Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 499

The first time I heard about the record stone was during a conversation with the GM [Game Master, a person who manages the game].

[There’s no reason not to believe it. At least, the story of the record stone was true.]

That was the GM’s answer to my question about why he believed Auriel Gabis’s almost prophetic words that a player would open the gate of the abyss someday.

Upon hearing this, I made a judgment.

There was a high possibility that Lee Baek-ho was also connected to the record stone.

The basis for this was that Lee Baek-ho, like the GM, was obsessed with the nickname ‘Elfnuna’.

But…

[Hmm, is that so?]

I didn’t bring it up that day because I didn’t want to provoke Lee Baek-ho.

I also wanted to investigate on my own before bringing the question to the surface.

But even after investigating, it was the same.

‘There were no such records in the library. Bersil seemed to be hearing about it for the first time too.’

I used my spare time to look into it, but I couldn’t find any information about the record stone.

Therefore, there was only one method left.

To directly ask someone who could give me an answer.

“……”

Lee Baek-ho was silent at my question about what a record stone was.

But as he had said to Hyun-byul earlier, silence can sometimes be a strong affirmation.

‘Okay, so you do know what a record stone is.’

It was worth asking as if I was just passing by, cutting off the context. But perhaps he had already judged that the opportune moment to casually brush it off had passed?

Lee Baek-ho continued to remain silent, staring at me as if trying to gauge my intentions.

And then…

“Hyung.”

He broke the silence and slowly opened his mouth.

Without me even realizing that the smile on his lips had disappeared.

“Where did you hear about that?”

Lee Baek-ho asked in a cold, subdued voice.

For some reason, I felt a chill down my spine, but I didn’t show it.

Because people’s words always carry intentions.

Why would he want to check the ‘source’ first?

‘He must be curious about how much I know.’

Since I knew his intentions, there was only one response I could make.

“I don’t know.”

Not being hasty, I answered vaguely with composure.

To seize control of the conversation.

“Is it important where I heard it?”

When I shrugged and answered, Lee Baek-ho’s eyes changed to a more meaningful gaze.

He seemed to be deep in thought.

Was he asking because he really didn’t know what a record stone was?

Or did he know something and just wanted to compare it with what I knew?

If so, how should I answer?

Should I just brush it off by saying I can’t answer?

In that fleeting moment, I could feel him carefully choosing his next answer. Judging that giving him more time was not a good idea, I immediately continued speaking.

I was aware that it was an unexpected timing.

But that’s why it was even more effective.

“Elfnuna.”

I brought up the topic that would shake him the most.

Even if it’s a huge tree like a mountain.

If you shake it hard enough, at least a small piece will fall off.

“……!”

The moment that nickname, which had never been mentioned between us, was brought up, Lee Baek-ho’s eyes wavered slightly.

It wasn’t enough yet.

So, then…

“You know it too. That I’m that person.”

I opened up another card I had.

Lee Baek-ho’s reaction was immediate.

“…What are you talking about?”

A question that was neither an affirmation nor a denial.

It was a pattern often seen in those who lie.

They feel psychologically stable thinking that they only asked a question, not that they lied.

I needed to push him further.

“Baek-ho.”

“……?”

“Do you know? From the first time we met until now. We’ve never once talked about ‘Elfnuna’.”

As I said that, I tapped the nickname window floating above my head, which read ‘Elfnuna’, with my finger.

“Don’t you think it’s strange?”

An inescapable checkmate.

Tap, tap, tap.

In the heavy silence, the sound of burning firewood continued endlessly.

I didn’t push him further and gave Lee Baek-ho time to think for himself.

Usually, when it comes to this situation, it’s the one who was lying who becomes uncomfortable with the silence.

“Hyung is…”

Lee Baek-ho opened his mouth, ending the long silence.

“What do you want to ask me?”

This guy was still planning to walk a tightrope.

A sly mindset of trying to gauge the situation as much as possible and only giving what he had to.

The solution was simple.

“I’m not asking.”

I handed the choice to the other party while thoroughly limiting the information.

In this process, where I heard this story from.

And how much I know.

That was not important.

“I just want to hear it.”

Tuk, tuk.

“What you’re going to say.”

The choice was Lee Baek-ho’s.

***

Lee Baek-ho made a decision faster than I thought.

“Ugh, Hyung, you’re really something! I can’t beat you!”

His lively tone had returned as if nothing had happened.

From an outsider’s perspective, it was as if a person with a split personality was in front of me, which was eerie, but I was used to it now, so it didn’t matter much.

“I’ll tell you everything. So, what are you most curious about?”

Ha, this bastard is still doing this.

I almost fell for it.

“……”

When I just stared at him without answering, Lee Baek-ho shook his head.

“…Were you really a company worker, Hyung?”

“……”

“No, I’m just curious. What kind of life did you have to live to become like this?”

What is he talking about? He was just a freshly discharged soldier with a buzz cut.

When I didn’t answer again, Lee Baek-ho sighed deeply.

“Haa… Okay. I’ll tell you. Honestly, it seems like you’re just testing me… This is nerve-wracking. I think it’s better to just confess and find enlightenment.”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you believe in fate, Hyung?”

“……”

“Ah, I really can’t say anything. Then, I’ll just explain whether you understand or not?”

“I told you. I’m curious about what you’re going to say.”

“Okay. Then let’s do that.”

Lee Baek-ho seemed frustrated by my attitude, but it was unavoidable. It was better to remain silent about any questions that could lead to mistakes.

“You know, right? That most of the ancient artifacts and myths were erased when this city was built. One of the mythical objects that was erased from the world is the record stone.”

“It’s said that the record stone contains all the history of the world. Not only the past but also the future.”

It’s just the kind of story that would appear in myths, right?

Actually, what I’m about to tell you also feels like that.

Lee Baek-ho continued, muttering to himself.

“Anyway, the record stone has an end. Of course, that end means the end of this world. The beginning of that end was with a witch… I don’t know much about this part. All I know is this one thing.”

“To prevent the end, someone destroyed the record stone, and thus this world was not destroyed.”

“The important thing here is this. Fragments of the record stone that were not destroyed were scattered all over the world.”

As soon as I heard that, I had a feeling.

‘Fragments of the record stone.’

The artifact known as Gabrielus’s legacy, which sent me and Amelia to the past.

“Some of those fragments have actually been found. I’ve seen three of them myself.”

I was a little heated at that.

How could he have seen them himself?

[Fragments of the record stone… I’ve heard of it, but it actually existed.]

This bastard has been lying since then.

I wanted to say something, but I held back, not wanting to interrupt the flow of the story, and focused on the conversation.

Because an important story was about to begin.

“One of the fragments had this written on it.”

Lee Baek-ho paused for a moment before opening his mouth.

“And so, the evil spirit ‘————’ from another world opened the gate of the abyss and finally achieved his wish.”

A phrase that seemed like it would appear in an ending scene.

“I said ‘beep beep beep’ because there’s no way to say it. In the record stone, people’s names are referred to not by letters but by unique patterns. They say it’s a name attached to the soul or something.”

“……”

“Anyway, that’s not the important thing. I saw that pattern in another fragment too. It said this.”

Thump-!

“…The first to pass the original trial, ‘————’, finally opened his eyes in this world.”

Only then did my long-standing questions get answered.

Why Auriel Gabis was so flustered by the person who cleared the original difficulty.

Why the GM became a fanatic of ‘Elfnuna’.

And why Lee Baek-ho was so afraid of being hostile to me.

“Hyung… You’ve been silent since earlier, but if you didn’t know anything about the record stone, this would be the most curious thing.”

Even while I was organizing my thoughts in silence, Lee Baek-ho’s story continued.

“What’s so important about those records? Since they’re broken anyway, aren’t they all meaningless?”

“……”

“I thought so too at first, but it wasn’t. The last one I saw actually came true.”

“…What was it?”

When I opened my mouth, which had been tightly closed, and asked, Lee Baek-ho chuckled and answered.

“It’s a secret.”

“…What?”

I immediately glared at him, asking what kind of trick he was playing, but Lee Baek-ho didn’t care.

“I’ll keep this a secret. Whether you believe it or not, this is my personal story. It has nothing to do with you, Hyung.”

I couldn’t ask any further when he came out like this.

Somehow, I had a gut feeling that the ‘personal’ matter wasn’t a lie.

“Ah… Then it seems like the story about the record stone is over… Next is ‘Elfnuna’, right?”

When I nodded, Lee Baek-ho resumed the story he had stopped.

“I created this chat room right after I learned about the record stone. I kept waiting. The most likely person to clear the original was ‘Elfnuna’. And that person would be Korean.”

“……”

“From then on, it’s as you guessed, Hyung. From the moment you came, I was secretly hoping that you might be that person. And that hope was not wrong.”

Lee Baek-ho looked at me with clear eyes and asked.

“Right?”

A sincere conversation where we had been deceiving and hiding from each other for a long time. I didn’t intend to lie here, so I coolly admitted it.

“That’s right.”

It was as if he had heard the answer directly from my mouth, but Lee Baek-ho didn’t show a strong reaction, perhaps because he was already sure of it.

He just nodded with a somewhat relieved voice.

“That’s all I have to say. How is it, Hyung? Are all your questions answered?”

However, I shook my head.

“No, not yet.”

Most of the questions were resolved, but one of the most important things remained.

The most important thing in understanding a person.

“Why did you hide this story from me until now?”

The motive was missing.

“After hearing it, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to hide it?”

When I directly pointed this out, Lee Baek-ho smiled bitterly and answered.

“Fate is like a monkey’s paw.”

It was a voice that felt so lonely.

***

“…A monkey’s paw?”

When I glared at him with eyes that demanded a detailed explanation, Lee Baek-ho shrugged his shoulders as lively as ever.

“Eek? Don’t you know, Hyung? What a monkey’s paw is?”

“I know what it is, but I was wondering why that came up all of a sudden.”

“It’s just as it sounds. The stories written in the record stone always come true. But, we don’t know if that’s what we wanted.”

“…Continue.”

“You will definitely open the gate of the abyss someday, Hyung. But does that mean it’s a happy ending? It says that your wish will finally come true, but does that include my wish?”

“……”

“That’s why I didn’t tell you, Hyung. I tried to control you by making you not know anything. So that your wish would become my wish.”

I felt like I knew what he meant.

I had done something similar before.

[Amelia’s sister, Laura, will die.]

I used all sorts of tricks to twist that determined future and finally succeeded.

Perhaps Lee Baek-ho was also planning to do something similar.

That’s probably why he revealed his true colors as soon as I said I didn’t want to go home.

“Then why did you team up with the Ruin Scholar?”

I asked the last question that I was still feeling uneasy about.

“You didn’t just become friends with him because you needed a mage, did you?”

At those words, Lee Baek-ho froze for a moment and then burst into a hollow laugh.

“Ha… Do you have a lie detector in your head, Hyung?”

A lie detector, my ass.

He’s the one who carries something similar.

“Enough, just answer. This is the last question.”

When I urged him again, Lee Baek-ho slowly opened his mouth.

“Hyung, you know, I don’t know how this will sound to you…”

“It’s okay. Just say it quickly.”

“The Ruin Grandpa… Don’t worry too much about him. He’s just a Plan B.”

“Plan B…?”

“Yes. The world doesn’t always go the way I want it to, right?”

As he said that, Lee Baek-ho smiled brightly.

Without hiding the madness of his twisted inner thoughts.

“We need to prepare for when we have to discard Plan A.”

“……”

“Because I’m definitely getting out of this shitty place.”