Preparation

-Please kill me.

Those were the first words Kim Ganghyeon uttered when he came to his senses.

Yuseong could understand how Kim Ganghyeon felt.

Anyone would say the same after learning that their entire life had been nothing but following a script someone created in virtual reality, and that their real self was just livestock raised to be eaten by monsters, just a brain in a vat.

However, Yuseong’s answer was already decided.

“No. When I achieve my goal and return to my world, you can ask others to kill you then.”

-……

What would it feel like to need someone else’s permission even to die?

Seeing Kim Ganghyeon’s silent form, Yuseong felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

To be coldly honest, what happened to the client after the quest ended wasn’t his concern.

But for Yuseong, who had always tried to clear quests in ways that would benefit the client beyond just meeting the system’s conditions, Kim Ganghyeon’s situation really bothered him.

While pondering how to give Kim Ganghyeon a happy ending, Yuseong soon thought of one solution.

“How about entering another virtual world?”

-…You want me to return to that terrible world?

“I’m talking about a different virtual world. If there’s a world with an apocalyptic setting, there must be plenty of other worlds with fantasy, martial arts, fusion, or sci-fi settings. I mean a peaceful world without monsters or calamities.”

-W-wait. What are you saying? Other virtual worlds? Such things exist?

“If they don’t exist, we can have them made. You can live a new life in an ideal world of your choosing. You could become a king, a hero, or the chairman of a major corporation. Though it’s not real, isn’t that quite good?”

-……

Another silence followed.

But this silence was different from the previous one.

-…I don’t need anything that grand. Living as an ordinary person in an ordinary world is enough.

“I’ll let people know.”

-…Thank you.

“No need for thanks.”

Seeing his voice had regained some strength, Yuseong smiled slightly and closed his eyes in thought.

Though he had resolved Kim Ganghyeon’s issue, many problems remained.

Convincing people, dealing with the Brain Eater, the survival of remaining humanity after the quest ended, and so on.

What Yuseong was pondering was the most difficult problem among them.

‘Should I just satisfy the basic clear conditions and end it, or should I aim for the additional clear conditions?’

The former was easy and simple.

Just destroy the Brain Eater’s brain with thorny vines to disable it, extract Kim Ganghyeon’s brain, and blow everything up with bombs.

The problem was that choosing the former option likely meant receiving no rewards.

‘The items I used this time were Thousand Hands, Gravity Shoes, and Alice. Thousand Hands and Gravity Shoes aren’t a big deal, but Alice played too big a role in clearing the quest. Even considering it’s an S-rank quest, the artifact usage rate must be at least 60%. Add the skill usage rate to that and…’

Even assuming a 100% fate change rate, the clear rank would be F-rank at best, possibly FFF-rank at worst.

Just as additional rewards were given for clearing quests with S-rank or higher, conversely, penalties were applied for clearing with F-rank or lower.

‘The basic clear reward for the [One Day Suddenly] quest is an unknown item called Calamity Fragment and 150 million karma. After subtracting 63.1 million karma points plus interest and the low-rank clear penalty, almost nothing would remain.’

He wouldn’t take a loss.

But he also wouldn’t receive rewards befitting an S-rank quest.

At best, it would be like clearing a C-rank quest with SSS rank.

The rewards were too small compared to the effort and hardship invested.

‘…I have no choice but to attempt the additional clear conditions.’

Hunt another calamity.

Recalling his future self consumed by madness and calling out to Outer Gods, Yuseong let out a sigh.

He had no time to relax right now.

Even if it meant taking risks, he had to take the fastest path.

Opening his eyes, Yuseong projected his voice throughout the facility.

“Everyone gather.”

* * *

The first thing Yuseong did after firmly deciding to hunt another calamity was training.

Training in this world rather than reality, and with an alien life form’s body rather than a human one.

It might seem laughable, but Yuseong was serious.

‘Fighting a calamity in my current state would mean certain defeat.’

Though he had succeeded in taking control of the Brain Eater with the Puppet skill, that didn’t mean he could freely use all of the Brain Eater’s abilities.

Just controlling the eyes required intense concentration to avoid them tangling like earphone cords, let alone handling an unfamiliar power like telekinesis.

Yuseong focused on controlling the Brain Eater’s body and telekinesis, and by utilizing mental skills like Asura Perception Way, he was able to achieve significant results in a short time.

After finishing his training, Yuseong’s next task was creating a new home for humanity.

After the quest ended and he returned to his original world, the humans of this world would likely face extinction without the Brain Eater’s protection.

Though humanity’s survival had nothing to do with the quest, Kim Ganghyeon needed humanity to survive to start his new life in the virtual world.

“Great One! Are you abandoning us?!”

“We’ll double, no, triple the sacrifices! Please continue protecting us!”

Though there was fierce resistance from some fanatics, after handling a few as practice for telekinesis to set an example, the complaints quickly subsided.

People accepted that they needed to live in a new world, and Yuseong immediately began work.

“The surface is not an option. Let’s build underground shelters.”

Forests, mountains, wastelands, deserts, even polar regions.

The surface was crawling with monsters everywhere.

No matter how high or sturdy the walls, they wouldn’t last even a few days on the surface.

Underground was the only place humanity could survive in this world.

Building a shelter deep underground large enough for hundreds of thousands of people was absolutely not an easy task.

With human power alone, it would have taken at least decades and astronomical costs.

However, things were different for a non-human species.

“That spot looks good.”

The Brain Eater possessed telekinesis powerful enough to break down an entire small city into atoms.

What would happen if that powerful force was used for construction?

Woong!

A mountain rises.

This wasn’t a metaphor.

Literally, a massive mountain was floating in the air as if held by invisible hands.

This incredible sight amazed not just the people but Yuseong himself.

‘…I knew it was strong, but I didn’t expect this level.’

He had used full power thinking of the virtual world’s Brain Eater, but never dreamed it could lift an entire mountain.

Realizing the real world Brain Eater’s telekinesis was stronger than its virtual counterpart, Yuseong decided to build a more substantial shelter while getting used to the ability.

Thinking of the future, he created space not for hundreds of thousands but millions of people, plus backup spaces for contingencies, and drew in groundwater.

“You’ll need a lot to maintain civilization.”

“Y-yes.”

“Tell me everything you need. I’ll bring it all now.”

That wasn’t all.

He traveled the ruined world gathering all sorts of raw materials, machinery, equipment, food, seeds, miscellaneous items needed for humanity’s survival, and even lifted entire buildings like power plants, factories, and apartments along with their foundations to move underground.

As a result, in less than two weeks, Yuseong was able to create not just an underground shelter, but an underground city.

‘This should be more than enough.’

Even the people of [Twisted World] with its Civilization Grade of 0.92 maintained their civilization living underground for hundreds of years.

Though based on science rather than magic, a world with Civilization Grade 0.99 should be able to survive underground.

He had grown accustomed to the Brain Eater’s body and solved humanity’s survival problem.

Having completed all preparations, Yuseong began moving to conclude this long quest.

-H-hey. Are you really doing this? There’s no need to catch a calamity, right? Stop being greedy and let’s go back now. This is suicide.

Yuseong let Kim Ganghyeon’s words go in one ear and out the other.

Beyond the additional rewards, he couldn’t give up after investing so much time.

“Which calamity are you targeting?”

Alice, flying right beside him, asked curiously.

Though Yuseong had checked the information people had gathered about calamities whenever he had time, he hadn’t said a word about which calamity he would hunt.

“Mad Magician.”

“Ugh.”

Alice stuck out her tongue with a disgusted expression.

Compared to other calamities, the damage Mad Magician had done to this world wasn’t much.

However, Mad Magician was the most eccentric being among all calamities.

While other calamities aimed to kill or eat humans, Mad Magician’s goal was to torment humans.

Under the guise of magic shows, he tormented people in all sorts of creative ways and enjoyed watching their suffering – truly living up to the name Mad Magician.

“Urgh, can’t we hunt something else?”

“No. The others are too strong.”

Magical Girl of Death with firepower to vaporize an entire city.

Leviathan with its tens of kilometers long body and durability to withstand nuclear weapons.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse who were weak individually but always moved together.

There was no guarantee of victory against these three even with the Brain Eater’s abilities.

‘Though his bizarre abilities are somewhat concerning, he’s still the easiest opponent among the calamities.’

He always moved alone and didn’t possess overwhelming abilities like other calamities.

Mad Magician wasn’t a choice but an inevitability.

‘Where are you?’

To find someone in a ruined world, you had to put in the legwork.

Arriving in North America where Mad Magician was known to be active, Yuseong spread his telekinesis widely to detect presences.

Within the range his telekinesis could reach, he sensed the presence of easily hundreds of thousands of monsters.

Though it was an immense amount of information that would have fried a human brain, for the Brain Eater’s brain it wasn’t even an after-dinner snack.

After spreading his telekinesis around for a while, Yuseong’s eyes narrowed.

“…Found it.”

200km north from here.

He moved quickly toward where he sensed a presence on a completely different level from ordinary monsters.

And finally, Yuseong was able to find Mad Magician.

“Keck, keck…”

“Grrrk.”

“……”

Yuseong was lost for words.

Humans impaled on stakes, humans with legs where arms should be and heads where legs should be, humans endlessly screaming while engulfed in flames.

Countless humans suffering, neither dead nor alive.

“♪♪.”

And in the middle of it all, when he spotted Mad Magician holding his hat to his chest while looking in his direction, Yuseong fired his telekinesis without hesitation.