1012 Episode 62 Snowfield Kim Dokja (2)
The Wenny King had no answer even after hearing the question from the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. Like a human counting the stars, he examined the story fragment floating around him for a long time before asking back.
「 【Do you not already know the answer?】 」
The Wenny King spoke as if amused by the fact that none other than the Great Sage Equal to Heaven had asked that question.
「 【Because you, too, are a being capable of using 'clones'.】 」
Even without Han Sooyoung's exclusive skill [Avatar], there were several ways to split a body in the <Star Stream>.
For example, stars that had lived for a long time could split their stories to form temporary avatar bodies, and there were also those like the Great Sage Equal to Heaven who created 'clones' by breathing stories into fragments of their avatar bodies.
「 【Just because you injected a part of the story into your 'clone', can you say that you are no longer the 'Great Sage Equal to Heaven'?】 」
The Great Sage Equal to Heaven shook his head. Then the Wenny King spoke.
「 【Yes. Usually, people don't bother to question that. Just because they lost some story, they don't say things like 'they are no longer 100 percent'. Do you know why that is?】 」
The Great Sage Equal to Heaven thought for a moment and replied.
「 [Because we are always losing stories.] 」
The Wenny King nodded, smiling as if satisfied with the answer.
「 【You are right. Every being lives while gradually losing the stories they possess. If we assume that a state where all stories are intact is '100 percent', then we are essentially always moving toward a state that is not '100 percent'.】 」
「 […] 」
「 【Therefore, your question must start again from here. What exactly is the 'One and Only Kim Dokja'? If that is what '100% Kim Dokja' means, then what exactly is the definition of '100%'?】 」
Which Kim Dokja can be called '100% Kim Dokja'?
「 【Existences lose stories over time, but they also gain more. In particular, beings who actively live out the scenario gain more stories as time passes. In other words—】 」
「 [The total amount of 100% might continue to grow over time.] 」
「 【What point in time do you think can serve as the standard for '100%'? The point in time when he possessed the most memories? Or, the point in time when he was most loved by the stars?】 」
When the Great Sage Equal to Heaven could not answer easily, the Wenny King spoke again.
「 【It is the same even if you define '100%' based on a specific point in time. For instance, let us assume that Kim Dokja 'just before being split into fragments' is '100 percent'—that is, the 'complete form'.】 」
The Wenny King floated a small balance scale in the air and placed a weight on one of the plates. The scale's arms slowly tilted. The Wenny King placed another weight on the opposite, tilted plate.
「 【Then what about the 'Kim Dokja' from before that?】 」
The scale tilted again.
「 【Is the other Kim Dokja who did not reach that time 'incomplete'? Is the 'Kim Dokja' who started the scenarios not '100 percent' at that point?】 」
Watching the scale swing back and forth, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven pondered deeply.
Which 'Kim Dokja' could be called '100 percent'? Even he, who had lived for a long time, could not know the answer to the question. And according to his wisdom, in such cases, the problem usually did not lie in the 'answer'.
「 [Was that the wrong question?] 」
The Wenny King smiled faintly. Only then did the Great Sage Equal to Heaven understand what the Wenny King was trying to convey. In the end, the Wenny King was spending a long time explaining just a single sentence to him.
「 【Only those who love the 'Oldest Dream' obsess over that concept of '100 percent'. It is likely a desire to fully reclaim the starlight they once loved.】 」
「 [So, it means it is impossible in the end.] 」
The Great Sage Equal to Heaven knew it, too. That the concept of '100 percent Kim Dokja' was nothing more than a delusion created by those who loved him too much.
Nevertheless, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven could not blame those who wandered in search of such a Kim Dokja. It was because he, too, understood their feelings.
The Great Sage Equal to Heaven recalled the faces he had missed for the first time in a while. <Kim Dokja Company>, which had chosen a different ending from him.
The beings who had seen the end of the world alongside the 'Oldest Dream'.
「 【It’s impossible… I never said that.】 」
Perhaps it was because he had been thinking too deeply about them. For a moment, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven did not understand the words of the Wenny King.
「 [What did you just say?] 」
The Wenny King smirked as he watched the Great Sage Equal to Heaven’s fiery golden eyes waver.
「 【Even after living for so long, your imagination is still lacking. Do you think that 'impossible stories' exist in this <Star Stream>?】 」
「 [Didn't you explain it that way until now?] 」
「 【That is what I mean if you explain it logically. But as you and I both know, this <Star Stream> is not constructed so coherently.】 」
The Wenny King tapped the fragments of stories floating in the air. The true story he had just touched was a story that the Great Sage Equal to Heaven was also aware of.
「 "Let's go with the third method." 」
Faced with impossible scenarios, Kim Dokja had always pursued the 'third method' that no one else chose.
The stars felt jealousy, cheered, and went wild as they watched Kim Dokja survive the brink of death time and time again. Kim Dokja had always lived such an impossible story.
If this world had been that coherent, those stories could not even exist.
「 【If the 'Oldest Dream' wishes to dream, that dream will surely find a way to be realized. Even if it is a 'square circle'.】 」
「 [What is that 'way'? How is a single 'Kim Dokja' created?] 」
「 【That story is already being realized. Because those who love him desire that story, the 'Oldest Dream' has also begun to dream it. All you and I can do is simply watch it.】 」
Just watching.
With that expression, the Wenny King had effectively issued a sort of expulsion order. It meant that even he, who occupies the highest place in the skies of this world, and the Great Sage Equal to Heaven could only watch, so unnecessary questions should stop.
However, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven did not back down. He brought up an important question that he had kept hidden until now.
「 [Does the 'Very Giant Baby' want that story too?] 」
The moment I heard that question, I was startled.
A Very Giant Baby.
The Great Sage Equal to Heaven also knew of the being that Han Sooyoung had told me about once, and the one I had asked the Wenny King about.
「 [I know that such a being exists behind the name of the 'Oldest Dream'.] 」
Unlike me, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven did not hesitate for the slightest to ask about that being.
「 [I want to know about that being. Tell me everything you know.] 」
Sometime ago, during a conversation with me, the Wenny King had proposed a deal. He asked that if I ever reached the place where the 'Very Giant Baby' was, I should tell him about the scenery as well.
「 【That answer cannot be found even if you count all your stories.】 」
His attitude was strangely different from when he spoke with me. For a moment, I felt a sense of doubt. Perhaps the 'Wenny King' knows more about the 'very giant baby' than he told me.
「 【Because what you are curious about is the cause and the 'result' of all these stories.】 」
The cause and the result of all these stories.
Until now, the only being that fit such an explanation was the 'Oldest Dream'.
The Wenny King, who had been gazing into the blazing golden eyes of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, let out a light sigh and added.
「 【All I can show you is the 'process'. If that is acceptable, I will show it to you.】 」
「 [What is the price?] 」
「 【Give me the story you wish to give.】 」
The Great Sage Equal to Heaven pondered for a moment, then took out a fragment of a story from his bosom. It was a fragment so broken that even its name was hazy. Nevertheless, the fragment of the story in the hands of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven was chattering about something.
「 "■■, we can ■■ the world." 」
The Wenny King looked closely at the story and smiled.
「 【It is an interesting story. Let's make a deal.】 」
I recalled seeing that story at the 'Wenny King's' hideout. Was that why the Wenny King possessed it?
「 【Here, this is—】 」
The Wenny King took the story from the Great Sage Equal to Heaven and gave him the story he wanted.
「 【It is the process of heading toward the '■■■'s Deep Sea.】 」
Strangely enough, at that moment, the Wenny King's words reached my ears clearly, without any filtering.
A moment later, the story emitting a white light on the Wenny King's palm began to tell its story.
It was...
「 Thus, the 'Deceiver of the Stars' finally reached the reward of the scenarios. 」
A story about Kim Dokja, whom I, too, know well.
「 "Your name is Kim Dokja." 」
Few people remember the moment they were born.
This is because the 'first memory' is always the 'memory that is erased first'.
A memory from a time when one cannot even perceive what 'memory' is. A scene that melts away first, like the first snowflakes to fall.
「 He remembered the moment he was born. 」
The first thing he saw after being born was a clear white sky.
A snowfield where cold snowflakes were scattering.
With that snowfield as a backdrop, someone was looking at him.
"Your name is Kim Dokja."
It was a blonde man with narrowed eyes.
「 In the pure white snowfield, he met his father. 」
The memory of that time was both vivid and hazy. Perhaps it was because of the endlessly pouring snow.
A snowstorm falling endlessly. As he recalled that blizzard, Kim Dokja thought of the massive manuscript paper.
"What is that?"
"It is a story."
The act of writing down unknown words one by one on a huge, desolate piece of manuscript paper.
His childhood was a process of realizing that every story scattered across the world had its own unique shape.
"What is a story?"
"Shall I call it a story?"
In that world, there were many stories to teach him. Kim Dokja could read those stories simply by opening his eyes wide.
「 "Save me! Aaaargh!" 」
Kim Dokja ran through the falling story fragments with his arms outstretched and his mouth agape.
「 "Kill them all. Do not spare a single one. I will swear by my modifier and annihilate their nebula." 」
Some stories were eerie.
「 "No matter what happens, I will not let my incarnation die." 」
Some stories were solemn.
「 "Why, why on earth must we go through such things? Oh God." 」
And most stories were unkind to the young boy. Whenever he encountered something he didn't know, Kim Dokja asked his father. Fortunately, his father was patient and always answered his questions kindly.
"That character needs a reason not to blame his own weakness. He wants to believe that the reason for his failure lies not with him. That is why he seeks God."
"So, in the end, it all happened because that person was weak?"
"Some stories are created that way."
After listening to a long explanation, Kim Dokja felt hungry.
Yawning lightly, Kim Dokja stared blankly at the pile of stories lying on the floor and asked.
"Can I eat this?"
At that, his father nodded and said as if he found it quite amusing.
"If you want, go ahead and try it."
"You eat some, too."
"It’s not really my taste, though..."
The father and son sat side by side, scooping up snow. The taste of story fragments crumbling in their teeth. Some stories were sweet, others were sad. Without understanding why they were sweet or sad, Kim Dokja said,
"Is it delicious?"
"I don't know."
His father smiled faintly, as if he enjoyed watching Kim Dokja scoop up snow.
Kim Dokja looked at his father for a moment and then asked,
"What is your name, Father?"
"It is Cheon Inho."
"Cheon-ssi?"
"Yes."
"I'm a Kim-ssi, you know."
"That's right."
Watching his father answer without much thought, Kim Dokja tilted his head.
"That's strange."
At Kim Dokja's question, his father paused for a moment and asked,
"Did you realize that it is strange?"
Kim Dokja looked up at his father with a slightly sulky gaze and asked,
"Why did you name me Kim Dokja?"
Kim Dokja knew that his father was a clever man. Although he always viewed the world through squinting eyes, through that narrow gap, he understood the world more accurately than anyone else.
That is why Father never hesitated when answering questions.
"Hmm."
For the first time, Father, who had always been like that, was engrossed in his answer. His expression was as if he were contemplating whether or not he should tell him that answer.
Just as Kim Dokja had eaten another handful of story fragment, Father opened his mouth in a low voice.
"That is the protagonist's name."
"What is a protagonist?"
Father swept the story fragment scattered on the floor with his large hand. As the fragments, which had been continuing their stories here and there, crumbled under his touch, a clean blank space soon stood out.
Father took his hand and began to write a name on the blank space.
「 Kim 」
Watching the name being written one character at a time, Kim Dokja felt a little scared. Father held his small hand and continued to write the name.
「 Dok 」
With each character written, the sound of the swept-away fragments wailing could be heard. Kim Dokja instinctively tried to pull his hand away. But Father pulled his hand with even greater force and completed the name.
「 ja 」
The name was finally complete.
He looked at the name with his father. Strangely, the cries of the stories, which had been so loud until the end of the war, could no longer be heard.
"He is the only being worthy of being recorded in this world."