Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: NicoleTempest
Chapter 239 A Wasted Life Saved by a Stone’s Touch
[Special Quest: HAPPY ENDING]
[Objective: Safely transfer the ‘Original’ data, which has become corrupted and can no longer function normally, to the recovery center.]
[Quest Time Limit: 7 days (168 hours)]
[If the quest time limit is exceeded, the temporary storage will be destroyed and the data will be lost.]
[Quest Completion Reward]
[>Preceding Quest Continuation]
‘What is the recovery center?’
As I wondered about the unfamiliar word that kept appearing, the status window added an explanation.
[Recovery Center: A storage where the lost data gathers and waits for regeneration. All data whose usage period has expired are gathered in the recovery center and go through a regeneration waiting time before being consolidated into new data.]
In other words, it was a place similar to the afterlife where people go after they die.
The image that the system showed me was a space where tiny pixel grains emitted light and gathered to form a galaxy-like shape.
‘It’s beautiful.’
I felt a bit eerie thinking that each of those grains was like the soul of a dead person or something similar.
But it looked like a vast and beautiful universe that made me stare in awe.
The faintly glowing galaxy flowed endlessly toward a direction that was hard to pinpoint.
I didn’t believe in anything like the afterlife, but it was amazing and strange to see such a simple recycling... or rather, reincarnation structure, as I would call it.
‘Can I ask one more thing?’
I asked the question that had been bothering me.
‘Why am I the one who has to do the quest, when both I and Cheon Ise are in the same situation of being dead, and I’m even a real dead person with a body that you call a storage?’
Then the system answered as if it was obvious.
[The main factor that affects the usage period of each data is the ‘data’s own persistence of will’.]
Ah.
I finally understood. Cheon Ise killed himself and I was murdered.
Cheon Ise’s situation had changed so much since he chose suicide. I couldn’t blame him for wanting to live again now, but.
It wasn’t like he could maintain the life that someone else had given him, let alone inherit the ability to do so.
As I was silent for a moment, the system displayed the consent confirmation window again.
[Do you accept the special quest?]
[Yes/No]
And right away, a small explanation was added at the bottom, as if it was some insurance clause.
[If you proceed with the new special quest, the previous special quest will be suspended.]
[The functions that you used as Cheon Ise (Lim Hyun-seong) will be deactivated due to the change of the quest in progress.]
[Deactivation Scheduled Function List]
[- Ability Value Adjustment]
[- Buff Skill]
...
As the list went on, I felt like I was becoming a 19-year-old who knew nothing, a virtual person who had never existed in this world.
‘If I go back to reality like this, won’t I be useless?’
I felt a moment of panic, but it was no different from the situation when I first encountered the system.
It was better to do something than to wait for extinction. At least, if I started to judge and act for myself, something might change.
It was better to buy a lottery ticket and hope for a chance than to hope for a win without buying one.
[Yes]
I pressed the consent button without hesitation, and a countdown that I hadn’t seen in a long time, but felt familiar, began.
[Time left until the quest starts 10...]
[9... 8... 7...]
I looked around and everyone was busy going their own way, not paying attention to me.
What day and time is it? I reached for my phone in my pocket, but all I had was a few bills.
It made sense. I didn’t exist on paper right now. I was an unregistered person. I couldn’t have a phone that required an identity to activate.
“Damn.”
I took out the bills and checked them. 25,000 won.
It was an awkward amount. I was glad to have something, but what could I do with it? I was homeless right now.
‘Let’s check the date first.’
I memorized the members’ phone numbers, so I could call them if I found a payphone. But wait, do payphones still exist? I hurried to find a nearby phone booth, but it was almost deserted, with nothing but empty booths.
‘I’m in trouble.’
I went to the convenience store next to the booth and looked at the newspaper. It was 5 or 6 days after the last date I remembered.
‘Doesn’t that mean that the system can’t fix this if it tried for 5 days?’
I felt a chill down my spine. Then the owner of the store asked me.
“What do you want?”
I shook my head and backed away.
“No, I was just looking at the newspaper...”
He snapped at me in a grumpy voice.
“Then go away! Don’t bother my business.”
Geez. Have some manners, old man. I wanted to frown, but I held it in and tried to leave quietly. But then I saw the entertainment section of the newspaper and my eyes widened.
“Hey, wait a minute! I’ll buy this!”
How much is a newspaper? Is it still 1,000 won? I grabbed a copy and handed him a 5,000 won bill. He gave me 3,000 won in change.
‘...’
This felt like ripping off a kid’s money.
I didn’t want to haggle over a thousand or two thousand won, and I was in a hurry anyway, so I took the newspaper and the change.
‘If something had gone wrong with the business, it would have been in the news.’
It wasn’t a general business-related article that would be slow to report unless it was a relatively big accident. It was an entertainment article, so if something had happened, it would have been a mess right away.
‘Let’s see... any articles about the composition or the climax...’
[- Offbeat Music Safe wins first place for the first time, Kyunghwa, thanks for cheering for our new start.]
They won first place. This time, they didn’t have to rely on fan votes to easily win first place.
They also won first place on cable music shows and other terrestrial music shows. They had three trophies in a week, so they were all doing well.
‘Did I... underestimate Cheon Ise too much...’
A strange feeling of regret or relief crossed my mind, and then I noticed something weird.
‘Huh...?’
At most of the places where the leader should have spoken, such as the acceptance speech, it was Kyunghwa or Hwijin who held the microphone, not Cheon Ise.
‘What is Cheon Ise doing.’
He was the leader and the representative, so why didn’t he have the microphone at all.
I decided to check the internet articles and headed to a nearby PC room.
‘If I had a phone, I could just use Wi-Fi or data.’
It was unfortunate, but there was nothing I could do about it. I prepared myself mentally and tried to log in to SNS, which was faster than the articles.
‘What.’
[The password does not match.]
‘...?’
This is correct. I typed in the familiar password a few more times, but after failing more than five times, a window popped up asking for phone verification.
‘Don’t tell me... Cheon Ise changed the password?’
I felt a chill run through my body.
‘...Sigh.’
Nothing was easy. I moved my eyes back to the monitor and started searching the internet with a restless mind.