Ch 507: Ep. 97 - The star that can't be seen, IV
[tls123?]
The Dokkaebi King's expression as he murmured to himself looked rather strange. Bluish sparks were dancing on top of his lips that trembled as if he was suffering from some kind of lag.
I changed my question.
"I'm asking if that guy is the author of this world."
The Dokkaebi King tilted his head before replying.
[Rather than an author, you could say that the 'Oldest Dream' is much closer to being a reader. It's not an existence that writes stories for someone else. It's lazy and can be quite greedy.]
The 'Oldest Dream' isn't 'tls123'?
If that's true, then who had been sending me the text files? The author responsible for writing the novel I had read for over ten years, just who…
[You seem to be quite curious about the beginning of everything. However, there is no meaning in trying to guess it. Doesn't matter how this world came about, if there is no one to look at it, then it's the same thing as this world not existing in the first place.]
The 'Dokkaebi King' stared at the <Star Stream>'s universe.
Blinding fragments of Stories rode on the stream of cosmos and flowed to somewhere. Wherever his gaze stopped, the fragments repeatedly created meanings only to lose them again.
I shifted my own gaze towards Yoo Joonghyuk suspended in the air with chains wrapped around him. The empty <Star Stream>'s universe could be seen behind him.
"There are things that exist without being seen."
The darkness in the universe was simply too wide and expansive. Its vastness couldn't be crossed even with the speed of light. However, that light would eventually arrive at its destination. Unable to see it didn't mean nothing existed there. There were some things that emitted light where no one was around.
⸢Faint starlights could be spied within the deep darkness of the space.⸥
Stars that rose up among the darkness. Stars that hadn't lost themselves yet. The light from those stars became Stories – became sentences.
As those sentences were lowered on top of the Final Wall, the already-closed story's door opened up again.
⸢The Abyssal Black Flame Dragon raised itself up as black blood trickled out from its whole body.⸥
The moment I saw that sentence, I gasped out loud. The sentences soon became video footages. Not too long afterwards, I saw the Abyssal Black Flame Dragon raise its body up within the devastated battlefield.
Han Sooyoung was right; although he had lost the powers of the 'Apocalypse Dragon' after the ⸢Stage Transformation⸥ came undone, he was still none other than the Black Flame Dragon.
⸢The Great Sage, Heaven's Equal floating in the skies of a different world opened his tired eyes, and…⸥
The Great Sage was still engaged in a bitter struggle against the surviving Constellations among the thunderclaps continuously going off.
⸢The final 'Great Good' was forging her way towards the end of the Good and Evil.⸥
And Uriel, too; she was wielding her [Flames of Conflagration] to brighten the darkened night skies of <Star Stream>…
[No. They do not exist if no one is there to see them.]
Along with that declaration, the Story footage scattered away.
I unknowingly reached out towards the Story scattering in vain.
The Dokkaebi King addressed me as if to mock my actions.
[There is nothing more futile than a story continuing on when no one's reading it. Everything is created the moment they are observed. That's how this universe has been constructed. If no one observes it, that Story can't prove its existence.]
"…They definitely do exist."
[You still wish to see what happens next?]
[<Star Stream> is waiting for your decision.]
[The 'Final Wall' is waiting for your decision.]
The whole world was waiting for my answer.
"I…"
I hesitated with what to say. Han Sooyoung was still struggling within the transparent walls.
⸢Will I be able to see what I wanted if this Story continues on?⸥
The 'Dokkaebi King' chuckled as if he could understand my hesitation.
The 'Final Wall' viciously shuddered about. Sentences were flowing above the wall; as if it was providing a free service, the Story was lazily being reproduced once more.
The Great Sage, Abyssal Black Flame Dragon, and Uriel began fighting again.
⸢[…Hey, Flame Dragon-ah. Don't you dare to cry because your noona is no longer here!]⸥
⸢[Keke. You're too quick to give up, Archangel! I still have one arm left that I haven't used yet…!]⸥
⸢[But, it looks like that arm's been already sliced off, Black Flame Dragon.]⸥
⸢[This body of mine is perfectly fine without an arm, you dumb monkey!]⸥
The Good and Evil Constellations, and one that was neither, had gathered together and were participating in the final battle.
While watching that spectacle, the Dokkaebi King addressed me.
[Your Story was truly amazing. Even the greatest Giant Story <Star Stream> decided to side with you. Although many parts of your epic are still unfilled, it's more than enough to stand as the foundation for the 'beginning' of a new world.]
"I didn't continue my story just to become something like that."
Stories were shining brightly behind the Constellations.
[Giant Story, 'Torch that Swallowed the Myth', is continuing on with its storytelling!]
[Giant Story, 'Season of Light and Darkness', is continuing on with its storytelling!]
[Giant Story, 'Liberator of the Forgotten Ones', is continuing on with its storytelling!]
Those were our Giant Stories.
Stories weren't <Kim Dokja's Company>'s alone. Those that watched a certain story for a long time would eventually emit the same light as the story itself.
Constellations that had watched our story were now emitting the same light as us.
[That is the end of the story you have created.]
⸢The Black Flame Dragon roared out viciously as its tail was cut off.⸥
⸢Uriel's broken conflagration was scattering away like ash.⸥
⸢The Great Sage, Heaven's Equal swung his broken Ruyi Jingu Bang towards the Emperor's Constellations.⸥
The sentences written on the [Final Wall] were steadily losing their light. I reached out towards that light.
Tsu-chuchuchuchut!
[You don't have the qualification to interfere with the 'Final Wall'.]
Pain rushed in from my fingertips. Sparks had scorched them pitch-black.
I gritted my teeth and shouted out. "I do have the right to control that story! I have already cleared the main scenario."
The reward for the last scenario was the [Final Wall].
The 'Dokkaebi King' smiled. [Indeed, you do have the right. However, you don't have the authority to change that story. Doing that will violate the 'Probability'.]
I stared at the sentences floating up on the Final Wall in real-time and unleashed my true voice.
[…Stop that story, right now.]
All the Stories I had compiled until now were screeching out.
It wasn't too late. For Uriel, Black Flame Dragon, and the Great Sage, too. They were still alive.
⸢[Hades, our ■■ is here.]⸥
It could be changed if it's right now. Those flowing sentences, they could be fixed. I could grab the ends of the unfinished sentences and write something else over them.
[Do you wish to save them? The 'Dokkaebi King' asked. I too was like you once upon a time.]
The world he had been living in spread out from behind his back.
A planet I wasn't familiar with appeared. The scenario was underway on that planet.
[I too had experienced horrible misfortunes. Tragedies that no single existence could ever handle alone… By the time tragedies no longer felt like tragedies to me, I found myself arriving in this place.]
Like a dam bursting open, a portion of the wall rained down on me. The enormous story held in the Final Wall's embrace began flooding in towards me.
Tsu-chuchuchuchuchuchu…!!
My mind felt like it was breaking down.
The stories that I already knew, and those that I didn't – Stories of the whole universe was accumulating within my soul.
['The Fourth Wall' is violently resisting!]
['The Fourth Wall' is protecting your crumbling mind!]
The deaths I had experienced, and the deaths I had witnessed, were overlapping with each other.
[Why did so many bad things happen to you?]
These stories that could easily be categorised as misfortunes began crushing down inside my head.
[Do not get drunk in the Stories. Because this is merely one of the countless world-lines you will create in the future, after all.]
Little by little, the emotion of sadness grew dull. Lamentation and despair, too. All these emotions of sorrow were lumped into one clay-like mass, and became something that couldn't be differentiated.
⸢So many misfortunes exist in this world, so is there a reason to feel sorrow for every single one of them?⸥
Far too many things would grow stale eventually.
[You asked me who was the author of this world. You can be that existence. The 'Dokkaebi King' continued on. If you wish to save them, you must acknowledge the fact that everything you love has no meaning, that the already-written Stories are simply illusions that can be changed easily, and that they are just shadows of the great, noble daydream.]
Along with the Dokkaebi King's whisper, the Giant Story's Probability began shifting.
[Become the architect of the brand new world, so that you can lead the next generation of <Star Stream>.]
It was an incredibly tempting offer. If I accepted the Dokkaebi King's suggestion and become the new architect of the <Star Stream>, then I'd be able to save everyone. I'd get to save this world-line by rewriting all these Stories.
And there was only one price to pay for that salvation.
⸢To give up loving that story.⸥
It was then, someone grabbed my hand. It was soaked in blood as if it had been hitting something for a while.
It was a hand of someone who had been writing stories for a very long time.
"…Wake up, will ya? You are not a writer."
When did she escape from the transparent walls? Han Sooyoung spoke to me while tearing the bandages with her teeth and wrapping them around her fists again.
"No, you're a reader who promised to become the first reader of my novel."
At the end of her words, Stories exploded out from her entire figure.
[Story, 'Predictive Plagiarism', has begun its storytelling!]
Tsu-chuchuchuchut!
The sentences written on the [Final Wall] began growing restless.
[Incarnation, 'Han Sooyoung', is activating her attribute!]
"Even if there are lots of tragedies in the world, a sad thing is still sad, you dumbass!"
The moment Han Sooyoung slammed down on the floor, a portion of Story clinging onto the [Final Wall] tumbled down.
The Dokkaebi King's eyes grew wider. […The Wall, you dare…!]
He couldn't finish what he wanted to say.
Because someone's hand broke past the gap of the Wall where the Stories had fallen down. It was a smooth, pale-skinned hand. A hand of a certain someone who was more righteous and stronger than anyone I knew.
"She's right. Sorrow is still sorrow. Just like how happiness is still happiness."
[The 'Wall that Decides Samsara' is distorting the gap in the 'Final Wall'.]
Yoo Sangah and her refreshing smile was escaping from the wall. Shin Yoosung and Lee Gilyoung sticking close to her side could be seen, as well.
"Ahjussi!"
"Hyung!"
The rift Yoo Sangah created spread out wider and wider, and eventually, even reached the wall on the other side. And the voices of people I knew well could be heard coming from beyond that wall.
[The 'Wall of Impossible Communication' is raising the volume of the inaudible voice.]
"De-mon-King-of-Sal-va-tion!!"
It was Jang Hayoung's voice. Along with crumbling noises, something small popped out from the opposite wall's gap. It was Kyrgios.
"You pathetic fool. Did you get swallowed by a measly little Story?"
Soon afterwards, noises akin to a bulldozer flattening the ground resounded out as a man-sized hole appeared in that gap.
[The 'Wall that Decides Good and Evil' is re-establishing the boundary between Good and Evil!]
"Dokja-ssi! We came to find you!"
It was Lee Hyunsung and Jung Heewon.
The gap where my companions popped out rapidly recovered. Stories recorded on the [Final Wall] were quickly filling it up. And the stories of the stars began streaming again above the Wall.
"Dokja-ssi? Just what is…?"
"Hyunsung-ssi!! Over there!"
Jung Heewon's voice prompted all my companions to look at the [Final Wall].
Stories of the Constellations still fighting inside the closed-off cabin was being displayed there.
It was a hellish landscape where the dead easily outnumbered the living. Uriel was kneeling down, and the Abyssal Black Flame Dragon was collapsing. The Great Sage was fighting right until the very end to protect them.
⸢[Stand up, maknae's story hasn't ended yet.]⸥
Sentences continued to just stream by.
At this rate, they would all die. Uriel, Abyssal Black Flame Dragon, even the Great Sage, they would all die.
While still being subjected to intense pain, I reached out towards them. Pain severe enough to almost completely take over my soul meant I couldn't speak nor use my true voice.
⸢St op it⸥
['The Fourth Wall' is speaking in your stead.]
⸢St op th at st ory fr om con ti nuing on⸥
Companions dashed towards the [Final Wall].
Even if I didn't say anything to them, they already knew what they needed to do. That story wasn't over yet. If only we could prevent the next sentences from being written…
Tsu-chuchuchuchu!
The violent aftermath's storm burned away at the companions. The Dokkaebi King's power was suppressing them. Despite that, they didn't stop. They endured against the blinding sparks dancing all over their bodies and walked forward a step at a time in their own paces.
[All Stories of <Kim Dokja's Company> refuse to be recorded on the 'Final Wall'!]
Stories we had created were speaking up now.
The 'Dokkaebi King' muttered as if he was replying to them. […I see. So, you still wish to carry on with the scenario, is that it?]
He then stared at me as if he was rather amused by this. The moment I met his gaze, goosebumps broke out all over my skin.
The 'Dokkaebi King' was the strongest existence in this world-line. No Myth-grade Constellation could ever contend with this creature. Everything within <Star Stream> was nothing more than some toys to him, after all.
With a single wave of his hand, the new scenario's contents floated on the [Final Wall].
[<Star Stream>'s Final Scenario is being reset!]
[<Star Stream>'s Final Scenario will be…]
CRAAACK!
The streaming sentence came to a sudden stop.
A single sword was stabbing into the spot where the sentence had been cut off. The aura containing the ominous power of Chaos was disrupting the order of the sentence.
And then, a new sentence was generated, instead.
⸢The sole existence who had seen the end of this world after wandering for the inordinate amount of time.⸥
The broken chains clanged in the empty air. Shadows from countless regression turns were overlapping on top of a certain black coat as if thousands of afterimages were gathering as one.
*
* Promotional illustration (semi-canonical)
Right at that moment, I realized that my judgement was wrong.
⸢There is. One person, who did.⸥
A being who had already killed the 'Dokkaebi King' before.
[Story, 'Hell of Eternity', has begun its storytelling!]