1051 Episode 65. The Last Banquet (2)

I paused for a moment. As if denying the record floating before my eyes, I slowly inhaled and declared:

"Yoo Joonghyuk doesn't die. Even if he's a guy who dies a lot, he's never someone who dies easily."

As proof of my words, the state of the 'Dark Heavenly Moon Spear' carving in my hand was quite different from the other carvings.

The divine relic carvings of the other constellations were all broken or heavily damaged. In contrast, the 'Dark Heavenly Moon Spear' showed no flaws or cracks. In other words, Yoo Joonghyuk was not dead yet. Wherever he was and whatever he was doing right now, that guy hadn't died yet.

Yet Odin's expression wasn't bright.

A voice closer to a calm statement of fact. Suppressing my inner turmoil deeply, I glared into his eye.

"Did you carve this beforehand because he looked like a guy about to die soon? So you could break it when he dies?"

"I'm sorry, but that guy doesn't die. This carving will never break. So—"

Saying that, I tucked the carving into my breast pocket.

"I'll keep this as a souvenir."

It was to prevent Odin from accidentally snapping it. But as if all my efforts were meaningless, Odin slowly shook his head and said:

Staring into his calm eye, I asked back:

"Did you see it with your one eye?"

Odin was a constellation who sacrificed one of his eyes to Mímir's Well to gain the truth of the world and foresight into the future. I knew all too well that his single eye reached into [Foresight], much like the 'Lump-bearing King' or 'Anna Croft'.

Even without using [Lie Detection], I could tell. Those words were true.

"When and how does Yoo Joonghyuk die?"

"Yoo Joonghyuk is a Regressor. As the incarnation of the 'Oldest Dream', there's no way he would die. Even if he dies, it's not a real death. What dies will be this world."

Odin also knew that the 'puppet of the Oldest Dream' repeated his life. So he couldn't deny my words. He shouldn't have been able to.

For a moment, I was rendered speechless. The 41st regression was the final turn Yoo Joonghyuk could reach before the proper 'Ways of Survival' began. His experiences and wisdom gathered up to this point would be passed to the 2nd regression, forming the foundation for the start of 'Ways of Survival' and the eventual birth of the 'Secretive Plotter'.

What became of the 41st regression's Yoo Joonghyuk afterward was never revealed.

I knew this too. It was information I had known from the very beginning. For a certain reason in this regression line, Yoo Joonghyuk meets a death without regression.

"Yeah, I suppose so. Humans all die eventually."

I had stayed too long in a scenario world where constellations, transcendents, and systems ran rampant, forgetting for a moment. It's normal for humans to die. What mattered was the manner of death.

"Maybe Yoo Joonghyuk will die too. But at least he won't die here. Because I'm going to make it so."

Wondering if I had ever had so many words inside me, I kept muttering continuously:

"That bastard will see the conclusion he wants."

Were these my words, or Kim Dokja's words? I couldn't tell. Perhaps they were Han Sooyoung's words. Or maybe another Kim Dokja fragment's words. They could have been Cha Seongwoo's, Lee Dansoo's, or Gyeong Sein's words. Or perhaps the words of an unnamed recorder reading this story right now.

"He will finally learn what happiness is, and what the reason for his existence was. He will surely be compensated for this long tragedy, for the life he has endured."

Whose words were they anyway? No matter whose words they were, in the end, this was my true heart.

"And he will die as a human."

"Yeah, as a human."

After saying that, I paused. For some reason, my stomach felt turned. It felt as though the clumsily mixed Kim Dokjas inside me were shouting all at once.

I barely managed to stop those words from bursting out of my mouth.

One side of my heart constricted insanely.

Clutching my chest lightly, I took several deep breaths, forcing down the thoughts surging within me. Then I looked at Odin.

"Anyway, I need your help."

Setting down his carving knife, Odin slowly shook his head.

Knowing full well he would spout weak nonsense right off the bat, I didn't panic and picked up his words:

"Why? Because you lost to the Master of the Erased Blank Space?"

Odin looked at me with a somewhat resentful gaze, concluding with a deep sigh:

I quickly realized what Odin was talking about.

In the giant nebula <Asgard>, there were several stars representing the major events of 'Ragnarok'.

Thor, Thunder of Thursday.

Tyr, the One Who Lost an Arm to the Wolf of Destruction.

Heimdall, Guardian of the Great Horned Bridge.

Vidar, Terminator of War.

They were each fated to face their matching 'Great Disaster'.

However, those four stars were not in this scenario right now. Heimdall died at the hands of Snowfield Kim Dokja right at the start of the scenario, while Thor and Tyr seemed to have met their end on the battlefield. Lastly, in Vidar's case—

"Ah."

Right. That bastard got killed by me back in 'New Martial Arts Earth'.

Technically, it was Yoo Joonghyuk who killed him, not me. Still, since he was a Fable-grade constellation, I thought he would have barely clung to life... Did he really die? Well, having his Fable entirely absorbed by Apollo, there was no way he could have survived.

I offered a faint smile toward Odin, who was glaring at me in disbelief.

"Well, there are plenty of actors who can perform the story, aren't there?"

"Because stars are merely 'Fable-machines' existing solely to inherit stories. Right?"

At my words, Odin's shoulders twitched violently. Because what I had just said was also the long-cherished belief of Odin, the 'One-Eyed Father'.

In fact, adhering to that belief, Odin had resurrected dead constellations time and time again. Heimdall was such a case. Continuously passing down <Asgard>'s Fables, Odin had maintained his nebula by repeatedly reviving constellations destined to be sacrificed in the Great Destruction.

"You can just revive them again. Like you've always done."

"Who said anything about reviving them?"

"The stage doesn't remember who the 'actors' are. It merely remembers the 'roles'."

Realizing the meaning behind my words late, Odin's single eye widened.

"That's right."

Reaching out my open palm toward Odin, I said:

"I'll be the one to revive the 'roles'. You just hand over the core Fable of 'Ragnarok' you possess."

Odin couldn't say a word, staring foolishly at my empty palm. I only regretted that the sky was pitch-black right now. If the stars could hear my proposal right now, they would have showered me with sponsorships.

Ah, right, these guys were watching.

Meihouwang was staring at me with his mouth wide open, having forgotten to even use indirect messages. In truth, it was a situation worthy of that. Because my proposal right now—

Odin's lips trembled violently at my sheer brazenness. I shrugged my shoulders at Odin and asked back:

"The nebula is ruined anyway, so what's there that you can't give up?"

"If you leave it like this, you're finished anyway. So hand it over."

"Yeah."

"I'll take care of that myself, so just hand over the Fable."

Odin was silent for a while, lost in thought. He parted his lips several times before looking at me with eyes cast in deep darkness.

I wondered why he was suddenly talking about the future, but looking closely, his single eye was shining brightly.

"Can you see my future?"

Odin slowly shook his head.

"Really? How is it? Do I die too?"

I let out a self-deprecating laugh after saying that. Odin stared into me for a moment before answering:

Beyond his single eye, a pitch-black darkness surged for a moment.

In the past, hearing those words would have plunged me into serious reflection. But not now. I didn't have the time for that.

"So, are you giving it to me or not?"

Looking at me with a somewhat dazed face, Odin answered hesitantly:

With those final words, Odin curled back up in the corner. Staring down at Odin for a moment, I stepped out of the tent. Since he needed time, it seemed better for me not to be there.

Either way, Odin was in a situation where he had to hand over his Fable by betting his entire nebula. It wouldn't be an easy decision for him either. Well, if he didn't give it to me, I planned to take it by force anyway.

Turning around, I saw Meihouwang poking his head out from the tent.

"Yes."

"You'll just catch him and bring him right back, so what's there to worry about?"

At my words, Meihouwang's eyes flickered lightly. Twitching his lips with a dissatisfied expression, he added:

"Thank you."

However, just as he was about to enter the tent, Meihouwang paused and asked:

"Of course."

Meihouwang scrutinized my face for a moment as if gauging my intentions, then let out a sigh.

With those words, Meihouwang disappeared back into the tent. Staring at the space where he disappeared for a moment, I raised my head and looked at the sky. Whether viewed from inside or outside the tent, the sky was still pitch-black. Far away, a star that looked like Uriel twinkled a faint light toward me.

Now, the unavoidable final fight will truly begin. Yet strangely, I felt neither nervous nor scared. Perhaps it was because I, too, had endured a time that was far from easy.

Still, that didn't mean I could greet him without any preparation. So, to prepare for the final stage, the first person I had to find was—

The protagonist of this story, whose whereabouts were currently unknown.