Chapter 54

The Outsider quickly consolidated and edited the memories of those three.

After cutting out all the emotional ties and past memories intertwined with them, the memory became much lighter than what the Outsider had initially planned. This meant it could be sent faster and to more people.

And so, they pushed it out to everyone, just a little bit each.

But even when the memory of Yaslé was included, not many people could accept it or summon her.

This time was no different.

Of course, Ttongkeschuni did block it, but even so, the places with the most people tried the most often.

In other worlds, at most there was one person.

Even for someone who’d fallen to the lowest depths and been resurrected, preparing to perform such a summoning took far too much effort.

It’s like trying to take up TRPG as a hobby in Korea. It’s a hobby seemingly suited for introverts, but ironically, it requires a ton of social skills to get started—there’s an inherent contradiction.

So, summoning the Outsider in another world required a tremendous amount of time.

But time meant nothing to the Outsider.

Truthfully, it was a power gained after blessing many people, but while the Outsider couldn’t rewind time, they could make time flow at different speeds for different individuals.

However, within the same world, everyone shared one flow of time. But this also meant that in other worlds, there were no such restrictions.

So the Outsider sent out books. Of course, they sneakily inserted self-advertising claims between the pages: “Summon me, and you’ll receive a blessing.”

It was like running mid-roll ads on video streaming sites.

Imagine those ads popping up during online lectures.

Yeah, the Outsider was truly an Evil God.

But amidst all the swearing in those lectures, someone eventually succeeded in calling forth the Outsider. The person who summoned them was originally someone destined to fall into ruin, desperate enough to endure great hardships just to call upon the Outsider.

A thin fishing line dropped from the night sky toward the surface.

The Outsider smiled and extended their arm toward the line.

But there was one fundamental misunderstanding.

This technique wasn’t designed to summon the Outsider.

It was meant to summon an Evil God.

Originally, it was created to lure monsters lurking near the surface by lowering a baited hook from above—not below the surface, but above it.

The person who devised this technique thought of the surface as the “floor.” Thus, the more skilled the user, the better they could summon creatures that crawled along that “floor.”

The one holding onto the fishing line wasn’t the Outsider. Instead, a massive blob of light hovering relatively close to the surface grabbed it and ascended upward.

Of course, compared to the vast expanse of the night sky, this massive orb of light was technically “on the floor.” However, it was still far beyond the reach of the Outsider’s arm.

As they stared blankly at the ascending light, the Outsider suddenly realized they were beneath the surface.

They had definitely fallen from above at first.

But now, they existed both beneath the surface and within this radiant realm, simultaneously connected.

Then, where exactly did the radiant world begin, and where did the area beneath the surface end?

The Outsider calmed their mind, brimming with intense rage, and carefully examined themselves.

Through others, we come to know ourselves.

Through others, we become aware of who we are.

Like a baby learning to crawl for the first time while lying in bed.

Thus, like expanding one’s perception of the world, the Outsider took another step forward.

The Outsider’s consciousness ascended along their body, moving upward.

Far, far away.

Up to the highest reaches of the night sky.

Their thread-like form climbed higher and higher, and they realized that the night sky, which they had assumed was simply dotted with stars, was something else entirely.

There were countless lights.

But they were so densely packed that from afar, they appeared as one single light.

“It’s like looking at a galaxy,” the Outsider thought.

To the Outsider, it seemed as though the cluster of lights was encased in a transparent bubble. And their thread-like body was inside it.

No, wait.

The Outsider quickly changed their perspective.

It wasn’t a bubble—it was more like a glass bottle.

A transparent glass bottle containing countless stars.

And some of those stars were connected to the Outsider’s threads.

The reason the Outsider switched from thinking of it as a bubble to a bottle was simple.

There were cracks in the glass.

The threads extending from the cracks passed through the bottle’s walls seamlessly.

But the parts of the Outsider’s body not connected to the light entered through these cracks.

The Outsider soon realized that this transparent sphere represented the world, and the lights within it represented people.

They were currently observing the world from outside.

The only downside? This bottle seemed to have perfect insulation; no warmth could be felt from the outside.

How much warmth does this bottle contain? The Outsider shivered from the cold as they pondered.

But warmth wasn’t something they could obtain immediately.

The Outsider exerted their strength, but the bottle didn’t budge. Instead, the cracks began shrinking rapidly.

Startled, the Outsider released their force, and the cracks stopped spreading. In fact, they began slowly healing.

Instinctively, the Outsider realized they lacked the power to destroy this bottle.

Could they ever break it and harvest its warmth?

While contemplating this, they noticed something unusual in the second world where they had been summoned.

Though they had intended to summon the Outsider, something strange happened where the massive orb of light ascended.

The monster summoned by the Blessed One turned to stone.

The moment it appeared, it screamed in terror, realizing it had been trapped, and hardened into rock.

It was undoubtedly summoned into the heartless corpse, exactly like how the Outsider had been summoned—but the outcome was different.

Was it because it wasn’t the Outsider?

The Outsider waited again.

An experiment was necessary.

Though it felt like they had achieved everything, maybe they hadn’t.

Using Yaslé’s memories, they could replicate the method to summon themselves, but the volume was too large, and there was no telling what negative effects Yaslé’s memories might cause. It felt risky.

So, they patiently awaited the next opportunity.

With time paused, the warranty period is infinite.

Though time wasn’t truly stopped—it flowed extremely slowly—the Outsider wasn’t perceptive enough to notice. Besides, anger filled them like a knife stabbing their back.

Much later, another Blessed One, believing they couldn’t change their world alone, called out to the Outsider.

Once again, a thin fishing line descended from the light.

But once again, it didn’t reach the bottom.

From the perspective of “up,” it was certainly the bottom, but from beneath the surface, it was like the moon, unreachable no matter how far they stretched their hand.

And once again, the massive orb of light grabbed it and ascended.

The Blessed One carefully observed the summoning process.

This time, too, it was similar. Though this one screamed instead of speaking, it immediately turned to stone.

Let’s try ten times.

The Outsider, believing they were calm, simply wanted to identify any issues.

Normally, the Outsider would have tried a hundred times or more. Their patience was far from small.

But anger had eroded it.

Ten times.

Every single one turned into hard stone.

The Outsider had two hypotheses.

One: The summoner lacked sufficient ability.

Two: There was a problem with the book.

And the truth was revealed by the Blessed One.

Because someone had studied the petrified monsters. A Blessed One diligently researched the statues.

They realized something was sealed inside.

Waiting to escape.

Filled with hatred, it was an Evil God.

But by the time the research concluded, too much time had passed. Ultimately, the Blessed One died of old age before finding a solution.

The moment they died, the Outsider, infused with borrowed warmth, became incredibly angry.

Furious.

That book was a trap set by Ttongkeschuni to imprison the Outsider.

Had the Outsider maintained their mystique consistently, Ttongkeschuni wouldn’t have attempted this. To be precise, they wouldn’t have been able to.

But every time Ttongkeschuni nagged about when the book would be completed, acting like a child, the Outsider indulged them.

And when Ttongkeschuni noticed the Outsider didn’t react to insults, they lowered their guard.

They underestimated the Outsider so much that they viewed them as a naive child who only bestowed blessings.

Plain and simple, the Outsider made a mistake.

A pure blunder.

To control someone like Ttongkeschuni, they should have instilled appropriate fear—but instead, they came across as too harmless. Believing she could handle the Outsider, Ttongkeschuni grew bold.

She hid a trap within the book.

Cleverly twisting the summoning method described in the book, she ensured anyone who followed it would be imprisoned inside.

Thinking the time it would take for the stones to weather away would exceed their own lifespan, she plotted accordingly.

There was no worry of being found out.

Because if someone dared to summon and happily followed the instructions, they’d turn to stone.

So, confident in her plan, Ttongkeschuni mocked the Outsider upon seeing them.

Had the Outsider been a typical monster summoned in such circumstances, it would have sufficed. If they were just another level of monster or evil deity, Ttongkeschuni’s magic could have sealed them.

But the essence of the Outsider was exceedingly strange.

Very, very, very strange.

The Outsider was furious.

They had made a contract, yet the proper book wasn’t provided.

Ttongkeschuni had broken the contract.

Meaning, Ttongkeschuni was fair game.

It was time for revenge.

The Outsider returned to the first world.

All accomplished.

But all they had gained was Yaslé’s summoning method. Laughing at themselves for claiming they had achieved everything, the Outsider looked around for Ttongkeschuni.

They quickly spotted her, leisurely sitting far away, watching the Outsider.

Now, how should they vent this anger?

The Outsider began spinning devious schemes in their cunning mind.

---