1005 Episode 61 Prisoner of the Golden Headband (5)

It was an offer Kim Dokja could not refuse. While <Kim Dokja Company> was one thing, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven was Kim Dokja's brother.

He was the star who had staked all his stories to protect Kim Dokja's ending.

"Cooperate. Otherwise, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven will die."

Snowfield urged his silent brother once again.

"They must come to save the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. Only they possess the probability of properly descending here."

The stories of <Kim Dokja Company> are present here now. The two brothers, the greatest fragments of Kim Dokja, were here, as were Shin Yoosoung, Lee Hyunsung, and Jung Heewon of <Kim Dokja Company>.

Is that all? Even the conditions for a 'tilted scale' where other powerful Outer Gods would intervene were met.

So there was no reason to refuse. Protecting this measly world?

Compared to summoning <Kim Dokja Company> and saving the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, what was so important about that?

As if unable to believe the record appearing before his eyes, Snowfield asked.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

The brother simply looked at the Great Sage Equal to Heaven in the void with sorrowful eyes. He could tell from his expression. His brother clearly wanted to save the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

Snowfield could not understand what kind of resolve that was. An inexplicable emotion surged within him.

"How... if you really are 'Kim Dokja'—"

Snowfield spoke in a somewhat agitated voice.

"If you really are Kim Dokja, you would never drive your loved ones into a death trap."

At that, his brother turned to him and spoke.

"Is bringing <Kim Dokja Company> here for the sake of 'the people I love'?"

Snowfield tried to answer yes. But strangely, no voice came out. His brother continued speaking.

"You left all of that outside, so you don't understand why you are trying to realize that 'story' right now."

Tsutsutsutsu.

Snowfield stared at the faint spark burning at his fingertips.

His story was reacting. It was giving orders. To bring <Kim Dokja Company> here immediately.

A faint dizziness arose. In the distance, he could see the remains of fragments absorbed by the constellations.

Existing merely as a fragment of the 'main body', what difference is there between him and those star fragments?

Snowfield slowly inhaled and spoke again.

"No matter what purpose I have in summoning <Kim Dokja Company>, if they do not come, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven will die."

Snowfield put his thoughts aside. It did not matter who he was or why he was trying to realize this story.

What mattered was achieving the purpose for which the main body had deployed him here.

"Dream right now. Imagine the same thing as me."

Saying this, Snowfield gripped his brother's shoulder tightly. However, his brother lightly swatted his hand away and said,

"There is no need for that."

A formidable story began to flow from his brother's entire body.

"I will deal with them alone."

Snowfield's eyes slowly widened.

The stories his brother had built up until now revealed their power all at once.

The stories his brother had gathered were shining brightly. Watching the stories flowing from his entire body, Snowfield realized something. His brother was sincere right now. He was going to stake everything on stopping those constellations without the help of <Kim Dokja Company>.

"That won't do."

Something creaked and went awry inside Snowfield.

"Unless you dream the same dream as me."

Along with the pitch-black story flowing out, Snowfield spoke.

"I will kill you right now and take your stories."

Immediately after absorbing Dansu ahjussi, something strange happened to me. To get straight to the point, it wasn't 'me' moving my body right now. It felt as if 'me' had been split in two. Another 'me' was moving my body and speaking like me. No, to be more precise—

'The other me' was just like the 'Kim Dokja' I had imagined for a long time.

"Watch over me from there."

Exuding an overwhelming presence, he subdued the constellations and moved my body in my place.

It felt as if a single concept named 'Kim Dokja' was moving my body.

Perhaps that is why. For a moment, a temptation arose. What if I were to entrust everything to this 'Kim Dokja'? What if I were to step back and record everything as he moved forward?

The moment I thought that far, I was suddenly seized by a sensation as if the ground beneath my feet were giving way.

Something was staring at me. The sensation of a muddy sea was dragging my soul along from my feet. A certain world, something within that world, was calling out to me strongly.

A faint question from a baby.

I felt as if my soul were melting away. If things continue like this for just a little longer, I will be completely sucked into the world where 'that thing' exists.

At that moment, something awakened me.

The sentence from the [Fourth Wall] that I had heard before. From whom on earth was this sentence transmitted?

Does saying it is not the time mean that someday the time will come to go there?

With a sudden jolting sensation, my floating soul aligned with my incarnation body.

"Stop right now!"

I saw Snowfield shouting at me and swinging his fist. Amidst my accelerated perception, I took a deep breath and glared at that fist.

I felt the story flowing through my veins. The grip of my entire body was returning. The concept of 'Kim Dokja' that had driven me scattered, and my body became mine again.

"Don't interfere."

I spoke in a cold voice as I parried Snowfield's punch.

"If you cherish that star even a little, don't interfere with me."

But Snowfield was not in a position to listen to me. I let out a short breath and struck Snowfield's jaw hard as he lunged at me. Snowfield staggered violently, yet he clung to my waist.

"The story I wanted is right in front of me."

Stories were flowing profusely from Snowfield's nose like blood as he held me. I got goosebumps the moment I met his eyes.

However, just because the total amount of stories he possessed was small did not mean he could not interfere with me.

Snowfield also holds a certain share in the stories I possess. Right now, Snowfield was staking all of his stories to blockade my story.

I tried to shake Snowfield off somehow, but he clung to me even more tightly like a leech. I urgently looked up at the sky.

Rumble!

A rough thunderclap echoed. Stories were exploding like fireworks from all directions of the universe. The roar of enraged myth-grade constellations. Standing proudly at the center of the heavens, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven was fighting valiantly, absorbing the attacks of the stars.

From afar, I could see the furious power of the story swirling. A bombardment of pure story imbued with the authority of myth-grade constellations. The Great Sage Equal to Heaven continued the fight, wielding the Ruyi Golden Staff and sometimes deflecting bombardment with his Cloud Somersault.

However, his starlight was gradually fading. No matter how much he had awakened the power of the 'Oldest Liberator', he could not stand against all of them while protecting this world. It was just as Snowfield had said. At this rate, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven would die.

Whether to summon <Kim Dokja Company> here, or to let the Great Sage Equal to Heaven die.

"Ahjussi, stop. Please—"

Shin Yoosoung approached us with a pale face. Had she grasped the situation? She was looking at Snowfield.

"Please stop."

Despite Shin Yoosoung's plea, Snowfield did not let go of my waist. His body was slowly crumbling under the sparks of probability. Shin Yoosoung, who had been gazing at the snowy landscape, hurriedly looked up at the sky and squeezed her eyes shut as if she had made a decision.

"Chimera Dragon!"

The Chimera Dragon, which had been fighting against the Great Sage Equal to Heaven until the end of the war, roared and covered the rooftop in shadow. Shin Yoosoung lightly stroked the Chimera Dragon's face, then turned to me with determined eyes and said.

"I will stop it. I won't let the Great Sage Equal to Heaven die."

Riding the Chimera Dragon, Shin Yoosoung flew straight toward the stars.

"Yoosoung-ah, no!"

I reached out my hand toward Shin Yoosoung as she sped away. Thunder rumbled from the sky once again. I grabbed Snowfield by the collar and said.

"Let go. Are you going to let Yoosoung die too?"

"…"

"The Yoosoung of today cannot fight against the stars."

Beast Lord Shin Yoosoung is strong. However, if her story is in an unstable state like this, it is a different story. She was not in a position to face a myth-grade constellation like the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

Snowfield simply laughed as she poured out her stories.

"Imagine, Kim Dokja."

That persistence sent a chill down my spine. I couldn't understand Snowfield's mind. Did he really believe that by summoning <Kim Dokja Company> like this, he could see the ending he desired?

"Dokja-ssi!"

Just then, Jung Heewon carried Lee Hyunsung up to the rooftop. Some of the myth-grade constellations floating in the sky stared in this direction.

That 'Jung Heewon' right now was the Jung Heewon of the 41st round. And Lee Hyunsung was unconscious. If even a single myth-grade constellation were to descend upon this rooftop in this situation—

I released my stories and began to imagine. Noticing my change, Snowfield beamed and said.

"Yes, that is it."

Shin Yoosoung, Jung Heewon, and even Lee Hyunsung. The three of <Kim Dokja Company> had gathered here. The story of <Kim Dokja Company> had reached the extreme limit of strength.

The thunder in the sky grew louder. Receiving the imagination of the 'Oldest Dream', the gates of the world were opening.

A myth-grade constellation shouted as if to warn. However, a bolt of lightning flew in faster than that warning. It was neither Odin's nor Zeus's. That lightning was a power built solely by the strength of a pure human.

The Thunder of the Heaven-Shattering.

At the lightning strike that flew in tearing through the sky, the mythical constellations groaned and retreated. In the darkness where the stars had withdrawn, a man stood.

It was only the moment he read that record that Snowfield let go of my waist. He staggered to his feet. As if welcoming a very old friend, he stood there and called out the name of the man coming down toward him.

"Yoo Joonghyuk."

Snowfield approached him with a face radiant with joy.

"You have finally come."

However, Yoo Joonghyuk glanced at him briefly, then turned his head this way and that.

"Where is Kim Dokja?"