Chapter 514
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 . ⸥
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