877 Episode 47 King of Fear (21)
A lonely wind blew across the snowfield. Between the lines where the incident disappeared. Above those lines, fragments of stories that were not properly recorded scattered like snow.
「 "Kim Dokja, where is he?" 」
…
「 "Teach me so I can break this curtain." 」
…
「 "Tell me. Where did Inho-ssi go?" 」
The voices of those who were unable to save their precious ones. Words that disappeared without going anywhere.
Listening to those words, he stood on the snowfield, hung his white coat fluttering in the wind on a chair, sat down at the table, and drank a cup of tea.
「 The space given to you was really small, but you have left behind many stories. 」
The man read and reread the stories that fell endlessly.
「 "Kim Dokja." 」
What had once been his name was now a title for someone else. The man was often confused by that fact. He didn’t know what kind of feelings he should have.
Should he feel sad, or should he feel liberated?
Or should he feel angry?
As the man made a light gesture, another chair appeared across the table.
The man put down the tea he was drinking on the table and asked.
「 Is there anything left to write? 」
Another man stood behind him.
A man with bright hair and narrowed eyes. A dark red coat reminiscent of dried blood.
「 That’s how it is. After writing, you always feel regret. 」
「 The record of '40th round' has changed just as you wanted. 」
「 Well, that’s it for now. 」
「 Then it wouldn’t matter if you left. 」
Cheon Inho smiled and sat down in the chair the man had prepared. Then he spoke with his characteristic narrowed eyes even narrower.
「 Isn’t it too rude to treat like that the father you met after a long time? 」
「 Father. 」
The man glared at Cheon Inho with an annoyed expression and added.
「 You raised me, right? In this snowfield. 」
「 … 」
「 I often think that way. Maybe the fact that I was raised by a human like you is proof that I’m the 'real Kim Dokja'. 」
Cheon Inho nodded and asked.
「 Do you still worry about who you are? How many more 'Kim Dokja fragments' do you have to collect before you stop worrying about that? 」
「 I’ll know once I collect them all. 」
「 Then what should I call you until then? 」
「 … 」
「 That friend who uses my incarnation body. 」
Cheon Inho grabbed the teacup the man had put down and took a sip of the tea, saying.
「 He called you 'snowfield Kim Dokja'. 」
Snowfield Kim Dokja snickered as if he found that title very strange.
「 That guy called me Kim Dokja from the beginning. 」
「 Anyone can see that you are Kim Dokja. 」
「 No one calls me Kim Dokja except that guy. 」
「 I’m the one calling you that. 」
「 … 」
「 Have you already forgotten that I gave you that name? 」
The two looked out at the snowy landscape in silence. Perhaps because there was so much snow falling? Their footsteps were not visible. Nevertheless, the two of them had definitely walked that path where no footprints had been left.
「 I still remember the day I picked you up. 」
As he said that, Cheon Inho took out a book from his bosom.
『Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint』.
「 You were probably born around this point. 」
As he said that, Cheon Inho opened the book.
Snowfield Kim Dokja silently read the passage that Cheon Inho had pointed to. The sentences that had begun to look somewhat out of place were written crookedly there.
—The Kim Dokja you know has scattered throughout this universe.
Cheon Inho continued speaking with a strange expression, as if that moment was still vivid.
「 You were such a pretty child. It’s hard to believe that such a child fell from the sky. 」
「 Don’t romanticize it. You just wanted to use me. 」
「 That’s right. 」
Cheon Inho nodded and answered.
「 My goal was to feed you the 'Kim Dokja fragments' and revive the 'Oldest Dream'. 」
The Oldest Dream.
The absolute observer of this universe that only the 'one and only Kim Dokja' can become.
「 If that was really your goal, why did you betray me? 」
「 … 」
「 You raised me, hoping that I would dream your story. But why? 」
「 I just found an easier way to achieve my goal. 」
「 Are you satisfied with the records that he changed? 」
A subtle edge stood out in Snowfield Kim Dokja’s voice.
「 I can discard those records if I become the 'Oldest Dream'. Or I can rewrite them. 」
「 Of course. 」
Snowfield Kim Dokja let out a low breath as if to calm down his anger. Cheon Inho, who was watching him, asked.
「 Didn’t you originally like that guy? 」
「 … 」
「 Are you angry because he declared that he would become 'Kim Dokja'? 」
「 … 」
「 Or because he became friends with the 'Demon King of Salvation' that you hate? 」
「 Your role was to prevent that guy from living as 'Kim Dokja'. 」
「 Haha, I made that promise. 」
「 Why didn’t you keep it? Did you want to see that guy act like the main character in your body? Were you ecstatic to see a new record being written in your incarnation body? 」
Cheon Inho nodded.
「 It was ecstatic. 」
「 I could have made you the main character, too. 」
「 If you were my 'Oldest Dream', it would have been possible. But you know. A wish that came true wouldn’t be very fun, right? 」
「 Not fun? 」
A few snowflakes fell from the sky and fell into the tea. Cheon Inho stirred the tea with a spoon as if trying to find the snowflakes and said.
「 Jecheon Daeseong could have ridden the neunda and headed to India at any time. But he walked with Samjang to reach India. That’s how 'Journey to the West' was created. 」
「 What are you trying to say? 」
「 It was fun to walk on foot. 」
Snowfield Kim Dokja got angry.
「 That’s not your story. You’re just a bystander. 」
「 Still, it was fun. That I can tell that story in my incarnation body. That I can live a life that isn’t one of the 'Ten Evils'. 」
「 You were incited. 」
「 That could be possible. However. 」
Looking at the tea water swirling around and spinning, Cheon Inho finished his words.
「 This world is a huge 'incite' in the first place. 」
The two beings looked at the snowfield again after saying those words. They still couldn't see the footsteps they had walked. However, they no longer thought about the path they had walked.
「 So, what are you going to do now? Against your will, he decided to become 'Kim Dokja' himself. 」
「 ... 」
「 He is not your avatar. He won't listen to you, and he won't move as you dream. 」
As he said that, Cheon Inho looked at Kim Dokja's left hand in the snowfield that had become half transparent. It was a blow to the Fear Realm that had been forcibly used to apply probability.
「 He will find an answer that will not destroy this world or not. He is already closer to being the 'main character' than anyone else— 」
Cheon Inho asked while looking at the snowflakes piercing through his left hand that had become transparent.
「 Snowfield Kim Dokja, how are you going to stop it? 」
Snowfield Kim Dokja looked up at the sky and slowly opened his mouth.
「 The day I collected more than half of the 'Kim Dokja fragments' with your help, I tore apart my brother who came here from the sky. 」
Snowfield Kim Dokja continued to speak.
「 I thought I had truly become Kim Dokja. I believed that if I just collected the remaining fragments, I would become complete as Kim Dokja. 」
「 It sounds like you’re saying no now. 」
Snowfield Kim Dokja moved his fingers and wrote someone’s name on the snow piled up on the table.
■■■
A name that was not written.
Cheon Inho asked while looking at the hole.
「 It seems I’m not the only one who was incited by his story. 」
「 … 」
「 He even threw away his own name to become Kim Dokja. What can you throw away? 」
「 I’ve thought about it for a long time. What do I really want? 」
Snowfield Kim Dokja said as he reached out and wiped the table.
「 What do I want to become? Am I satisfied with simply becoming the 'Oldest Dream'? 」
「 ... 」
「 Can I say that I have become the 'Kim Dokja' I wanted just by collecting all the 'Kim Dokja fragments'? 」
Cheon Inho paused for a moment. It was because he sensed an unusual energy from snowfield Kim Dokja.
「 You're right. What's important is not the result, but the process. 」
Cracks were slowly forming between the 'Kim Dokja fragments' that made up snowfield Kim Dokja. A white light was leaking out through the cracks.
「 What can I throw away? 」
「 You, no way... 」
Cheon Inho absentmindedly looked down at the book on the table. In the shaking pages, he felt as if he had read this scene in advance.
「 Stop. If you do that now— 」
「 No, this is the right choice. 」
Snowfield Kim Dokja was breaking apart.
「 From now on, let’s start the real 'scenario'. 」
Killer King— Cha Sungwoo sat on the rooftop railing of Gwanghwamun and looked up at the sky.
At that moment, the rooftop door opened wide and someone came in.
Cha Sungwoo fixed his gaze on the sky and asked.
"No news today, right?"
"No."
Ye Hyunwoo answered that and walked over to sit next to Cha Sungwoo.
"Maybe it’s time to admit it now."
Half a year had passed since Kim Dokja disappeared from the scenarios. In the meantime, many things had happened to the group.
The Earth was currently in the middle of scenario number 32. In the meantime, the colleagues who had lost their center of gravity split into factions, and some gave up on the scenarios because they died or became victims.
Of course, there were those who didn’t give up, like Cha Sungwoo or Ye Hyunwoo. However, even they had to admit a certain fact now.
「 There is no 'Kim Dokja' in this world anymore. 」
Over the course of half a year, they had come close to death several times.
As time passed, the face of Kim Dokja in their memories became blurred, and soon became a blank space. Perhaps, both Cha Sungwoo and Ye Hyunwoo knew that it was time for someone to fill that blank space.
But who on earth could take that role?
"It looks like we're all going to die here."
"Second Apostle, Yoo Joonghyuk doesn't say things like that."
"I'm not Yoo Joonghyuk."
"Did you know that wasn't the case?"
Now, this lonely joke was all that proved their history of living in this world.
"That Yoo Joonghyuk is gone too."
They were left behind in a world where Kim
Dokja and even Yoo Joonghyuk had disappeared. All they could do was copy what they had read.
But even that was becoming increasingly difficult. This was because the scenarios had deviated from the 'novel development' they knew.
"This time, Yerin almost died."
"..."
"Next time, she might really die."
Cha Yerin was critically injured, beyond recovery even with the 'Elaine Forest's Spirit'.
According to Lee Seolhwa, in order to recover from this injury, an item of at least the 'Sung-yu-gwa' level was needed.
"We might have to deal with the giant nebulae."
The last option to survive the scenarios.
Ye Hyunwoo also knew that there was such a choice.
"But that..."
Ye Hyunwoo said with a deep sigh.
"What would Kim Dokja do?"
It was then that a meteorite fell from the distant sky.
"Huh?"
The 'fifth scenario' featuring the meteorite had already ended. But what on earth is that meteorite?
"2nd Apostle, that is—"
Before Ye Hyunwoo could even finish speaking, Cha Sungwoo jumped down from the rooftop like a man possessed. He then ran straight towards the spot where the meteorite had landed.
Fortunately, the point of impact of the meteorite wasn't too far away.
Cha Sungwoo approached the crater, panting for breath.
A man was lying inside the large crater.
Every cell of his was shivering. The story he had read over a hundred times was telling him who the man in front of him was.
The man slowly opened his eyes and looked at Cha Sungwoo. Cha Sungwoo also looked at him.
He definitely knew who the man in front of him was.
Even so, Cha Sungwoo asked him.
"Who are you?"
The man then asked back.
"Who do you want?"
Cha Sungwoo slowly opened his trembling lips. He wasn't sure whether he should say the name or not. Some ominous premonition was taking hold of him. Just a single name. By saying that name, he had a premonition that the important death of this world would be distorted.
Nevertheless, Cha Sungwoo had to say that name. Because that was.
"Kim Dokja."
It was the wish of all the readers living in this world.
The man slowly opened his mouth after hearing those words with a blank face, whether he knew the expectation or not.
"I am Kim Dokja."
One day, 499 days after the scenarios began on Earth.
"From now on, I will lead the scenarios."
'Kim Dokja' returned to the scenarios.
Author's Note
Hello, this is Singsong.
Today, the 4th part of the Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint side story has ended.
Thanks to the readers who joined us, we were able to safely complete the journey of the 4th part of the side story.
We will take some time to prepare for the next season.
The hiatus will be about 2 weeks, from April 3rd to April 17th.
We will come back with a new season on April 18th.
Thank you so much for reading today.