Chapter 525: Epilogue 1 – The world of zero (9)
Yu Jung-Hyeok planted his sword on the ground as he wobbled. His irises were becoming translucent next. His eyes, exhausted from fighting a lengthy battle, were losing their sights.
“If I choose you as my Constellation sponsor, will I get to finally meet you?”
[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, is shaking his head.]
“Just where are you exactly? All the stars in <Star Stream> have fallen, so from where are you watching over me?” Yu Jung-Hyeok continued to mutter out. “No, wait. I know the truth already. You are... probably beyond that [Wall], aren’t you.”
I couldn’t say anything. I didn’t expect the 0th turn’s Yu Jung-Hyeok to be able to catch onto that. He continued to speak in the meantime.
“Something felt off to me about this world.”
It was my first time hearing such a shrewd tone of voice coming from him.
“One day, I suddenly came into existence in this world.”
A man who came to exist in this world without a warning.
“Without any memories of my childhood, I was suddenly cast into this world. I wandered around an illegal work site, and through sheer luck, got spotted by the director, and thus became a pro gamer. But then out of the blue, someone abandoned a child on my doorstep. A child, supposedly my younger sister.”
A conveniently-crafted life, a series of adversities created solely to become a tragedy later.
“Once, I searched for my parents. However, no matter how hard I searched, I couldn’t find them. Even the professionals that could unearth the president’s hidden illegitimate child couldn’t find my parents. It was as if such things didn’t exist in this world, to begin with.”
[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, is....]
“So I ask you, ‘Demon King of Salvation.’ Who am I?”
My heart was in pain. The fact that Yu Jung-Hyeok had eventually reached that question was endlessly tormenting me.
I needed to say something. Anything...
“Does the secret of this world lie beyond the wall, where you are?”
[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, asks you if you’re not happy currently.]
“I am happy,” he replied without a shred of hesitation. “And that’s why I’m even more curious about what lies beyond the wall.”
[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, is....]
“I’m curious about the reason behind all the goodwill you’ve shown me. I’m also curious about the meaning of my life, where I was born, and why I had to come here. If I had one more chance....”
From somewhere, sounds similar to the ticking clock hands could be heard.
⸢Kim Dok Ja⸥
I couldn’t show Yu Jung-Hyeok what’s beyond the [Wall]. Even if I was the ‘Most Ancient Dream’, that was still impossible.
Yu Jung-Hyeok continued on. “You told me this once upon a time. If I sign the contract with you, you will grant any one wish of mine. Back then, I didn’t accept your offer because I was suspicious of you. However, if it’s not too late....”
His fingers hovered in the air, searching for a log message that reached him in the distant past.
[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, wishes to become your Constellation sponsor.]
[Will you accept the offer?]
“I shall accept it now.”
Dizziness rushed in and the shaking of my surroundings worsened.
I called out to [The 4th Wall].
‘The 4th Wall.’
⸢Y ou c a n t⸥
It already knew what I was going to say.
The prerequisite condition needed for Yu Jung-Hyeok to cross the [Final Wall] was to gather all the ‘fragments of the Final Wall’.
However, [The 4th Wall] had no intentions of transferring to Yu Jung-Hyeok.
I gritted my teeth and sent a message out.
[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, says that wish can’t be granted.]
“Why not?”
[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, says that it is a truly arduous path, that’s why.]
“An arduous path?”
If I couldn’t transfer [The 4th Wall] to him, then there was only one option for him to see the conclusion.
[Constellation ‘Demon King of Salvation’, says that if you wish to cross the [Wall], you must ‘regress’ first.]
“Regress?”
Along with the ‘Tsu-chuchuchut!’ noise, my entire figure was dyed in the sparks of Probability.
The world-line was telling me this.
It was saying that I mustn’t inform him of this. It said, this information wasn’t something the current Yu Jung-Hyeok should know.
Despite that, I bit down hard on my lip and shook off the world-line’s opposition. Even if I had to sacrifice much more Probability, I wanted to show him the truth.
⸢1 8 6 4⸥
“1864? What’s that supposed to mean?”
[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, says that is the number of times you must regress before you can witness the conclusion.]
Memories from the life I had lived became a Fable and began unfolding next.
[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, says that even if you manage to live all those regression turns, the odds of you successfully seeing the conclusion will be extremely low.]
Not only that, the current Yu Jung-Hyeok had broken free from the ‘original world-line’.
He was no longer Yu Jung-Hyeok from the original novel.
Time-lines had branched off, and the ‘future’ no longer existed.
Even if he did reach the 1864th turn, there was no guarantee that he’d meet ‘Kim Dok-Ja’ in possession of [The 4th Wall]...
⸢Th ere i s⸥
What?
⸢Er ase the me mo ries of th is t u r n⸥
Goosebumps broke out all over my skin.
⸢What if I give Yu Jung-Hyeok the fragmented memories similar to the ‘original’ and send him to the next turn?⸥
If so, the world-line should think of this Yu Jung-Hyeok as the ‘original’s Yu Jung-Hyeok’.
He’d be incorporated back into the original’s world-line, and live through the first and the second regression turns without any memories from this life.
⸢However, Yu Jung-Hyeok would become miserable once more.⸥
⸢Why are y ou de ci ding th at?⸥
I slowly raised my head. Yu Jung-Hyeok was still talking to me.
“I don’t care even if the odds are low.”
[Incarnation, ‘Yu Jung-Hyeok’, has accepted your offer.]
The Fable began its storytelling, and the starlights seemed to extend even further.
[Your Incarnation is waiting for you to say something.]
I remained silent for a long time. And eventually, I came to a decision.
I had no choice but to tell him.
I slowly regulated my breath and opened my mouth.
[Yu Jung-Hyeok.]
Been a while since I spoke in my true voice. An incredible storm of Sparks raged on around me. I tried to suppress the incoming waves as much as possible, yet it was still this bad.
Yu Jung-Hyeok opened his eyes wide and looked up at the sky. “Was that your real voice?”
[That’s right.]
“....I can hear it surprisingly well.”
Yu Jung-Hyeok, going slowly deaf, muttered softly. A faint crease spread over the old man Yu Jung-Hyeok’s expression. I pretended to not see that and spoke.
[I can send you back. However, if that happens, I won’t be able to help you from the next turn onwards.]
The only way to make him reject the offer was to tell him the truth.
[You’ll have to use nothing but your own powers to break past the scenarios. Those scenarios will be far worse than you can ever imagine, and... And, you might end up encountering something you didn’t want to at the conclusion you’d eventually reach.]
I thought back to Yu Jung-Hyeok. I thought back to the sorrows of the 3rd turn, the anguish of the 4th, and the despair of the ‘Secretive Plotter’.
[And if you do choose ‘regression’, then... You will lose the majority of your memories as you cross over.]
Those words caused the soft sounds of Yu Jung-Hyeok sucking in his breath to come out. No matter how resolute his determination might be, this one should be a hard pill to swallow.
[Only the tiniest fragmented memories from the scenarios will remain in you.]
“....”
[Meaning, everything precious to you will disappear. Yi Seol-Hwa you remember, Yi Hyeon-Seong, Yi Ji-Hye, all of them will....]
“Just because I will forget about them, that doesn’t mean they’ll suddenly stop existing.”
I shut my mouth then.
“They definitely continue to live in this world.”
⸢They definitely continue to live in this world.⸥
Like branding a seal, those words slammed into a part of my head and invaded deep inside.
It felt as if a gigantic hand of fate was pouncing upon me.
⸢At that moment, Kim Dok-Ja realised that this was the true completion of the 0th turn.⸥
The reason why there was no trace of the ‘Most Ancient Dream’ in the 0th turn. The reason why, despite that fact, Yu Jung-Hyeok still managed to cross over to the first and then, to the second regression turns. Maybe it was....
[....You dumb bastard.]
I gathered my hands and used the power to manipulate the dream gathered in me.
The storm of Probability’s aftermath crashing in caused my whole arm to scream in pain as if it was getting twisted and torn off from my body. I recalled all of Yu Jung-Hyeok’s regression turns that I knew. I gathered all the lives he had led, as well as the Fables I knew, and created a certain Stigma.
A Stigma that acted as the motive power of this world, as well as the source of all of Yu Jung-Hyeok’s tragedies.
[Stigma, ‘Regression’, has been generated!]
[Your Stigma has been transferred to your Incarnation!]
Looking satisfied, Yu Jung-Hyeok accepted the Stigma.
[Stigma, ‘Regression Lv.1’, is getting ready to activate.]
“You said earlier that I’ll lose my memories.”
[....I did.]
“Will I lose everything related to you, too?”
I hesitated with my answer. Yu Jung-Hyeok asked me again.
“Even all that convenient information you told me, too?”
[....Yes.]
“I see.”
[If you regret it, then it’s not too late to....]
“You also said you won’t help me from the next regression turn onwards.”
[I can’t help you.]
“It’s fine to help, however.”
[Even if I want to, I can’t.]
“I heard that the scenarios exist not just for the Incarnations, but Constellations, as well. Maybe, it was the same story for you.”
[.....]
“Tell me, you fool. If I continue to regress, will I ever get to meet you again?”
I couldn’t say anything. These were utterances of someone who didn’t know anything. In every sense of the word, he was the 0th turn’s dumbass continuously babbling on while having no clue about his own future.
Along with the words that hadn’t been said yet, Yu Jung-Hyeok’s ears began disappearing.
⸢The night sky was reflected in Yu Jung-Hyeok’s eyes.⸥
As if he was a child wondering about his origins, Yu Jung-Hyeok estimated where in the sky the [Wall] might be and extended his hand towards it.
He’d become the ‘Secretive Plotter’ someday, and...
....And at the same time, also become the 1864th turn’s Yu Jung-Hyeok that I knew.
He’d grow to resent me, and eventually reach the truth of this world.
[Stigma, ‘Regression Lv.1’, is activating!]
[You have agreed to the activation of the Stigma.]
Yu Jung-Hyeok’s body began scattering away little by little. His arms, his legs, and then, his torso, too.
During the final moments, he called out to me.
“Demon King of Salvation.”
With a truly strange and mystifying expression...
“I shall pray that you may continue to exist somewhere, too.”
....Yu Jung-Hyeok’s Incarnation body scattered into silvery powder and he left this world-line.
[The influence of the applicable world-line’s ‘Overwrite’ function does not extend towards the character ‘Yu Jung-Hyeok’s’ next regression turn.]
[Your Incarnation has forgotten your Modifier.]
[Your Incarnation has forgotten all memories related to you.]
[All information related to you are now marked as ‘???’]
All of his memories that couldn’t be recorded anywhere would now be lost forever.
In that case, where would all those memories go?
I stared at the flickering light for a very long time.
*
“Hey, Yu Jung-Hyeok! Why aren’t you saying anything?!”
Yu Jung-Hyeok ended up staggering after receiving a loud impact to the back of his head.
He turned around to discover Han Su-Yeong and her deep scowl.
“I said, how do we do this ‘group regression’ thing?”
“I can suddenly remember.”
“Remember what?”
Yu Jung-Hyeok stared back with a stupid face, and muttered in her direction.
“The 0th turn’s memories.”
<Epilogue 1. The world of zero (9)> Fin.