The Novel's Extra
/ The Novel's Extra Chapter 92
The singing competition ended, and the results came out before the lingering aftertaste of the music disappeared .
Veritas class’ Kim Hajin didn’t get first or even second place . He got fourth .
Although his choice of music and voice were great, how well someone nailed high notes was still used to grade someone’s singing .
However, Kim Hajin was undoubtedly first place in terms of cadets’ topic of conversation . His performance was already uploaded and gaining hits on several cadets’ social media .
“…Ah~ it feels like I went to a concert . ”
“Right? Who was your favorite?”
“Kim Hajin, Neilee, and Harim . But Kim Hajin really caught me off guard . I heard he goes out a lot . Maybe learned how to sing at karaokes . ”
Currently, Rachel was still sitting in the audience, now listening to other cadets’ conversations . She needed some time to organize all the complicated thoughts coursing through her head .
Today, Kim Hajin showed a good performance . He didn’t confess to her like many people were saying he would . She was having trouble sleeping lately because she kept having nightmares about it . She was glad that it was over now .
However, the song Kim Hajin chose kept bothering her . His voice felt sincere, and the lyrics that said he wanted to get closer but was afraid of being rejected .
It was a meaningful song .
‘Perhaps he realized I was avoiding him . Now that I think about it, I’ve been avoiding him too noticeably lately . There’s no way he wouldn’t have found out…’
Feeling sorry, Rachel let out a small sigh .
“What are you doing here?”
“…?”
A strong voice interrupted her thoughts . Rachel slowly turned her head towards the direction of the sound .
There, she saw Chae Nayun, who spoke as she pointed at the exit .
“Aren’t you leaving?”
It was only then that Rachel caught sight of her surroundings . The auditorium was already empty .
“Ah . ”
Rachel got up and began walking to the exit . Chae Nayun stared at her back with a strange gleam in her eyes . Then, she followed Rachel .
It was already 10, and darkness blanketed the outside world .
Rachel trudged forward with a face full of worries . Chae Nayun gave her sideway glances, then went ahead and joined up with cadets who were waiting for her .
“Chae Nayun, where are you going next? …Huaam . ”
“Back to my room . ”
After retorting briefly, she looked around .
“By the way, where did he go?”
“Who?”
“…Kim Hajin . ”
Yoo Yeonha replied to her question .
“That person went that way . To the church . ”
“Church?”
“Yep . ”
Cube also had religious facilities to support cadets who came from various backgrounds . Most religious cadets were Protestants, and there were some devout cadets who wanted to become priests in the future .
“Why a church?”
“I don’t know… why, does it bother you?”
“Oh please… . ”
Chae Nayun replied indifferently, but kept glancing at Rachel . She was walking towards the direction of the dorm .
For the record, dorms were on the opposite direction of the church .
“Well, if you aren’t doing anything else, I’m going to bed
. …Huaam . ”
Shin Jonghak yawned . Today, he participated in three competitions: the soccer match, Dungeon speedrun, and duel . He was justifiably exhausted .
Chae Nayun waved her hand as if to say, ‘I don’t need you . ’
“Yes, please just go back and sleep . ”
“…Hm . ”
Yoo Yeonha meaningfully watched Chae Nayun’s oddly temperamental attitude .
“Nayun, what are you going to do?”
“Nothing . Just gonna go back and play some games before sleep . ”
“Mmm… you’re not gonna go to the church, right?”
“W-Why would I go there? I never believed in a religion my entire life . ”
Chae Nayun grumbled with an uncomfortable expression .
I sat down on the worship chair . The wood creaked as it embraced my body .
I stared at the cross hanging in front of me . A dark light shone through the stained glass on the side . I turned my gaze sideways . The colorful art inscribed on the glass glistened in the darkness .
This was the sanctuary of God .
A holy place of confession for those who wished to confess and atone their sins .
Sitting in this huge chapel and reflecting on myself, an unknown reverence and holiness embraced me…
“…or so I expected, but well… there’s nothing special . ”
I scratched the back of my neck . There wasn’t some grand reason that I came to the church . It was just that in movies, main characters often visited a church when they were in anguish . Then, they would suddenly be enlightened to their direction in life!
“Haam . ”
But it seemed that only happened in movies . Or maybe, it was because I was an extra and not a main character . In any case, the silence was only making me sleepy .
After making a big yawn, I stared at my smartwatch again .
[You might have to kill a person . ]
[But you will receive a hefty reward . ]
[You won’t have to worry about hiding your identity . As Jeronimo Mercenary’s apprentice mercenary, we will guarantee your identity will be kept a secret . If you want, we can extend this guarantee even when you become an official mercenary . ]
This was the reply she sent in response to my message, ‘how much will working there pay?’
To be honest, I wasn’t short on money and only asked them that to play along with their methods . As Boss was socially inept, she only knew how to appease people with money .
“Mercenary… . ”
Anyone could become a mercenary by law . They could even hold the position concurrently with another job . I heard there were many Heroes who worked as mercenaries part-time because they were chased on money .
About 50 to 100 Cube graduates and probably half of the cadets who had to drop out would end up being mercenaries .
It wasn’t a bad choice for me .
Chameleon Troupe participated in huge events like major artifact scrambles and the conquering of the Tower of Dimension . If I joined them, I at least wouldn’t have to worry about straying from the main storyline .
And most importantly… I would be able to kill Chae Jinyoon without difficulty . Even if he was
was a third-generation chaebol, 5 years had passed since he fell into a coma . The security around him should have gotten lax .
“…Huu . ”
But still, the fact that I had to kill someone got on my mind .
Chameleon Troupe would continue to kill many people .
The only difference between Chameleon Troupe and Evil Society was that Chameleon Troupe didn’t kill needlessly . They were no different in that they killed people and plundered their wealth .
Would I be able to commit these crimes?
I had doubts in this regard . This world was no longer just a world inside a novel… .
While I was pondering with my eyes closed, I felt the door creak open .
I slowly opened my eyes .
Footsteps continued slowly, and soon, someone sat down next to me .
“Are you Christian?”
The voice echoed inside the church .
I glanced to the side, then spoke with a grin .
“…No . What about you?”
“Hm… . ”
Kim Suho gazed at the cross as he answered .
“No, me neither . ”
Despite what he said, Kim Suho’s eyes carried a hint of reminiscence .
“Then what’s up with that meaningful gaze?”
“Oh, I didn’t notice . ”
“You looked like a devout believer . I would have believed you if you said you wanted to become the Pope . ”
“Pft, it’s not like that… I just remembered something from the past . ”
The past . Indeed, Kim Suho’s past was a bit special .
I made a small smile .
“You used to go to a church?”
“No, but something like that . ”
“Catholic?”
Kim Suho shook his head .
“Buddhism?”
This time, he smiled without answering . He was saying no .
“Mormonism? Zoroastrianism? Hinduism? Islam? Greek Orthodox? Confucianism? Taoism?”
“Hahaha, no, none of them . I wasn’t really a faithful believer either . ”
Hearing Kim Suho say this, I threw out a sentence nonchalantly .
“Then what, is it a religion from another world?”
“… . ”
For a moment, Kim Suho’s eyes opened wide . I just threw a tiny stone in Kim Suho’s heart, but I pretended to be oblivious and smiled .
“…Please . ”
Kim Suho laughed and shook his head . Then he suddenly wore a serious expression and asked .
“But Hajin…”
He asked with an unconcealable sorrow and reminiscence .
“Do you think there are other worlds? You know, like Lord of the Rings . ”
Tolkien died in 1973 . As Outcall happened around that time, Tolkien’s work stood firmly in this world as a timeless masterpiece .
Without meeting Kim Suho’s eyes, I looked at the cross in front of me .
The crucified son of God entered my eyes .
“…Outcall happened 50 years ago . Even without looking through Earth’s history and just looking at anno domini (A . D . ), you’ll see that there were no monsters in this world for 1970 years . ”
I faced Kim Suho once again .
“Then rather than saying that monsters suddenly appeared on Earth, it would make more sense to say existences from a different world crossed over to ours . ”
“… . ”
Kim Suho was silent .
I wondered what was on his mind .
In truth, Kim Suho and I had similar circumstances . However, he came to this world when he was young and he even
he even had another family . So unlike me, he didn’t have to feel lonely . He probably only missed his family back home every once in a while…
Kim Suho’s lips moved slowly .
“Then do you…”
“That’s part of the ‘Otherworld Theory’ presented by Dr . Jerus . ”
I shrugged and cut him off .
Kim Suho jumped slightly in surprise, then laughed .
“…Ah, is that one of the theories explaining Outcall?”
“Yeah . It’s being criticized for being completely groundless, but I think it’s pretty convincing . Outcall happened out of the blue . I think it’s stupid to use logic to explain something illogical . ”
“I guess so . ”
We became silent, but the silence didn’t make me feel uncomfortable . Then, I suddenly grew curious and broke the silence .
“Oh right, are you using Misteltein well?”
“Of course . Just like you suggested, I’ve been going out frequently hunting monsters . I feel like it’s gotten harder . ”
“Haha, really? Then in the future, let’s go together to find better equipment . Oh by the way, you don’t have an agent, right? I’ll introduce one to you . ”
Kim Suho had to get stronger .
He had to be faster than now, and he had to get stronger than in the original story . In a way, Kim Suho was the only method I had in dealing with uncertain danger .
My goal was to finish the main story . However, it didn’t have to be me that finished it .
Even if I died in the middle, if Kim Suho could continue the main story… .
Kim Suho interrupted my thoughts .
“An agent, huh… by the way, what could be better than Misteltein?”
“Who knows? The world is big and full of artifacts . ”
With that as my final thought, I got up .
I’ve been here long enough, and I thought about my worries more than enough .
“I’ll leave first . ”
“Oh, okay . I’m gonna stay here a little longer . ”
“See you later . ”
I left the church, leaving Kim Suho behind .
“Hu… . ”
3 A . M . It was now Saturday .
[Victory]
Looking at the text in front of me, I breathed a sigh of relief . I almost lost this time . If Random Consolidation System was just 3% lower, I would have been defeated .
—Wow, you’re amazing as expected, hyung-nim . I went all out this time too .
Jajangman messaged me .
—I almost lost . You’re getting stronger by the day… I might not be able to win anymore after a couple months .
I couldn’t fall asleep, so I put on my helmet to play a match or two . Jajangman happened to be up, so I ended up playing seven matches with him .
—ㅋㅋㅋ True, I’ve been getting stronger quickly ㅋ
Jajangman and I became close enough to call each other brothers . It was probably because I could act my original age (26) online .
—Why are you up so late?
I changed the topic .
Currently, it was 3 A . M . I already beat him seven times in a row, and I was getting sleepy .
—Oh, well, something happened today… I can’t fall asleep ㅋㅋ
—What happened?
—It’s not really something I should say… I should say… ㅋㅋ
Oh? From the looks of it, it was a relationship problem . Well, Jajangman was a teenager, so he was at that age . Half of his life should be about friends and the other half about girls .
I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous . After all, I had to worry about killing someone or figuring out a way back home .
—Tell me . I’m 8 years older than you, so I have more life experience .
—Well, it’s nothing big… just that, um…
—Yeah?
—It’s like… you don’t really want it, but you don’t want someone else to have it either .
Aha, I get it . This son of a bitch, he’s the popular type!
—So you’re the one on the receiving end?
—Kuhum, well, I can’t say I’m experienced with giving things out~
‘Why does he sound so much like a dick today?’ I smirked and replied back .
—But why so suddenly?
—No reason, just that it’s been on my mind recently .
—On your mind?
—Yes ㅋㅋ;; A little bit .
—Really? Well, you’ve gotta have a reason, right?
This was getting interesting .
—Yes, so um… that person sang in a talent show we had today . I think the song was aimed at me .
—Whoa…
A girl appealing to a guy with a song? She must be quite the assertive one . Or maybe Jajangman was just really handsome .
—Then can’t you just accept her feelings?
—No, I don’t think that’s right .
—Why not? What if someone steals her away? You might regret it later .
This was coming from experience . As a 26 year old, I had relationship experience, and I knew girls who had crushes on me .
At the time, I rejected them because I wasn’t interested, but when I saw them going out with other guys later, I always felt a bit sour .
I even remembered thinking, ‘that girl used to like me—’, like a loser .
—Wow, you’re saying the same thing as my friend . ㅋㅋ But I don’t really think I’ll regret it .
—Of course you don’t feel that way right now, but you will later . Plus, didn’t you say that she was on your mind?
—Just a little bit . No, a tiny bit .
Just a little bit . No, a tiny bit .
From this message, I could feel that he was a proudful person who didn’t like losing . It seemed he really was too young . You had to lose every once in a while to not regret it later on .
—But doesn’t the fact that you’re staying up late because of her contradict what you’re saying?
—Yes? Uh… no… right?
—Trust me . I’ve been through the same thing . From today, you’ll suddenly only see her good points . Once she gets a boyfriend, it’ll be too late .
After sending that message, I waited for his reply .
1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes…
No matter how long I waited, there was no reply .
“Did he fall asleep?”
'Damn, I was wondering what he planned to do . '
I opened up the in-console clock . It was already 3:40 . It was time for me to sleep . I hurriedly took off the helmet and fell on my bed .
Chapter end
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