['The 4th Wall' is reactivating!]
The light in the world flickered on and off several times. I felt the sensation of my body being sucked into somewhere, and within this half-awake consciousness, the friction noise of the train's wheel meeting the railroad tracks filled up my head.
I couldn't accept this.
Even though I knew that this wasn't a matter requiring my acceptance, I still found it hard to swallow.
⸢Why did the 'Secretive Plotter' make such a decision?⸥
I couldn't forget his final expression.
How could he make such a face? He didn't get to complete what he truly wanted, so how come…
⸢Wh at did Sec ret ive Pl otter re ally wa nt, th en?⸥
All of the memories regarding the Secretive Plotter flitted in and out of my head.
The story I got to learn through the original novel's texts – while enduring such a vast, indeterminable amount of time, what did Yu Jung-Hyeok hope to see at the end of this road?
Just what was it exactly that he expected to encounter?
⸢[[Even if it's not a conclusion you wanted… Do not think of this world as a failed regression turn.]]⸥
Only those words remained stuck in my brain like a curse.
⸢Kim Dok Ja⸥
'The 4th Wall' warned me in a stiff voice as if to punish my arrogance.
⸢Thi s not a pro blem y ou ca n ju dge⸥
The wall was right. Even after that guy had left, I couldn't escape from being this damn 'Constellation'.
Under the brilliant radiance, the figures of 999th turn's Uriel, Yi Hyeon-Seong, Kim Nam-Woon, and Yi Ji-Hye scattered away.
Could he really become happier with this?
He made this choice himself, so was that his happiness, then?
He was a being born in the tragedy, so maybe, he wasn't aware of that choice being another tragedy?
The Fables of the younger me and the 'Secretive Plotter' were getting further away.
The man looking back in this direction for one last time was no longer Yu Jung-Hyeok from the 'Ways of Survival'.
⸢Be ca use he's b orn in th e tra gedy ca n he fin ish th e tra gedy too⸥
⸢”This place is the epilogue of that story.”⸥
The ancient tale I've been reading concluded, just like that.
[You have reached the ■■ of all the scenarios.]
[You have now learned of the secret of the world.]
The only remaining topic for us was on how to live the story's 'ever after'. The part of the story that the 'Ways of Survival' didn't tell me.
[The 'Most Ancient Dream' has ended.]
Abruptly, a certain thought popped up in my head. Something that had been forgotten after being swept up in the situation.
The Dokkaebi King told me this: that this world was a dream of the 'Most Ancient Dream'.
⸢In that case, what happens to the characters of the dream after the dream has come to an end?⸥
The characters from the 999th turn and the 'Secretive Plotter' had all escaped from the role of 'Characters' and were freed from the dream through their own will.
If so, what would happen to other people, then?
After the dream was over, the people from the dream would…..
[Final scenario clear reward has arrived.]
The noises of a cheek being slapped around resounded out; under the flickering subway lights, Kim Dok-Ja slowly opened his eyes.
“Hey, you. You awake now?”
He saw Han Su-Yeong's face up close as she roughly held him by his collars.
“….What happened?”
“That's what I want to ask you.”
Kim Dok-Ja massaged his head as if he was suffering from migraine, and stood up from his spot.
“Where are we?”
“Inside the subway. Time for us to head back home, I guess.”
Han Su-Yeong saying those words seemed rather refreshed, for some reason.
The train clunked and shook around. The darkness outside the windows gently wavered about.
“Dok-Jssi, are you alright?”
His companions discovered him and walked in closer. Yu Sang-Ah, Yi Hyeon-Seong, Jeong Hui-Won, Shin Yu-Seung, Yi Gil-Yeong, Yi Ji-Hye, Jang HYeong…. and even Yu Jung-Hyeok, they were all here.
⸢Everyone was alright.⸥
Kim Dok-Ja slowly looked around him. There was no other presence within the subway. It was likely that this train was the same one they rode in earlier.
⸢Are we really safe now?⸥
“I've treated your injuries. Once we return to [The 4th Wall], we should entrust you to Seol-Hwssi's care, but….”
Yu Sang-Ah feeling for Kim Dok-Ja's pulse faintly smiled. His companions approached him one by one. However, even though their gazes were fixed on him, none of them managed to readily open their mouths.
Unexpectedly, the first one to do so was Yu Jung-Hyeok. Rather than approaching Kim Dok-Ja like everyone else, he leaned against the subway's seat at an angle and glared outside the window.
The universe's Fable was coming undone on the outside. The once-tangled roll of thread was turning into dust and scattering away one strand at a time.
“It's the
Fables existing in countless world-lines were illuminating the space by scattering their bright lights. The
As Kim Dok-Ja dazedly stared at that spectacle, Shin Yu-Seung tightly squeezed his hand.
“It's over now.”
Overcome by a certain emotion, Yi Hyeon-Seong suddenly broke down in tears. The bear-like man who never showed a single drop of tears no matter what transpired began sobbing away uncontrollably. Jeong Hui-Won watched him and bit her lower lip as her nose tip began stinging, as well. Yi Ji-Hye raised her head, perhaps not wanting to shed her own tears.
“It… really is over.”
And with that, my endless voyage got underway.
[Your ■■ is 'Eternity'.]
Chapter end
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