796 Episode 38 Chance (2)

The back of Jaehwan, who was walking a few steps ahead, was blurry.

Walking, stopping for a moment to rest, and walking again.

I repeated that simple task while carrying Yoo Jonghyuk who had fallen.

It wasn't some kind of health alert, and I smiled bitterly as I heard the same message intermittently.

Who wouldn't enter the 'main scenario' without knowing?

An old sentiment came flooding back, but I didn't really regret it.

At that time, it was the best choice.

Failing the scenario and being stripped of the status of 'constellation'. And thus being banished outside the scenarios.

That was the only way to save all the readers, including the 'Demon King of Salvation'.

The cough that I spit out left a trail of stories.

A body that would not be strange if it collapsed at any moment. Nevertheless, my incarnation body still managed to maintain its shape.

Exclusive trait 'Record Repairer'.

This trait, which was activated by collecting a certain amount of 'Kim Dokja Fragments', had a certain level of immunity effect only against the collapse of the incarnation body.

Of course, this trait alone was not enough to withstand the collapse.

The [Fourth Wall]. Kim Dokja's main skill, and the skill that saved him from danger every time, if this skill hadn't been activated in time, I would have passed out without being able to overcome the pain.

I imagined the 'Demon King of Salvation' and the little Kim Dokja beyond this wall.

People who still liked this story even after going through that terrible scenario together.

They were talking.

With a thud, the story flowed back once more.

How many more times did I vomit stories like that?

Jaehwan, who had been walking far away, stopped walking. It seemed like he was going to take a short break.

I laid Yoo Jonghyuk down on a stone floating around.

Is it the effect of the 'Summoning Squad' I had fed him earlier? Yoo Jonghyuk's incarnation was quickly recovering.

The deep wound below his kneecap was also slowly healing.

After all, the main character is the main character.

If this continues, Yoo Jonghyuk will be able to finish recovering and return to the scenario in a few days.

The problem is that I don't know if I will be alive by then.

I felt drowsy once in a while, and every time I did, a terrible cold air came over me.

I must not lose consciousness.

I desperately recalled Kim Dokja’s story.

Sometimes, Kim Dokja had experienced something similar to me.

I imagined Kim Dokja walking alone on the horizon of the stories. Kim Dokja walking alone in the world without a star’s gaze or a scenario.

He ate the story fragments on the horizon of the stories, and used them to repair his incarnation body and overcome the crisis.

How did 'Kim Dokja' absorb the story fragments back then?

That’s right. Kim Dokja, the 'Demon King of Salvation', clearly had such a trait. If that’s the case, then I can also use that trait.

After a while, a light bulb turned on in my head, and the trait was activated.

Lamarck's Giraffe.

With this trait, Kim Dokja was able to temporarily restore his incarnation body by absorbing small 'story fragments'.

The problem is that I don't have any remaining 'story fragments' to use for restoration.

That's when the sound of a vacuum cleaner could be heard from afar.

A flock of 'nameless things' swimming through space. Behind the guys who were scurrying around the void like a school of mackerel, a monster with a fierce appetite could be seen. An eerie presence that could be clearly felt from afar.

A deity from another world. The shark-headed alien with a human body was disturbing the group like a predator, biting the 'nameless ones'.

I really hoped it wouldn't look this way, but this time, the <Star Stream> betrayed my expectations.

The alien's cries made my mind dizzy. The guy who quickly wiggled his fins rushed towards me with his fearsome teeth flashing.

A murderous feeling that made my spine tingle.

The moment I instinctively grabbed the hilt of 'Unbreakable Faith' sword, a flash of light flashed before my eyes.

Jaehwan swung his sword.

The shark alien that had opened its mouth wide disappeared with its head exploding.

It was an unbelievable act of inaction. Even if it wasn't at the level of the 'Dream Eater', it seemed like an outer deity with its own name.

In any case, now was not the time to be completely surprised. This was because the fragments of the outer deity's legend floating in the void caught my eye.

Most of them were contaminated or damaged and unusable, but there were some that I could consume now.

I sneakily looked at Jaehwan's expression and asked.

"Can I eat that?"

Jaehwan glanced at me indifferently and quickly turned his head away.

I quickly approached the Shark's story fragment. I saw a story fragment that looked exactly like a shark's fin.

Judging from the strong fishy smell, it seemed like it would be difficult to eat it as it was even if I utilized 'Lamarck's Giraffe'.

After thinking for a moment, I searched through the arms of the unconscious Yoo Jonghyuk.

Let's see, if my thoughts are right, he should have 'that item'. After a while, something like a small seasoning container was caught in my fingertips.

I checked the item information.

As expected, Yoo Jonghyuk.

I didn't have high expectations, but I didn't know this item really existed.

Why do people carry around things like this and not use them? I don't know.

I roughly sprinkled the special seasoning on the still fluttering fins, then took a deep breath and swallowed it.

The snow shard tasted like ramen soup sprinkled on the shark fin.

The story fragment that entered my stomach began to shake. My stomach rumbled as if I had an emergency. However, I couldn't just spit it out.

If I spit this out now, I'll die. So I have to swallow it. I have to grit my teeth and get through it somehow.

That's when someone hit my back with a thud. It hurt so much I screamed, so I turned around and saw Jaehwan there.

Why are you suddenly hitting someone? Are you a psychopath?

Jaehwan looked at me for a moment without answering, then walked over and sat down nearby, sitting cross-legged.

Only then did I realize why he had hit my back.

Could it be that he's helping me now? Not someone else, but 'Monarch Slayer' Jaehwan?

I felt my hunger disappearing quickly and my incarnation body recovering. I thought I could easily last another day or two at this rate.

"I, thank you."

I bowed my head toward Jaehwan. Jaehwan pretended not to hear me and closed his eyes.

Is he repeating his mental stabbing toward the universe again?

What on earth is he trying to stab with all that effort?

I looked at Jaehwan for a moment and then muttered while examining Yoo Jonghyuk's details again.

"You say thank you too."

Of course, Yoo Jonghyuk, who had passed out, didn't answer. It had been a while since I'd seen him sleeping so soundly. Even now, it seems like it was just yesterday that I was thrown under the bridge at Oksu Station, but I realized that a lot has happened since then.

While going back and forth between the Washington Dome and the Recycling Center, Yoo Jonghyuk became a black beast, and also a little Yoo Jonghyuk wearing a red hat. He almost died several times, and in the end, this is what happened.

Damn bastard. Why did you chase me all the way here? This didn't happen even in the third round.

If he hadn't come to save me, Yoo Jonghyuk would have cleared the 'Recycling Center' without a hitch and started growing. His transcendence would have been higher, and he would have moved on to the next scenario without a hitch with the readers of Earth.

I ruined everything.

So I have to save this guy.

After feeding Yoo Jonghyuk the 'summoning group' that I had divided up, I took a breather for a moment.

While he was eating the remaining summoning group crumbs, my eyes met with Jaehwan's, who was looking at me.

Why is he looking? I feel uneasy.

I recalled the information about him in my head.

Fortunately, since 『The World After The Fall』 was a work I was involved in, I remembered quite a bit of information about him.

For example, if someone asked me, "Who is Jaehwan?", I could answer like this.

After summarizing, he seems like the type of person you should never get entangled with.

I thought for a moment and held out the summoning crumbs to Jaehwan.

"Would you like some?"

When you first become close, isn't it best to share food?

Whether he was naked or destroyed the world by stabbing, it was something that happened in his universe.

And in this <Star Stream>, he saved me twice.

Who knows? Maybe that 'Monarch Slayer' became a little kinder under the influence of the <Star Stream> worldview.

"You eat it."

I felt a familiar comfort in his sharp answer and asked back.

"What do you usually eat?"

"I don't eat anything in particular."

"If you don't eat anything, you die."

Jaehwan didn't answer and just stared at me. Thanks to someone, I was already used to that kind of gaze.

I shook the seasoning bottle and smiled.

"If there's anything you want, I'll make it for you. There's some good seasoning here."

I didn't really plan on cooking. I'm not Yoo Jonghyuk from the 81st round of 'Ways of Survival', so what kind of food would I cook in this 'change of scenario'? Even if I made it, it would be nothing more than 'Foreign Correspondent Sharkspin who died from a brutal stabbing'.

But I wanted to talk to that man who was hard to get close to, even like this.

My life and Yoo Jonghyuk's life depended on that good-natured psychopath for the next week.

If he changed his mind and stabbed us to death right now, 'Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint' would end here.

"The kind of food I want to eat?"

Huh?

"No one can make it now."

I was a little taken aback by his answer. I never imagined that the 'Monarch Slayer' would have a food he wanted to eat.

"What kind of food is it?"

If possible, I was going to refer to 'Yoo Jonghyuk from the 81st round's recipe and make it. If I didn't have the ingredients, I could just raid Yoo Jonghyuk's coat pockets.

Jaehwan stared into space for a moment as if recalling a distant memory, then opened his mouth.

"Dumplings."

I looked at him for a moment, wondering if I had heard wrong.

What did you say just now?

"It's a food called 'Murim Dumplings'."

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