I remembered the first time I read that novel.
A really stuffy, boring hospital's ward. A single PC located in its lobby.
When I stood in line to have a go at it, a gentleman wearing a fedora stepped aside for me. The computer screen at the time was showing the webnovel platform that enjoyed visiting.
I dazedly stared at the screen before inputting the keywords. I might have inserted three or so words, but couldn't quite remember what I typed back then. However, I still remembered what I was thinking of back then. The mechanical pencil leads strewn about on the classroom floor, the indigo-hued skies extending far beyond outside the windows.
What I could tell for sure was that my hands, used to open the classroom window, had typed something and that lead me to discover that novel.
⸢Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World⸥
Through that story, I survived.
⸢He was definitely not at fault for this story being born⸥
I felt sick inside. I couldn't fight against the dizziness and collapsed on the floor. The texts before my eyes were blurry and hard to see.
⸢Han Su-Yeong was tls123.⸥
While panting heavily, I lay unmoving on the floor for a long time. Only the same exact question continued to swirl around in my head – the question of “But, why?”
⸢Why, for someone like me?⸥
I remained collapsed for a while. I thought I cried, too. However, no matter how I thrashed and screamed and sobbed, the already-written sentences couldn't be changed. Han Su-Yeong had to spend 13 years of life just for me, and helped me live by crafting sentences literally carved out of her. And then, she was extinguished.
⸢Kim Dok Ja⸥
[The 4th Wall] was calling out to me. I quietly listened to the next words.
⸢Y o u sho uld r e a d⸥
I gingerly stood back up. My reflection on the windows was a complete mess. It'd be hard to call my body an adult's anymore. My height had decreased a lot, and my face had gotten younger, too. The coat I wore no longer fit me. I stared at that face for a long time, before taking the coat off for good.
“….How many years has it been?”
⸢Ear th's ti me h a s no mea ning he re⸥
I understood what that meant.
This subway was the location where the 'Most Ancient Dream' had his dreams. So, the time of other world-lines couldn't measure the 'time' flowing within this train.
In all honesty, I had completely lost all sense of time after entering this train, anyway.
“Even then, there should still be this thing called perceived time, right?”
⸢Ar ound 21763 y e a r s⸥
“It's not as long as I thought. I'm still way younger than the 'Secretive Plotter', right?”
⸢St ill a li ttle r un t⸥
I heard [The 4th Wall] cackle away. If it wasn't for this guy's presence here, I'd have gone insane a long time ago.
Along with the 'Pah-sususu' noise, the tip of my pinky decreased a little.
Since when did this start from, I wondered. I didn't do anything, yet my body continued to grow smaller. Well, if I were to be more specific, it wasn't really 'I didn't do anything', though.
“….Will I keep getting smaller?” I stared at the crumbs of Fables drifting away outside the windows and asked. “Where are those Fables going off to, anyway?”
⸢To uni ver se's sub con scious ness⸥
“And where is that?”
⸢In a wor ld-li ne y o u ar en't con sci ous of⸥
The role of the 'Most Ancient Dream' was to imagine all of the world-lines. Even if I wasn't conscious of it, my subconsciousness was still continuously watching the world-lines.
⸢Tho se Fables wi ll be reb orn as ano ther Kim Dok Ja⸥
“As another Kim Dok-Ja?”
⸢Me ta phor ica lly spea king its li ke th at⸥
I thought I could understand what [The 4th Wall] was saying.
Fables were streaming beyond the galaxies to head towards another world-line.
Those Fables were, in essence, 'me'.
Just like the 49% version of me living along with my companions somewhere in the 1864th regression turn, my fragments could very well be reborn as 'Kim Dok-Ja' in a world-line somewhere out there.
“If it's only that little, I think it'll be a bit of a push to call that guy 'Kim Dok-Ja'. I mean, he won't be the same as me with such a small fragment.”
⸢Y o u mi ght be ri ght⸥
An existence that might have a different name and face to me. Even then, that existence would come to life and start imagining the universe. He'd be moved after reading the story, and then, stare at the world-line.
And just like that, he'd maintain this universe.
“…..I see.”
Somehow, I thought I could understand the principle of this universe just a little.
I pressed my crumbling fingers against the window. When I did, the rate of crumbling began accelerating.
⸢If y o u do th at⸥
“This is my way of atoning for this story.”
Not just from my fingers, but the Fables began scattering away little by little from the shoulders as well as my legs, too.
The scattered Fables would fly around in the universe and become sentences that go on to support this universe from somewhere.
⸢To say that, though you have grown up while reading this story, there's no need for you to become it.⸥
That's what the author of the 'Ways of Survival', Han Su-Yeong said.
Chapter end
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