Chapter 454: Episode 86 – The square circle (1)
While driving down the dimensional passageway, neither Han Su-Yeong nor Yu Sang-Ah said much. Thanks to that, though, I was able to organise my thoughts while gazing outside the window – on what I need to do in the future, and the things I’d like to do.
Next to me, Uriel finally stopped muttering something with a serious face only to fall into a snore-filled slumber. Meanwhile, the ‘Secretive Plotter’ was half-leaning against her, also unconscious.
It kind of felt weird seeing two of the oldest viewers in my channel sleeping so defencelessly like that.
Han Su-Yeong, checking me out through the rearview mirror, suddenly spoke up. “What are you grinning like that for? You should be getting ready to give us a proper explanation once we get back.”
Explanation, was it? It was pretty clear what I needed to explain to them, of course.
“You only have one chance.”
I found Yu Sang-Ah’s bright smile rather terrifying.
“We’ve arrived.”
Not too long after that, the Ferrarghini came to a stop.
We were back in Seoul.
*
A short while later, I was sitting in front of my companions.
The faces that I missed so much, the ones I wanted to see had gathered in one place. The <Kim Dok-Ja Company> that experienced the scenarios together with me, including Yi Gil-Yeong, Shin Yu-Seung, Jeong Hui-Won, and Yi Ji-Hye. And, Yi Seol-Hwa and Gong Pil-Du who guarded Seoul while I wasn’t here. Finally, I could see my mother and the wanderers in the living room a bit further away.
I studied the faces of all my companions and lowered my head 90 degrees before opening my mouth. “I’m sorry.”
“About what?”
“All the things I’ve done.... I’m really sorry.”
“H-mm.... Well, sure.”
....What’s this? Weren’t they furious at me?
I wasn’t sure what’s going on here, but well, I thought this was for the best. I had so many things to explain, after all.
“I’d like to explain a few things, starting from.....”
“First of all, tell us whose child that is.”
Gong Pil-Du threw out that question first. I chased after his gaze and saw the ‘Secretive Plotter’ floating inside a clear sphere near me.
[Currently, this individual’s Fable is unstable.]
Seeing that he still failed to regain his consciousness yet, it seemed that a serious problem had occurred after he used up far too much Probability. Meaning, it was impossible for him to clarify the situation by himself.
Meanwhile, rage began filling up Gong Pil-Du’s eyes when I didn’t answer back. “You said that you’d get rid of the scenarios so I protected Seoul for you, yet you dare to show yourself here with your child instead?!”
The grief of a man who spent his entire life as a ‘Gireogi’ dad could be felt in that voice.
“I see that you’re under some sort of a misunderstanding, but....”
“Whose is it?” Gong Pil-Du glanced at Yu Sang-Ah with somewhat fearful eyes. “....Could it be?” He met her smiling eyes and shook his head. “.....Right, there’s no way. That means, it’s with her, then?”
“You want to die?!”
Han Su-Yeong growled angrily, prompting him to flinch grandly.
I didn’t miss that opening and quickly jumped in. “Excuse me, isn’t it a bit too much thinking that he’s someone’s kid? Besides, just where does he look like a newborn to you??”
“Han Myeong-Oh’s kid grew up in the blink of an eye, didn’t she?”
Those words caused Han Myeong-Oh’s complexion to pale. “That kind of makes me uncomfortable.”
“What bugs me more than that is the kid’s face. It’s exactly the same as that jerk-off’s.”
Gong Pil-Du shifted his gaze over to the corner of the living room while saying that.
That’s where the cross-legged Yu Jung-Hyeok and his glaring eyes were at, his entire body tightly wrapped in bandages. His trademark scary glare was locked on me.
– Kim Dok-Ja, what is the meaning of this?
I could only sigh grandly. “It’s only natural that he looks exactly the same as that ‘jerk-off’. Because, this kid is that jerk-off, you see.”
Silence descended on the living room in an instant. Gong Pil-Du was looking at me, his eyes asking what kind of rubbish I was spewing out this time.
It seemed that my tale was going to get a bit lengthier than initially planned.
“There are several Yu Jung-Hyeoks in this world..... I guess I should start my explanation from there.”
*
I started my in-depth explanation from the end of the ‘Great War of Saints and Demons’.
From when I summoned the Outer God that destroyed the Demon World, the ‘Nameless Mist’, to stop the Apocalypse Dragon. (Gong Pil-Du: “Are you bloody insane?”)
And then, encountering the ‘Secretive Plotter’ and him kidnapping me. (Yi Seol-Hwa: “Oh my goodness.”)
Then, finding out that the Plotter was none other than Yu Jung-Hyeok who had lived through 1863 regression turns. (Jang Ha-Yeong: “....What the heck are you talking about?”)
Forming a contract with him that also contained the ‘Other World Pledge’. (Shin Yu-Seung: “....I knew something like that would happen, ahjussi.”)
Entering the Great Fable ⸢Journey to the West⸥ without informing my companions. (Yi Ji-Hye: “Ahjussi, you’re definitely not cut out to be an actor, you know.”)
The battle between two Yu Jung-Hyeoks, one from 1863rd turn and the other, from 999th turn. (Jeong Hui-Won: “Just how many Yu Jung-Hyeoks are out there??”)
Yu Jung-Hyeok of this world-line, who thought that he was in the 3rd turn, realising that it’s actually the 1864th. (Han Myeong-Oh: “Could it be that you yourself can’t explain this and are just coming up with random stuff??”)
Barely managing to clear the ⸢Journey to the West⸥ with my companions’ help, but then, getting kidnapped by the Secretive Plotter again. (Yu Sang-Ah, wordlessly sighing.)
And finally, the event of encountering the 999th turn’s Uriel in that place, who had become an Outer God herself.
When I got that far, even I began wondering what the hell I was talking about. I raised my head to discover that my companions were carrying roughly the similar expressions.
The first one to react was Han Myeong-Oh. “Hmm, hmm. So that’s what happened. I think I understand everything.”
....But, that’s plainly not possible?
Everyone was now looking at him. So, Han Myeong-Oh added one more thing. “It seems to me that you actually enjoy dying or getting kidnapped.”
“...Excuse me, I guess it’s not just me who don’t get it, right? Just what the heck are you talking about here? There are three of my Masters running around out there? And what’s up with this 1864th turn and all....?”
Perhaps it was natural that they didn’t understand.
From the get-go, the fact that the 1863rd turn had split into two was causing the complications.
Yu Jung-Hyeok who lived through the original 1863rd turn went on to become the ‘Secretive Plotter’. Meanwhile, Yu Jung-Hyeok that lived through the altered 1863rd turn regressed once more and became the dude that we all knew.
Since I read the ‘Ways of Survival’, I could understand it fine, but it was natural that my companions would find this all rather mystifying.
Jeong Hui-Won, massaging her head, asked me then. “Okay, so what are you saying? Is our Jung-Hyeok-ssi the 3rd turn, or the 1864th?”
That prompted Yu Jung-Hyeok sitting on the corner of the bed to reply curtly. “I don’t know.”
“Eh?”
“I can’t remember.”
I activated the [Character List] and confirmed Yu Jung-Hyeok’s information.
+
<Character Summarised List>
Character: Yu Jung-Hyeok
Exclusive Attribute: Regressor <3rd turn> (Myth).....
+
Surprisingly, his attribute had reverted back to ‘3rd turn’.
“My memories returned only during the time when I was borrowing Kim Dok-Ja’s Fable for a little while. It was similar to watching someone else’s history.”
....I had no idea it was like that.
Yu Jung-Hyeok continued on. “This is what I think. This is originally the 3rd turn, and I am definitely the 3rd turn Yu Jung-Hyeok. Except that, during a certain point during the world-line, the memories from when I was living in the 1864th turn have covered up mine temporarily.”
Yi Seol-Hwa, listening in, joined the conversation. “....But, that doesn’t make any sense. You’re saying that the 3rd turn has influenced the 1863rd turn, and in turn, the 1863rd has influenced the 3rd.... That’s logically impossible.”
“Logically, no.” Eventually, Han Su-Yeong stepped in, too. “It can only be valid in the form of written words. What I’m saying is that, such a thing is only possible because this world used to be a ‘novel’ originally.”
She then shifted her gaze over to the ‘Secretive Plotter’ surrounded by the transparent sphere. “It’s the same thing as the ‘square circle’ or the ‘triangle with the total of their interior angles coming at 720 degrees’.”
Yi Seol-Hwa tilted her head and asked her. “But, something like that can’t exist, right?”
“It’s more correct to say that you can’t even imagine it, actually. However, as texts, as paragraphs, they certainly can exist. What’s happening right now is just like that. To us, it might be a time paradox, but as texts of a novel, it’s completely possible, you know. I mean, you can just say, there it is, so deal with it. It’s not the issue with understanding it, but rather, accepting it. So, let’s look at it in a simpler way. We’re currently stuck inside a crap novel. Since the original was crap, this is the end result.”
I wanted to say something as a rebuttal, but since she spoke of truth, I couldn’t think of anything.
“If I was this novel’s writer, I’d have stopped doing the world-line distortion thing at once or twice. Readers seriously don’t like this sort of complicated stories, you know? Even the Constellations probably can’t figure out what’s going on here.”
[Constellation, ‘Abyssal Black Flame Dragon’, says that his Incarnation is truly a smart cookie.]
“A world with broken Probability will collapse by itself. I know of quite a few stories that ended in that manner. Worlds that even their authors gave up on.”
Han Su-Yeong was an author herself so she could say these words. She might have abandoned such worlds in the past, and she might be regretting it ’till this day.
When I thought about that, something felt off to me.
The world created by the author of the ‘Ways of Survival’, tls123, had become a reality.
– In that case, what kind of a conclusion would you like to see, Dok-Ja-nim? Which conclusion would be a happy ending for the protagonist?
Could it be that the author couldn’t finish his story and was leaving it up to us?
Jeong Hui-Won scratched her cheek and asked. “Okay, so what’s your conclusion, Han Su-Yeong?”
“We gotta fight those bastards that shoved us into this stupid world. Whether it’s the author, the Outer Gods, or even the Dokkaebis.”
“The same as it has always been, then.”
“Doesn’t matter what happened in the original, you can chuck that crap to the dogs for all I care. We have to see our own Conclusion, anyway. We simply can’t remain stuck in the damn shithole scenarios forever.”
She was right. Right about everything.
Whether it was the Outer God King or the <Bureau>, it didn’t matter.
[Every star in Nebula <Kim Dok-Ja Company> is radiating light.]
No matter who our enemy was, we still had only one choice to make. We fight, win, and reach our answers in our own way.
“Dok-Ja-ssi?”
Before I realised it, my companions were looking at me. They seemed to be waiting for me to say something.
Their expressions were asking me about what we need to do moving on, and what we need to make preparations for. Of course, I had been thinking about those, as well.
However, it wasn’t that easy for me to say the first words.
Maybe it was because I felt nervous, knowing that the end was around the corner. It was fear that, although we reached this far with so much hardship, one wrong judgement from me and everything could go down the crapper, just like that. It was also a burden of knowing that I now had to walk on the path not seen in the ‘original novel’.
My lips bobbed up and down several times, and eventually, I managed to eke out a word. “So.....”
“That’ll be enough for today.” Yu Sang-Ah stepped in to stop me. “Let us rest for today, and carry on tomorrow. Everyone, we’ve returned from a tough scenario only just now, anyway.”
*
I stayed up that night and made plans.
I was almost lured by the temptation to read the ‘final revised’ version of the ‘Ways of Survival’ several times, but in the end, I didn’t. I wasn’t sure why not, but then again I did have this hunch.
This gut feeling that, the moment I read the novel, I’d not be able to escape from its shackles.
“....”
I fell into a slumber so deep that I couldn’t even remember when I succumbed to it. The last bits of the memories were a blur. I might have dozed off while reading a book, and I thought I drank a cup of warm tea that Yi Gil-Yeong had brought in. In any case, it was a rather sweet sleep.
And, I thought I had a happy dream, too.
The dream was about the chat I had with Yu Sang-Ah some time ago. Set in a world where all the scenarios had come to an end, my companions were busy talking about their daily lives. It was really peaceful. It was so peaceful, in fact, that it didn’t feel like real ‘peace’ to me. And when I saw the bright smiles on Shin Yu-Seung and Yi Gil-Yeong’s faces, somewhat mysteriously I realised the truth.
⸢This is a dream, isn’t it.⸥
I bit down hard on my lip, and as if an earthquake had erupted out, the view of my dream rocked about. Still in the haziness of my consciousness, I slowly opened my eyes and tried to sit up.
....What’s this?
My body didn’t want to move.
Also, the faint earthquake I felt inside the dream continued on, too.
I managed to force my eyes open, and the surroundings revealed itself under the dim darkness. What greeted me was the sensation of plush leather enveloping my back and the head.
“Hey, Kim Dok-Ja’s trying to wake up.”
“Put him to sleep again.”
I felt someone smacking me in the head, and my consciousness dimmed again. And as I faded out, I heard a mischievous voice talking to me.
“This is the workers’ revolt, you dumbass.”
And when I opened my eyes again...
I was inside an unfamiliar mountainside.
<Episode 86. The Square Circle (1)> Fin.