That night, the child did not die.
Yu Sang-ah did not want to kill her, and I agreed with that decision.
"…Do as you like."
Han Soo-young puffed off angrily and disappeared, leaving only Yoo Sang-ah and me in the ruined building. The child had been temporarily put to sleep using [Acupoint Seal]. Yoo Sang-ah gently stroked the child's hair and spoke in a dark tone.
"This child… is the 'calamity'?"
"Yes."
"And you discovered this using your ability, Reader?"
"Something like that."
I recalled a sentence from the "Extinction Law."
"The final calamity of the Fifth Scenario. The 'Deluge Calamity' is the most dangerous and the saddest of all calamities."
Yoo Sang-ah bit her lip and asked:
"Something like the [Calamity of Questions]…?"
"Similar, but slightly different."
The Deluge Calamity.
If she were to unleash her full power, the calamity that would come would make the [Calamity of Questions] look like nothing. The [Calamity of Questions] had barely managed to destroy part of Gangdong-gu, but the Deluge Calamity is on an entirely different scale.
If she went all out, Seoul would be destroyed in less than an hour.
"But… she doesn't look like a calamity at all. Can this child really become a calamity in just five days?"
Yoo Sang-ah's words were correct, at least for now.
At this moment, she was not yet a calamity.
[Special Skill Activated: Character List!]
Name: Shin Yoo-seungAge: 11Backing Constellation: None (currently two constellations are showing interest)Special Traits: Beast Tamer (Rare), Reflective Killer (Common)Special Skills: [Taming Lv.5], [Multi-Species Sympathy Lv.7], [Agile Steps Lv.6], [Cross-Species Favor Lv.4]Seongsign: NoneOverall Stats: [Stamina Lv.12], [Strength Lv.12], [Agility Lv.16], [Mana Lv.24]Overall Evaluation: Shows decent magical growth but overall low stats. Possesses exceptional talent and rare traits, but due to a weak disposition, has not drawn the attention of the constellations.
Shin Yoo-seung.
Even her name indicated that this child was undoubtedly a "calamity."
She would inevitably destroy Seoul in five days.
Yoo Sang-ah continued:
"I heard calamities hatch from meteorites. But this child wasn't hatched from a meteorite…"
"That's correct. She wasn't hatched from a meteorite. She was just born and raised on Earth. Five days from now, she will still be an Earthling."
"Then… why?"
"Even the [Calamity of Questions] was originally from Earth."
Yoo Sang-ah's eyes widened.
"Could this child… be like the [Calamity of Questions]…?"
"In a way, yes—but in another way, no."
"Pardon?"
All Earth-born calamities are essentially [Returnees]—destroyers who return after annihilating other worlds. This child could also be considered a returnee, having destroyed Chronos, but that's not the whole story.
Among the five calamities of Chronos, this child is special.
And the most dangerous.
"It is not the child herself that brings the calamity, but her future."
"Future?"
"This child is coming back from decades into the future to finish off Earth."
Right now, she is kind, pure, and even polite—but one day, she will become one of the most terrifying calamities the world has ever known.
"That's why Han Soo-young said the child should be killed. Only by killing her now can we eliminate the future version of this child."
And even Yoo Joong-hyuk could not stop that future calamity.
Yoo Joong-hyuk looked at the empty hole in his chest—a wound that could not be healed without immediately using [Miraculous Recovery]. He asked the woman who had made it with a furious expression:
"Shin Yoo-seung… why… did you change your mind?"
"Change? I haven't changed."
Shin Yoo-seung smiled.
"I'm not like the leader. I'm not a returnee of this timeline. I'm just a toy trapped in the gears of the scenario. The person I am now is exactly the same as the 'calamity' the leader met in past iterations."
"Then… why…"
"This is the third iteration, right? The leader had chances in the second iteration too. But he failed again. Even after receiving so much information, he failed once more."
Shin Yoo-seung gave Yoo Joong-hyuk a sad smile with a blank expression.
"This world cannot change. The leader remains the same, and nothing changes."
Shin Yoo-seung looked up at the Great Hall in the sky and said:
"So I thought… this world really has to end here."
"She didn't die."
"That's exactly the point. The important thing is that if we fought her head-on, it would have been a fight we couldn't win."
Han Soo-young's words were true.
In the third iteration, Yoo Joong-hyuk almost died at the hands of Shin Yoo-seung.
"If only that delusional demon Kim Nam-woon hadn't killed her back then…"
And the delusional demon who had killed Shin Yoo-seung is, unfortunately, not present in this iteration.
"I clearly said I was against it. And just so you know, I'm probably not the only one who thinks that way."
[Some constellations who dislike sweet potatoes are feeling uneasy.][Constellation, 'Prisoner of the Long Orphan', prepares soda in anticipation of sweet potatoes.][Constellation, 'Demonic Punisher of Fire', expects your wise judgment.]
Apparently, this conversation wasn't properly filtered.
It was about time that the filtering of future information began to loosen.
Yoo Sang-ah, who had been sighing heavily while talking to Shin Yoo-seung, came over to me.
"Reader, no matter how I think about it… this isn't right."
Her face was earnest.
"It's the future that hasn't happened yet. If we take good care of this child here, maybe she won't become a calamity. So maybe a kind of butterfly effect could happen…"
Her argument wasn't without reason.
What comes to this world is the future Shin Yoo-seung.
And the current world is the first timeline that created the future Shin Yoo-seung.
In other words, if we could change the current Shin Yoo-seung, that calamity might not arrive. Theoretically, at least.
Killing Shin Yoo-seung now to prevent the calamity is essentially the same logic.
But…
"The events that turn this child into a calamity happen far in the future. There's nothing we can do about it right now."
The butterfly effect doesn't happen that easily.
If a butterfly flaps its wings in the Pacific, a typhoon arises on the opposite side of the Earth?
That only works in theory.
What matters is the time it takes for that flap to become a typhoon.
Yoo Sang-ah's expression sank rapidly.
"Still… maybe something could happen…"
"I'll say it again—at this point, it's impossible. And even if we try to change this child, the calamity that will arrive in five days will not change."
In fact, Yoo Joong-hyuk in mid-to-late iterations had tried several times. He had first located Shin Yoo-seung and tried to calm her to prevent the calamity. But all attempts failed. No matter what change we make to the current Shin Yoo-seung, the future Shin Yoo-seung will still come—and she will destroy Seoul.
Yoo Sang-ah's voice gradually lost its strength.
"…Why does this child become a calamity? What on earth happened in the future?"
"That… I don't really know either."
Of course, I actually did know the answer.
But I didn't feel the need to tell her.
Instead, I sat down on the floor and approached the child, who was tearing apart some meat.
"Is it good?"
"…Yes."
From a distance, I felt the gazes of Yoo Sang-ah and Han Soo-young watching me.
'No, right? ''Kill her. 'You're not going to, right? ''Kill her.'
Honestly, even if we killed Shin Yoo-seung now, it wouldn't ruin the critical parts of the ending. And if we don't kill her, a small mistake could destroy Seoul.
In other words, in the short term, saving Shin Yoo-seung is a loss.
Shin Yoo-seung looked at me with a mysterious expression.
"Uncle… can you see the future?"
"…Huh?"
"I… will I become a very bad person in the future?"
Apparently, she had overheard our conversation.
I answered honestly.
"Most likely."
"How bad will I be?"
"Probably the worst person in Seoul."
"As bad as the Joker or Thanos?"
"Maybe."
Shin Yoo-seung hung her head weakly.
"That's not surprising."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm already a bad person."
Even without her saying it, I understood what she meant.
I already knew why the young Shin Yoo-seung had survived in this world.
[Understanding of character 'Shin Yoo-seung' has increased.][Exclusive skill, 'Omniscient Reader Perspective' Level 2 activated!]
"I killed it."
To survive the first scenario, she had killed the puppy she was raising.
"I'm sorry."
She had stolen a coat from an old man who had already been attacked and fallen.
She had tricked the woman who always looked after her to protect her Green Zone.
She had handed over a man being chased to a group in exchange for food.
In truth, these were actions anyone might take in such a world.
But not everyone could rationalize such acts.
"I will be punished. I'm not worthy of being alive."
The eyes of the trembling child gradually hardened. The expression of someone who has resolved to die is the same whether child or adult.
"I… you can kill me if you want. I'm ready."
If I were the protagonist of this story, I would have killed Shin Yoo-seung without hesitation.
But I am the Reader.
And the Reader makes the Reader's choice.
Of course, I am not the author, so the words I speak are merely ordinary.
I touched Shin Yoo-seung's head and said,
"Don't worry. Your death isn't part of the ending I want."
If I killed this child, Yoo Jung-hyuk's regression would become meaningless. What meaning would there be in fighting to change the past if someone kills another simply because "the future is already set"?
So, for Yoo Joong-hyuk's sake, I will prevent this child from dying.
The child's eyes wavered.
[Shin Yoo-seung shows faint trust in you.][Understanding of character 'Shin Yoo-seung' has increased.]
"But… if I die…"
"There is a way to stop the calamity."
From behind, I heard Han Soo-young sigh.
Next to me, Yoo Sang-ah pressed her lips tightly together, staring at me.
"It's possible if you help."
The ending I want is impossible from the start.
But if you gradually turn small impossibilities into possibilities, perhaps one day even an impossible ending could become possible. And Shin Yoo-seung will be one small cornerstone of that impossible story.
I immediately asked Bi-hyung to open the [Goblin Bundle] and purchased a few items.
Shin Yoo-seung muttered doubtfully,
"But… what can I do? I'm just a kid, with no backing…"
"Why do you have no backing?"
[You have gifted the deity 'Shin Yoo-seung' with 'Growth Package I'.]
Shin Yoo-seung's mouth fell open in shock.
[You have gifted the deity 'Shin Yoo-seung' with 'Growth Package II'.][You have gifted the deity 'Shin Yoo-seung' with 'New Scenario Commemorative Package'.]
…The messages continued. Shin Yoo-seung's complexion went pale.
"Th-This is all…"
"It's okay, I have money."
"Who… who are you?"
"I'm the Reader. Kim Dok-ja."
I tapped the head of the child, who had lost touch with reality, and said,
"In the next five days, you will become stronger than anyone here."
What I said was true.
Beast Lord Shin Yoo-seung.
This child will one day become one of the top 100 strongest in this world.
A child who could one day become a calamity will, in this iteration, become my first avatar.