My consciousness kept trying to blank out.
⸢What would it be like if the ‘Ways of Survival’ was real?⸥
Whether that was my own thoughts, or something that was recorded on the [Final Wall], or maybe even…
⸢If there was a world where I can fight alongside the characters from the ‘Ways of Survival’….⸥
….The imaginations of the ‘Most Ancient Dream’, I couldn’t be sure.
Countless memories rushed in like a sudden incoming wave. Imaginations that unfolded in a messy cacophony became the fuel for the stories in another world. The living reality had become the ‘tragedy’.
⸢Wait, now that I think about it, what happens to the old world after Yu Jung-Hyeok regresses? ….I should ask the author-nim in the comment section.⸥
I always thought that I remembered the ‘Ways of Survival’ better than anyone else. I was proud that I had read the novel diligently, much more so than anyone else, too. So why couldn’t I recall much about ‘myself’ that read the novel?
Maybe, I was…
[You have become the ‘Character’.]
Sparks overflowed above my Incarnation Body. [The 4th Wall]’s functions were coming to a halt. My heart was madly pounding away, and unidentifiable screams reverberated within my devastated mind. My head faltered, and I somehow managed to suck in several deep breaths.
[The 4th Wall] was right. Maybe, I already knew.
There were simply too many hints.
⸢I was far too lucky in this world, and⸥
⸢Everything in this world seemed to be geared towards my convenience, and⸥
⸢At times, this world even felt sloppy.⸥
If all of these were the result of the ‘Most Ancient Dream’s blessing, then…
⸢The genesis of all the world-lines, the original world-line.⸥
I raised my head back up, then clenched my energyless fists slowly. [The 4th Wall] was no longer around, but my mind was calm. No, I had to believe that I was calm.
Only I knew the conclusion of this world.
Giiiii-iiing…
The [Unbreakable Faith] screeched out. I slowly walked forward.
The boy raised his head up from the notebook to look at me.
Tsu-chuchuchu!
“…..Uh??”
The boy’s eyes, that didn’t know anything.
I couldn’t avoid that gaze. Those were the eyes of a child who had no one to rely on in this world, somehow managing to carry on day by day.
The boy busy rubbing his eyes hard as if he saw phantoms, was looking at me.
⸢In order to destroy <Star Stream>, the ‘Most Ancient Dream’ must be stopped.⸥
I had made up my mind at the beginning of <Star Stream>, and even promised the ‘Secretive Plotter’. To eliminate the culprit of all these tragedies. And finally, that opportunity had come.
[‘Demon King Transformation’ is activating.]
Pitch-black wings spread out from the torn shoulder blades. The boy’s eyes looking at me widened.
“Ah, ah…??”
A voice that felt so ancient. Right, I used to possess such a voice in the past, didn’t I? I walked one step at a time towards such a child.
[‘Angel Transformation’ is activating.]
As the child’s face grew closer, I got to see so many other things. Such as the notebook the boy was scribbling on. There was a chart recording the power balance of the ‘Ways of Survival’; it was the very same chart that I compiled once upon a time.
Yu Jung-Hyeok, Yi Hyeon-Seong, Shin Yu-Seung, Yi Ji-Hye, Yi Seol-Hwa, Kim Nam-Woon, Anna Croft… Next to the densely packed names, their Stigmata and Skills were recorded. And finally, even the bruising on the back of the boy’s hand covering up his own untidy handwriting.
I knew the history this boy had survived, and the future he’d get to live out; what would happen to this child in the future, and what sort of misery lay in wait for him.
⸢All of those years, just how much of a meaning was in them?⸥
He’d get targetted by the school gang and suffer serious bullying.
He’d get abandoned by his relatives and start living alone far too soon. And wherever he went, he’d be pursued by the reporters hunting him down.
He’d make a mistake during the university entrance exam and end up in a third-rate school.
He’d get unlucky and pull the shortest straw during the boot camp, and get assigned to the front lines.
He’d fill himself up everyday with triangular-shaped kimbap bought from the local convenience store.
And eventually, stumble into a job with some no-name company by the skin of his teeth and eke out a living that way.
During the period of ten years, he’d get to finish reading a certain novel, and after surviving by reading that novel, he’d drive everyone he loved to utter misery.
That boy would grow up to become Kim Dok-Ja.
“M-monster…”
The child was opening his mouth while looking at me.
“That’s right, I’m a monster.”
My appearance was reflected on the boy’s irises.
⸢That monster was this child’s future.⸥
Now was the only chance to stop that monster.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye. Me, trying to rush forward with my sword raised up, and Han Su-Yeong’s fist striking me in the face, all of them.
“—-!!”
I couldn’t really hear her voice. She was shouting something at me. Her reddened eyes were filled with tears. Her fists were pounding down on my chest, before her rough hands tried to hold onto my shoulders.
“…Dok-Ja!!”
I shoved her away. And then, took another step forward. Even though the distance was only a few metres, I couldn’t easily cross it. All of my Fables were rebelling against me.
Powerful sparks enveloping my entire frame suppressed me. My feet didn’t want to leave the floor, and my hands refused to move.
The child’s expression as he looked at me was one of terror. His chin trembled nonstop, so did his eyes. Those eyes, trying to decipher whether this was reality or not.
[The ‘Most Ancient Dream’ is questioning your existence.]
The existence that dreamed of all these worlds. And in his dream, I too was nothing more than just another character.
Tsu-chuchuchuchut!
[The ‘Most Ancient Dream’ is denying your existence.]
As if he wanted to reject reality, the child hugged his head and curled up. “I, I’m, I’m Yu Jung-Hyeok….. I’m…..”
The chant that had been recited tens of thousands of times.
⸢There is a protective barrier around me.⸥
⸢Nobody can harm me.⸥
⸢Nothing can touch me.⸥
The thoughts he used to escape from the pain when the gangs beat him up, began leaking out. The power that rendered reality into not-reality.
And that power was now being applied in the opposite manner.
“Ahjus-!!”
This really small but absolute being was now thinking of everything before him as his own delusions. An opaque barrier was generating with the child’s figure as its centre, resembling a pitch-black sphere. It was the sturdiest protective barrier that the ‘Most Ancient Dream’ could create.
I cried out like a devil and rushed towards the barrier to swing my sword. As the worlds collided, a blindingly-bright explosion of light went off.
The blade of the [Unbreakable Faith] easily broke apart and flew in the air. I stared helplessly at the flying blade piece.
⸢I can’t kill him.⸥
It was impossible for a way to kill him to exist. If this story began from the dream of the younger me, then the rules of this world were thought up by him, too.
Winds powerfully blowing in from somewhere roughly flipped the pages of the child’s fallen notebook. When the flipping stopped, the setting of the ‘Ways of Survival’ the younger me jotted down could be seen on the page.
– The Disconnected Film Theory: a theory that explains the overlapping of the world-lines in the Ways of Survival, and it…
As the sparks faintly danced about, I dazedly read the contents. I read it, and then, read it some more. I bent down to pick up the broken blade. Then, opened up all the Fables still remaining in me.
I stared at the black sphere surrounding the boy and spoke up. “….I know you better than anyone in this world.”
⸢Don’ttormentmeDon’ttormentmeDon’ttormentme⸥
“I’m not trying to torment you.”
⸢I want to run away.⸥
“I know.
⸢But, where to?⸥
The child’s story was transmitted to me, while mine also was transmitted to him.
Tsu-chuchuchut!
There were less than two hand spans of broken blade remaining in the [Unbreakable Faith]. However, that was sufficient enough to carry out my plan.
⸢The method to end the ‘Most Ancient Dream’.⸥
[The ‘Disconnected Film Theory’ is activating!]
[Your existence is resonating with the ‘Most Ancient Dream’!]
I then stabbed the blade into my neck with every ounce of my energy.
The loud ‘Puh-wook!’ noise resounded out. Crimson blood dripped onto the floor like teardrops.
“Kim Dok-Ja.”
The blood belonged to Yu Jung-Hyeok. The blade was stopped mid-air right before my neck, unable to move an inch. Blue veins were bulging on Yu Jung-Hyeok’s hand holding the blade tightly.
“All of you, hold him down!!”
It wasn’t just Yu Jung-Hyeok, though – someone had grabbed me from behind to suppress me.
“Dok-Ja-ssi, this is wrong!”
It was Yi Hyeon-Seong.
Both of my arms were grabbed, too. Jeong Hui-Won and Yu Sang-Ah were responsible.
“….Please, stop!”
“There must be another way. There has to be.”
Yi Ji-Hye was hugging my waist, while I could see Shin Yu-Seung and Yi Gil-Yeong holding onto each of my legs.
And then, I saw Han Su-Yeong pounding on the barrier of the ‘Most Ancient Dream’ in my stead. “Open up! We didn’t come here to harm you! We just want to talk to you for a bit….!”
Even then, the barrier was only getting thicker. I knew the truth; that thing would never open up.
I held the sword’s hilt even harder. “This is the only way.”
Jang Ha-Yeong shouted out. “Please, please stop!! There’s still time! We still have….!”
No, we didn’t have time. The longer we wasted here, the harsher and heavier the sparks surrounding us became.
[The ‘Most Ancient Dream’ is denying your existence.]
The child would continue to ‘deny’ us. Then, he’d erase his delusions. He would turn the reality of another world into something that’s not reality.
That was why, the only one who could do this was…
Ku-gugugu….
Thick fog suddenly came in from somewhere, and I picked up on the ominous power of Chaos. Yu Jung-Hyeok’s expression as he held the blade became weird.
“Y-you bastard….”
As he staggered about, the pitch-black Fable leaked out from his mouth. That Fable gurgled out and travelled down his chin, hit the floor, and finally, formed the silhouette of a person.
The blade of the [Heaven Shaking Sword] gleamed between the jet-black coat; a man who only lived for this moment was standing there now.
⸢The Secretive Plotter.⸥
The being who had even forgotten about his real name after experiencing countless regression turns. The man who lived only for the purpose of revenge was here.
He glanced in my direction, before slowly approaching the protective barrier.
The ‘Secretive Plotter’ ignored the dancing sparks and walked forward. In that exact moment, the ‘Most Ancient Dream’s’ Fable came streaming into me.
⸢’I wanted to become like Yu Jung-Hyeok.’⸥
Goosebumps rose up on my arms gradually.
Why have I forgotten about the memories that ruled over my childhood?
⸢The protagonist stronger than anyone in this universe.⸥
It was obvious that the ‘Secretive Plotter’ wouldn’t be affected by the sparks. Just how many times have I thought about this within my imaginations continuing on like some kind of obsession?
⸢No human can control every type of imagination.⸥
Just how often have I recited that name every time bruises appeared on my arms and legs, and every time my lips burst open?
⸢And that’s why the most ideal person to end this dream had already been determined.⸥
My sword slowly slipped out of my grasp. From here onwards, it was no longer my job. I just couldn’t get in the way of this world’s most fair revenge.
“Secretive Plotter!!”
Han Su-Yeong cried out and ran towards him. So did Jeong Hui-Won, Yi Ji-Hye, and even the kids, too. As if they had realised what the horrible thing he was about to commit would be.
Unfortunately, my companions couldn’t approach him as if a transparent wall was blocking them. And only the ‘Secretive Plotter’ alone crossed the platform and reached the bench with the child sitting on it.
He wielded the sword loaded with the powers of [Breaking the Sky Energy] and sliced apart the pitch-black sphere. When he did, the child curling up like a new born baby curled up even further.
“I’m Yu Jung-Hyeok. I’m Yu Jung-Hyeok. I’m…..”
The child continued to tremble under the faint rays of light.
[[You are not Yu Jung-Hyeok.]]
The regressor who had forgotten about his name through the eternity of regressions. Such a man was now announcing his name.
“I am ‘Yu Jung-Hyeok’.”
<Episode 99. The most ancient dream (3)> Fin.
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