<In the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Simulation, all players basically share the same worldview. The same goes for the Player Seol-Hwi and Player Seo Ryeong. However, the worldview might differ depending on the selection of the choices.>
…The worldview is shared but the choices are different?
Seol-Hwi continued to read the text.
<In this system, the starting point of the worldview is the First Start. When two specific players decide to start, the situation will be different depending on their position, their status, and the abilities of the players. The player who started first can see the changes in later players.>
“Then… when was player Seo Ryeong born?”
<Security Level Lock> <Player Seol-Hwi’s Simulation level is too low, it is not possible to provide that accurate information. We can only confirm that she was born a little before you.>
“Hmm.”
If a player appears in the future, will he be able to see the changes?
But Seol-Hwi never experienced this change.
Because most of the time, they have saved and loaded.
The system kindly provided the instructions on loading.
<The situation is different if player Seol-Hwi used the ‘Save’ function. Saving is a record of the time used in the worldview. The moment one uses the reload function after saving it, the character (person) of the player you previously met will be replaced by the dummy (a doll which replaces a person) recorded up to that time. But, even in this case there are exceptions. Choices.>
Choices?
Seol-Hwi recalled the choices.
The options which popped up out of nowhere and showed various outcomes. Sometimes it made threats, sometimes it played according to a role. The simulation was saying that now.
<Since the choice selection is the player’s own choice, all time is stopped randomly at that point. Therefore, if both sides choose an option where they can meet at a point where each other moved or passed, the time is released then, and a situation where they meet as actual players come will happen.>
“Hmm…”
According to the Simulation, there were times when he met Seo Ryeong when he was a player, and there were times when she did not feel like a real person.
And that chance was limited to selecting choices whose results overlapped. First, this part could be understood.
I see. In the end, even the unexpected situations were…
Even if saves were created and loaded from, depending on the options the two people chose, it could be suddenly judged to be an unexpected situation and they could casually meet.
This was exactly what Sa Yu-kang had mentioned before. As far as he knew, Seo Ryeong appeared when it was not the right time to appear.
<If one dies before the two players meet, he or she will just exist as a dummy in the perception of the other player. Even if a choice has no effect on either side, they remain as a dummy. At this time, the dummy’s tendencies becomes the same as the player's and gets analyzed by the system, and they live a life pursuing the safest choice.>
“…”
It was a bitter and disappointing answer.
In other words, most of the time Seol-Hwi met Seo Ryeong was not time spent with her, as a real player, but a fake, nothing but a shell.
Another question arose then.
What kind of person did Seo Ryeong think I was?
If the conditions were the same for all players, Seo Ryeong would have seen him as a shell too, a dummy.
Then what did Seol-Hwi seem like when Seo Ryeong met him?
The last life. Considering that they had left together and did everything together, it was not some simple relationship.
<All questions you asked were answered. Any further questions?>
The Simulation continued to ask without a time restraint. After thinking for a moment, Seol-Hwi changed the topic and asked,
“Then… what if I die? What happens then? Will a situation arise where we wait until all the players in that world die?’
Basically, it is assumed that it will only run until death… what if they both die and make different choices? Was it right they would start from the same worldview?
<Analyzing… answer has been found!>
The Simulation provided the answer a lot faster than expected.
<If two players share the same world, the death of one player will be played in standby mode until the other player dies. However, that duration will be extremely short, and depending on the relationship, if the preceding player dies, the situation progresses as a dummy.>
“Ah.”
Seol-Hwi nodded without realizing it.
Until there, he had expected it.
<For example, even if the starting points of the two players are different, if they encounter each other while passing through the same path, their worldview might merge. At this time, the gap in relative time is resolved in the form of forced progress.>
“Right.”
Forced progress. This was referring to the time when a month or two suddenly passed by quickly.
It was said that the progress continued in a way that avoided any major unexpected situations as much as possible, with dummy players working together to narrow the gap as much as possible.
When the story reached there, Seol-Hwi frowned.
“Like… like a game.”
It seemed like the arrangement and setting were to make the meeting of the players just a fun thing, and for some people, a life-threatening problem, a game or play for someone to watch.
Seol-Hwi asked again,
“Okay, then there is something I don’t understand… what is love? Why did something like this suddenly appear?”
<I cannot understand the exact gist of the question. Please phrase it differently.>
“I once saw the sign above the head of player Seo Ryeong which said ‘Love.’ As if winning her love would give me more lives. Why did that pop up?”
Seol-Hwi recalled the situation at the time and went through it in detail.
“Additional lives were originally given only when killing non-player targets… why Seo Ryeong? And also why ask for such a sudden act of love.”
When he asked about the memory of the past, the system responded.
<Question submission completed.> <Analyzing… found the answer.> <Meeting with players within the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Simulation isn’t a common thing. Also, although it didn’t exist before, it was recently created by the Absolute being, upgraded (developed) to inflict burden (pain) onto the player.> <So, it seems that Love+3 also came when she was a dummy. Actually, the system generates a lot of errors in encounters between the players.> <In some situations, when communicating with the player, strange patterns appear in the choice text or options which hide the meaning.>
Gulp.
Pain?
Seol-Hwi was sensitive to that term.
Absolute being intervention? For some people, the choice between life and death was something which came as entertainment. Of course, it came as a huge feeling of discomfort.
So that is what happened…
Seol-Hwi remembered what the Simulation was speaking about. The strange situation at that time was a system error caused by a player to player encounter.
One by one, small and unknown things began to happen. At this point, Seol-Hwi decided to ask what he was most curious about.
“Okay, then when I went out of the system, I met with Player Seo Ryeong. Back then, she was definitely a real player and not a dummy. Why was that possible?”
He could not forget it.
Seo Ryeong, who spoke in his past life. Her desperate voice, her last life.
Even in this place where space and emotions did not exist, Seol-Hwi could still feel the emotions of that time.
<I do not understand the gist of this question.> <What does the expression “outside the system” mean?>
Before analysis, the system asked again, and Seol-Hwi responded,
“An entity which the system does not recognize. A person who doesn’t belong to the system, suppose that is the case.”
<Analyzing…> <Answer has been found!> <Relevant question. We will first define those who are not affected by the system as transcendent beings.> <Assuming a transcendent being looks into the system, naturally he will witness the actions of the player, not be a dummy. However, in this case, based on the final, most hopeless case of a player development simulation within the system. To put it simply, the normal standing is when there is just one life.> <In this case, the final form of the player. If the player doesn’t move directly, the player doesn’t become a dummy but rather vanishes or is found in a completely different place.> <Level restrictions apply.> <More detailed computational inference isn’t possible with the current Simulation. We recommend that you ask again to obtain a better level of Simulation.>
“Ah…”
What is this?
The last life of Seo Ryeong. What he saw then.
This makes the entire thing different. Until now, Seol-Hwi thought he had brought Seo Ryeong into his world, and she was his responsibility, but looking at this way, it was not that he had called her, but she followed him on her own.
If not, as the simulation said, she should have vanished and appeared somewhere else.
“Fine then.”
With all the questions resolved, Seol-Hwi asked the simulation again.
Perhaps more than all the questions that had been asked so far, this question was everything to Seol-Hwi.
“The way to meet Seo Ryeong and Cheon Miryo…?”
<Analyzing…>
The simulation ran quickly.
<Found it!>
The result was out right away.
<There are two ways to meet Seo Ryeong and Cheon Miryo, but due to the insufficient level in Simulation, we can only show one.> <By killing the Demon God, who refers to himself as the Absolute being, you can gain power over the timeline and control the worldview.> <The moment Player Seol-Hwi becomes the Demon God he can reorganize and redesign the world.> <The resurrection of Seo Ryeong and Cheon Miryo is possible, as well as those desired. Occupation, the location, and age can all be reset.>
“Resurrection…?”
Seol-Hwi read the words, but he could not believe his eyes.
Resurrection.
What Cheon Miryo said was not a lie. If he really killed the Demon God, not just putting things back the way, he could create a world he was happy with.
“Right, the goal was to kill the bastard in the end.”
Seol-Hwi calmly spoke.
A goal he tried to reach again and again. He made himself like this. It was right to kill the being and take everything from him. It was the only way for him to get everything back.
<Any more questions?>
Seol-Hwi asked a few more small questions.
Where was the best place for pills? Where were the Taoists or monks with the best enlightenment?
Seol-Hwi asked for a long time.
<Would you like to load a save?>
He chose to go back to past. But of course, this was different.
<Out of system area.>
Alone, not with his colleagues.
A difficult road to kill the Absolute being.
The first step was to collect the best spiritual pills from all over the world.
