Chapter 366: The Pen Is Mightier Than the Sword
I stare at the Branch Chief, who is speaking in the voice of a middle-aged man while holding a gun.
The fact that the Branch Chief is using a middle-aged man's voice isn't all that surprising in itself, but more importantly, I'm more concerned about where the real Branch Chief and the others have gone.
"..."
Fortunately, I'm not the only one who noticed. It seems everyone caught on surprisingly quickly.
The Branch Chief—no, the Troupe Leader wearing the Branch Chief's appearance—twists the corners of his mouth upward.
"So, the talent worthy of being selected as the protagonist is indeed there."
"I never wanted to be the protagonist either."
Who would want to be a protagonist? I was just dragged into the play and got chosen as the protagonist, that's all.
Hearing my words, the Troupe Leader shakes his head.
"Anyway—"
Bang!
I don't think I need to hear any more.
I fire the gun, piercing the male Troupe Leader's forehead once again.
The male Troupe Leader staggers backward, and in that brief opening, I hurriedly shout.
"Everyone, gather up!"
As if by prior agreement, the male Troupe Leader's body is pushed backward, and Jang Chae-yeon, the one who sent him flying, stands beside me.
"He's not dead, is he?"
"Right now, he has two bullet holes in his forehead and was talking just fine."
"Got it."
Jang Chae-yeon replies calmly and raises her hand. The man's body begins to move uncontrollably, crashing into walls left and right.
He soars into the air only to be slammed back onto the floor, then crashes into a wall to the side, only to be slammed into the opposite wall right after.
It was complete chaos.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
With tremendous noises, the male Troupe Leader is slammed squarely into the floor.
"Completely useless, I assume?"
"Most likely, yes."
I answer Jang Chae-yeon's calm question with equal calm.
Sure enough.
The male Troupe Leader slowly gets up.
"Hmm. As expected."
As I mutter, Jang Chae-yeon raises her hand and slams it downward. The male Troupe Leader is driven straight into the ground.
"Where's Yu Daon?"
"I sent her somewhere else for a favor."
"Got it."
"I heard you talked to the Black-Haired Woman. Can you tell me what she said?"
"She said the two of you should talk."
Even at a time like this, we should try to get along.
Song A-rin grumbles as she squeezes in between me and Jang Chae-yeon. I just shrug my shoulders.
"Anyway, I took a quick look around."
Song A-rin speaks calmly while looking at the male Troupe Leader.
"I saw people, just like you and I saw before. Even the people who were dead when we first saw them, all of them."
"I died and woke up too, so."
At Jang Chae-yeon's words, Song A-rin looks at her for a moment before continuing.
"Anyway, seeing that, it seems Act 3 really is over."
"Then?"
"It seems we've just moved on to the next act."
"...Hmm."
I'm a bit confused by what she's saying.
When I look at Song A-rin with an expression of incomprehension, she lets out a sigh, going "Ugh."
"How do I explain this—"
"I'll explain."
"Ah, you scared me!"
The Troupe Leader suddenly appears, and Song A-rin screams upon seeing her.
Wait, Song A-rin screamed?
"You can see her now?"
"...Yeah, I can see her?"
Song A-rin's eyes widen into circles, and Jang Chae-yeon also looks at the Troupe Leader with a bewildered expression.
How can they see her now?
"I made it so you couldn't see me until just now."
"How?"
"Hypnosis."
The Troupe Leader answers my question as if it's obvious.
Ah, that makes sense.
No wonder the others couldn't see or hear her; she had hypnotized them all from the start so they couldn't perceive her.
Our Song A-rin couldn't do something like that, though.
When I glance at Song A-rin, she glares at me with dagger eyes, so I have no choice but to shrug and look away.
But why go to the trouble of hiding herself from everyone except me?
"If that ahjussi over there found out I was here during Act 3, I thought I'd get kicked out."
As if reading my expression, the Troupe Leader points with her finger at the Troupe Leader embedded in the floor.
"So."
"If you thought you'd get kicked out, shouldn't you show us now why you were considered threatening enough to be kicked out?"
"Yep."
At my words, the Troupe Leader nods.
"Just wait a bit. I told that kid with the pink bangs to go get something."
"Ye-eun?"
Hearing her words, I look over to where Park Ye-eun was.
She's gone.
"Hey, you can't just recklessly send a kid on such a dangerous mission."
"Judging by her looks and all, she doesn't seem like a kid."
"Are you saying I look younger than her right now?"
"We look the same age."
Song A-rin, who was listening, gets angry and glares at the Troupe Leader. The Troupe Leader replies calmly and looks at me.
"Just wait."
At the same time, the sky begins to spin even more violently.
"Why's it doing that now."
"..."
Hearing my mutter, the Troupe Leader looks up at the sky with a complicated expression.
"Let me continue the explanation."
She opens her mouth.
"That's the Finale."
The Troupe Leader mutters calmly, taking in the spinning sky with her eyes.
"The Finale is..."
Before her words even finish, the spinning sky stops.
"..."
Nothing else happens.
"What is it?"
"...Look."
At my mutter, she mutters back calmly and points in front of herself.
"..."
In front of me, a pen had also floated into view.
A semi-transparent window appears.
[Name: The Pen Is Mightier Than the Sword]
[Age: X]
[Specialty: X]
[Talent: Re-Writing]
[Background: What if everyone could be seen as words?]
[Weakness: It is a person who writes the script.]
Is this a pen that only appeared for me and the Troupe Leader?
I quickly check the others.
A pen was also floating in front of Jang Chae-yeon's eyes, and in front of the others as well.
So, it wasn't just for the two of us.
"Uh—"
At the same time, the pen in front of Jang Chae-yeon begins to move.
Is it... writing over?
The pen in front of my eyes moves.
Simultaneously, my semi-transparent window appears before me.
[Name: Kim Jae-heon]
The moment it draws a line through my name...
"...Huh?"
My mind goes blank.
A feeling like I've forgotten something important.
Who am I?
No, what am I?
Thinking this, I stare blankly at the something in front of me.
What is this now?
I poke at the name with the strikethrough with my finger.
As my finger touches it, the strikethrough on the name is erased.
[Name: Kim Jae-heon]
"...Damn it."
My senses immediately begin to return.
What was I just thinking?
No, that's not important right now.
Even if that's the case for me,
I hurriedly look at Jang Chae-yeon.
[Name: Jang Chae-yeon]
[Age: 25]
And on her name like that, the pen begins to move in.
[Name: Jang Chae-yeon]
The pen draws a line through her name field.
"Huh."
Jang Chae-yeon makes a bewildered expression.
"Chae-yeon?"
I call out to her, but Jang Chae-yeon doesn't answer my call and instead furrows her brow.
"...My name."
She mutters something and presses her temples.
"No. Not my name. Me. ...What am I?"
Jang Chae-yeon mutters softly, clutching her own head.
Song A-rin hurriedly approaches and places a hand on Jang Chae-yeon's forehead, whispering in a low voice.
"Snap out of it, Jang Chae-yeon."
At the same time, Jang Chae-yeon's name begins to restore itself.
[Name: Jang Chae-yeon]
The strikethrough that had been on her name returns to its original state, and Jang Chae-yeon looks at Song A-rin with a puzzled expression.
"Uh, well..."
"Stay close to me."
Song A-rin says calmly, grabbing Jang Chae-yeon's arm. Jang Chae-yeon, with a bewildered expression, nods while holding onto Song A-rin's arm.
"Uh, okay."
"Are you remembering now?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm remembering."
"You see that pen, right?"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Don't touch it."
"Huh...?"
"If you grab that, you die."
Hearing their conversation, I finally realize what that pen is.
It wasn't just Jang Chae-yeon.
Black lines were drawn through other people's names as well.
And the people whose names were crossed out all wore the same bewildered expression as Jang Chae-yeon, touching their own faces.
"Uh, I am...?"
"A pen...?"
And then, someone grabs the pen in front of them.
"Hehehe, hehehehe..."
Laughing like a fool, they immediately start bleeding from the nose and collapse.
It wasn't just that one person.
Everyone who tried to grab the pen met the same end.
People laughing like fools and collapsing on the spot.
It was as if they had been eroded by madness.
I look at the Troupe Leader. She looks back at me and nods.
"If you see a person as a story, the pen can rewrite that person."
The pen keeps trying to erase the Troupe Leader's name, but it just moves meaninglessly in the air.
"And if I rewrite that person, I can wield them as I please."
"..."
I look at the pen in front of me.
Every time the pen moves to draw a line through my name, I reach out and rub my name, then the pen again tries to draw a strikethrough—a cycle of repetition.
I can block it like this, but.
"...What about Daon and the others..."
"...They'll be fine. At least the girl with the pink bangs will be."
The Troupe Leader answers in a calm voice, and I can only click my tongue.
The problem is Yu Daon.
I don't have the leisure to worry about Yu Daon right now.
I have to deal with the pen in front of me first.
"Where's the male Troupe Leader?"
"Me?"
"Not you, the male Troupe Leader."
"...Follow me."
Hearing my words, the Troupe Leader takes the lead.
I follow her, and the male Troupe Leader who had been embedded in the floor is now gone.
"The Troupe Leader is the one who handles the pen, right?"
"Correct, but also incorrect."
"What kind of answer is that?"
"I can't wield the pen. But I can set the conditions."
"...So, you can command the pen to erase names, but you can't personally grab the pen and erase a name, is that it?"
"Correct."
"Why?"
"Well..."
The Troupe Leader looks at me as if asking why I would even ask.
"Do you think it would be easy to grab a pen that interferes with the human mind with your bare hands?"
"Because of the overload?"
"That's part of it, but fundamentally, it's like the ultimate form of hypnosis."
"Rewriting that person," the Troupe Leader mutters.
"So..."
"Then it's fine."
I have a lot of faith in that.
Muttering to myself, I grab the pen.