Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 195

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“Evan!”
Ah, so that’s what this is. I’d thought it looked identical to the well I’d seen in the Serpent Man Village back then, and sure enough, it was a well connecting to the Underworld. If that’s the case, then this voice must belong to someone I know.
“Wait a moment, let me cast a shield! What brings you here?”
The moment the mole demi-human used some skill on me, the sensation of imminent death vanished and my breathing eased. I wiped the blood from my face with my sleeve and looked up to see Cha Cha—now slightly taller than when I’d first met him, with his pink hair standing before me.
“It’s been a while.”
“Yeah! It’s been forever! But you came at just the right time!”
Cha Cha pulled an absurdly large syringe from his space suit and tried to jab me with it. I firmly refused and smashed the syringe to pieces.
“Aaaah! Why would you do that!”
“What were you trying to do?”
Generally speaking, when someone brandishes such an ominous syringe, people panic and destroy it. As I insisted on this point and brushed away the glass shards, Cha Cha grumbled that he had spares at home and urged me to accept the injection.
“Explain first. What were you trying to do to me?”
“Give you a vaccine! If you get this, you’ll be in pain if you catch the disease, but you’ll survive!”
“A disease?”
Was this white-coated mole demi-human conducting some kind of research in the Land of Death? Why was he talking about vaccines? When I asked him in detail what disease this vaccine was for, the little one pounded his chest proudly and announced it.
“Airborne transmission! A super plague that kills humans in exactly one week!”
That sounds exactly like the super plague from the Underworld King in the original work. It starts with pneumonia symptoms and within seven days, you waste away with all manner of complications before dying—that’s why it earned the nickname “Seven-Day Plague.”
“….”
A point-eyed, pink-haired little one living in the Underworld had created the Seven-Day Plague from the original work. What were the odds that this being wasn’t the Underworld King?
“Cha Cha. I have one question.”
“Huh? What?”
“Are you the Underworld King?”
“Yes, I am.”
This little rascal had wit. When I asked in the formal tone of a foreign language textbook, Cha Cha responded in the same textbook tone with a “Yes, I am.”
So that was it. Cha Cha was the Underworld King. I’d thought it odd that a mole demi-human would be living so deep underground.
“Seian Crowell’s nemesis!”
“Aaaah! Why did you hit me!”
With that, our grudge was settled. Because Seian Crowell had died so unjustly in the original work, I’d felt wronged on his behalf—so I gave Cha Cha a solid blow to the head and put my resentment to rest. Lately, opportunities for revenge kept finding me. Was I just lucky with timing?
“Your plague killed someone I admired.”
“That’s great!”
“You bastard.”
Why would Seian Crowell’s death be a good thing? Indignant, I struck him again, and Cha Cha wailed while spouting sophistry.
“Why would you like someone who dies so quickly? I’ve lived over 10,000 years and I’ll live another 10,000! In terms of cost-effectiveness, wouldn’t it be better to like me?”
“Love isn’t something you calculate for cost-effectiveness. It’s something fleeting—like autumn leaves that blaze brilliantly for one season before falling.”
“But there are year-round autumn leaves!”
“Year-round leaves have their own charm too!”
“What are you even saying!”
This was a conversation too difficult for a child to understand. Even if he’d lived 10,000 years, a child was still a child. I was startled anew at how different the Underworld King’s image was from what I’d imagined—I’d assumed he’d be some skeletal figure dwelling in a moving underground necropolis, not this four-foot-tall little one.
“You’ve grown taller. All those training sessions paid off.”
Now that I thought about it, I had sensed a slight growth earlier—Cha Cha seemed to have expanded from about four spans to five spans in height. Though his youthful face remained unchanged.
“Really? I actually got taller?”
“You did. At this rate, you’ll be as tall as me in about 30,000 years.”
“Don’t tease me!”
Hahaha, this little one was still adorable. I stroked the young Underworld King as he pummeled my abdomen with his fists, and I voiced the thought I’d been harboring since earlier.
“Though I never expected Cha Cha to be the Underworld King. That’s surprising.”
“Evan, you…”
Cha Cha questioned how I could possibly mistake any humanoid creature living in the Underworld for anything other than the Underworld King, prompting me to speak aloud the identity I’d long suspected.
“I thought you were a mole demi-human.”
“Moles don’t tunnel this far! And my eyesight is excellent!”
Yet your eyes are distinctly peculiar—those fan-blade shapes in your pupils. I’d always assumed such unusual eyes possessed some function allowing clear vision even in darkness. After all, goats have rectangular pupils for the same reason.
“Anyway, I worked incredibly hard this time! With this, Humanity is finished!”
So the novel’s ending truly did lead toward humanity’s extinction. This was the very moment when I’d driven an excavator to the author’s house. Though the timeline suggested this development would unfold much later, my interference and subsequent plot alterations had apparently triggered a butterfly effect, accelerating the Underworld King’s plague-creation efforts.
“I see. You intend to exterminate all humans.”
“You’re not even surprised?”
“I’m curious why you desire humanity’s extinction so badly.”
He’d mentioned creating a vaccine earlier. I possessed immunity to all poisons and remained uncertain whether the plague would even affect the Demon Race, so I felt no genuine sense of crisis. Besides, if I played Cha Cha right, I could likely obtain vaccines for Mother, Thomas, and my other human companions. After living 10,000 years, I could certainly wait for humans to reach their natural lifespans.
“Excellent! I, the King of the Underworld, shall explain!”
Charmed by Cha Cha’s proud, chubby cheeks, I scooped him up and began pinching them, prompting him to shove me away with exasperation. Oops—I got carried away. But the urge to pinch a cat’s nape or a baby’s plump cheeks was irresistible.
“What are you, some beast? Hide your instincts!”
“I’ve been concerned about this lately. My actions grow increasingly bestial.”
“At least you’re aware.”
When I admitted my bewilderment, Cha Cha suggested, “Isn’t it because you’ve been playing with Gerth so much?” So Cha Cha knew Gerth. Now that I thought about it, they were Underworld King and Serpent King respectively—of course they knew each other.
“That’s an insult to Gerth. He’s far more rational than I am.”
“If you’re less rational than the Beast King, maybe some self-reflection is needed…”
Cha Cha made a troubled expression, then accepted that this was indeed typical of me and proceeded to explain the full circumstances of humanity’s extinction plot.
In essence, the Underworld King was lonely, and since beings from the surface world descend to the Underworld upon death, he desired total annihilation so he could live peacefully with people.
I’d assumed the Demon Race’s grand objective harbored some noble purpose or malice, but it seemed the Starving Child merely needed subjects to ease his loneliness.
“So! They descend to the Underworld in order of death, and if Evan gets vaccinated, you’ll die last and be certain to come to the Underworld!”
I understood the logic perfectly. It explained why he’d thrust the syringe at me the moment we reunited. Cha Cha had charged at me with that needle for my sake. It was rather touching and gratifying—an act born of consideration for me. That wasn’t problematic, but Cha Cha’s reasoning harbored a glaring flaw.
“I appreciate the invitation to live in the Underworld. However, even in death, I cannot enter it.”
“Eh? Why?”
“I’ve become a Demon.”
Cha Cha’s eyes widened. His mouth fell open. A status window materialized in the air.

The plot has changed significantly. Granting 1,000,000 experience points.

What the hell is this?! How many zeros are there?! What does this experience-granting bastard expect from me?!
Rather than relief that I could level up my skills, I found myself consumed by worry over the intent behind this plot shift and what harm it might bring to me and this world.
“This is insane! Don’t mess with me! Why! Why are you a Demon Race?!”
“It just happened that way.”
“Who in this world just becomes a Demon Race from being human like that?!”
Cha Cha, who barely reached my chest, grabbed my shoulders and shook me violently. I’d noticed it before, but Cha Cha was stronger than he looked.
“There are so many types of Demon Race—just pick some and kill them! Humans would’ve been better!”
So this was why the plot shifted. Had Cha Cha changed direction to killing Demon Races instead of humans?
“If you want to ease your loneliness, couldn’t you just release the plague you created? Why are you bringing up Demon Races?”
“Evan will come if the Demon Race dies! Evan has to be there!”
“Even watching her, she’s not particularly entertaining.”
“Evan is the best! Evan has to be included!”
Had he grown attached after seeing her just once? Children really do open their hearts to others so easily. If the Demon Race were to go extinct and we moved to the Underworld, it would probably be Gerth or Makina who’d hold out until the end, so Cha Cha would welcome that. After all, we’d be seeing each other’s faces constantly in the Underworld anyway, so it made sense he’d prefer someone he already knew.
Thinking that far ahead, I recalled what the Sung King and Apet had said about eternal life. Would we live with consciousness forever once we moved to the Underworld? That didn’t sound appealing.
“Cha Cha. I don’t really want to live forever.”
“You don’t need to think about that! I’m the one making the decision.”
How selfish. Though I suppose it’s unavoidable since he’s a child. I gave up on discussing eternal life and followed Cha Cha when the Starving Child suddenly snapped his fingers.
“That’s it! I’ll just kill everyone!”
Rather than creating a plague that selectively killed only Demon Races, it would be far easier to craft a disease that eliminated all humans and mana-bearing life forms. With that realization, Cha Cha pumped his fist with renewed determination.
“Well then, let’s consider this problem solved. Since we’ve come all this way anyway, it would be a shame not to enjoy it a bit more….”
Cha Cha said there was no longer any need to vaccinate me, and mentioned there was a place nearby with absolutely beautiful scenery that he wanted to show me.
Now that I thought about it, I’d missed seeing the Tyrannosaurus last time. When I asked if this was where the T-Rex was, Cha Cha cursed me for being an idiot who only knew about dinosaurs and skipped along lightly.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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