816 Episode 40 Fear Realm (8)

First Kim Dokja left a message telling me to wait a moment and disappeared. It seemed that he was searching the [Fourth Wall].

Outside the safe zone, there was a shark-head crouching quietly and glaring at me.

If my guess is correct, the 'Fears' of this 'Fear Realm' may be discarded or unused settings.

Just look at this 'Sanctuary of the Brave'. Even when I was writing the serial version, the 'Hidden Green Zone' located on the wall of the middle room did not have its own name.

In other words, 'Sanctuary of the Brave' was a 'setting name' that had not yet been used.

If this inference is correct, the 'shark-head' in front of me was also likely one of those settings.

I made and deleted so many settings that I couldn't remember clearly, but it was true that there was a folder called 'Discarded Settings'.

It was a folder that mainly contained settings that had been censored by Ji Eunyu, and I thought that if the [Fourth Wall] really was a library that kept the 'records' of Kim Dokja, then those records would also exist.

Kim Dokja still hadn't contacted me.

After thinking for a moment, I prepared myself and pulled out 'Thoughts'.

I didn't tell Kim Dokja, but in fact, I was planning to stick to the 'second method' I mentioned earlier.

Even if the 'Discarded Settings' really did exist, there might not be that 'shark-head' entry. Above all, even if that item existed, I wondered if I could overcome this situation with just a few lines of description.

In short, asking Kim Dokja to find the 'Discarded Settings' was a kind of trick.

If he was watching me, he would definitely disturb me.

But now, I could get eaten without anyone disturbing me.

I broke out in a cold sweat as I thought that the guy's fangs would soon pierce me.

No matter how much the [Fourth Wall] exists, it is not without pain. Wounds are bitter and death is still scary.

The moment I stood up after making up my mind over and over again.

A phone call came.

—Youngest, I found it.

"Was it really there?"

—Then did you think it wasn't there?

But now there were only 10 seconds left.

There was not enough time.

—But the title is a bit different from what you said?

"The title is different?"

My mind became complicated for a moment.

Have I ever made another setting book?

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t remember.

—Oh, but it’s definitely written about Fear. There’s also some information I haven’t read yet, and I actually want to read it first…

"Shark-Head! Is there an explanation about the shark-head?"

The 'Safe Zone' was disappearing before my eyes.

The shark-head that had been crouching opened its mouth as if it had been waiting.

—There.

A screen appeared on the LCD along with Kim Dokja’s voice. It was a screen with information related to 'Shark-Head'.

With a feeling of time slowing down for a moment, I began to read the letters on the LCD.

Is it because of Kim Dokja's characteristics? It took less than a second to read all of that.

But one line of question remained.

That part was the most incomprehensible. Because the 'shark-head' I saw wasn't as gentle as described in the records.

The reason was also in the records.

For some reason, the records were damaged by ◼️, but it wasn't that hard to guess.

If everything goes as I thought, there's only one way to break the current situation.

—Youngest! You...!

Kim Dokja shouted as he realized what I was trying to do.

The shark-head opened its mouth right in front of me — the inside of the mouth was completely covered with sharp fangs. The moment those fangs approached and tried to tear me apart, I barely managed to pull out a story fragment from deep inside my body.

"You're looking for this, right?"

A story was fluttering in my hand.

That must be it. The reason the guy chased me was because of this 'story fragment'.

The fragment that Jaehwan obtained when he defeated another 'shark god'.

—Youngest, are you crazy?

I know. It would be hard to change his mind even if I gave him this now. Still, it was worth a try.

I thought of the traffic light.

The Fear marked as 'a long-necked object' and 'a white ladder'. When I first encountered those symbols, I didn't know that it was a 'traffic light'.

The unknown is scary.

All Fear operates based on that ignorance.

The shark in front of me might be the same.

What I should believe now is not a sense soaked in Fear, but a dry 'record'.

For example, the history of this entity's life.

Born worshiped on Earth, hated by all, and reigning as a Fear in the sea, 'Tooth Fin'.

I held out the fragment of the story 「Rapid Swim」 toward it.

"I don't know what this means to you, but."

I said while looking at the eerie mouth of the Outer God.

"I'll give it back."

I erased my preconceptions one by one, as if I was erasing letters by pressing backspace.

Instead, I carefully examined the shark-like entity's mouth, fins, and the stitches left here and there. And I imagined the histories that must have been piled up between those wounds.

Just like when Shin Yoosoung first tamed the 'Chimera Dragon'.

This entity is not scary. It doesn't hurt people unless you touch it first.

The Outer God seemed to sense something and thrust its snout toward my hand.

Hot steam flowed out of its nose.

For a moment, I felt like I would lose my mind due to the indescribable stench of contaminated stories. But I held on.

Just the fact that the thing didn't attack me right away seemed possible.

Just a little more, just a little more—

And finally, the Tooth Fin's mouth bit my hand.

I felt the story fragment wrapped around my fingertips disappear as it touched something damp.

…

The expression of the Outer God changed bizarrely along with the message pouring out of the air. It looked like it was smiling, but it also looked sad. With that face, the guy left the tunnel with the story fragment in his mouth.

I followed the guy to the end of the tunnel. The guy was endlessly glaring at the pitch-black emptiness of the Fear Realm.

And soon, a bright light came out from his entire body. A few mournful cries echoed. The Outer God swung its dorsal fins and floated above our heads in a large circle.

Kim Dokja and I quietly looked up at the dreamy dance of the Outer God.

—It was solved this easily?

"Did it seem easy?"

Kim Dokja said nothing. In fact, both of us knew that it wasn’t that easy.

—How did you know?

"Back."

—That guy wasn’t a shark.

Kim Dokja’s guess was right. That Outer God was not a 'shark'. It resembled a shark's head and had a shark's dorsal fin on its back, but it was definitely not a shark.

A long, bursting cry.

The dorsal fin of the wiggling creature showed an elaborate suture line.

—Did you see that?

"Yes."

I guess the original form of that Outer God was not a shark but a 'whale'.

I don't know what kind of history it has, but it certainly seemed to be related to the 'Shark Outer God' that Jaehwan killed.

The dorsal fin of the sewn-up creature could have been that of a shark Outer God.

The fragment of the story I gave it, 「Rapid Swim」, might not have belonged to the Outer God I gave it to.

Thinking about it that way, the dance of the creature spinning around in the air felt like a kind of memorial service.

A mourning ritual for an old friend.

"Constellation-ssi."

—Uh.

"This book."

I looked down at the 'Fear Setting Collection' that Kim Dokja had found in the [Fourth Wall].

"Who wrote it?"

This document was not the 'Discarded Setting Collection' that I had requested. The sentences and the structure were different from my narrative style.

I read the document on 'Tooth Fin' once again.

The sentences were written so dryly, as if they were conscious of someone, and were listed in such unnecessary detail.

My heart ached and pounded every time I read them.

Every sentence in this document was telling me. I was not the one who wrote this document.

—Who do you think wrote it?

"I want to read the first sentence."

After a while, a file that Kim Dokja had sent appeared on the screen.

I opened the file with trembling hands.

The moment I saw the title, I chuckled.

Kim Dokja must have had the same expression.

『A Guide to Fear That Even a Squid and Sunfish Can Understand』.

I don’t know why this book was inside the [Fourth Wall], but at least one thing was certain.

Kim Dokja and I both know.

There is only one writer in this universe who gives a book title like this.

"As expected!"

—I told you.

She is alive somewhere.

Still writing a story for just one reader.

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