Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint (Web Novel KR)

The person who wrote Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint.
With that one line, the hall plunged into confusion.
“Is he for real?”

“He doesn’t look anything like Han Sooyoung…”
“Then is he the author from our worldline?”
Jung Heewon and Lee Jihye wore identical “what-is-he-talking-about” faces.

Lee Jihye asked, “What’s everyone saying? Is he famous or something?”
“I’ll take a quick look around,” Heewon said.
“Ah—wait for me, unni.”

Heewon flicked a glance my way as if uninterested and walked off, and Jihye hurried after her.
Come to think of it, there was a passage like this in Ways of Survival:
「“Actually, Seongguk and I once went around telling a few people, just to test it, that ‘this place is inside a novel.’ And they didn’t get it at all. Like they were NPCs or something… No matter how seriously we said it, they only took it as a joke.”」
When prophets tried to tell characters about Extermination Law, they acted as if they didn’t understand.

Maybe that’s why Heewon and Jihye weren’t showing much interest right now.
Noticing the mood, Gyeong Sein slipped back to my side.
“Do you think he’s really the author?”

A man in a convincing white coat, wielding a blade that looked like ‘Broken Faith.’
You could pick up a white coat anywhere, and the sword was obtainable if you moved fast.
In other words, those items proved nothing about him being the author.

But I couldn’t be completely sure it was a lie either.
There could be another author who’d transmigrated besides me—say, the ‘ORV author’ from another worldline.
Fortunately, I had a way to check.

[You use ‘Reader Comment List’ on the target.]
The system window that popped up made me doubt my eyes.
…Huh? Wait a second.

This bastard…
While I was checking his info with [Reader Comment List], Sein unexpectedly stepped forward.
“Author-nim. I sent you a message once about stretching methods—do you remember?”

Right, she had sent something like that.
The “author” answered, “Well… I can’t remember every single PM. You send one message, but I receive thousands.”
Not entirely wrong, but if someone sent you a stretching routine, you’d tend to remember.
I still do those stretches sometimes.

“I’m sorry I don’t remember.”
“N-no, it’s fine.”
Sein’s shoulders drooped as she lowered her hand.

The self-proclaimed author added, “But if I’d known it was from such a beautiful lady, of course I would’ve remembered.”
“Eh?”
Sein blinked, stunned.

I got chills, for several reasons. For my own dignity’s sake, I was about to say something when—
“Are you really the author?”
The iron-cudgel woman cut in first.

“How will you prove it? Anyone could get ‘Broken Faith’—you don’t have to be the author.”
True. Well said.
“If you were the real author, shouldn’t you at least have made ‘Unbreaking Faith’?”

That one… even the real author couldn’t make.
He replied, “Even as the author, I can’t control everything. That’s why I never got the ‘Random Item Box.’ Perhaps one of you readers used it.”
At his neat logic, Uncle Dansoo and Sein both flicked their eyes toward me.

“What about trying [Lie Detection]?” said the guy who’d earlier shouted, “Has anyone read ORV?”
Several readers nodded.
“Oh, right. [Lie Detection].”

“But who’d have that skill now…”
No one stepped up; apparently, there were no incarnations here with [Lie Detection].
Well, apostles like Killer King or Ye Heeyoon were special cases.

Normally, no one had [Lie Detection] this early.
But then the “author” signaled to a woman at his side.
She wore a deep hood and a mask that hid her face.

[Someone is using ‘Lie Detection.’]
A publicly audible message.
People buzzed in surprise.

The “author” spoke.
“Then let me prove it. I am the person who wrote Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint.”
[‘Lie Detection’ has verified the statement as true.]

Gasps rippled through the readers.
“So he is real?”
“It’s really the author-nim?”

Excited voices overlapped.
But some still didn’t believe.
The iron-cudgel woman again: “Hold on. Are you actually the author who serialized on # Nоvеlight # ‘Series’ and ‘Textpia’? Say it one more time.”

Even she sounded different now—rattled.
“Yeah, certify it again!”
“He just did. Seems legit to me.”

Opinions split among the readers.
At the center of the debate, the “author” wore a pained expression.
“I know there are those who won’t believe no matter what I say. What’s the point in proving it over and over?”

He sighed lightly and swept a slow look around.
If nothing else, the acting was decent.
Do they teach people these days how to talk like an author?

“Still, there’s one promise I can make clearly. From this moment on, any reader who walks with me—I will, by any means necessary, take you to the final chapter of the scenario.”
[‘Lie Detection’ has verified the statement as true.]
Perfectly timed [Lie Detection], like a period at the end of a sentence.

“I have more complete information about ORV than anyone. If you trust me, I’ll guide you down a path with no wrong answers.”
A brief silence fell.
In the heady atmosphere, readers looked at one another.

“Guess he’s legit.”
“Yeah, if it’s [Lie Detection], it’s trustworthy.”
“That should be proof enough, no?”

“Wait. You’re all believing that easily? [Lie Detection] isn’t always—”
A few, including the iron-cudgel woman, still voiced doubt, but the crowd was slowly tilting toward the “author.”
Time to step in.

“I’m curious, Author-nim.”
[Exclusive skill, ‘Incite Lv.6,’ has been activated!]
At my words, the readers all turned toward me. Of course they did. I was a level 6 rabble-rouser now.

Even if I just farted, they’d look.
“You aren’t Han Sooyoung, and yet you claim to have ‘perfect information’ about this world?”
Readers sharpened their gazes as if catching a whiff of a sudden fart.

“Come to think of it—”
“Wasn’t it canon in our worldline that ORV’s author just transcribed what Han Sooyoung wrote?”
With public opinion slowly pivoting, the “author’s” complexion shifted.

I loosened the leash a little.
“Ah, but since you’re the author, you might know things we don’t. For example… the identity of ‘Representative Kim Dokja.’”
A small intake of breath somewhere.

The “author” answered, “Unfortunately, I don’t know that much.”
Not bad. He could admit what he didn’t know.
Can’t certify it with [Lie Detection], after all.

But he made one mistake.
“I see. So you don’t know that… Then, you do still know more about ORV than we do, yes?”
I saw the corner of his mouth twitch.

“Of course.”
“In that case, may I give you a few simple ORV quiz questions? Things the author would obviously know.”
His pupils slid up, ever so slightly.

He was probably calling up “that manuscript” in his head.
“Go ahead.”
“Great. First question. In Extermination Law, Yoo Joonghyuk regresses 1,863 times. What does ‘1,863’ symbolize?”

“…Pardon?”
His face changed for the first time.
“Symbolize? There’s no such—”

“You don’t know?”
Of course he didn’t. I hadn’t, either.
“Seems you don’t. Here’s the answer: 1,863 is the year the first subway opened.”

A few people snorted nearby.
Some of them must’ve attended “Kim Dokja’s Banquet” that day.
The “author” protested. “How could anyone get a question like that right?”

“Too hard for you? Then the second will be easier. In ORV, how many times does ■ appear?”
Laughter swelled.
The “author” finally snapped, eyes flaring. “Are you kidding me?”

Yes. Up to now, I’d been kidding.
The important part was the last question.
“Too difficult again? Then here’s the final one. Get this right and I’ll acknowledge you as the author. It’s really easy—the answer is printed right there in ORV.”

“I hope it’s a proper question.”
“Third question. Even if Yoo Joonghyuk uses the ‘Absolute Throne’ just once, he realizes he can no longer reach the end of the scenario—in which regression does he learn that?”
A few readers looked like they knew.

This was something diligent readers would remember.
And if he was ORV’s author, he could not not know.
Indeed, the “author” answered with a strange little smile.

“The 14th.”
I clapped.
“Wow, impressive.”

“Then now—”
“Wrong.”
A low murmur.

The “author” scowled. “Nonsense… It is the 14th. No doubt. It’s in Chapter 72 of ORV.”
“You’re right. It is in Chapter 72.”
I sighed softly and continued,

“Strictly speaking, it’s in the pre-correction manuscript of Chapter 72.”
I watched his expression slowly harden.
“That was a typo and it was corrected. There was even a correction notice later. The regression where he learns the secret of the ‘Absolute Throne’ isn’t the ‘14th’—it’s the ‘41st.’”

The temperature in the hall dropped fast.
“I’m curious—why do you, Author-nim, remember the pre-correction version? Even though you yourself posted the correction notice.”
The “author” went pale. His lips trembled a few times before sound came out.

“T-that’s…”
At this point, whether he was an author or not no longer mattered.
Because this so-called “author” knew less about ORV than an ordinary reader.

The instant I met his upturned eyes, I knew what would happen next.
“Why should we believe you? Who here would even remember that info? Who are you, anyway?”
“I…”

The reason I remembered it. It would be easy to say now, but I had no intention of doing so.
Because this wasn’t the “author’s” story.
“I’ve read Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint over a hundred times.”

The “author” snorted.
As if such a person couldn’t exist, he signaled to the woman beside him.
And in the next moment—

[‘Lie Detection’ has verified the statement as true.]
Everyone’s jaws dropped.
I opened my mouth to keep the rhythm.

“So, Author-nim has no author-only intel, and even holds incorrect information… Now I’m curious.”
I swept my gaze over the readers, then grinned at the “author.”
“What exactly did you write?”

+
[‘Cinema Voyage’ will begin in 1 minute.]
While we checked our gear, a few readers came over to greet me.

“That was impressive back there.”
“Did you really read it over a hundred times?”
I only replied with a light smile.

In the distance, I could see the “author” glaring this way.
The profile I’d checked earlier resurfaced in my mind.
+

ID: tls456
Platform: Series, ??? (Abnormal route detected)
Total Comments: 0, ??? (Abnormal route detected)
Reader Level: 8, ??? (Abnormal route detected)
Full Rereads: 1, ??? (Abnormal route detected)
This reader accessed Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint via an abnormal route.
+
He clearly knew ORV’s contents, yet his platform, total comments, reader level—even his reread count—weren’t displayed normally.

Most decisively, it said he’d “accessed Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint via an abnormal route.”
My conclusion:
「That bastard is Poison Reading Club.」

And not your garden-variety PRC, either.
Because his claim to be “the person who wrote Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint” had been verified as true by [Lie Detection].
In other words, he was—

[Constellation, ‘Rat Who Brings Plague,’ fixes its gaze upon you.]
—someone who uploaded a text copy he himself “wrote” onto an illegal site.