They immediately took Kim Dok-Ja back to their headquarters located in Gwanghwamun.
Aileen was summoned, and they even requested aid from the Constellations with expertise in medicine, such as ‘Guam Divine Doctor’.
⸢Their plan was perfect. With this plan, they couldn’t have failed.⸥
They even called upon every Fable expert scattered throughout the world, too.
⸢This plan was the one where they couldn’t afford to fail.⸥
For the period of over a week, dozens of famed doctors were brought in to treat Kim Dok-Ja. It was to collect the remaining Fables somehow and restore his soul form.
– There is nothing that can be done currently.
Yi Seol-Hwa worked throughout the night and as a result, passed out. A Russian expert subbing for her afterwards said these words.
– We can’t say he’s dead, but… We also can’t say that he’s alive, either. This child will never wake up again, that’s why.
But, that couldn’t be. They worked tirelessly and finally managed to come this far, so this story simply couldn’t end like this. The one to stay as the pillar of support for the crumbling companions was Yu Sang-Ah.
“The problem is with Dok-Ja-ssi’s soul, yes?”
In that case, they only needed to restore his soul, then.
So, the companions sought out the assistance of the Constellation most well versed in everything soul-related.
[This child’s soul didn’t come to the ‘Underworld’. No, his soul didn’t go to any of the afterlives found in the other worldviews.]
The queen of the Underworld, Persephone, could only stroke Kim Dok-Ja’s forehead with a sorrowful expression.
[….This was this child’s choice.]
“His choice?! Please don’t make me laugh. You also saw it too, didn’t you? Back in that subway, we all saw the Fables Dok-Ja-ssi possessed, didn’t we?! He, he wanted to be with us, he wanted to us to save…!”
[There are countless Fables within a person’s soul. The words we saw were simply a small part of that.]
“Don’t… Don’t say something like that as if it means nothing.”
Jeong Hui-Won shouted out. There was no other way for her to endure except to shout.
It was his choice? This, this was Kim Dok-Ja’s choice??
⸢The companions didn’t give up.⸥
Even the collecting of Fables, even the recovery of his soul, they were impossible. In that case, only one method remained.
[I was waiting for you.]
The master of the ‘Isle of Reincarnators’, Sakyamuni, welcomed them with a benevolent smile – as if he knew they would come here.
[It’s truly lamentable, but he’s not someone this one can reincarnate.]
“A portion of his soul still remains. We can divide and share the Fables we all possess. Just like how I did it back then, if we utilise the powers of samsara….”
[Ah, my dear arhat. I understand your sorrow. I do. However, he can’t be reincarnated.]
Sakyamuni looked at Yu Sang-Ah with a regretful expression before letting a soft sigh escape from his lips.
Soon, a truly countless number of threads began floating up before his eyes that observed Kim Dok-Ja quietly slumbering away. There were so many of these red threads that counting them all was impossible. Yu Sang-Ah too could see them.
The threads of fate.
The threads stretched out to the night sky and eventually, even pierced through <Star Stream> itself. Yu Sang-Ah stared at them, and realised why Kim Dok-Ja couldn’t be reincarnated.
“….I see.”
She didn’t want to acknowledge it. Even then, the truth didn’t change.
“His soul, it… It has already reincarnated in another world-line.”
Sakyamuni nodded his head.
[More correctly, we should say his ‘souls’.]
*
In front of everyone, Han Su-Yeong passed on the things she’d been told.
“….Kim Dok-Ja’s soul has been scattered throughout the whole universe.”
The memories from the moments when she faced off against [The 4th Wall] inside the darkened room – she didn’t leave a single word out and repeated every part of that conversation to her companions. Someone fell down, some despaired.
Yi Ji-Hye cried out. “Let’s go find that guy again. [The 4th Wall] might know a way, right?! We might be able to recover Dok-Ja ahjussi’s soul somehow!”
“If you do that, then what about Kim Dok-Jas reincarnating in other worlds? They must be living their own lives, won’t they?”
“T-that is….” Yi Ji-Hye panting like a bull gulped down a glass of water on the table, before carrying on. “There must be some other way. Whatever that thing was, [The 4th Wall] or whatever, you said it knows something.”
“….We don’t have any methods to meet that guy again. We used up all of our fragments when opening the wall.”
Another four days flew by in an instant. The companions had become utterly devastated, ravaged – some missed their meals, while some didn’t even bother to sleep. How long passed by like that? Jeong Hui-Won sought out Yu Jung-Hyeok.
“Jung-Hyeok-ssi.”
Yu Jung-Hyeok polishing his [Dark Heavenly Demon Sword] out of an old habit raised his head. He frowned slightly as if the sunlight stung, before shifting his gaze back to the sword. No matter how much he polished it, the dark stain on the blade didn’t want to come off. The stain came from Kim Dok-Ja’s letters that he cut down. He quietly stared at the stain, before finally opening his mouth.
“Four days is quite fast for making up your mind.”
“That’s because we don’t have any other choice.”
Yu Jung-Hyeok’s emotionless eyes locked on to Jeong Hui-Won. Despite experiencing so many tragedies until now, her eyes still burned vigorously. He too used to have such eyes, once upon a time.
“We can do this. We’ve already done it twice. That’s why-!” Jeong Hui-Won shouted.
Yu Jung-Hyeok used to think that.
Their plan was like a well-constructed fantasy.
They believed that they can pull it off this time, that they should be able to see the conclusion they wanted.
⸢Even if this world ends in tragedy… Don’t think that you’ve all failed.⸥
Did that fool feel this way back then?
Yu Jung-Hyeok spoke up. “Right. We did do it.”
“Please, let’s try it one more time! We can definitely pull it off this time! We can definitely save Dok-Ja-ssi….!”
“Do not think that things will turn out better than this turn just because you went back in time.”
After spitting out those words reflexively, Yu Jung-Hyeok stopped breathing for a little while.
“…..Why are you saying such things? This turn was a definite improvement, wasn’t it? We can definitely do better!”
“It’s impossible.”
“Why not? When we haven’t even tried it….!”
Yu Jung-Hyeok didn’t reply. Her expression grew deeply incensed. Her hand then gripped the sword, implying that she’d not hesitate to cut him down if he didn’t cooperate immediately. Even then, even under her intense threat, he didn’t budge an inch. Seeing him act like this, something else slowly floated up on her expression.
“You… Can it be….?”
Yu Jung-Hyeok still didn’t reply. Jeong Hui-Won began urging him in sheer disbelief.
“Is it true? Is it….??”
He finally replied while staring at his own attribute window floating before his eyes.
“I’m no longer the regressor.”
The category of [Regressor] no longer existed among his attributes. His Stigmata had vanished, too – both [Regression] and [Group Regression]. He didn’t possess any Stigma to turn back the clock.
Winds began blowing in from somewhere. While letting the winds hit him, Yu Jung-Hyeok looked up at the clear skies of <Star Stream>.
He couldn’t sense the gaze he used to feel all the time. No matter how much he sharpened his perception, he simply couldn’t locate it like before.
⸢He was no longer the protagonist of the story.⸥
His story came to an end when the lone reader went away.
Along with his final regression, too.
*
“We can cross over to another world-line.”
And then, someone said something like that.
“It doesn’t really have to be a regression, does it? We cross the world-line, and enter the location of a different scenario. We then gather the fragments of ‘Final Wall’ one more time and meet [The 4th Wall].”
It was a crazy plan.
What made it even crazier was the fact that the person suggesting it was none other than the usually-composed Yu Sang-Ah.
Han Su-Yeong replied. “That guy might not even help us.”
“Even still, we need to try. It’s better than not trying, right?”
They had already done it once before. No reason not to try it again.
But why was this? Han Su-Yeong didn’t believe that this was the right way to go.
What would happen to them if they fail this time, too?
Wouldn’t they try to skip over the world-line again?
And just like that, they would cross the world-lines again, again, and again. By continuing that, they might end up no different from the 999th turn’s ‘Outer Gods’. Their lives might get damaged beyond repair.
The truly wretched thing was, despite knowing the truth she couldn’t fight against the temptation.
“How will you cross the world-line, anyway? We can’t regress anymore, remember? And we don’t even have the ‘Secretive Plotter’ to help us in this place, either.”
“Have you forgotten? This world-line is different from the 1864th turn.”
It was at that moment something, a certain thought, brushed past Han Su-Yeong’s mind.
⸢There was one more method.⸥
Accompanied by the thunderous “Ku-gugugu!” noise, a gigantic shadow was cast upon Gwanghwamun right then. It came from a massive flying object large enough to completely blanket the main street and then some.
[Fufufu. Long time no see, everyone.]
Bihyung was riding on that flying object.
He had become the Dokkaebi King of this world after the Bureau was completely ruined. And it seemed that this ruined world was exactly to his liking.
[Right, so you need this thing, is that it?]
That was the item only found in the ‘last scenario’.
⸢The Final Ark.⸥
Han Su-Yeong slowly approached the ark.
Without a doubt, using this would allow them to jump the world-line. Well, Dokkaebis and Constellations of the very last scenario were also planning to escape to another world-line using this vessel, after all.
Yu Sang-Ah spoke up. “However, if we use this… We’ll end up being no different to Dokkaebis.”
“You should’ve raised such points before we used the group regression, you know.”
Han Su-Yeong reached the ark. That prompted Bihyung to issue a warning.
[Let me make this crystal clear. This ark is a lot older than it looks, so it can be used only once.]
“Doesn’t matter.”
Being able to travel to another world-line implied that they could use this ark in a similar capacity as Yu Jung-Hyeok’s own ‘regression’.
What if, they could move to another world-line’s specific point in history? If they could do something like that, then they might be able to change world-lines in a far more efficient, effective manner than Yu Jung-Hyeok’s regression.
Han Su-Yeong hurriedly shouted out. “Bihyung. The world-line we want to go to is….!”
However, even before she could finish, a message came to her first.
[It’s impossible to set sail to the applicable world-line.]
Bihyung’s expression became confused. [Mm? What’s gotten into it? I don’t think it has ever said something like this before?]
“What’s wrong? Is it broken?”
[Call out a different world-line.]
Han Su-Yeong spoke up again. That resulted in yet another message.
[It’s impossible to set sail to the applicable world-line.]
She repeatedly mentioned other world-lines. She spoke, then spoke again. However, the message floating up remained the same.
[It’s impossible to set sail to the applicable world-line.]
[It’s impossible to set sail to the applicable world-line.]
…
……
[It’s impossible to set sail to the applicable world-line.]
Utterly flustered now, Bihyung began muttering out. [Passageways to all those world-lines have been closed off. It means the possibilities that used to be open between the world-lines have completely shut down.]
“We can’t go?!”
[Looks that way. Huh, can something like this even happen?]
All the world-lines related to the ‘Ways of Survival’, the ones she could remember, were blocked off.
“….Does that mean we can’t go anywhere?”
[No, there is one.]
“Really? Which one?”
[But, it’s a world-line with all the scenarios already concluded.]
Bihyung displayed the entered route.
Surprisingly enough, the destination was a location they all knew quite intimately.
Yu Jung-Hyeok’s 1864th regression turn.
The planetary system number 8612, where all the scenarios had already ended.
It was Earth. The one they left from.
<Epilogue 4. The Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint (6)> Fin.
