CHAPTER 255: THE UNLUCKY ONE

"NOH YIHUN, CLOSE YOUR EYES!"

Call Yihun submissive, but he closed his eyes after the dice yelled at him.

In his defense, his gut feeling was almost always correct.

And my gut feeling is telling me to close my damn eyes.

Moreover, he’d rather listen to the thing that came out of his body than the so-called god that possessed Charles Kang’s body.

To be honest, Yihun wasn’t a religious person.

But I believe in gods.

Plus, ever since the apocalypse happened, it had been easier to believe things that were hard to prove in the past.

That ws why Yihun decided to listen to the dice.

I don’t have a strong will to live, but I’ll grab this chance for my siblings.

"Moon Noa-nim, Ryu Sungbin-nim, I’m not sure if you’re already awake or not. But if you can hear me, please keep your eyes closed!" Yihun said. He didn’t like raising his voice. However, he realized he needed to raise his voice if he wanted Moon Noa and Ryu Sungbin— who were unconscious earlier— to hear him. "Please trust the dice!"

He didn’t hear a response.

Not even a sound from Moon Noa and Ryu Sungbin.

And that actually brought him relief.

I can still feel their Mana, so I know they’re still alive.

"HUMAN, WHY DO YOU LISTEN TO THE SYSTEM WHEN YOU DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THAT THING WAS INSIDE YOUR BODY ALL THIS TIME?"

Right?

It kinda pissed Yihun off.

However...

"I’d rather take the side of whatever it was that came out of my body than die by your hands, god with a bad taste in vessels," Yihun said, scoffing. "For the record, even if that dice turns out to be the real villain of the world, I still won’t regret choosing his side."

"THEN YOU CAN DIE WITH THE SYSTEM."

"Oh, scary," Yihun said sarcastically. "Yeah, death scares me sooo much."

"YOU DARE MOCK ME...!"

"What are you gonna do? Kill me? Go ahead."

The god possessing Charles Kang let out an inhuman scream— an angry one, at that.

And then there was silence.

Hmm?

Okay, that scared Yihun.

He almost opened his eyes. But, fortunately, he caught himself and covered his eyes with his hands before he made a mistake.

"Kid, you really know how to piss off a god."

"Oh, that voice... you’re the dice."

Thank goodness it wasn’t Charles Kang’s god.

"You may open your eyes now."

Yihun waited for five seconds before he finally opened his eyes.

He was careful because he didn’t want to get blinded by the light. After all, he could feel it hitting his face.

Thankfully, the room where he woke up to wasn’t as blinding as he thought it would be.

And, yes, they were in a different place now.

It was a spacious cave with an underground lake.

At first look, the water looked green, which was pretty common.

However, if you looked closer, you’d see that the water wasn’t green— it was simply made of pixels.

Plus, the things that kept the cave bright were floating Status Windows.

Yeah, this thing is really the System.

And the ’thing’ in question was...

"A dice head," Yihun said carefully, tilting his head to one side. "Is that your real form?"

He was talking to a figured that was built like a two-meter man, dressed in a plain black suit...

... with a dice for a head.

Life is stranger than fiction, huh?

But why a dice?" Yihun wondered out loud. "It would have made more sense if your head is, like, a computer monitor."

"Kid, you talk too much."

"Yes, but you also have a lot of things to explain, sir," Yihun said, pointing at his stomach. "Why were you inside my body? And since when?"

"Probably since you awakened as a Guide."

"Fuck you."

"Excuse me?"

"You’ve been in my body for that long, and yet you didn’t help me when I was being tortured?" Yihun asked bitterly, clenching his shaking hands tightly. "Don’t you think you have to pay for using me as a vessel without my knowing?"

"I’m sorry— I was asleep the whole time."

"The fuck?"

"I had to conserve my energy since both my brain and heart were damaged badly when I arrived in this world."

"That sounds like a lame excuse."

Even without a normal face, Yihun could tell that the System was pissed.

After all, the white dice that the System had for a face turned red— only for a moment, though.

"I understand," the System said, his voice sounding tired as if he were already done with Yihun even though it hadn’t been five minutes since the conversation started. "I can only freeze the Virus for a few minutes, so I’ll offer a quick explanation—"

"Virus? The thing that possessed Charles Kang is just a Virus? And yet he had the audacity to to call himself a god?"

"To be fair, all celestial beings overseeing your little world is a god to you."

Aigoo.

"Kid, can you shut up for a moment and just listen to me? I can use violence to shut you up, but I don’t want to hurt the vessel that kept me alive for years."

Yihun acted like he was zipping his mouth.

The System seemed satisfied because he started yapping again.

"I was sent here by a Higher Being to protect your world. We don’t have the power to stop the Apocalypse, but we have the power to help humans protect themselves by awakening them as Espers and Guides. However, before I got here, the Virus attacked me."

Yihun let out a gasp— unable to stop himself from yapping. "You lost?"

"I didn’t lose— it was a tie!"

"There’s no such thing as a ’tie’ in a real battle. So, you really lost..."

"I said I didn’t lose," the System insisted, obviously sulking. "My physical body was shattered. That’s why I can only awaken humans who have the biggest and sturdiest Core. You call them natural S-Class Hunters and Guides."

Ohh.

"Ah, there was one special Hunter that didn’t awaken as a natural S-Class because he doesn’t need to be strong— I just needed him to take care of my Heart."

Oh, was the dice dude talking about the System’s Heart?

The System’s Heart functioned as the System’s ’motherboard’ and took the form of a giant television monitor.

All Espers who awakened were required by the government to register their awakening to the System’s Heart. Then, for the first and last time in their lives, the Espers would see a Status Window explaining their ability and additional skills (if there were any).

After that, Espers would have access to their Inventory— a spatial space where they could hide Items or other stuff that they might need when stuck in a dungeon.

It was a convenient skill that one lucky man had received upon awakening.

"Then you must be talking about Kwak Hakjae, the President of the Esper Association."

"Yes, I gave that kid half of my personal Inventory in order to guide the newly awakened Espers and, later, Guides."

Right, Espers awakened first before the Guides.

"My power was just enough to activate the System’s Heart, but then that kid suddenly invented the System Fragments."

Yihun could sense the frustration in the System’s voice.

The System Fragments are smaller versions of the System’s Heart, aka smaller TV monitors.

Those Fragments had a piece of the System’s Heart, so it worked the same. But, of course, it could only handle a small number of Espers at a time.

That was how branches of the Esper Association were established.

"I had to use my power to activate every single System Fragment in existence," the System said, sighing. "Hence, when I found you, I had no choice but to enter a deep slumber in order to recover."

"When you found me?" Yihun asked curiously. "Where were you before that?"

"Where else other than your other half?"

Who the fuck is my ’other half?’

***

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