"Kugh!"
Yoo Joonghyuk. The man who would be called the strongest at this point in time if I weren't here, immediately grabbed Kim Dokja, the protagonist of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, by the neck with one hand.
"You, how the hell are you alive?"
Just like in the story I read, he was an absolute asshole with a remarkably handsome face.
If he had a slightly more boisterous personality, he wouldn't be much different from Gojo Satoru.
"Why don't you stop?"
"..."
Yoo Joonghyuk looked at me and immediately reached out. Or rather, he tried to.
"This is...?"
Naturally, the Limitless technique had been active for a long time. His hand couldn't even get close to my body.
"..."
I stared pointedly at Kim Dokja, who was held in Yoo Joonghyuk's grasp.
"Hand that man over."
"Why should I?"
"Can't you read the room? He's my boyfriend."
[The Constellation, 'Demon-like Judge of Fire', feels a sense of camaraderie at your statement.]
[You have been sponsored 100 Coins.]
What in the world.
Kim Dokja also looked into the air once, then looked at me as if to say, 'What kind of bullshit is that?'
"Just kidding."
Even though I cracked a pretty risky joke, Yoo Joonghyuk didn't let go of Kim Dokja, his expression unchanging. If you make jokes like this in a work like this, you really have to be prepared for the consequences.
Thwack.
But it seemed our Mr. Regressor wasn't indifferent to the joke, but rather offended. He abruptly punched Kim Dokja in the stomach.
"Seems you've already learned how to use Coins?"
"Same goes for you..."
Thwack.
As expected of the man called the protagonist. He seemed to possess absurd strength after only two scenarios.
"I stayed quiet because I made a bad joke... but that's enough, don't you think?"
I immediately grabbed the arm Yoo Joonghyuk was using to hold Kim Dokja and applied pressure.
"...Kugh!"
His arm instantly lost strength, and he dropped Kim Dokja.
Kim Dokja... managed to crawl up onto the bridge on his own.
"You bastard, what is your identity?"
"If you're asking for my name, it's Choi Gang-hoon."
"Your Sponsor?"
"None."
At the mention of no Sponsor, his brow furrowed.
"I'll ask again. Your Sponsor?"
Whether he intended to use a lie detection skill or not, he repeated the question.
"None."
He looked genuinely surprised, but soon seemed to compose himself, fixing his gaze on me.
"...!"
As far as I knew, Yoo Joonghyuk possessed a skill similar to Kim Dokja's Character List. A skill called Sage's Eye.
And it seemed Yoo Joonghyuk just used that skill on me.
His expression soured noticeably, making it obvious.
"I won't use violence. I'm just curious about something. May I ask?"
The high-and-mighty Regressor suddenly became strangely less rude. It seemed he saw something about me in the attribute window and was shocked.
"What is it?"
"How did that many people survive? The first scenario shouldn't be possible even with your help."
"We caught insects. There was a kid in our carriage who had an insect collecting cage."
Yoo Joonghyuk looked extremely surprised. As if he had never even considered such a thought.
"How do you possess such power?"
"I was born with it."
This was also true. It might be different for the original me, but Gojo Satoru's body was naturally gifted in everything, from the Six Eyes to Jujutsu. By this point, he should be bad at martial arts or something, but astoundingly, he was the strongest even in martial arts.
However, several things bothered me. My existence had made things easier for Kim Dokja, but it made Yoo Joonghyuk wary of me. This shouldn't happen. Kim Dokja needs to let Yoo Joonghyuk know that he knows the future. Only then will their story be established.
"We were lucky too. There was one person in our carriage who led us very calmly."
"What?"
"Right over there."
I signaled toward Kim Dokja with my eyes. Kim Dokja looked at me as if asking what I was doing... but he could trust me. Nothing I do will harm you.
"...That guy is useful?"
"Yeah. He's the one who came up with the idea to catch insects."
I stepped forward a little and stood next to Dokja.
"Come to think of it, it's true. Our Dokja-ssi. Now that I look at it, you knew quite a lot, didn't you?"
"H-huh?"
"Dokja-ssi. I wonder if you perhaps know the future?"
Very deliberately. I created a situation that would put Kim Dokja in a tough spot. At my single remark, Kim Dokja was extremely flustered, and Yoo Joonghyuk turned his gaze toward him.
"What do you mean..."
"It just seemed like you were moving with knowledge of what would happen ahead. My eyes... are a bit special. Dokja-ssi."
"...!"
Why ask now, of all times? He shot me a look mixed with resentment.
"Future Sight?"
Yoo Joonghyuk grabbed Kim Dokja's neck again while using his Lie Detection skill, and this time I didn't intervene. Suspicion immediately following my single remark.
Looking at it now, Yoo Joonghyuk is pretty much a corpse without his regression. Though I guess he's good at games and handsome. Yeah. In Korea, being good at those is enough.
"Kugh...!"
I felt sorry right now, but it was also the truth.
From Kim Dokja's perspective, it must have been puzzling too. Why a human shooting strange beams was following him so obediently.
"Speak. Do you possess Future Sight?"
"I can use something similar..."
"You've been using informal speech annoyingly since earlier. Use honorifics."
"Ha... you want me to use honorifics in this situation? In the first place, I'm older than you. Pro gamer Yoo Joonghyuk."
Yoo Joonghyuk paused for a moment at Kim Dokja's words.
"Do you know me?"
"I do. Despite appearances, I'm an employee at a game company."
He spun his brain even in an extreme situation to tell the best possible lie.
"I was once a fan, too."
That statement probably wasn't a lie. Kim Dokja was a figure who could be called Yoo Joonghyuk's first and last fan.
"A fan... haven't heard that in a long time. Fine, I'll forgive your insolence."
"Don't think I was ever insolent."
Squeeze. Yoo Joonghyuk tightened his grip on Kim Dokja's neck.
"I also know future events that you don't know."
"So?"
"Make me your companion. Then I can fill in the parts you're anxious about."
Although the flow became a bit strange due to my intervention, fortunately, it seemed we had returned to the flow of the original story.
[1 minute remaining until the scenario ends.]
And Yoo Joonghyuk began to ponder.
[30 seconds remaining until the scenario ends.]
"Fine. I will make you my companion. However, that guy comes with us too."
"Gang-hoon-ssi...!"
Only when I nodded did Yoo Joonghyuk let go of Kim Dokja.
"Then what do we do about that bridge? It seems the personnel limit is already gone."
The bridge that had been emitting light had long since disappeared.
It was probably gone by the time Yoo Joonghyuk arrived.
"Take my hand. Yoo Joonghyuk."
However, I possess the power to cross this bridge, and a reason to help them.
I extended my hands toward Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja.
"I'll give you a new experience."
...
I applied the Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue to execute a movement close to teleportation.
I was anxious since it was my first attempt, but there were no particular issues.
"..."
And Kim Dokja was not next to me.
Before moving, Yoo Joonghyuk had grabbed Kim Dokja's neck again and dropped him off the cliff. To be precise, he gave Kim Dokja a crazy question: 'Will I drop you? Or not?'
"Is it okay to discard a prophet like that?"
"No problem. If he's a real prophet, he'll come back alive."
Actually, my biggest worry was what if Kim Dokja didn't fall and couldn't make a contract with the Dokkaebi Bihyung. But thanks to this lunatic being just as crazy as I thought, there was no disruption to the story.
Well, Kim Dokja was a lunatic too.
In that situation... with the Ichthyosaur's mouth right below his feet, the fact that he stated his conditions meant he had some serious guts too.
"As Kim Dokja said. You are also not a subordinate, but an equal companion cooperating with me. Any objections?"
"None."
That Yoo Joonghyuk was inviting me to become an equal companion.
To him, people were subordinates or something beneath that. This action probably had quite a deep meaning.
It meant I was that strong, and a case he hadn't seen before his regression.
"But wouldn't it not be too late to offer that after Kim Dokja returns alive?"
"He's a guy who will come back alive anyway, so it doesn't matter."
I nodded.
"Then I'll wait here and take Kim Dokja with me, so you go on your way."
"You're not coming with me?"
Yoo Joonghyuk looked at me as if puzzled by my words.
"Because the one I'm betting on is Kim Dokja. Of course~ I have rough expectations for you too. So see you later. As long as there are scenarios, we'll keep meeting."
"Is that so."
Yoo Joonghyuk stared at me for a long time, then turned around and went his own way.
"Four days, was it?"
In my memory, Kim Dokja appears four days later.
It seemed like it wouldn't be a bad idea to think about what to do for those four days.