Chapter 22

‘What the hell just happened?’

The fanatic, Andras, was nowhere to be heard.

‘Calm down.’

Now that I looked closely, this was similar to when the Judge went into a berserk state.

It happened when a player marked as the defendant lied on all three questions. The Judge would declare all three as lies—and go berserk.

The thing was, there was no real solution to this.

[Post] [Casual Chat]
Title: Listen up, newbies

These days I keep getting asked, “How do you survive when the Judge goes berserk?”

Bruh, I wrote a whole damn post on how not to even reach that point, and y’all didn’t read it ㅇㅅ”ㅇ!

Just die, okay? ㅇㅅㅇ Die lol

Don’t come crying to me for after-sales support, you hopeless newbies!

❤️ Likes: 2

Comments
👤 Savior 1: Still, you keep writing for us, don’t you?
└ OP: ㅇㅅ”ㅇ (Goddammit!)

Yeah, you just die.

But I couldn’t afford to die here. This wasn’t a game. This was real life.

‘Can’t believe I’m seriously relying on that troll post meant to mock newbies.’

Suppressing my tension and fear, I calmly raised my head.

“Your Honor.”

My voice came out smooth, steady.

“Please make your ruling.”

No matter what, the evil gods—being bound by logic and system rules—couldn’t go against the very structure that defined them.

And since the evil gods in this world were obsessed with origin and order, the monsters born from them couldn’t disobey those rules either.

MozBall—the round-headed thing in front of me—shifted its black, pupil-less eyes back and forth across my face.

‘God, that’s creepy as hell…!’

“This isn’t the time to be acting so sensibile, is it?”

— “…You distorted the truth, didn’t you?”

“Your role is to determine the truth, isn’t it, Your Honor?”

— “…”

“If it was a lie, then just rule it as one.”

And obviously, what I said wasn’t a lie. I had seen the evil god in the game.

“Liberamente.”

As I answered with confidence, the Judge slowly backed away and began to shrink slightly.

The sewn-shut mouth stretched into a wide grin right in front of my face.

— “Ah… You’re right! No need to be sensibile. My role is very important! Con allegrezza!”

But despite that, the Judge still didn’t shout the final judgment. That unsettled me.

— “So… You say you’ve seen the Father? How very intriguing. Why don’t we keep this soavemente little relationship going?”

According to the lore, all creations of the evil god refer to him as “Father.”

— “Let’s be friends! I get the feeling… we’ll meet again?”

Wait, what?

— “Oh! How soniante! How joyous! Where does the blessing of music end?!”

“Wait a—”

— “All statements shall be ruled as truth!”

Clank!

The final shackle binding me shattered.

And then, the scenery around me began to peel away from the ground in fragments.

Its thin, bony fingers waved goodbye at me.

— “Marciale!”

Wait, you damned freak! What the hell does that mean?!

Why throw out some kind of teaser line now?!

But before I could even shout—

I opened my eyes.

Reality.

“Haa…”

Unlike the Nightmare-Feeding Insect, aberrations from this supernatural realm didn’t pass time in the real world.

Meaning, my dad wouldn’t have been out there pacing nervously or wondering where I disappeared to.

I staggered slightly—

Thud.

Someone was bowing low in front of me.

‘Is this guy insane…’

Well, at least he’d set up a barrier in advance. That was something.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance.

It was the fanatic, Andras—trembling as he prostrated himself.

“P-please forgive me!”

“Lift your head.”

Andras instantly raised his head, as if he’d been waiting for permission.

Honestly… I kind of wished he hadn’t.

“A-a-amazing! I didn’t recognize Your Grace before! To be acknowledged by the Judge itself…!”

Panting hard, he was bleeding from his nose.

And his eyes—glazed over, euphoric.

He must’ve interpreted the Judge’s berserk state completely differently.

[Post] [Casual Chat]
Title: I’m a newbie… (long post warning)

Um… I’m new…

I kept getting killed by the Judge summoned by fanatics.

Then I saw someone’s post about how to deal with its berserk mode…

(Link: How to memorize music terms)

But like… there’s SO much to memorize..ㅠ

Isn’t there another way?ㅠ

Why do I have to learn music terms just to play a gameㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ?

(Also, side note: why do people here call each other “Sayver”? Isn’t it supposed to be Savior??)

❤️ Likes: 322

Comments
👤 Savior 1: Sayver, you really are a newbie huh. Try saying “Sa-vi-or” fast.
└ OP: Saviorsaviorsaviorsayver… Oh…?
👤 Savior2: Why memorize them? Because if you say just three correctly, the monster chills out and backs off. Isn’t that obvious?
└ Sayver 3: 222. Better than dying, right?
👤 Savior 4: Are you nuts? You think this is a joke? I threw away real life and memorized them all! Even became friends with the Judge!
👤 Savior 3: Yeah! Learn it and don’t run away! Our game would collapse without you!
└ Sayver 2: Ugh… Our game’s community is such a mess…

I used to wonder—why give the Judge a backstory about loving music?

Then I found out that when it goes berserk, if you answer with music terms among the dialogue options, it calms down.

The catch? It only works if you use real musical terms…

‘Damn evil developers.’

I still remember how my brain nearly exploded memorizing everything.

Now, I’ve got a mental dictionary of musical terms and their meanings.

But there’s no way this fanatic would know that.

So to him, it just looked like the scary monster calmed itself before my greatness.

“A lowly fool dared test such a noble being…! Please forgive me! I shall repay with death!”

“No need to die.”

The way he trembled—it wasn’t from fear. It was from ecstasy.

‘Gross.’

“So how are you gonna repay me?”

“E-excuse me?”

“For my effort. My time.”

“…”

I held out my hand.

“Pay up.”

Gimme the loot.

In the game, this much was usually enough to prompt an item drop. So I asked confidently.

The fanatic grabbed my hand without hesitation, his eyes gleaming with an eerie light.

“Of course!”

A red gleam flashed in his eyes. I flinched.

Before I could react, I instinctively reached my hand forward.

‘No!’

From behind the fanatic, my dad appeared—sword drawn, locking eyes with me.

I desperately signaled.

‘No, that’s not it! Back off! Dad, calm down!’

Thankfully, he faded back into stealth. The fanatic, focused entirely on me, didn’t notice a thing.

‘This kind of balancing act… really isn’t easy.’

By the time I looked again, something had already been engraved on the back of my hand.

‘This is…’

A Mark of Submission?

The red flame-like sigil disappeared quickly from my hand.

But the same mark remained glowing on the fanatic’s forehead.

“I swear my allegiance.”

“…”

“My life and death now lie in Your Grace’s hands.”

He was saying I could forgive his sin—or not. Either way, it didn’t matter.

His eyes gleamed with delight as he looked up at me.

“If Your Grace uses me as part of your grand design, then I, Andras, shall devote all to reaching the origin…!”

…This was supposed to be the path to a happy ending, wasn’t it?

I nodded.

“Alright, off you go now.”

“Yes, sir!”

By the time he got up, the mark had vanished from his forehead.

But if I wanted him to, he’d show up anywhere, anytime.

And if I told him to die, he would.

‘I didn’t exactly plan on recruiting a fanatic as a subordinate, though.’

Still, considering how paranoid Connectors like him were supposed to be… this was an unexpected win.

“To think our Order would impact even a pope candidate…! The Left Brain of the Evil God is watching over us!”

“Sure.”

Andras turned and left.

Only after he completely disappeared did someone slip into view beside me.

Dad.

I turned toward him with a slightly nervous expression.

‘So… he saw everything.’

How was he going to react?

[Achievement Unlocked! Idol of the Fanatics (???)!]

‘What the hell is this now?’
 

Brought to you by Gourmet Scans

Translator: Japchae