Guardian of the Mandala was a mysterious constellation. Unlike other constellations, he rarely showed up in a channel. Even if he entered, he rarely sent a message. He chose an incarnation and gave the ‘reincarnation’ attribute to the incarnation.
Nirvana in front of me was one of those reincarnators.
「 (You don’t know how terrible reincarnation is. No more reincarnators should be made.) 」
“That isn’t a matter for you to decide.”
At the same time, I glanced at Yoo Sangah. She hadn’t grasped the situation yet and her eyes were blank. Maybe she was examining the context of the conversation in her head.
「 (…Doesn’t this woman already have a sponsor?) 」
“Not anymore. I asked Dionysus to cut off the connection during Gigantomachia.”
「 (Is Olympus that passive? How did you pay for the huge probability?) 」
I shrugged. I couldn’t afford to elaborate on the details of the deal I made with Dionysus. “Read it through the wall later. You will read about everything I do anyway. Before that, answer my question. Where is your sponsor now?”
「 (I was absorbed by the wall and my ties with him broken. I don’t know where he is now. Just…) 」
Nirvana looked at me and continued,
「 (I think you might’ve suspected it already?) 」
In fact, it was true. My question to Nirvana was only to change my guess to conviction.
“Yoo Sangah-ssi. Don’t worry. These guys, they’re not as bad as they look―”
I couldn’t finish my words. There was a feeling of my space shrinking as my body was ejected from the library. The surprised Yoo Sangah reached out to me but my body was already scattering into sparks.
「 Cheek y Kim Dok ja. 」
Those were the last words I heard.
***
「 “…Dokja-ssi still isn’t awake?” 」
「 “Yes.” 」
「 “It has been three days already…” 」
I slowly woke up and could hear distant voices. Uncomfortable sensations that couldn’t be expressed well pushed at me all at once. What should I say? It felt like I was being tortured with electricity.
「 “The electric eel doesn’t work… what the hell is this?” 」
「 “What about Sangah unni? Her body suddenly disappeared…” 」
Thanks to the faint voices, I roughly guessed what was going to happen.
…Dammit, I had been unconscious for three days. My consciousness returned but my body didn’t move at all.
[Your actions in preventing the death of your colleague have been caught in a probability plausibility screening.]
[You are currently suffering from the aftermath of the probability storm.]
[For a total of five days, almost all your actions will be constrained.]
[Remaining constraints period: 2 days 3 hours 31 minutes.]
I tried to avoid it but I was caught in a probability storm. It was a miracle that it stopped at this degree of damage.
[A message has arrived to you through the ‘Dokkaebi Communication.’]
The message came from Bihyung.
-Kim Dokja, you crazy guy.
-Do you want to be eaten by Indescribable Distance again?
-If I hadn’t put on the brakes in advance, a disaster would’ve come to Earth. You keep getting lucky. Don’t you know what probability is?
The messages from Bihyung continued for some time. In order to reach the end of the scenario, it was necessary to accumulate the probability well and not be hated by the Star Stream. Since when did this person have such a nagging personality?
-At any rate, I let it pass this time but be careful next time. The will of the Star Stream is paying great attention to this incident.
I didn’t know that forcibly breaking some of the Fourth Wall and sending Yoo Sangah in would bring about such backlash. It would be absurd from the viewpoint of the constellations. It might feel like the actor on stage had disappeared.
[The Fourth Wall is currently repairing itself.]
[A considerable number of constellations are questioning the probability of your actions.]
[Many constellations are sad because they can’t peek at your identity.]
[Several constellations noticed that you have a fragment of the Last Wall.]
The Fourth Wall responded quickly and the damage was minimized. My feet might be tied for a few days but I saved my mother and Yoo Sangah, so it was a cheap price.
Of course, in Yoo Sangah’s case, it was a temporary measure and I couldn’t leave it alone. In order to revive Yoo Sangah, I had to meet the constellation who was the king of reincarnators and the first reincarnation.
It was a little early but it wasn’t too early. From Demon World’s Spring to Torch That Swallowed the Myth. I had achieved the ‘initial’ and ‘success’ portion of A Single Story.
Thanks to the emergence of me and Kim Dokja’s Company, the development of the overall scenarios accelerated and there would be the emergence of materials that should’ve appeared long after in the original novel.
There were many candidates to get the giant story that would fulfil the ‘turn’ section. For example, there was Ragnarok of Asgard and some giant stories from the Emperor nebula. Unlike the previous two sections, the ‘turn’ should be the climax of A Single Story. It was a scenario of a different scale based on the stories that had been told so far. Without such a stage, I couldn’t reach the desired result.
Perhaps using the third giant story as a springboard, the island where the first reincarnator stayed might be a good stage. In any case, I didn’t know when it would happen.
Three days had passed but I still had two more days… I wasn’t sure how to spend this boring time. If I sacrificed some of the giant stories, I might be able to get rid of the aftermath, but it wasn’t good to sacrifice my barely collected stories here.
…If only I could read Ways of Survival.
「 Kim Dok ja. 」
‘Fourth Wall?’
「 Wi ll y ou con tinue do ing it your own way? 」
Somehow, the voice felt childish. I wanted an opportunity and quickly answered. ‘I won’t do it again.’
「 Li ar. 」
There was deep-rooted distrust in the words. I felt a bit sorry because this was the first time I saw the wall expressing its feelings.
‘Believe me, I really won’t do it.’
「 Bah. 」
‘…What happened to Yoo Sangah-ssi? Is she doing well?’
No matter how intelligent and adaptable Yoo Sangah was, the existences in the library were far beyond most humans. One was an outer god, one was a creation of the constellations and the last one was a reincarnator. In addition, the owner of the library, the Fourth Wall was an unknown existence.
‘Please don’t be too hard on Yoo Sangah-ssi. She is a good person.’
「 That de pends on Yoo Sang ah. 」
For now, I was forced to believe in Yoo Sangah. She might not have the ‘Ways of Survival’ cheat like me but she was someone who survived this far. Thus, I was sure she would do well in the library.
‘There is one thing I’d like to ask you.’
「 N o. 」
‘Just listen to me.’
「 N o. 」
‘…We used to be pretty friendly. Think about when we just arrived in the Demon World. At that time, we talked to each other a lot.’
「 It wa s on ly that ti me. 」
‘You can talk a lot in the future.’
「 Kim Dok ja does not ca re a bout what I say. 」
I felt the hidden meaning and was lost for words. Come to think of it, the Fourth Wall always talked to me. There was the style it borrowed from Ways of Survival and even the Fourth Wall’s peculiar way of talking. Still, it was true that I didn’t respond properly to it.
「 Th at dokkae bi who can’t talk is be tter than Kim Dok ja. 」
‘Are you talking about Biyoo?’
The Fourth Wall didn’t answer. It was a bit of a confusing situation for me.
‘You…’
This guy also felt lonely. Did it feel joy, sorrow or pain? I never thought about it this way before and suddenly felt strange.
‘…In the future, I will talk to you more often. I’m sorry.’
「 Bah. 」
‘Calm down. I promise.’
「 Real ly? 」
‘Really.’
The Fourth Wall thought of something and said.「 But Kim Dok ja isn’t e nough. 」
‘What?’
「 Gi ve me a frien d. 」
What did this mean? A friend, how to give the wall a friend…
I thought about it and something suddenly flashed through my mind.
…Don’t tell me? As if to prove my feelings, the Fourth Wall opened its mouth.
「 Kim Dok ja should ga ther the la st wall. 」
***
‘I have to gather more stories.’
Yoo Jonghyuk stared at the sky, obsessively thinking about it while munching on a lemon candy. He didn’t like candy but there was no substitute for it right now. It would be nice if there was dumplings but… now wasn’t the time to enjoy that type of taste.
‘…No, the speed at which I gathered the stories is already fast enough. The important thing is to train the stories themselves.’
Maybe it was time to go to ‘that island’ now. The island that Kyrgios and his teacher had visited. Yoo Jonghyuk clenched his fists as he envisioned future plans.
[Your sponsor is dissatisfied with your recent progress.
He suddenly felt his sponsor’s gaze. Recently, his sponsor had been expressing feelings more often. A sponsor who had been only nonexistent in the last three regressions.
Yoo Jonghyuk asked with a frown. “What is there to complain about?”
[Your sponsor wants you to take proactive actions.]
The words touched something deep in Yoo Jonghyuk’s mind. Certainly, his life had changed a lot since the last round. Needless to say, it was since he met Kim Dokja.
‘…I don’t know who he is.’
He founded a nebula with a man whose identity was unknown.
‘Kim Dokja isn’t a prophet.’
Yoo Jonghyuk was immersed in his thoughts, as if solving the homework he had put off.
‘Yet he knows information about the future.’
The more he thought about it, the stranger things were. Why wasn’t this person in the last round? He had an idea originally but now he wasn’t convinced. That calm and meticulous guy didn’t even pass the first scenario in the last round? The doubts started to multiply and overflow.
[An unknown power is putting a stop to your imagination.]
There was some dizziness and Yoo Jonghyuk frowned.
‘…Again.’
Yoo Jonghyuk didn’t know why but his head hurt whenever he thought about Kim Dokja. In particular, whenever he wondered about Kim Dokja’s identity.
“Yoo Jonghyuk, what are you doing?”
He looked back and saw Han Sooyoung with a lemon candy in her mouth.
Yoo Jonghyuk asked, “Kim Dokja still isn’t awake?”
“Not yet.”
“He is a lazy bastard.”
“…It is due to the aftermath of the probability storm so I wouldn’t call him lazy. It is strange that it hasn’t happened until now.”
The two people stood there leisurely and looked up at the sky of the industrial complex. A cool breeze blew past their collar. It was peaceful but not a peace that would last a long time.
One person collapsed and the life or death of the other person was unknown… however, this time was uncommon for the industrial complex.
Yoo Jonghyuk spotted Han Sooyoung staring at a distance place with half-hooded eyes. He suddenly wanted to ask something.
‘Would this person know what I’m curious about?’
Just like Kim Dokja, she appeared as a variable in this round. Whenever Yoo Jonghyuk saw her carrying on an unknown conversation with Kim Dokja, he had a feeling that this woman and Kim Dokja―
At this moment, an eerie sensation swept down his back.
“Yoo Jonghyuk.”
At almost the same time Han Sooyoung spoke, Yoo Jonghyuk pulled out the Black Demon Sword. Han Sooyoung was unwrapping the bandages around her hand.
In the distant sky, something was flying here at a fast pace. It was the presence of an uninvited guest. The presence left a dark glow in the sky as it slowly sank to the ground.
Magic power flowed from Yoo Jonghyuk’s tense right hand.
“Asmodeus. What is going on?”
The demon king Asmodeus laughed. [I came to meet the Demon King of Salvation. Where is he?]
“Why are you looking for him?”
[I have a lot to say as a Seeker of the End.]
“…Seeker of the End? Talk to me and get lost.”
[Ah, really annoying…]
Asmodeus might’ve been an ally for a short time but Yoo Jonghyuk fundamentally didn’t believe in him. Moreover, there was the grudge from the last round.
Nasty air currents flowed as Yoo Jonghyuk and Asmodeus’ statuses collided with each other.
[Um? I didn’t think you would be this strong…]
Asmodeus’ eyes widened when Yoo Jonghyuk didn’t budge a single bit.
Obvious malice lay below Asmodeus’ playful expression.
[Regressor Yoo Jonghyuk.]
Asmodeus gave a demon-like smile as he came closer to Yoo Jonghyuk. The painted red lips of the demon king opened as if to commit a taboo.
[Have you ever heard of Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World?]
TL: Rainbow Turtle
