Chapter 181: Episode 34 – Unable to be Eaten (3)
I could see the Attributes Window? I finally understood a few things that didn’t make sense.
The reason I hadn’t been able to see my Attributes Window was due to Fourth Wall. The Fourth Wall protected me from other beings but at the same time, it was a skill that isolated me from myself.
[Checking the Attributes Window.]
[The system configuration is unstable. Some skill names and levels are limited.]
Then for the first time, I saw my Attributes Window.
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[Personal Information]
Name: Kim Dokja
Age: 28 years old
Constellation Support: None
Modifier: The Ugliest King (Tentative)
Private Attribute: Eight Lives (Hero), Scenario...
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Before the Attributes Window was fully revealed, the screen crashed and sudden messages emerged.
[Some constellations are approaching your mental barrier.]
At this moment, I wanted to say oops. Maybe the constellations had been looking for this opportunity—for the day that my information was revealed to the world.
[The constellations of the nebula ‘Vedas’ are approaching you.]
[The constellations of the nebula ‘Olympus’ are approaching you.]
[The constellations of the nebula ‘Papyrus’ are approaching you.]
The constellations who sought to improve my existence started to forcibly open my mind. At this moment.
[The exclusive skill ‘Fourth Wall’ is reactivated independently of your will!]
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Exclusive Skills: Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint Lv. ?, Bookmark Lv. ?, Character List Lv. ?, Fourth Wall Lv. ?, ■■■■ Lv. ?, ■■■■■■■■...
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Overall Evaluation: ...■■ you ■■■■■■...?
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A lot of the information was hidden by ‘■’.
As numerous bricks piled up, strong sparks that concealed my information appeared.
[The constellation ‘Founder of Humanity’ is groaning.]
[The constellation ‘Poked Out His Eyes’ is covering his eyes and stepping back.]
[The constellation ‘Scorpion Goddess’ steps back while protecting her tail.]
.
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[Some of the constellations approaching you are struck and have retreated!]
The countless letters rotated reliably.
The fierce sparks of the Fourth Wall were protecting me from the constellations. The guy who was fighting me a while ago was now emitting a fierce aura towards the constellations.
[The Fourth Wall is baring its teeth towards the Star Stream.]
I stared at the Fourth Wall. The last thing I heard was a message from a well-known constellation.
[The constellation ‘Secretive Plotter’ is smiling at you.]
The message was distinctively different from the other constellations.
...Surely he didn’t see my information in such a short period of time? Even if he did see it, he wouldn’t have been able to check everything. I couldn’t confirm all the information despite opening the Attributes Window.
The sparks calmed down and the wall turned towards me again.
[The Fourth Wall is angry with you.]
I stared at the wall.
For a long time, I thought this wall was the boundary between the novel and reality. The wall allowed me to adapt to the new world and show unusual judgment in terrible situations.
However, once I asked about the actual identity of the ‘wall’, I couldn’t come to a conclusion. The only thing I could be certain of was that this wall had protected me for a long time.
There were a few crises but I overcame them due to the presence of this wall. It was thanks to this wall that I could arrive here.
I brought my hands towards the letters making up the wall.
“I’m sorry.”
[The Fourth Wall is shaking.]
The strange texture of the letters wrapped around my fingers. The Fourth Wall felt like this.
The letters of the wall clung to my hands like doctor fish (red garra). They seemed to be licking and biting me. It was a feeling that couldn’t be clearly shared. There was no analogy for it. The Fourth Wall was like a wet puppy, an abandoned child, a teenager who didn’t listen etc.
The Fourth Wall... The Fourth Wall was like me.
Then a sentence appeared on the wall.
「 Kim Dok ja is an i diot. 」
The sentence seemed to have been written by a child just learning Hangul. It wasn’t a story related to me or the world. It was the words of the Fourth Wall.
I smiled at the wall.
「...$#^#$^#$%@#$... 」
The Fourth Wall wrote unrecognized characters, as if it was confused for a moment. Then after a while, it wrote a sentence again.
「 Kim Dokja thought, ‘The Fourth Wall is an existence with its own will as well.’ 」
...It was starting again.
「 Then were the words written in brackets from the Fourth Wall? However, the Fourth Wall’s tone is too static compared to that... then who wrote those words? If this really is a wall, there is something else in the wall... 」
“Stop reading other people’s thoughts.”
[The Fourth Wall is turning its head away.]
[The Fourth Wall is telling you not to forcibly turn it off again.]
I kept talking while touching the Fourth Wall. “I know. Instead, I have a request.”
[The Fourth Wall is looking at you.]
I took a brief breath before saying, “Give me back my mother.”
The wall shook briefly, as if to judge if my words were true or not.
Then a sentence appeared on the wall.
「 Kim Dokja hates his mother. 」
“That’s right.”
「Kim Dokja knows what happened with his mother. He knows what his mother has been through, the life she lived and what she was hiding. Just because he knows doesn’t mean he understands everything. 」
“...Yes.”
「Because of this, Kim Dokja still hates his mother. This is what human emotions are like. There is no magic that will heal all wounds just because someone else has a deep wound as well. 」
“You have great insight. I agree.”
「 Thus, Kim Dokja can’t understand it himself. Why is he trying to save his mother? 」
“I can’t explain.”
「······ 」
“Not everything can be expressed in sentences.”
I quietly looked at the wall and said, “I don’t have much energy left. Please help me. I’m asking you.”
The Fourth Wall was silent for a long time before displaying the following sentence,
「 Kim Dokja... 」
Could an existence who already entered the wall come out again? I didn’t know if it was possible or not. Still, I had to try.
Then the wall started to move. Something was vomited out from the wall.
There were numerous letters. The letters gathered to become words and the words came together to become sentences. The sentences gathered into paragraphs and the paragraphs gathered again to become a story.
The story soon formed a person.
I embraced my mother who was lying in the letters. Then I told the Fourth Wall, “Thank you.”
The Fourth Wall shook and started to disperse.
「 Sl, ee, py. 」
Little by little, the surrounding space was broken.
[The constellation ‘Secretive Plotter’ is snapping at the ‘great old ones’ spying on you.]
The darkness of the outer universe was clearing away.
Time and space were broken and the surrounding scenery changed to the second floor of Dark Castle.
Then the subsequent messages appeared.
[Your Dark Castle ranking has changed.]
[Your current Dark Castle ranking is 2nd place.]
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[You have met the hidden goal of the main scenario.]
[You are eligible to participate in the last scenario of Dark Castle.]
***
Two days had passed since the battle on the plains. All mortals lost their fighting spirit in the face of a god.
The forces of the wanderers and the forces of Paradise. In a sense, the powerful despair brought peace to all of them.
The commanders of the wanderers and the commanders of Paradise settled the dead and cleared up the situation. The unnecessary disturbance disappeared and the second floor of Dark Castle was slowly gaining stability. The rankers were slowly selected to go up to the next floor and people agreed to entrust them with the future of Dark Castle.
Most rankers were gathered in front of a small coffin.
“It is his job to die all the time.”
Kim Dokja died as soon as he came back from defeating the outer gods.
He fought against such a mighty being that his companions thought it was natural. Jung Heewon said, “Will he be alive again tomorrow? Last time it also took three days.”
The group had adjusted to Kim Dokja dying and weren’t as shocked. Yoo Sangah bit her lips and wondered,
“...By the way, did we need to put him in a coffin?”
“Even the dead should be put in a bed...” Jung Heewon made an excuse.
The party members stared at Kim Dokja’s coffin with different meanings. Lee Hyunsung was watching with a reverent gaze, Shin Yoosung looked guilty and Yoo Sangah was confused. Then...
“By the way, Master. I thought you would go to find hidden pieces...” At Lee Jihye’s words, the party members all looked from the coffin towards a certain place.
Yoo Jonghyuk frowned at the gazes and replied, “Now the only hidden pieces in Dark Castle are worthless.”
“Then the reason why you came here...”
“I need Kim Dokja to move to the next floor.”
“Hrmm... aren’t the two of you very close these days? A few days ago, I saw...”
Yoo Jonghyuk’s impression became grim and the cowardly Lee Jihye closed her mouth.
Jung Heewon tapped Lee Jihye and rebuked her. “Stop teasing Jonghyuk-ssi. Don’t disturb the two of them.”
“...Oh, fine.”
“In addition, you know the reason why he came here without asking. It is the same for everyone.”
At these words, the faces of the party members became solemn. They looked down at Kim Dokja’s coffin.
Jung Heewon opened her mouth again. “He isn’t afraid of death because he will live again.”
Just because he had multiple lives didn’t mean he should keep sacrificing them for others. Shin Yoosung touched the surface of the coffin.
“If it wasn’t for Dokja ahjussi, we would’ve died by now.”
No one doubted it. Lee Hyunsung, Jung Heewon, Lee Gilyoung and Lee Jihye as well. All of them had been saved by Kim Dokja.
Lee Jihye sighed. “I’m not saying this to be cheesy but... if I had two lives, I would probably give one to Ahjussi.”
“I’m afraid he won’t receive it because you only have 6 points in affection.”
“This kid... in any case, aren’t we all the same when it comes to the garter belt?”
The group smiled as they watched Lee Jihye and Lee Gilyoung clashing. It was an unbelievable sight when people were crying with frustration at the bloody battlefield two days ago. Yoo Jonghyuk watched them from a distance.
Kim Dokja appeared and his plans changed a lot. The easy scenarios became difficult and the simple stories became complicated. Those who were supposed to die survived.
Yoo Jonghyuk looked down at his hands. Perhaps among those who were supposed to die, Yoo Jonghyuk himself would be included.
Yoo Jonghyuk thought it was very strange. This landscape could be made be a person who wasn’t a regressor. This regression might be better than any other round of life that he had lived. It was terribly complicated in his mind.
“By the way, isn’t that fate over now? Dokja ahjussi died.” Lee Jihye asked and some companions replied.
“Ah. That’s right. That reminds me...”
“Since he was destined to die because of a loved one, isn’t the fate fulfilled? He died because of his mother...”
“Yes. Why didn’t I think of his mother?”
The voices were boisterous. Yoo Sangah watched Yoo Jonghyuk standing in the distance with a complicated face. Yoo Jonghyuk also had a thought as he faced the eyes.
‘The fate isn’t over.’
There was the variable called Cheok Jungyeong but the nebulae weren’t that simple.
The nebulae knew about Kim Dokja’s resurrection. Thus, the fate could never end this way. In addition, the nebulae were angry with Kim Dokja and were likely to maliciously engage in realizing the fate.
Above all, the big hurdle that was the next scenario would soon arrive.
Thus, Yoo Jonghyuk needed to choose.
He silently stared up at the sky. It was like he was looking for something there. After a while, his gaze was returned.
[The constellation ‘???’ is looking at his incarnation.]
The constellation ‘???’. It was the third regression but Yoo Jonghyuk still didn’t know who his sponsor was. It was the source of the regression and the one who made Yoo Jonghyuk suffer a terrible tragedy.
Yoo Jonghyuk took a breath and opened his mouth. ‘Sponsor. I have to ask you something.’
Translator: Rainbow Turtle