Ch 415: Ep. 78 - Twist/轉, VII

The puppet of the Oldest Dream.

Yoo Joonghyuk frowned deeply, although this wouldn't be his first time hearing that term.

"It's that nonsense about a puppet again. What does it even mean?"

"Don't speak as if you're so amazing yourself. What do you know about this turn, anyway?"

A burst of anger took over Yoo Joonghyuk and the golden light suddenly dyed his right eye.

The current Yoo Joonghyuk was a Transcendent, repeatedly experiencing the rapid rise of his Status and now strong enough to fight against Narrative-grade Constellations. When considering the fact that the discernment level of the [Sage's Eye] depended on the user's Status, he should be able to read the fragmented information on a Constellation now.

Tsu-chuchuchut!

Only two people managed to perfectly shut out his [Sage's Eye] until now. One was the Prophet, Anna Croft, while the other, Kim Dokja.

However, if his thoughts were correct, then there should be one more being that he couldn't read, as well.

The right eye of the 'Secretive Plotter' also glowed in the brilliant golden hue, exactly the same as Yoo Joonghyuk.

The vision in his right eye was dyed crimson momentarily, and the trickling blood wet Yoo Joonghyuk's cheek.

"There's no way that a bastard like you are 'Yoo Joonghyuk'." He simply couldn't accept it. "No matter which regression turn 'Yoo Joonghyuk' it is, he'd never use the scenario of the others as his entertainment."

He was certain of this.

Even if he existed in other regression turns, regardless of how many lives he'd go through, he was completely certain of never changing his creed.

The eyes of the 'Secretive Plotter' quietly gleamed. [You're correct. I'm merely the 'Secretive Plotter' now.]

He was merely the 'Secretive Plotter' – something this being continued to mention up until now.

He continued on. [The 'Yoo Joonghyuk' from the 3rd turn only existed to destroy <Star Stream>.]

"…So, you knew that."

The 'Secretive Plotter' glanced at the [Black Heavenly Demon Sword] crying out viciously and vigorously, and formed a faint smile. No, rather than calling that a smile, it'd be more correct to describe that as a 'slightly unsettling movement of lips', instead.

The ends of the Plotter's gaze fell on the slumped figure of Kim Dokja. He wavered as if his breathing would come to an end at any second, causing Yoo Joonghyuk to dash forward.

Claaaang!

The [Splitting the Sky Sword] and the [Black Heavenly Demon Sword] clashed and blue sparks danced everywhere. Blood trickled down from the corner of Yoo Joonghyuk's lips.

He didn't even bother to wipe that off and swung the sword once more. That was an attack borne out of the need to get rid of all the unnecessary thoughts from his mind. An act of one last-ditch effort, to focus on the target right before eyes by simplifying his thought process. Unfortunately, his opponent knew already what he was trying to do here.

The 'Secretive Plotter' evaded the [Black Heavenly Demon Sword] and threw a question as if to make fun of him. [Why are you trying to rescue Kim Dokja? At the end of the day, isn't he just another Constellation you hate so much?]

The faintest hint of unrest briefly flickered on the attacking blade.

The Giant Story's Status emitted by Yoo Joonghyuk wavered ever so slightly, but the 'Secretive Plotter' didn't miss that opening and took a stride forward.

The Constellations. Beings that coveted the scenarios of <Star Stream>, acted like voyeurs on the incarnations and their lives, and gluttonously devoured everything in this world as the subjects of Stories. Technically speaking, the 'Demon King of Salvation' was nothing more than a Constellation, just like them.

And the current Yoo Joonghyuk's goal was to destroy all Constellations. However, he didn't kill Kim Dokja after the latter had become one.

⸢But, why not?⸥

It was a question he couldn't readily answer. That was why, he also had been delaying facing it, too.

⸢Why did Yoo Joonghyuk not kill Kim Dokja?⸥

All those human connections surrounding Kim Dokja briefly flitted in and out of Yoo Joonghyuk's mind.

Shin Yoosung and Kim Dokja; Lee Gilyoung and Kim Dokja; Kim Dokja fighting against other Constellations.

Kim Dokja, who sacrificed his life for his companions.

And Kim Dokja, dying in such a wretched state like this in the end…

"Kim Dokja, he…"

Fragments of Stories floated around Kim Dokja told his tale as he lived as the 'Demon King of Salvation'. Yoo Joonghyuk knew of those Stories, too.

They were the ones he also lived through, as well.

Biyoo's voice came from very far away; Yoo Joonghyuk heard that voice, and slowly opened his lips. "He, the 'Demon King of Salvation', might be a Constellation, but…"

There were no good Constellations in this world. That belief hadn't changed in Yoo Joonghyuk's mind as he lived through the 0th turn all the way to the current 3rd turn, a total of four lives.

The only good star was a fallen one, a good Dokkaebi was a dead one, and there was no such thing as a 'good' scenario.

Even then, Yoo Joonghyuk was betraying his own creed right now.

"That 'Kim Dokja'… He isn't a Constellation. No, he's simply a human."

Even though he knew that made no sense.

Keu-reuk…

Something cried from within its hiding place in the darkness. Keu-reuk, keu-reuk, keu-reuk… It almost sounded as if the darkness itself was crying. No, it sounded perhaps more like laughter, instead.

Right in the middle of that darkness was the 'Secretive Plotter'.

The [Splitting the Sky Sword] gripped in the Plotter's hand let out a lonesome howl. That was the 'Sword Song', possessed only by a being who had endured a life no one could possibly understand. Yoo Joonghyuk raised his own momentum, not wanting to be pushed back. "Do not speak as if you know something that others don't."

Rather than a verbal answer, the 'Secretive Plotter' lightly tapped the unconscious Kim Dokja. That caused Stories to tumble out of him like the tears of a child trying and failing to hold himself back.

⸢"I'm Yoo Joonghyuk."⸥

The young Kim Dokja said those words repeatedly.

There he was, leaving the cousin's place to live alone and receiving wages for part-time work that was well below that of the minimum hourly wage.

⸢"I'm Yoo Joonghyuk."⸥

It was a humble and rather common story – poverty seen pretty much everywhere, a down-on-luck tale commonly found everywhere.

A story so common that it was not even worthy of a novelisation treatment.

And there he was, Kim Dokja, living such a story.

⸢"…I'm Yoo Joonghyuk."⸥

Here was the main character who moved through high school, university, the army, and the company while repeating those words.

While reading the web-novel, while empathising with its lead character, while being encouraged by the story, while being moved, enraged, and saddened.

⸢"I am…"⸥

That's how Kim Dokja had lived.

While reading Yoo Joonghyuk's 'Story', he survived a common and unremarkable life.

In place of his own misfortune, he substituted it for Yoo Joonghyuk's, and rather than his own misfortune, he consumed Yoo Joonghyuk's deaths instead; while writing comments, while meddling in with the story itself.

⸢"Dear author-nim, how about you do this in the next episode…?"⸥

The Plotter's figure was getting more and more unstable. As if he was being influenced by the deep darkness, the ends of his white coat were scattering away into black pieces.

And just like that coat, Kim Dokja's life was crumbling away as well.

Yoo Joonghyuk got to peer into such a life of Kim Dokja. He had seen those Stories some time ago – he remembered seeing the fragments of those memories back when Yoo Sangah forcibly sucked him into that place called the 'Library'.

"I do not care how Kim Dokja of the past lived his life."

The golden aura flooded out from Yoo Joonghyuk's body, as if the only reason why he kept listening to the Plotter's story was just for this moment.

He slowly opened his eyes, his entire body now dyed in the clear-as-day golden light. Abundant Status flooded out from his core after he reached the fifth stage of Transcendence.

"What matters now is that we need him to see the end of this world."

The Breaking the Sky Energy's flow on the [Black Heavenly Demon Sword] was now going through a transformation.

"And if he needs to die, then I shall be the one to perform the deed."

Yoo Joonghyuk's [Air Step] crossed the space.

There truly wasn't much time left.

The two Giant Stories now permeated into his blade. The familiar Statuses of light and darkness were also combined into his attack, too. They were the magical energy from Han Sooyoung and Jung Heewon.

Right in this moment, Yoo Joonghyuk was not alone.

The opposing Statuses permeated into the single blade, causing the [Black Heavenly Demon Sword]'s clear light to spew out a destructive Story.

He ran on the path his blade was guiding him. Every situation the <Kim Dokja's Company> had lived through was ingrained in all corners of that path.

The Breaking the Sky Thunder Sword.

The intense-blue arcs of electricity enveloped and danced around Yoo Joonghyuk's blade. It was the Breaking the Sky Swordsmanship's profound technique he didn't dare to use even as the Apocalypse Dragon's electrical shockwave rushed in earlier.

On top of this, he added the secret technique he had been training with all of his heart and soul until now.

The Breaking the Sky Swordsmanship.

Secret Technique: Inner Mystery Transmission.

Shooting Star Slash.

The technique that even managed to thoroughly defeat Indra, one of the lokapalas of that powerful <Vedas>.

The blade drew an arrestingly entrancing trajectory of destruction as it moved to cut down yet another star.

This one single attack carried everything of the 3rd turn Yoo Joonghyuk.

In the following instance, Yoo Joonghyuk saw it.

The surrounding space-time distorted and a certain Story began telling its story next.

⸢"I shall definitely kill you all."⸥

That was an intimately familiar voice to him. A voice directed to the heavens above, filled with hatred.

⸢"Over and over again."⸥

From the 0th turn all the way to the 1863rd – a Story created by the total of 1864 lives.

⸢"By reviving over and over again."⸥

That was the Hell of Eternity.

⸢"I will kill every single one of you."⸥

When the two swords collided, Yoo Joonghyuk felt as if his whole existence was being erased. The difference in their Statuses went beyond the realm of overwhelming him and into one of pure respect now.

He understood the despair, the regret, the sadness and the hatred engraved into every facet of that Story. And at the same time, he couldn't understand them at all.

He couldn't even bring himself to fathom the depths of those vast emotions.

That was why, just like the countless Yoo Joonghyuks within that Story, he began despairing.

When facing that Story, he was indeed merely the '3rd turn' Yoo Joonghyuk, as pointed out earlier by the 'Secretive Plotter'.

Just what did he need to do to understand that incredible vastness of time itself?

When he regained his wits, Yoo Joonghyuk was flying backwards in space. The wings Jung Heewon and Han Sooyoung had granted him were torn now; his [Black Heavenly Demon Sword], now broken in two, spun and fell alongside him, just like his life.

The seemingly-slow moving [Splitting the Sky Sword] was now closing in on his heart next.

It was then that an unexpected event occurred.

Strange lifeforms, just as ominous and foreboding as 'Outer Gods' suddenly popped out from the corners of the distorted space. They cried out like perfectly-trained hounds and ignored the laws of space-time to pounce on the 'Secretive Plotter' as if they were stuck in fast-forward.

Tsu-chuchuchut…!

The [Splitting the Sky Sword] falling towards Yoo Joonghyuk's chest changed its direction and began smacking away the hounds. However, it still failed to block every single one of them.

Only then did Yoo Joonghyuk realize that those hounds were what the 'Secretive Plotter' had been trying to avoid until now. After getting bitten by one of the hounds, the Plotter hurriedly flew towards the distant [Great Hole].

Along with Kim Dokja still clutched in his arm.

Yoo Joonghyuk extended his hand without much energy, but by then, the star had grown far too distant to reach.

He no longer possessed any strength to go to that star now.

The broken pair of wings crumbled like sand, and just like that, he crashed towards the darkness of the ground below.

"No, you wait! My master and ahjussi haven't come back yet!"

The cold sweat drops oozed out from the troubled 'Master of the Ark' as he watched Lee Jihye make an unreasonable demand.

There were only 30 seconds remaining until the closure of the island; they had to leave this place in the next 20 seconds at the latest. In the end, the Master of the Ark made his decision and was about to start rowing the oar, but then…

"There they come!"

Something was falling from the sky above.

"It's Yoo Joonghyuk!"

An unconscious man in a tattered coat, Yoo Joonghyuk, was falling towards the ground.

"Master! What happened up there??"

Lee Jihye leapt up, caught him, and returned to the Ark. Both Han Sooyoung and Jung Heewon quickly came in closer to shake him around.

"Hey, Yoo Joonghyuk! Why are you alone?! Where's Kim Dokja…?!"

"What happened to Dokja-ssi??"

Yoo Joonghyuk didn't reply. Realizing what that signified, both women looked up towards the sky, but then, the Ark began moving.

"N-no, wait! Hang on for a sec! There's one more person still coming!"

"I said, stop! Goddammit!"

Unfortunately, the words of the companions were swept away by the shockwave, as well as the fog of darkness belonging to the 'Indescribable Distance', crashing in viciously.

Constellations screamed. And under the cascading meteor shower, the closing curtains descended on a world.

A smaller apocalypse to prevent an even bigger one.

Inside this spectacle, the 'Isle of Reincarnators' was disappearing into the 'forever'.

"No! Stop!! I said, stop!!"

The Ark was disappearing into the clear, bright streak of light. And some people aboard it were desperately reaching out with their hands.

Some plopped down. Some cried out.

And some watched all of this happen.

"Kim Dokja-!!"

And then, only a story nobody wanted to hear remained in that place.