1006 Episode 61 Prisoner of the Golden Headband (6)

Snowfield stood motionless, as if struck hard on the back of the head with a blunt object, and turned to look at Yoo Joonghyuk and at me. Just then, Yoo Joonghyuk's gaze also fixed on me. Upon confirming my presence, Yoo Joonghyuk frowned slightly, then immediately gazed at the sky I had been looking at.

"You always seek me out only at moments like this."

The constellations in the night sky, having confirmed Yoo Joonghyuk's existence, let out a furious roar.

The stars in the sky blinked violently. Countless starlight poured down upon Yoo Joonghyuk's head. A few steps away from that maddening stage—an unreal landscape where the entire universe flickered—Snowfield was simply looking at me with bewildered eyes. It was a face that showed absolutely no understanding of what on earth was happening.

Looking at him, I said.

"I cannot dream the same dream as you."

Only after hearing those words did Snowfield's eyes slowly return to their normal state. As if realizing something belatedly, he flinched, his shoulders trembling, and turned to look at Yoo Joonghyuk.

"No way."

A black coat fluttering in the breeze. The man standing there was undoubtedly Yoo Joonghyuk. However, just as we are not the Kim Dokja of <Kim Dokja Company>, neither was Yoo Joonghyuk.

The moment he checked the spear clutched in his hand, Snowfield staggered and spoke.

"How on earth—that Yoo Joonghyuk."

He was the Yoo Joonghyuk of the 41st round who had walked through the history of this world with me.

"Because the stories of <Kim Dokja Company> aren't the only ones here."

Feeling the stories overflowing within me, I spoke.

"Just as the Kim Dokja known by <Kim Dokja Company> isn't the only Kim Dokja, the Yoo Joonghyuk you knew isn't the only Yoo Joonghyuk either."

There was clearly a story of <Kim Dokja Company> here. However, within me now, there existed a narrative that had formed layers perhaps just as powerful.

What Snowfield is looking at right now is the story he has always loved.

Like someone whose heart has collapsed, Snowfield slowly knelt. I watched him for a moment, then turned my head away. There was no time to feel pity for him right now.

I moved my steps and stood beside Yoo Joonghyuk. Yoo Joonghyuk glanced at me and adjusted his grip on his spear. I asked.

"Can you kill at least one myth-grade constellation now?"

Instead of answering, Yoo Joonghyuk held up his spear. A heavy, finely crafted black spear.

To complete that spear, Yoo Joonghyuk must have slain countless stars and demon lords in places I do not know. He must have gathered stories of light and darkness, and asked the greatest blacksmith to forge this spear using the metal of those stories.

As the spear, imbued with the vengeful spirits of countless stars and demon lords, howled, Yoo Joonghyuk's stories imbued themselves upon its surface. A mysterious energy bloomed from the spear, which possessed beautiful ridges that looked as if the moon had been pressed into the darkness. I recognized that martial art immediately.

It was a martial art perfected to shatter the ancient myths of the heavens.

Yoo Joonghyuk was proving this with his own stories. Yoo Joonghyuk, who had been observing me, asked.

"What about you?"

"Check it out for yourself."

We looked up at the sky together.

Jung Heewon, carrying Lee Hyunsung on her back, also approached us and stood beside us.

"Can I abandon this person now?"

The grumbling Jung Heewon and Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes met briefly. It seemed as though sparks flew between their gazes for a moment.

"You've become stronger."

As Yoo Joonghyuk spoke, Jung Heewon twitched her lips in frustration and replied.

"You too."

It seemed that Jung Heewon realized the gap still hanging between her and Yoo Joonghyuk just from that brief exchange of gazes.

Just then, we saw the nerve of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, who had been battling the stars in the void, descending toward us.

Even in the midst of this, a fierce battle was raging in the open sky. The sight of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, split into countless fragments, fighting against the stars. It appeared that his signature technique, the [Clone Technique], had been unleashed.

Even while fighting against myth-grade constellations, he still possessed the capacity to send his true form toward us. I could not even fathom the extent of his capabilities at this moment.

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven observed Yoo Joonghyuk and Jung Heewon, then turned to me and spoke.

I bowed my head. The 'youngest' he was looking for was not me.

"I am sorry."

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven remained silent for a moment.

However, the third Kim Dokja eventually entered the [Fourth Wall] that I possess. By now, he has likely met the 'Demon King of Salvation' and the 'Great King of Fear'. Perhaps he is watching this very scene through the wall.

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, who had been silently staring at me, strode toward me. I could not tell from his expression whether he was angry or not. Yoo Joonghyuk and Jung Heewon stood blocking my path, their expressions hardening. I shook my head to signal to them that I was fine. As they stepped aside, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven stood before me, looking down at me.

I opened my mouth to him as if making an excuse.

"Kim Dokja is inside me. Probably inside the [Fourth Wall]—"

It was a pathetic excuse to claim that he hadn't been completely absorbed by me.

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven shook his head silently and then spoke.

"Yes?"

He looked up somewhere in the void. As if reading a record invisible to me, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven added like a sigh.

Which recorder could have told the Great Sage Equal to Heaven this story?

Strangely, I had a feeling that it might be Han Sooyoung.

"We will help."

I spoke while gazing at the battlefield in the sky. Here, I am, Yoo Joonghyuk is, and Jung Heewon is. Now that Snowfield cannot dream a proper dream, if we join forces, we might be able to fend off the relentless assault of those myth-grade constellations.

"Huh?"

A deep pain rose from somewhere in my heart. Perhaps it was the third's feelings toward the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

"But this house—"

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven scanned the city center with somewhat hollow eyes. There stood a world reduced to ruins by flooded snowstorms. The corpses of the dead. The collapsed major facilities of the city. In the distance, the house where the Great Sage Equal to Heaven and his brothers used to live together was visible. The house had been half-destroyed by a meteorite that had flown in from somewhere.

At the Great Sage Equal to Heaven’s muttered words, I shook my head and tried to say something. But the Great Sage Equal to Heaven was faster.

I was speechless for a moment. It seemed that the Great Sage Equal to Heaven had been thinking that all along while living here with Kim Dokja.

Why did the Great Sage Equal to Heaven protect this fleeting daily life, this simple story, so desperately?

Why has this star, which was once weary of all stories, illuminated this world with such a bright light?

Some blank spaces cannot be fully filled, even by the power of a recorder. At that moment, I wanted to shed light on the Great Sage Equal to Heaven’s unspoken heart. I wanted to draw out at least a single word from that vastness. However, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven interrupted me with a serious expression.

'It'?

"The time has come."

Yoo Joonghyuk nodded, as if he immediately understood what the Great Sage Equal to Heaven was saying. Jung Heewon looked at me as if to say, "What is that sound?" Something belatedly occurred to me as well.

The clash of myth-grade constellations unfolding before my eyes was a type of event rarely seen even in the main story.

If the Great Sage Equal to Heaven's 'Golden Headband' had not withstood the aftershocks sweeping into this world, it would have been swept away by the constellations' furious assault and turned into cosmic dust long ago.

The surrounding universe was already in a state of complete devastation due to the overflowing power of the myth-grade constellations. With a backlash severe enough to cause serious problems on the scales of probability, the <Star Stream> will summon a being to resolve it.

For some time now, there has been a sinister aura emanating from across the sky. Something approaching from a great distance at high speed.

An absolute catastrophe was approaching, one that even the Great Sage Equal to Heaven could not stop. This <Star Stream> gives this catastrophe its name.

"Indescribable Distance."

Indescribable Distance—'The Nameless Mist'.

The mist at the apex of all outer spheres was approaching this world to devour the distorted probability.

With a light sigh, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven rose once again into the void.

"Wait a minute. And you—"

Laughing triumphantly, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven unleashed a barrage of lightning toward the sky once again. In response to the Great Sage's counterattack, the constellations unleashed even more powerful fire, adjusting their formations.

Yoo Joonghyuk surveyed the battlefield for a moment, then took his stance.

"There is no time, so I will break through in one go."

Yoo Joonghyuk's [Sage's Eye] began to shine brightly. Even in the midst of this, countless calculations were likely going back and forth in his head. The power and angle of the [Divine Soul Annihilation Spear], and even the star most suitable for the spear to pierce.

"Rescue Shin Yoosoung and escape this place immediately. You guys cover me."

I nodded.

"What is the target?"

"Poseidon."

Poseidon, who had been withstanding the attacks of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven in the sky, roared while shedding stories. Although wounded, his body was spewing out such immense stories that even approaching him was terrifying. The mere act of approaching it as a narrative-grade constellation would cause its incarnation body to melt away.

"Do you really think you can break through?"

No matter how inferior Poseidon was compared to Zeus or Odin, he was by no means a star that could be finished off with a single spear strike.

"It is possible."

Nevertheless, Yoo Joonghyuk said it was possible. If the current Yoo Joonghyuk says so, it must be true.

"Prepare."

"Please wait a moment."

Yoo Joonghyuk glared at me for a moment, as if asking what I was thinking. However, even if I had to listen to Yoo Joonghyuk's harsh words, there was still something I absolutely had to do before escaping this place.

I turned my head and looked at the edge of the rooftop.

Still lost in thought, his eyes held a look of utter despair, as if he had lost every story of his own.

I am not sure if the reason his dream failed to come true was simply a lack of 'Kim Dokja fragments', or if it was because of me. But whatever the reason, I could not simply leave him abandoned here.

I approached him and called his name.

"Kim Dokja."

At that, Snowfield looked at me. As if cursing me for calling him by that name, deep hatred was rising in his eyes. Reaching out my hand toward that hatred, I said.

"Let's go together."