The coat dancing against the strong winds, that indescribable Status leaking out nonstop from the [Dark Heavenly Demon Sword].
Han Su-Yeong definitely knew that guy. But even then, why was this? At least in this very moment, he seemed like a completely different existence to her.
“….Are you really Yu Jung-Hyeok?”
He glanced in her direction, before spinning around towards the Pacific Ocean with a loud boom. She panicked and cried out.
“Hey, you! Where are you going?!”
[[After him!!]]
The 999th turn’s Uriel and Kim Nam-Woon chased after him next.
Han Su-Yeong only then realised what his intentions were. Yu Jung-Hyeok was trying to lure these Outer Gods away from the companions.
“That crazy idiot….”
“Su-Yeong-ssi, are you alright?”
Yu Sang-Ah came closer and supported her. The moment she leaned against her shoulders, Han Su-Yeong ended up vomiting all the blood flowing backwards inside her.
“Bleeergh-!”
Her head felt hot as if every blood vessel in it was burning up. Sparks went wild as if to scorch her frontal lobe. She endured the pain and shouted out. “Great Sage! Hades! Uriel! You must hurry and chase after Yu Jung-Hyeok! The rest of us will take care of this place, so please hurry! You mustn’t let that guy fight alone!”
[<Star Stream> has noticed your Fable.]
[You have used a power that went against the Probability!]
“Keok….”
Her vision dizzily spun around; her internals hurt as if they had completely overturned.
[Your Incarnation Body is being swept up in the storm of aftermaths!]
Han Su-Yeong detected a powerful force about to explode within her body and hurriedly shouted out. “Yu Sang-Ah! Get away!”
However, Yu Sang-Ah held Han Su-Yeong’s shoulders even tighter and shook her head. The power of Sakyamuni she had inherited was being transmitted through the hand touching the latter’s shoulder. The time and space twisted, slowing down the growth of the aftermaths’ storm. “Fight it. You can do it. I also fought it off and survived in the past, too.”
“Goddammit.”
Muscles all over her body were moaning out. Faint terror seeped inside her amongst all the horrifying pain. She had been habitually muttering out about being careful around the Probability, yet here she was, making a critical mistake like this. She mistakenly thought that, since a fool like Kim Dok-Ja managed to survive until now, she’d somehow make it through this one, too.
Tsu-chuchuchut!
….Was she going to die? So meaninglessly like this?
[Fable, ‘Predictive Plagiarism’, has begun its storytelling!]
It was around here that the signs of the aftermath’s storm gradually softened.
Han Su-Yeong witnessed letters covering up her Incarnation Body. Those were words she wrote in the past – words she secretly wrote in the note pad so that neither Kim Dok-Ja nor Yu Jung-Hyeok could find out later. And now, those words were leaking out from the flapping pages of the note pad to wrap around her body.
However, there were some sentences she hadn’t written before mixed in among them.
⸢You’re indeed me, so your writing skill isn’t too shabby, I guess.⸥
The voice sounded half-mocking and half-satisfied.
[Fable, ‘Predictive Plagiarism’, is bearing the aftermath’s storm in your stead.]
Tsu-chut, chuchuchut….
As the storm of Probability’s aftermaths weakened, the letters began scattering away gradually faster and faster.
Han Su-Yeong wanted to ask. About these sentences, about what they actually were. Unfortunately, she didn’t have enough energy left to even ask a question anymore.
⸢….This is probably as far as I can go. Send the word out to Kim Dok-Ja.⸥
[The vestige of another world-line permeating within your Fable has begun dissipating.]
As her consciousness faded out, her Fable continued to speak to her.
⸢What waits for him in the ‘Conclusion’ he wishes for is….⸥
*
While supporting Yi Ji-Hye, I stared at the two ‘Outer God Kings’.
They had lived in the same regression turn, and they also saw the same end of the world, yet they became two different beings.
[Great Fable, ‘Wanderer of the Eternal Horizon’, has begun its storytelling.]
[Great Fable, ‘Heart Sealing the Sorrow’, has begun its storytelling!]
I could see the cross-section of the Fable laid bare within the sparks dancing in the air. The story they compiled together line by every line with their blood – this was the story from the regression turn that I loved the most. The one that I had read many times over.
⸢”Captain Yu Jung-Hyeok. It’s a relief that you are a regressor.”⸥
The ‘King of Silverlight Heart’ glanced in my direction.
The 999th turn’s Yi Hyeon-Seong – the sorrow contained within his Fable was being transmitted to me through my [Reading Comprehension].
⸢”It’ll be okay for me to stop being sad, yes? You’re going to die, anyway. Even if you die, we’ll be able to meet again in the next turn. And you’ll continue your story in that place… And, you’ll get to restart this journey once more, won’t you?”⸥
The Fable of Steel was crying.
⸢”I’m sorry, Yi Hyeon-Seong.”⸥
The forged steel expanded with loud noises and swallowed up his words. Tears that should’ve flowed out remained frozen within his eyes, dyed in the silvery light.
⸢”There’s no need to apologise. We’ll be seeing the Conclusion before you, after all. The end you wanted to see, the promises you couldn’t keep, all of them, I’ll carry them all without missing a single one.”⸥
The 999th turn’s Yi Hyeon-Seong was looking at me. He was not the ‘Yi Hyeon-Seong’ I knew, but even then, he was definitely ‘Yi Hyeon-Seong’.
– You resemble that person greatly. Even more so than what I heard from my Sponsor.
The voice of the 999th turn’s Yi Hyeon-Seong entered my head. He even smiled gently, as if he knew what I was thinking about already.
How could this be? How could a man who had to endure such tragedies, be able to form that kind of expression?
– And that’s why I won’t let you die.
I knew that he didn’t hold any hostilities towards us. But I didn’t think he’d go this far to side with us, either. Just what kind of a Fable did the ‘Master of Steel’ hand over to him as he died?
[[Hyeon-Seong ahjussi.]]
The one to cut the flow was the 999th turn’s Yi Ji-Hye.
[[It’s been a long time since you called me that.]]
[[I have no plans of hurting you. Get out of the way.]]
Two neverending Fables intertwined with each other.
Yi Hyeon-Seong spoke, sounding as if he was reminiscing about an ancient memory. [[I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.]]
[[Why are you stopping me? Ahjussi, you refused to be summoned as the ‘calamity’, didn’t you? It was us who negotiated with the Bureau of this world-line, not you.]]
….So, I guess it really was the Bureau who summoned the 999th turn’s beings as calamities.
Yi Hyeon-Seong maintained his silence for a bit before replying coldly. [[Never negotiate with the <Star Stream>. That was our promise.]]
[[So? What happened to us as the result of that promise?]]
[[……]]
[[We destroyed the Bureau, we fought the Dokkaebi King. Then, after we clashed against the ‘Final Wall’… I’m asking you, what happened to us after that?]]
The Final Wall – it seemed that they had witnessed that wall, as well. The ‘Wall’ that the ‘Yu Jung-Hyeok’ of the original had eventually reached, too.
The 999th turn’s Yi Ji-Hye shuddered before continuing on. [[Just like you said, our story has ended. The world-line we used to live in was destroyed, and it’s just us four that became ‘Outer Gods’ after surviving that destruction.]]
[[We promised to overcome the ‘Final Wall’ even if we become the existences outside the scenarios.]]
[[That wall isn’t something we can overcome. You also know this.]]
[[In this world-line….]]
[[Stop it with ‘this world-line’ nonsense! What’s so special about this world-line, anyway? This place is exactly the same as the one we used to live in. It’s a world-line that’s going to end soon.]]
Yi Ji-Hye of this world-line staggered as I supported her. Her lips were trembling ever so slightly.
The ‘Master of the Sunken Island’ continued on. [[The Great Dokkaebis that got in contact with us said this, that they were going to abandon this world-line. That they are planning to recycle it and use it as the start of a new story.]]
Those words caused the ‘King of Silverlight Heart’ to change his expression. The previously-warm aura dissipated and the sensation of cold metal spread out.
A chilling voice came out from the forged steel’s lips. [[….What kind of a deal did you make with the Bureau?]]
[[If this world is about to sink underneath the ocean, it’s fine for us to destroy it personally, right?]]
[[Ji-Hye-ya.]]
The 999th turn’s Yi Ji-Hye was smiling, but I wasn’t sure whether I could truly describe that expression of ‘smiling’ or not.
[[The ‘Dokkaebi King’ of this world promised us that if we destroyed this world-line, then he’d revive our own world-line. He’d get in touch with the ‘Most Ancient Dream’ and allow us to start our stories again.]]
Yi Ji-Hye’s shoulders were trembling. I too was also sharing in that shuddering.
That was the reason for the 999th turn’s beings to cross into this world. Even at the cost of destroying another world, they wished to regain theirs.
The ‘King of Silverlight Heart’ replied. [[Our goal wasn’t to regain our world, but to find the true culprit of all these tragedies.]]
[[What will change even if we did?]]
[[If we wish to carry out our captain’s wishes, we….]]
[[Even if we eliminate the source of the tragedies, the time we lost won’t come back. Our dead comrades won’t come back to us. The world we lived in, it’s not going to come back….. The 999th turn’s Yu Jung-Hyeok who died there, he’s never coming back.]]
Ku-gugugugu.
Something was approaching this location from afar while tearing through the horizon.
The ‘Master of the Sunken Island’ spoke again. [[That’s why we don’t have a choice but to end it all and start again.]]
The tsunami waves that lost its vigour began rising up once more.
The 999th turn’s Yi Hyeon-Seong hurriedly started the [Steel Transformation] and protected us with his metal. However, the force behind the waves was stronger and faster than the metal’s growth speed.
[[You can’t stop me. I told you this before that I’m not the only one here.]]
Kwa-kwakwakwakwa!
The crimson sunset cast from behind us was burning up the heavens. That was the power of the ‘Living Flame’, the 999th turn’s Uriel.
And the meaning of her approaching here meant…
“Ahjussi, it can’t be….?!”
Yi Ji-Hye grasped my sleeve.
I looked into her eyes and reassured her. “Don’t worry. Things you’re worried about will not happen.”
I was also saying to that myself.
“Our story, it’s not as weak as you fear.”
[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, is revealing his Status.]
[Constellation, ‘Watcher of Light and Darkness’, is revealing his Status.]
[Constellation, ‘Prisoner of the Constrictive Headband’, is revealing his Status.]
The ‘Demon King of Salvation’, the ‘Watcher of the Light and Darkness’, plus the third Modifier I earned by putting on the constrictive headband – all of my Fables were emitting light at the same time.
I walked over to Yi Hyeon-Seong standing before us. “Thank you for helping us out. However, it’s alright not to push yourself.”
[[It’s dangerous. You must hide behind m….]]
“This isn’t the 999th turn.”
In front, the ‘Master of the Sunken Island’. And at the back, the ‘Living Flame’. There was no place to run now.
The shadow cast by the massive battleship dawned upon us. And while standing on the top of that huge wave, the 999th turn’s Yi Ji-Hye muttered out as if she was mocking someone.
[[Everything will go back. Just like what the captain told us, we’ll also regress. We’ll go back to the past, and start everything from scratch. When we do….]]
The waves rolled in and crashed into us. I used the power of the ‘Great Fable’ to deal with that Status. I felt searing pain from both of my hands defending against the wave.
I saw the horizon where the sun and the ocean met just beyond the rumbling walls of the foams. The boundary that we could never reach no matter how far we run.
Kwa-aaaaaah!
And then, that boundary split apart right before my eyes. A single blade was actually cutting that boundary down.
As she fell hard from the wave’s highest-spot, the 999th turn’s Yi Ji-Hye was looking at us.
More correctly, at a man standing next to me.
“You can’t change anything with regression. I needed a very long time to realise this.”
<Episode 90. One Person (4)> Fin.
