Yu Jung-Hyeok’s massive announcement caused the crowd to go silent.
The movers of the alliances, not won over by his speech, continued to exchange knowing glances with each other, but the crowd was no longer within their ability to control.
“Conquering King….”
Someone softly muttered. Soon after that, reporters began dreaming up of potential headlines all on their own.
⸢Conquering King Yu Jung-Hyeok, declares his desperate resistance!⸥
⸢<Kim Dok-Ja Company>’s joint top representative Yu Jung-Hyeok, “won’t give up on the scenario till the end.”⸥
Incarnations who heard about him being a regressor seemed to be even more excited than ever before. Some shouted out loudly, and the [Industrial Complex] was immediately filled up with the roars of cheering.
“Conquering King Yu Jung-Hyeok!”
“Yu Jung-Hyeok!! Yu Jung-Hyeok!”
Everyone was now chanting his name.
Even those making snide remarks against <Kim Dok-Ja Company> earlier had been swept up in the flow and were staring at him now.
Things wouldn’t suddenly improve with this, but at a bare minimum, the foundation had been laid today. The ‘world after the scenarios’ should now form with Yu Jung-Hyeok as its centre.
Even if I said the exact same things, I wouldn’t receive a similar level of cheering. Probably.
Han Su-Yeong finally released my collars and while looking in Yu Jung-Hyeok’s direction, opened her mouth. “If only he acts like that every day.”
I agreed with her. However, that was his personality, so…
Now that it got going, the chanting showed no sign of stopping any time soon. The cheering that began with Yu Jung-Hyeok’s name soon moved onto Jeong Hui-Won, then Yi Hyeon-Seong, and even over to Yi Ji-Hye.
And as every name except the ‘Demon King of Salvation’ was being chanted out, my companions shifted their gaze in my direction, looking clearly uncomfortable. I waved my hand at them to indicate that it was alright. They deserved to be cheered on, anyway.
Eventually, the chanting reached Han Su-Yeong’s name, too.
“Black Flame Demon Empress, Han Su-Yeong!!”
The crowd in the audience gallery was now searching for Han Su-Yeong hiding behind the stage.
I spoke to her. “It’s your turn. Go ahead.”
But she shook her head, instead. “I hate stuff like that.”
“I thought you liked being the centre of attention? Was I wrong?”
“That’s as a writer, not as Han Su-Yeong, you know.”
While lightly tapping on the ground with her heel, she lowered her gaze and frowned a little. When she didn’t show up, the chanting naturally shifted over to Shin Yu-Seung’s name.
The companions waving their hands on the venue as seen beyond the curtains came across as famous movie stars in my eyes.
[Korean Peninsula’s Constellations are proud of <Kim Dok-Ja Company>!]
While watching them carry on, I spoke up as if to voice my thoughts. “Han Su-Yeong?”
“What is it?”
“If this world was a novel, which volume do you think we are in right now?”
She seemed to ponder this quandary for a bit before making her reply. “Not sure. Depends on who wrote it, I guess.”
But, of course.
Some might write a whole book out of what had happened during a single day, but some would condense everything that happened in 100 years into a single sentence.
Han Su-Yeong continued on. “If it was me, we should be past at least the 20th volume.”
“….That’s a lot.”
“It should be. Lots of things happened, right?”
Indeed, lots. Without a doubt, it had been a long journey.
If it was twenty volumes-long, then just from the quantity alone, this book should be on the scale of a proper epic.
Dusk was settling in from the skies above the conference venue. Not sure why, but it felt as if the sun was setting much sooner than usual today.
Han Su-Yeong spoke as if she understood how I felt. “But then again, there are some people who can read all twenty volumes in one sitting, you see.”
Suddenly, a corner of my chest grew cold.
I wanted to ask her – have I been reading every story that I found at a suitable pace?
Could I say that I’ve read the stories of everyone precious to me thoroughly and didn’t miss a single thing?
“Kim Dok-Ja.”
“What is it?”
“You may not be this world’s protagonist nor a really cool side character.”
“…”
“However, you have read it with all of your heart. I know that.”
I didn’t know what to say.
“And everyone you’ve read, they are standing there now.”
Han Su-Yeong looked at the people by the press conference venue.
I too stared at them. Comrades I cared about were standing on a spot almost within reach, just beyond the curtains.
They existed beyond the curtains, alive and moving.
Yu Jung-Hyeok glaring at the crowd, Jeong Hui-Won grinning back at them, Yi Ji-Hye jumping up and down in fluster, Shin Yu-Seung waving her hand towards me…
Someone had written their stories. And I had read them.
Every story started off from there.
While waving my hand back at Shin Yu-Seung, I opened my mouth.
“Tomorrow morning, we leave for the Final Scenario’s location.”
*
After the press conference came to an end, the companions gathered in the reception room.
Jeong Hui-Won massaged her shoulder while looking at the rebroadcast of the conference.
“Eii… Cameras just aren’t my friends, it seems.”
It wasn’t just the Korean Peninsula, but the entire <Star Stream> was set abuzz by the <Kim Dok-Ja Company>’s press conference.
– I have no thoughts of saving you.
Jeong Hui-Won tutted after watching Kim Dok-Ja and his bright face making that declaration within the display panel. “Seriously, though. He can’t help himself with things people will hate him for.”
“Still, doesn’t he look more presentable now that his face has been fixed up properly?”
Yi Seol-Hwa, in charge of Kim Dok-Ja’s make-up, nodded her head in satisfaction.
Yi Ji-Hye added something else. “Now that I think about it, doesn’t Dok-Ja ahjussi’s features come across a bit manlier now? I mean, he used to be on the paler side, and kinda felt like a piece of stretched dough, you know?”
“Uht? I was thinking the same, too.”
A few among them nodded their heads in agreement.
For sure, Kim Dok-Ja of now had changed a lot compared to when they first met him. It wasn’t just the impression he gave off, either.
Jeong Hui-Won muttered as if she was recalling the distant past. “Honestly, I thought he was a bit of slick-tongued miser the first time I saw him.”
Just how different was Kim Dok-Ja of the first scenario to that of a man about to face the Final Scenario?
While listening to others chat on, Jeong Hui-Won stared at Kim Dok-Ja’s face in the screen – at his eyes, sparkling when he was reading the prepared script, or the corners of his lips that moved mysteriously when he smirked.
Every little thing like that was serving as proof that he definitely exited in that place.
While feeling those expressions loom closer than before, Jeong Hui-Won began pondering Kim Dok-Ja’s Fables. Could it be possible that the Fables they had created together was changing him just a little? If so, that would be nice. What if their story had changed him like how he had changed them?
“By the way, where is Dok-Ja-ssi?”
“I think he’s making preparations for the Final Scenario.”
“Wait, that ahjussi isn’t cooking up yet another weird thing all by himself, right?”
Yi Ji-Hye’s words caused a flitting shadow to cast over everyone’s expression.
The person who lifted the mood up was the smiling Yu Sang-Ah hugging the two kids with both of her arms. “He promised not to do that, so let us believe in him.”
Kim Dok-Ja inside the screen was busy saying something only to be subjected to a barrage of insults. Jeong Hui-Won watched that for a long time before placing her hand on the panel. She felt this lukewarm sensation.
“…..Can I really trust him?”
She whispered in a really quiet voice, yet everyone present caught that. Even then, no one among the group looked at her strangely.
Shin Yu-Seung muttered out. “Ahjussi’s skin looks so nice.”
They thought that they had grown closer to him by now, yet Kim Dok-Ja’s face seemed as distant as ever.
*
Throughout the night, I had been thinking about the Final Scenario.
I read the excerpts taken from the ‘Ways of Survival’ that I found essential, and also spoke to Han Su-Yeong through [Midday Tryst] as well. It was to use her [Predictive Plagiarism] to predict what might happen to us in the future. When I thought that alone wasn’t going to be enough, I exchanged opinions with the ‘Secretive Plotter’ through Yu Jung-Hyeok.
Unfortunately, it was as if the Plotter was trying to be as obtuse as possible when it came to the matter of Conclusion.
[[The path you’re about to walk on hasn’t been trodden by anyone. Taking cues from other world-lines could become poison for the current you, instead.]]
Since I understood what he was saying here, I decided not to query him any further.
“What about Anna Croft?”
“She has withdrawn from the Peninsula along with ‘Zarathustras’ yesterday.”
It’d been nice to get the help from her ‘Precognition’, but unfortunately, I seemed to have lost that chance.
Swiiiish!
The blade of the [Dark Heavenly Demon Sword] scythed past the air. About a dozen or so steps away, Yu Jung-Hyeok was currently focused on his training. He seemed to be swinging in the exact same pose as before, yet he treated every and each movement with care as if they contained profound meanings. Maybe it was possible for him to repeat all those lives because he was capable of doing something like that.
“Goddammit. What kind of a crappy development is this….”
Han Su-Yeong was also racking her brain trying to guess how the Final Scenario might unfold. However, even she seemed to be stuck, going nowhere fast.
Even if her [Predictive Plagiarism] was powerful, it wasn’t truly omniscient. If that was the case, the 1863rd turn’s Han Su-Yeong wouldn’t have run into so much trouble.
I studied her for a little while before switching on my smartphone. Files appeared on the screen – from the original version of the ‘Ways of Survival’, to its final revised version.
– Three Ways to Survive a Ruined World (final revision).txt
I quietly stared at that file for a long time, before turning the phone off. I didn’t want to break the resolution I had been sticking to until now.
⸢Kim Dok Ja.⸥
I raised my head as [the 4th Wall] called out to me.
‘What’s up?’
⸢Ha ving a ha rd ti me?⸥
I smirked a little at that unexpected line of text.
I had forgotten about this guy. The one who had stayed the longest with me so far was probably this ‘wall’, wasn’t it?
‘It’s fine. I have you.’
It was all thanks to [The 4th Wall] that I managed to come this far.
If this guy didn’t alleviate my mental shock during the first scenario, and if it didn’t mitigate the physical pain I suffered during the countless life-threatening situations, then I’d have ended up as the wandering ghost of the scenarios a long time ago.
Tsu-chut, chuchuchut.
Sparks danced in the air reminiscent of a small child’s figure excitedly quivering about. For a very brief moment there, I thought I saw a triumphant face of a little kid above the dancing sparks.
⸢Eh hem, you wa nna see yo ur att rib ute win dow?⸥
This guy, does he think I want to see the attribute window every time I have a chance?
‘Nah, it’s fine. I don’t need it right now.’
Seeing it might help me out. However, there was something else even more important than that right now.
‘Actually, there’s something I’m even more curious about.’
⸢Wh at is it?⸥
It was a question I should’ve asked a long time ago. However, since I couldn’t get any straight answers to begin with, I ended up coming up with all sorts of theories by myself concerning this very question.
‘Just why is the ‘Final Wall’ exactly?’
[The 4th Wall] remained silent for a bit. I began thinking that it might try to change the topic or filtering might get thrown in my face here. Just how long passed by like that?
⸢It’s a wa ll wh ere every st ory is writt en on.⸥
….Was it because the ‘Final Scenario’ was literally around the corner?
Although the answer remained just as puzzling, it seemed that [The 4th Wall] didn’t want to hide the information anymore. So, I asked again.
‘Let me change the question. What are you exactly? And why do the fragments of the Wall exist?’
⸢Gu ard ing the pre cious themes, th at is the Wall’s du ty.⸥
Suddenly, I thought of something. The ‘Wall of Impossible Communication’ Jang Ha-Yeong possessed – when I thought about it, it wasn’t just her, was it?
The important individuals from the ‘Ways of Survival’ all possessed similar walls. Sakyamuni possessed the ‘Wall of Samsara’, while Agares and Metatron possessed the ‘Wall that Divides Good and Evil’.
⸢Be cau se, the re is more th an one theme.⸥
⸢A Fa ble is a col lec tion of ma ny sto ries.⸥
[The 4th Wall] was a fragment of the ‘Final Wall’. And the ‘fragment’ meant that it could potentially be slotted back in its original position.
In that moment I felt clarity wash over me. If it was as I suspected – if this ‘Wall’ was the existence protecting the ‘Fable’, then….
Tsu-chuchuchu….
[The 4th Wall]’s figure seemed to waver before my eyes in the air. Then, a library filled with countless bookshelves seemed to glimmer beyond it. I reached out into the air, causing the texts from the books to scatter away.
What replaced them, though, was an incredibly ancient and worn-down wall. This thing that reminded me of a prehistoric cave wall, was the ‘First Wall’.
I extended my hand towards this wall that protected me from the cold, the pain, and from various trauma.
From ancient times, walls were created to protect something.
⸢You mu st pre pare the last Fa ble, Kim Dok Ja.⸥
And starting from an unknown era, humans began writing something on that wall.
That eventually became the Fable.
⸢You are its last.⸥
<Episode 92. Final Scenario (3)> Fin.
