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CHAPTER 152 – VICTOR’S WORRIES
Victor wanted to tell his family.
How, for a year, he’d been trapped by IS—how brutally he’d been humiliated, how many atrocities he’d witnessed.
He wanted to pour everything out to his family, without holding anything back.
But right now, he couldn’t.
“You know, Sofia took first place in the zone ranking again this time.”
“I’m so proud. They say her class is Guardian—a rare class, too.”
The sister he’d worried might be eliminated in the rounds was doing better than he’d expected.
‘No, it’s not just that she’s doing well—her life has completely opened up, hasn’t it?’
Sofia claimed she was taking zone ranking first place as casually as eating a meal—something Victor himself had never managed.
‘She wouldn’t lie. Sofia’s always hated lying.’
Along with relief that she was doing well, a hollow feeling also washed over him.
‘With how happy they look, how could I tell them? That I was dragged off by IS and suffered like a dog….’
It would feel like throwing ash on perfectly cooked rice, and his lips wouldn’t open.
And then, his parents asked him about it.
“Victor. What happened to you? Why were you out of contact for a whole year?”
“Ah… well, th-that is….”
Victor hesitated—should he say something depressing, or not?
In the end, he decided.
Don’t ruin the mood by telling them.
“I… went on a trip overseas.”
“What? A trip?”
His parents shouted, dumbfounded by an answer they never expected.
“Is that really true? I thought you’d been kidnapped by IS and died!”
“Haha… kidnapped by IS? What kind of world do you think this is….”
“So you’re saying you were living the good life, traveling around?”
“And what about contacting us? Why didn’t you contact us?”
“My phone… I lost it….”
“Even so, how could you not contact us? We were worried!”
Victor lowered his head deeply.
“I’m sorry. I kept thinking about whether I should keep working as a doctor, and I had a lot of worries… my head was a mess, and I just wanted to run away for a while. You know how it is sometimes. That sudden urge to put everything down and leave.”
Reading the mood, worry quickly surfaced on his parents’ faces.
“…Depression? Something like that?”
“Yes… my heart was unsettled. It’s ridiculous—like it’s not even puberty, but I’m in my late twenties acting like this.”
“So you traveled all over the place?”
“Yes. I just wandered wherever my feet took me. Then when I ran out of money, I got a job and worked. Once I saved up, I traveled again….”
Once he started, the lies flowed smoothly.
At first his parents looked stunned, but as he kept talking, it seemed convincing enough that they began to accept it.
‘Yes. It’s better to say I traveled because of depression than to say I was kidnapped by IS.’
It was a “kind” lie, meant so his family would worry a little less.
“Alright. At least you came back like this. Are you feeling more settled now?”
“Yes. I’m never leaving here again. No matter what, our home really is the best.”
“It’s good you’ve realized that now.”
“Sofia is doing well as a player, so you should pull yourself together and work hard too.”
“Yes, I will.”
Victor answered, though for some reason it left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“By the way, where is Sofia?”
“They said an advertisement came in, so she went to film.”
“Ah… I-I see?”
“If she finds out you’ve come back, I can just imagine how happy she’ll be. Hoho.”
Seeing his parents smiling from ear to ear, Victor felt again that his decision had been the right one.
“I’ll go look at my room for a bit.”
“Go on.”
Returning to his room after a year, Victor closed the door and let out a sigh.
‘It’s good. My sister and my family weren’t living as hard as I feared, right?’
He’d desperately wanted to see his family even just once before he died—and now his wish had come true.
Now there was nothing left clinging in his chest.
In fact, it was even better.
He could leave without lingering regrets.
‘Survival game or whatever—I’m sick of it. I want to rest now.’
Rather than scrambling and struggling to live, it seemed better to stay with his family like this and end his life here.
That was how much Victor’s heart—despite how he looked—had weakened and broken after a year of kidnapping.
“Son! You must be hungry. I set food out—come eat.”
“Yes!”
Eating a real meal for the first time in ages, he talked with his family and shared stories they hadn’t been able to tell.
And when evening came—
Victor was able to reunite with his younger sister, who came home late at night.
“O-Op…!”
“Sofia!”
The two hugged, their eyes shimmering with tears.
It was rare, but the two were such close siblings that you could count their fights on one hand.
“Where were you, Oppa? Do you know how long I looked for you?!”
“Ahahaha… th-that is….”
Victor, sweating, told another “kind” lie.
And, of course, the answer he got back was his sister’s scolding.
“No matter where you travel, how can you just vanish like that?! You should’ve at least left one text!”
“Ugh. You and Mom and Dad—are you all the same?”
“Because we were worried! We thought you were definitely dead! Especially since the Great Cataclysm happened too!”
“I was the one worried about you. I never thought you’d survive to Round 9….”
“Oppa, didn’t you hear about me? I’ve been first place since Round 1. Ah, I mean first place in my zone ranking. The overall top is that player called Black Scythe, though. Oppa, if you’re a player, you know him, right? Black Scythe.”
“Uh… y-yeah….”
As if he only “knew of” him.
He’d spoken with Black Scythe-nim, had his life saved by him, and had witnessed his terrifying power with his own eyes.
They were far closer than a sister who only knew the name.
“That player Black Scythe… don’t you think he’s incredible? I heard his level is insanely high too.”
“H-He is. Yeah.”
“I heard he’s a player from Korea. Did you travel there too? Or was it too far?”
“K-Korea? Black Scythe-nim was a Korean player?”
“Yeah. You didn’t know? It’s already a well-known fact—revealed through articles…. In Korea, he’s working as the Squad Leader of CPF, a unit that catches criminal players.”
“I… I see.”
He hadn’t known.
He’d lived for a year in an environment where he couldn’t even glimpse a phone.
‘He does that kind of work there, too?’
Ryu Min’s actions—trying to eliminate crime even in his own country—made a fresh wave of respect rise in Victor.
“But, Oppa, how did you survive all this time? What’s your class?”
“Me? I’m an alchemist.”
“An alchemist? There was a class like that?”
“I’m the one who wants to ask you. What does a Guardian do?”
As they asked each other about things they hadn’t known, time flew by.
For siblings who were already close, sharing the common ground of being players made their bond even deeper.
And so, after a happy time passed and midnight was long gone—
Victor lay on his bed and thought deeply.
About what he would do next.
‘Talking with her, I don’t need to worry about Sofia. She’s doing fine on her own.’
In reality and in the other world alike, his sister was being treated well.
While he had been trapped under IS, struggling desperately between life and death.
‘Marcus said he’d take responsibility for finding Ricky’s parents, and the other kids are safe too. And the IS monsters that tormented me—Black Scythe-nim wiped them all out.’
Everything had settled into place smoothly.
So much that there was almost nothing left to worry about.
‘Then why do I feel so empty?’
Because he suffered so much under IS?
Or because watching those beastlike bastards’ atrocities day after day had worn his soul down?
Victor stared at the ceiling with a hollow gaze, as if a screw had come loose, sinking into deep thoughts—
So deeply that he didn’t even hear the sound at the window beside his head.
Thump thump thump—
“Hm?”
Only then did Victor look at the window—and flinch.
‘B-Black Scythe-nim?’
At the gesture telling him to come out, Victor hurried outside.
And there, truly, Black Scythe was standing.
“Ah, hello. What brings you to my house…? Ah! If you came because you need potions, then….”
Victor rummaged through his inventory, but Black Scythe, wearing his mask, shook his head.
“No. I came because there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Something to tell me? Don’t tell me it’s about IS….”
“Don’t worry about IS. It’s already been taken care of. By tomorrow, you’ll hear good news through the news.”
“Ah, that’s a relief. Then what you need to tell me is….”
“Victor Jafayle.”
Black Scythe set the mood with a solemn voice.
“…Don’t give up.”
“Pardon? I didn’t quite catch that.”
“Don’t give up on life.”
“…….”
“I know. What you went through at IS—obviously, you must have suffered cruel pain. But.”
After letting the words hang for a moment, Ryu Min continued as he glanced toward Victor’s home.
“Don’t you have a family you must protect?”
“I don’t know why you’re suddenly saying this… but my family is fine. My sister too—and even without me, they were living very well. I achieved my purpose, so now I have no lingering regre—”
“How arrogant.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Achieved your purpose? Do you think life is some simple game that ends once you clear a mission?”
“…….”
“Life is something that continues until you die. The game of life doesn’t end until the moment you die. The survival game we’re in is the same.”
“…….”
“Until you either reach Round 20 and clear it, or you die before that, you have to keep moving. And yet, after achieving a small purpose like meeting your family, you say your work is done? You say you have no more lingering regrets? How lightly must you take life to say something like that? If that isn’t arrogance, what is?”
Victor listened in silence to the storm of words.
It wasn’t wrong.
Believing it was time to finish, Ryu Min drove the point home.
“Don’t give up on life. If you give up the survival game, what do you think will happen to the family you’ve left behind?”
“Well… I guess they’ll keep living fine like they are—”
“Do you truly believe your family lived fine while you were gone? Not knowing if you were dead or alive—didn’t they wait at the front door, anxious every day, hoping you might return?”
“…….”
“What let them endure was the hope and expectation that you, Victor, could come back. If you die in the next round, that hope will vanish too. Then what about your family? Do you think they can go on living normally?”
“…….”
“You just want to rest. After suffering for a year, you want to rest comfortably—through death.”
The words struck Victor like a hammer to the head.
“I understand. But that isn’t the path that protects your family. It’s the exact opposite. It’s also a selfish decision—one made only for yourself.”
“…….”
“I want you to endure until the end. To Round 20. Your sister, Sofia—she’s a famous ranker in Nigeria, I know that. But are you confident she can endure until Round 20? Without you, Victor?”
Victor’s heart wavered like wind.
Ryu Min judged the persuasion nearly complete and concluded.
“Protect Sofia. An alchemist isn’t the only support-specialized class in the world, is it? If you’re with her, she won’t be eliminated before Round 20. And if the opportunity arises, I’ll help you with the clear as well. Call it fate, if you like. So survive.”
“Th-thank you for your words, but… I don’t know if someone like me can protect my sister….”
“You can. And as proof, I’ll show you this.”
Ryu Min took an item out of his inventory.
When Victor saw the item’s information, he was startled.
A legendary item that resurrects a person—Potion of Life.
“This is an item I obtained by chance. If you use it, you can revive even a dead player. That means you can protect Sofia at her side.”
“Y-You’re saying an alchemist can make a potion like this?”
“Probably. If it’s potions, wouldn’t an alchemist be able to make anything? But as you can see from the usage restriction, only Master and above can use it. That means you’d have to be at least level 60 to even qualify to make it.”
“Ah….”
Just as Black Scythe-nim said.
If he became level 60, he might be able to make a Potion of Life.
Then, if the worst happened and Sofia died, he could still protect her.
“If you want to protect Sofia from death, become level 60. If you have no goal, then find a new one. Don’t give up like an old man who’s already seen through life.”
Victor’s eyes now held a vitality they hadn’t had before.
Seeing the potion gave him a new goal.
“Thank you. My heart has been confusing and tangled for some reason, but now I feel like it’s finally sorted out. The only person who’s ever said something like this to me is Black Scythe-nim. Truly, thank you.”
“I’m glad it helped.”
“But how do you understand my heart so well?”
“I’m good at reading people. You could call it insight.”
Insight?
It wasn’t something that could be brushed off with such a simple word.
It felt like finding light in darkness.
It felt like being pulled out of a sinking mire.
‘Black Scythe-nim is truly incredible. So much so that I almost feel like Allah has descended into the world.’
“That’s all I came to say. I stopped by just to say this. It would be a shame for someone I went to the trouble of saving to disappear without any will to live.”
“I’m sorry… for showing you something so pathetic. Don’t worry anymore. I have a new goal now. I won’t entertain foolish thoughts.”
“That’s good. I’ll believe you.”
Confirming that Victor’s heart had completely turned around, Ryu Min smiled faintly behind his mask.
“One last piece of advice before I go—tell your family everything, openly and honestly, without hiding anything. That will solve what’s suffocating you.”
Victor’s eyes widened to their limit.
“You even saw through what I didn’t tell my family… how in the world…?”
It was then—
“Oppa!”
Sofia suddenly appeared, holding a sword and a shield.
“Who are you talking to at this hour of the night?”
“Ah, this person is—huh?”
Victor turned his head, but Black Scythe was already gone.
“Oppa, who was that? You were just with a suspicious person wearing a mask.”
At Sofia’s question, Victor hesitated, then spoke quietly.
“…Scythe.”
“Huh?”
“…Black Scythe-nim.”
“What?”
Looking at Sofia’s shock, Victor made up his mind.
He would accept Black Scythe’s advice.