797 Episode 38 Chance (3)

Unfortunately, the recipe for 「Murim Dumplings」 did not exist among the knowledge I had.

If it had been Yoo Jonghyuk, a cooking expert in the 81st round, or Yoo Jonghyuk in the 999th round who had experience in making Murim dumplings, they might have known the recipe…

"I like them too. Murim dumplings."

"Have you ever eaten them?"

For the first time, curiosity appeared in Jaehwan's eyes.

I nodded vigorously, surprised that even this person had curiosity.

"No."

Jaehwan looked at me like I was crazy and asked.

"How can you like food you've never eaten?"

"You don't have to eat it to like it, right?"

"What?"

I've never eaten Murim dumplings, but I've drawn countless scenes of 'Murim dumplings eating'. While I was sketching scenes of Kim Dokja and Yoo Jonghyuk eating Murim dumplings in Murim and Seoyuki, I also ate hundreds of Murim dumplings in my head.

With my eyes closed, I recited the taste of Murim dumplings from 'The World After the Fall' and 'Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint' at length.

After talking like that, I felt full, as if I had really eaten a whole plate of dumplings.

When I opened my eyes, Jaehwan was looking at me in disbelief.

"You really talk like someone who has eaten them."

"Isn't the most perfect 'martial arts dumpling' the 'Murim dumplings that I have not yet eaten'?"

Above all, in front of me now is a person who has actually eaten Murim dumplings through that description.

I patted Yoo Jonghyuk on the head and said.

"He probably knows better about taste. By the way, this guy's favorite food is also 'Murim dumplings'."

Jaehwan glared at Yoo Jonghyuk as if he couldn't believe what I said, and then said,

"So what do you want me to do?"

"I'll let you eat it again. That 'Murim dumpling'."

The 'Murim dumpling' in Jaehwan's world was destroyed, but this world wasn't destroyed yet.

And fortunately, the recipe for that 'Murim dumpling' was still being passed down in the <First Murim>.

But Jaehwan's attitude was strange.

"I don't believe what a guy like you says."

"No, why? I can let you eat real 'Murim dumplings'. Doesn't the thought make your mouth water? If you order chicken soup and noodles and eat them together—"

"You're going to ask for something else in return, right?"

"No, I'm not going to ask for anything else. I'll just take you to where the 'Murim dumplings' are."

"You're not saying you want me to protect you until I get there?"

This is why I hate protagonists.

They're so sensitive.

"Can't I?“

"Even if I could eat 'Murim dumplings' again."

Jaehwan paused for a moment and continued.

"The 'Murim dumplings' I ate that day are no longer there."

If my sponsor was next to me, he would have complained, saying, "That’s an amazing dumpling philosophy," but right now, my 'Demon King of Salvation' content was somewhat lacking.

"You must really like Murim dumplings."

Jaehwan looked at me as if I was crazy even more than before.

With a feeling of "Tsk tsk," [The Fourth Wall] spoke in my head.

I thought of the 'Demon King of Salvation' watching me with pitiful eyes from beyond the wall.

"Me too."

Jaehwan turned his head and stared into the void. Just as Yoo Jonghyuk stared at the sky of the <Star Stream> whenever he had the chance, he also stared into the void whenever he had the chance. As if there was someone he missed. I remembered Jaehwan’s story a little.

Just as I and other readers were summoned to the <Star Stream>, he was the protagonist summoned to the <Fantasy Tree>.

Just as we went through the scenarios, he climbed a tower that looked like a tree and finally reached the top of the tower.

However, I don’t know what he felt at the top of the tower or what kind of being he became.

This is because Kiyeon’s novel ends somewhat abstractly without describing that part in detail.

I hesitated for a moment and then asked.

"May I ask what the dumplings you ate tasted like?"

Jaehwan looked back at me without saying a word and then looked up at the sky again.

A sky where no stars watch over us.

How long had he watched the vast void of space? His sword let out a humming cry. A cry that somehow sounded sad and heartbreaking.

Jaehwan never answered.

While traveling with Jaehwan, I asked him countless questions. At first, Jaehwan didn't answer my questions, but sometimes he would talk when he felt like it.

"Do you know how much time has passed?"

"A day has passed."

"Wow, it felt like three days. But how do you measure time?"

"I'm stabbing 3,600 times per second."

"Could you slow down the stabbing a little?"

Jaehwan glared at me expressionlessly and started stabbing again.

"Where did you live?"

I continued asking questions as well. Where did he live, whether there was a scenario in his world, whether there was a system, how long he had lived.

Some of the answers were things I already knew, and some I didn't know.

I continued asking questions in order to somehow win his favor, but also for my own sake.

I felt like I would lose consciousness at any moment if I didn't talk to someone.

My incarnation body was almost at its limit now. In the end, Jaehwan, who couldn't hold it in any longer, opened his mouth when the number of my questions surpassed the number of times Yoo Jonghyuk regressed.

"How long are you going to keep babbling?"

"Until you answer."

"This has nothing to do with you."

"But I still want to hear it."

"There's no story to tell a guy who's about to die."

"I'm about to die, so wouldn't it be nice to hear a fun story one last time?"

Jaehwan's lips twitched in discontent.

"It's not even that fun."

I know. Kiyeon's novels weren't popular.

But it didn't matter.

"I've read a story about someone who regressed 1,863 times. Do you think it'd be more boring than that?"

"Regression?"

For a moment, I thought, 'Oh no.' This man absolutely hated the word 'regression'.

The reason was clear.

In Jaehwan's world, all of his colleagues, except for him, had 'regressed'.

"There were guys who 'regressed' in my world, too."

"Is that so?"

I pretended not to know. Then Jaehwan added in a fierce voice.

"There was no one who did that 1,863 times."

"That's not an ordinary number."

"If someone regressed that many times, they must be a bad guy."

"That's not true."

I answered without realizing it.

Jaehwan narrowed his eyes at me and said.

"All regressors are cowards."

"Not all of them."

"Regressors abandon the present and run away. They go back to the past to steal others' achievements, steal items, and steal history."

"There are those who fought and fought to protect the present, but they had no choice but to regress."

I don't know why I became Yoo Jonghyuk's spokesman, but Jaehwan looked quite angry at my defense.

"There can't be a guy like that. All regressors are people who are so obsessed with the past that they can't properly look at the present."

"At least one guy is different."

"One guy?"

"And to me, you don’t look any different from a 'regressor'."

"What do you mean?"

A terrifying murderous aura flowed out of Jaehwan’s body.

"Aren’t you missing the taste of Murim dumplings?"

Jaehwan’s face was like the first time he had been hit. The murderous aura that had flowed out dissipated like magic.

"I."

"No one moves forward without looking back. Sometimes, becoming a regressor isn’t such a bad thing."

Jaehwan didn’t answer for a long time, then slowly drew his sword.

His wooden sword blade stabbed the air. Stabbing, stabbing, stabbing again, how many times did he stab like that?

Jaehwan opened his mouth.

"As I said, my story won’t be fun."

"Even if it’s a story where you only stabbed for a million years, it’s okay."

"Only a million years?"

"Then how long have you been doing it?"

".…"

"It seems like it's not a time that can be done in one's right mind."

"It seems like I'm not in one's right mind."

"When you say that, it's really scary."

Jaehwan snickered. For the first time, he looked a little human, with a smile.

"Why are you curious about my story?"

"I guess I'm wondering if I can steal some of the secrets of strength."

"Do you think you can follow along if you listen?"

I know full well that I can't.

Even if he stabbed for a million years, it doesn't mean I can imitate those times.

However, I have [Bookmark].

If I can listen to his story and understand him even a little, I might really be able to steal 'his strength'.

Just like Kim Dokja stole the strength of other characters.

"I don't know. I might have a great awakening after hearing your story."

Of course, I never once received a message saying that my 'understanding has increased' during all the conversations I had with him.

He might be someone my poor brain simply couldn't understand.

Still, I thought it was worth the challenge.

"Why do you want to become stronger?"

"Well, I have to knock down all the stars in the sky."

"And then?"

"We'll see the end of this world."

Jaehwan looked at me like that and put his sword away.

"That's obvious."

"Do you have to have a special reason to become stronger?"

"Some strengths are like that."

Jaehwan's pupils glowed ominously. I could see the shape of a Möbius spinning inside his pupils.

"Anyone can become stronger if they have the will. However, strength itself betrays the will. When you become as strong as you want, you may not want to see the end of this world."

Listening to him, I thought of the constellations in the sky.

Great people. Tales. Myths. Beings who have accumulated countless years and become stars in the sky. They must have had a time like mine.

Maybe even Jaehwan in front of me.

"I haven't thought about that."

"You should think about it now. That's probably a question that the enemies you're about to fight have thought about."

"Well, it's probably different when you enter and leave the bathroom."

Jaehwan frowned, as if my analogy was quite unpleasant.

He frowned.

"I doubt you can even enter that bathroom right now."

"That's..."

"It's not too late. Leave that guy behind and leave."

Jaehwan's eyes turned to Yoo Jonghyuk, who was sleeping.

As expected, Jaehwan knew about my condition.

"You're not in a condition to last a week."

"I know."

"If you hold on to that guy, you'll die."

My incarnation body looked like it could break at any moment.

I answered while collecting the stories that were collapsing in real time.

"Thank you for your words, but I can't leave."

"Why?"

If I somehow managed to escape to get to the 'main scenario' on my own, I could find some way.

But if that happens, Yoo Jonghyuk will be left alone in this void. And it didn't seem like that man would save Yoo Jonghyuk, who was left alone.

"Because we're comrades."

"I know that guy is a regressor."

"…"

"Anyway, after he regresses, he won't remember you."

"That could be the case. But it could also not be the case."

I thought about Yoo Jonghyuk. From the 0th to the 1,864th time. I thought about his will that had been repeated countless times.

"Who knows? Maybe he'll remember me again after regressing 1,863 times."

"That can't be."

"After a long regression, he might become stronger than you and come to end this whole damn world."

I briefly imagined 'Secretive Plotter' who was building up a story that had nothing to do with this story across the universe.

And then I turned my eyes to the fallen Yoo Jonghyuk again.

"And this guy won't regress. Even if he does, he has no world to return to. This world is his last world."

Yoo Jonghyuk, lying on the floating stone, curled up as if he was cold. Covering that guy with a coat, Jaehwan muttered quietly.

"A regressor who does not regress."

With that, he did not speak any further. He was staring at the void as before, but for some reason, his expression was different from before. Maybe he was thinking of the Murim dumplings he shared with his colleagues a long time ago.

I held my breath quietly so as not to disturb his thoughts.

Yoo Jonghyuk woke up on the sixth morning. As soon as he woke up, the smell of finely ground herbal medicine tickled his nose.

'A summoning group.'

It would vary depending on the market price that day, but the summoning group was an elixir that cost more than a hundred thousand coins. Someone had fed him the medicine. Of course, it was obvious who that someone was.

'Kim Dokja.'

Kim Dokja was seen curled up on a nearby floating stone and sleeping.

Yoo Jonghyuk looked at Kim Dokja for a moment, then suddenly came to his senses and grabbed his spear.

A place a few steps away. There was a man with a body staring at him from above the broken meteorite.

Was it 'Jaehwan'?

Yoo Jonghyuk carried Kim Dokja, who had fallen, while being wary of Jaehwan. An exhausted and worn-out incarnation body.

Judging from his condition, he was in danger if he didn't repair his stories right away.

Yoo Jonghyuk thought of the places where the 'Story repairman' was nearby and took a step back.

He heard Jaehwan's voice behind him.

"Where are you going?"

"A place where I can save this guy."

"If you leave here, you guys will die."

He understood what those words meant. Even now, he could feel the presence of the stars from a great distance. The reason they weren't approaching him must have been because of the existence of 'Jaehwan' before his eyes.

Even those incredible nebulae were afraid of the man before his eyes.

However, he couldn't keep dying here forever.

"I won't die."

Yoo Jonghyuk’s condition was the best right now. As he had overcome near-death experiences, his incarnation body had become more robust, and his skills had also improved.

If it was a head-on fight, it wouldn’t be fine, but if it was just running away with Kim Dokja, it would be possible.

But Jaehwan said something strange.

"It means I'm going to kill you."

"What?"

Was he really a dangerous guy?

As he instinctively raised his fighting spirit, Jaehwan continued to speak.

"If you want to leave, leave him behind. Then I'll let you go."

"What are you talking about?"

Jaehwan glanced at Kim Dokja with his characteristically expressionless eyes, and answered in his usual blunt voice.

"I'm a little interested in the 'Murim Dumplings' that guy is talking about."

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