Chapter 512: Episode 99 – The most ancient dream (1)
Within this faint light gently and warmly embracing his entire body, the Wenny King was curled up in a fetal position, dreaming of a certain dream.
That was a very ancient dream. A tale from well before his ■■ had been decided.
He was collapsed on the floor of a tainted forest.
– Epsilon! We only have to go a little bit further. The Demon King’s castle is almost within reach!
In this tale, he was a warrior subjugating the Demon King. A warrior that had set off on the Demon King subjugation expedition to protect his world.
Unfortunately, he didn’t get to fulfil his long-cherished desire. Just before the subjugation went underway, he had to close his eyes, his friend’s face the last thing he saw.
– ....Gilbert.
The scene changed, and now it displayed a warzone.
He was now a man from Murim, kitted out in a set of black-coloured garments of a nightly operative.
– Senior brother Kwok! The main base of the demonic cult bastards is right over there!
He saw the face of his comrade filling up his view. Longing quickly filled him up. She was the person he loved the most out of all the lives he had lived.
– ....It’s too late for me. Junior sister, please go on ahead.
A whistling noise of an arrow flying in from somewhere later, his vision blackened once more.
His head was pounding away. As memories overflowed, the Wenny King’s ego was shaking unsteadily.
Were these scenes from his own memories or stories from the ⸢Final Wall⸥?
Where did this story begin, and where would it end?
Independent of his will, the tale continued on.
He was now a young hatchling.
He was also a monstrous creature without a name.
He was an expert from Murim, and also a knight from medieval times.
And every time that happened, he was an Incarnation clearing the scenarios.
The last thing he heard in front of the [Final Wall] was the voice coming from a shadow without a name.
– My friend. Even during our next life, accompany me.
He gasped out loudly and opened his eyes, only to be greeted by the pitch-black darkness. The cold sweat soaking the nape of his neck sent deathly chills all over his body.
‘I’m the Wenny King.’
That was his name. He did have a real name, but that had been forgotten a long time ago. No, he couldn’t even be certain whether that was really his name or not.
‘....Am I really the Wenny King?’
Within the swirling pitch-black vacuum, the Wenny King fell into deep contemplation. It was the kind of contemplation he had never entertained after surpassing the limits of mortality.
‘Who am I?’
The Fable acting as the foundation of his existence was now shaking unsteadily. In order to regain himself at any cost, he began ruminating over his own memories.
⸢In the beginning, there was a Wenny.⸥
⸢He was the first storyteller. A human that sang about Fables.⸥
⸢But one day, Dokkaebis appeared in the world, and...⸥
⸢And those Dokkaebis took away the Wenny’s song.⸥
That was all he needed to remember.
Remember that those damned Dokkaebis took away the Wenny’s song; remember the fact that they expelled him from the <Star Stream>’s scenarios by stealing away his nativity Fable.
[You look confused, my old friend.]
The Wenny King was startled by that true voice and hurriedly looked behind him. The face of the Dokkaebi King was floating within the pitch-black darkness.
[Dokkaebi King!]
The former growled and unleashed his Status. However, things didn’t go according to plan. Within this space where nothing existed, the Status he emitted only left behind faint sparks.
The Dokkaebi King spoke with a disinterested expression.
[You aren’t allowed to fight in here. Our powers aren’t valid in this place.]
[....You somehow managed to survive. I thought that you died at the blade of that puppet.]
[It’s not much different from having died already. And, will die again, too.]
In the spot where the Dokkaebi King’s gaze landed, they could see a circular exit of light swirling around. The soul forms of these two beings were slowly heading towards that exit.
The Wenny King shouted out. [No, hold on! My Fable has just begun! I will be crossing over the ‘Final Wall’! I shall encounter the lazy god that imagined everything of this world, and become the sole creature that knows the secret of this world!!]
[Are you that curious about this world’s secret?]
[You speak of something obvious. There isn’t a single creature not curious about the origin of their own birth.]
[And that’s precisely the reason why creatures become unhappy.]
The Dokkaebi King spoke in a self-deprecating manner.
[Why do you think creatures possess the wonderful ability called ‘forgetfulness’?]
The Fable debris was scattering away within the darkness. Stories that had lost their contexts became just lumps of texts and slowly broke away. They were now stories that no one could read anymore.
The Dokkaebi King gently caressed them, before crushing that Fable into powder.
[There are far too many unnecessary stories in this universe. A process is required in order to eliminate them and to optimise everything. That is what ‘forgetfulness’ is.]
[Rubbish! The universe is infinite. Just like how the end of the ‘Final Wall’ doesn’t exist.]
[Even if there are plenty of blank margins left on the Wall, just how much of that do you think is permitted to the measly extras?]
The Dokkaebi King looked down at his own body slowly crumbling away.
[Unfortunately, the protagonist the ‘Final Wall’ has chosen is neither you or me.]
[I don’t know what rubbish you’re trying to spew here, but....!]
[Even then, you shall soon meet the one you so dearly wished to meet.]
It was then the Wenny King’s shoulders flinched.
The exit of light could be seen. It was such a rapturous, resplendent light. The exit was spinning vigorously and it somewhat resembled a full stop of a certain world.
The Wenny King suddenly grew scared.
[You, have you seen what’s beyond that?]
The Dokkaebi King didn’t reply immediately. He had this expression of boredom as if all sentences held no meaning after the full stop itself. Still, he did add a comment in the end.
[What meaning is there, anyway?]
[What?]
[I’m saying, what meaning is there to knowing that this world was just a portion of a vast dream?]
His words contained endless futility of it all.
The Wenny King couldn’t understand what was being said.
The light was getting brighter, yet the expression on the Dokkaebi King was getting blurrier. Soon, the exit of light was literally right before his nose. The worried Wenny King asked.
[....Why did you continue on with <Star Stream> until now?]
Maybe that question was unexpected? The Dokkaebi King’s expression changed bizarrely. He quietly stared at the Wenny King, before making his reply.
[I wonder. I can’t remember it anymore.]
In that moment, several Fables overlapped on the Dokkaebi King’s face.
At once, he looked like a warrior subjugating the Demon King, an expert from the dangerous world of Murim battling the demonic sect, and a hatchling spreading its wings towards the wide-open sky. He was....
[....You-!]
[Kim Dok-Ja has opened a door that should’ve never been opened. And so, this world will forever be mired in misfortune.]
At the end of those words, the world was blanketed by pure light. They had finally reached the exit. The Wenny King staggered unsteadily and set foot inside that light. He brushed past the rays of light and tread forward little by little.
The answer was here.
The ‘Most Ancient Dream’ that created this world was here.
However, the Wenny King couldn’t see anything.
The noisy blaring of hooters could be heard coming from somewhere. A thick, choking smell that wetted his nose; it became harder and harder to breath. His body began burning up under the rays of light.
As if, this blank margin wasn’t permitted to him.
[I told you. This story is neither yours or mine.]
Along with the Dokkaebi King’s words, the Wenny King’s body began melting down.
[We are simply tools of this world. That’s all.]
Ah, aaaah.....
Even though his legs melted away, followed by his torso, the Wenny King never shifted his gaze away from the spectacle before his eyes.
That was where the Most Ancient Dream was. The secret of everything in this world was there. That something he had been searching for forever was there.
The Wenny King saw it. And then, finally understood what the Dokkaebi King was saying earlier.
That, that is indeed...
The Wenny King wished to shout out so desperately. To shout out, please look this way. Please, I’m right here. Please, look at me just once.
And then, ‘that’ slowly shifted its head.
However, by the time its gaze reached where the Wenny King was, the latter was no longer existing in that place.
So, ‘that’ shifted its head away.
And, while keeping its head down, it began muttering about something once more.
*
Cough.
I felt something scratchy inside my mouth after coughing a bit. I spat out the stuffed-up breath, and insect-like things leaked out. I took a look and realised that they were letters.
Sensations returned and my vision brightened. I saw the letters emitting bright white light before my eyes. They were of familiar contents.
Just where is this....?
“Dok-Ja-ssi? You might get sucked into the book if you do that.”
Suddenly, the back of my neck grew cold. That was a familiar voice, and with words I had heard somewhere before. Horrifying imagination made a right old mess of my mind. I once thought that if I destroyed the [Final Wall], something like this might happen. However, to think that such a thing would really.....
Then, accompanied by flapping noises, torn bits of paper danced around before my eyes. I took another closer look and discovered someone lightly shaking a book around.
“....Sang-Ah-ssi.”
Yu Sang-Ah was standing before my eyes.
The surrounding view gradually grew clearer. It was the view of discarded books forming small mounds, as well as bookshelves lining up with nary a space in between. All illuminated by the faint light from a lantern. This wasn’t the subway.
This was the location I was quite familiar with.
Yu Sang-Ah grinned brightly.
“This place feels so cosy to me now.”
We were inside [The 4th Wall].
“....What happened?”
“Even if you ask me.... I also woke up just now, you see. Should we go and look for my librarian seniors?”
As Yu Sang-Ah shrugged her shoulders and began scanning the surroundings, I quickly organised what happened to us so far in my head.
⸢We had gathered all the fragments of the [Final Wall] and eventually brought it down.⸥
The memory of the ‘square circle’ spinning around was still vivid in my mind.
....And then? What happened afterwards?
What about the other companions?
⸢Do n’t wo rry Kim Dok Ja.⸥
A voice I thought I could never hear again entered my ears. I shouted out in happiness.
“The 4th Wall!”
⸢Si len ce in the lib rary.⸥
This was definitely [The 4th Wall] that I remembered, that sly playfulness included. Separate from how happy I was, though, my puzzlement only grew even bigger, instead.
Why was I inside [The 4th Wall] right now?
“Dok-Ja-ssi?”
More voices could be heard coming from the darkness. They were from the <Kim Dok-Ja Company>’s companions.
“Just where are we?”
“....I found a strange book here. It’s called ⸢⸢Kim Dok-Ja and the mysteries of sex.⸥⸥”
“You should definitely not be looking at such things, Ji-Hye-ya.”
“How about this one, then? ⸢⸢If they have their bibles, then Kim Dok-Ja has the Ways of Survival.⸥⸥”
“You really want to read something like that?”
I thought I could hear Jeong Hui-Won and Yi Ji-Hye speaking to each other. And then, a pair of small heads popped out from a nearby mound of books as if they were moles.
“Ahjussi!”
“Hyung!”
It was Shin Yu-Seung and Yi Gil-Yeong. I could also see Han Su-Yeong walking towards us in the darkened view.
“What a weird place this is. Is this that ‘library’ Yu Sang-Ah talked about before?”
She pulled out a book from the shelf to toss it behind her. Meanwhile, Yi Hyeon-Seong standing behind her caught that and stuffed it inside his inner pocket.
“S-Su-Yeong-ssi! You shouldn’t handle books so carelessly.... You don’t even know what these things are!”
“Wowee, what’s this! Sounds fun.”
Behind them, I spotted the unconscious Gong Pil-Du, Jang Ha-Yeong and Anna Croft lying on the floor. And finally, Yi Seol-Hwa checking for their pulses. At the very least, all of my companions that participated in the ‘Final Scenario’ were gathered here.
⸢N ot ev ery one.⸥
I got this rather bad premonition after hearing [The 4th Wall]’s voice.
I still couldn’t see ‘that guy’ yet.
....Could it be??
⸢(Hahahaha! Yu Jung-Hyeok! I can smell him somewhere nearby! Did he finally show up here in order to become one with me?!)⸥
A voice loudly reverberated out from within the deep darkness. It was obviously coming from Nirvana. And right next second, a dull impact noise rang out. The now-silent Nirvana’s limp body rolled around on the floor, and then, a certain black combat boot trampled that poor sob’s head.
“....What an unpleasant space this is.”
“Yu Jung-Hyeok.”
Sparks were still faintly dancing around him as if he hadn’t yet separated from the ‘Secretive Plotter’. Since he’s here too, who was it that couldn’t come?
“....Constellations aren’t here.”
“What happened to everyone back on Earth?”
[The 4th Wall] evacuating us here could only mean that some sort of a problem had occurred in the outside world.
My heart was now growing icy cold. I recalled the [The 4th Wall], as well as the sentences above it, shattering into million pieces. What went wrong? Did the world perish because I tried to change the story?
It was then, [The 4th Wall] said something completely unexpected.
⸢Ti me not mov ing be cau se not re ading not ima gin ing⸥
Even before I could ask about the meaning of that, some creatures appeared first.
⸢(Have you finally broken the wall, the apostle of eternity and epilogue?)⸥
⸢(...Such a day has indeed arrived before us.)⸥
They were the librarians ‘Devourer of Dreams’ and ‘Simulation’. I stared at them first before addressing [The 4th Wall].
“Let me out of here. There’s something I need to confirm.”
That prompted the librarians to reply, instead.
⸢(Even if it’s you, you still won’t survive by going outside. <Star Stream> no longer exists. Everything in that place has now come to a dead stop.)⸥
Everything had stopped.
For sure, the Fables that could normally be heard over the wall couldn’t be heard anymore. Instead, the noise akin to a giant spring winding up could be heard coming from somewhere. It was at once like the ticking of a watch’s second hand, or even the sound of very consistent but slow, rhythmic typing of a keyboard.
“In that case, I’ll go and meet the guy that’ll wind the clock back.”
⸢(....Do you really wish to go and meet the ‘Most Ancient Dream’?)⸥
That being was at the final stop of all these stories. <Star Stream> might have been destroyed, but there was a question that needed to be answered still.
⸢Why did a world like this have to exist?⸥
I looked back to discover my companions making similar expressions to each other. Every one of us had their own questions they wanted answers for, and had certain ends they wanted to see. And in order to get there, there was something we definitely had to do first.
Yu Sang-Ah spoke up first.
“Let’s go together, Dok-Ja-ssi.”
“Me too! I wanna go!”
“I’m really curious about the epilogue you wanted to see, ahjussi.”
“There, there. Let’s not agonise about this, shall we? Who knows, maybe a really nice Dokkaebi is waiting for us there or something. If not, we can smack him around for a bit and make him more agreeable, too.”
As if to agree with that, Biyu added her own opinion.
[Ba-aht!]
It was around then that Yu Jung-Hyeok broke the silence he had been observing.
“Before that, do you even have a way to meet him? The wall might be destroyed, but the time flow of the outside world has stopped. If time isn’t moving, Fables cannot move forward. It will be the same for us.”
⸢(There are some places where time hasn’t stopped.)⸥
Nirvana smiled and pointed to the floor.
Right. The time inside this ‘library’ hadn’t stopped at all.
“Could that bastard be inside this library?”
⸢(....That’s not it. This library is also just another ‘wall’, you see. However, a new passageway has opened up after you have completed the story. Meaning, you can now cross over to the other side.)⸥
While saying that, Nirvana guided us somewhere. Somehow, I thought I knew where he was taking us. I recalled the cliff that spanned below the library.
⸢This is the end of the library. The end of all stories.⸥
The vast, bottomless pit. A valley laid out like the abyss itself.
It was the location I discovered back when I entered [The 4th Wall] for the first time.
“....It’s exactly that place.”
I almost fell to the bottom there when I first stumbled in here. Back then, Nirvana told me that if I fell in there, I’d die for sure. He said that was ‘beyond the wall’.
Nirvana asked me. ⸢(Kim Dok-Ja. Do you really wish to go over there?)⸥
I nodded my head.
Then, Nirvana pulled at a rope hanging from the darkness. I thought something like a pulley was activating, then a small elevator-like thing slowly rose up from below.
⸢(Get on.)⸥
We all climbed aboard this elevator.
Then we were slowly lowered into the pit.
[Exclusive attribute, ‘One Who Looked into the Abyss’, is initialising.]
Finally, the answers I’ve been searching for was right before my eyes. Fables still remaining within me were getting agitated as well.
Just how long did we climb down like this? We were eventually greeted by the sounds of the pulley stopping.
I stepped foot on the darkness, only to be greeted by mouldy smell. The floor was slick and damp, too; almost like the remnants of a structure that hadn’t been used for a very long time.
The light from the lantern illuminated the front to reveal a faint line made up of yellowish blocks.
“Isn’t this place....”
Jeong Hui-Won muttered to herself. And right then, we heard the noise of something rushing towards us from the darkness past the yellow blocks. As a matter of fact, the darkness itself was shaking ominously now. It was a loud, explosive noise, as if a monster was madly dashing towards us.
A short while later, a pair of faint monstrous eyes appeared from the other side of the passageway.
“....Oh, my god.”
Jeong Hui-Won muttered out, but didn’t reach for her sword even after witnessing what kind of a monster it was. The rest of the companions reacted the same, as well. All because everyone knew exactly what that monster was.
⸢The beginning of all these stories.⸥
It was the subway.
<Episode 99. The most ancient dream (1)> Fin.