658 Episode 19 People of the Past (10)
「 "I will marry Yoo Jonghyuk." 」
Noh Gyeonghwan's life changed after his daughter was taken away by some fictional character.
He had neither the energy to be angry nor the energy to be sad.
He just quietly accepted that his entire life had been destroyed by a meteorite that flew for no reason.
But even after his life was destroyed, life continued.
Noh Gyeonghwan lived.
He somehow lived a day, ate rice. He did his job and got paid.
He was the head of the family and had responsibilities.
But at that time, Noh Gyeonghwan did not know.
Just as his wife and daughter were hit by a meteorite, there was a meteorite left in this world that was assigned to him.
「 "It's cancer." 」
It was a medical examination he had given without much thought.
Noh Gyeonghwan thought he had heard it wrong. He asked again and again.
「 "It's cancer." 」
It was a much more probable event than a meteorite. But probable events are not always easy to accept.
「 "There are often cases like this. Some people hardly feel the signs. Aren't you usually very tired? 」
Is there anyone who is not normally tired?
However, listening to the doctor's words, it seemed that he had been more tired lately.
「 "You'd better prepare your mind." 」
How to prepare my mind?
I will die soon.
Is accepting that fact a mental preparation?
"I won't kill you. I won't kill you."
If he prepares with such a heart, what will become of his daughter now?
"Noh Jiyoon. Noh Jiyoon."
I don't know.
Where did it go wrong?
"Find someone."
Why are these things happening to him? What the hell did he do wrong?
It was a meaningless question.
He knew that too.
This was a normal human life, and there is no reasonable probability in ordinary human life.
Because it's not a story about his life.
—Ahjussi! Dansu ahjussi!
No one is watching his life, and that is why there is no one to point out the probabilities.
[The constellation 'Sneaking Schemer' looks at his incarnation.]
Noh Gyeonghwan did not tell his daughter about his illness.
His words became less and less familiar, and instead, the time spent talking alone in the room increased.
It was more like he was talking to his internet friends rather than talking to himself.
When he was always alone, he thought that he was fortunate to have a channel of communication with his daughter, but on the other hand, he was worried that bad people would attack her.
But he couldn't interfere with what was going on inside his daughter's room.
All that Noh Gyeonghwan could do was prepare meals for his daughter and carefully ask questions he would not normally ask.
「 "When are you going to school?" 」
Jiyoon's expression as she pouted her lips.
「 "You said I don’t have to go?" 」
Was his method right?
Did he raise his daughter properly?
In fact, he was trying to prepare for a destruction that would never come, but rather destroyed his daughter's life.
Looking at the half of the sandwich his daughter left behind, Noh Gyeonghwan suddenly thought of that.
「 Actually, it wasn't the meteorite that ruined his daughter, but it was him himself. 」
It was then that he started secretly reading the novels his daughter was reading.
Before he died, he wanted to understand his daughter at least a little. He even wondered what kind of guy his daughter liked, Yoo Jonghyuk.
「 There are three ways to survive in a destroyed world. 」
The novel was bizarre from the first sentence.
「 I have forgotten some of them now. But one thing is certain. It is the fact that you who are reading this now will survive. 」
In some way, he wondered if he started reading this story because he wanted to live.
Can he really survive by reading this novel?
Even though he knew it sounded like a dream, he started reading the novel.
However, to him, who has become somewhat of an 'old person' now, the contents of the novel were embarrassing.
「 "Kim Dokja. My father gave me that name so that I could be a strong man by myself." 」
Kim Dokja.
It was a strange name.
Even for a man who is not well versed in literature, the name has a rather contrived symbolism.
「 "Even if everyone didn’t say it, I believe you would have noticed what the situation was. Exclusive skills and a system window. Game-like interface. Is there anyone who still hasn’t mastered games?" 」
Even the character told a story he was unfamiliar with. System window. Game-like interface. Regression, reincarnation, possession... Strange and absurd materials.
Do kids these days like this?
As he scrolled down like that, he sometimes came across a story he knew.
The Shang Dynasty and the Later Three Kingdoms period. Kim Yushin and Yi Sunshin.
Even though he wondered if this was a distortion of history, when a story he knew came out, he turned the page excitedly.
When he liked the Olympus Myth or Journey to the West, he thought that they were fairly educational novels, and when complicated settings or worldviews came out, he wondered if Jiyoon knew all of them.
When a cruel description related to the Apocalypse came out, he was worried and wanted to leave a comment, but he held back.
As he read it like that, one line became one page, and one page became another chapter. Two, three, four, he read the story.
All stories have a strange power.
The main character has nothing in common with him. Nevertheless, while reading the story, Noh Gyeonghwan felt connected to the main character.
He became Kim Dokja, cleared the scenarios, ventured the world, and built up stories.
He gradually understood why his daughter liked the character 'Yoo Jonghyuk'.
「 Perhaps Jiyoon wanted to go back. 」
Even if it revolves hundreds or thousands of times, even if it means destroying this world for just one person.
「 She would have wanted her mother back. 」
Now Jiyoon is alone.
What story can he leave to his daughter?
「 "Dad." 」
What kind of story will be written about the only daughter of the human Noh Gyeonghwan?
「 "Give me a ride." 」
Jiyoon said she had a place to go with her internet friend.
After dropping off his daughter in front of a theater in Chungmuro, Noh Gyeonghwan headed to the hospital. Because it was the day he was given a check-up.
He remembered arriving at the hospital safely and going to the reception desk. But his memories after that were sparse.
Collapsed with vertigo, what a gentleman in a bowler hat lacked him for. And… It's over now, he thought.
If only they had a little more time.
If he could talk to his daughter one last time.
'I read your favorite story too.'
It would be nice if he could say that.
「 There are three ways to survive in a destroyed world. 」
In the midst of his increasingly blurred consciousness, Noh Gyeonghwan wanted to believe in a fictional story.
「 This is a story for only one reader. 」
If there really is such a story, he wanted to ask for a miracle for him too.
"I won't kill you. I won't kill you."
The voice that came out of his throat was unfamiliar.
"I won't kill you."
—Ahjussi!
The fog in his head cleared, and Noh Gyeonghwan regained consciousness.
But his vision turned black and he couldn't see anything.
Instead, certain memories came to mind.
「 He entered Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint. Did someone grant his wish at the last moment? 」
He entered this world and was still alive. He was still alive and searching for his daughter.
"Run away!"
"Crazy, crazy—"
"Everyone, don't be fooled. You won't die even if you get hit by that nerd! They say he won't kill you either!"
In his messy mind, pictures gradually came to life.
The tragedy at Geumho Station.
He also remembered meeting Cheon Inho.
「 Inho-ssi. 」
What happened to Inho-ssi?
The only trustworthy man he met after coming to this world.
He saw him for the first time, but it doesn't seem like the first time he has seen him.
"All right. Throw it! Feed him another one!"
"Now!"
I felt like something was flying, and then he heard a pop in his ear.
[You have acquired an additional 'Star Jewel'!]
[A total of 6 star jewels have been obtained.]
[Step 6 of Madness!]
I vomited blood.
Flooding memories ran through my mind at random.
[The constellation 'Sneaking Schemer' shouts to wake up!]
Why did it have to be like this?
He just wanted his daughter back.
He would do anything to get his daughter back.
「 "Can you really do anything?" 」
So he gave in to temptation.
「 "There is a way to find your daughter." 」
The scenery of the theater that dyes his mind.
A fluttering white coat.
Representative Kim Dokja.
「 "Bring the [Death Sword]. Then I will tell you where your daughter is." 」
The Death Sword.
Right. He came to this dungeon to get it.
"Noh Jiyoon. Noh Jiyoon."
In a hazy memory, Noh Gyeonghwan asked Representative Kim Dokja.
「 "Why did you bring me to this novel?" 」
He wanted to know.
"Why did the meteorite fall? Why did my wife have to die? Why did I get cancer?"
He didn't expect an answer.
However.
「 "Do you want to know?" 」
The answer came back.
「 "Why did a meteorite fly to your family that day? It had to be you and not someone else. Are you really curious?" 」
「 "Is there really a reason for my unhappiness?" 」
「 "If you bring the 'Sword of Death', I will tell you all the reasons." 」
Representative Kim Dokja provided some equipment and skills, and even gave him the coordinates of the 'death sword'.
「 "Why are you helping me?" 」
「 "Because there is someone who comes to mind when I see you." 」
For the first time, something similar to emotion appeared on Representative Kim Dokja's face.
「 "He was also a father who cared very much for his daughter." 」
What that meant, Noh Gyeonghwan could not understand.
All he could know was that there was a cause for all his unhappiness.
"What, what. These bastards. Where did they come from?"
“It’s an apostle! They are apostles!"
"Ahhh!"
"White and blue river! Ki, Kim Dokja?"
That someone made him suffer this way.
—Ahjussi! Calm down!
A distant voice as if coming from the other side of the universe.
"I won't kill you. I won't kill you-"
Noh Gyeonghwan thought.
I will not forgive you. If anyone has a cause that made his life this way.
"I'll kill you."
His hand held something on fire.
Quadduk.
A voice came along with the sound of his muscles bursting.
"Ahjussi."
It was a voice he knew, but he couldn't remember whose it belonged to.
"I don’t want to do this either. However."
The owner of the voice spoke while enduring the pain.
"I'll fool you just once."
His voice at that moment.
"I am."
It sounded like the first sentence of a novel.
"Noh Jiyoon."
At that moment, the vision in front of his eyes suddenly opened.
A white page appeared in the darkness where nothing could be seen.
Someone was writing a sentence on the blank page.
「 There was a girl there. Small stature with a round face. Eyebrows slightly more open than others. Plump cheeks that haven’t lost all of their meat. 」
The sentence soon became a person's face.
Noh Gyeonghwan reached out his hand toward the girl's face.
Jiyoon-ah.
「 The daughter he loved said. 」
"Pass the star jewel to me."