「 Kim Dokja thought: I don’t know if people are doing well. 」
I wondered if I could see the story of Earth again on the screen but there was nothing to be seen. It wasn’t easy for the wenny people to easily steal the videos of the dokkaebis.
Night was fast approaching. I hadn’t sleep well for a few days but the condition of my body wasn’t bad because Aileen had repaired my stories.
“I have temporarily fixed it but you need to be careful with outside activities. Don’t you know? You are still outside the main scenario.”
“You sound like a doctor.”
“I can’t speak like a clock maker because I’m not dealing with clocks now.”
Aileen watched me before standing up with their repair equipment. Many things had happened in the past two days but she didn’t seem dissatisfied with the current situation.
「 Kim Dokja thought: If I hadn’t come, Aileen would’ve kept being a clock maker. 」
In many regressions when Yoo Jonghyuk hadn’t come to the Demon World, Aileen would’ve actually survived. She quietly made clocks that told the time of her home planet and reflected alone on the disappearance of her planet. Sometimes she would struggle with Jang Hayoung or go out to eat dishes made by Mark… maybe it was a happier life for Aileen.
“Do you know? The number of people who had been looking for clocks has increased in the last few days.”
Aileen looked at me with an unknown gaze. I hesitated for a moment before asking, “Did their clocks break as a group?”
“Originally, people of the industrial complex don’t use clocks.”
“Why?”
“It is because there is no use in knowing something like time.”
I remembered something I read in Ways of Survival. Someone had referred to the Demon World as the ‘city that lost time.’
“Then what about the hours of the Night?”
“Can they change their fate if they know when Night comes?”
A fear that was too old became a law. It had happened for so many years that Night in the industrial complex had become a natural thing.
Once every three days, someone would die and their story would be used as fertilizer in the factory.
No matter what life they lived, the stories they contained or the tomorrow they would live. Then the rest of the people would live for another three days.
“However, there was a Night where no one died. It is because of you.”
“…”
“People have started to fear the Night again. It isn’t a natural thing and can be resolved. They think they perhaps they can live tomorrow. This is what they are thinking.”
My eyes suddenly fell to the watch around Aileen’s wrist. There were three hours left until Night arrived…
I listened to the ticking second hand as Aileen remained silent. Perhaps some people in the industrial complex were watching clocks like we were now.
Perhaps tonight would be harder and more intense than last night. Then why? I listened to the sound of the second hand moving and felt a bit comforted. I wasn’t the one who should be comforted.
“Thank you.”
“…I’m not saying this to praise you. It just doesn’t look good if the revolutionary is depressed.”
Aileen turned away. I laughed at Aileen and quickly added. “Ah, wait a minute.”
“…What?”
“Speaking of clocks, can you make something else?”
“Something else?”
“It is called… a smartphone.”
“What is that? Is it magic technology?”
I was wondering how to explain it and gave an overview of the feature of the smartphone. Then Aileen spoke like she knew, “Do you mean something like a communication device? It shows a small panel?”
“That’s right.”
“However, there isn’t a dokkaebi channel here so communication isn’t possible…”
Considering past experiences, it didn’t matter if communication was possible. My phone synced automatically so the text file would be created.
“Don’t worry about it. Can you make it today?”
“I’m afraid it will take at least three days… I will try my best.”
“I know. Then do your best.”
I left Aileen’s workshop and headed towards the pub. The people who found me on the streets stared with strange eyes. Some greeted me after making eye contact and others lightly gathered both hands together. As Aileen said, I could see something that looked like watches on their wrists.
「 Yoo Jonghyuk felt lonely as he saw these watches. They got their time back but he still wasn’t
living in this time. Yoo Jonghyuk suddenly thought. If so, where do I live in those countless hours? 」
It was the monologue of Yoo Jonghyuk, who once saved the Demon World. It was also one of my favourite scenes from Ways of Survival.
I suddenly seemed to understand a bit of his mind. To the regressor Yoo Jonghyuk, the time in these worlds didn’t belong to him. In a life that could go back over and over again, the present time was meaningless.
Once this was over, I would ask Aileen to make me a watch. If he had something like this, he might become more attached to this world. Maybe the regression depression would get better…
I knew that this world wouldn’t disappear when he went back in time but without him, it would be difficult to clear the remaining scenarios.
“Ahahahahat, this is really funny.”
I opened the pub door and saw the laughing Jang Hayoung. From this distance, he looked like a junior high school student.
“What are you doing?”
This time, he didn’t make the ‘hiik’ sound. Instead, Jang Hayoung avoided my eyes like a child caught by his parents doing something bad.
“I-I was doing what you asked me to do!”
“Did a fighter reply?”
“That…” Jang Hayoung licked his lips for a while before eventually confessing the truth.
“…None of the fighters replied?”
“R-Really? No one gave me a response!”
“What did you say?”
“I am a 15 year old schoolgirl…”
My forehead vein bulged. “Hey! They didn’t reply because you sent that message!”
“But it worked before…”
“Do you think they are all like the black flame dragon? How many messages did you send?”
“A total of 300…”
Maybe they thought it was a spam message and blocked it. Damn.
“It’s a big deal. I only know the fighters on that list.”
Jang Hayoung realized that he was in trouble and paled. “Then what now?”
This was why I needed Ways of Survival. If I had the text file would’ve allowed me to re-read things and search for more information about the fighters.
“Let’s find out if there are any other fighters. For now…”
I was reminded of a few modifiers for the constellations. Was there someone among the constellations who could help us?
“Write a message to Prisoner of the Golden Headband.”
“…Isn’t he a powerful constellation?”
I didn’t know if he had any skills related to a fighter. However, now was the time to grab onto any piece of straw.
Jang Hayoung typed a message and we waited. One minute, two minutes… five minutes.
Jang Hayoung shook his head. “There is no reply.”
“Write this.” I dictated the contents of the message again.
Then Jang Hayoung was amazed. “Can I use something like this?”
“You just have to get his attention once.”
The Great Sage the Equal of Heaven was a lazy guy. It must be to this degree to get a reply. Less than 10 seconds after Jang Hayoung sent this message, the following notification popped up.
[A reply has arrived!]
“A-A reply is here!”
“Is that right?”
For reference, the message I sent was as followed:
[Regrow your hair.]
Every time I did something, he would pull out his hair in the indirect message. Thus, I figured that he had hair loss. I asked, “What did he say?”
“If we meet, he will kill me.”
“What else?”
“He asked who I am. Should I say Yoo Jonghyuk?”
“…Don’t answer.”
It would be fun to say Yoo Jonghyuk but it would only make the matter bigger. I rubbed my temples. The Great Sage the Equal of Heaven ate the wrong bait so we had to find another way.
“Demon-like Judge of Fire… I don’t think it is good to call her. Secretive Plotter… I still don’t know his identity…”
It had become troublesome.
“Queen of the Darkest Spring and God of Wine and Ecstasy are from Olympus…”
If I revealed that I was alive, some of them would help. The problem was that if I clarified my identity, the nebulae would notice my survival.
“It is difficult.”
It was the first challenge I encountered after entering the Demon World. There wasn’t much time left until Night arrived.
If Jang Hayoung didn’t become a fighter then all the plans I set up for tonight would be wasted. At this time, Jang Hayoung wondered, “Can the black dragon help?”
I paused for a moment as I thought about the identity of the ‘black dragon.’ “…You’re still talking to him?”
“Yes.”
“Forget that guy. He probably has nothing.”
“No, he was a fighter in the Demon World for a while.”
…The Abyssal Black Flame Dragon was once a fighter? That story never came out in Ways of Survival.
Come to think of it, details of the Abyssal Black Flame Dragon were never described in earnest so it wasn’t an impossible story…
“However, he didn’t like the rules of the scenario and killed them all.”
“What?”
“The duke, the revolutionary and the executioners, he killed them all?”
Something suddenly came up. Perhaps it was when the 64th Demon Realm was integrated? There was one such madman in the history of the Demon World. That person was the Abyssal Black Flame Dragon?
“Ask him if he can pass on the fighter’s skills to you.”
The Abyssal Black Flame Dragon was a constellation of the evil system and sending a message to him wouldn’t be too obvious. It would be best if we could get help from him.
Jang Hayoung entered something and then he suddenly lit up. “It isn’t a problem to give it to me
since he isn’t using it anyway.”
“Really?”
…It was an unexpected help. The problem could be solved in a way I hadn’t thought of?
In fact, neither the black dragon or Kim Namwoon were good guys. I had to carefully read the parts where they appeared once I got the text file back.
By the way, Jang Hayoung’s words weren’t over. “However, he has one condition?”
That’s right. That jerk couldn’t give it away so easily.
“In any case, any transaction through the wall requires a payment. What is his condition?”
“He has a problem recently.”
“A problem?”
“He isn’t getting along very well with his incarnation…”
“His incarnation?”
“His incarnation keeps ignoring him.”
If it was the incarnation of the Abyssal Black Flame Dragon…
“She is in a crisis right now but she isn’t listening to his words…”
…A crisis? I quickly ordered Jang Hayoung. “Tell him to explain the story in detail.”
TL: Rainbow Turtle
