857 Episode 47 King of Fear (1)

I couldn't come to my senses because so many shocking memories came rushing back at once. What on earth was I looking at?

The only thing that allowed me to come to my senses was the trait and skill.

The journeys I had seen in the '40th Round' began to be organized into sentences.

In fact, that alone was an unbelievable achievement. Clearing the 'final scenario' in just one time, and without the help of Yoo Joonghyuk or the main characters. Even if he borrowed the power of the 'new intelligence', it was impossible.

And yet, Cheon Inho did it. Not as the main character or supporting actor, but as an extra.

What did Cheon Inho want to show?

Even without lofty ideologies or beliefs, if you have the goal of seeing the end of the scenario, did he want to show that you can do it even if you are not the main character?

What did he gain at the end of such a fierce life?

I could tell where that place was. It was between the lines of sentences. A cold land where no story is written, where only one person’s gaze exists.

Cheon Inho was the first to step there, and he discovered something at the end of that snowfield.

The goosebumps running down my spine wouldn’t stop.

Could it be? Was it Cheon Inho who raised 'Kim Dokja of the Snowfield'?

Even his memories didn’t end there.

Cheon Inho’s voice could be heard occasionally.

A blurry image flashed by. In that image, Cheon Inho was holding a child, and walking together while holding hands. It seemed like they were talking to each other.

The two looked up at the white night sky, saw falling stars, and walked while humming. Sometimes they laughed with similar expressions.

If I didn't know anything, it was a scenery that I would consider extremely beautiful.

Then came the sound of sparks.

As memories became entangled, the last sentence I heard was this.

.

.

.

When I came to my senses, I was sitting on the snowfield on the screen. I didn’t know why I was there. Instead, I saw familiar shoes that might explain it.

I called the name of the man without footprints.

"Cheon Inho."

I slowly raised my head, and a man with a familiar face was there.

"Did you raise 'Kim Dokja'?"

"You and he were quite the kids."

The face I had seen the most in this world. The eyes that had always met me through the screen door and the mirror were now 'really' looking at me.

When I stood up, our eye levels soon became the same.

Cheon Inho said, seeming to like that fact.

"You finally have a face that seems curious about the villain’s story."

I nodded honestly.

"I’m curious."

"Would you like to walk a little?"

We stood side by side and started walking through the snow-covered field. But since Cheon Inho’s footprints were gone, when I looked back, it seemed like I had walked alone.

"The Kim Dokja you raised… is that the 'Kim Dokja' I know?"

"There are many Kim Dokjas in this worldline. The Demon King of Salvation, the Watcher of Light and Darkness, and…"

"You know who I’m talking about, right?"

Since Cheon Inho didn’t answer and just laughed, I asked him as if I was teasing him.

"Is the Kim Dokja you raised the 'Snowfield Kim Dokja' that I know?"

"'Snowfield Kim Dokja'."

Cheon Inho added, seeming to find the nickname interesting.

"By any chance, when you say 'Snowfield Kim Dokja', are you referring to the 'Kim Dokja' who tore apart his own brother and dreamed of a new universe? Some call it the 49% Kim Dokja, that Kim Dokja."

It wasn't a story I wanted to hear so clearly.

Cheon Inho muttered, perhaps because my expression was funny.

"Oh, now that I think about it, you were 'one' of the 49% Kim Dokja."

"I—"

"But the Kim Dokja I raised was very different from you."

"..."

"You didn't want to be a Kim Dokja, so you were born with a different name, and you were able to receive your parents' love."

That's right. I had parents who loved me. It would be a lie if I said I had no misfortune in life, but I've never been as miserable as the 'Kim Dokjas' in the story.

"But the Kim Dokja I raised was different. He had no parents, and there was nothing to eat in this vast snowfield."

I paused for a moment and looked back at him.

"He grew up eating my stories."

Kim Dokja who grew up eating Cheon Inho's stories.

"He realized the truth of this world and understood the tragedy of this universe before any other Kim Dokja."

"Why on earth…"

"Why… Well, I don't know. I have something to say."

Cheon Inho looked up at the sky for a moment. The same sky in his memories was looking down at us.

"I only had stories like that to feed him."

"…"

"This universe made me like that, and I just raised the child as the universe made me."

There was a calm and composed voice.

I took ten deep breaths to keep myself from getting excited and opened my mouth.

"Is that your purpose? Are you using that guy to aspire for the Star Stream?"

Instead of answering, Cheon Inho walked away, leaving the house behind him. When I listened closely, he could hear him humming. It was the exact humming he had done in his memory.

"There was definitely a time when I hated everything in this universe."

"You mean not now?"

"Well, even if my current thoughts changed."

Cheon Inho seemed a little tired and exhausted as he said that.

"I wonder what that child who grew up eating my stories would be like."

"…"

"For the poor things that were left unread and abandoned, that child could destroy this entire universe."

The moment I heard those words, things came to mind.

『Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint』 and its characters. And <Kim Dokja’s Company>.

My heart sank.

What if Kim Dokja, raised by Cheon Inho, inherited the hatred for them?

"I won't let that happen."

"..."

"I won't let this story end in tragedy for anyone."

Cheon Inho looked back at me.

He looked as if he had been waiting for me to say that.

"Of course it should. That way, another fun 'record' will be created."

"Help me."

Cheon Inho's steps stopped for the first time at my words.

"Are you asking for help from this body right now?"

"Yes."

Cheon Inho laughed loudly. It was an exaggerated laugh that made you wonder if a person could laugh that loudly.

"Have you forgotten who I am? I am the person who tried to destroy the world. I am the person who hated 'Kim Dokja' more than anyone else and resented this universe."

"But your goal is not to make the world ruined, right?"

"..."

"You just wanted to be recognized, right?"

"..."

"Yes, you are the only person who has lived as the 'One Who Deceived the Stars' and the Evil Sophist, the Master of the Ten Evils and the Rival of the Tyrant, the one and only 'Cheon Inho'."

Cheon Inho's mouth opened slightly.

I shot back as if I was shoving my words into his mouth.

"You just wanted to be written in this story with the main character. You hoped that someone would remember that you clearly existed in this story.”

I wasn’t him, but I understood his sadness. There were sentiments that I clearly felt while living through the Time Fault of the 'Evil Sophist'.

There are stories even in places that are not recorded. Life definitely exists even in places that no one’s eyes reach.

I lived forgetting that extremely obvious fact even though I knew it.

"I am Kim Dokja who can write."

That’s why I couldn’t help but say those words. Even though I knew that the existence in front of me was the worst in the world, and even though I knew that my wrist could fly off if I grabbed his hand wrong,

"I can write your story."

I thought it was a suggestion worth making. If I could just gain Cheon Inho’s power here, I wouldn’t be afraid of anyone I had as an enemy in the future.

Cheon Inho looked at me for a moment as if he knew what I was thinking and said.

"That’s a really sweet suggestion. But I can’t accept that suggestion. It's all too late."

The emotion in his tone of voice, "It's too late," was so heavy that I didn't know what to say for a moment.

It's really too late.

And he had endured the years that made it so he could only say that.

Cheon Inho, with his arms wide open, continued speaking with a deep smile on his lips.

"And the story I wanted, you 'already' made it. It was such an impressive story."

"…"

"I didn't know you'd use the Ten Evils like that. I even less knew you'd revive the Supreme King and the Prophet, and possess the other Transcendents."

"That story—"

"I really like the ending you wrote. That's why I'm going to make the ending you made 'real' from now on."

"What is that—"

"Have you forgotten? I am also a 'Recorder of Fear'."

For a moment, a belated question crossed my mind.

Now that I think about it, why is Cheon Inho here? Why isn't he with 'Snowfield Kim Dokja', but instead, has become a 'Recorder of Fear' and is trying to meet the 'King of Fear' here?

"The 'Time Fault' managed by the Recorder of Fear becomes a story at the moment of resolution and is passed on to the owner of the Fear Realm. And the owner of the Fear Realm is..."

The moment Cheon Inho raised his head and looked up at the sky, I felt goosebumps without realizing it.

"I promised to give the power to change the record of the 'Final Wall' to the 'Recorder of Fear' who recorded the Great Fear."

With a ray of light, the sky was opening.

Cheon Inho said.

"King of Fear."

The trembling continued throughout my body.

Right now, something incredible was about to happen beyond that sky.

"You have brought the story I wanted here, so now it is my turn to grant your wish."

Before I could even stop him, light covered Cheon Inho.

A message was heard in my brightly colored vision.

A huge probability that could change a world.

"Yes."

Cheon Inho, who had finally obtained that probability, extended his hand toward me.

"Let's 'rewrite' the world from now on."

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