Rain poured down on Gwanghwamun Square. The streets were near ruins thanks to the monsters. The collapsed media logos were broken and trampled on. The King Sejong the Great and Yi Sunshin statues that were the symbols of Gwanghwamun were completely destroyed.
“Ah…”
The civilization that Seoul boasted had collapsed and the culture was lost. There was only one story left but none of the people in Gwanghwamun wanted this story.
Lee Jihye opened her mouth as she watched some of the Hwarang digging at the ground. “…Is he really dead?”
Nobody answered her. The reasons for not responding were different. Jung Heewon, Lee Hyunsung, Lee Gilyoung, Shin Yoosung…
They had their own thoughts but none of them spoke. Perhaps their thoughts were wrong. Perhaps… they were afraid it was right.
“No… Really?”
Kim Dokja’s body was discovered around an hour after the end of the eighth scenario.
“Ahjussi! Wake up! Is this a joke?”
The cause of death was excessive blood loss. At first, everyone was confused. Kim Dokja, who hadn’t been seen throughout the entire situation, suddenly died.
Still, the party members waited without much panic. This situation had happened a few times. The first time they hunted the fire dragon and when facing the Disaster of Floods. Kim Dokja always survived death.
Thus, they waited this time. He would rise again as usual and give the party members his distinctive smile. He would tell some timid jokes.
However, Kim Dokja didn’t rise again. One hour passed and then two. Finally, one day passed. It was the same when the second night arrived.
Kim Dokja didn’t resurrect. His body was cold.
It was Min Jiwon who encouraged the members by making a coffin.
“…He was the strongest in Seoul.”
She started doing what no one else could do. She knew Kim Dokja but she could do it because her relationship with Kim Dokja was light.
Min Jiwon spoke of Kim Dokja’s sacrifice. She spread the story of the man who chose to die quietly while everyone was enthusiastically watching the battle between the strongest people.
Everyone called Kim Dokja by different nicknames. In fact, when the dokkaebi had named the strongest incarnation, people thought of different nicknames.
King of a Kingless World.
The lonely Messiah.
The Ugliest King…
The words were different but the direction they converged was all the same. The strongest person in Seoul Dome was Kim Dokja and Kim Dokja died for Seoul.
Seoul was saved by Kim Dokja. A savior died in a place that no one knew.
Min Jiwon made a coffin for this Kim Dokja. People watched Kim Dokja’s body being laid in the coffin and held back tears. Some people were confused by who he was while some people sighed after belatedly hearing the story.
Meanwhile, Shin Yoosung was crying. “Ahjussi…”
“Yoosung.” Jung Heewon pulled Shin Yoosung away from the coffin. Lee Hyunsung still had a confused expression while Lee Gilyoung’s face was blank, as if he was fleeing reality.
“Dokja hyung isn’t dead.”
Finally, Lee Jihye screamed, “…Where did Master go?”
“…”
“Master can save Ahjussi! Where is Seolhwa unni?”
However, Yoo Jonghyuk wasn’t here to hear the blame. Eventually, Lee Jihye also started crying. “Ahjussi…”
They had to admit it, even if they didn’t want to. Kim Dokja was dead and he wouldn’t resurrect again.
[The new main scenario will start soon.]
They now had to live in a world without Kim Dokja.
***
「They now had to live in a world without Kim Dokja. 」
If it was Ways of Survival then this sentence would’ve been written.
“Well, don’t mourn for me.”
I wanted to shout but my voice didn’t come out. It was because I was in a state where my vocal cords weren’t formed. It was comforting to be able to observe the situation was a ‘third party observer’ whenever my mental power was restored.
It would be nice if I could use ‘first person’s viewpoint’ but it wasn’t working right now after being overloaded by Yoo Jonghyuk.
[Excessive immersion has restricted the use of ‘first person viewpoint.’]
The coffin was covered in dirt and some people shouted,
“The Ugliest King!”
Shit. Did the dokkaebis attach the nickname ‘the Ugliest King’ to me? It must be that bastard Bihyung.
I felt stranger when I saw Shin Yoosung crying and throwing flowers onto my grave. The party members were now convinced that I was dead. I watched as they attended my funeral. I was probably the only one like this.
“Haaaaaah!”
Lee Gilyoung was weeping and had a runny nose as he ran towards the coffin half covered in dirt. Lee Jihye was also the same.
“Ahjussiiiii―!”
She was normally a child who acted angrily towards me so I was touched. It would be a funny scene if I woke up in the coffin right now.
However, I couldn’t do that. It was because I was currently in the so-called ‘cooldown’ time.
[The privilege of ‘Eight Lives’ has been activated.]
The resurrection itself was nothing to worry about. I had the attribute Eight Lives that I obtained from Peace Land after giving up King of No Killing. This attribute could be obtained only by drinking the soul and flesh of Yamata no Orochi, literally providing the person with eight lives.
[The first head of the snake has been sacrificed.]
[The power of this head is Wary Person.]
Different types of abilities slept in Yamata no Orochi’s heads and after resurrection, I could get a blessing related to the ability. This wasn’t bad at all. The problem was that unlike King of No Killing, there was a waiting time with this privilege.
[72 hours of waiting time are required before the resurrection.]
[Time remaining: 24:07:12]
I still had one more day to go and it was time for the next scenario to start. I watched my funeral a bit more before changing my point of view. I couldn’t resurrect yet so I felt sorry to watch it any longer.
[Changing the person observed with ‘third person viewpoint.’]
Then a new screen popped up. It was a basement with antique finishes. A man and woman were there.
“…Yoo Jonghyuk-ssi?” The woman was naturally Yoo Sangah. Needless to say, it was Yoo Jonghyuk who released her from where she had been tied up. It was the last favour I asked before leaving his body.
Yoo Sangah asked, “What happened to Dokja-ssi?”
“Kim Dokja is dead.”
Yoo Sangah looked like the world had collapsed at Yoo Jonghyuk’s blunt declaration. I frowned slightly when I saw this expression. The 28 year old Kim Dokja’s life wasn’t that bad.
“However, he will live again.”
“…Live again? How?”
“I don’t know. I just know he won’t die like that.”
Well, Yoo Jonghyuk had seen me resurrecting in the past. He would surely believe that I would rise again eventually.
“…No, he must live.”
Then why was he clenching his fist so much? Yoo Jonghyuk was silent for a moment before speaking to Yoo Sangah, who was in shock.
“Where is Kim Dokja’s family member?”
The remark surprised me. This bastard, why was he doing something I didn’t ask him to do? Yoo Sangah’s face changed at the world ‘family member.’ She seemed to have something urgent to say.
“His mother is…”
Unfortunately, at this moment, the screen was turned off and a message was heard.
[Your mental power is exhausted.]
[Exclusive skill, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint stage 3 has been turned off.]
This was the bad thing about a soul body. The recovery of exhausted mental power was slow. It was natural since there wasn’t a physical body. A soul without a body was like a battery that lost one electrode. The longer the period without a body, the more exhausted the mind became. It was the reason why ghosts went crazy.
‘Did Nirvana kill my mother?’
I had to keep asking questions in order to keep from going crazy.
‘It can’t be.’
This was my mother, not someone else. Nirvana also wasn’t a character who easily killed or tortured others. Nirvana was a gentleman when acting as the Salvation leader.
However, there were the last words that Nirvana spoke. He said that my mother had a secret she kept from me. A secret that my mother was hiding from me? I couldn’t get a grip of it at all, no matter how hard I thought.
…I didn’t know. No, maybe I didn’t want to know.
Then an indirect message was heard.
[The constellation ‘Master of Abydos’ is calling your soul.]
I hadn’t heard any indirect messages for a while so I was a bit confused.
…Master of Abydos? I pondered over the contents of Ways of Survival. If I remembered correctly, Abydos was the capital of Ancient Egypt.
[The nebula ‘Papyrus’ wants to offer you the ‘story of resurrection.’]
Oh, look at this? Papyrus was the nebula for Egyptian mythology.
[The constellation ‘Scribe of Heaven’ is calling your soul.]
Eh? Metatron? As soon as I thought about it, the next message appeared.
[The nebula ‘Eden’ wants to lead you down Messiah’s Path.]
The story of resurrection, Messiah…?
[The constellation ‘God of Wine and Ecstasy’ wants to take you away from the lower constellations.]
[The nebula ‘Olympus’ will set the stage for you.]
…What was this?
[The constellation ‘Master of December 25th’ is calling you.]
[The nebula ‘Vedas’ will present you with the ‘holiday of resurrection’.]
[The constellation ‘Flower Blossom of Seocheon Flower Fields ‘ is calling your soul.] (An important place in Korean mythology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igong_Bonpuri#Field_of_Seocheon_in_other_myths)
[The nebula ‘Tamna’ wants you.]
From Indian mythology to Korean mythology? Many more indirect messages were pouring in. From huge nebulas to small nebulas, they all sent me love calls.
I could tell what these constellations were thinking. They were trying to cover me with their myths?
[Some constellations are facing each other.]
[Some constellations are giving warnings not to steal someone else’s myths.]
Dionysus, Mitra, Hallakgungi…
The constellations calling me were all involved in resurrection.
[The constellation are having a battle of nerves over your resurrection.]
In other words, these guys were trying to step into my narrative. All stories were enhanced through being circulated. The more that humans told the story and passed them on, the stronger the influence of the stories.
What if one day, the person called ‘Kim Dokja’ was resurrected after three days and shouted the following words,
“I am Kim Dokja! I received the blessing of Christ!”
It didn’t matter if Christ was replaced by Dionysus, Mitra or someone else. People would be amazed and a myth would be reproduced on the spot.
The amazed incarnations would spread the story and the power of the story would exceed imagination. As a result, the nebula related to the story would have more power to intervene in the probability.
In other words, the nebula were in a frenzy because of this. I had the power to control the scenarios.
[The constellations of the Korean Peninsula are paying attention to your choice.]
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