RG 156

Whoooosh! A blade of icy wind slammed into my body as I sat slumped on the ground. Snow piled onto me, and my clothes grew damp.

The cold seeping up from the ground and the biting winter wind quickly drained my body heat. Even though I was wearing a defensive item—my cloak—there was no way I could endure much longer like this.

“Huff, huff… haah…”

As proof, my entire body trembled violently, and my vision blurred more and more. Even knowing full well that if I lost consciousness here, I would freeze to death, it wasn’t easy to fight the heaviness weighing down my eyelids.

Just as I barely managed to hold on, a new status window appeared in front of me.

Ding!

《Would you like to use the Divine Power (Class S) skill?》

When I ignored it, they started popping up in waves as if plastering the screen.

《Would you like to use the Divine Power (Class S) skill?》

《Would you like to use the Divine Power (Class S) skill?》

《Would you like to use the Divine Power (Class S) skill?》

《Would you like to use the Divine Power (Class S) skill?》

It was practically telling me to stop being stubborn and purify the cold before I froze to death.

Grinding my teeth through the relentless drowsiness, I muttered back, “If you want to save me…” The rest of the sentence never came out. I couldn’t hold on anymore and shut my eyes.

Ding, ding, ding! The urgent alarm sounds rang out, but I couldn’t open my eyes no matter what.

As my head drooped forward, one last thought crossed my mind.

‘Ah… this is really dangerous…’

I hadn’t come this far, trying to negotiate with the system, just to die meaninglessly in a place like this. Just as I admitted defeat to the system and tried to activate the Divine Power skill—

《Skill: Divine Power (Class S) activated!》

《A divine aura overflows!》

What the—? I hadn’t activated it yet.

The skill activated on its own and wrapped my body in warmth. My frozen limbs thawed instantly, and my clouded consciousness cleared.

As I looked down at my body, surrounded by white light, I frowned.

‘No way… Did the system force my skill to activate?’

I was both horrified and dumbfounded.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Activating a skill without the owner’s consent? Was that even possible?

Fury welled up at the absurdity. I was about to let loose a string of curses when another alert rang out.

Ding!

Expecting another useless status message, I glanced over—and my eyes widened.

《State your request.》

“…!”

The wording was a little strange, but it was clearly a sentence sent by the system. At last, I could finally talk to it. The being that had turned back my death and dragged me to this point.

My fists clenched with tension. Swallowing dryly, I opened my mouth as calmly as I could, “…What I want is your true identity.”

It was the question I had wanted to ask every time a status window appeared or a quest arrived. Because the system… might be the only one who understood the pain I carried.

Silence lingered for a moment—and then, a new window appeared.

《Impossible.》

“Impossible?”

Does that mean telling me its true identity is impossible?

“Why ‘impossible’?”

《It cannot be done.》

“No, what exactly can’t be done? Speak clearly.” Unable to hold back, I snapped, and a series of status windows popped up.

《Even if I try to tell you, it cannot be displayed.》

《미ë□□ì□과거를 복기ì¤□ì□¸ë□ì□¬□》

《Like this》

Glitched text filled my vision. I had seen this kind of corrupted message twice before. Once, when I first met the fake posing as Song Ji-un, and again during the Gwanghwamun incident, when someone lowered the quest difficulty.

‘Wait, if that’s the case…’

Recalling those memories, a possibility naturally came to mind. “During the Gwanghwamun incident, there was that subquest about eliminating the cause of the rift. The difficulty suddenly dropped from S-class to C-class. It said someone paid a price for it—was that you too?”

After a brief silence, a status window appeared.

《ì□´ì©□ì□□ìë³□ì□ë□¤》

It was still heavily glitched, making it unreadable, but there are some answers in this world you don’t need words to understand. I moved on to another question. “Is your weird way of talking because of this damn ‘glitching’ too?”

《It is different.》

《This is a limitation. In expression.》

《There are preset words and sentences.》

《They must be combined.》

“Hmm…”

So… it’s using preset words and sentences to piece together system messages, huh?

I recalled the wording from the past quests and status windows. Quests mainly used rigid, formal language, while skill descriptions sometimes used softer, more definitive phrasing. That must be why the dialogue mixes polite and casual tones.

“Well, if that’s the case, it can’t be helped. I’ll just interpret it myself, so go ahead and answer.”

《It is difficult to continue.》

《A restriction will soon apply.》

“Does that mean there’s a limit to how many more answers you can give? How much time do we have left?”

《Not for long.》

Damn it. I bit my lip and scrambled to think fast. If I lost this opportunity, who knew when I’d get another chance to talk to the system?

‘I couldn’t get the answer about its identity because of the glitch.’

Then, there was only one other important question I could ask now. “Tell me your goal. Is it the same as mine—saving the world from the Great Calamity?”

This time, the response was unusually slow. In the silent mountains, just as I was about to shout again out of frustration—

《The correct path》

《Must be found.》

“The correct path?” What kind of random nonsense was that?

This alone wasn’t a real answer. Sure, for me, the ‘correct path’ meant destroying the Great Calamity and saving everyone, but I couldn’t be sure if this suspicious system’s idea of the ‘correct path’ was the same as mine.

“Don’t give me crap. Tell me your exact goal.”

Again, silence.

Grinding my teeth, I yelled, “Why did you come to me in the first place? Why save me? It would’ve been much easier if you had picked one of the actual main characters you chose instead of someone like me!”

Crackle—!

Where the status window had been appearing, electricity sparked, and a new window emerged, even blurrier and more distorted than before.

《You are the one ì□ wanted´ë□¤》

“What?”

The window vanished almost immediately.

Blinking blankly at the completely unexpected answer, it took me a long moment to finally pull myself together.

“What the hell was that just now?” I shouted in a panic, but no matter how long I waited, no new window appeared.

“System!”

Only my voice echoed hollowly in the snow-melting mountains.

No matter how many times I called out, it was the same. The system no longer responded at all.

‘It just ends like this?’

After tossing such a vague answer at me? Narrowing my eyes, I finally let out the complaints I’d been holding in.

“System, you perverted bastard.” The world remained dead silent. Still, I kept muttering, refusing to give up, “You watch me 24/7, don’t you?”

It was impossible not to know.

The quests that always came at just the right moment, the information that popped up during emergencies, even triggering my skills without my permission. There was no way that could happen without someone constantly watching me.

“You watch even when I’m showering or changing clothes, don’t you?” I curled up the corner of my lips into a deep, dark smile. “You damn voyeuristic pervert.”

Ding!

Finally, a notification sound rang out, and a new window popped up with a whoosh.

Yeah, that’s more like it. Grinning inwardly, I checked the message—and froze in confusion.

《A Cash Box has arrived! Please check the Gift Box in the Item Shop.》

《Connecting to the Item Shop automatically!》

“What? Wait, hold on.”

I thought for sure the system had gotten mad at the insults and was sending an angry message. Instead, a sudden cash gift popped up, and the Item Shop forcefully opened in front of me.

As if oblivious to my confusion, the Item Shop celebrated by launching fanfares and fireworks.

《Congratulations! Your Item Shop rank has increased. (Bronze Rank → Silver Rank)》

《Surprise gift! A Cash Box has arrived!》

《Cash Box: System’s Surprise Gift (1,000,000 Cash)》

《Surprise gift! A Cash Box has arrived!》

《Cash Box: System’s Surprise Gift (1,000,000 Cash)》

《Surprise gift! A Cash Box has arrived!》

《Cash Box: System’s Surprise Gift (1,000,000 Cash)》

I stared, dumbfounded, at the cash boxes bursting open one after another—and when I finally processed the situation, my face twisted horribly.

‘This insane bastard of a system… After being called a pervert… It’s giving me cash gifts?’

And the gifts didn’t stop there. Right after the cash, an item gift box arrived.

《Surprise gift! An Item Box has arrived!》

《Item Box: System’s Surprise Gift》

System’s Surprise Gift

A precious gift sent by the system. You’re incredibly lucky to receive a gift from the system!

(There are no special effects.)

Something dropped from beneath the item description window. It was a single bright yellow flower.

The moment I saw the flower, a searing rage erupted inside me. My clenched fists trembled uncontrollably.

“Systeeeeeem…!”