Before I knew it, Yu Joonghyuk had stepped out of the smoke. His gaze was still turned toward my companions.

Cha Sungwoo, Cha Yerin, Lee Dansoo, and Gyeong Sein.

I couldn’t tell which of them he was looking at.

But Yu Joonghyuk had clearly said it.

That I had “kept the promise.”

What on earth did that mean?

Did it mean that one of them had been one of the Ten Evils, or a villain on that level, in one of Yu Joonghyuk’s previous rounds?

If that was true,

Could we really say it was just a coincidence that the readers and I had possessed “villain” characters?

“Kim Dokja.”

Yu Joonghyuk’s face, after coming out of the smoke, was strangely stiff.

Someone was opening the school gate and walking in.

「A slender body and a pitch-black cape. A black hat pulled low. A black mask that brought to mind steampunk.」

The boy slowly raised his head and looked up at us.

I felt like my insides were twisting.

“The graduating class this year is pathetic.”

The boy who had clearly been at the school gate a moment ago was behind my back the next instant.

Speed so fast that even Yu Joonghyuk hadn’t been able to react.

Just as Yu Joonghyuk’s eyes widened and he reflexively tried to activate [Hundred Steps Divine Fist]—

“Ah, you’re here!”

Flapping her wings, Ms. Lamb flew up to the rooftop. She looked between us and the boy and introduced him.

“Kids, say hello. This is ‘Old School’ of Class Z, who came to help you with this year’s graduation exam.”

Old School?

That little brat was a graduate of this school?

“This friend’s name is—”

“Get your head on straight.”

The boy shot in, his cold voice cutting, and swept a murderous glance over us.

“When you go into that forest, what just happened will be nothing special. If I see you spacing out again like that—”

Locking eyes with me with a chill gaze, the boy warned me in a tone just like Yu Joonghyuk’s.

“Next time, I’ll kill you myself.”

*

To be honest, when I first entered this world view, I was optimistic about the situation.

It wasn’t just any world view, but the world view of a novel I had serialized.

The difficulty of the world view was the worst, but I thought it was still doable. Because I wasn’t the only one who had come to this world.

There were readers, and other characters as well.

For example,

“What the hell? Get lost.”

Well, Kim Namwoon could be like that.

He’d never been smart, so it wasn’t strange he didn’t recognize me.

“Kim Namwoon, stop bullying the kids in the remedial class.”

But even Lee Jihye.

“Namwoon. We’re not school bullies, we’re the student council.”

Even Lee Hyunsung.

“What’s with that outfit? Where’s your necktie?”

Even discipline committee chair Jung Heewon not recognizing me at all was a bit of a shock.

At first I thought maybe it was because my face had changed, but that didn’t really seem to be it.

“Um.”

“Yes.”

“Ah, no. I must have mistaken you for someone else.”

Shin Yuseung seemed to recognize me somewhat, but then her face went red and she ran off.

I wondered if they were all under some kind of abnormal status, so I tried using [Character List].

[You cannot use ‘Character List’ on this character.]

Until now, I had never gotten that kind of message for a “character.” It was impossible to get that message for someone I had already used [Character List] on.

And that wasn’t the end of the strange messages.

[Someone is currently viewing that character’s ‘Character Information.’]

Someone besides me could use [Character List]?

No, more than that, you could use [Character List] in this way?

「You cannot view the information of a character who is being viewed by someone else.」

In the main story, there had never been a situation where two people with [Character List] confronted each other.

Because Kim Dokja had been a one-of-a-kind existence.

But this time, the situation was a bit different. The reason was obvious.

“It’s Gu Seonah!”

A voice from one end of the corridor. As the murmuring students parted like a wave, I realized who this world view had chosen as its “lead.”

「Student council president Gu Seonah.」

Both beautiful and talented, top grades, outstanding in both academics and physical ability. The protagonist of Class A, who had received all the so-called “protagonist stats,” was walking toward us.

The moment our eyes met, I understood what Uncle Dansoo and Gyeong Sein had meant.

「She looks like Kim Dokja.」

I finally understood what that meant. Her face really did vaguely resemble mine.

[The tale, ‘Successor of the Eternal Name’ growls.]

If Kim Dokja had a daughter— or a younger sister— would she have had a face like this?

Every time she drew closer, the students stirred.

I tensed up. If this was really an “academy story,” now was exactly when something should happen.

「An incident where the elite Class A picks a fight with the inferior Class Z.」

But as if pointedly sidestepping that academy cliché, Gu Seonah simply stood still in front of me, stared silently at me for a moment, and then walked past.

She only left behind one strange line.

―Things won’t go the way you think.

I reached out toward her arm as she passed.

I wanted to say that I knew why she was hostile to me, but that there was some misunderstanding. That now wasn’t the time for us to be fighting each other, that this wasn’t a scenario to waste like that.

But—

“That won’t do.”

My hand was caught in Lee Hyunsung’s big grip.

A nameless sense of hurt surged up in me. But I didn’t know what I was supposed to say. I wasn’t even sure the emotion I was feeling right now was justified.

Just then, someone grabbed Lee Hyunsung by the collar.

“You bastard, don’t tell me you don’t even recognize Kim Dokja?”

It was Killer King.

“That guy is Kim Dokja. The very same Kim Dokja you were always protecting. And yet, Lee Hyunsung, you dare—!”

“Wh-what do you think you’re doing?”

Flustered, Lee Hyunsung was helplessly shaken as Killer King held him.

“Kang Ilhun.”

Only after hearing my voice did Killer King let go of Lee Hyunsung’s collar. Wearing a confused expression, Lee Hyunsung looked at us and then went off after Gu Seonah.

Watching Lee Hyunsung’s back as he walked away, Killer King muttered,

“Are you not even resentful?”

“What about?”

“They’re your companions.”

Companions.

For some reason, hearing that word made my mind go blank.

“Is there really no way?”

“……”

“I heard it from Yerin. This world seems to be a world you created.”

I couldn’t say anything.

Because I didn’t have the “Delusionist” attribute.

“I know that when <Star Stream> borrows a world view, its system notifies the original author about copyright citation.”

I had the same question as Killer King.

If this world really was the 『Infinite Wardens』 I knew, then I should have gotten a notification before the scenario even started.

Just like Asuka Ren, the copyright holder of “Peace Land,” had gotten a similar email from tls123.

But I hadn’t received any message.

Why? Did they not even need my permission?

“And what about that kid?”

At Killer King’s words, I lifted my head and saw the shadow of a boy glaring this way from a secluded landing on the stairs.

“I don’t know either.”

It was unmistakably that mysterious Old School boy I had seen earlier.

After that, the boy appeared near me at all hours and left the same line.

―If you don’t get your head on straight, I’ll kill you.

The one thing I was sure of was that he didn’t seem like the one who would kill me.

*

We kept cleaning under Ms. Lamb’s orders.

“Class Z might not even get to participate in the graduation exam at this rate.”

“If all you’re doing is cleaning—”

We kept collecting points and collecting more. 200 points, 300 points, 400 points.

It would have been nice if we’d gotten some other assignment with a higher point reward, but unfortunately there were no assignments left.

“There was a reason Ms. Lamb made us do cleaning.”

All the other point assignments had been thoroughly completed by the “honors classes.”

“If anything, this is a good situation. You know it too.”

Cha Yerin would know.

「Cleaning was the assignment Ma Hyeonseong carried out every single day until graduation.」

In the original work, the protagonist Ma Hyeonseong had also carried out the “cleaning assignment” every time. That was because he had the trait [Cleaning Compulsion], but there was another purpose as well.

[You are currently carrying out ‘On-campus Cleaning.’]
[While carrying out ‘On-campus Cleaning,’ you can enter forbidden zones of the school.]

The “closed gym equipment storage room” in the annex.

The “behind the faculty office” used for storing old teaching aids.

The “secret stacks” of the school library.

The advantage of the cleaning assignment was that it allowed you, as a student, to enter those “hidden places” of the school.

Every time he carried out this assignment, the protagonist Ma Hyeonseong had obtained hidden items, and the same went for us.

“Whoaaa! Mr. Reader! Look at this!”

The first place we found an item was the “closed gym equipment storage room.”

An SSS-grade item, “Ancient Insect Bracer.”

It was a higher-tier item than the “Hermit’s Cloak” imbued with the “Camouflage” tale.

“Let’s give this to Uncle.”

It was a concealment item suitable for Uncle Dansoo, who could control insects and borrow the power of the insect king species but had low health.

Next, there was an item we found “behind the faculty office.”

An SSS-grade item, “Tin Armor.”

The Tin Armor had been put onto a CPR training dummy.

Honestly, I hadn’t expected it to be here. Because even the main story character “Lee Hyunsung” hadn’t been able to obtain this item.

「Evolution material for the ‘Steel Woodcutter Armor.’」

Later we could gather the materials and upgrade this item into the “Steel Woodcutter Armor,” one of the holy relics of the “Master of Steel.”

“Sein, you should use this.”

“C-can I really?”

“You can.”

“Waaah!”

Lastly, in the “secret stacks,” we found half-gloves set with a small jewel.

The “Blood Jade Hand” of Blood Demon, the reclusive master of the First Murim.

There were two people in our group skilled in hand-to-hand combat.

But since Yu Joonghyuk didn’t show any particular interest, the natural owner of the item became Cha Yerin, who fought using [Versus Fighting] as her base.

“Thank you.”

Cha Yerin gave a faint smile, seeming to like her new gloves.

“But Mr. Reader, you didn’t get anything…”

“I’m fine.”

The holy relics I’d acquired so far were plenty.

If there was anything I was lacking right now, it was only my mana stat.

Fortunately, I was filling that lacking mana by inhaling the “magic cigarettes” Yu Joonghyuk had stashed on the rooftop after school.

Watching my companions grow, I thought of Ma Hyeonseong, the protagonist of 「Infinite Wardens」.

Ma Hyeonseong in the story had probably felt similar to me.

「‘Infinite Wardens’ is the story of the protagonist Ma Hyeonseong gathering companions to conquer the Forest of Demons.」

In the story, Ma Hyeonseong found the specialties of the students of Class Z, and together they matched items and equipment to strengthen their battle power. As a result, Class Z cast off the stigma of being the inferior class and proudly participated in the “graduation exam” alongside the honors classes.

「The graduation exam is to hunt the ‘target demonfolk’ in the Forest of Demons.」

But from that point on, the story became somewhat ruined.

「In the graduation exam, Ma Hyeonseong loses his companions.」

In that fight, Ma Hyeonseong lost all his companions, but at the end of his awakening, he succeeded in slaying the great demonfolk.

And at the end of the forest, Ma Hyeonseong witnessed the truth of this world.

[You have reached the ending of the world.]

The world he had risked his life to fight for was in fact a “virtual reality” crafted with exquisite detail.

[Would you like to Replay the world?]

It turned out that Ma Hyeonseong’s world had perished long ago, and he was the last surviving human.

Using his awakening ability [Save], he had been repeating the same memories over and over.

Even though he knew the ending ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) of the save file was set, he endlessly repeated a world that was destroyed every time, while forgetting that fact each time.

“Thanks to you, the school is sparkling. Good job, everyone.”

We stood with Ms. Lamb and looked out over the clean school grounds.

Ma Hyeonseong, who had pressed the “Replay” button, must have cleaned this schoolyard many times as well. Even knowing it would just become dirty again, he would have kept picking up the trash.

For the people he remembered, for those who would litter this schoolyard with cigarettes and footprints.

「“Cleaning is something you have to do every day.”」

Even after learning the truth of the world, Ma Hyeonseong didn’t destroy the save file.

On the contrary, to remember this destruction, he repeated and repeated this world for an infinite amount of time.

Among all the countless world views out there, was it really a coincidence that the “Recycling Center” had chosen this 『Infinite Wardens』?

Looking satisfied, Ms. Lamb smiled at us.

“Since you’ve hit all 500 points, only the final step is left.”

“There’s still something else?”

“Mm, we have to get approval for the exam… Dokja, can you come with me for a bit? Only the principal can grant approval for the graduation exam.”

I nodded and followed after Ms. Lamb.

“We’re going to the principal’s office, right?”

“Yeah.”

We walked together down the corridor we’d cleaned. When we walked while looking over the yard we’d cleaned together, we walked a little more slowly. The schoolyard covered in bright green grass looked almost like the fields of heaven.

“Teacher.”

At my question, Ms. Lamb glanced back.

“How did you end up becoming a teacher?”

“Mm, that’s a secret.”

“Do teachers get paid a lot?”

Ms. Lamb let out a soft laugh at my words.

“It’s unpaid.”

“What? Then why are you doing it?”

“Dokja.”

“Yes.”

Ms. Lamb, who had been walking ahead, came to a stop. I stopped beside her.

“When we go to the principal’s office, the graduation exam will really start. Once it does, you can’t stop it. So what I’m saying is—”

After a brief pause, Ms. Lamb continued.

“You don’t have to graduate.”

“Then I’d have to stay a student forever.”

“If you stay a student, I can protect you.”

Her gaze moved slowly. I followed that gaze and turned my head.

“In this place, it’s okay even if you make mistakes. Even if you litter, even if you break the rules, all you have to do is get a punishment like on-campus cleaning.”

Together, we looked out the window. Beyond the schoolyard we’d cleaned stretched the thick forest.

Ma Hyeonseong had said,

「The forest hides the truth.」

Just like Ma Hyeonseong, I would probably end up going beyond that forest.

And maybe I would discover a truth I didn’t want.

“I have to graduate. That’s why I came to this school.”

“You don’t have to.”

“If I don’t graduate.”

I looked at Ms. Lamb.

The truth was, I knew.

Why we’d been able to spend our time leisurely just cleaning.

Why the “graduation exam,” which should have started right away, had been delayed.

In this harsh world view, why “nothing at all had happened to us yet.”

“It would be hard on you, Teacher.”

The star who had loved Kim Dokja more than anyone else in 『Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint』.

Ms. Lamb’s eyes widened as she looked at me.

Leaving her behind, I started walking alone. A few steps away was the door to the principal’s office.

Standing in front of that door, I slowly turned back to her.

“Thank you, Uriel.”