Duo Leveling LITRPG | Post Apocalyptic | SYSTEM-Chapter 209 - 279 - Plan B + 280

…Tzzt!

There had been one thing Jhin had been worried about from the beginning.

"What if your plan doesn't work? What if it fails to reach him?"

The Emperor had voiced that concern first.

Ike had agreed.

The greatest flaw in Plan A: the uncertainty of whether the Goblin King's command could actually reach Hawk.

'The Kill Switch is an order that erases everything—even skills would be included in that.'

And Hawk—he was a being that had manifested like a bug.

Could someone like that really be controlled, even if Jhin had been the origin?

Two major variables meant that Jhin's plan couldn't be called airtight.

If even one soul-link snapped, the whole strategy would collapse.

"Well, if that happens, then we move to Plan B."

"Plan B?"

Jhin had shrugged and laid out a final contingency.

When he did, both Ike and the Emperor had responded the same way—

A rare moment of unison between two people who had done nothing but argue.

"You're insane."

"Completely insane."

Yes, theoretically possible.

But in reality? Success relied on absolutely abysmal odds.

So ideally, things should have ended with Plan A.

'But it didn't.'

Tzzt… Tzzzzzt…!

The moment he saw the harrowing scene unraveling before him, Jhin clenched his jaw.

The soul-chain was vanishing—

being erased.

There was no other option.

He had to cut the link himself, lest he get erased along with it.

Naturally, that meant Hawk regained his freedom.

"Hawk!"

The Emperor's sword descended toward Hawk's crown—

But missed slightly, slicing into his shoulder instead.

Still, the Vaccine-infused blade seemed to hurt.

Hawk let out a scream of agony.

Unfortunately…

That was the extent of it.

KIIIAAAGHH!

Howling in fury, Hawk swung back.

The Emperor's arm was erased in a flash.

Staggering back, he gasped.

"…So it failed?"

"No. We're not out of options yet."

Jhin's voice remained firm.

Even as he panted, even as Hawk's roar trembled the entire space.

The Emperor narrowed his eyes.

"You really don't fear death, do you? Just what were you thinking when you came up with this second plan?"

"What do you mean?"

"Plan B. If I screw up, you'll die. So why… why trust me?"

Jhin smirked.

"Who said I trust you? It's just the only method I could come up with."

"…"

"Do you know the one thing you must never forget in a hopeless life where you've got nothing?"

He didn't wait for a reply.

He didn't need one.

"That no matter what… you have to survive."

This wasn't some bright-eyed belief that life would eventually get better.

No.

It was pure, bone-deep survival instinct.

Because—

'When you die… you're the one who loses.'

That was the truth Jhin had come to understand in a life where he'd had nothing.

"No matter how dirty, painful, or hard life gets—I'll survive. I'll win. Because I simply don't know how to give up."

And as he said that—

Jhin pulled out a pistol.

And calmly raised it to his own temple.

Before anyone could speak, before even a flicker of doubt could stop him—

Bang!

The gunshot rang out.

A signal.

The start of Plan B.

Plan B

Of course, this wasn't some grim suicide-ending.

Jhin had a very specific reason.

'All of this—everything—originates from him.'

Plan A had been about neutralizing Hawk and taking back the Kill Switch.

Plan B?

A contingency for when that failed.

The idea was simple.

'If I can't steal it… then I'll break it.'

And how do you break a system?

You infect it.

With a virus.

That's what viruses exist to do—

To dismantle systems from within.

'If I become a virus myself… maybe I can suppress the Kill Switch from inside.'

The bullet he had fired into his own head?

It contained a self-replicating virus.

A virus that continuously cloned itself, growing stronger and denser with every second.

If Hawk still didn't know how to properly wield the Kill Switch—

'Then maybe… just maybe, this'll work.'

"KYLE…!!"

The Emperor barely escaped through Ike's backdoor.

Meanwhile, Hawk—now recovered—spotted the only one left standing.

Jhin.

The enraged beast charged.

But Jhin?

He didn't run.

He met Hawk head-on—and was immediately erased.

Or so it seemed.

"Sorry, Hawk. But you'll have to die again."

Another Jhin appeared.

Then another.

And another.

From the front. From the back. The sides. From above.

Everywhere—Jhins emerged.

As Hawk roared and erased one after the other, they just kept coming.

"YOU BASTAAAAARD!"

He shrieked in fury.

But the Jhins kept multiplying.

Hundreds.

Swarming.

Drowning him.

"No. I won't die."

Their voices overlapped—

The same tone, the same timing, like an echo stuck on repeat.

The endless wave of Jhins smothered Hawk.

'If Kyle's data were to replicate itself like this… the fallout would be massive.'

And this wasn't just any data.

It was five years' worth of progress, honed to make him the top-ranked player.

Now multiplied hundreds of times.

Acting like a virus.

Spreading. Corrupting. Infecting. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

All with one purpose:

'To destroy the Kill Switch.'

Slowly…

Hawk's soul—the one that held the Kill Switch—began to fracture.

The system couldn't contain it.

Even the Kill Switch was starting to resist…

Because viruses…

Viruses are meant to corrupt.

"I'll never give up."

'Activating skill: '**Focus (S)**'

GRAAAAHHHHHH!

A primal cry echoed as Hawk struggled under the mountain of Jhins.

But it was no use.

Jhin's voice filled the space.

The impossible method worked.

Hawk's soul—

was breaking.

On the other side of the backdoor, where this insane gambit had begun…

Ike and the others watched, stunned.

Ike wiped blood from his lips.

He'd coughed it up moments ago.

On a nearby platform, another Jhin lay.

The original.

This had been his final gamble.

Just before the virus consumed him, Ike had extracted his corrupted body and hidden it in the backdoor.

And beside him—

The Emperor, guarding the entrance.

Keeping the virus from leaking in.

Ike looked over and… laughed bitterly.

"Absolutely insane."

"Even now, I still think you're completely insane."

"…."

"Which is exactly why… you have to come back alive. I've never been more sure about the kind of person you are."

The cultists, the players—everyone stared with anxious eyes beyond the backdoor.

All of them had escaped here safely thanks to Ike's desperate efforts.

"You might be the only one who gets to see the real ending of this world."

And in the virus-infected dungeon—

there was no sound anymore.

Only Jhin moved.

Only Jhin remained.

Now transformed into a virus, he wasn't just tearing apart Hawk—

He was launching relentless attacks on the Kill Switch itself.

How many times had he been deleted and replicated?

Tzzzt… Tzzzzzt…

A flickering sound echoed, and then a system message appeared midair with a mechanical clatter.

The display was clear—

a direct warning from the system to Jhin.

A critical virus has been detected. Initiating system recovery.

Beyond the backdoor, the Backspace key finally dropped—

Shift, Cut, and other commands followed in quick succession.

A full-scale system purge.

The system now intervened explicitly to erase Jhin.

In that dreadful onslaught, something unexpected happened as Jhin continued his attack on the Kill Switch.

"Wait… is that…?"

Had he struck something within the Kill Switch itself?

A video projection began to play in the sky.

Ike immediately recognized what it was.

"…Server data?"

The data erased by the Kill Switch—

in other words, residual traces stored within it.

「"We finally got the Kill Switch. Now we can go to Eden!"」

「"But… is Eden really the paradise from the scriptures?"」

「"No idea. But we do know one thing—we can't live in this ruined world anymore."」

Strangers conversed onscreen.

The setting: a world on the brink of ruin.

Channel 0113, maybe 0112.

Another Dreamside.

「"This isn't what was promised! You said it was Eden!"」

「"We've been tricked… damn that system!"」

「"No—NO! This can't be happening!"」

These were people who, like the Emperor of Alon, had willingly acted as Vaccines.

They helped erase their own worlds, believing they'd earn entry to Eden.

But the place they reached…

Wasn't paradise.

「"You said we'd survive!"」

Someone screamed.

But there was only an echo—

before even that faded into silence.

What remained was only form.

And then…

Their expressions began to change.

They were no longer the people they'd been in their previous world.

Finally, the video ended with the last command the Kill Switch had received:

「-Sealing data. Adding new dungeon.」

All who witnessed it stood in stunned silence.

The Emperor. The cultists. The players.

They had seen it—

the destruction of one world and the artificial birth of another.

The Emperor spoke bitterly.

"So in the end… entering Eden didn't guarantee survival."

"No. You can survive. That miserable little life of yours, sure."

Ike sighed.

"But Eden just becomes another dungeon. If you keep following the system, you'll just be bound to it forever—obedient puppets endlessly chasing a future that will never come."

He bit his lip and turned his gaze toward the Emperor.

He hadn't expected the Kill Switch to display such a recording—

but it was knowledge they all needed eventually.

"Why do you think I hid the Kill Switch in the first place?"

He offered a dry, bitter smile.

Time Passed.

"This place really is a wreck…"

"What amazes me is that anything's even left. I couldn't have done this even if I tried."

Having exited the backdoor, Ike and the Emperor surveyed the disaster zone left behind by the Kill Switch and the virus.

The world looked like someone had punched holes through it—

patchy, unstable, and jagged.

Ike shrugged and approached the lone object sitting on the ground.

The Kill Switch.

Now cleaned, sanitized, and fully restored by the system after it erased all viral traces.

It was the last remaining command in this world.

"We've retrieved the Kill Switch. The rest is up to you now… Emperor."

"Do you really think I'll help?"

A few steps away, Jhin was lying unconscious, still breathing faintly.

He hadn't regained full awareness—likely due to the aftereffects of becoming a virus.

The only reason he wasn't still replicating?

Because the Emperor had dispersed a stabilizing energy around him.

A kind of brake he'd activated just before Jhin completely lost control.

Ike looked down at Jhin and said:

"The very fact that you're even asking that question means you've already prepared a different answer."

"…Is that so."

"Yes. Enough with the cryptic talk. Get on with it. The longer we wait, the more complicated things get."

The Emperor chuckled softly, then extended his hand toward Jhin.

A power—immense and unseen—flowed forth, enveloping Jhin entirely.

After all, the Vaccine's role is to erase viruses and bugs.

And the Emperor, infused with the Vaccine's power, had the authority to erase only the virus within Jhin's body.

Especially this weakened, artificially restrained strain.

If he chose to—

He could do it.

"Administrator… do you know what never ends?"

"A riddle? Seriously?"

"Answer me."

"Infinity, I suppose. Or… Pi?"

The Emperor, once dubbed the "Riddle King" NPC, shook his head.

"Those are fair answers. But the one I'm looking for… is 'a circle.'"

From his hand, light poured out—

and with it, the virus clinging to Jhin's body began to fade.

What remained was only…

Jhin.

The Emperor spoke:

"A line drawn along a circle has no end. You can keep going forever, and never find its edge."

"That's how this world operates. Always inside that endless loop."

He paused, narrowing his eyes.

"Even the system's promise that you could escape to another world… was just another curve in the circle."

Eden was not a reward.

It was not freedom.

It was submission.

"But today, this man walked that line. And he stepped beyond it."

"He truly was Kyle."

Then, with a quiet scoff, he muttered:

"Makes me… a little jealous of that place you call Earth."