Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel 2025 - Chapter 500
Chapter 500: Age of Exploration (1)
The first time I heard about the Records Stone was during my conversation with the GM.
“There’s no reason for me not to believe him. At the very least, the Records Stone said it was true, after all.”
In his answer to my question on why he believed Auril Gavis’s words, he implied they were close to a prophecy, that a specific player would open the Gate of the Abyss in the future. The moment I heard his answer, I knew that Baekho Lee probably had some connection to the Records Stone as well, because just like the GM, Baekho Lee was also obsessed with the nickname Elfnuna.
“Hm, is that so?”
That day, I didn’t want to do anything that might trigger Baekho Lee, so I put my suspicions aside and didn’t mention it. I also figured I should investigate it on my own first before asking him about it straight out, but even my own findings confirmed the results.
There’s no record of it in the library. Even Versyl looked like that was the first time she’d heard of it.
I spent some of my free time looking into it, but I couldn’t find any information about the Records Stone. Thus, I was left with only one option: directly ask someone who could give me an answer.
When I asked him, Baekho Lee went silent. However, just as he had told Hyeonbyeol earlier, silence could also be a strong affirmation.
Yeah, so he does know what the Records Stone is.
It made sense for him to keep quiet and think it over before answering me, but he already passed the golden time to make it look natural. Nevertheless, Baekho remained silent and stared at me, as if he were looking into my very soul.
“Bro.” He finally broke his silence. It seemed as if he didn’t even realize that the smile he’d worn earlier had disappeared. In a cold, subdued voice, he asked,
“Where did you hear about that?”
For some strange reason, I felt a chill down my spine, but I didn’t let it show. This guy always spoke with hidden intentions. Why was he so curious about finding out my source of information first?
He must be curious about how much I know.
Knowing what his intentions were, there was only one response I could make.
“I wonder.” I had to respond with a vague answer without being impatient. That was how I would grab the initiative in this conversation. “Does it matter where I heard about it?”
Baekho’s eyes never left me, watching me as I shrugged. He appeared to be deep in thought, wondering how to approach this conversation.
Was I asking because I really didn’t know what the Records Stone was? Or did I know something, and I was just trying to cross-check information through him?
Then how should he answer me? Or maybe he couldn’t?
As time slowly passed us by, I could feel him carefully thinking about how to answer me. Deciding that giving him any more time wouldn’t do me any good, I quickly persisted. Even though it would feel sudden to him, that made this move all the more effective.
“Elfnuna.”
I brought up the subject that would confuse him the most. No matter how large the tree, if you continued to shake it, at least one leaf was bound to fall.
When I mentioned the nickname neither of us had talked about before, Baekho’s eyes suddenly began to tremble ever so slightly. His reaction wasn’t enough, which is why I quickly made the next move.
“You already know. That person is me.”
It was time to put one of my cards on the table.
“What do you mean by that?” Baekho was quick to respond.
The reaction was neither positive nor negative, just a simple question. It was a pattern you would often find in people who lie. Responding with a neutral question rather than another lie put their heart at ease.
That only meant I needed to push further.
“Baekho. Have you noticed? Ever since we first met, not once have I talked about Elfnuna with you.” I tapped my finger on the text above my head that said Elfnunna.
“Don’t you think it’s weird?”
It was an inescapable ploy. Checkmate.
Crackle.
The sound of the burning firewood filled the heavy silence between us. Instead of pushing him anymore, I gave Baekho some time to collect his thoughts. Normally in situations like these, silence would become even more uncomfortable for a liar.
“Bro…” After a long moment of silence, Baekho Lee finally cracked. “What do you want to ask me?”
This guy still intended to walk the tightrope with me. It was that familiar mindset of wanting to give the bare minimum while taking as much as he could. The solution to that was simple.
“It’s not what I want to ask.”
When the opposition tightly restricted information, it was best to toss the decision to them.
Where did I hear about this? How much do I know? None of that is important.
“I just want to listen.”
Crackle
“To hear how you’re going to answer me.”
Now, the decision was in Baekho Lee’s hands.
***
He came to a decision faster than I anticipated.
“Hahaha, you’re seriously intense, bro! Seriously, I can’t ever win against you!”
At some point, he suddenly went back to the way he was acting before. From my position, it looked as if he had a dual personality. At first, I was taken aback by it, but by now, I’d gotten pretty used to it.
“I’ll tell you everything. So what are you most curious about?”
Ha, this bastard is still acting like this.
If I hadn’t put up my guard, I might have fallen for it. I didn’t answer him and, instead, just silently waited there, staring at him.
Baekho fidgeted around a bit before letting out a heavy sigh. “…Were you really an office worker before?” When I was silent, he continued, saying, “I’m just curious, that’s all. Just what kind of life did you have to live to become someone like that?”
What is this guy talking about?
Seeing that I was going to keep silent, Baekho let out another deep sigh. “Hah…
Alright, I’ll tell you. Honestly, I think you’re just sounding me out… That must be why I’m so nervous… Well, maybe it would be best to just be honest at this point.”
“Then answer me.”
“Do you believe in fate? Ah, you’re not even going to answer me? Then I’m just going to explain it however I want, regardless if you understand me or not.”
“I told you already. All that’s important is what you want to tell me.”
“Fine. I got it.”
Baekho seemed to give in, noticing that I wasn’t planning to change my stance toward him anytime soon. After all, any question I answered, no matter how small, might lead to a bigger mistake.
“You know it too, right? That most of the ancient relics and myths were erased when this city was built. But did you know, one of those ancient objects that was erased was the Records Stone? And that Records Stone contains the entire history of the world. I’m not just talking about the history of the past, but also of the future as well.”
Isn’t that just some ancient myth?
That was what it felt like to me at least, but I decided to first just hear him out as Baekho continued his story.
“Anyway, there is an end to the Records Stone. Of course, that end means the end of the world. And at the beginning of the end, that’s where the witch comes into play… Though I honestly don’t know much about that. There’s only one thing I really know.”
I kept silent.
“Someone destroyed the Records Stone to prevent the end of the world. And because of that, this world still exists today.”
Still, I didn’t say anything.
“The important thing here is this. The shards of the Records Stone are now scattered all across this world.”
As soon as I heard that, I instinctively sensed it.
Fragment of Records Stone.
A legacy left behind by Gabrielius. The object that sent both me and Amelia back in time.
“Some of the fragments were actually found. And three of them, I have even seen myself.”
I was taken aback by his remark. It actually made me pretty pissed, given what he told me before.
“Fragment of Records Stone…? I heard of it, but to think it really exists.”
So the bastard had a habit of lying even back then. I wanted to say something, but
I didn’t want to interrupt him mid-story, so for now, I held my tongue as he continued. We were finally getting to the important pieces of information.
“One of the fragments said this.” Baekho paused for a minute before saying, “So –—, an evil spirit from a different world who came here, was able to open the Gate of the Abyss and finally achieve his wish.”
The sentence seemed picked right out of a storybook.
“Since this evil spirit’s name wasn’t written with letters, it’s impossible to say who it is. That’s because in the Records Stone, people’s names are written down in a unique pattern. Something about how it’s the name attached to one’s soul or something.” He paused to hear if I would respond, then continued, saying, “But that’s not the point. The main thing is that I’ve seen that same exact unique pattern written down on other fragments as well. And it said this.”
Ba-dump!
“–—, who was the first to pass the original test, opened their eyes as they arrived in this world.”
Only after hearing that did I finally understand why Auril Gavis was so obsessed with the person who cleared the game on the original difficulty. It also made sense why the GM was so interested in Elfnuna and, lastly, why Baekho Lee was afraid of being on the wrong side of me.
“Big bro… You haven’t said a word this entire time. If you didn’t know anything about the Records Stone, then this part will really pique your interest.”
As I remained silent, gathering my thoughts, Baekho carried on with his explanation. “What’s so important about these records anyway? Isn’t it meaningless now that the stone is broken? At first, that’s what I thought. But that’s not the case. In fact, the last fragment I saw actually came true.”
“…And what was that?”
When I finally opened my mouth, Baekho replied with a smirk, “That’s a secret.”
“…What?”
I glared at him, irritated with his cheeky attitude, but he acted like he didn’t care.
“I’m not going to tell you. Believe it or not, this is a personal issue, that’s why. Don’t worry, it has nothing to do with you.”
If that was true, then there was no point in prying anymore. For some reason, when I heard him mention that it was a “personal issue,” I believed him.
“Yeah…I think that’s everything there is to say about the Records Stone…so how about I talk about Elfnuna next?”
When I nodded my head, Baekho moved on to the next topic.
“I made this chat room after learning about the Records Stone. And I waited all this time. I was certain that the person who had the highest chance of clearing the original version of the game was none other than Elfnuna, that’s why. And obviously, that person must be Korean. After that, well, it’s just like you guessed. All this time, I thought that person might be you. But to think I was actually right.”
Baekho opened his eyes wide as he looked my way, asking me, “That is you, right?”
All this time, we’d been deceiving each other, unable to have an honest conversation. However, since he was willing to tell me this much, there was no reason to hide the truth any longer.
I calmly affirmed it for him. “That’s right.”
Although he finally heard the answer coming from my own mouth, Baekho didn’t have much of a reaction. It must have been because he was already certain of it beforehand. He simply nodded his head.
“I think I told you everything I can. What do you think? Does that answer all your questions?”
“No, not yet.” I shook my head. Most of my questions were answered, but one important thing remained. It might just be the most important question of all. “Why were you keeping this a secret from me this whole time?”
What was Baekho Lee’s aim?
“After hearing you out, it doesn’t seem like something you needed to hide from me?”
When I directly confronted him, Baekho answered, “Fate is like the monkey’s paw.”
His reply came with a bitter smile and a voice that sounded rather lonely.
“…Monkey’s paw?”
I looked at him in confusion, urging him to explain in detail, but he simply shrugged his shoulders, as if he had already done so. “What? You don’t know what the monkey’s paw is?”
“I know what it is, but why are you suddenly saying that?”
“It’s like I said. The records written on the Records Stone are bound to happen, no matter what. However, it’s impossible for me to know if what I want will truly happen.”
“…Continue.”
“Big bro. I’m certain that, one day, you will open the Gate of the Abyss. But does that mean it will be a happy ending? Your wish might come true, but what about mine? That’s why I haven’t told you about it until now. That way I could buy some time to try and change your wish to become mine.”
I think I understood what he meant. After all, I did something like that before as well.
“Amelia’s older sister Laura died.”
Back then, I tried all sorts of things to change the future and ultimately succeeded.
So maybe Baekho Lee was trying to do the same. That was probably why he showed his true colors the moment I told him that I didn’t want to return home.
“Then why did you team up with the Fallen Scholar?” If he was going to answer everything I asked, I figured I’d ask one more question. “I’m sure you didn’t just become friends with him because you needed a wizard on your team.”
Baekho’s expression hardened for a moment before he burst into laughter.
“Hahaha… Do you have some lie detector in your head or something?”
A lie detector in my head? How the hell would that make any sense?
“Just answer me. It’s the last question.”
Although I urged him to answer quickly, Baekho was slow to respond. “I don’t know how this will sound to you, but…”
“It’s fine. Just say it.”
“That old man… You don’t have to worry about him. He’s just my Plan B.”
“Plan B…?”
“Yes. It’s not like the world always goes the way you want, right?”
Baekho smiled as he answered me, as if hiding all his thoughts and feelings deep within himself.
“I need to have a backup in case I have to abandon Plan A. Because I’m definitely going to leave this shitty place.”