearance in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province.

Korea's representative Irregular, the Red Demon Ahn Seohye. At that time, countless people in the Andong Hahoe Village were killed by the Red Demon. Of course, at first, no one knew it was her.

'For a while, she went around wreaking havoc, and then…'

After killing hundreds of students from Myeongjin High School in Seoul in one bloody massacre, she disappeared. No one knew her whereabouts. There were just speculations that she joined the Demon King.

–The hardened, stiff corpses were almost like dry wooden bark.

I had also spotted red threads all over the site. Precognitive Dream had shown me the coming of the 'Red Demon' in advance.

'Why was she there?'

If it were the same as the past, she should have first appeared in Andong Hahoe Village. There was no record of her showing up in the 1st official raid of the Players Association, the 'Trike Raid'.

'We've diverged once again from the past.'

That, in itself, wasn't a big issue. The problem was that Jo Sunghyun was there, and so was the Red Demon.

'Red Demon.'

Wasn't meeting her now far better than encountering her later at an unexpected time and place?

'I know she'll show up.'

I also had a rough grasp of what method she used to kill and hunt people.

'Other than the Demon King… there are no Players in the current period who can overpower me.'

After meeting lots of Players, I could be sure of that.

'Even if the Red Demon's there…'

As long as I knew when and where, and knew what tricks she used, I could prevail. Just like when I met the Fist King So Yoohyun, and when I met the Sword Empress Shin Yeonseo, the Typhoon Jo Sunghyun, and the Flame Lord Choi Sung-gu. The same went, of course, for the Spear Demon and the Poison Witch.

'The tree that preys must mean the Predator Tree.'

If something changed, it was probably because of me. Plus, I had the 'Map of the Predator Tree Colony'. It was possible I could get some kind of clue related to trees that preyed. Since things changed because of me, I decided to act.

'I'm going.'

And if my precognitive dream was right? If the Red Demon really showed up?

'I'll decide when the time comes.'

4 AM.

I gently shook Sunhwa awake.

"I'm sleepy. Can't I have just five more minutes?" Sunhwa whined.

"Nope, sorry."

"Wah."

Sunhwa followed me blearily, only half-awake. She wasn't a morning person. After giving her a few pieces of leftover fried chicken from dinner last night, she straightened right up. Fried chicken was really the best cure for morning drowsiness. The more surprising thing was that Noona was actually up before us, gnawing on the chicken.

"No wonder the chicken was always gone by the time I got up."

Noona's face reddened ever so slightly. A blush so faint I could only pick up on it because I had the Observer class spread over her cheeks.

"This is the first time I've done this."

"..."

"It really is."

But this wasn't the first time I woke up to find the box empty.

"It's the first time, okay?"

"Okay, got it."

Far from judging her, I would happily buy this sister of mine a whole fried chicken restaurant, not just a box of it. Why was she so embarrassed? What was so embarrassing about this? In any case, Noona slipped away into her room, looking slightly irritated.

'Ah. This…'

It was inconvenient, no matter how you sliced it. I needed a car. Thankfully, Yoohyun had one, and we immediately set off for Ansan, Gyeonggi Province. Inside the car were Yoohyun, Sung-gu, Sunhwa, and me. Yeonseo called to say she would be going there by other means.

'Soon, the raid will start.'

The raid would begin with a chase of the Trike. There was probably an evacuation of the Unawakened—the civilians—going on right now.

Sitting in the driver's seat, Yoohyun scratched his head. "Hyungnim. If we were going to jump into the raid, shouldn't we have gone earlier?"

"This is the right time."

"I knew it! I thought that would be the case."

Yoohyun didn't ask why. Sitting in the passenger seat, Sung-gu shook his head, as if fed up.

"Not even asking why? Why this is the right time? What's with your 'I knew it'?"

"If Hyungnim says so, then that's how it is."

"Haah… so whatever reasoning goes, is that what you're saying?"

"Hyungnim said so, didn't he?"

Sung-gu shook his head again. "This party's crazy. A crazy party. There's not a single sane person other than me."

And yet, he jumped awake at the break of dawn to join us. I just smiled and didn't give them a detailed explanation of the situation.

Because I had the experience and records, the knowledge of many people from my past life.

–A Precognitive Dreamer does not commit the foolish act of blathering about their precognitive dream to many people.

The more you talked about a precognitive dream, the more people learned about it, the more that in itself became a variable, making it more and more likely that the future would diverge from the precognitive dream.

'I'll minimize the variables as much as possible.'

That was why I cut it close, time-wise—so that things would go as I saw, and as few variables would come into play as possible.

But there was one thing I had to say.

"It's possible…" I paused. It was a little hard to say. "...I might end up committing murder."

"Cough…!" Yoohyun spat a mouthful of the coffee he was drinking onto the steering wheel. However, he quickly came to his senses. "If there's someone who deserves to be killed, then you have to kill them. Mmhm."

Sung-gu shivered. "What are you saying? Are you serious?"

"..."

I was serious. If a situation arose where I had to kill the Red Demon, if the choice fell to me, then I would make it.

"We just have to hope it doesn't come to that," I said.

"Fuck. You're serious. Ah. I'm nuts. I was seriously, really wrong for coming here with you guys." Sung-gu stared out the window, huffing and puffing as he clawed at his face. Even while doing so, he continued, "What you're saying is that if something like that happens, we shouldn't stop you, right?"

"..."

Despite his dramatic acting, he understood right away.

"Fuck… I'll pray nothing like that happens. I dun wanna see someone die in front of me, man."

We drew steadily nearer to the raid site. Currently, Players were communicating back and forth with one another while chasing the fleeing 'Trike'. The Trike's mobility was more threatening than its offensive ability. As it fled all over the place, it would devour little children.

I got a sit-rep from Song Kiyeol.

'They're still pretty impressive.'

The Players were hemming in the Trike like they were coursing a hare. I opened up Google Maps and shared it with the others.

"Here. This point is where the Trike will be cornered."

Right now, the Players were doing a drive hunt. They were raiding quite well under the command of the Analyst Han Seokmin. Having gotten the info in advance, we headed directly to the clearing to wait. Among the Players standing by in the clearing were Cheon Sooji and Byeon Gilsup. The Poison Witch sent me a greeting with her eyes, but I pretended not to see it. There was something more important at hand.

'About ten Players I don't know.'

I scanned the surroundings with Eye of Perception and Observer's Eye, searching for the 'Red Demon' that might be here. My gaze was suddenly drawn to a pile of steel bars, and the presence I felt behind it.

____

Chapter 120: Chapter 120

CREATORS' THOUGHTS
OmnipresenceBeing

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Chapter 120: Chapter 120

CREATORS' THOUGHTS OmnipresenceBeing

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CREATORS' THOUGHTS
OmnipresenceBeing