A Survival Guide for a Counselor in the Apocalypse Chapter 90

Chapter 90

 

Pitch-black darkness. I couldn’t clearly see what was staring at us from beyond it. The eyes fixed on us from within the darkness were eerily calm.

Lee Hoin raised his sword and stared in that direction, while I was still suffering from the aftereffects. I couldn’t even move a finger properly. Not joking… literally.

And in that state, there was no way I could welcome some unidentified lunatic showing up.

The one who had been quietly watching us from the darkness slowly stepped into the light. It didn’t feel like he was revealing himself…

 

— 

[Looks more like he’s personally coming over to rip you apart!]

— 

 

It was the movement of a predator closing in.

I exhaled and forced myself upright, bracing against the car we had come in on.

So I could react immediately if anything happened. My head was still spinning, but…

When he stepped fully into the light, chills ran down my spine.

Even Lee Hoin flinched and slightly lowered his raised sword.

There…

 

— 

[Well, well. The original protagonist makes his entrance.

— 

 

Sa Jaeheon stood there.

Dead, lifeless eyes… Sa Jaeheon.

He stared at me quietly. I couldn’t tell whether he intended to kill me or observe me.

‘Fuck… he shouldn’t have that yet.’

The ability to see others’ traits or skills.

 

— 

[Still the protagonist. When someone repeats situations enough, they develop an uncanny instinct.

— 

 

The way he looked at me, as if he knew everything, made me feel strangely exposed.

Did he meet Cha Hyeongseo? Did Hyeongseo talk about me? Or was this all coincidence? Or…

Too many hypotheses. And figuring out which one was true was impossible.

Because that bastard wouldn’t say anything.

He never would.

Sa Jaeheon looked at me, then turned his gaze to Lee Hoin, as if analyzing who he was.

Then he looked back at me.

‘This is bad.’

He figured out who Lee Hoin was.

 

— 

[Congratulations!]

— 

 

Right now, he was looking at me with hostility… like he wanted to dissect me or tear me apart.

 

— 

[You’ve triggered his hostility perfectly!]

— 

 

Sa Jaeheon’s hostility was triggered when…

‘Something deviates from expectation.’

When something completely strays from what he predicted.

In other words, when the past he knows changes by “free will.”

Think about it. Does it even make sense for the “past” to change by will?

Sa Jaeheon always accounted for margins of error. Especially this early on, where he had already run countless simulations to create fixed patterns.

But if something changed without his intervention, then someone else must be altering things.

‘Whether coincidence or another inevitability… I don’t know.’

He looked at Lee Hoin.

Hoin’s behavior patterns were already known to him. And beside him was an unfamiliar “variable.”

Countless hypotheses must have formed and collapsed in his head:

Did Lee Hoin pick up this “variable”?

Or was Lee Hoin picked up by this “variable”?

The latter was overwhelmingly more likely. Hoin had already been cross-verified countless times; he shouldn’t behave like this.

And the subtle sense that things were “changing” whether it came from that variable or not…

But one thing was certain.

That “variable” had changed Lee Hoin.

So what would that control freak do in this situation?

 

— 

[First: Dismiss it as coincidence.]

[Second: Tear apart the cause.]

— 

 

Ha.

I inhaled sharply and stared at him.

Lee Hoin also seemed to recognize Sa Jaeheon. His raised sword lowered slightly.

In the stillness of night, speaking first was… risky.

Who knew what might happen.

‘But standing here like this isn’t great either.’

As I frowned at him…

Sa Jaeheon suddenly raised an eyebrow.

And then…

He lunged.

A simple, straight thrust.

But the speed was absurd.

Lee Hoin moved immediately to block, but even that seemed anticipated… Sa Jaeheon flowed past him effortlessly and aimed straight at me.

I hastily threw up a magical barrier.

Sloppy. Rushed.

And just creating something capable of stopping that attack drained a massive amount of mana instantly.

Clang!

My already churning stomach twisted harder.

I gagged repeatedly.

‘…Crazy bastard.’

Seriously insane.

When I read the novel, I didn’t realize.

At least in the novel, even if Sa Jaeheon didn’t speak, there were inner monologues explaining what he was thinking.

But his enemies always died with confused expressions, not even knowing why.

There were even comments saying, “Why do they all react like that? It’s so predictable now.”

Back then I thought, “Well, it’s up to the writer.”

But…

‘Fuck, of course they die confused like that.’

Some random guy stares at you silently, then suddenly swings a sword trying to kill you.

Lee Hoin stepped in between us and pushed Sa Jaeheon back.

Breathing heavily, he gripped his greatsword again and muttered:

“Hey… he’s that guy, right? From earlier. The convenience store.”

He spoke quietly, cutting through the silent dawn.

“…Yeah.”

Sa Jaeheon wasn’t far… he heard everything.

He raised an eyebrow again.

“Convenience store…?”

He seemed to recall it, then looked between me and Hoin.

What the hell was going on in that insane head of his?

I wished I knew.

At least then I could prepare for something.

“Hey. I don’t know what your deal is, but what the hell are you?”

Hoin raised his sword again, voice low and hostile.

“You ran off earlier, and now you show up swinging a sword? If you’re crazy, be crazy properly, you lunatic.”

Sa Jaeheon was still staring at me.

Then his gaze dropped briefly to the dagger that had blocked his attack.

Ah.

 

— 

[Wow. You’re stepping on every landmine perfectly!]

— 

 

Now I understood what he was thinking.

‘Magic.’

No one in Chapter 11 should be using magic yet.

The reason was simple; mages were rare.

You needed talent. You needed the right mentor.

Even primitive magic mattered… the fact that I used magic was what mattered.

Sa Jaeheon held his sword silently for a long moment before speaking:

“Who are you?”

No subject. No extra words.

Pure efficiency.

Who am I, huh?

He wasn’t asking for my name.

He was asking, “What are you, some kind of irregular?”

‘Ah, fuck. This is really bad.’

I exhaled slowly.

How do I convince this insane control freak that I’m not his enemy?

Sa Jaeheon trusted nothing.

That’s why he became what he is.

Rather than believing someone’s “truth,” he would repeat death over and over to confirm it himself.

He would ask for the truth…

Then verify whether it was actually true.

Usually, three deaths were enough.

The past doesn’t change if you follow the same path.

A line flashed through my mind.

Yeah. No. Nothing.

No matter what I say, he won’t believe me.

He’ll just form a hypothesis.

Truth or lie.

Even if he kills me repeatedly, as long as he treats me well in the last loop, he can rebuild the relationship.

That twisted hero of ours was already planning how to verify whatever I said.

‘There’s one problem.’

Would I even exist in his next loop?

I’m not originally from this world.

His “regression” isn’t true time reversal… it’s branching timelines.

He treats it like “same actions, same timeline.”

But it’s not.

It’s a new timeline producing the same results.

Am I a persistent existence across timelines?

If he resets, will I still be there?

‘I don’t know, fuck.’

I’m an irregular.

I don’t know what kind of influence I have here.

And I’m not risking my life just to find out.

As far as I know, irregulars in this world…

Disappear when they die.

They don’t appear in other timelines.

They exist in only one.

“…Who do you think I am?”

I threw it out.

Bullshit or not.