I Became the Drug-Addicted Childhood Friend-Chapter 75

Shut up, but the fake Han Shihu doesn't stop talking.

"Han Shihu, you know... how should I put this? Your very existence is so contrived. So is Seo Ah. It seems like you're both proactive and active, but in reality, you're extremely passive."

"...What?"

"Because you lost your purpose. You're the one created for the story of saving the world."

He speaks disdainfully.

"What the hell are you trying to say?"

"Can I say this?"

The fake Han Shihu laughs as if amused.

"Wow, can I really say this? Really? You won't believe it."

What is he trying to say?

There’s something Han Shihu doesn’t know.

"What...?"

"Seo Ah knew. She knew this uncomfortable truth."

"Say it."

"You don’t get it even with all the hints? Didn’t any thoughts cross your mind?"

The fake Han Shihu glances at where the Saintess is.

Not wanting to pass the information to her, he walks up to Han Shihu and asks in a quiet voice.

"Hey, what does Seo Ah call you?"

"Shihu..."

"Not your name."

"...I don’t think she calls me anything else."

He can’t remember.

What does Seo Ah call him?

Normally, she would call him Shihu and then laugh afterwards.

"No, there is something. That."

That?

Han Shihu desperately tries to recall.

Shihu, Shihu.

What did she call him?

Shihu, you are...

What did you say, Seo Ah?

He thought she was saying something strange.

He had heard it a few times when Seo Ah was in a weird state.

You're the protagonist...

"Protagonist?"

"Yeah, you’re just that kind of being."

"What...?"

"Whether it’s a book, a movie, or a game, you’re the protagonist."

Han Shihu thought.

If he were the protagonist of a story, it would be a tragedy.

A tragedy so full of absurdity, it’s almost unbelievable.

Would it look like a comedy from afar?

"On the other hand, Yoo Seo Ah is just an extra."

"..."

"But Seo Ah figured this out. She saw the future where she dies."

"What...?"

Han Shihu couldn’t understand.

"So, she ran away. But what happens if an actor refuses to play their role and runs away?"

The play falls apart.

The actor refuses to perform.

"The whole play falls apart. No happy ending, no protagonist getting their time to shine... and world peace becomes impossible."

"In some ways, Yoo Seo Ah is a traitor to humanity. She knew all this, yet she still did this."

"What kind of absurd reasoning is that..."

"I was like her conscience, always telling her what the right path was. Yet in the end, this disaster happened."

The fake Han Shihu sighs.

Then he raises his voice, reaching the part that doesn’t matter even if the Saintess hears it.

"Everything I’ve said is true. At least from Yoo Seo Ah’s perspective. Did I say it was an inner world?"

He asks the Saintess.

"Uh... I’ve never seen anything like you, but..."

The Saintess stutters.

"That’s what it’s like. Seo Ah’s inner world is like this. I was explaining it from Seo Ah’s perspective. After all, now she’s forgotten everything and can’t explain it herself."

"...I..."

Han Shihu still couldn’t accept the truth.

The protagonist?

Of a play?

He’s being told he exists within some constructed story.

But that can’t be true.

This is undeniably real.

An actor going off script?

Now that he thinks about it, it makes sense.

The fake Han Shihu tells Han Shihu he has a purpose.

Seo Ah expects Han Shihu to do something.

She’s waiting for him to act.

As the protagonist.

To save the world.

"Aren’t you supposed to be a great hero who saves the world? Huh? The Saintess probably feels the same way."

"...That’s nonsense."

He can’t be that great of a person.

No one is born as the protagonist from the start.

He understands that everyone is the protagonist of their own life.

But if life itself is designed, that’s a problem.

The fake Han Shihu lowers his voice again.

"Thinking about it, it’s strange. Why didn’t Seo Ah tell you this truth? If she told you, you’d just know you’re a character in a story, and the future is already decided."

"Make some sense."

"I’ve been saying it over and over. What are you doing? The real Han Shihu already saved the world."

"......"

It’s just the voice of Seo Ah’s inner world.

There’s no evidence.

It could just be a trick to disturb Han Shihu’s mind.

But for some reason, it feels oddly believable.

After all the events and the things said by Seo Ah or the fake Han Shihu, it feels true.

"The script is a mess. Then, we have to improvise. Don’t you know what ad-libs are? Famous actors leave their best scenes like that."

The script suddenly became strange.

The audience observing must be confused.

Then they would think, “Oh, this must be part of the play.”

And as they watch, it will seem okay.

"So, what do you want me to do?"

Even if this is true, does it change anything?

Even if everything the fake Han Shihu said was true.

"The only ones who know this are you and Seo Ah. The doctor... might have caught on, but he would never guess. This world is fake."

Yoo Seo Ah had already murmured to the doctor that Han Shihu was the protagonist and so on.

The doctor probably brushed it off as strange.

"Well, what does it matter what you do? You’re just a made-up character. There’s an actual storyline, and... this world is just... an ‘if’ story."

"Whatever you do doesn’t matter."

"The only ones who know this are you and Seo Ah... No, now it’s just you."

The fake Han Shihu’s form disappears.

What remains is a whispering voice and darkness.

"Do what you want. Seo Ah only deceived you. It’s all fake, so what does it matter?"

"Logically speaking, there’s no way something like Awakened powers or magic exists. What is this, a shonen manga?"

"Gates, dungeons, items. These are all things you’d expect to see in a game."

Han Shihu had suspected for a long time that something was off with this world.

Someone swings a sword and gains a swordsmanship skill, runs fast and gets a sprinting skill...

It’s not even child’s play.

It’s definitely strange.

And thinking about it makes it seem even stranger.

"The creator of the original story is like a god. And the god abandoned this world. The actor threw away the script and started acting on their own."

"If there’s no god, there’s no justice. There’s no absolute standard for judging sin. Whether it’s morals or laws, without a god, it all appeals to vague conscience."

"So, the ones who tormented you aren’t being punished. This is a world abandoned by the god, the creator. The storyline that should’ve been about righteous punishment is gone, and it turned into the opposite."

Han Shihu was lost in thought, immersed in the darkness.

Indeed, neither Han Shihu nor Yoo Seo Ah received any help.

He had tried to appeal to the authorities.

To the people he was told to trust.

To the institutions that seemed kind.

But that feeling.

The despair.

The hopelessness when the last bastion you trusted falls.

The people who said they would help responded with indifference when he actually asked for help.

It had always been like that.

They were like the filthy creatures in the slums, the ones kept alive only because they couldn’t be killed.

Only someone who has experienced that kind of frustration would understand.

His heart breaks.

He feels drained.

His voice trembles, and he can’t speak.

But he endured!

Han Shihu was the protagonist.

He had to protect Seo Ah.

Then, one moment, through a twist of fate, Han Shihu left Yoo Seo Ah, and by coincidence, Seo Ah used the medicine given by the doctor, and by coincidence, by coincidence...

Misfortune leads to more misfortune.

What kind of story is this written by some bastard?

"Ha... ha... Yeah. You’re right."

"-Han Shihu?"

The Saintess had been calling Shihu beside him.

"Are... are you really okay?"

There’s no way he’s okay.

And at this point, it doesn’t matter anymore.

"Let’s go out. My ability’s at its limit anyway..."

Boom.

The space shatters.

He exits the hallucinatory world.

Seo Ah is still asleep.

Seo Ah had a secret she never told Han Shihu.

This world was fake.

That’s why she had struggled so much with her own existence.

Han Shihu stares at Seo Ah blankly.

Was this the only way to understand her?

"...Han Shihu? Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"I can go now, right? I want to rest."

The Saintess speaks uneasily.

The contact with the fake Han Shihu was the real issue.

No matter what conversation they had, the atmosphere had shifted drastically.

"No."

"Huh?"

"You’re still useful."

"Uh..."

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Han Shihu reaches a conclusion.

The world is rotten, and everything is fake.

Neither Han Shihu nor Yoo Seo Ah did anything wrong to cause this problem.

It’s the world itself that’s fundamentally broken.

Click.

In an instant, the Saintess’s collar is snapped on.

"Ah, huh? What’s this—"

"It’s meant for this purpose."

It’s better to use it on the Saintess than on Seo Ah.

The magic control collar is really convenient.

Han Shihu had learned that there are some limitations when using it, but, well, no problem.

"Sh-Shihu?"

"You like this kind of thing, don’t you? You liked being stepped on by me, remember?"

Han Shihu laughs.

Now he’s unsure if the fake Han Shihu he saw earlier was really fake.

Something inside Han Shihu has broken.

There’s no longer a reason to treat another being as an individual.

They’re just puppets, being controlled in the same way.

Fakes.

"T-this is—"

The Saintess trembles.

She’s trembling with an abnormal fear.

Han Shihu knows.

She had already been caught in the lab before.

So, maybe she has a trauma with being caught like this?

But he doesn’t care anymore.

Now, he’ll do anything for Seo Ah.

Anything.

There are no limits.