The Protagonists Are Murdered by Me

Actually, it wasn’t hard for me to guess the identity of the man in front of me.

‘Dimension traveler…’

Then, the most important question was why did a dimension traveler come to Earth?

I was aware of the fact that dimensional travel could be done even if you were not a ‘protagonist’. Moreover, above the man’s head there was no hashtag unique to protagonists, and in the first place, a protagonist no longer exists on Earth at all. In other words, the man in front of me was able to travel across the dimensions on his own just like Aracelli.

As soon as I got to that point, the thought that he was a dangerous person disappeared from my mind.

Well, I also thought about the possibility that the man was another ‘Protagonist Hunter.’ But again, the system had said that there was no Protagonist Hunter other than me, so I put that thought aside too.

“You are from another world. You have worked hard to come this far.”

A guest from another world needed to be treated kindly first no matter what their identity was. I mean, didn’t they travel across dimensions?

With the current Earth’s science and technology, dimensional travel was something which could be achieved in a few hundred years time. Well, if the ‘Protagonist’s Correction’ came to play, it would be possible to do right now too.

“Hmmmm…. I see you are someone who can be reasoned with words. Then, let me get straight to the point, are you also someone from another world?”

At that moment when I tried to answer with the truth. That I am someone from Earth who was able to travel between dimensions;

The system interrupted my thoughts.

<Can you please give a different answer?>

As soon as I heard her words, I turned back and looked at Taylor and Ha Sunyoung, who were waiting in the back. Disgruntled, Taylor pouted her lips but she still walked out of the room together with Ha Sunyoung as she couldn’t help it.

“Yes. I will tell you the truth.” After a while, since no one was listening, I acted as if I had turned more serious and hardened my expression as hard as I could before continuing, “I am also from another world. I am not from Earth.”

And blatantly told a lie.

Then the man nodded his head with an ‘of course’ expression plastered on his face.

“Of course you are… Because there are a lot of strange things about you, not only one or two.”

Perhaps the man was currently thinking about many achievements Another League had made. After all, development of magical civilization, setting up a base in another dimension, and merging magic and science were things which couldn’t be done without knowledge from another world.

“Buandurk is the name of my hometown. It was a small world that was only about the size of America on Earth, but it was a world where wars to occupy that small piece of land had not ceased for thousands of years. I was a veteran there. Name is Bersok. It means absolute wall.”

“I See…”

“Where is your hometown?”

After thinking about what I should say next, Aracelli came to mind.

“My hometown is Vivienda Empire. It was a world full of dreams and romance with the sole goal of reaching Godhood by relying on human knowledge. In fact, the level of magic there was very close to the power of the Gods in this world.”

“Aha…”

Bersok listened to me and nodded his head. It seemed that he had never heard about Vivienda Empire, but it didn’t matter that much.

“Then… it seems that your world has also perished.”

“Yes?”

Bersok puffed another round of cigarette smoke. It quickly filled the reception room, but as the room was equipped with a high-performance air purifier, the smoke soon vanished completely.

“Because the world has perished, why not run away to another world and live there, right?”

“…”

I didn’t even know how to respond to his statement, so when I stayed silent even after several seconds passed, Bersok continued the conversation, “We are lucky. Those guys who can’t even travel through dimensions can’t even run away from destruction.”

“That’s… true.”

“I moved across the dimensions, visiting countless worlds, running again and again and again. No matter how far away I go, ‘destruction’ always came to the worlds I was in. One star, one world. Everyone is dying just like that.”

That was a story I knew well. The cause of it was probably the protagonists. Bersok stubbed the cigarette into the ashtray and smiled in dismay.

“But, running away will soon become impossible too.”

“Impossible?”

“Don’t you know? Destruction is approaching this world even now. And… there is no more place to escape. Here, Earth is the last world.”

“WHAT!?!?”

Suddenly, the world seemed to have stopped for a moment as those words came crashing down onto me.

Earth is the last world?

What does that mean?

“Do you know that other otherworlder aside from you who have fled to this place are living in hiding? They are enjoying their last rest before the destruction comes here too.”

“…”

I found out that the fact that worlds continue to perish, and the last Maginot Line was Earth, pretty baffling. In other words, Earth was one of the dimensions located at the very end of the many dimensional systems.

(Note: Maginot Line can be interpreted as the last line of defense that was made to withstand everything)

Now I know why Aracelli said, ‘Earth is too far for me to come.’

‘Is it true that all the worlds are starting to perish?’

I threw a question into the air.

<Yes….>

The system answered.

It was a situation where nothing but sighs could come out from my mouth.

“By the way, Mister Nobleman from Vivienda…. As a foreigner, shouldn’t we be mutually supportive of each other?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Looking at you, you are living well even though you are not from this world… You have a lot of money and you are living with beautiful people. Like I said, I know your secret. so-“

“Give me a fortune, okay?”

For a moment, I was stunned and laughed out loud. Judging from the system’s reaction, there was no lie in his words. But, to think the reason he brought up such a serious topic was just because he coveted my fortune…

Of course, I was aware that money was the most valuable thing in the world. After all, there was a time when I also lived in sadness because I didn’t have any penny under my name.

But in the midst of talking about the end of the world, he dared to blatantly make such an outrageous request to me?

“By my secret, are you talking about the fact that I came from another world?”

“That’s right. So, as a fellow otherworlder, let’s have a good time together, shall we?”

“Fellow otherworlder, huh? Do you want to be treated like me?” I smiled softly. “What you and I have in common is only the fact that we come from different worlds. That’s all. Our hometowns are different, and moreover, my world has not yet been destroyed.”

“…what do you… WHAT?”

“And… It seems that you just did a little bit of background check on the subject because you have just arrived on Earth…”

I tapped the table in front me. Then, the posted articles related to me floated on top of the table. And, amongst them, there was an article which said ‘Yoo Seodam of Another League is studying dimensional movement?’.

“Uh, uh…?”

“Your threat is useless to me. Is that the only thing you know?”

It was true that my heart was pounding a bit at first since I thought that maybe he knew my secret about being a ‘Protagonist Hunter’, but if that ‘alien’ man had only this much information, there was no reason for me to play along with his words.

“So, go away!”

Bersok’s expression turned sour and he slowly stood up from his seat.

‘Analyze that man’s energy waveform.’

I tapped the keyboard hidden under the table, and an invisible scanner scanned Bersok’s body.

“I’ll leave him to you. The number of aliens hiding on Earth are considerable, can you handle them all alone?”

“If they are only at the level of that asshole… There wouldn’t be any problem.” (Note: He’s talking to Smiling Shadow)

* * *

As Bersok left Another League’s hideout, I instructed Smiling Shadow to tail him. I was only able to give him such a mission because his stealth skills were at a level that could deceive even a person of a higher level than himself, moreover, it was difficult to detect him even with scientific equipment.

And now, I was left alone in the office.

‘All the worlds are perishing.’

Slowly, one world at a time, they all were heading towards their destruction. It might be something which happens naturally because a ‘disaster’ which anyone couldn’t respond to took place. But, my gut feeling was telling me that it was certainly something that someone—presumably a being with overwhelming power—committed with evil intention. Otherwise, the word ‘protagonist’ wouldn’t always be put in the same breath as destruction of the worlds.

The question was, just who?

Just what kind of being could designate a human as a protagonist and bestow all the blessings to them?

And, how could they destroy the world with just such a simple yet terrifying act…

“System… What do you think?”

<I don’t know everything either. Sorry.>

Or maybe you just don’t want to answer.

“You said that not every dimension has a protagonist. Why is that?”

<That’s because, in those worlds, people who were not a protagonist were able to overcome things which could only be overcomed by a protagonist.>

“Overcoming it by themselves?”

<Yes… It is a phenomenon similar to [Series Discontinuation] which is common these days. At some point, the protagonist will no longer be able to use the powers that they got from the ‘probability’ and the world will still proceed according to the original providence, but at the end of the story, the destruction will be avoided.>

And the client did not dare to show me such a world. Even if the protagonist still exists, they were protagonists who didn’t have to be hunted.

“Across all worlds, are you the only one who can interfere with probability?”

<Yes, maybe it will be just you and me.>

If so, I have more questions.

Just who was the system who had the power to face those who wanted to destroy all the worlds?

<As for who I am, it is impossible to tell you right now.>

“I’m sure that is the case.”

<But…>

The system hesitated for a moment, then she spoke slowly,

<If you enter the Hell Gate… I can tell you about me.>

“What? Why Hell Gate suddenly…”

<But!>

Before I could even ask, she cut me off.

<I personally… hope that you won’t have to go there. I hope you enjoy a little more of a leisurely life like now where you hunt protagonists from other worlds. A life where you selfishly succeed and are always happy, one where you don’t have to worry about dying…>

Somehow, I found her words to be sincere, but accepting it was another matter altogether.

“Don’t talk nonsense. I only became a Protagonist Hunter because I wanted to enter the Hell Gate.”

<…..>

Even if I give up on everything, Hell Gate was one thing I wouldn’t be able to give up on.

* * *

On the other hand, Bersok, who failed to get anything from Yoo Seodam, went to Busan and was currently walking in a back alley.

In the first place, the reason why he came to Yoo Seodam was because he wanted to live a better life on Earth. His current life is miserable due to the fact that he could neither adapt to the culture of this Earth nor could he speak their language properly.

“Damn it.” He cursed. Even if he wanted to overpower Yoo Seodam with his strength, his current power was not enough. The battery of the magic engineering weapon he used was almost exhausted to the point it was impossible for him to even hunt a monster.

As he walked around, a terrible sight of the intestines, flesh, bones and blood vessels tangled and wriggling hidden inside the coat came to his sight.

It was something that one day would have been his ‘child’. However, shortly after exposure to ‘destruction’ of his world, his soon to be ‘child’ and his wife had fused into his own body.

The ‘destruction’ was simply that terrible. Someone who hadn’t seen it directly wouldn’t be able to understand it.

“Tch… Whatever! Anyway, it will soon come to this world too.”

He murmured and walked away like a drunkard.