Episode 6-The Scorch Trial (5)

I was in a new place. It was the infinite darkness again. I saw the white star, and the burning eye.

(What is this...?) I thought.

[It' s y ou r sa fe pla ce, it' s wh e re y ou r mi nd go es w hen y ou fa ll asl ee p,] Fragment of the 4th Wall said.

I saw their messages appear as black and white text in front of me.

(Am I... okay?)

[I deac tiva ted you r An ger Lor d attri bu te... y ou we re be co min g too en rage d... Ri ght now... you a re slee ping as y ou heal...]

(Fragment of the 4th Wall?)

[Y es?]

(Why do I have such an attribute? Private attributes relate to a person's talent before the introduction of Star Stream. Why is mine titled Anger Lord?)

[I d o n ot kn ow...]

(4th Wall.... Who am I?)

[Hm?]

(My head... I'm forgetting so much of my life. All of these new memoires are coming in, and I don't know if they belong to me.... Who are the other Fragment Holders? Why do I receive some of their memories when I interact with them?)

[I do n't kn ow w hy yo u re a re lo si ng yo ur'e mem or ies an d re ceiv ing th em.... May be th at's wh at t he wri ter w an ted f or yo u....]

(Who is the writer?)

[Th ey a re the per son who ma de the st ory y ou re ad...]

(Are they tsl123? The writer of TWSA?)

[No... the re a re mul ti ple wri te rs.... Th is writer wa nts you to suc ceed...]

(Fragment of the 4th Wall, I'm forgetting a lot of my life before the apocalypse. Why?)

[I thi nk it's be cau se o f the wr iter.... I thi nk th ey are er asing your me mories....]

(Why are they doing that?! How are they doing that?)

[I th ink th ey are do in g it to ma ke you the per fect cha racter....]

(Will becoming a character negatively affect me?)

[It mi ght.... you can av oid it thou gh....]

(How can I avoid becoming a character?)

[You ha ve to ga ther mo re Fra gm ents of t he 4th Wa ll.... to com plete the 4th Wall... T he wa ll will pro tect you...]

(Will I remember more of myself afterwards?)

[Per haps....]

(Fragment of the 4th Wall, who is the writer?)

[I d o n ot kn ow if I sh ould t ell you..... b ut their na me is EG9....]

I saw the name float in front of me. I glared at that name.

(EG9? That's their name? Eee-ji-Nine? That's how you pronounce it?)

[Yes... But it 's a fa ke na me... a us er na me.... to pro tect th eir iden tity....]

(What do they want from me?)

[To co mp lete the 4th Wa ll... and ma ke it to th e end of this w or ld.]

(How do I make it to the end?)

[Y ou mus t make it to the 99th sc en ario.... You mu st survive until th en.]

(How do I do that?)

[Ta ke the oth er Fragments. The o ther Fr ag me nts will all ow you to se e the re st of th e st ory th at y ou re ad....]

(If I gain Fragments, I will be able to remember more of the story? Why can't I just reread it online?)

[The st ory y ou re ad doe sn't ex ist online an y mo re.... Th e sto ry on ly exi sts on the Frag ment s of the 4th Wall.... By gai ning the other Frag ments, y ou com ple te the re st of the story. Then yo u can re read it.... It wi ll be hard to get oth er Fragm ents tho ugh....]

(How hard?)

[Y ou will su ffer a lot....]

I smiled from dread.

(Pfft. I've been suffering before the Apocalypse. I think I can handle more.)

[I'll be th e re to pro tect you... For now.... f or no w re st....]

I felt my conscious mind become suppressed. I didn't want to sleep, but I felt something warm wrap around my body, and gently rock me to sleep.

The scintillating white star shot solar-flares that illuminated the darkness, while the flaming eye watched me sleep. I felt comforted. It felt as if I was being guarded, warmed and watched. It felt okay to rest.

***

I woke up again. I wondered if I was in my own mind, or if I was in reality. I was lying on my back, and my body was pressed against a hard surface. I looked around in an effort to regain my bearings. I saw that I was in a little backroom filled with shopping items; I was also lying on the floor.

(Am I in a store?)

I rose a little bit, and saw the ground around me was scorched. I willed myself to fully stand, and when I did, I saw that I left a black imprint on the floor, which was in the shape of my body. I was the reason why the linoleum was scorched black. I must've generated high temperatures in my sleep.

(Where am I?)

I was in a different area from before. I wasn't near the fountain, which was in the middle of the Macy's mall. I looked at my body. I was still in my underwear, and I saw parts of my body were completely blackened. I thought I was dirty, but when I rubbed the areas, I saw that the blackened areas were my skin.

[You have acquired a new achievement!]

[You have achieved "On the Cusp of Death"!]

[Payment: 10,000 coins!]

[Constellation "Secretive Plotter" is glad that Incarnation "Ethan Nakamura" is alive.]

[Constellation "Egyptian Thought" wonders how you regrew your limbs.]

[Constellation "The Black One, Lord of Muspellheim" says that you're appearance is respectable now.]

[Constellation "The Black One, Lord of Muspellheim" says that you look similar to the fire jotuns of old.]

[You have been given 5000 coins for surviving.]

The system messages relaxed my stressed mind. I was alive. I didn't die. This was reality.

-[Hey!!]

It was Dokkaebi Herald. They must've heard that I nearly died. They were sending messages through Dokkaebi Communication.

-[Are you okay?!]

-[Yeah. I am.]

-[The Constellations were going crazy, and were saying that you died! What happened?!]

-[I'll give some exposition to the Constellations about that. Don't worry.]

-[Okay. Do you need anything?]

-[Could you open the Dokkaebi Shop?]

The Dokkaebi Shop opened soon after. I bought myself some clothes. I decided to buy some heat resistant clothing that were C-Grade.

(I wonder if my backpack was destroyed.)

I made sure to throw my backpack away while I was running and fighting. I also figured my rain jacket would be destroyed by the [Flames of Muspellheim] stigma, so I quickly took it off and placed it in the auction shop.

"Open the auction area," I said aloud.

The menus and displays quickly flicked to the auction area. I saw my rain jacket was still there. I took it off the auction shop, and it reappeared in front of my eyes.

(I'm glad that no one bought it.)

I dug into the pockets, and took out my phone. It was a cheap thing that costed 20 dollars to buy, and my mother bought it from Fred Meyer. Still, my phone was special to me.

I received this phone as a present for my 14th birthday. My mother also bought Minecraft from the Google Play-store, and I would play that game so much. I swiped through all the apps. I saw some music that I illegally downloaded, some pictures that I took, and screenshots from my favorite webtoons. I also saw videos that I recorded.

There was one thing I noticed. There were no pictures of me.

(If I remember correctly, I didn't like taking pictures of myself because I hated selfies.)

There were no pictures of my friends as well.

(I don't think I liked taking pictures of people in general.)

All of the images on my phone consisted of artwork, or something random, such as screenshots of wiki pages. I tucked away my phone into the pocket of my rain jacket, and zipped it shut. I quickly clothed myself, and wrapped my rain jacket around my upper half. I didn't have a cloth-mask, but I decided to stop wearing one in this type of weather.

[Constellation "Abyssal Black Flame Dragon" was impressed by your flames and explosions.]

(Abyssal Black Flame Dragon?)

I remembered something that I needed to ask. I stared towards the sky.

"Excuse me, Abyssal Black Flame Dragon?"

[Constellation "Abyssal Black Flame Dragon" is staring at you.]

"Is your Incarnation - Kim Namwoon - alright?"

[Constellation "Abyssal Black Flame Dragon" has said: "Kim Namwoon is alright."]

(Why is this freaking dragon lying to me?)

[Constellation "Abyssal Black Flame Dragon" wonders how you know his Incarnation.]

(Oh... Shit.... I revealed that I knew Kim Namwoon.... Abyssal Black Flame Dragon was just being careful...)

"Oh, he's famous already.... I heard that there was a powerful teenager in South Korea that wields black flames."

[Constellation "Abyssal Black Flame Dragon" is smiling.]

[Constellation "Abyssal Black Flame Dragon" has sponsored Incarnation "Ethan Nakamura" with 1000 coins.]

(Well, I hope that they think that Namwoon is famous already... I also hope that their ego is big enough that they won't question how I know about Kim Namwoon.)

[Constellation "Secretive Plotter" is staring at Incarnation "Ethan Nakamura."]

[Constellation "Egyptian Thought" is staring at Incarnation "Ethan Nakamura."]

Although, the smarter Constellations might be scrutinizing my actions much more thoroughly. I opened Dokkaebi Communication again.

-[Hey, Herald?]

-[Yeah?]

-[Are Constellations "Secretive Plotter" and "Egyptian Thought" subscribed to the channel?]

-[Let me see.... Yep.]

(Crap. They might be watching me to gain information, or maybe I caught negative attention.)

-[Hey, because of your crazy actions, I've been gaining a lot of subscribers and donations. I've been upgrading my channel a lot. I have to mess with some settings. I'll be back in a bit.]

-[Alright. See ya.]

After I sent that system message to Herald, a new display screen popped up.

[You have successfully used First Person Perspective!]

[You have entered the Perspectives of two applicable characters!]

(What is this?)

[You may copy one skill from each character!]

[Yu Junghyeok]

-Air Steps

-Red Phoenix Shunpo

-Fire Resistance

(No way... If I can use this.... wait... I need to think about this.)

Air Steps was a Moorim skill that allowed the users to convert air into steps to traverse on. Red Phoenix Shunpo increased a user's speed. Fire Resistance was a simple skill, but it was quite useful in hot environments. I was tempted to choose that skill; perhaps it could allow me to safely use the [Flames of Muspellheim] stigma.

I pondered my options. I already had plans to change my biology to accustom my stigma; that left two options left.

(Red Phoenix Shunpo would be perfect for an agile playstyle, but Air Steps seem more useful. I could have the high ground, and drop down to kill people quickly. I could also use it to escape from high places, and descend safely)

I made a decision. I chose Air Steps. I saw the next three options.

[Kim Namwoon]

-Knife Fighting

-Blackening (Exclusive to Chunnibyou)

-Unusual Adaptability

Kim Namwoon's options were less than stellar. Unusual Adaptability was perfect to conforming to new situations, but I had Asian Adaptability. Knife Fighting was pretty basic; I didn't see the use in learning that skill when I already had Self-taught Sword Fighting Lv.8. That left Blackening as the only option. Paired with my Anger Lord attribute, Blackening would do well. If I remembered correctly, Blackening encompassed a person's body with a dark aura, which increased their physical attacks.

Kim Namwoon also used this skill in the First Scenario, which showed that he had extreme talent in terms of combat. I used my Anger Lord attribute in a sub-scenario after the First Scenario; this showed similarities in our skill-set.

(Well then, I'll pick Blackening. I'm a teenager as well, so I guess I'm edgy. Blackening might work quite well with me.)

[You have acquired a new skill called Air Steps!]

[You have acquired a new skill called Blackening!]

It was cool that I was able to gain skills this way. I felt a little ashamed that I was a Kim Namwoon fan, but sticking with him and descending into him proved useful to me.

(It sucks that I can't use Character Assimilation....) I thought sullenly. (Hey, Fraggy?)

[Y e s?]

(You can see my attribute window, right?)

[Yep.]

(Can you see if I gained two new skills? Also, can you check to see if I can use Character Assimilation?)

I waited a few moments after making my request.

[Y ou s afe ly ga in ed t wo new ski lls, b ut you ca n't use Cha rac ter Ass imi lation yet.... You ha ve to ga in o ther Frag ment s of th e 4th Wall to act i va te t he ski ll.]

(I didn't know that...)

It seems that gaining 4th Wall fragments were vital for my survival.

(Well, thanks then. I'll train with the new skills later.)

First, I had to make sure George was alright. Did I infect him? Did he die? I was about to leave this little backroom, but the door that led to this room was closed.

(I'm scared to open it.)

I had seen a lot of horror movies. Opening a door without checking was dangerous.

[You have activated Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Lv.3!]

[You have activated Stigma Flames of Muspellheim Lv.7]

I linked the skill and stigma, and tried to read any thoughts. I didn't see any thoughts being transmitted, and I didn't see any approaching heat signatures. I walked towards the door of this backroom, grabbed the doorknob, and opened it. I stepped into an electronic shop. I saw the metal blinds in the front of the shop were closed. I approached the blinds, and tried to lift them up.

[You are in a safe zone!]

[Are you sure you want to leave?]

These messages flashed in front of me.

(Hmmm. It seems that safe zones are individual stores within the mall, and closing them off protects the people inside.)

I lifted the blinds. I needed to find George, and see if they were alright.