EVS Chapter 6 – EmberLib

‘Resister (Inactive)’

“…I’ve never seen that description before.”

An unfamiliar term he had never heard of occupied a line in his disposition section.

Generally, awakened ones were granted one disposition per person. He had never heard of anyone possessing two dispositions, and it was his first time seeing this disposition itself. For Sa-yoon, who had only seen ‘True Evil of Humanity’ ad nauseam, the suddenly appearing ‘Resister’ couldn’t help but be puzzling.

Was this also the system’s trick played on him, like the True Evil of Humanity?

Seeing as it was labeled inactive, would it later activate and impose another ordeal on him?

Or perhaps…

Distrust toward the system reacted to the unfamiliar disposition. Sa-yoon’s sense, hardened from experiencing countless misfortunes, accurately captured the ominous premonition. It was a sense that aligned not eighty, but one hundred percent, so he rubbed his chin with a prudent expression. His dark eyes rolled here and there, gauging the damage this disposition would inflict on him.

As he observed it over time, unlike his concerns, he didn’t feel as strange as when he first encountered the window declaring him the True Evil of Humanity or when the forced execution quest popped up. His heart didn’t race rapidly as if some incident was about to erupt, and anxiety didn’t come either.

It wasn’t because he had adapted to sudden misfortunes from being tormented too much by the system, nor was it because the current ominousness was fainter than the misfortunes he had experienced so far.

Without any lack, it just felt quite okay.

No, was it just okay? For some reason, it seemed to emanate a bit of a hopeful vibe too. As if he were holding a jackpot-winning lottery ticket.

Something was unusual.

The sense of ‘what works,’ extremely developed from operating an information guild, was excitedly speaking.

That it was somewhat suspicious. In a very good way at that.

Resisting, against what?

As he continued his deduction alone, a thought he once had suddenly flashed through his mind.

It was from a time when Sa-yoon wasn’t completely mad yet, his sanity half-remaining.

Back then, Sa-yoon had formed a hypothesis – if he was the True Evil of Humanity, could there also be something like the True Hope of Humanity?

Why was it that in any work, if there was a villain, a hero to oppose them always appeared, and on the opposite side of good, there was evil?

The confrontation between good and evil was a time-honored principle of the world, so Sa-yoon entertained the idea that unlike ordinary awakened ones, there might be someone special tasked with opposing him and killing him. Some might call it a pipe dream, but in an increasingly devastating life, an imaginary existence opposing him was sufficient to become a thread of hope.

Using that hypothesis as fuel, Sa-yoon rekindled his fading will to resist. Thinking there must be a key somewhere to change his life, that was when he started picking fights with all sorts of people and dying.

Even when the system that didn’t want his death stubbornly revived him each time he died, he would get up and go die at the hands of others. The pain in the moment of death was nothing compared to the hope of escaping the system, so he repeated the cycle of dying and reviving countless times. Tirelessly, how many times. He must have lived like that for at least three months.

The first person to tire of this seemingly insane behavior was Jongsik. After Sa-yoon unintentionally saved him from terrorists while carrying out a quest, he had followed Sa-yoon around, and seeing Sa-yoon repeat a death agonizing even to onlookers, he cried, pleaded, and clung to him, begging him to please stop. Amidst the repeated frustration of hope, Sa-yoon went mad. So much so that Jongsik still grieves to this day, saying that was the most dismal period in his life.

Although he went around dying tediously day in and day out, there was no notable gain. Rather, by dying and reviving each time, the infamy of being an immortal spread among a minority of awakened ones, prompting the system to display achievement messages in a bizarre turn.

Discouraged by the system that seemed to mock his efforts, Sa-yoon abandoned futile hopes after that and lived even more viciously. Looking back now, it was a challenge that was truly foolish and stupid beyond compare.

Sa-yoon, reminded of the memories from that time after so long, fell into contemplation. There must be a reason he recalled the events of that day.

“There’s something…”

Since it came to mind after seeing ‘Resister,’ that disposition might be related to his old hypothesis. Perhaps it could become a clue to the ‘True Hope of Humanity’ he had given up on after dying over a hundred times.

In the first place, the only thing he had to resist was the system. Having reached this position, what else besides the system would obstruct his life?

Curiosity unsatisfied, Sa-yoon’s temperament could only be appeased by checking, so he cut off his hesitation and touched the Resister disposition.

Ding!

A window denying his attempt greeted Sa-yoon, but he neither felt particularly disappointed nor sighed. Rather, Sa-yoon gained a stronger conviction than ever.

Since it was the system that restricted and withheld skills or information that could help him, if it hid something, there must be something important. The status window it hadn’t given him for 10 years was proof of that.

If by any chance this was truly some means to resist the system. Or one of the ways to give it a taste of its own medicine.

“I have to obtain it no matter what.”

Muttering in a low voice that welled up from his true intentions, Sa-yoon pressed the disposition again and the same guidance window appeared. Sa-yoon carefully examined various parts of the system window with his arms crossed.

Narrowing his eyes to check, there were tiny letters at the bottom of the blue window that read ‘View Activation Conditions.’ The letters were so small that even Sa-yoon’s S-rank eyesight could barely see them.

Right, they were that small, but. Still.

You’re showing it to me this easily?

It was so simple how he found a solution that made his wariness seem pointless. Compared to the life he had lived so far, the difficulty level plummeted exponentially, making it suspicious instead. Thinking it might be a trap, Sa-yoon looked at View Activation Conditions somewhat dubiously and, having no other choice, moved his finger.

Well, of course.

I thought it was being given too easily.

Others might have thought there was no way and given up, but as if returning to the beginning, Sa-yoon clicked View Activation Conditions again.

Once more.

Again.

Again.

Yet again.

He repeated the touch as if in a battle of will. The system’s usual smiling emoticon today felt like a provocation saying ‘Try it if you can,’ making him click the condition view faster.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

As he pressed the button with a touch engulfed in madness, the system matched it and displayed blue windows. Even after clicking over a hundred times, no change was seen. It wasn’t strange, as it would have been set up that way from the start. Around now, others would have thrown a fit and given up, but Sa-yoon’s tenacity was more fiercely driven than those people, in a rather persistent way.

It was too early to give up.

After challenging it to his heart’s content, stopping before even 30 minutes passed wouldn’t live up to the pride of an information guild leader. No, pride aside, he just wanted to get back at the system window that kept feeding him crap.

For example, something like a system shutdown.

If he clicked fast enough that it couldn’t process, maybe an error would pop up and the system would shut down.

It was an absurd thought, but he could harbor a bit of expectation. Using that expectation as an excuse, Sa-yoon continued to press the blue window. His S-rank agility stat was being put to use here.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Before he knew it, five hours had passed seeing the same guidance window.

Yet, without tiring, it was the moment he showed his pride, as if to see who would win, you or me.

Ding!

A mechanical sound slightly different from the notification he was sick of hearing pierced Sa-yoon’s ears. Sa-yoon, who had been moving his fingers almost mechanically, barely managed to stop right in front of the system window and examined what was before him.

The emoticon he was seeing for the first time and the text he was tired of had changed. Sa-yoon had won the ignorant confrontation.