Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint (Web Novel KR)

“That's right. That’s exactly the guy!”
I activated a skill toward the girl who was confidently badmouthing me to Jung Heewon.
[Exclusive skill, ‘Character List’, has been activated!]

[This skill cannot be used on the target.]
[The target is a ‘character’ but not a ‘character’.]
As expected.

Then I’ll use this instead.
[Would you like to use ‘Reader Comment List’ on the target?]
‘Use it.’

[The proficiency of ‘Reader Comment List’ has increased, displaying the number of likes/dislikes per comment.]
[The proficiency of ‘Reader Comment List’ has increased, displaying the ‘Number of Completed Reads’ stat.]
Already leveled up on only the second use?
I’d better use this more often.

ID: alsdn0905
Platform: Serious
Total Comments: 168
Reader Level: 38
Number of Completed Reads: 1.8 times
You can use Coins to view comments written by this reader.
Number of comments currently viewable for free: 3.

This was the second reader I’d met, after Uncle Dansoo.
‘1.8 completed reads’ means they must’ve read the whole Ways of Survival at least once.
Maybe this person wasn’t so bad after all?

Let’s see what kinds of comments they left.
I like Jung Heewon.
— Likes 3 / Dislikes 1
— (Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, Ep. 18)
Hm…

Starting today, I’ll do 100 push-ups, 100 squats, and run 10km every day to become a man worthy of Heewon-nim.
— Likes 0 / Dislikes 5
— (Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, Ep. 25)
Not sure if this person is being serious or just playing around.
Heewon-nim… I love you… I mean it… I love you as much as 3,000 squats…
— Likes 2 / Dislikes 8
— (Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, Ep. 107)

The dislikes kept increasing.
[To view more comments, pay Coins.]
[100 Coins have been paid to unlock additional comments.]

…Just one more.
I can do it too, like Lee Hyunsung.
— Likes 0 / Dislikes 12
— (Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, Ep. 139)
I thought back to what happened in Ep. 139.
Around Episode 27… that must have been Nirvana’s appearance, when Jung Heewon was infected with the Ideological Contamination and went berserk. Wasn’t that the scene where Lee Hyunsung threw his body forward to stop her rampage?

Uncle Dansoo asked,
“That small girl over there, she’s like us… right?”
“Seems like it.”

I decided to approach them first.
But as I did, the girl suddenly screamed.
“Uwaah! Help me!”

“Excuse me.”
“He’s trying to kill me! Even if not that, he’s definitely going to do something bad!”
I was about to tell her I’d never do something like that—then I remembered. Right now, I was Cheon Inho.

I raised my hands lightly to show I had no hostility.
“No, I just wanted to say hello—”
Before I could finish, Bang Cheolsoo jumped out beside me and shouted:

“Everyone listen up! From this moment, Geumho Station belongs to the Cheoldoo Group! Drop everything you’re carrying and move over th—”
I smacked Bang Cheolsoo hard on the back of his head.
[Constellation, ‘Monarch of the Small Fries’, has sponsored 100 Coins.]

Cheolsoo looked back at me indignantly, but I pushed him aside and turned back to the girl.
“I’m not a bad person. I think you’re misunderstanding—”
“Stay back! You villain!”

“She said stay back.”
Jung Heewon stepped forward, shielding the girl with a resolute voice.
From behind Heewon’s shoulder, the girl peeked out with a triumphant expression, looking straight at me.
So that’s how you want to play it, huh.

I let out a light sigh and said,
“Fine then. We’ll just talk like this.”
Heewon glanced between me and the girl, then asked her,

“Will that be okay?”
The girl looked at Heewon with troubled eyes, so Heewon looked back at me and said,
“She’s scared. Let’s do this another time.”

“I don’t intend to threaten her. If anything happens, you can stop me, Jung Heewon-ssi.”
I called Cheolsoo over and took a metal pipe from him.
Heewon stiffened, thinking I was finally showing my true colors. But instead, I handed the pipe over.

“If I show even a hint of threatening her, use this to bash my head in.”
“…What?”
“Hard.”

[Constellation, ‘Monarch of the Small Fries’, gleams with anticipation.]
Heewon looked blankly down at the pipe in her hands, then stammered,
“I don’t think I’d actually—”

“Then, let’s begin.”
I cleared my throat and began in a theatrical voice.
“I like Jung Heewon.”

“…?”
Heewon blinked at me, bewildered.
I continued.

“Starting today, I’ll do 100 push-ups, 100 squats, and run 10km every day to become a man worthy of Heewon-nim.”
Heewon’s face showed she couldn’t decide whether to hit me or not.
“Heewon-nim… I love you… I mean it…”

“What are you doing right now?”
“I can do it too, like Lee Hyunsung—”
“W-wait a second!”

The pale-faced girl finally burst out from behind Heewon.
I smiled slyly.
“Now then, are you ready to talk, JudgeHeewon—”

The girl hastily covered my mouth with her hand and turned to Heewon with a forced smile.
“Unnie. Sorry. I think I mistook him for someone else.”
“Are you sure? It feels like you’re being threatened.”

“No! Really, it’s fine! Don’t worry!”
Watching the girl panic, I became certain once again.
No mistake.

She was the same person who had sat next to me at the Event Theater.
Username: [JudgeHeewon].
The one who answered the quiz about Heewon’s sword, roared, and jumped onto the stage—then got possessed by this world, turning into a muscle-bound man.

Wait. Hold on. This person used to be a guy, right?
And now, smaller than even Jung Heewon, this girl—or rather, he or she—kept my mouth shut and whispered,
“Let’s talk over there instead.”

“Um… Cheon Inho-nim?”
“Yes.”
“Who on earth are you?”

JudgeHeewon stared at me and Uncle Dansoo with wary eyes, trying to guess who we were by appearances. But of course, they had no way of knowing who I really was.
I thought it best to ease their guard. Fortunately, I knew the kind of social language suited for times like this.
“Jung Heewon is great, isn’t she?”

“What? Well, of course she is…”
JudgeHeewon’s expression shifted.
“Wait—?”

“Yes. You’re right.”
“You had a distinctive nickname, didn’t you…?”
I nodded.

“You were that AllCharacter? The one with the pretty girl next to you?”
“That’s… right.”
“The one who couldn’t answer a single quiz question!”

“I did answer one. Otherwise I wouldn’t even be here.”
JudgeHeewon’s jaw dropped. They seemed to be piecing it all together in their head.
I added more for reassurance.

“I’m in the same situation as you. And so is this gentleman here.”
Uncle Dansoo gave a polite nod.
JudgeHeewon’s voice trembled as they muttered,

“So there really were others… I wasn’t the only one…”
Their eyes welled up, ready to spill tears, as they chattered on.
“I really thought I was going to die. Thank goodness I remembered the first scenario’s content.”

“How did you clear it?”
“By the book. Bugs are the meta, after all.”
From the proud tone, it seemed this one too had helped mess up the first scenario just like me.

“Actually, the scenario almost collapsed midway and I nearly died… but I got lucky. I was trapped together with Heewon-nim.”
Together with Heewon…
So that was why Jung Heewon had survived without killing anyone—thanks to JudgeHeewon.

Exhaling a long breath, JudgeHeewon smiled warmly.
“Whew… Anyway, if you’re readers too, you should’ve said so earlier. That was close.”
“I kept trying to, but you hid and slandered me instead.”

“Well, who would’ve thought someone got possessed as Cheon Inho? Why Cheon Inho, of all people?”
Why indeed was I Cheon Inho?
I wanted to know that too.

In any case, JudgeHeewon finally lowered their guard completely.
“Let’s exchange names then. As you see, I’m Cheon Inho.”
“I’m Lee Dansoo.”

JudgeHeewon nodded like they understood.
“So we go by our current names? Like in a TRPG?”
I started to reply, but stopped myself.

With a shy look, JudgeHeewon spoke their new nickname.
“I’m Gyeong Se-in.”
“So I can call you JudgeHeewon-nim, right?”

“Call me Se-in.”
Quick to adapt, this one.
It was still only the first day of the scenario, yet there was so much to do.

Uncle Dansoo’s memory wasn’t good, but Se-in remembered quite a lot as a full reader.
“As expected, gathering food is the meta at Geumho Station.”
Who decided on this so-called meta?

It felt like they’d all gotten together to create some guidebook for ‘Surviving the Ways of Survival Apocalypse.’
Anyway, we split up to loot vending machines and mini convenience stores.
Bang Cheolsoo and the Cheoldoo gang helped too.

About thirty minutes later—
“This is all? You checked every store nearby?”
“Yes, this is everything.”

We managed to gather all the food available inside Geumho Station.
Currently, there were 134 people trapped here.
At this rate, the food wouldn’t last even a day.

Se-in asked,
“What should we do? Sell it for Coins?”
“No. We’ll distribute it.”

Like Kim Dokja in the original story, I could’ve made some profit selling for Coins. But I didn’t choose that route.
Se-in agreed.
“Yeah, taking Coins from these people doesn’t feel right. Kim Dokja really wasn’t ordinary.”

“Se-in-ssi, please handle distribution on that side. Cheolsoo, you take the other side.”
“Understood.”
“Uncle Dansoo, help me over here.”

As we handed out food, I studied each citizen’s face carefully.
When I first wrote this scene, I didn’t realize.
The faces of those who had just killed someone in order to survive.

“Thank you.”
In the first scenario, everyone who died had their heads explode. Their pale faces remained, imprinted now onto the expressions of the living.
“Some of you may already know, but monsters are roaming outside. It’s best to stay here safely and wait for rescue.”

“Do you think a rescue team will really come?”
“They will.”
Of course, no such rescue would ever come.

[Currently, 48 people inside Geumho Station support you.]
[Currently, 35% of Geumho Station supports you.]
Not bad. At this rate, I might be able to occupy the station and clear the scenario within thirty minutes.

[Constellations of the ‘Absolute Good’ system are moved by your dedication.]
[You have received 100 Coins.]
And I even gained favor with the Constellations.

The Cheon Inho Rehabilitation Project was proceeding smoothly.
[Character ‘Bang Cheolsoo’ feels an unknown emotion.]
And perhaps, even Bang Cheolsoo.

“Cheolsoo-hyung, are we… really doing this right?”
“I dunno. It just feels… ticklish somehow.”
The Cheoldoo gang, handing out bread and snacks while receiving people’s gratitude, wore oddly flushed faces.

It was probably the first time they’d ever been thanked by anyone.
Who knew how much difference a few extra sentences in their stories could make?
Sometimes, even if it changes nothing, there are still lines you want to write. Questions you can’t help but ask, even knowing the answers.

“By any chance, have you seen a girl named Noh Jiyoon?”
While helping distribute food, Uncle Dansoo repeatedly asked people the same question.
“Not sure. What does she look like?”

“Well… all I know is her name.”
Jiyoon was Uncle Dansoo’s daughter.
Of course, Uncle Dansoo must’ve realized. Asking here was meaningless. His daughter would be possessed by someone else, living under a completely different name now.

Even so, he couldn’t stop asking.
As if that name alone was the only proof that in this strange yet familiar world, he was still more than Lee Dansoo—he was someone’s father.
I watched him for a moment, then pulled out my phone.

The platform app appeared on the screen.
Once, I had been the author of Ways of Survival. But could I still call myself its author now?
This was the only record left to prove that time.

Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint — Total 567 chapters
— Written by Ihak Hyeon
I stared blankly at the title of the novel I had written.
And after a while—

A chill ran down my spine.
What the hell?
I looked again, staring at the chapter count.

The Ways of Survival I knew had ended at 551 chapters.
Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint — Total 567 chapters
— Written by Ihak Hyeon
Fifteen new chapters had been added.

 
Author’s Note:
Thank you as always.