Come to think of it.

I’d never seriously pondered the circumstances that led me to drop into this dystopian world. I’d been too busy fighting battles on land, sea, and air.

The first time I opened my eyes in the Gaol.

I’d suddenly possessed a death row inmate. Surviving in this chaotic dystopia as Lee Taebaek had started right there.

It’s been… nonstop…

I hadn’t had a single idle day—not even one where I could afford to slack off—or my head would’ve been on the chopping block.

That must’ve been why.

I never had the leisure to reflect on why I’d fallen into this world.

No.

I let out a hollow chuckle.

No. The truth was, I’d known all along.

I’d just been turning a blind eye to the fact that Team Leader Seo—the one who’d hurled me into the world I myself had created—was the culprit. I simply didn’t want to face it.

If Team Leader Seo had dropped me into the game world while I was pulling an all-nighter… that would mean she wasn’t human. She was something transcendent.

I…

She.

I’d wanted her to be human like me.

That’s why I’d averted my eyes from the truth. Even knowing the answer, I’d tried to skirt around it.

Team Leader Seo was someone I’d admired.

Even as team members packed up and left one by one, she’d stayed by my side.

Without her, I’d have been left alone to develop in isolation, only to get the notice that Raken’s development was being scrapped.

If my touch extended to every corner of this world…

Then it was Team Leader Seo who’d been my fence in the world outside.

Someone like that…

If she wasn’t human…

If she were some unknowable entity…

All those memories of sharing joys and hardships with her would feel so utterly fleeting…

That prospect terrified me.

“Oh my.”

She smiled sweetly at me.

“You must be pretty shocked, Assistant Manager Lee.”

I didn’t respond.

Neither did Biyeon, who’d been clashing swords with me moments ago.

With the appearance of the former Commander-in-Chief, Team Leader Seo, our momentary standoff settled into a lull.

Thud.

I dropped the Para Blade. I didn’t want to just take it lying down from that smug woman. Shrugging coolly, I played it off.

“Nah. I’m just surprised there’s no big twist.”

“Oh? You knew it was me? Since when?”

“Who knows.”

“Hey now, old habits. Don’t get sulky~.”

She trailed off playfully, as always when diffusing tense air.

I grumbled.

“Why reveal yourself now? To protect your disciple?”

“Hardly.”

Team Leader Seo glanced sideways. Biyeon watched with wide-eyed astonishment, urging an answer.

After all, the woman who’d personally taken her life had appeared bold as brass. The ghost-struck expression wasn’t hyperbole.

Team Leader Seo stroked Biyeon’s hair. It was prickly. All gone white from her ordeals. Keeping her inner thoughts under wraps, she said,

“This child’s far stronger than me now. How could I protect someone like that? I just met the ‘condition’ to reveal my true self.”

“If it’s a condition,”

“Assistant Manager Lee realizing who he truly is.”

Team Leader Seo withdrew her hand from Biyeon’s head. Biyeon’s eyes followed wistfully, reluctant to let go of the warmth.

Rustle, rustle.

Team Leader Seo stepped past Biyeon, crunching debris underfoot as she approached me.

I’d half-wondered if it was a dream. But as she drew near, she sharpened into focus, like a camera cranking up its pixels.

I was in the same space as her.

“Mind a private chat? Off the record?”

“…”

I didn’t answer.

I just quietly snapped my fingers.

Crack.

A splintering sound echoed. Space fractured like a shattered glass pane. Biyeon’s dazed face shattered along with it. Not dead, of course—just frozen in time.

One finger snap isolated us from the world. Embarrassing to say it myself, but this was my awakened power.

“Whoa. You adapted fast.”

Team Leader Seo sounded genuinely impressed. She scanned the hall of broken mirrors. Touching a floating shard, she yanked her hand back from its sharp edge.

I spoke to the fussing woman.

“We can talk quietly here.”

Team Leader Seo pouted.

“…You used to have this cute charm. Now you’re all cold.”

“You saw plenty while playing Commander-in-Chief. My cold side.”

“No.”

She shook her head gently. Her bob fanned out like a folding fan.

“When I wore the mask, the ‘Team Leader Seo’ persona didn’t exist. The mask was a kind of seal.”

“Like split personality…?”

“Less split, more like a personality reset. Easier to grasp that way.”

“Still hard to follow.”

She just smiled enigmatically and stepped closer, brushing aside floating debris with her body.

“As you saw earlier, this body belonged to the current Heavenly Demon, Biyeon’s master.”

“Talking about your own body like it’s someone else’s.”

“It’s a body that died once.”

Team Leader Seo stopped at my feet. She tugged down the hem of her overcoat.

“So, zombie?”

“Hey, don’t say it like that. It died once, but I didn’t say it died completely.”

“…?”

Team Leader Seo pulled her collar down to her shoulders, half-exposing herself as she turned. Purple sword scars etched between her shoulder blades.

“Demonic arts are like that. Can’t even die properly if you want to. I died, but Biyeon didn’t cremate me. She buried me in some cave.”

“Revived through demonic arts…”

“But I’d delved too deep, so my soul shattered into pieces. You know the saying—wandering the nine heavens even in death.”

Then…

“Team Leader Seo’s persona is a fragment of the previous Heavenly Demon?”

“Quick on the uptake. Yes.”

“What about the Commander-in-Chief?”

“Same deal. That fragment was tiny, so almost no memories as the previous Heavenly Demon. See? Mask breaks, persona vanishes.”

“…This is confusing.”

I sighed.

Our reflections flickered across the shattered fragments, scattering chaotically. A disorienting space of utter disorder.

“This ‘Team Leader Seo’ persona was just another tiny soul shard.”

Tap.

A touched shard bumped another.

“And it crash-landed in Assistant Manager Lee’s world.”

“Another world line, huh.”

“Maybe. Could be. Or this world, or the Earth you think of—someone’s dream. Who knows? This chat might be a lucid dream.”

“…Sounds like you’re making me choose. Whether this world’s real or a dream.”

“Your call. Want it real? It will be. Want it a dream? You can go back.”

“Saying it like you can send me.”

Team Leader Seo readjusted her clothes, turning her face halfway to me.

“My soul shard bounced around enough to influence all world lines.”

I didn’t fully grasp it.

How a soul from another world, even a fragment, drifted to the world I was in.

But.

That let me guess her true nature.

Unknowable.

Invisible.

Indefinite.

“…Chaos Goddess.”

“Ended up with that title, yeah.”

“So… Earth’s like this world’s afterlife?”

“Up to you. Or maybe you already decided.”

“What do you…”

Ah.

I created an afterlife.

Valhalla.

“No way—Earth’s gone?”

“Nah. Lake City’s afterlife just got swapped for ‘Valhalla.’”

…I might’ve done something more absurd than I thought.

“That’s your true nature, Assistant Manager Lee. ‘As you say.’”

“Bit overpowered for a mere Assistant Manager.”

“Haha. Playing dumb, are we?”

“…”

“The ‘Assistant Manager Lee’ persona is one of your fragments too.”

Team Leader Seo lowered her gaze.

“A lingering obsession to perfect this world. That’s the ‘Assistant Manager Lee’ entity. Unlike me, though, your true self isn’t human.”

“What… am I exactly? And what’s Lake City?”

“You know how even the vastest lake is just a puddle compared to the sea? Same with this world. Or think about the city’s name.”

“Lake.”

Lake.

“City.”

City.

“Both point to local areas.”

“…”

“Lee Taebaek, you oversee this entire world line… or maybe the universe itself.”

“I’m just a game developer.”

“If you say so.”

Tzzt.

World fragments began reassembling. Time, on hold, rewound. Our private moment neared its end.

“Who do you want to be, Assistant Manager Lee?”

“…I…”

“Game company employee, college entrant, convenience store or café part-timer, pro gamer, Hundred-Fold Sect Cult Leader, Resistance Commander-in-Chief. Anything you want.”

The shattered world mended.

Meanwhile, Team Leader Seo dissolved into light particles. In this brief encounter, her soul shard seemed to have endured just for this moment, blooming brightly.

“I…”

She smiled with her eyes at my trailing words.

As if she’d expected it.

“Classic Assistant Manager Lee.”

Just before the world fully sealed.

I reached out toward her fading form. But I clenched my fist in empty air.

“Us.”

A faint tear glistened at my eye.

“We’ll meet again someday.”

“…”

Her ever-smiling face scrunched at the nose. She flicked away a tear with her thumb and raised the corners of her lips.

“Assistant Manager Lee.”

“If that’s what you want.”

With that, Lake City’s chaos came to an end.

-Folks, the City Government’s dropped another bombshell! They’re abolishing the upper and lower district divide…!

-And with groups fed up with megacorp tyranny emerging left and right…

The announcers shouted excitedly.

Their fervent voices didn’t suit the city’s cold climate.

Carriers soared through the skies, billboards ablaze with neon signs proclaiming the overhaul of this barren metropolis.

The sticky rain scent lingered, pollution stinging eyes and nose. The cityscape hadn’t changed. But the air had.

Before, media wouldn’t have breathed a word of ‘equality for all.’ They’d have been too busy praising megacorps.

Not every broadcast condemned corrupt groups like the megacorps. Overnight identity shift? Too jarring. It’d dilute the world’s essence.

“Gotta savor the gradual improvements.”

From a skyscraper overlooking the city.

I sat cross-legged at its pinnacle.

Then the drizzle began.

“Pouring soon.”

I unfurled the Para Blade. Sure enough, rain thickened, drenching the city. Even in this downpour, Lake City endured. Mortal lights challenged the heavens.

These towers too would erode in time. Not soon, but drop by drop, like water wearing stone.

Ring ring ring.

My thigh vibrated.

Lee Taebaek pulled out his phone with his free hand. Message from Jasbi.

-Creator! Where are you?

“Just getting some air. What’s up?”

-Megacorp brass holding a secret meeting! Should we dispatch Hundred-Fold Sect members and the full Resistance?

“Nah.”

-Let it slide?

“No. I’ll go.”

-You know where?

Click.

Lee Taebaek hit the end call button.

“They’re right under my feet.”

His body tilted over the edge.

-Creator!

Plummeting with gravity for a bit. Through transparent windows, heads huddled together flashed by.

He thrust out the revolver, Python.

Bang…!

The gunshot rang high but was swallowed by the clamor.

As always.

-The End-