Something appeared in Cale's line of vision, as well as Namwoon's. It was similar to a hologram.

「With two small horns and wearing a small straw mat, the strange and fluffy creature was floating in the air. 」

「 It was too strange to call it a fairy, too evil to call it an angel, and too tranquil to call it a demon. 」

「Thus, it was called a 'dokkkaebi. 」

Namwoon's eyes shook, but Cale realized something.

'Since we're far from the big city, we're only getting a hologram instead of the dokkaebi itself. The creature is probably somewhere with a lot of people.'

[ Ahem, is this working? Ah, it is. ]

'And it's a completely new dokkaebi.'

Compared to the cowardly cruel Biryu or the passionate Bihyung, this one seemed calm.

The fur was cream-colored. Golden small antennas could be seen on top of his head. The sclera of his eyes were black, a clear contrast to the bright yellow pupils.

[ Hello, everyone. Relax and sit back as I explain everything. I won't bother with the ones who act out of line. I'll simply blow your heads off. Anyways- ]

The dokkaebi paused, and Cale assumed its probably listening to a human somewhere out of reach.

"Ahjussi, what's happening...?" Namwoon asked, gulping down his saliva and still unable to tear his gaze away from the view. When he received quietness, he turned to look at Cale, and to his confusion, the young black haired man was calm. If anything, he seems to be thinking to himself.

"Mm..." Cale hummed. When he opened his mouth to speak, he froze, eyes wide and pupils dilated.

"... Ahjussi?"

However, the said man couldn't hear the call, because a pang of headache struck his head as he clutched it, causing Namwoon to frown in worry and grabbing onto his shoulders to steady him.

The teen thought he saw it wrong after seeing a grin gradually forming. Contrary to his belief, thinking that Cale was about to faint from shock or feeling overwhelmed, the usually stoic man was smiling.

There was a wide joyful grin, and perhaps a hint of relief too.

Namwoon thought this man in front of him was going crazy. Even if Cale noticed, he couldn't bring himself to care.

Because familiar voices started screaming in his head.

— C-Cale? Cale! Can you hear us?!

— I think he can! Cale, are you alright?

— DID ANYONE XXX HURT YOU?

— We're sorry for disappearing. We felt extremely powerless the moment you got transported by the hunters...

— We're suddenly able to contact you now! We don't know what happened.

— Whoa, what is that creature?

— Can we eat it?

The pounding in his head stopped, but the voices wouldn't stop their chattering, and Cale finds that he doesn't mind it at all.

Perhaps deep down, he truly missed the occasional voices in his head that makes him feel like he's not alone.

He sat up straight again, and Namwoon made sure he was genuinely okay before they directed their attention back to the virtual screen.

[ ... Humans are truly noisy creatures. ]

The dokkaebi commented apathetically and snapped his finger. To both of them, nothing happened (the same couldn't be said in another location), but for some reason, that lone motion was enough to make their napes go cold.

[ Everyone, welcome to your new reality. Your lives have been nice so far, but it's time for you to pay the price. ]

He paused, as if trying to rearrange his words, and his gaze seemed to look down on the people. It radiated coldness, but to Cale, the creature looked bored.

[ What a pity, really. You pitiful naive beings have no idea what you've walked into. I can almost feel bad. ]

The dokkaebi paused, humming thoughtfully.

[ Mm. You're right. Perhaps this is a movie. ]

He smiled.

[ And all of you will be the actors. So, be sure to act accordingly. ]

A moment later, a message rang out.

[#SA-6512 channel is open.]

[The constellations have entered.]

A small window emerged in front of everyone's blank eyes.

[The main scenario has arrived!]

+

[Main Scenario #1 - Proof of Value]

Category: Main

Difficulty: F

Clear Conditions: Kill one or more creatures.

Time Limit: 30 minutes

Compensation: 300 coins

Failure: Death

+

The dokkaebi looked at the blue window, nodding slightly before properly facing the audience.

[ Well then, good luck. Please show me an interesting story. ]

With that, he disappeared along with the hologram.

Currently, Namwoon's head is in a state of chaos. He didn't know what was happening, and adding the fact they're both away from the city did not ease his confusion. He's an absolute monster at adapting, but how could he do so when he couldn't gain any information about the situation?

His gaze was stuck on the words displayed in front of him. He's supposed to kill someone in 30 minutes?

Immediately, he looked at Cale.

He's supposed to kill this guy?

In normal circumstances (even though the situation is anything but normal), he would not hesitate to pounce on the older man, but now, he wasn't sure. The thought of killing doesn't bother him, but killing Cale does. If only there's someone else with them.

Namwoon clenched his jaw and turned his head away, not daring to look at the other after having such immoral thoughts, but then a box was shoved in front of him, causing the white-haired boy to grab it.

"Insects," Cale simply said. "The window said we need to kill a creature. There are a bunch of them inside, make sure to kill them all." He grabbed another box from underneath the bench. "The time limit is 30 minutes, so let's gain profit as much as we can."

[Some constellations are surprised to see your readiness.]

[The constellations have sponsored you 600 coins.]

'Oh, right. I forgot the constellations are actually watching,' He thought with indifference.

Namwoon stared dumbfoundedly at him, but soon snapped out of his daze once he saw Cale killing his own share of insects by crushing them.

The (hidden) redhead prevented a smile from appearing as he saw something in his line of vision.

[You have achieved the 'First Kill' achievement!]

[100 coins have been earned as additional compensation.]

[You have killed a living thing.]

[100 coins have been earned as additional compensation.]

[You have killed a living thing.]

[100 coins have been earned as additional compensation.]

.......

[The 'Mass Murderer' achievement has been gained through excessive killing.]

The boy watched in astonishment and followed suit.

They spent a whole fifteen minutes killing insects in multiple boxes. Namwoon didn't even have the chance to ask where all of these come from or how Cale seems to be well-prepared for it.

Both gained many coins from killing insects and their eggs, and Cale silently thanked Kim Dokja.

There are 15 minutes left, he still has some time to spare, so he took something from the inner pocket of his jacket and threw it to the younger man.

"There's food, water, sleeping bag, daggers, a lot of stuff you can use inside."

Namwoon was absolutely stupefied.

'What does he mean? All of those stuff can fit in this small thing?'

Heck, the bag was about the size of his hand!

Just as he was about to blurt out the lines of 'what the f*ck are you saying?', Cale took his own bag and pulled chips out of it.

Namwoon immediately scrambled to open it and hey, would you look at that- his whole arm went right in!

With his eyes wide, he grabbed a hold of something solid and pulled it out. The item was a black dagger and it fit in his palm perfectly like it was made for him.

[Constellations are wondering where you got such a wonderful item.]

Cale naturally ignored that message

"Whoa..." Namwoon gasped in amazement, admiring the weapon while Cale was busying himself by eating snacks and waiting for the scenario to end.

Honestly, he would go ahead to look for more insects and kill them, but after glancing at his coins, he felt like it's not necessary.

[You have a total of 54,600 coins.]

It's not a big number, but he can consider himself rich since it's still the beginning of the scenario.

"Ahjussi."

"Hm?"

"How come you seem like you've expected this?"

Cale smirked slightly. "Why are you so surprised? Didn't the apocalypse warning say something regarding this?"

Namwoon's jaw dropped. "So you do believe it!"

The young noble man shrugged nonchalantly, unbothered by his accusing tone. "Call it a safety measure."

15 minutes quickly went by, and another window appeared in front of them.

[Main Scenario #1 - Proof of Value has ended.]

[300 coins have been acquired as a basic clearance reward.]

[100 coins have been reduced for the channel usage fee.]

[Additional compensation settlement will begin.]

"It's like a game..." Namwoon remarked after thoroughly observing the situation.

Cale nodded, turning towards the mansion and began to walk ahead.

"Ahjussi, where are you going?"

"My room. I'm going to sleep."

[A number of constellations are wondering how the incarnation is so calm.]

'What the heck? The world is ending and he's thinking of sleeping through it?' Namwoon truly couldn't understand Cale's way of thinking.

He followed him without complaints, but suddenly, Cale halted his steps when a pop up screen emerged.

[Sovereign of Eternal Rest is greeting the incarnation 'Cale Henituse'.]

'It's this bastard!'

Cale instantly knew it was the God of Death. He just wasn't expecting for the god to keep in touch this way. Was this because of the star stream?

But to his surprise, that wasn't all.

[Benevolent Light of Judgement is waving at you.]

[Everlasting Shelter of Bloodshed is nodding at you in acknowledgement.]

Another look of recognition flashed in his brown eyes.

'... Was that Sun God and the God of War? What the hell are they doing here?'

[Many constellations are surprised and confused at how the incarnation 'Cale Henituse' are acquainted with the upper-gods.]

[Constellations are nervous at the unexpected presence of supreme beings.]

Namwoon watched the exchange with raised eyebrows. Honestly, he shouldn't be surprised anymore at whatever Cale managed to do.

"Son of a b*tch," The (fake) black haired young man cursed, glaring at the blue screen. He didn't care about the constellations, but seeing the gods from his world really annoyed him.

[Sovereign of Eternal Rest is warning you to not curse in front of children.]

Cale frowned.

'What children?'

He whipped his head back to look at Namwoon.

'Him?'

[Benevolent Light of Judgement is telling you it's not incarnation 'Kim Namwoon'.]

His frown deepened.

Just then, another window appeared, overlapping the Sun God's message.

[Eyes of The World is looking at you.]

'... What the f*ck is that? No, what does the modifier mean?'

Eyes of The World? What is that scary bullsh*t? It sounds extremely vicious.

He narrowed his eyes. "What is this?"

[Everlasting Shelter of Bloodshed looks away and tells you to ask constellation 'Sovereign of Eternal Rest'.]

[Sovereign of Eternal Rest feels betrayed.]

[Sovereign of Eternal Rest says that constellations 'Benevolent Light of Judgement' and 'Everlasting Shelter of Bloodshed' are also involved in this decision.]

Cale crossed his arms, clearly impatient and slightly anxious. "What do you mean? What decision?"

[Everlasting Shelter of Bloodshed says that-]

[Sovereign of Eternal Rest tells 'Everlasting Shelter of Bloodshed' to keep his mouth shut unless he wants all of their existences to perish.]

[Everlasting Shelter of Bloodshed is wisely silent.]

From this exchange alone, Cale knew that they will not elaborate.

"F*cking bastards," He muttered under his breath.

Kim Namwoon and other constellations watched the interaction quietly. The former having a blank look on his face.

"Ahjussi, who are they?"

Cale waved dismissively. "Just some nuisances."

[Sovereign of Eternal Rest is offended.]

[Benevolent Light of Judgement sighs in exasperation.]

[Other constellations are more confused and intrigued by incarnation 'Cale Henituse'.]

[The constellations have sponsored you 1,000 coins.]

[Sovereign of Eternal Rest snorts and says he can do better.]

[Sovereign of Eternal Rest has sponsored you 10,000 coins.]

[Everlasting Shelter of Bloodshed tells constellation 'Sovereign of Eternal Rest' to not be competitive.]

[Everlasting Shelter of Bloodshed has sponsored you 20,000 coins.]

[Benevolent Light of Judgement tells both of them to shut up.]

[Benevolent Light of Judgement has sponsored you 30,000 coins.]

[Sovereign of Eternal Rest gasps and glares at his fellow constellations.]

All while Cale was watching this with an unimpressed look on his face.

He turned on his heel, taking his first step to finally slack off and not do anything in this apocalypse.

[Sovereign of Eternal Rest tells you to wait.]

'Hm?'

[Sovereign of Eternal Rest would like to remind you about the favor.]

Cale's expression twisted into a strange expression. He remembered it very clearly.

"You mean doing whatever I want?"

[Sovereign of Eternal Rest nods and says good luck.]

'Good luck? Why do I need that-'

[A vital scenario has arrived!]

+

[Vital Scenario - Grand Passing]

Category: Vital (Essential compared to Main)

Difficulty: ???

Clear Conditions: Constellation 'Sovereign of Eternal Rest' has assigned you to increase your soul's merit. Reach the end of scenarios to fulfill this mission.

Time Limit: -

Compensation: Returning to Earth

Failure: Earth and other worlds' destruction

+

What. The. Fuck.

"YOU DAMN BASTARDS-"

---

a/n: i love writing short chapters lol, i can do faster updates. plus i've been so busy with college so i won't have the time to write long ones, apologies.