679 Episode 22 Name (1)

「One day, an incarnation asked their sponsor.

"You are one, so why are there multiple nicknames for you?"

Then the sponsor answered.

She began writing her first novel when she was about thirteen.

It's like that for everyone, but the beginning was usually similar.

She happened to write, win awards, and get compliments from people saying she was good at writing.

"Sooyoung. What happens next?"

She found it fascinating that someone was curious about the story she wrote.

"Are you curious?"

A universe the size of a notebook. In the small world created by her, she was a god.

Her characters live or die depending on the sentences she writes. Friends who read her story also laughed with her.

The problem is that it is difficult to have class time.

"Sooyoung."

The homeroom teacher called her during recess.

Although she was young, Han Sooyoung, who was quick to notice, realized how her work was going, so she bowed her head first.

"Sorry."

Her homeroom teacher nodded at her as if he was impressed by her, then handed her back her notebook and said,

"Be careful during class."

He then scratched her chin for a moment as if he wanted to say something.

Looking back now, the young teacher may be conscious of a certain congressman, Han Sooyoung's father.

"It’s not just your fault. It’s also the kids’ fault for reading in class."

Anyway, the young teacher proudly picked up a passage from a book she was reading and said,

"There is a saying that a work becomes the reader’s the moment it leaves the author’s hands."

That obvious and cliché sentence sounded a little strange to thirteen-year-old Han Sooyoung.

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"I wrote that, so why does it belong to the reader?"

The teacher laughed at the bold and childish question.

Was it because he wanted to leave his influence on a child who might one day become a writer?

The young teacher added a word without expecting the child to understand.

"Some writings are only completed when the writer dies."

Some writings are only completed when the author dies.

Young Han Sooyoung pondered those words several times and then asked back.

"Then what is left for the writer who has completed the work?"

"Well, you can make money and gain fame."

"Is that all?"

The young teacher felt embarrassed by young Han Sooyoung's disappointed expression, and concentrated on finding a better answer.

But he couldn't find the answer.

It was natural. After all, the words he picked up weren't his sentences either.

So the teacher quickly ended the conversation.

“Well, if Sooyoung finds out someday, will you let the teacher know?"

The following year, the teacher was transferred, and Han Sooyoung was never able to see him again. Although it was not necessary to give the teacher the answer, Han Sooyoung continued to write after that.

As it turned out, she was lucky, and her writing became known to the world early on.

Many loved reading her novels.

She wrote like she was truly a character living in that world.

When she came to her senses, Han Sooyoung was also in that world.

Living in that world with her colleagues, laughing, crying, and overcoming the danger of death.

Han Sooyoung felt like she was getting closer to the answer little by little.

Maybe she met someone who seemed to know the answer.

In order to get that person back, Han Sooyoung sat in front of the keyboard again.

But she didn't know what to write. She didn't know what should be done in this blank space. It's as if she went back to her childhood when she first picked up a pen. What and how should she write to get that guy back?

As she was contemplating for a while with her head in her hands, someone who came to visit was in front of her.

"If you want to save Kim Dokja, you have to die."

He was the Dokkaebi King of the 1863rd round.

The Dokkaebi King came right after Han Sooyoung, Yoo Jonghyuk, and several colleagues from <Kim Dokja’s Company> reached the end of the story.

The end of 『Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint』.

The colleagues who opened the door to the hospital room where Kim Dokja was hospitalized faced two endings.

One is the ending where Kim Dokja returns.

The other is the ending in which Kim Dokja does not return.

Han Sooyoung and her colleagues, who wanted to bring back all of Kim Dokja, said, 'If Kim Dokja does not come back,I can't accept the possibility that there could be a bad ending.'

However, they didn't know what to do to get Kim Dokja back in the world after the ending.

"It’s so pathetic. You too."

The dokkaebi king muttered as he drank Americano through a straw. Han Sooyoung made a protest.

"Who are you here to tease?"

A colorless landscape that seems to be made of plaster. Sitting in a cafe made of spiritual structures. The two people drank coffee and iced chocolate, respectively.

"Damn, it tastes like boiled newspaper."

"It’s a world that no one has ever written about. The taste has never been properly described."

The Dokkaebi King looked around with leisurely eyes.

He wasn't just at the cafe. No matter where he looked, this world was not normal.

A world filled with sparse blank space, like scribbles on a childhood notebook.

"It seems like you had a hard time imagining this world."

"Of course I believed that Kim Dokja would come back."

While saying those words, Han Sooyoung looked at the Dokkaebi King’s attire.

A white coat and a deep felt hat.

There was no mistake. This 'Dokkaebi King' was the same 'Dokkaebi King' who was with Han Sooyoung in the 1863rd round.

"Why are you dressed like Kim Dokja?"

"It’s because it’s popular to dress like this in the world line I recently traveled to."

"I thought you were still on the subway."

"The main body is there. But sometimes I also want to go outside."

"What kind of dokkaebi is this? Come to think of it, the way you speak is different from back then."

The Dokkaebi King lightly cleared his throat and opened his eyes with cool eyes.

Han Sooyoung threw the straw on the floor, took a shot of iced chocolate, and slammed it down on the table.

"Hey."

"Yes."

"Where is Kim Dokja?"

The Dokkaebi King muttered as if he was in trouble.

"A similar thing happened before."

Han Sooyoung also remembered it.

There was no way she could forget it.

Memories of the 1865th round.

They attempted a 'group return' using Yoo Jonghyuk's power to retrieve the lost Kim Dokja.

"Are you going to repeat that mistake again?"

Then they failed once.

The person who announced its failure was the Dokkaebi King right in front of her.

The Dokkaebi King who protected Kim Dokja who became 'the Oldest Dream'. A being who assisted the young god for a long time and transformed into the [Fourth Wall].

"Do you think we had any other choice?"

Han Sooyoung said, suppressing her anger.

"Kim Dokja, who was left behind in our world line, was dying."

In a world where the system disappeared, 49% of Kim Dokja created with [Avatar] lost his power and died.

In order to save either side of Kim Dokja, the party had no choice but to cross world lines.

"Kim Dokja didn’t want you to come. It was his happiness to watch your stories."

"Did my reader say that with his own mouth?"

"…"

"Look. You don’t even know."

"You speak like you know."

"I don’t know. So I’ll ask when we meet."

"Do you really believe you can meet him again? Why don’t you give up?"

Han Sooyoung searched through her pocket and took out a lemon candy.

"He risked his life to save us."

Isn’t that common in the world of the Star Stream?"

"He really died for us, time and time again."

Han Sooyoung still remembered all of Kim Dokja's deaths.

She never forgot a single moment.

The same will be true not only for her but for everyone in <Kim Dokja’s Company>.

"I know that Kim Dokja comes back to life when he dies, but how many people do you think would actually risk their lives for others just because they have the power of resurrection?"

"How many people do you think will repeat such crazy things over and over again throughout their lives?"

Are resurrected humans really the same as humans before they died?

Isn't a human being, in which all the cells that make up the body have been analyzed and reloaded, simply a duplicated being, like a text that has been repeatedly copied and pasted?

No one knows the right answer.

It was probably the same for Kim Dokja. Nevertheless, he was willing to die for his companions. Then he came back to life.

"I was saved by a guy like that. I saw him die before my eyes several times. I clearly remember the pain, the suffering, the smiling face until the last moment with my own eyes."

"…"

"He suffered something like that. Do you think it’s possible to think that enough is enough?"

The Dokkaebi King looked at Han Sooyoung for a long time and then quietly sighed.

"Everything is already written down and is being written down at the same time."

"Are you going to help me?"

The Dokkaebi King paused at Han Sooyoung’s soft voice.

The Dokkaebi King is one of the few beings who can move to another world line at will.

If he helps, they may be able to trace the missing traces of Kim Dokja.

Unexpectedly, the Dokkaebi King obediently nodded his head.

"As I said before, if you want to save Kim Dokja, you have to die."

Han Sooyoung frowned and asked back.

"You said that a little while ago. What are you talking about?"

Han Sooyoung thought for a moment and added.

"Is my death also written on your 'wall'?"

"The memory of meeting me now will be erased from the wall."

"Because it goes against probability."

"Yes."

"Don’t worry. I won’t die. So feel free and help me."

The Dokkaebi King looked at her with sad eyes and then looked up at the empty space.

"Your story will soon be over."

Snow was falling from the sky.

Pure white snow that covers everything, living and dead, written and unwritten.

"What’s left for you now, Han Sooyoung?"

What is left for her? Han Sooyoung opened her mouth, taking in a breath of cold air.

She was going to answer.

But her voice didn't come out.

Time froze as well, with the snow touching her cheek.

When she blinked, the Dokkaebi King had disappeared. The Dokkaebi King was not the only one.

The surrounding scenery, her arms, legs, torso, and organs that could speak had already disappeared.

Ah.

Memories came flooding back later.

Memories of finding the 41st round using the equipment left behind by the Dokkaebi King.

There, she remembered meeting Lee Hakhyun, the reincarnation of 49% Kim Dokja.

Memories of damage to the incarnation while fighting Asmodeus.

Memories of joining forces with Lee Hakhyun to defeat the Outer God.

Finally, the memory of her incarnation disappearing.

Was it a flash of light?

A distant cold hugged her in the darkness.

Her soul was slowly disappearing from the edges. She could feel the end of her life steadily approaching. She knew it without anyone telling her.

This death has already been recorded.

It cannot be avoided with [Avatar] or anything else.

In her darkness, she felt the story she had written leaving her.

Han Sooyoung recalled a sentence she once wrote with her own hand.

That is the fate of all works.

Han Sooyoung now understood the Dokkaebi King’s words. She laughed while feeling the flesh of a god into the pitch-black darkness of the universe.

Somewhere in this universe, there is a being reading this story with her, obviously.

So, if this can be a 'probability' for him to survive.

Soon, darkness, like dense print, swept in, and Han Sooyoung's soul disappeared into the abyss.

And in the pitch-black darkness, a man, who had once been the protagonist of this story, realized that she was dead.

"Han Sooyoung?"

Yoo Jonghyuk looked down under the void curtain and muttered.

It was strange.

He definitely felt Han Sooyoung's story a little while ago, but suddenly he couldn't feel anything.

It was as if the entire story about her had been erased from this world.

What that meant was obvious, but Yoo Jonghyuk could not admit it.

As much as Han Sooyoung knew Yoo Jonghyuk, he also knew Han Sooyoung well.

There is no way Han Sooyoung could die like this.

However, Yoo Jonghyuk's colleague, who does not know Han Sooyoung well, did not think so.

"It’s time for her to go back."

The man who was repeatedly stabbing and defeating the abyss hounds said.

"It doesn’t matter to me, but if we keep fighting here, the entire area will be caught up in it. For their safety and also for the safety of the 41st round, we have to leave quickly."

Yoo Jonghyuk also thought so.

That was until a small beam of light passed under the void veil.

"Hey."

Meteors that fell down from far away in space passed them by and created a void curtain.

"Yoo Jong-"

Before the man could finish speaking, Yoo Jonghyuk's new form, moving like a flash, collided with the void curtain.

Yoo Jonghyuk, who let the meteorite go as is, did not allow it. The moment he touched the curtain, a terrible electric shock struck Yoo Jonghyuk's whole body.

Even as his flesh burned black, Yoo Jonghyuk stretched out his hand toward the veil.

As if there was something beneath that veil that he had been searching for all along.

"Are you crazy?"

In the end, the man stepped forward and pulled up Yoo Jonghyuk.

Even as he was grabbed and dragged by his man, Yoo Jonghyuk did not look away from the veil.

"There was…"

"What?"

He saw it, even though it was only for a moment.

A faint ray of light that appeared as soon as Han Sooyoung's story disappeared and appeared for a moment before disappearing.

He doesn’t know why that light twinkled there.

However, Yoo Jonghyuk recognized the light.

Because that light was the light of the star that protected him for a very long time.

"Kim Dokja."