Chapter Text
Kim Dokja and Han Sooyoung were sitting next to a fire, quietly discussing something. Yoo Joonghyuk approached under the guise of cooking the monster meat Kim Dokja was trying – and failing – to roast.
“Give me that.”
Kim Dokja tried to intervene, but Han Sooyoung immediately shoved a skewer of raw meat into Yoo Joonghyuk’s hands.
“Start working on that, and maybe I’ll forgive you, slave.”
“Bold of you to assume you’re getting any, witch.”
“Hey, I saved your asses! I deserve a treat! Besides, you owe me.”
Yoo Joonghyuk scowled. He did owe her for saving his life and bringing in the reinforcements, but he didn’t feel like admitting it out loud.
“Owe you for becoming the psycho’s prisoner? I’ll make sure to pay you back in kind.”
Han Sooyoung fumed. Kim Dokja didn’t interrupt, watching their bickering with detached amusem*nt.
“Kim Dokja!” Han Sooyoung turned to him, poking Kim Dokja in the side with her finger. “Tell your boytoy to play nice!”
“Sorry, I was choking on the sexual tension in the air,” Kim Dokja replied innocently. Yoo Joonghyuk and Han Sooyoung grimaced at the same time.
“Don’t ever insinuate this again.”
“I have standards, you know. And the loser over there has a girlfriend, as unlikely as it sounds.”
“Seolhwa isn’t my girlfriend.”
“Seolhwa isn’t my girlfriend,” Han Sooyoung parroted in a high-pitched voice. Yoo Joonghyuk raised an eyebrow.
“What are you, five?”
“Is the food ready yet?” Mia interfered. Yoo Joonghyuk just nodded at her.
“Two more minutes. Go wash your hands.”
Everyone got closer to the fire, attracted by the smell of food. Yoo Joonghyuk stayed firm, though: only his sister, Kim Dokja and Kim Dokja’s kids received preferential treatment. And Seolhwa, but she was so exhausted she’d immediately gone to sleep. Others could cook for themselves. Yoo Joonghyuk was too tired to feed the whole group, and he had never had any qualms saying no to people.
Yoo Joonghyuk lazily watched Han Sooyoung attempting to steal a few bites from Kim Dokja’s meat skewer before having had enough.
“You’re acting like an old married couple. What, have you been an asshole to him to hide your attraction or something?”
“f*ck off.”
“Not for free.”
Han Sooyoung sighed and plopped down.
“What do you want?”
“Answers.”
Kim Dokja perked up, but said nothing. Han Sooyoung looked at him, then at Yoo Joonghyuk, then at the others – they were trying to pretend they weren’t eavesdropping, but their eyes, shining with curiosity, betrayed their excitement.
“Fine. But you better cook me a whole feast. And remember, you asked for that.”
Yoo Joonghyuk nodded and returned to cooking. He’d primed the target; Kim Dokja could take care of the actual interrogation.
“Do you have any idea who the Disaster of Floods is going to be this time?”
“I don’t. I haven’t thought of it yet.”
“You haven’t?..”
Yoo Joonghyuk was so baffled he even looked straight at Han Sooyoung, forgetting about the meat roasting on the fire.
“Look, contrary to the popular misconception, I don’t plan everything in advance, all right?” Han Sooyoung said nervously. “I had the general outline for this regression. I just haven’t ironed out the details.”
“The identity of the Disaster of Floods being one of those details,” Kim Dokja finished in a calm tone. Han Sooyoung nodded.
“What’s the general outline then?” Yoo Joonghyuk asked, his attention returning to the meat. He now doubted Han Sooyoung would be able to tell them anything useful.
“Well… I certainly haven’t planned for this whole sh*tshow. But it was supposed to be the last round. The book would end after it. So, I intended to give his flashback of round zero, have him cross the Final Wall and reunite with his endgame.”
Huh. So the damn news article hadn’t been wrong. Surprisingly, the idea made something clench in Yoo Joonghyuk’s chest: he’d followed the story for many years, and losing the silent support was…
It made him feel lonely.
“How would I do that?” Kim Dokja asked. For the first time since Yoo Joonghyuk had met him on the bridge Kim Dokja was showing actual, real emotions. His voice was shaking in excitement, his eyes shining… he looked eager and hopeful.
Han Sooyoung averted her gaze.
“Look. There’s no easy way to say it, so I’m just gonna say it. I don’t know.”
“You… don’t know.”
“I don’t know. I intended to cross that hurdle once I got to it.”
All of Kim Dokja’s excitement disappeared without a trace. The raw, naked desperation that had replaced it was the most pitiful thing Yoo Joonghyuk had ever witnessed.
“Can you at least tell me about my sponsor? Surely you know that much?”
“Ugh!” Han Sooyoung rubbed her forehead. “I hate to disappoint you, I do. You know why your backstory is so needlessly tragic?”
“Tell me.”
“Because I came up with it in middle school. It was for a short story: a bullied kid, who’s so miserable he no longer wants to live, finds his salvation when someone approaches him and reveals they’ve been watching him this entire time. There was a love confession, all this stuff. Except when I grew up, I realised stalking wasn’t romantic and scrapped the idea. Later, when I needed a protagonist, I remembered you and figured I could use you. Your sponsor, though… all I know is he’s been watching you from the start. He’s not that important for the story, ok? Just a goal for you to chase after. And a reward for all your suffering. Call me old-fashioned if you like.”
“You’re so full of sh*t,” Yoo Joonghyuk said with contempt. Han Sooyoung huffed.
“Oh, piss off! No one is ever satisfied by the ending, so I wasn’t going to cater to the masses. My artistic integrity…”
“Doesn’t f*cking exist! You’ve failed him, and then you were so ashamed to admit it you’ve been an asshole to him!”
“I didn’t fail anyone! How was I supposed to know this sh*t would become real? I fully intended to give him a happy ending! The sappiest ending you can imagine! Do you have any idea how many fights I’ve had with my editor about this?!”
Kim Dokja stood up and left, not even bothering to say anything, and it shut them up more effectively than any reproach could.
His sponsor, huh?.. The guy had never been mentioned in TWSA, not even his moniker was known, despite the wild speculation of the fans. Personally, Yoo Joonghyuk had believed the constellation didn’t matter much for the story and was a convenient plot device to justify Kim Dokja’s ability. Oddly enough, he’d been right and wrong at the same time.
It’d never occurred to him that Kim Dokja had been looking for a person all this time. Now that he thought about it, the hints had been there – the wistful way Kim Dokja would look at the sky, his rare slips of the tongue, him mentioning “a special someone” every once in a blue moon. However, none of the analyses Yoo Joonghyuk had seen online had predicted this particular twist.
Why was Kim Dokja so eager to find his sponsor? Did he want to end his life once and for all? Break the contract and get rid of his stigma? Anyone was bound to be tired after literal millenia of fighting, and Kim Dokja had been suicidal even before the start of the apocalypse. Was that it? Did he long for death? It’d explain the wistfulness and the secrecy: Kim Dokja’s companions definitely wouldn’t appreciate the idea of him dying and leaving them behind.
“Does he want to kill his sponsor? Break the contract?” Yoo Joonghyuk asked sharply.
Han Sooyoung didn’t even have to say anything: she looked so dumbfounded by his guess Yoo Joonghyuk immediately felt foolish.
“No, why would you think that?..”
“Because that’s what I’d want in his shoes. Revenge. Kill the person who’d condemned me to forever repeat this sh*t.”
“Well, he’s not you. It has nothing to do with revenge. And while he does have a deathwish, it’s… more complicated than that.”
Han Sooyoung sighed and tried to grab the meat skewer Yoo Joonghyuk was holding.
“Come on, I’ve earned one.”
“You haven’t earned sh*t. At least tell me your plan – the one you and Kim Dokja discussed.”
“Relax, pretty boy, you’ll see everything soon enough.”
Yoo Joonghyuk wanted to snap at her, but… Kim Dokja had been away for too long. Yoo Joonghyuk sucked at comforting people, but he wasn’t about to let Kim Dokja mope in a dark corner. He sacrificed the meat to Han Sooyoung to throw her off his trail, then went to the outskirt of the camp.
Kim Dokja was standing alone, leaning on the wall and staring at the night sky. The position looked so pretentious Yoo Joonghyuk couldn’t hold back from grabbing Kim Dokja’s coat and shaking him a few times.
“What are you doing?” Kim Dokja swatted Yoo Joonghyuk’s hand off his collar.
“What are you doing? You look like you’re posing for a manhwa frame.”
“Leave me alone, all right?..”
Kim Dokja’s voice broke, betraying his emotions. Come to think of it, wasn’t the Fourth Wall supposed to protect Kim Dokja from such outbursts? Or was he so overwhelmed the Fourth Wall couldn’t do its job properly?
Anyway, Yoo Joonghyuk needed to do something. Say something.
“A person gets lost in a hot air balloon.”
Kim Dokja looked at him like he was crazy. Yoo Joonghyuk knew it was a sh*tty start, but he clenched his teeth and persevered.
“He passes a woman on the ground and asks her where he is. She says “You’re in a balloon.”
“I know this joke,” Kim Dokja said disinterestedly. “Manager Han loved it. Used to tell it all the time.”
“Then the man says “Yes, but where exactly?”
“The woman gives him the altitude and longitude. The man guesses that the woman is a mathematician, because her answer was completely accurate and completely useless,” Kim Dokja continued in a bored tone. “Is that it?”
“The woman then guesses he’s a manager.”
Kim Dokja raised an eyebrow.
“That’s new. All right, don’t keep me hanging.”
“The man asks her how she knows, and she says: “I gave you the information that is completely accurate, but you don’t know what to do with it. Moreover, even though your situation hasn’t changed at all, somehow you’re blaming me for it.”
“Huh. I wish I’d known the end of this joke before. Bet manager Han would’ve appreciated it.”
“Shut up. That’s not the point I’m trying to make.”
“What is the point you’re trying to make then, Yoo Joonghyuk?”
That was better. Yoo Joonghyuk preferred Kim Dokja being a headache and a pain in the ass over his quiet despair.
“I’m saying, nothing’s changed. You still don’t know how to achieve your goal, but have you ever? Isn’t this why you keep starting over and trying everything you can think of? You hoped for Han Sooyoung to give you a shortcut, but she couldn’t. So what? Just keep walking. You’ll get there in the end.”
“Can’t I just skip to that part?” Kim Dokja’s smile was strained, but sincere. Yoo Joonghyuk sighed in relief.
“Go eat, you fool.”
The rest of the night was uneventful. In the morning Kim Dokja told everyone to pack up: they were going to meet the Disaster of Floods. And Han Sooyoung would apparently join their team for good.
Unlike the other Disasters, the Disaster of Floods was never the same person: it was either one of Kim Dokja’s companions or a foe from a different worldline. At the beginning Kim Dokja had believed the choice to be randomised, until the reveal that the Bureau had been going through world-lines that Kim Dokja had abandoned, making contracts with entities who desperately wished to meet Kim Dokja again for whatever reason and sending them to wander between world-lines for thousands of years. The good thing was that half of the time the Disaster of Floods had allied with Kim Dokja on the spot; however, when the Disaster had been Kim Dokja’s enemy, they’d become a powerful opponent, extremely hard to defeat.
Yoo Joonghyuk hoped it’d be the former case. Due to the unforeseen changes Kim Dokja wasn’t currently as powerful as he usually tended to be at this point of the story. Han Sooyoung seemed capable of holding her own in a fight, and Yoo Joonghyuk still remembered the trick she’d used to thwart the dokkaebi’s plan, but she wasn’t reliable.
Shin Yoosung tamed a sea queen to help them cross the river and reach the island where the meteorite was located. It hadn’t hatched yet, but it was extremely close. Khav’il fluffed their feathers and crooned something; Yoo Joonghyuk guessed they were promising to help in a fight. It was hard to hear when the damn bird was sitting on Shin Yoosung’s shoulder.
The girl’s beast-taming abilities were progressing rapidly. She needed to train more, but Kim Dokja hadn’t had the time to teach her. He’d need to get on that soon, but he preferred to coddle his companions instead of letting them fight their battles unassisted. While Yoo Joonghyuk knew it was hypocritical of him, he was still annoyed.
Once they landed, Kim Dokja sent Lee Hyunsung, Yoo Sangah and the kids away: allegedly to make sure no one else would get to the island. The Bureau was keeping quiet for now, but Yoo Joonghyuk wouldn’t put it past them to organise something nasty. Especially since that one medium-level dokkaebi, Paul, also usually appeared around this scenario.
“You worry too much,” Han Sooyoung said confidently after Yoo Joonghyuk shared his thoughts with Kim Dokja. “The Bureau considers his sponsor to be their most important customer… and the author of the story is the god in their eyes. Imagine you’re a devout Christian who suddenly meets the Creator and the Virgin Mary. Would you try to stand in their way?”
“One of them tried.”
“The stupidest one. Trust me, most of them are panicking right now. They won’t dare to deliberately make our lives harder… and they will care more for my opinion than other constellations’.”
“I don’t.”
“You don’t what?”
“Trust you.”
Han Sooyoung rolled her eyes and was going to say something when Kim Dokja tapped her shoulder.
“It’s starting.”
The meteorite shone. Yoo Joonghyuk grabbed his sword and stood at the ready; so did Jung Heewon. Kim Dokja and Han Sooyoung looked fairly relaxed, but Yoo Joonghyuk was willing to bet it was just for a show.
“Stay behind me,” he told Seolhwa, who was accompanying them in case someone was injured and needed a medic urgently. Yoo Joonghyuk still hadn’t told her about his King of Ailment and Sorrows ability: he hadn’t found the time, and if Seolhwa asked about his reasoning, the conversation would quickly turn awkward.
The shell of the meteorite broke into pieces, and the inside of it shone so brightly Yoo Joonghyuk had to cover his eyes for a second. It took him a few moments to adjust, then he saw a shadow step out. It seemed slender and not too tall, carrying something large in their hand.
Tired of the tension, Yoo Joonghyuk used Eye of Sage to see the Disaster’s profile. He needed to know for sure whether they were going to fight or not.
[Disaster of Floods
Name: Aileen Makerfield
Age: ■■■■■ years
Personal Attributes: Story Expert, Revolutionary]
Yoo Joonghyuk tuned out the rest of it: every Disaster’s stats would be at least in the nineties. However, for Aileen Makerfield of all people to have become a Disaster?.. Aileen had been a secondary character at best, usually forgotten at the outskirts of the Demon Realms. Kim Dokja rarely visited that area, and Aileen hadn’t been very prominent. Jang Hayoung, despite her limited role in the book, had at least been a fan-favourite because of her optimism and the mysterious Wall she possessed. If Yoo Joonghyuk had to guess, he’d bet the Wall of Impossible Communication was bound to play a role in the grand finale. But Aileen?
Aileen was barely there. Yoo Joonghyuk couldn’t even describe her appearance or abilities, aside from the “Story expert” one, which had been used as a convenient plot device.
Kim Dokja seemed to have recognised Aileen as well: his shoulders relaxed, and he stepped forth. Han Sooyoung didn’t try to stop him, but Yoo Joonghyuk still took two steps closer just in case. Now he could see that the thing Aileen was carrying in her arm was a huge flag, dragging on the ground after her like a bizarre cape.
Aileen finally opened her eyes and calmly took in her surroundings. She didn’t look surprised to see the island, but the moment her gaze landed on Kim Dokja, something in her eyes broke.
“You…”
Yoo Joonghyuk tensed, but Aileen didn’t try to attack. She approached Kim Dokja and took his face into her hands, as if unable to believe Kim Dokja was actually standing in front of her.
“Aileen,” Kim Dokja greeted her calmly. Aileen suddenly hugged him.
“You’re alive. I was too scared to believe the dokkaebi… but they haven’t lied. You’re here. You’re alive.”
“In a sense. Say, Aileen, can you briefly tell me how we met? I need to know which round you’re from.”
“Round?..”
“Listen, I’ll explain it to you in a minute. Just answer my question, then I’ll answer yours.”
Aileen obeyed. It quickly became apparent that she was from Kim Dokja’s 105th regression: the one where he’d become a Demon King to save his companions in the Dark Castle, then ended up in the 73rd Demon Realm and assumed the role of the revolutionary. He’d freed the Industrial Complex, but died because he hadn’t been able to incarnate into a main scenario. All he had had to do had been to kill Aileen and take her spot, but he’d refused and broken to pieces in her arms.
Come to think of it, that had been the first time Han Sooyoung had even introduced the concept of the Demon Realm into the story. From then on she’d explored it quite a bit, fleshing out the characters and coming up with secret scenarios. The one with the Giant Story had been fun, if a bit too dragged out.
“…Then the dokkaebi said you’re alive in some other world line. Not just a version of you, but the person who’d saved us. The person who remembered us. I took their deal.”
“We’ll have to rid you of it then. Han Sooyoung, will you do the honours?..”
Ah. Since Aileen had dealt with the Bureau, she was now their slave, and any dokkaebi could forcibly convert her to evil or make her do their bidding. There were only a few ways to destroy the link and free Aileen – the ways that Kim Dokja normally hoarded to make sure no one would be able to enslave him like Anna Croft had once done. Apparently, in this regression he hadn’t even done that much… they’d need to rectify that.
However, Aileen just waved her hand.
“No need. I’m a Revolutionary, remember? It’s possible to imprison me or kill me, but no one can convert me or make me betray my beliefs. Any petty tyrant is an easy prey for my attribute.”
Kim Dokja quickly exchanged glances with Han Sooyoung, who gave an imperceptible nod.
“Even better. All right, let me bring you up to date…”
Well, that was anticlimactic. Not that Yoo Joonghyuk was complaining: he wasn’t reading a book anymore. Yes, a drawn-out fight with a Disaster would’ve been much more interesting, but it’d also be dangerous and a pain in the ass.
“Now what?” he asked no one in particular.
“Now we leave the island, regroup and choose who goes to Peaceland. I also have some unfinished business to take care of, but it’s better if I do it on my own.”
“It’ll be easier for you to postpone it until your return,” Han Sooyoung suggested.
“Easier for me, but way more dangerous for other people. You know that.”
“And you should know you’re not in the book anymore. People of Seoul can take care of themselves without your guidance. Just warn their leaders.”
“That’s…” Kim Dokja clearly hesitated. Aileen raised an eyebrow.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“You know… I think there is,” Kim Dokja said slowly.
They spent the next few days recovering, getting more familiar with each other and training. Kim Dokja refused to teach them how to fight, citing his lack of talent and the need to rely on stolen skills, so Yoo Joonghyuk eventually told Jung Heewon to share whatever she remembered from her kendo lessons.
Finally a notification appeared in the sky to announce that the sixth main scenario was about to begin. They needed to determine whom to send.
Kim Dokja himself, Han Sooyoung, Lee Hyunsung, Shin Yoosung and Lee Gilyoung were the core group. They’d also need Prisoner 406, Lee Boksoon, to deal with the Japanese Prime Minister. Jung Heewon would be a great addition to the team: although her Open-Eyed Justice did not receive any bonuses from constellations of the Absolute Good, Jung Heewon’s strong sense of honour guaranteed she’d protect native dwellers of Peace Land. Aileen also volunteered to accompany them, and Kim Dokja accepted, likely because the Revolutionary attribute would be great for supporting the fighting spirit. Yoo Joonghyuk reluctantly advised for Lee Seolhwa to also go: they’d need a doctor. Kim Dokja promised to take care of everyone, which was somewhat of a relief, but Yoo Joonghyuk still couldn’t help but worry. Not knowing whether Seolhwa was alive or not would be a torture… but he couldn’t constantly keep her at his side. Seolhwa was an adult and needed to be able to stand up on her own, without anyone’s protection.
Surprisingly, Lee Sookyung opted to take the tenth spot. It was unusual for her not to stay with her wanderers, but no one dared to question her motivation. She likely wanted to spend more time with her son, strained as their relationship was. Although for Kim Dokja it had been ages since he’d found out the real reason behind his mother’s perceived betrayal, from Lee Sookyung’s perspective she’d only recently learnt of her son’s regressions.
Yoo Joonghyuk was left in charge of the remaining party members and the wanderers. To be honest, Kim Dokja’s choice left him a bit baffled: normally Kim Dokja entrusted his companions to Yoo Sangah whenever he had to go away.
“I just think you’re a good choice,” Kim Dokja said when Yoo Joonghyuk confronted him about it. He refused to elaborate, and Yoo Joonghyuk silently decided to interrogate Han Sooyoung once the Peaceland scenario was over and they reunited. As Kim Dokja’s creator, Han Sooyoung was bound to know what was going on in his head, and she was ridiculously easy to bribe.
Thankfully, there were no fights over the spots in the party. Kim Dokja met the other kings at Sinseoldong, which had been appointed a neutral territory. Nam Dajung, who’d stealthily increased her influence, easily agreed that since it was important for Kim Dokja to participate in the Sixth Main Scenario, he should do it. Gong Pildu surprisingly didn’t protest: he’d apparently joined Nam Dajung’s group at some point. Yoo Joonghyuk couldn’t fathom how this seemingly naïve girl had tamed one of the notoriously greedy and immoral antagonists, and resolved to be very careful with her in the future.
Once the negotiations were over, Kim Dokja and the others prepared to leave.
[One last thing, Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi,] Kim Dokja told him before their departure. [Nirvana is still somewhere in the city. Be very careful around them, or better yet, avoid them if you can. It’s all right to run – you can’t defeat them at this point. I have plans for them, but I need to finish this scenario first.]
Yoo Joonghyuk just nodded. He’d forgotten about Nirvana, consumed by more pressing issues, but Kim Dokja was right to warn him: Nirvana wasn’t an easy opponent to defeat, and they definitely weren’t a threat to ignore.
The first few days went fine. Having obtained the carte-blanche from Kim Dokja, Yoo Joonghyuk spent his time practicing and training the team: Lee Jihye still hadn’t learnt to summon her Ghost Fleet, Yoo Sangah constantly lacked firepower, which led her to use her stigmas a lot and could cause problems in the future, and the Wanderers were still grappling with their stigmas, having mostly relied on firearms. All of them had a lot of work ahead; Yoo Joonghyuk intended to show some results once Kim Dokja returned.
The Moster Hunting Scenario was a good chance to grind and farm some loot, especially since most of the dungeons had been cleared already. Their teamwork was also improving: Yoo Sangah used her threads to incapacitate the target, Yoo Joonghyuk and Lee Jihye finished it off, the wanderers guarded the area, and Khav’il stayed high above, making sure there would be no surprises.
On the fifth day Nam Dajung sent a person to warn Yoo Joonghyuk about the Salvation Church, which was quickly gaining prominence. For now Nirvana mostly operated in the southern regions of Seoul, which meant there was a river separating them, but Yoo Joonghyuk had little doubt that wouldn’t last. Nirvana was bound to look for Kim Dokja sooner rather than later, and that usually entailed them trying to take Kim Dokja’s allies prisoner. Moreover, there was little telling how Nirvana Moebius would react to the information about them being a book character.
This kept bothering Yoo Joonghyuk: the potential reactions of the big players. For now Seoul was mostly left to its own devices, but there was bound to be a lot of scheming behind the scenes. Kim Dokja would doubtlessly grab the chance to contact his adoptive mother in Peaceland: he normally used the eight-headed snake as the offering to the Underworld to attract attention and prove his worth. Hopefully Persephone would share some background info on Olympus. However, as for the other nebulae – Vedas, Papyrus, Asgard, Emperor, – it was hard to predict what they would do. Or not hard at all: they’d very likely try to eliminate the threat. Namely, Kim Dokja. They’d done it before in most of his regressions, but by that time Kim Dokja had already gained enough power and notoriety to be able to defend his group against them. Now… now Yoo Joonghyuk just had to hope Kim Dokja knew what he was doing.
Perhaps it was a sort of training in and of itself: Yoo Joonghyuk had never relied on other people before, so he needed to learn how to do it. He privately wondered if it had been a part of Kim Dokja’s plan.
The first sign of trouble was the absence of large monsters in the area. While in the book incarnations had often had to fight for the chance to slay a high-level beast and pass the scenario requirements, hence the “Monster Hunting”, this time the largest groups operating in the Seoul Dome had naturally divided the territory, so there was enough prey for everyone. That Yoo Joonghyuk and the others weren’t able to find a beast to slay could only mean one thing: someone had beaten them to it. Someone had broken the unwritten rules to intrude upon their domain.
And they needed to find out who.
None of the options were exactly pretty. Nam Dajung was an unknown, so Yoo Joonghyuk had no clue what to expect from her. Cho Haeun was a crazy bitch whom Yoo Joonghyuk would gladly fight, but he’d rather avoid antagonising her sponsor. Nirvana was trouble.
Khav’il scouted from above, quickly returning with news.
“The one who fought us alongside you is leading them, oh mighty hunter. There is also a large group moving in their direction. It is strange… the one that group obeys looks like a human, but we could swear it is also an Imyuntar.”
Ugh. Not one, but two psychos in the same area? Yoo Joonghyuk could only hope they’d be too busy fighting each other. He ordered Yoo Sangah to take the wanderers and Lee Jihye away: as Kim Dokja’s prominent companions, they were in more danger than a relative unknown like Yoo Joonghyuk himself.
He wanted to do some reconnaissance. Khav’il would help him get out of trouble, if necessary. Yoo Joonghyuk wouldn’t engage the opponents directly, just watch them. No big deal.
He didn’t come too close: it would be dangerous to jump into the fray without a plan. Thankfully, Yoo Joonghyuk quickly noticed something interesting: a dokkaebi was hovering in the air, likely to broadcast the upcoming encounter. Yoo Joonghyuk waved his hand at it. The dokkaebi – was that Yoongki? – noticed him and hesitantly approached.
“What is it, mortal?”
“I need to open a dokkaebi bag to buy something,” Yoo Joonghyuk stated plainly. The dokkaebi frowned.
“Ask your sponsor.”
“I don’t have one.”
“Then you should have picked one during the selection,” the dokkaebi snapped and turned to leave. Yoo Joonghyuk clenched his fists. He needed to play it smart. As much as he’d prefer to clock the fluffball in the mug, right now he had to borrow a page from Kim Dokja’s book.
“Youngki, right? You and I both know sponsorless incarnations have the right to use the dokkaebi bag. Give me the guest access. The coins I’ll spend will go straight into the Bureau’s pockets, so you’re not losing anything.”
Yoo Joonghyuk was bluffing: he wasn’t certain how the dokkaebi bag access actually worked. But if he remembered correctly, Youngki was young and inexperienced… had they been appointed to Seoul because no one else was willing to take the job? In any case, it’d be stupid not to use the opportunity.
Youngki hummed, but eventually relented. Yoo Joonghyuk quickly purchased a downgraded version of a Recluse’s Cloak – a one-time consumable, which shielded its wearer from Absolute Senses up to level 3. He’d just have to hope Nirvana and Cho Haeun would be too busy, and their underlings didn’t have high stats. Then Yoo Joonghyuk carefully approached the street that Nirvana’s forces were marching on.
Nirvana was doing their thing: preaching, brainwashing people into their cult and using their skills on those who resisted. Yoo Joonghyuk ground his teeth: Kim Dokja had been right. Nirvana was trouble, and too high-level to be defeated without the Fourth Wall. They hadn’t appeared very often in the book, since it had taken them quite a while to reincarnate after every meeting with Kim Dokja, which had been a blessing in disguise. Even someone as self-absorbed and empty-headed as Nirvana Moebius had quickly understood the simple rule: using mental attacks on Kim Dokja was a bad idea. Kim Dokja’s schemes and taunts could only take him so far; in the end Kim Dokja resorted to pitting Nirvana against his other foes and killing two birds with one stone. However, right now there was no one powerful enough to deal with the reincarnator who had once defeated Asmodeus in a fair fight.
The Salvation Church forces suddenly stopped. Yoo Joonghyuk risked sticking his head out of the dark alley he was hiding in to take a peak.
Cho Haeun was standing in the middle of the street, her hands folded atop her sword, the tip of which was facing the ground. Her subordinates gathered behind her back; unlike their leader, they looked extremely nervous. Thankfully, Seojun wasn’t with them; either Cho Haeun still had enough presence of mind to protect her son from harm, or something bad had happened to the teenager. Yoo Joonghyuk hoped it was the former.
“Are you here to join the Church of Salvation?” Nirvana asked brightly. Their voice was young and happy, ambiguous enough that it was impossible to determine the gender of the speaker. “We offer you protection and ease of your worries! We are many, and…”
[Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves,] Cho Haeun snarled. Nirvana just laughed at her.
“Oh, a Christian? How lovely! We accept converts from all religions! My friends, tell her how happy you are with me!”
The brainwashed people around them started to sing praises to Nirvana, describing their previous misery and current prosperity. Nirvana stood in the middle of it all, gleefully accepting the compliments and admiration. Yoo Joonghyuk curled his lips in contempt: he’d seen a lot of vain, self-absorbed idiots, but Nirvana toppled every one of them.
[Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world!]
Cho Haeun's sword shone brightly once she stopped talking. Some people from Nirvana’s entourage started blinking and looking around in bafflement, as if unsure of what they were doing here. Cho Haeun raised her sword and assumed a fighting stance.
[But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.]
Nirvana’s eyebrow twitched.
“You dare… proselytising in front of me, trying to take away my flock? You should’ve accepted my offer when you had the chance! Pitiful incarnations of Absolute Good will never understand the path to the true salvation!”
Although Yoo Joonghyuk was using his Eye of Sage, he still missed Nirvana’s movement. One moment they were standing atop their white elephant, the next their figure suddenly blurred in the air and ended up in front of Cho Haeun. Yoo Joonghyuk knew this fighting stance – he’d seen it before, when Kim Dokja had used his Way of the Wind.
Cho Haeun didn’t even have the time to attack: Nirvana just pressed a finger to her forehead, looking bored.
“What do we have here… oh, how lovely! You’re so terrified of your own son, thinking he might usurp your power behind your back. And yet deep down inside you hold him in contempt because he doesn’t try to thwart you. You don’t believe you deserve this power, not really… you just want to feel important. And… ah. You’ve expected your son to kill you during the first scenario. He found a way for the both of you to survive, but you’re still wondering to this day whether you should’ve let him murder you.”
Cho Haeun was shaking. She released the handle of her sword and fell on her knees, clutching her head. Nirvana just huffed.
“This is marginally more interesting than those I’ve met before, but it isn’t exactly a high bar… More importantly, you’re one of them.”
Nirvana’s tone turned downright murderous. Some of Cho Haeun’s subordinates tried to attack them, but Nirvana just waved their hand, and a giant palm appeared in the air, crushing the people like ants.
“You filthy presumptuous fake! You think you know a single thing about this world? You think you know anything about my Kim Dokja? Trying to make him do your bidding… How dare you attempt to touch what’s mine with your unworthy hands?!”
Well, that was Yoo Joonghyuk’s cue to leave. Especially since his Recluse’s Cloak would soon expire. He had to escape quickly, while Nirvana was too busy to look around.
Yoo Joonghyuk’s group assaulted him with questions the moment he returned. Yoo Joonghyuk briefly recounted everything he’d witnessed and emphasized the need to stay as far away from the Church of Salvation as possible. They only had to survive for about two weeks: although the Peaceland scenario was supposed to last forty days, it usually took Kim Dokja less to finish it.
Nam Dajung invited Yoo Joonghyuk over to talk a few days later. Yoo Joonghyuk doubted whether to accept the invitation, considering it might be a trap, but eventually opted to go: he wanted to find out the news. He took a few wanderers with him in case he needed to fight his way out, but that proved to be unnecessary: Nam Dajung just called him to warn him of Nirvana.
Apparently Nirvana hadn’t been too upset about this world being a book, but they’d taken great offense at those who’d read it. If ordinary people were likely to be converted, TWSA fans would be brutally murdered on the spot. Something about Nirvana being unhappy that other people knew more about Kim Dokja’s struggles and thoughts than they did… Possessive asshole. Yoo Joonghyuk had never liked the yandere archetype, and this just reaffirmed his preference.
Cho Haeun’s group was completely paralysed for the time being. As Yoo Joonghyuk had deduced, her subordinates couldn’t do sh*t without their leader’s orders, and Cho Haeun was in no state to lead anyone. Seojun was trying to protect the people as best he could, but he lacked his mother’s experience and practicality.
Nam Dajung openly said their group would avoid conflicts unless they had no other way. They’d retreat to the subway and seal the entrances. Yoo Joonghyuk declined her invitation to join: his party wasn’t as large as Nam Dajung’s, but it was much better trained. A subway station was a trap waiting to happen: too many ways for things to go wrong. Yoo Joonghyuk would rather stay on the move, avoiding Nirvana’s forces and fending for himself and his people.
He didn’t ask for the others’ opinions. Not counting Mia, Yoo Joonghyuk was the only avid reader of TWSA among their group, which meant he was more qualified to make decisions.
Staying on the move all the time wasn’t as hard as Yoo Joonghyuk had imagined, but it was taking its toll. They couldn’t sleep properly, always prepared to run at the smallest sign of danger. Previously Yoo Joonghyuk had believed he’d lost all sense of security once the apocalypse had begun; only now did he realise how wrong he’d been. Having Kim Dokja around, staying in relatively safe zones like subway stations, or even having the luxury of Cho Haeun’s subordinates guarding the premises… All of that had lulled them into a false sense of control over the madness that was happening around. A grave mistake.
Kim Dokja was bound to come back soon, Yoo Joonghyuk reminded himself and the others. They had to persevere. Khav’il was invaluable during those two weeks, constantly scouting ahead and warning the party of any signs of trouble, as well as looking for the monsters to hunt – the party still needed to fulfil the scenario’s conditions.
They’d had to cross the river more than once to avoid Nirvana’s procession; Lee Jihye’s Ghost Fleet helped with that, since Shin Yoosung with her monster-taming was out of reach. Surprisingly, Lee Jihye’s ability bloomed once she realised she was actually in charge of keeping the party safe, at least for the time being. If previously she’d only been able to summon one ship for a short amount of time, then now she could freely call for all of them. Yoo Joonghyuk tried to show his approval the same way he’d praise Mia, and Lee Jihye proved surprisingly receptive. However, Yoo Joonghyuk had to tread carefully: Mia was prone to bouts of jealousy over the most ridiculous things, especially now that Yoo Joonghyuk couldn’t pay her as much attention as she was used to. If Mia tried to stomp off in a fit of anger and ended up facing some sort of danger alone… Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t let himself finish the thought. They’d be fine. All of them. He’d get their group through it somehow.
He did. A notification of the Sixth main scenario being over took the whole group by surprise, but it was a piece of good news they desperately needed. Yoo Joonghyuk opted not to meet Kim Dokja head-on: Nirvana and their brainwashed goons would likely wait at the scene. The group would stay hidden for the time being, while Khav’il would fly Yoo Joonghyuk and Lee Jihye to the place of Kim Dokja’s return. If everything went smoothly, they’d land, tell Kim Dokja the news and depart together. If Nirvana was waiting… they’d make it up as they went.
Lee Jihye was visibly happy to finally see Kim Dokja and everyone else again. Yoo Joonghyuk felt bad for the kid: the book had never specified how Kim Dokja’s party had dealt with his inevitable death and regression, but he could imagine that the reaction hadn’t been pretty. For Lee Jihye to get attached to someone who was bound to leave sooner rather than later…
Kim Dokja could be incredibly selfish sometimes. Yoo Joonghyuk still had no idea why Kim Dokja was so desperately looking for his sponsor, but that mad search had led Kim Dokja to completely ignore the mental wellbeing of his companions. He should have stayed with them and had a happy peaceful life, not kept looking for skyscrapers and high bridges to jump off of.
