Ch 458: Ep. 86 - The square circle, V

Yoo Joonghyuk was prepared to swing his [Black Heavenly Demon Sword] if the 'Secretive Plotter' tried to do something foolish, but rather unexpectedly, the latter easily answered back. He didn't even use his true voice, either.

"You're right. I am trapped in here."

His real, pure voice was heard for the first time.

That prompted Yoo Mia to reply with a bright smile. "Ask my oppa to free you. He's super strong, you see?"

She spoke in an innocent voice, but he replied with a slow shake of his head. "…I can't leave this thing."

"What? Why not?"

The 'Secretive Plotter' didn't reply.

"Wait, did my oppa do something to you? He threatened you with scary words, didn't he??"

"…No, that's not it."

"It's not? What then?"

The Plotter didn't reply again. Without saying anything, he stared at Yoo Mia. He stared for a long time at the one person that no longer existed for him.

And for the first time ever, a faint smile formed on his lips.

"It's because I chose to be in here."

Yoo Joonghyuk saw that smile and couldn't say anything. Yoo Mia was busy asking what he meant, and meanwhile, the Plotter quietly stared back at her.

The latter slowly raised his hand, and his palm overlapped with hers through the thin transparent layer. Their hand sizes were fairly similar. These two palms may have overlapped after transcending time and space, but they could never truly meet.

*

"Uh? Uhm…"

It was then, Yoo Mia blinked slowly and began faltering a little.

"Why am I so sleepy…?"

Her body slowly fell to the ground. Yoo Joonghyuk quickly dashed to her side and embraced her.

"You bastard, what have you done…?!"

Yoo Joonghyuk studied his little sister. For sure, her Incarnation Body showed no signs of any strange symptoms. No, she simply was in a deep slumber, softly murmuring indecipherable sleep-talk like "beach volleyball" and "squid party", etc.

He glared at the 'Secretive Plotter' with a complicated expression. No matter how weakened he was, by using Yoo Mia he would have been able to escape from this situation pretty easily. However, he didn't do that.

He simply stared longingly at the sleeping face of the girl, instead.

"…What happened to Mia in your world?"

He answered immediately.

That too was immediate.

"What does that even…"

Just as Yoo Joonghyuk opened his lips, he understood what those answers meant. So, he shut his mouth right away.

Seemingly-crying sparks ever so faintly danced around. Under the pretext of the [Disconnected Film Theory], the memories of these two beings trembled and their Stories shifted.

⸢In one world-line, Yoo Mia survived for a long time. Even after he died.⸥

The world of a man who lived 1864 lifetimes – just what kind of a world would that be?

⸢However, in another world-line, she died.⸥

A Regressor might have lived far more 'presents' than anyone out there, but in reality, he was nothing more than a ghost of the past. He was an existence that had to move onto the next turn because he failed to alter the past.

0th turn, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th… and 1863rd.

This being was not a 'Yoo Joonghyuk' from any of those regression turns. But, he was the 'Yoo Joonghyuk' that belonged to all the worlds, the man who carried all the worlds as his burden.

And that was why he was more Yoo Joonghyuk than any other Yoo Joonghyuks.

"Who would do that to a…"

Yoo Joonghyuk couldn't tell if that was a form of sympathy directed at himself. The blade of the [Black Heavenly Demon Sword] he held tightly was faintly trembling.

Why was he hesitating now? He had come this far already, so what was left to hesitate? Just because he heard a bit of this bastard's past history…

The 'Secretive Plotter' opened his lips. 【Did you know? There was this young boy in the front-most subway car that always died during every regression turn.】

That question came out of nowhere. Yoo Joonghyuk naturally recalled the events of the subway train. The very first scenario, the very first encounter with Hell that he had to experience every single time.

However, Yoo Joonghyuk didn't know anything about such a boy. Because there were simply too many people who died in that manner back then.

"…"

Yoo Joonghyuk couldn't say a single word.

The Plotter asked him again. 【Between a man who regressed 1863 times, and a child who has to repeatedly die for 1863 times with no recollections of it, which one do you think is actually more miserable?】

"That is…"

The Plotter was implying this – that your pity had no meaning, no value whatsoever.

Even then, Yoo Joonghyuk couldn't readily accept that. Indeed, there was no meaning in comparing the importance of different miseries. However, that also didn't mean that 'misery' didn't exist.

Did the boy from the subway make the same expression as this man? Yoo Joonghyuk couldn't tell.

The 'Secretive Plotter' stared back at him with a pair of quiet, still eyes.

Yoo Joonghyuk stared back into those eyes for the longest time, before averting his gaze away while lowering the [Black Heavenly Demon Sword].

"…You'll end up seeing that boy's death for the 1864th time if you regress again."

In the end, he returned his sword back to its scabbard. This could be the wrong decision. Even then, Yoo Joonghyuk had made up his mind.

Maybe he too didn't expect such a choice, because the 'Secretive Plotter' remained speechless for a long while.

"Shut your mouth. I can kill someone like you at any…"

Multiple presences were drawing near. Voices were calling out to him. They were Kim Dokja and Han Sooyoung, plus those of the <Kim Dokja's Company>'s people.

"…"

The Plotter's true voice suddenly grew fainter. His eyelids were slowly closing up. He was falling into another bout of deep slumber.

Just as Kim Dokja emerged out from the thicket, the Plotter finished what he wanted to say.

"We played beach volleyball."

That was Yoo Mia's answer after I asked her about what happened here.

"I'm telling you, we grilled squids, and I played beach volleyball with my oppa. Could it be that one's power of comprehension is lower if you're ugly?"

I wanted to tell her that there were three things wrong in her statement. One, we were not near an ocean. Two, I wasn't ugly, and my power of comprehension was…

"…Well, I guess nothing serious has happened here."

Han Sooyoung muttered in relief.

Indeed, we couldn't see any traces of Yoo Joonghyuk causing an accident, and the 'Secretive Plotter' was still stuck in a deep slumber.

I put the Plotter back inside the [X-grade Ferrarghini]. There were a few things that didn't sit well with me, but now wasn't the time to grill the one responsible.

"Okay, everyone, please gather around! Let's start the campfire!"

The flames rose up thickly and brightened the darkness of the campsite. Time was approaching closer to midnight. Only then did I remember something important.

"H-hang on! My scenario hasn't…!"

Dammit, I forgot all about it because of Yoo Joonghyuk.

I could hear Biyoo humming "Baat, baat" just above my head.

Would I really get killed like this?

…Uh?

"Seriously, man. It's like you forgot your wits somewhere or some such…" muttered Han Sooyoung, as she stared at the side of my face.

Companions were giggling to themselves while looking at me.

It was then, I recalled their replies whenever I tried to talk to them.

– I don't have any particular complaints.

That was for real?

"No one here will blame you, you know."

Han Sooyoung's disinterested voice spread out. We sat around soaking in the bonfire without saying anything else. I thought I could sense their hearts contained in this silence and that caused my emotions to well up for some reason.

Jung Heewon added something on top. "Well, if you want me to find something to talk to you about, then I can think of one, but it's not a complaint, so…"

Even though the warm bonfire was before me, why did a chill creep down my back just then?

"In any case, we rested really well today. Someone didn't seem to have gotten any rest, though."

Yoo Sangah spoke, and Lee Jihye followed her up on that.

"But, is it over like this? Aren't we going to, like, light candles and start sobbing, or write stuff on a 'rolling paper'?"

"This ain't even a real school trip, so why should we? Besides, the paper…"

While listening to Han Sooyoung's retort, I began thinking.

'Rolling paper' written by her, was it… That might be quite interesting, indeed.

Han Sooyoung suddenly stopped talking there and looked at me before asking a question. "You want me to write one for you?"

"Not really. We aren't little kids anyway."

"Wait a minute. Didn't you say you never had any friends and didn't even go to 'membership trainings' either? I guess you've never received one before, then."

If the total reserve of my mental energy declined during this trip, then it was all Han Sooyoung's fault.

A few members of <Kim Dokja's Company> blessed with strong drive had already purchased pens and large papers from the [Dokkaebi Bundle]. Seriously, though, these greedy Dokkaebis even charged Coins for something like that…?

Yoo Joonghyuk sitting across me on the other side of the campfire seemed to be angry as well.

"I won't participate in something like this."

…Although, his reason for anger seemed to be different from mine.

Nevertheless, seeing my companions gathered around closely and scribbling on their papers gave me this fresh perspective on things. It's like this was a writing get-together for the poor, friend-less Kim Dokja.

While everyone was writing their names on the papers and passing it along, Lee Gilyoung suddenly raised his hand up. "Hyung, I bought this off the [Dokkaebi Bundle], so can I fire it?"

Shin Yoosung discovered the toy in the boy's hand and her expression brightened up instantly. "Uh? Isn't that the same thing people were firing around the Han River?"

"Yeah, I remembered that so I bought it."

"Let me try it, too!"

"No way. You buy your own. It's 2000 Coins, you know."

Lee Gilyoung was currently holding onto a 'Parachute Helicopter'. I had seen that a couple of times before, too. It was a toy that, when you pulled hard at the attached string and then let go, it'd fly up into the sky while emitting bright light.

His toy seemed a bit special though, as it featured four large wings shaped like a square.

…Besides all that, though, that thing cost 2000 Coins??

"Okay, I'm gonna fire it!"

Lee Gilyoung fired the 'parachute helicopter' into the air. The toy flew up and while spinning around vigorously, dyed the surroundings with bright light. The light scattered as if it was fireworks going off. Even though they should've been familiar with far more spectacular sights than this, the group still looked on genuinely impressed.

The square-shaped wings of the helicopter spun around quickly and formed a circle.

I thought it looked like a portal. A portal, that led to the world we used to live in. We might not be able to go back anymore, but still, I felt the nostalgia of that world from it.

It was around then that a system message resounded out.

The spinning wings of the helicopter grew larger and larger, and eventually, changed shape to that of a huge screen.

Lee Jihye frowned deeply. "What the heck. It was a hologram panel? We now have to watch a scenario even in this place?"

"Lee Gilyoung, did you even read the user's manual before…"

"N-no, I thought it was just a helicopter, so I…"

Just as the boy tried to make his excuse, a small earthquake suddenly rocked the vicinity. The expressions on the companions hardened instantly.

"What kind of crap is it this time…?"

Accompanying Han Sooyoung's words, we all focused our attention on the screen in the air. And when we did, we understood the reason for the earthquake. First of all, it didn't belong to the Korean peninsula.

The 'optical screen' was now displaying the American continent. And right before our eyes, that large continent was disappearing in its entirety.

Because of a gigantic island rising up from the deepest part of the Earth.

Along with the entrance of that island, the American continent was being erased from the map itself.

Yoo Joonghyuk, his expression hardened, quietly muttered out.

"The end has begun."