“Are you all finished with your preparations?”
It was a regular morning like any other. The air was clean and fresh, and the complexion on the companions’ faces wasn’t gloomy, either. If it weren’t for their current combat attire, I’d have totally believed that we were on our way to a picnic from their expressions alone.
⸢And that’s why Kim Dok-Ja was truly happy.⸥
“Preparations were done a while ago. Besides all that, it seems like you have something to say to us, Dok-Ja-ssi?”
When I snapped awake from my thoughts, I discovered Jeong Hui-Won pressing her face closer to me. As I momentarily remained at a loss with my lips bobbing a little, Yi Ji-Hye quickly butted in.
“I don’t want to hear it, though. He’s going to say some stuff about it’s too dangerous so we don’t have to go etc, etc, right?”
“Right. Since when was it not dangerous?”
“This time, it’s serious! It’ll really be dangerous~!….”
Yi Ji-Hye mildly raised her voice while mimicking my speech pattern.
Hang on a sec, since when did I ever speak like that….? I frowned deeply and opened my mouth. “No, that’s not it. This time really is….”
“See? I knew it. Cough up the 100 Coins, eonni.”
Jeong Hui-Won pushed the Coins to Yi Ji-Hye with a dejected face.
Han Su-Yeong watched this spectacle unfold and shook her head before addressing me. “You better start learning, man.”
“Learn what?”
“You can only make your companions promise you the same thing so many times. If you persist with this, what will they start thinking next? Ah, this guy, he thinks our pledge is some kind of a joke. He sees every promise we made is a pack of lies!”
“That wasn’t my intention at all. Everyone, I genuinely apologise if you misundersto….”
Having finished the hand-over of her 100 Coins to Yi Ji-Hye, Jeong Hui-Won suddenly asked a question. “By the way, what’s our plan this time? It looked like you were thinking up of one with Su-Yeong yesterday?”
“There isn’t one, actually.”
Perhaps finding my answer suspicions, she pressed her head closer once more. “Really?”
“It’ll be different from how things had been so far. Even I don’t know what will happen during the Final Scenario.”
“That’s weird. You aren’t hiding anything, right?”
“No, not at all.”
[Character ‘Jeong Hui-Won’ is activating ‘Lie Detection Lv.5’!]
[Your statement has been confirmed as a lie.]
“Wowsers, you now even lie with a straight face?”
….Just when did she learn [Lie Detection]? Dammit.
I hastily made my excuse. “It’s difficult to give you a detailed story right now. Things might change later if I tell you something, you see. Regardless of what the scenario is, please choose what you believe to be the right decision. If we succeed, we will be able to survive together.”
“And that ‘we’ also includes you, Dok-Ja-ssi?”
I quietly stared at Yu Sang-Ah before nodding my head.
“Yes.”
“And we can all live together in a big house with everyone?”
“That’s correct.”
“I haven’t even graduated yet, so everyone will come to my graduation ceremony, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Hyung! In that case, can we go to a PC Bang…?!”
“We can.”
[Character ‘Jeong Hui-Won’ is activating ‘Lie Detection Lv.5′!]
[Your statement has been confirmed as truth.]
Only then the hints of relief brushed past their expressions.
I took a look at their faces one at a time – Yu Sang-Ah, Jeong Hui-Won, Yi Hyeon-Seong, Yi Ji-Hye, Yi Gil-Yeong, Shin Yu-Seung, Yi Seol-Hwa, Gong Pil-Du, Jang Ha-Yeong, Han Su-Yeong…..
“If we’re done here, let’s get going.”
….And even Yu Jung-Hyeok, too.
Different stories existed for each individual. The stories that I hadn’t had the chance to finish reading yet.
“Let’s get going, ahjussi! We haven’t even entered the scenario yet, so there’s no need to make the heroic determination and stuff now, right?”
I agreed with Yi Ji-Hye’s opinion. The Final Scenario hadn’t even begun yet. I slowly breathed in and out deeply, and raised my head to find a portal appearing on a spot high up in the air.
[Portal leading to ’99th scenario’ has been generated!]
Bihyung had created that portal.
“Let’s go.”
We stepped through the portal. The surrounding view crumbled away in an instant, only to be resurrected just as quickly.
Behind us was the wide, expansive view of <Star Stream>, while the front was dominated by the sight of Dokkaebis waiting for us.
“Uh? Didn’t we come here before?”
Here was the ‘Gate of Star Stream’, the very last gateway that led to the final gate, and home to the <Bureau>, the headquarters of all Dokkaebis.
[<Kim Dok-Ja Company>, your entry qualification has been confirmed.]
“….It’s a straight pass this time.”
Dokkaebis didn’t bother with any complicated procedures and let us pass without a fuss.
[The absolute majority of Constellations are watching your entry into the ‘Final Scenario’!]
[Many Nebulas are envious of your collective achievements!]
I sensed the Constellations and Nebulas watching us from among the darkness of the universe.
[Constellations within the ‘Final Scenario’ are growing tense at <Kim Dok-Ja Company>’s entrance!]
[You and your Nebula have entered the Final Scenario’s location!]
When I opened my eyes again, I was treated to the sight of the galaxy swirling around in a vortex. Countless stars were continuously circulating around while generating auroras.
They were Final Scenario’s Constellations. Stars that had reached the ‘Myth-grade’ a long time ago, or those that were receiving the graces of such beings.
However, rather than approaching us, those stars remained circulating on the skies high above an ancient castle.
“Isn’t that….”
And beyond the massive, ancient castle where the stars were dancing around, was a wall so vast that we couldn’t even see its ends.
“Is that the ‘Final Wall’?”
I quietly stared at that wall.
It was as if that wall spread out within the entire landscape to arrogantly proclaim that this here was the end of this world-line.
⸢Everything within this world exists to be recorded on it.⸥
[‘King of Stories’ is now looking at you.]
[‘King of Stories’ has summoned you.]
I was greeted by this jolting sensation that caused all the hair on my body to stand up. I could definitely sense it; a creature that moved the ginormous Fable called <Star Stream> was waiting by the centre of that ‘wall’.
My companions must’ve sensed it too, since they all looked tense.
Only Yu Jung-Hyeok maintained that preternaturally calm expression of his. “I don’t see any Constellations.”
It was as he said; although we could see the stars spinning around in the skies, not a single Constellation was walking around in their incarnated form. It was as if they knew we were coming so they had all run off to somewhere.
It was the Great Dokkaebis welcoming us, instead.
[Great Dokkaebi ‘Heoche’ is incarnating into the scenario!]
[Great Dokkaebi ‘Harong’ is incarnating into the scenario!]
[Great Dokkaebi ‘Haram’ is incarnating into the scenario!]
[Great Dokkaebi ‘Horong’ is incarnating into the scenario!]
[Great Dokkaebi ‘Noksu’ is incarnating into the scenario!]
When Dokkaebis possessing mighty Statuses appeared all at once, even I couldn’t help but feel the oppressive weight from their combined aura.
[You’ve come, <Kim Dok-Ja Company>.]
The Great Dokkaebi Heoche, the dude who intruded upon the <Great War of Saints and Demons> in order to recruit us, spoke up. He continued on with eyes of disdain squarely locked on us.
[You have all earned the qualifications of the ‘Final Scenario’. Since there is no need to test you, it’ll be fine to simply enter the ‘Ark’. A detailed explanation will be provided afterwards.]
“….The Ark?”
Even before my question could end, a loud, visceral boom resounded out from the centre of the ancient castle. Its middle section opened up, and something began rising up from the castle’s foundation.
⸢And it was a massive ship.⸥
The moment I saw that ship, deja vu brushed past my brain.
⸢It was the ship first seen during the Great War of Saints and Demons.⸥
Indeed, its shape was of the vessel that saved us during the <Great War of Saints and Demons>. It looked uncannily similar to the <Eden>’s Ark that evacuated us away from the fierce battle between the Apocalypse Dragon and the Indescribable Distance.
The only difference being, this one was much, much bigger and sturdier-looking than the Ark from that time. Its hull, seemingly carved out from the broken fragment of the wall, emitted both the contrasting white and dark rays of light.
Great Dokkaebi Heoche continued on as he looked at that hull.
[Originally, this world-line was earmarked as the ‘Final World-line’. However, things started becoming distorted during the process, and the world-line’s distortion is now well beyond salvageable. The Conclusion of this world can’t unlock the ‘Final Wall’. Meaning, the epic tale that could satisfy the ‘Most Ancient Dream’ cannot be completed anymore.]
“What rubbish are you talking about??”
[You all shall become the ‘seeds’.]
The seeds. I had heard of that term even back in the ‘Ways of Survival’. A term that denoted all the candidates of the ‘One Single Fable’.
Violent sparks intermittently exploded in the distant darkness of the universe; they were ominous noises that seemed to imply the end of the distorted world-line.
A portion of stars got sucked into those deafening booms and were scattered away in flames before falling to the ground as shooting stars.
The Dokkaebi continued on while looking at the falling stars.
[Think of it as a great honour. It was the will of the ‘King of Stories’ that you were chosen as the ‘seeds’ when you are responsible for ruining this world-line. You shall ride on the ‘Ark’ and move onto a new world-line. And you shall be reborn as the core ‘Fable’ that will become the next worldview. Just like how those crossing over from the previous world have done.]
Only then did the things he was saying make sense. Basically, he was telling us to escape from this world.
“You… Are you really going to give up on this world that easily? You want to abandon this world-line and leave with everyone here? You think such a suggestion even makes sense???”
[Surely, there’s no need to be that surprised? It shouldn’t be such a bad suggestion for you people, too. Your goal is to reach the conclusion where ‘no one has been sacrificed’, isn’t it?]
For a moment there, I became speechless.
[You have succeeded, ‘Demon King of Salvation’. You and your companions can now leave this world-line and survive together.]
Explosion noises, mixed in with cracking thunderclaps, reverberated from the other side of the distant sky. It was the noise of the Probability the <Bureau> had been protecting crumbling away.
As I heard those noises, I belatedly began to understand several things.
Such as, why there were no Constellations to be seen nearby; or, how could the <Bureau> possess such a powerful influence even from the very start of the worlds.
“….Just how many times have you been repeating this?”
[Is that really important?]
“What happens to those who can’t ride on the Ark? Those who didn’t get selected – what will happen to them?”
[You probably have guessed it already without asking us.]
Heoche used his chin to point behind us. That’s where the [Turtle Dragon] Yi Ji-Hye had summoned earlier just in case was. And on top of that ship’s deck, four sealing spheres emitting sparkling light could be seen – the Outer Gods, including the ‘Secretive Plotter’.
I stared at the characters from the original novel, currently sleeping within the spheres. Those that got excluded by the scenarios would either die or become Outer Gods, instead.
[New Main Scenario has arrived!]
+
<Main Scenario #99 – Escape>
Type: Main
Difficulty: ??
Clear condition: Enter the ‘Ark’ together with the comrades from your Nebula.
Time limit: 2 hours
Reward: You can cross over to a different world-line by riding on the ‘Ark’. Your ‘Fable’ will start anew in that place, and the Fables you have compiled so far will be recorded on <Star Stream>’s ‘Final Wall’ to be passed down for all eternity.
Failure: You will remain in the world being destroyed and die.
+
<Episode 92. Final Scenario (4)> Fin.
