The Story’s End and a New Plan

[Party/DontOrderMe: I’m going to watch the story.]

[Party/RetirementWish: Oh right, I forgot about the story.]

[Party/RetirementWish: Please tell us more stories next time ^^ They’re so fun ^^]

‘There’s nothing more to tell.’

Aside from the highlight anecdote of Jung Taewon turning into a dog, there was nothing much.

I hadn’t gone to the second round, so I didn’t know what happened there either.

I vaguely replied that I understood and left the party.

Now it was time to watch the story I had forgotten about.

As it was a story related to my favorite character, Altania, I couldn’t not watch it.

‘I’ll binge-watch it all at once, then go to the free board and curse the scenario writer for writing such a terrible story.’
I immediately ran to the main quest NPC and read through the flowing text, savoring each character.

[Hailey: This… is Juliana’s necklace. As expected, she…]

[Hailey: Did you see Juliana in the Ark, by any chance?]

‘Was there something like that?’
I couldn’t remember, having focused only on clearing.

I awkwardly scratched the back of my head and skipped through the text, and simultaneously a video began to play.

In the video, Hailey was clutching a necklace and sobbing.

Hailey was saying all sorts of good things about Juliana, stating she was also a great warrior, when suddenly the screen changed, and a red-haired NPC slowly approached Hailey from a distance.

“Crazy?”

The red-haired NPC had the exact same customization as Altania.
The only difference was a diagonal scar across her face.

‘That must have hurt?’

It seemed this was Juliana, Altania’s twin.

Her appearance was so identical to my deceased favorite character that tears threatened to fall, and I covered my mouth with my hand.

‘Damn it… they didn’t say she looked this identical…’

[Hailey: Juliana…]

[???: Do not call me that.]

[???: Her face, her name, nothing is mine.]

‘What is she talking about?’
‘Is she afflicted with a belated case of chuunibyou?’

Juliana distorted her expression bizarrely, pulled out her weapon, and attacked Hailey.

Gunshots erupted, and Hailey collapsed, hit by bullets flying in slow motion.

I blinked slowly, my brain buffering.
‘What. is. happening. right. now?’

[???: Hailey, you too meet the same end as her.]

[Hailey: Ju… liana… Could it be…]

[???: I will end everything related to her with my own hands.]

[???: You, and that adventurer too.]

[???: I will await you at the end of the Ark.]

The video ended with that last line.
I smiled faintly, looking at my character back in the original map, then stood up and rummaged through my room.

“Ah, where did I put that soju bottle?”

‘I need to make a Molotov cocktail and throw it at the headquarters.’
‘Who the hell wrote this story?’

I could understand Juliana being a villain.

Sometimes, your favorite character’s twin sister can be a villain; there are more stories like that than you’d think.

But this, no matter how I looked at it, implied Juliana killed Altania.

‘Scenario writer, are you even human?’
‘You’re committing patricide so brazenly?’

Juliana’s name remained ‘???’ until the end.

Her changed name would probably appear as the story progressed, but that wasn’t the important thing.

Clutching the back of my neck from my soaring blood pressure, I checked the next quest.

However, after the village NPCs tended to the injured Hailey and spoke a few lines, all the main quests ended.

No more main quest markers appeared.
‘This is it? Really?’

I slumped, putting my hand on the keyboard, lost in thought from the emptiness.
‘Hey everyone, the main quest ends here.’

The ‘cut-off technique’ is no joke.

I returned to the guild chat, swallowing my anger, and typed.

‘I want to refrain from spoilers, but surely no one here hasn’t seen the story yet?’

[Guild/DontOrderMe: Going to kill the scenario writer.]

[Guild/RetirementWish: LOLOLOL. You saw it then…]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: Did everyone see all the main quest story?]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: When do I fight her?]

[Guild/PatchNote: That’ll probably be in the next update?]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: That’s insane?]

It was annoying enough that Altania was used as a one-off NPC, but the reason for her death was truly pathetic.

At best, she appeared for a few lines and disappeared, so I couldn’t be sure what kind of character Juliana was, but no matter how I looked at it, she seemed to have acted like that out of inferiority complex towards her successful twin sister.

Didn’t every single line of dialogue point to exactly that?

‘I’m boiling with rage.’

Clutching my head in anger, I slammed my forehead onto the desk.

I’d been hit so squarely in the back of the head that my occiput ached more than my forehead.

I wanted to enter the dungeon right now and avenge Altania.

I didn’t like the current situation, where this update had just come out, meaning I still had a long time to wait.

‘Who’s going to fix my anger until then?’
‘Do I have to go around killing gunners again?’

At this rate, I might have to change my main character’s nickname from SoonToDie to ‘OnlyKillsGunners.’

Having a newly created character end up on the incident board for the same reason again would be too much.

We even participated in a guild war together, so I couldn’t just ditch them.

Slumped over the desk, I stared blankly into space, then lifted my head.

Since I wasn’t doing anything, all sorts of thoughts came to mind.

At the same time, I wondered if my mental state had been shaken too much for just one game character.

‘I need to find peace of mind by doing something productive.’

After making up my mind, I sent a message to the guild chat and immediately pressed the game exit button.

[Guild/DontOrderMe: Something came to mind, so I’ll log out.]

[Guild/PatchNote: SoonToDie-nim, if it’s okay…]

“Ah.”

In my haste, I just left without answering.
‘What was he going to say?’

Following the saying, ‘Strike while the iron is hot,’ I impulsively pressed game exit, and now it felt like I had ignored PatchNote, which was awkward.

‘I feel a bit bad, should I leave a message?’

I pondered, fiddling with my phone, then took a deep breath and sent a message.

[Sorry, I saw your message after clicking exit game.]

[Han Do-yoon: Ah, it’s fine.]

[Han Do-yoon: Um… if it’s not rude, could I ask what you’re doing?]

For a moment, I wondered what he was trying to do by asking, but since it was truly nothing, I answered honestly.

[Going to eat.]

It was, as far as I knew, the most productive and perfect thing.
‘Koreans run on rice, after all.’

[Han Do-yoon: Ah….]

[Han Do-yoon: Enjoy your meal!]

[You too.]

I stretched my stiff body and went to eat.

Dinner tonight was ramen.

And because I was too lazy to boil instant noodles, I quickly made and finished a cup of ramen.

‘Indeed, fast is always best.’

A few more days had passed since I checked the final main story.
Perhaps because I had been so focused on the game recently, tiredness washed over me.

As I yawned broadly and stretched lightly to loosen my body, a login alert appeared in the chat window.

[Friend Beta has logged in.]

[Guild member Beta has logged in.]

[Guild/Beta: Hi hi.]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: Hi.]

‘Is work over?’

I tilted my head at Beta noona’s earlier-than-expected login, just as I was putting my hand on the chat window.

[Friend OneHitForTheLord is here has logged in.]

[Guild member OneHitForTheLord is here has logged in.]

[Guild/OneHitForTheLord: Hello.]

[Guild/Beta: Hi… lol…..]

[Guild/OneHitForTheLord: Do not laugh.]

“What?”

My already tilted head tilted even further at OneHitForTheLord-nim’s response to Beta noona’s greeting.

[Guild/Beta: SoonToDie, wanna go to Iskaria?? Gotta farm hehe.]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: Played too much today, tired.]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: Going to sleep early.]

[Guild/Beta: How could youㅠㅠㅠㅠ]

[Guild/Beta: I was going to spill the tea after Iskariaㅠㅠㅠ]

[Guild/Beta: SoonToDie won’t get to hear the story?ㅠㅠLOLOL.]

‘Story?’
‘What story?’
I vaguely chuckled, recalling the end of the meetup.
‘No way?’

[Guild/DontOrderMe: By any chance, did you meet the Lord?]

[Guild/OneHitForTheLord: The Lord said. Drink in moderation…]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: Miraculous.]

At OneHitForTheLord-nim’s words, Beta noona’s chat, filled with ‘k’s (indicating laughter), appeared.
‘As expected, something happened at the second round.’
I checked the words interspersed between the long string of consonants one by one, and I couldn’t believe my eyes.

[Guild/Beta:Ikekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekeke