1002 Episode 61 Prisoner of the Golden Headband (2)

Was she injured while wandering through worldlines? Shin Yoosoung's hands were covered in scars.

Some records make us see the world through the form of those records. Is that why? The moment I read Han Sooyoung's sentence, I choked up and my emotions poured out without me realizing it.

"Yoo..."

But in the end, I could not bring myself to call out Shin Yoosoung's name. It was due to an inexplicable sense of unease.

No matter how differently time flows across worldlines, quite a lot of time has passed since Kim Dokja disappeared in the 1,864th round.

Yet why does she still look like a young girl?

At that moment, I realized why she still looked like a young girl.

Perhaps she hoped that the Kim Dokja she met again would recognize her immediately. Was that why she traveled the world in the form of a child, minimizing the consumption of probability?

I opened my mouth with the feeling of opening an old warehouse door. This time, I felt I could call her name accurately. I felt I could call Shin Yoosoung with the emotions I had longed for, and with the heart of Kim Dokja she had hoped for.

But someone called her name even faster than I did.

"Yoosoung-ah."

It was Snowfield.

"Do you recognize me?"

Shin Yoosoung's eyes slowly widened as she saw Snowfield.

Shin Yoosoung rose from her seat and began walking toward Snowfield, one step at a time. I felt I had to stop her. I hurriedly grabbed Snowfield by the collar.

"What did you do to Yoosoung?"

Snowfield looked at me, his body trembling listlessly.

"Where on earth and for how long did you leave her to end up in this state?"

Snowfield looked at me for a moment, then asked back in a low voice.

"What do you think I would have done?"

I was speechless for a moment. Snowfield spoke.

"She is no longer a child."

"It doesn't matter whether she is a child or not. You—"

I was about to say that he was unfit to be Kim Dokja. But the moment I saw Snowfield's expression, followed by Shin Yoosoung looking at us, the words I was about to say lost their power and scattered like dust.

Is the Kim Dokja who treats Shin Yoosoung well the proper Kim Dokja? Is the Kim Dokja who possesses the stories that Shin Yoosoung remembers the true Kim Dokja?

Or is it—

"Ahjussi...?"

The sky was resonating with the stories Shin Yoosoung was emitting.

Woooooh!

The sorrowful roar of the Chimera Dragon echoed.

Snowfield shook off my hand that had been grabbing his collar and opened his arms toward Shin Yoosoung.

"Yoosoung-ah."

I stared blankly at his retreating figure.

Snowfield's Kim Dokja, opening his arms toward Shin Yoosoung, looked just like the Kim Dokja from my memories. Even though I knew he wasn't that Kim Dokja, and even though I knew he originated from the same 49% of Kim Dokja as me—

This was the power of stories. The power to make existence more like existence, and ultimately to persuade even other beings.

Simply because he possessed the most 'Kim Dokja fragments' in this world, he was the Kim Dokja closest to the real Kim Dokja than anyone else here right now.

Unlike me, who has lived forgetting the fact that I am 'Kim Dokja', he has lived his entire life to reclaim that position.

Therefore, isn't it only right for him to sit on Kim Dokja's throne now?

Finally, Shin Yoosoung entered Snowfield's embrace. She was trembling softly, like a small bird that had barely managed to land in its parents' arms.

"Ahjussi."

Holding the small girl tightly in his arms, Snowfield whispered.

"Yes, it is time for everyone to gather now."

A dazzling beam of light emanated from Snowfield's entire body, having been chosen by Shin Yoosoung.

I gazed at the scene alone. Within the story, where I could not intervene, a world was being completed. It was then that my eyes met Shin Yoosoung's.

"Ah."

Tears welled up in Shin Yoosoung's eyes as she looked at me over the snowy slope. The child's small lips parted.

But I was powerless in the face of the pouring records.

Han Sooyoung, is this the ending you truly wanted? Did you leave me behind in this world just to complete this story?

My head throbbed for a moment. When I staggered and turned around, someone was holding my shoulder.

"Friend."

It was Dansu ahjussi.

"Are you really going to end it like this?"

Dansu ahjussi continued speaking to me, who was unable to utter a single word.

"The friend I know is not someone who would end the story here."

The story of our friendship that he remembered was being conveyed through his fingertips.

"At Geumho Station, my friend saved me while dying. And he cleared the scenario in a way no one had ever imagined."

Along with a poignant sensation, Dansu ahjussi's emotions were conveyed intact. Dansu ahjussi remembered that story, which was so old, without forgetting a single word.

"If it hadn't been for my friend at Gwanghwamun, I would have died. I would have been consumed by madness, turned into a monster, harmed people, and died."

I, too, remembered the events of that day. I could still vividly recall the moment when, through [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint], I achieved the title of 'King of Immortality' together with ahjussi.

"It was the same at the Twelve Zodiac Ball. Even when we had all lost our masks and given up, exhausted by the scenario—"

"My friend found a way. He somehow found the ending that others had given up on and showed it to us. He showed us that such an ending is possible."

The time we spent together at Geumho Station, at Gwanghwamun, and at the Recycling Center—the story we shared—was there.

"That isn't the ending my friend wants to see, is it?"

I slowly came to my senses, as if I had been doused with cold water.

The story of Kim Dokja stirring within me—my ego was speaking.

The Third's 'Big House', unable to withstand the story's gravitational pull, will disappear. <Kim Dokja Company> will be swept away by the massive story created by Snowfield.

As a result, <Kim Dokja Company> might all end up gathered in Snowfield's house.

With everything broken down, they might be able to live in the 'Big House' that 49% of Kim Dokja wanted to recreate.

Is that truly the dream of the 'Demon King of Salvation', the 'Great King of Fear', the 'Prisoner of the Golden Cage', and me?

"Lee Dansu."

Emitting a dazzling light, Snowfield warned.

"Step back. If you do that, you won't get what you want."

Snowfield clearly understood what Dansu ahjussi was trying to do.

"You wanted to get your daughter back, didn't you?"

Getting your daughter back.

Incarnation Lee Dansu has lived his entire life solely for that one purpose.

"You will be able to meet Jiyoon again soon. We are almost there. You can return to the world you have dreamed of."

It was an irresistible temptation. I would have felt the same way if I were him. Returning to the world where he lived with his daughter. That was the very life he had desperately longed for. If that was the price Snowfield offered, then his helping him all this time was entirely understandable.

However, what I could not understand was this:

"In the world you dream of."

Why is incarnation 'Lee Dansu' standing by my side with the ending he desires right before his eyes?

"Do I have a 'friend'?"

For a moment, I did not understand what he was talking about. Snowfield also frowned. He glanced lightly at me and asked.

"Why is that important? There is no reason for that to be included in your daily life."

At that, Dansu ahjussi shook his head slowly and firmly.

"My daily life right now is here."

He looked at me with his characteristic kind gaze and turned to look at the constellations desperately struggling against each other.

"This world, where I have friends and constellations, is my daily life. This world, where Heewon-ssi, Hyunsung-ssi, and Wukong-ssi exist, is my daily life."

"You're insane."

Snowfield retorted in a cold voice.

"Snap out of it, Noh Kyunghwan."

Noh Kyunghwan. Snowfield, too, knew Dansu ahjussi's real name. That meant he must know how ahjussi ended up here.

"Have you already forgotten? That you lost everything because of 'Kim Dokja'."

On the day ahjussi became the 'King of Immortality', I, too, witnessed his history. I still remembered it.

If Kim Dokja hadn't scattered across the entire universe that day, his wife would not have been killed by the meteorite. He and his daughter would not have possessed this world. Nor would his daughter's soul have been subjugated to Asmodeus's Theater.

Nevertheless, the man who had endured all that tragedy stood before my eyes now.

"Could all these events really be the fault of just one person?"

I dared not know how much time it must have taken for him to say those words. The man, who still looked at the world with kind eyes even after swallowing all those terrible stories, looked at me.

"Do not blame yourself, friend. You did not do anything wrong. Every story you pursued was not wrong."

To whom was he speaking?

I could not even dare to fathom what was on his mind as he told me that.

I saw Snowfield, frowning, whispering something to Shin Yoosoung. The size of the portal swirling in the air was rapidly expanding.

Shin Yoosoung's story, interwoven with Snowfield's story, was calling for a different <Kim Dokja Company>.

Even in the face of the world's collapse, Dansu ahjussi remained calm. Like Kim Dokja, who says there is still a way, he was looking at me with eyes that were more like Kim Dokja than any Kim Dokja I knew.

"I haven't been able to finish reading the novel my daughter likes. So, to be honest, I don't really know what kind of 'Kim Dokja' <Kim Dokja Company> wants."

Dansu ahjussi's hand resting on my shoulder was endlessly warm. Through that warmth, something was being conveyed to me.

"But the 'Kim Dokja' they want isn't the only 'Kim Dokja,' is it?"

Only then did I realize what Dansu ahjussi was planning to do.

There was only one reason why Shin Yoosoung was moved by Snowfield. It was because the 'Snowfield' right before my eyes—possessed the 'most' 'Kim Dokja fragments' in this alternate dimension.

And damn it, there was still a 'large Kim Dokja fragment' remaining in this world that I hadn't absorbed.

"The 'Kim Dokja' I know is also definitely 'Kim Dokja'."

Dansu ahjussi's story was being conveyed to me. Everything about the 'Kim Dokja' he had built up flowed into me.

"The person who saved me and the person who made me alive so far are all 'Kim Dokja' that I know."

The world reflected in ahjussi's eyes was quietly scattering away amidst the rays of light.

"I hope my 'Kim Dokja' survives until the very end of this world."