These Lunatics are Obsessed With Me-Chapter 185

Why was he asking me that? I stared at Kang Yoo-hyun in surprise, but he just looked back with a calm expression. Even the other guildmasters were watching me, curious about my answer, which made me fall into thought.

Should we follow the path confirmed by Kang Soo-hyun’s ability, or trust Cha Kang-tae’s instinct? In the original story, what had Kang Yoo-hyun chosen?

All I had seen in my vision was Kang Yoo-hyun and the other hunters already in bad shape when they faced the boss monster, so I had no idea what had happened before that.

“Hmm.”

This is just my guess, but if it were the Kang Yoo-hyun from the original story, he probably would have ignored Cha Kang-tae’s intuition. At that time, his unstable mind had improved somewhat thanks to Director Oh Seo-hyun’s counseling, but it still wasn’t as stable as it is now with the sweet-sleep item.

Just as he had killed a dwarf in the Svartalfheim Dungeon simply because he found him troublesome, there was a good chance he would have disregarded Cha Kang-tae’s words as well. That choice would surely have been a shortcut leading humanity to ruin.

“Hmm…?”

But as I thought that, I hesitated. In the original story, they probably wouldn’t have been able to find the right path. Kang Soo-hyun hadn’t received the auxiliary skill, and Do-gyul wasn’t there either.

In that situation, if Cha Kang-tae had found the way through instinct… wouldn’t Kang Yoo-hyun have followed it, clinging to a faint hope? With that in mind, I couldn’t easily say we should trust Cha Kang-tae’s instinct. I frowned and glanced at him.

Cha Kang-tae simply looked at me and Kang Yoo-hyun with a blank expression. His face showed no trace of malice, only honesty. Cha Kang-tae was the very definition of simple and straightforward—not hiding any agenda.

Most likely, his sharp instincts had simply been taken advantage of. Comparing it with the current situation, I could roughly guess how the original story might have played out. I raised my head, a determined expression on my face.

“Let’s continue on this path.”

“Eh, really?”

“Yes.”

I nodded firmly at Cha Kang-tae, who frowned as if dissatisfied. Kang Yoo-hyun then also turned his gaze away without hesitation.

“Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

Kang Soo-hyun, checking his surroundings, kept moving forward. I had decided to take a different path from the original story, but I wasn’t entirely confident in my choice. Nervously, I followed behind him. Along the way, we fought a few monsters, but they weren’t very threatening.

In fact, they felt weaker than the ones we had faced before, leaving everyone confused. Normally, monsters grow stronger the closer you get to the boss, so this was unusual. The path Kang Soo-hyun found couldn’t be wrong, could it? No—let’s just keep going for now. With that thought, I pressed forward.

“…!”

A familiar sight came into view. It was an extremely dark space—so dark that even the light from the light-attribute hunter couldn’t illuminate it. It was exactly the same place I had seen in my vision. My mouth was left hanging open.

Fsshh.

“Ugh…”

The oppressive pressure weighing down on my body made it hard to breathe. I frowned and glanced around, only to realize the others were holding their breath as well. That was how overwhelming the presence of that thing was.

Even Kang Yoo-hyun, an SS-rank, was staring at it with unease. Just as I had seen in the vision, the boss monster of the Ginnungagap Dungeon loomed in the dense darkness, radiating an intimidating presence.

「The Void

Rank: ??

Level: ??

? ?? ?? ??, ?? ?? ??

…」

The Void. The name itself was almost synonymous with the Ginnungagap Dungeon. So that was the boss monster’s name. Every time it moved, I could feel the air around me shift.

“Prepare for battle!”

At Kang Yoo-hyun’s shout, the hunters quickly regained their focus and moved into formation. I braced myself, ready to use my auxiliary skill. The first wave of attacks was unleashed, while I stayed back with Eden, positioned behind the front line. When the time came, Eden would move me to where I was needed.

“…?”

But the battle wasn’t unfolding the way I had expected. Though I stayed tense, my expression slackened as I watched the fight.

Fsshh…

A dark figure let out a faint sound as it slowly crumbled. I stared wide-eyed in shock.

Was it really over just like that? Without even using my auxiliary skill? What on earth…

The boss monster looked so different from how it had appeared in the vision of the original story that I didn’t know how to react. Should I feel relieved that it ended so easily, or suspicious instead?

Maybe this was the result of guiding Kang Yoo-hyun to make choices different from the original story all along. I blinked as I watched the boss monster’s form gradually disintegrate into ash.

“Yi-jin-ah…!”

“Huh…?”

Eden’s voice sounded distant. In an instant, my vision was obscured. Even though I could see my surroundings thanks to the light the hunters had created, in that moment, it felt like all around me had simply ceased to exist.

“What is this…?”

As I looked around the pitch-black surroundings, a strange sensation crept up my legs. It felt as if something invisible were crawling over my body. I shivered and took a step back—only to feel my back press against what seemed like a dead-end wall.

Frowning, I glanced at my shoulder. I couldn’t see clearly in the darkness, but a heavy presence lingered on my shoulder. Sure enough, a deep voice echoed in my mind.

“So it’s you—the one who altered this predetermined fate.”

“You are…?”

“The Void. The Yawning Abyss. The Primordial Chasm. Call me whatever you wish.”

“Huh…”

It was the boss monster. The boss monster of the Ginnungagap Dungeon was speaking to me directly. The shock was so great that I just stood there, stunned. At the same time, pain flared in my shoulder, like a sudden blow.

“Ouch.”

“Making a fuss over this?”

“…”

Was this really how the terrifying boss monster acted? Its unusually friendly behavior only made me more tense. I swallowed hard and spoke.

“What do you want with me?”

On top of that, wasn’t the boss monster being pushed back by the protagonists more than I had expected? From the looks of it, the battle would soon be over—an outright victory for them. So why would such a boss monster speak to me? I looked at it suspiciously.

“Well, I was just curious. I wanted to know about a human who had done what even the gods could not.”

“Even the gods couldn’t…”

“Changing a predetermined fate—that was something even the gods couldn’t accomplish, not once, but dozens of times.”

“Dozens of times…?”

“That’s right.” 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

I couldn’t see it, but I could feel something moving. Sssrk. Something on my right shoulder crawled to my left. I furrowed my brows at the boss monster’s words. Dozens of times? Hadn’t the protagonists only gone through one regression?

Could it be that they had actually gone through dozens of regressions all this time—failing to clear the Ginnungagap Dungeon and letting the world end each time? The sheer number of attempts left me momentarily speechless.

Should I call it the gods’ persistence? Normally, if it didn’t work after that many tries, anyone would give up. Then again, since their own existence was at stake, giving up easily wouldn’t make sense either. Even so, despite all the gods’ efforts, this was something they couldn’t accomplish—but I managed to do it by entering this world.

Rather than feeling happy, I only felt increasingly burdened. The protagonists were supposed to be the main actors, yet I had taken that role away from them. No wonder there were gods who disliked me.

“Don’t trust the gods too much, no matter how much they’ve helped you.”

“…I know that already.”

“No, you still don’t understand a thing.”

“Yes…?”

“This dungeon isn’t the end. Those guys have another scheme. And that is definitely…”

“What did you say?”

I couldn’t make out the boss monster’s words clearly. Its androgynous voice—impossible to tell whether male or female—kept breaking up intermittently. It tried to speak to me, but it felt like someone was interfering.

“…Good luck… outsider.”

“Wait…!”

The heavy presence on my shoulder vanished before I could grab it. Then, another force suddenly crashed down on me. I reflexively raised my arms and hunched over.

“…?”

But nothing happened. Confused, I opened my eyes and saw a faint light.

“Han Yi-jin!”

“Kang Yoo-hyun?”

Slash!

The force that had been crashing down on me was split in two by the swing of Kang Yoo-hyun’s sword. Only then did the darkness around me begin to dissipate.

“Come here!”

“…”

Kang Yoo-hyun reached out to grab me, but I hesitated. The boss monster hadn’t finished speaking. It felt like it was about to reveal something important, and leaving now seemed like a waste.

"Hurry up!"

"Ugh…!”

Kang Yoo-hyun grabbed my hand firmly and pulled me out of the darkness. The air in that place had been unusually thin, so once I was out, I found myself gasping without realizing it.

When I looked around, the raid team seemed as if they had just wrapped up a battle. Had they already defeated the boss monster? I turned to ask Kang Yoo-hyun, but the system’s voice rang out before I could.

[Ginnungagap-??000 Boss Monster “The Void” has been defeated.]

[The first player to clear Ginnungagap-??000 will receive the title “The Ones Who Came Back from the Primordial World (L)”.]

[Connection to Ginnungagap-??000 will be terminated shortly.]

“…!”

Ah, it’s over. Relief and a strange tinge of disappointment washed over me. After all, I had successfully saved this world. But then, the system’s unexpected voice rang out across the area.

[Clearing the “Primordial Dungeon” has unlocked the next stage.]

[The “Guild Channel” for each guild is now active.]

[Interaction with the divine world “Asgard” is now available.]