1015 Episode 62 Snowfield Kim Dokja (5)

Since that day, Kim Dokja read the brother's stories every day.

"What are they eating?"

Cheon Inho came looking for the brother's story fragments every day and read them with Kim Dokja.

"They are cherry tomatoes."

"But Kim Dokja hates tomatoes."

"That friend isn't Kim Dokja, is he?"

Kim Dokja seemed pleased with Cheon Inho's answer; he kept nodding and continued reading the stories.

The story fragments Cheon Inho brought were mostly trivial. An everyday life without scenarios, constellations, or monsters. Within that, his brother—who was once Kim Dokja—now with a different name, lived his life steadily.

He grew up in an ordinary family, crying and laughing, supported by his affectionate parents. He celebrated his birthday with congratulations from a few friends, entered elementary school, and then entered middle school.

"He entered a writing contest."

In the world of the brothers, there was no 'Ways of Survival'. It was a world where 'Ways of Survival' was unnecessary from the start. This was because the tragedy that befell Kim Dokja had not befell him. For him, there was no reason to suddenly throw himself out the window, nor was there any reason to search for 'how to survive'.

"He failed."

"That is a pity."

His tragedy was, at best, being rejected in a writing contest.

"It's Kim Dokja. Isn't it because someone who is supposed to be read is trying to write something?"

"But he was trying."

"Wouldn't it be hard even if he tried? His name is Kim Dokja, after all."

"That's not the case anymore, is it?"

Cheon Inho spoke as he read the records unfolding before his eyes.

"That friend is not Kim Dokja."

"You know it, don't you?"

Kim Dokja read his brother's writing blankly. Honestly, his brother didn't have a great talent for writing. But he didn't give up. Just as Kim Dokja didn't give up on Ways of Survival, he, too, never let go of the keyboard. He read books ceaselessly, conceived stories, and typed again.

Some effort overcomes even fate.

The brother who became a writer through his own efforts.

Watching his brother break free from the shackles of 'Kim Dokja' and begin living his life, Kim Dokja fell into deep contemplation.

"He really keeps writing."

Just like following the serialization of 'Ways of Survival', Kim Dokja followed his brother's story.

"He doesn't give up."

He didn't seem to find the story of the brother amusing, either.

"They say he won another award. Has he really gotten better at writing? Or was he just lucky?"

At times, he seemed jealous.

"Fortunately, my brother has good parents."

"Are you envious?"

Kim Dokja stared blankly at the record describing the brother's parents.

"Rather than that... looking at these people reminds me of something."

"What comes to mind?"

"A very deep and warm spring night..."

Cheon Inho reread the passage Kim Dokja had pointed to. However, no matter how carefully he read it, he could not see a sentence that reminded him of Kim Dokja's description.

"This person named Ji Eunyu here—no matter how I look at it, doesn't it seem like she's interested in my brother? Look, she keeps making jokes."

"Hmm, isn't that mockery, not a joke?"

"Father, you've never been in a relationship, have you?"

Cheon Inho looked at Kim Dokja for a moment and then asked.

"Kim Dokja, why are you so obsessed with his story?"

Kim Dokja did not answer. Like someone who believes the answer lies on pages yet to be read, he simply followed his brother's story in silence.

And so, for a day, two days, three days, a week, Kim Dokja read the story over and over again.

"This friend is Kim Dokja."

Then one day, Kim Dokja said just that.

"He is a Kim Dokja just like me. A Kim Dokja who loves books, admires the protagonist, and is separated from the story he lived in, eventually forgotten by his comrades."

"…"

"But why?"

Kim Dokja paused for a moment and looked down at the record. The record was the story of the moment his brother was selected for the contest for the first time.

The fact that a complete stranger was reading his story. The fact that they were counting the time layered within those sentences.

That alone made him feel as though he had received confirmation that it was okay for him to continue writing.」

Cheon Inho also read the record along with him. Just by reading the story, the brightly smiling faces of his brother seemed to come vividly to mind.

"Why don't they look unhappy?"

The moment he heard those words, Cheon Inho felt a heavy weight sink somewhere in his heart. He hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"What do you mean?"

Cheon Inho, having stopped speaking there, suddenly realized a certain fact.

Cheon Inho looked into Kim Dokja's face. Kim Dokja, who had grown much taller than before as much time had passed as the story had accumulated. Kim Dokja, whose appearance as the boy he knew had vanished, now possessing the same face as the Kim Dokja in the story.

Looking into the emotion in Kim Dokja's eyes, Cheon Inho spoke.

"Kim Dokja, have you perhaps become unhappy?"

Cheon Inho spoke again toward Kim Dokja, who remained silent.

"Just because you saw his story doesn't mean there is any reason for you to be unhappy. He and you are different."

"He is my only brother. Kim Dokja, who, like me, fell away from that story."

Cheon Inho thought for a moment, then asked.

"Did he become unhappy because he didn't share your misfortune?"

"..."

"Some misfortunes are meaningful precisely because they can be enjoyed alone. Isn't that proof that you are special?"

"No, that guy is Kim Dokja, too. I can tell."

His brother, who should have been sharing the only misfortune with him, was smiling, unaware that he was Kim Dokja. As if his past life was unnecessary for his happiness.

"Father once said something like that. That all the stories of this world function for the sake of the protagonist."

"Does he look like the protagonist?"

"..."

"Because he looks happy?"

Kim Dokja slowly lowered his head. As he bowed his head, Kim Dokja's shoulders trembled slightly. Without realizing it, Cheon Inho reached out and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"You are the protagonist. I will make that happen."

Although he was unaccustomed to such comfort, Cheon Inho mustered the courage to say it. However, the moment he finished speaking, Cheon Inho felt a strange sensation. A sensation possessed only by those who had lived as villains. There was a peculiar chill rising from beneath his feet.

And then Cheon Inho realized. Kim Dokja was not crying.

"I had a thought."

Kim Dokja, with his head bowed, was holding back a laugh.

"Could the happiness my brother is enjoying right now be 'fake'?"

Cheon Inho could not understand the words that burst from his mouth.

"I like his story. I think it is cool. My brother, who was born as a different being, not 'Kim Dokja', just as he wished, and came to live his own life. I admire my brother. But—"

Cheon Inho unconsciously removed his hand from Kim Dokja's shoulder.

"He doesn't even know what he was."

Kim Dokja turned to look at Cheon Inho. Watching the hand hover awkwardly in the air, Kim Dokja continued speaking with a smile.

"My brother had no choice. Just as he had no choice when father was designated as the villain. He was suddenly born as a being who was not Kim Dokja, and he is merely living a life unrelated to his true nature. Therefore—"

A tsutsu sound of sparks flew from somewhere. It was a sound he thought he might never hear again.

"He must have a choice, too."

Cheon Inho realized he was trembling. It was not because he was afraid or shocked by something. It was simply his senses warning him.

It was a story that might not have begun if he hadn't held the pen.

Some stories allow one to predict the ending from the very first sentence.

Nevertheless, the instinct of a recorder was speaking to him.

It was giving him a command.

"Father."

When Cheon Inho came to his senses, he found himself kneeling before he knew it. When he lifted his head, the being who had once been his son was looking down at him.

"Gather my fragments."

The moment he felt the weight of those words, Cheon Inho realized where the trembling—this sense of awe—originated.

He was now facing a part of the greatest being in this universe.

"No..."

With his eyes reddened, Cheon Inho shook his head very slowly and desperately.

Shaking off the sense of probability that was binding his entire body, he spoke.

"No..."

Was it a sense of defiance as a villain? Or was it a desperate struggle not to lose the time he had searched for so long?

Cheon Inho looked up at his son like someone begging to withdraw an order.

Kim Dokja. The first child he had found. The boy who had grown up reading his stories, and then reading the stories he had gathered.

Cheon Inho desperately reached out his hand toward the young man who had devoured all those stories and had now become a god.

Kim Dokja grasped his hand with a benevolent smile and said,

"Go, Father. Gather the fragments."

Cheon Inho realized. This was a record he could not change. All he could do was transcribe the dream desired by the Great Being.

As the fragment of the Oldest Dream beckoned, the empty snowfield began to split open.

"So that I may become stronger. So that I may seize control of more. So that I may intervene in the conclusion of this entire universe. So that I can make the story I desire come true."

A portal appeared in the center of the swirling snowfield. The door leading outside, which had never opened despite walking and wandering for so many years, finally opened. The reason was clear.

The <Star Stream> was calling for the protagonist of the story once again. As if responding to that call, Kim Dokja spoke.

"And let's give my brother a choice. Let him choose for himself. Give him a chance to see if he can still make the same choice even after realizing the truth."

Cheon Inho wanted to ask. What was the meaning of all this? Why did they have to orchestrate such things?

"Only then can the ■ ■■■ ■■■ that this entire universe desires be born."

Perhaps due to the aftershock, Kim Dokja's words were barely audible. Yet, even while unable to hear, Cheon Inho thought.

It was impossible to realize.

Kim Dokja's brother was born in a world without scenarios. He lives in a world outside the sphere where the power of the <Star Stream> does not reach.

Even if it were the 'Oldest Dream', one could not suddenly drag such a being into the gravity of scenarios and thrust it in—Cheon Inho thought.

"Father."

However, his son had already thought of the method.

Kim Dokja's cold hand touched Cheon Inho's cheek.

"For my sake, please become the protagonist of this terrible story once again."

The moment the sweet whisper of the universe spread, Cheon Inho knew what he had to become.

The story began to be written amidst the pure white snowflakes.