Kill the Author, Then to Hell - Chapter 6.1

—Ding!

As I opened my eyes to the cheerful sound of a bell ringing only in my ears, I found myself once again amidst dark waves.

“Huff, hah…!”

I gasped for breath as if I had just woken from a nightmare.

The pain was gone, but the sensation of a merciless blade digging into my flesh was still vivid.

“Sob, sob, Elizabeth!”

“Sob… To suddenly, like this….”

Fortunately, amidst the mourners, I didn’t look out of place at all.

“Elizabeth Dayton was a dutiful wife in life….”

The priest leading the service only cast sympathetic glances at the daughter who had lost her mother.

“Sister, are you okay?”

My younger brother Peter still whispered from my left, and my older brother Johan’s gentle touch was equally present on my back.

Everything was exactly as I remembered.

I had returned to the moment I first entered this story under hypnosis in <Story World>, that is, to my mother’s funeral.

‘Ah, is this a time loop story?’

I heaved a sigh of relief, thinking I was doomed to die.

<You never know until you’ve lived it all.>

I pondered over the words I had heard from the girl at the rental shop. Life continues until the predetermined amount of <Story> is exhausted.

‘I didn’t expect it to mean this.’

Even though it was unsettling not knowing how much of my <Story> remained,

it was somewhat reassuring to know that even if I died, I would return here.

Supporting my conjecture that this was a time loop story, a popup window had been blocking my view since earlier.

The description below read:

‘Are you kidding me?’

I had only tried to handle things swiftly, as per my K-office worker habits, but did you think I’d die just after one night?

‘It’s all because of that psychopath.’

I glanced furtively at the man called my father, who was hunched over with a scrunched-up face beside the priest.

‘I don’t know the full story, but killing your daughter just because she put on a ring?’

Moreover, judging from various contexts, it was clear he had murdered his wife, lying in the coffin now.

And then to pretend to mourn so disgustingly.

Even somewhere in the back, there was an unbelievable and suffocating conversation going on about this psychopathic murderer.

“Just imagine how sad the Marquis must be.”

“Exactly, he was known to be so devoted to his wife.”

“But still, to manage the Marquis’ internal affairs, he would need to marry again, but with his nature, who knows if he will.”

“Ah, but since the daughter is all grown up, she’ll probably take on the role of the lady of the house until she marries.”

I turned around in disbelief and felt an inexplicable sense of unease.

‘Wait, how can I hear them so clearly from this distance?’

The people having the conversation didn’t seem to be close relatives or acquaintances.

Considering their voices were not even a memory in Edith’s recollection.

For this reason, they were positioned at the very end of the grand funeral procession, more than 200 meters away from me.

It was hard enough to spot them with the eyes, let alone hear their whispers so clearly.

I revisited the description of the status window I had briefly glanced over earlier.

‘Is this… all?’

No matter how much I read it over and over, that was all there was.

I reconsidered the abilities the Marquis had shown moments before I had died.

Teleportation that entered without needing to open a door.

Paralysis magic that bound me so I couldn’t move.

Moreover, he had summoned a sword out of thin air without chanting any spell.

‘Ah, right. How did he know I went to Mom’s room?’

Thinking about it, I had moved quietly at dawn when no one was around.

It was suspicious how he appeared just in time, without any CCTV. It seemed likely that the Marquis could track my movements in some way.

And the abilities of one of the top magicians in the Claremont Empire wouldn’t just stop there.

Making a person disappear without a trace would be child’s play for someone like him.

‘But, to face that bastard with just the ability to eavesdrop on conversations?’

It was like being handed a spoon and asked to fight a lightsaber.

If this were modern Korea, I could rely on the power of public authority.

But in a place without police or forensic science, I was powerless.

‘No, stay calm.’

I suppressed the urge to grab the neck of the author who wrote this story.

How many times have the most insignificant skills turned out to be crucial later on? Nobody knew what benefits the seemingly trivial buff named [Perkily Perked] could bring me.

‘I thought that, but… where do I even use this?’

I was buried in a flood of TMI as the funeral ended.

“Did you hear about Baron Ainsley’s second son? He ranked first in the academy this time.”

“He was smart from a young age. But it’s surprising, given his mother’s background, isn’t it?”

“Well, he’s still a frog in a well. No matter how well the academy teaches, the real power lies in the noble families.”

At least this counted as somewhat useful information.

“Have you seen the new collection from Felix Jewelry? It was really well made.”

“My husband just bought one yesterday. Our jewelry box is overflowing, I don’t know what he’s thinking.”

Subtle bragging, backhanded compliments, uninteresting updates from extras filled my ears.

Even my father, who had left the scene earlier, was gone along with Peter and Johan, leaving me to attend to the guests alone.

The buff seemed to apply primarily to nearby conversations, as I couldn’t hear theirs.