Selena Kim was side-eyeing him. Yoo Joonghyuk ignored her. He had no interest in talking with Anna Croft's clueless pawn.
In the previous regression, Anna Croft had been the one to come to the constellation banquet on behalf of the Washington Dome. He had hoped that she would be here, but of course she wasn't stupid enough to come in reach of his sword after everything she had done.
Only a handful of incarnations milled around the waiting room. Incarnations from different domes regarded each other warily, aware that they might have to fight in future scenarios.
The door opened again. Yoo Joonghyuk gave it a disinterested glance, only to do a double take.
"Kim Dokja?"
Kim Dokja blinked at him.
"Yoo Joonghyuk."
Before Yoo Joonghyuk could react, system windows appeared with a shower of golden sparks.
[A story without a name has found its name.]
[The story 'Life and Death Companions' proudly continues its storytelling.]
Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja stared at the text without a word. The story of a regressor and a man who wouldn't stay dead... perhaps Kim Dokja also felt that the story's name was too on the nose.
Yoo Joonghyuk turned back to him. Kim Dokja was slightly transparent. This, then, should be a soul body, not his real one which had been lying dead in Seoul for the past two days. Incongruously, he wore a suit; not one of the work ones he preferred, but a tailored evening suit that emphasized the length of his legs to an outrageous degree.
Kim Dokja shifted on his feet under his insistent look.
"You're still dead," Yoo Joonghyuk said, his tone accusatory.
"Yes, well... for a bit longer."
"How long?"
"It should be resolved tomorrow."
"The others are worried."
"I'm sorry."
Yoo Joonghyuk closed his mouth. He wanted to grip Kim Dokja by the arms and shake him like vinaigrette. Make sure he was corporeal. Maybe rattle something loose in that incomprehensible brain. He had convinced himself that Kim Dokja would come back, but it hadn't helped him turn his brain off these past two days. Now that he had proof he had fretted for nothing, he felt wronged.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] That new means of resurrection you're using is garbage.
[Kim Dokja] It's not, it's not. It's pretty good.
[Kim Dokja] But I hadn't expected the 72-hour cooldown, that's true.
Yoo Joonghyuk gave him a contemptuous glare.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] What other restrictions does it have? It is a skill or an item?
[Kim Dokja] Yoo Joonghyuk...
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Tell me or I'll test it myself.
His hand reached for Kim Dokja's throat. Kim Dokja batted it away with an annoyed smile.
"You jerk, why is it always my neck?" he said out loud. "Don't make a scene. Here, let's go sit."
Even as he spoke, the messages kept coming in Midday Tryst. Maybe he had grown wary of the long silences that allowed strangers to realize they could communicate in private.
Midday Tryst
[Kim Dokja] Alright, no need to be like that.
[Kim Dokja] It's a skill. I don't think you know it.
[Yoo Joonghyuk] What other restrictions does it have?
[Kim Dokja] None. Well, I can only use it seven more times. That barely counts as a restriction.
[Yoo Joonghyuk] It does at the rate you're dying.
Kim Dokja smirked at him over his shoulder. It hadn't been a joke, but Yoo Joonghyuk wouldn't be surprised if he had no self-awareness.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Tell me how to get it.
[Kim Dokja] Why? So you can steal it in your next regression?
[Yoo Joonghyuk] You said yourself I should get more information.
[Kim Dokja] It's not in my interest to give you that information myself, you know. You might get strange ideas and regress.
His smirk widened as he took a seat. Yoo Joonghyuk narrowed his eyes at him. Before he could say anything, the look on Kim Dokja's face flickered. Yoo Joonghyuk turned to see what had caught his attention.
On the wall facing the seats in the waiting room, some kind of interview was playing on a screen. A dokkaebi was gushing about his promotion to mid level. With more resignation than surprise, Yoo Joonghyuk recognized the dokkaebi from Kim Dokja's channel. But his sense of fatality disappeared when the creature presented a golden egg to the camera.
"I'll give half this joy to this child who will be born!"
Yoo Joonghyuk only needed one look at Kim Dokja's soft expression.
"Don't tell me, you...!"
Seized by a foreboding feeling, he activated the Eye of the Sage on the egg. What it revealed stunned him.
"It was the only way," Kim Dokja said.
"This was why you wanted her soul..." Yoo Joonghyuk said, aghast. "Do you know what you did?"
"I know."
"If you do this, Shin Yoosung...!"
How could he? How could he let Shin Yoosung, who had suffered for thousands of years from the scenarios, become a dokkaebi, one of the Star Stream's very architects? Yoo Joonghyuk couldn't comprehend such cruelty.
Kim Dokja watched him worriedly.
"If she is reborn as a dokkaebi, at least she will never die. The bureau is the safest place until the Star Stream is destroyed."
When Yoo Joonghyuk didn't answer, he added in a whisper:
"She agreed to this, Yoo Joonghyuk."
Yoo Joonghyuk clenched his jaw. She had agreed to go in the labyrinth of worlds for the Yoo Joonghyuk of the 41st regression turn, too. That didn't mean a damn thing.
Thankfully for Kim Dokja's neck, Selena Kim chose that moment to interrupt. Yoo Joonghyuk glared balefully as she and Kim Dokja introduced themselves to each other. The incarnation from Moscow, a blonde girl whose name Yoo Joonghyuk couldn't be bothered to remember, also wandered over.
Yoo Joonghyuk knew he didn't look so approachable. This was Kim Dokja's fault. This mild-as-milk expression of his made him look like a doormat. Why was he entertaining them? Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja hadn't finished their conversation, and time was growing short. It wouldn't be long before someone came to lead them all to the main room. Yet his dark looks yielded no result.
His patience dried up entirely when the arrogant Russian girl tried to bait Kim Dokja into a fight. Yoo Joonghyuk found himself looming over her. She flustered. Perhaps she wasn't used to people looking down their nose at her instead of the opposite.
"Don't interfere. This is between me and that ugly guy," she said.
Yoo Joonghyuk said nothing. She bit her lip, then retreated with a huff. Selena Kim followed after her with a smile of apology.
"You could stand to be a little more sociable, you know," Kim Dokja said, but the corner of his mouth had lifted.
He seemed to have found that interaction funny. Yoo Joonghyuk glared at him.
"Why are you here?" he asked brusquely.
"At the constellation banquet? Probably for the same reason as you."
Indeed, there weren't many reasons for an incarnation to come to the banquet. Most came to curry favors from nebulae, hoping to inherit a powerful story that could help them in the scenarios. Only Yoo Joonghyuk had no interest in that; his sponsor forbade him from any inheritance. He came because it was a good occasion to collect intel. Whether he refused the invitation to the banquet or whether he came and then refused any story offer made to him, he would make many enemies today. Better then to be able to name them all.
Kim Dokja too would have caught the eyes of many constellations. But Yoo Joonghyuk couldn't picture him inheriting a story. This guy liked to wiggle out of constellations' reach like it was an Olympic sport. Why would he want to be indebted to one?
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] What are you planning?
Kim Dokja looked pensive.
Midday Tryst
[Kim Dokja] I don't know yet.
[Yoo Joonghyuk] I don't believe you.
[Kim Dokja] What? Hey, that's some opinion of me you have. Do you think I'm so good that I can plan everything in advance?
"Look at that," Kim Dokja said at the same time.
An unsubtle change of subject or an attempt to hide the silence that stretched once more between them? Knowing this guy, probably both. Yoo Joonghyuk grudgingly glanced where he was pointing. The two incarnations from New Delhi were fidgeting with their clothes and their hair. Even Selena Kim was helping the Russian girl straighten her pigtails.
"Shouldn't you at least dust your boots or something, Yoo Joonghyuk?" Kim Dokja said. "I feel like you're the only person in this room not making any effort. Isn't that awkward?"
Yoo Joonghyuk glared at him in disdain.
"Indeed," Kim Dokja pretended to sigh. "It must be nice to have the kind of face that makes people forget all your faux pas."
Yoo Joonghyuk blinked. That was an interesting thing to say.
"I thought my face looked bad."
Amusingly enough, his blank expression made Kim Dokja stutter.
"That's not what I... hey, I didn't mean it that way and..." He seemed to spot the hint of humor in Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes. "You jerk, are you fishing for compliments?"
"Hm? You have more compliments to give?"
He couldn't have said where his good mood came from, but the taunt was worth it for the way Kim Dokja appeared to glitch.
The door opened and a dokkaebi appeared.
[Incarnations. We will be holding the 'Story Succession' soon.]
Kim Dokja rubbed a hand to the back of his neck and headed for the exit without needing to be asked twice. Yoo Joonghyuk followed on his heels, the tip of his sword dragging on the floor behind him.
There were few things that Yoo Joonghyuk hated more in this world than mingling with constellations.
The guests on the first floor of the banquet, the historical-grade constellations, were at least intimidated enough by his reputation that few dared to approach him apart from the warrior constellations. In particular, in every regression Goryeo's First Sword choose this occasion to size him up. Yoo Joonghyuk could at least respect that.
The ordeal truly began when he was led to the second floor. The vast majority of constellations there saw incarnations as monkeys dancing for their pleasure, and it was all Yoo Joonghyuk could do not to draw his sword on them. The day would soon come that he would cram their contempt down their throats; he had to remind himself of that or the hatred would choke him.
Midday Tryst
[Kim Dokja] Don't look so dour. Your face will freeze that way.
Yoo Joonghyuk glanced at the message window, then at the floor around him. He spotted Kim Dokja on the east side. For some reason, the constellation the fool was speaking to had taken Yoo Sangah's appearance. Kim Dokja met Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes, a secret smile on his lips.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] You still have things to say about my face?
[Kim Dokja] ... Ha.
He turned back to the Yoo Sangah look-alike. Yoo Joonghyuk eased his grip on his sword.
The negotiations for the Story Succession started. Yoo Joonghyuk sat in the Room of Secrets reserved for him and listened, impassive, as constellations came to him one by one and attempted to strong-arm him into taking their stories. The most high-handed of the lot he immediately sent packing, using his authority on the Room to expel them without ceremony. The others he let spin their spiel in silence.
The banquet was always a good point in time to sound out the constellations' reactions to the way he had managed the first scenarios. Figuring out which ones he had already pissed off meant he could plan contingencies for the moment when they would turn against him.
Speaking of which, there was an interesting trend in this regression. A lot of constellations wanted him to break contact with Kim Dokja.
Some were more covert about it than others. They would pretend that the story they were offering was that of a lonesome, companionless hero, or they would request that he leave Seoul and move to their country of origin. "To strengthen the story."
One outright made it a condition that Yoo Joonghyuk never speak to Incarnation Kim Dokja again. His tone earned him a one-way trip out.
Left alone in the room, Yoo Joonghyuk allowed himself a double-edged smile.
He was used to constellations being wary of him. The more regressions he went through, the more his growth rate in the early scenarios astonished.
He wasn't used to them being more afraid of someone else.
By the time it was his turn to get on stage and announce his decision, Yoo Joonghyuk was ready for the night to be over. The next scenario would start as soon as he went back to Seoul, and he was already recalling everything he knew about the first floor of the Dark Castle. The only interesting thing left in this banquet of misery was whatever plot Kim Dokja was bound to enact once his turn came.
Yoo Joonghyuk climbed the stairs and turned to the audience. A sea of symbolic bodies and vain faces watched him rapturously. He didn't need to picture the way anger and outrage would sweep over them in a few seconds. He had already seen it happen twice.
He opened his mouth.
"I..."
Which is, of course, when Kim Dokja barged on stage.
Yoo Joonghyuk could only turn a dumbfounded look on him before Kim Dokja grabbed his hand and raised it to the sky.
"I have something to say to you," he declared to the astonished constellations.
Yoo Joonghyuk wanted to sigh. "Whatever plot Kim Dokja was bound to enact once his turn came?" It seemed he was still naive.
"We have decided not to inherit your stories," Kim Dokja said.
Yoo Joonghyuk stared at him, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Kim Dokja grinned back.
"Instead, we will 'buy' your stories. If you want to sell your stories to Yoo Joonghyuk and me, please make a deal with our nebula."
The audience erupted in stunned conversations. Yoo Joonghyuk absorbed the shock silently.
A nebula. Now here was a thing he had never tried before.
His hand closed around Kim Dokja's. Maybe it was an unconscious attempt to make sure this guy couldn't wiggle out of giving him an explanation.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] What are you doing?
[Kim Dokja] Isn't it good for you? I know you can't inherit the stories of other constellations.
Yoo Joonghyuk's lips thinned. Again with the knowledge this guy shouldn't have. He had to be blowing all his prophet skills on Yoo Joonghyuk. Unless...
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Do you know my sponsor?
Kim Dokja glanced at him. He probably knew how much this question mattered to Yoo Joonghyuk. He didn't answer at once.
Midday Tryst
[Kim Dokja] I don't know him.
[Kim Dokja] Sorry.
Yoo Joonghyuk didn't bother using Lie Detection. It had been a long shot, anyway.
[Incarnation Yoo Joonghyuk,] said the dokkaebi managing the event. [Is Incarnation Kim Dokja correct? Are the two of you making a nebula?]
Yoo Joonghyuk turned back to their audience.
"Yes," he said.
Although he'd be damned if he knew how to do that. Didn't you need at least one constellation to create a nebula? Kim Dokja had better not be flying by the seat of his pants, here.
Laughter rang from the constellations, some pleased, most of it mocking. Yoo Joonghyuk endured it without reaction. He only lowered his hand, tired of holding it up like a fool. Kim Dokja's fingers were still clasped in his. His hand was thinner than Yoo Joonghyuk's, but his grip was oddly solid for someone so evasive.
[A person who hasn't climbed to the throne of a constellation wants to create a nebula?]
[Dokkaebi, does this make sense?]
[Can any cat or dog open a nebula?]
The dog will bite your head off one day soon, Yoo Joonghyuk thought.
Under the onslaught of questions from the constellations, the dokkaebi looked flustered.
[That… Incarnation Kim Dokja has clearly received recognition from the Star Stream,] he said.
With a snap of his fingers, the images on the screens around the room changed. The words "King of a Kingless World" appeared, along with a golden throne Yoo Joonghyuk knew well. For the first time, he saw how Kim Dokja had destroyed the Absolute Throne while Yoo Joonghyuk was unconscious. The fool had nearly been ripped apart by the probability storm. Yoo Joonghyuk gritted his teeth.
The video changed again. This time, the title was "One Who Opposed the Miracle".
Yoo Joonghyuk had that one too. It's what made him realize exactly what he was watching.
"King of a Kingless World."
"One Who Opposed the Miracle."
"One Who Showed Contempt for a Streamer."
"One Who Hunted the King of Disasters."
Stories. All of these were stories that Kim Dokja had accumulated. Not just any stories, but legendary ones.
The pieces of the puzzle finally settled in Yoo Joonghyuk's mind. The picture they painted made his fingers go numb.
Maybe he should have guessed earlier. There had to be a reason for Kim Dokja to refuse any sponsorship, even though he had constellations as powerful as Sun Wukong chasing after him. But Yoo Joonghyuk had only seen three of these stories and only shared two of them. If he had known that Kim Dokja had earned a legendary story by destroying the Absolute Throne, he would have understood much earlier.
What Kim Dokja was aiming for...
[In any case, Incarnation Kim Dokja is now sitting at the foot on a constellation throne,] the dokkaebi said, banishing the replays. [If he gains his fifth story through this occasion...]
Kim Dokja had sacrificed himself as the strongest incarnation in Seoul and would be coming back to life very soon. How would that not gain him a new legendary story?
Kim Dokja was watching him. He looked nervous. Yoo Joonghyuk's hand had tightened around his, probably past the point of pain.
Midday Tryst
[Kim Dokja] Please don't kill me.
[Kim Dokja] I promise I won't be like other constellations?
This guy would become a constellation before he even made it to the tenth scenario. No damn wonder constellations were afraid of him.
A true voice rose over the din of the audience.
[I will acknowledge Incarnation Kim Dokja. However, I can't acknowledge the nebula,] said Manu of Vedas.
Everyone quieted to listen.
[There are two problems,] he continued. [One, we don't know if Incarnation Kim Dokja has sufficient payment ability. Isn't it necessary to have a minimum of funds before establishing a nebula?]
"The coins aren't a problem," Kim Dokja said.
Yoo Joonghyuk stared at the ceiling, a vein beating at his temple. A man more charitable than him might have thought that the reason Kim Dokja had been tight-fisted until now was to prepare for this moment. But Yoo Joonghyuk had long guessed that, even before the scenarios, Kim Dokja was the kind of miser who stole sugar packets by the handful in coffee shops and abused free drink refills past the point of nausea.
Manu looked doubtful.
[We will know once it is checked. The second problem is the support of five constellations in favor of the creation of the nebula. Do you have the support of any constellation?]
Kim Dokja's lashes shook.
"That..."
And here was the snag. As Yoo Joonghyuk thought, it couldn't be that easy to create a nebula. Kim Dokja wasn't a constellation yet, so even his voice couldn't count. But he had gathered the interest of some unusual constellations, so they might still have a chance.
Sensing Kim Dokja's embarrassment, Manu laughed.
[Does this nebula even have a name?]
Kim Dokja glanced at Yoo Joonghyuk.
"The name of our nebula is... Kim Dokja's Company..."
As if, fool.
"The nebula doesn't have a name yet," Yoo Joonghyuk cut in, voice calm even as his hand bent one of Kim Dokja's fingers so far backward the articulation creaked. Kim Dokja cringed and ripped his hand out of his hold. "In addition, we will gain the supporters now. Are there any constellations who want to support our nebula?"
There was silence for a while. Then, one after another, voices rose. First the Yoo Sangah look-alike, who turned out to be Persephone, Queen of the Underworld. (What had the bastard done down there?) Then Sun Wukong. Finally, without much surprise, Uriel.
Unfortunately, nobody else followed. The general atmosphere was still hostile to Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja, and not many constellations could afford to go against the flow like those three. Yoo Joonghyuk's shoulders slumped a bit. Despite himself, he was disappointed. A nebula would have been a powerful probability tool in future scenarios. He met Kim Dokja's eyes.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] We won't get any further.
[Kim Dokja] It's okay. My objective was achieved.
Yoo Joonghyuk frowned.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] What?
[Kim Dokja] I wasn't expecting anything. The important thing was to buy some time.
Buy time... That guy, all he wanted was to reach that event? He just wanted to end the constellation banquet without having to openly refuse Story Succession offers. Why was Yoo Joonghyuk even surprised?
Indeed, this was about the time for the outer gods to barge in.
But at that moment, something unexpected happened.
[I, Goryeo's First Sword, will support your nebula.]
Goryeo's First Sword, who had laughed long and hard watching Kim Dokja's stories, brazenly spoke up.
In an instant, the other Korean constellations from the first floor ignited.
[Then I, Maritime War God…!]
[The Bald General of Justice won't stay still!]
The din rose, one name after another flung onto the stage like so many challenges to the contemptuous narrative-grade constellations. The confused dokkaebi tried in vain to bring back order.
A message window popped up between Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja.
[The constellation 'Secretive Plotter' will support your nebula.]
What? Who the hell was that constellation? Yoo Joonghyuk had seen him a few times on Kim Dokja's channel, but why was he sending an indirect message? He was a supporter of Kim Dokja's. Wasn't he here tonight? Even Sun Wukong had come. Yoo Joonghyuk looked at Kim Dokja, but his face said he had no idea what was going on with that constellation either. It also said that he hadn't planned for this overwhelming support.
[You have won a Provisional Nebula Creation ticket!]
Kim Dokja opened his mouth, looking lost. At that moment, the ground shook. Space distorted. The ceiling swirled like a whirlpool. Lightning and probability sparks rained on the constellations below.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] They have come.
A terrible voice came from the hole in the sky.
[Why... weren't we invited?]
Even Yoo Joonghyuk flinched, drowned by the sheer pressure of the voice. He hadn't raised his status enough to endure it without pain. Persephone and Uriel rushed to the stage and blocked his and Kim Dokja's ears.
[I'm sorry but the party is over. It's time to go back.]
[Then I'll see you next time!]
A transportation circle flashed around the two of them. Yoo Joonghyuk didn't struggle. This wasn't his fight.
But in the moment when they were about to disappear, he heard Uriel scream.
[Kim Dokja!]
Yoo Joonghyuk whipped around, but the teleportation took hold. He stumbled, disoriented, and his boots found the familiar cracked asphalt of a devastated Seoul. Yoo Joonghyuk stayed frozen, one hand half-raised. He was alone.
His first reflex was to open Midday Tryst.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Kim Dokja.
[Yoo Joonghyuk] ?
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Answer me.
No response came. He nearly sent a fourth message before the futility of it hit him. If Kim Dokja had exited the constellation banquet without harm, he was currently awaiting resurrection. If he hadn't...
Yoo Joonghyuk's fist creaked.
Night had fallen. The ninth scenario would soon begin.
He turned around. He needed to look for Mia.
It was five days later that the announcement came. In Seoul and on the first floor of the Dark Castle, incarnations stopped and blinked, uncomprehending.
[Someone has acquired five stories.]
[A new constellation is born in Seoul's night sky!]
But the messages didn't reach Yoo Joonghyuk. He had already ascended under the sky of another world.
A beautiful blade flashed. The last demon lost his head with a cut-off scream. Yoo Joonghyuk flicked blood off his sword as his sister ran up to him.
"They were weak?" she asked.
He grunted in agreement. Yoo Mia puffed up her cheeks.
"Cheer up, Oppa! We'll find stronger monsters. You'll go up the castle's rankings in no time. Do you want me to scream again? They are so stupid, they'll come running."
Her eyes shone, proof of how much she was enjoying her role as bait. Well, Yoo Mia had a good set of lungs since she was a baby. Yoo Joonghyuk patted her head fondly, but he couldn't quite shake off his dark thoughts.
It had been five days already.
Yoo Joonghyuk's head turned in the direction from which he had entered the Dark Castle's second floor. He had waited in Seoul as long as he could afford to, but still that guy hadn't awakened. Yoo Joonghyuk had been forced to leave. He couldn't risk losing the initiative in the castle's rankings.
Crossing the first floor had been easy enough, even with Yoo Mia in tow. He had had the good luck of crossing paths with that snake Han Sooyoung, so he had taken the opportunity to appropriate all her keys. He would have taken her equipment too, but…
Remembering that interaction, Yoo Joonghyuk frowned.
"Hey! These are Kim Dokja's items! Are you going to steal them too?"
"… Why did Kim Dokja leave his things to you?"
"That… isn't it because I am the most trustworthy person?"
No, how could 'trustworthy' even be used in the same sentence as that woman's name? Had Kim Dokja completely lost his mind? Why leave precious and rare items to a person who was more susceptible of pawning them off than giving them back? Why not entrust them to Yoo Joonghyuk?
Well, Kim Dokja hadn't gone to him to plan his death, after all. It was plain to see that he had gone to Han Sooyoung instead. Yoo Joonghyuk had left her behind to brood on this discovery.
But now that he thought about it some more, had Kim Dokja asked Han Sooyoung's help to die? What if she had just stumbled upon his body before the rest of them found it and took off cackling with the items?
Yoo Joonghyuk's fist creaked. Why had he stopped at beating her up instead of killing her? He should just have taken everything back. The viper's hands were unworthy of touching Kim Dokja's sword.
"Oppa, you look scary," Yoo Mia drawled, unimpressed. "Are you thinking about that ugly ahjussi again?"
Before he could answer, a series of messages popped up from midair.
[Someone has spread your name with 'Death Scream'.]
[The Dark Castle rankers will remember your name.]
[The Dark Castle rankers will aim for your story.]
Yoo Joonghyuk stared blankly at the notifications. He hadn't killed any demon possessing the 'Death Scream' skill. Yet his name was suddenly spoken?
Don't tell him…
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Kim Dokja.
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Was that you just now?
[Yoo Joonghyuk] You bastard. What are you playing at this time?
As the minutes stretched and no response came, he scowled.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Kim Dokja.
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Don't ignore me, you fool.
"What is it, Oppa?"
"That guy," Yoo Joonghyuk scoffed. "He thinks he can avoid me like this."
Yet even as he spoke, something tight in his shoulders unwound. He had no proof that this was Kim Dokja's doing, but he was certain of it. Nobody else would dare. So the fool was finally back. Why had it taken so long? He had mentioned a 72-hour countdown, but it had been a week since he died.
"Oppa looks happy when he talks about that ahjussi."
"Mia…" Yoo Joonghyuk said, startled.
Shit. Was he happy? Was he getting too attached? Finding relief in his companions was a good way to fight the regression depression, but finding relief in Kim Dokja of all people sounded like a recipe for disaster.
"Oppa will dump me for that ahjussi again?" Yoo Mia pouted.
Yoo Joonghyuk gave her an admonishing look. She knew he disapproved of emotional blackmail. He had warned her early on that he would often leave her side for the scenarios, but he would never leave her without protection.
His senses prickled suddenly. He drew out his sword, anger thick in his voice.
"Stop eavesdropping and come out. Otherwise I will kill you."
The air moved. A woman appeared from under some kind of camouflage cloak.
"I'm sorry. It wasn't on purpose."
"Yoo Sangah?"
The last time he had seen the woman had been a week before, when he had freed her from Nirvana's captivity. Since Kim Dokja had been dead, Yoo Joonghyuk had thought he might as well take care of that in his stead. He hadn't found Lee Sookyung, but there were rumors that the Wanderers were already in the castle. Maybe it was just as well that they hadn't crossed paths; based on their last meeting, it was possible that Lee Sookyung would be hostile toward him, and whether or not she was Kim Dokja's mother, he wouldn't hesitate to retaliate.
"Is Kim Dokja with you?" Yoo Joonghyuk said.
Yoo Sangah shook her head.
"I haven't seen him since we last met."
He kept his sword in hand, considering. Yoo Sangah looked wan, but there was a new energy around her body. Perhaps she had inherited a good story. Taking it from her would help his ranking rise. He wouldn't touch her if she was still one of Kim Dokja's companions, but if he had discarded her…
"But the reason I've come to you is related to him," Yoo Sangah added, earning his full attention. "I need your help."
Yoo Joonghyuk slowly sheathed his weapon.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Kim Dokja.
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Kim Dokja.
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Damn you, answer! This isn't the time for your little games.
Midday Tryst filled with message after message, and still Kim Dokja wouldn't reply. Yoo Joonghyuk was fuming. Yoo Sangah struggled to follow his pace as he traced his way toward Paradise. He had been purposely avoiding the city, so it would take them days to cross the plains and reach it, but Kim Dokja was bound to visit there at some point. Yoo Mia swung her legs from where she sat in his arms, bored.
Unexpectedly, a new line appeared on the blue window.
Midday Tryst
[Kim Dokja] What is it?
[Kim Dokja] Holy-
[Recipient has entered Midday Tryst coverage area!]
[24 pending messages have been sent.]
Yoo Joonghyuk slid to a stop.
"Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi?" Yoo Sangah said, catching up to him.
Yoo Joonghyuk worked his jaw. Pending… messages? He glared at the window like Midday Tryst could catch on fire.
Maybe he should have realized that there would be a spatial limit to communication through this item. The Dark Castle's second floor was on a different world than the first floor, which existed in Seoul, so if Kim Dokja had just ascended, the sudden reconnection made sense. But why the hell was the piece of trash only warning him of that now?
"Are you talking to the ahjussi again?" Yoo Mia said.
"I've gone through," he grunted, resuming walking with ground-eating strides.
"Oh, that's great!" Yoo Sangah said.
Midday Tryst
[Kim Dokja] ...
[Kim Dokja] Are you that angry about the demon earlier?
[Kim Dokja] In my defense, I didn't know he had that skill.
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Fool.
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Where are you? We need to talk.
[Kim Dokja] You'd think that by now, you'd know this is the last thing you should say to make people want to meet with you. Didn't you use to have a girlfriend?
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Damn you, Kim Dokja, this is serious!
There was a pause in the conversation. Maybe Kim Dokja had finally read the mood.
Midday Tryst
[Kim Dokja] Sorry, Yoo Joonghyuk, this will have to wait.
He stopped responding. Yoo Joonghyuk froze again. When no further answer came to his increasingly incensed messages, he put Yoo Mia on the ground.
"Oppa?" she said.
He patted her head, then straightened up. In the blink of an eye, he had crossed the next hill. Screams of agony rang from the group of demons hidden there.
The shrieks continued for an awkwardly long period of time. Yoo Sangah switched from one foot to the next. She opened her mouth.
"Don't go," Yoo Mia cut her off, not looking up from the ants she had squatted to observe. "Oppa is venting."
"… I see."
It was hours after nightfall that Kim Dokja deigned to remember the existence of his companion.
Midday Tryst
[Kim Dokja] Ah... Sorry, Yoo Joonghyuk. I hadn't meant to leave you hanging.
[Kim Dokja] One thing led to the next and then... You know how it is.
Yoo Joonghyuk watched the window without reacting. His sister had fallen asleep against his thigh. The light from the campfire played on her peaceful face. Yoo Sangah lay on the other side of the small cave. She had offered to take the night watch, but Yoo Joonghyuk didn't trust her that much yet.
Midday Tryst
[Kim Dokja] Yoo Joonghyuk?
[Kim Dokja] I'm a bit surprised that this item still works, actually. Did it finally cut off?
[Yoo Joonghyuk] A prophecy has been issued about you.
The chat window abruptly fell silent.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Can we talk about that, Kim Dokja. Or would you rather keep clowning around.
The tight feeling in Yoo Joonghyuk's chest wouldn't abate. He hated this sensation. It was too close to how he had felt under Nirvana's Eternal Nightmare, watching his loved ones slip through his bloodied fingers. He anchored himself to the sound of Mia's breathing.
Midday Tryst
[Kim Dokja] I'm listening.
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Let's meet.
[Kim Dokja] Fine. When can you make it to Paradise?
As expected. It was annoying, but the city was the most recognizable meeting place.
Yoo Joonghyuk calculated their route. He wanted to recruit the sixth-ranked demon Sephirots before he dared to face against Paradise's master, so if he made that detour…
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Four days.
[Kim Dokja] Alright. What's the prophecy?
Yoo Joonghyuk frowned. Even typing it out left him with a strange feeling.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] "Incarnation Kim Dokja will be killed by the person he loves most."
[Kim Dokja] ...
[Kim Dokja] Wait, what?
[Kim Dokja] How did you even get this prophecy?
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Yoo Sangah told me.
[Kim Dokja] Yoo Sangah... Olympus read my fate.
It wasn't a question, and Yoo Joonghyuk didn't answer. It shouldn't be a surprise to Kim Dokja that he had pissed off a lot of constellations. Yoo Joonghyuk hadn't expected that Olympus would spend so much probability to get rid of Kim Dokja, but it was possible that they had allied with other nebulae. Yoo Joonghyuk might be the only regressor, but high-level dokkaebi and constellations had their own ways of keeping track of this world's future. Someone was bound to have noticed that Kim Dokja was an anomaly.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Kim Dokja. Who is the person you love most?
[Kim Dokja] That... I don't know?
Yoo Joonghyuk's frown deepened.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Are you telling me or asking me?
[Kim Dokja] I really don't know. I don't think there is a person like that.
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Your mother?
[Kim Dokja] Don't even joke about that.
[Yoo Joonghyuk] I wasn't joking.
[Kim Dokja] Hey, do you think we have a warm relationship? You saw us together. What did it look like to you, Yoo Joonghyuk?
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Fine. Then who?
[Kim Dokja] I'm telling you I don't know.
[You have activated the exclusive skill Lie Detection Lv.7.]
[You have confirmed that the statement is true.]
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] You're a fool. How can you not know?
There was a lull in the conversation. Yoo Joonghyuk realized he was clenching his fist. He uncurled his fingers one by one.
Midday Tryst
[Kim Dokja] I guess I'm just not that kind of person.
Yoo Joonghyuk gave a silent sigh.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Everybody loves, Kim Dokja. Even you.
[Kim Dokja] That's funny.
[Yoo Joonghyuk] You love the children you have with you.
Kim Dokja fell silent again. Yoo Joonghyuk wished he could see his face. That was probably moot, though; even if they had been talking in person, reading that guy's expression would have been a lost battle. Was he hiding facts from Yoo Joonghyuk or from himself? Yoo Joonghyuk wouldn't be surprised if he was genuinely clueless. Shin Yoosung would become a powerful ally as she aged, but no matter what Kim Dokja said, it wasn't the reason he had saved her.
Midday Tryst
[Kim Dokja] It sounds like you might know my heart better than me, Yoo Joonghyuk.
[Kim Dokja] Then who is the person I love most?
More provocation. Yoo Joonghyuk ground his teeth. He didn't know who Kim Dokja loved most, but it definitely wasn't himself. His self-preservation instincts were broken beyond repair. Why couldn't he take this seriously?
Midday Tryst
[Kim Dokja] Let's table this for now. I mean no offense, Yoo Joonghyuk, but having this conversation with you is giving me hives. This is too OOC.
Too what? Whatever. That guy trying to escape wasn't a surprise. Yoo Joonghyuk wouldn't dignify his words with an answer.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Paradise. In four days.
[Kim Dokja] But what if you're the person I love most, Yoo Joonghyuk? Have you thought of that? Maybe you should stay away.
It was a joke. Kim Dokja had hit flight mode and nothing he said from that point on could be trusted or taken at face value. It was clearly a joke. Yoo Joonghyuk's fingers dug into his thigh.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Am I?
[Kim Dokja] ... I was joking.
'I know,' Yoo Joonghyuk wanted to say. 'But am I?'
Would he kill Kim Dokja? The vector of the prophecy was probably one of Kim Dokja's companions, so what if it was him? He hadn't seriously considered killing Kim Dokja in a long time, but what if something changed? What if Yoo Joonghyuk fell victim to a brainwashing spell like Nirvana's? He couldn't remember another enemy strong enough to manage it, but this round had blindsided him before. Or what if Kim Dokja betrayed him? Yoo Joonghyuk would be willing to kill him, then, and he would hate him enough not to regret his death.
Somehow, that wasn't reassuring.
Yoo Joonghyuk was suddenly also sick of this conversation.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Don't die before then.
He closed the window. Everything was quiet around him. He glared out into the night.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] I'm here. Where are you?
[Kim Dokja] On my way back.
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Back?
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Kim Dokja. Why did you leave Paradise?
[Kim Dokja] Reinheit clearly wanted to use me as fertilizer for the Perpetual Motion. Imagine that, a newborn constellation falling into his lap. He'd probably be able to use me for a few hundred years.
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Then you should have fought him.
[Kim Dokja] I wouldn't have wanted to steal your kill.
Through the huge hole he had just blown into the ground, Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes embraced the scene in the cavern below. In the midst of a swarm of bloodthirsty monsters, Lee Hyunsung, Jung Heewon, Shin Yoosung, Lee Gilyoung… even Lee Jihye stared back at him, startled by his sudden appearance. Kim Dokja had abandoned his entire party in Paradise, leaving them at the mercy of the city's master. Because he "didn't want to steal Yoo Joonghyuk's kill"? How much more brazen could his lies get?
Yoo Joonghyuk forced himself to think through the red haze of his fury. This was uncharacteristic of Kim Dokja. Rather than abandoning them…
Oh.
Kim Dokja had left them here on purpose, so that they would find their own resolution to keep pushing through the scenarios. And as an additional safeguard…
He had maneuvered so that Yoo Joonghyuk would be here to assist against Reinheit.
Thick killing intent rose from Yoo Joonghyuk's body. He descended onto the squealing monsters like an avenging god.
Damn this fool. Damn this fool and damn himself for getting fooled!
Paradise dissolved into chaos. Now that his secret had been unveiled, Reinheit made no attempt to limit the destruction. Fifth-grade monsters, fourth-grade monsters, even third-grade monsters poured out continuously from the cavern and onto the streets. Reinheit himself had fused with the Perpetual Motion. The branches of the huge plant stabbed the incarnations trying to escape the city and sucked their stories away.
Yoo Joonghyuk had seen this happen once before. He had been the reason for Paradise's fall once before.
The first time he had found the city, he had joined hands with Reinheit. He had respected this man trying to forge a haven in the carnage of the scenarios. He had found solace in Reinheit's vision, he had protected and raised the city together with him. Yoo Mia had been able to grow here. Had remembered how to be a child, had even found friends she could play with.
But Reinheit's treasured peace was paid for by blood. His idealism was the fanatic kind, the kind that would sacrifice individuals for the sake of a greater good. Even now, as everything he had built collapsed around him, he was ready to raze everything to the ground and start anew.
"Dokkaebis! A new Paradise can be created!" Reinheit's torso, sprouting grotesquely from the Perpetual Motion, entreated the creatures watching in the sky. "There might be a fairly low volume of monsters for a while but the restoration will soon be completed! Please don't cancel the contract!"
Watching the mad acts of the man he had once called a companion, Yoo Joonghyuk wondered about many things.
He poured all his focus into the sword in his hand. It became an extension of his body, a new limb. Yellow light engulfed Yoo Joonghyuk's form. As he swung the blade, a huge explosion shook the Perpetual Motion.
[Someone in the Dark Castle has achieved the first transcendence in the scenarios!]
"Truly great," Reinheit gasped. "You reached such a level in only the ninth scenario? Kim Dokja was great but you… you are the real monster."
Yoo Joonghyuk didn't answer. Bile was in his throat.
Despite the breakthrough he had just achieved, enemies wouldn't stop coming.
"Is there no way?" Jung Heewon panted.
She was Kim Dokja's best fighter and even she was getting pressed hard. The incarnations she was trying to protect were dying like flies around them. Yoo Joonghyuk cleaved through a Lubel tiger that had wandered too close.
"If we want to kill him, we have to get rid of the roots of the Perpetual Motion," he said.
Reinheit would keep absorbing stories and growing stronger unless damage could be done to the roots. This was why Yoo Joonghyuk had meant to recruit Sephirots, but the demon had already been dead by the time he found him. Someone other than him was hunting rankers.
"We can't enter underground," Jung Heewon said. "What should we do?"
Luckily, Kim Dokja could occasionally be reliable. There was a reason why he had left even the children behind.
"There is no need to enter," Yoo Joonghyuk said. "I've already entrusted it to someone."
Jung Heewon's eyes widened.
"You, don't tell me…!"
That's right. Yoo Joonghyuk had long thrown Shin Yoosung and Lee Gilyoung down into the roots, to find their way to the chimera dragon and hopefully tame it. It was obvious that this had been Kim Dokja's plan all along.
[The constellation who doesn't yet have a name is smiling.]
The message made him aware of a new gaze upon him. A shiver racked through Yoo Joonghyuk's spine like an ill omen. Ugh. The fool had actually become a constellation.
"Kim Dokja," he growled.
He wouldn't soon forget the indignity of once more being manipulated by that guy. And now he was being used as entertainment?
"If you're not here by the time this fight ends, I will rip out your throat."
There was no response. How was Kim Dokja even seeing this, anyway? Was he using that spying skill of his? Was he unconscious or…
Yoo Joonghyuk tore through a cluster of thick branches with great prejudice.
[You have defeated the Demon Marquis Reinheit!]
[150,000 coins have been acquired.]
Yoo Joonghyuk didn't react to the system messages. His gaze stayed trained on Reinheit. The dying demon watched his Perpetual Motion fade into ash. There was anguish in his eyes.
"You might not believe it but I… I just wanted to create a good world."
Paradise's survivors, hearing this, yelled abuse at him. Tears flowed down Reinheit's cheeks.
"I… I really…"
"I know," Yoo Joonghyuk said.
He stood next to his limp body, his presence preventing any angry incarnation from approaching.
"Everybody knows."
Reinheit closed his eyes.
"Strange. Why… do I feel like you actually understand…"
Yoo Joonghyuk stayed silent. He watched an old companion breathe his last, his heart pierced by the blade at his waist.
[Your Dark Castle ranking has been adjusted!]
[A new main scenario has appeared.]
[Main Scenario #10 ― '73rd Demon King' is temporarily opened.]
"Our savior!"
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
"If it wasn't for you, we…"
Paradise's incarnations clustered around Yoo Joonghyuk, shouting teary thanks. These people, who only hours before wanted nothing but to live in peace in this false utopia, now thanked him for killing the man who had thrown away his morals to protect them from the scenarios.
Yoo Joonghyuk looked down at his bloody hands. Their savior? He hadn't done this to save them. He had purposely chosen to forget about them, to discard any importance they had ever held for him. He hadn't thought about their lives at all. Was he worth any more than Reinheit?
"Dead bodies are an everyday sight to you. Already, death is losing its meaning. Life is losing its meaning."
Kim Dokja's words.
"Can I ask for your name?" one bold incarnation said.
Yoo Joonghyuk clenched his fists. If he answered, he would get the achievement 'Liberator of Paradise'. He didn't want it. Yoo Joonghyuk was many things, but he tried not to be a hypocrite.
"My name," he said slowly, "is Kim Dokja."
Rocks skittered behind him. He turned to see Kim Dokja trip at the top of a landslide and skid down the rest of the way on unsteady feet. Han Sooyoung had frozen up there, blinking owlishly. Yoo Joonghyuk narrowed his eyes at her. (Had Kim Dokja left alone with her? Did he really trust her that much?) He extended a hand and caught Kim Dokja's flailing arm. Kim Dokja gripped his sleeve and found his footing.
Paradise's incarnations thanked Yoo Joonghyuk one last time. Once they had left, Kim Dokja stared at him.
"Hey, what the hell?"
Yoo Joonghyuk dropped his arm.
"What. You don't want it?"
[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is shedding tears at this true companionship.]
Kim Dokja shook his head numbly.
"Since when are you so generous? What, you want something in exchange?"
Yoo Joonghyuk glared at him, offended. What was this fool implying? Yoo Joonghyuk had always helped his companions to grow stronger. And in this round, Kim Dokja had proven that he must be his absolute priority.
Yoo Joonghyuk only knew how to destroy. But Kim Dokja protected and saved. Their allies were more numerous, healthier and happier than Yoo Joonghyuk had ever seen them at this point in the scenarios, and it was all thanks to Kim Dokja. But Kim Dokja was also fragile. He had only just come back from his latest death and he was already in lethal danger.
A prophecy wasn't a simple matter. That resurrection skill of his wouldn't be enough to fend off the nebulae, now that they had judged him so dangerous that they needed to take such disproportionate measures. Kim Dokja had to get stronger. The stronger he was, the better his chances. Yoo Joonghyuk refused to lose him now.
"Ahjussi!"
"Hyung!"
The children noticed Kim Dokja's presence first. They ran up to him, the rest of the group following behind.
"You're late, Dokja-ssi! You missed the entire fight."
Like it wasn't what that guy had planned all along. Yoo Joonghyuk leveled a contemptuous glare at Kim Dokja, who pretended to ignore it in favor of greeting his companions. Han Sooyoung cautiously wandered closer, though not close enough to be considered part of the conversation. Most of them threw her wary glances.
"Dokja-ssi," Jung Heewon said, "Sangah-ssi was telling us about the prophecy. Is it true?"
"Aah, it looks like it. Thank you for your efforts, Yoo Sangah-ssi," Kim Dokja added.
Yoo Sangah smiled back, though the expression was strained.
"Dokja-ssi… What are you going to do?"
"Isn't it fine?" Lee Jihye intervened. "Ahjussi will just revive again after dying. Right?"
She sought Yoo Joonghyuk's approval. He slowly shook his head at her.
"No," Kim Dokja agreed, looking pensive. "It seems this prophecy uses the probability of not just Olympus, but Vedas and Papyrus too. I doubt it will be that easy."
His words caused the last traces of confusion to disappear from everyone's eyes. The gravity of the situation had finally hit them.
"'Incarnation Kim Dokja will be killed by the person he loves most,'" Jung Heewon muttered. "Then who is the person Dokja-ssi loves most? Don't we need to know this first?"
Kim Dokja looked aggrieved. Han Sooyoung snickered at him.
"That… I don't know," he sighed. "I don't think it could be said that I love anyone, really."
"You have to say it precisely," Jung Heewon said. "There is no one 'right now'. According to fate, Dokja-ssi will surely love someone."
That was an interesting point. Yoo Sangah had said that the prophecy was intended to be realized in the current scenario, but collecting the four heavenly kings and ending the Dark Castle could take a few weeks. It was long enough that something might shift in Kim Dokja's heart.
"Then I will change the question," Jung Heewon said. "What type of style does Dokja-ssi like? Is it close to one of us?"
Kim Dokja made an interesting expression.
"Heewon-ssi…"
"I know you are wondering why you should answer," she cut him off, "but it is important to us. If Dokja-ssi likes one of us, we might be able to stop that fate."
Lee Hyunsung, Lee Jihye and the children nodded eagerly, though the light in Lee Jihye's eyes had more to do with an unhealthy love of gossip than sincere concern. Han Sooyoung had sat on rubble and wasn't making any effort to hide her shit-eating grin.
"Yeah, Kim Dokja," she heckled, "go ahead, what's your type?"
Kim Dokja glared at her. So did Yoo Sangah. Jung Heewon looked interested in that unusual display of enmity from the kind woman, but Yoo Joonghyuk knew it had nothing to do with whatever romantic entanglements she was probably picturing. Yoo Joonghyuk and Yoo Sangah were the only ones of Kim Dokja's companions who knew that Han Sooyoung had once been the First Apostle.
"Look, I'm sorry that everyone is so worried," Kim Dokja said, "but I really don't know. I don't think I have a type."
Jung Heewon sighed like he was being difficult.
"Dokja-ssi, really…"
[The constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' is interested in the new story.]
[The constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' is glancing this way.]
[Many constellations are choking on sweet potatoes at the frustrating answer of the constellation who doesn't yet have a name.]
A vein ticked on Yoo Joonghyuk's forehead.
"Noisy," he growled.
What did they think they were watching, some soap opera?
[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is telling you not to worry.]
[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' says she's got a good idea.]
An ominous feeling ran up Yoo Joonghyuk's spine on spidery legs. Now he was worrying.
The next moment, an item popped out of thin air. It looked vaguely familiar to Yoo Joonghyuk. He couldn't remember where he had seen it before, but… an Affection Reader? Wasn't that extremely costly?
The device dropped into Jung Heewon's hands. She read the description window, her eyebrows climbing higher as she went.
"As expected from an archangel! This is big!" she exclaimed.
[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' says to try and use it.]
Kim Dokja pressed a hand to his face. Yoo Joonghyuk could see him despair at Uriel's priorities.
"Should we use it, Dokja-ssi?" Yoo Sangah asked him gently.
"I'm, hmm… not really comfortable with this," he admitted.
"Hey, don't be a wet blanket," Han Sooyoung intervened. She was suddenly a lot closer to the group. "You want to get rid of that fate or not?"
She was obviously deriving a lot of amusement from what was happening, but her words make Kim Dokja relent. He sighed and waved his permission for everyone to proceed.
As the device made its way around the party, Yoo Joonghyuk kept a closer eye on Kim Dokja than on the results. Kim Dokja was always difficult to read, but maybe Yoo Joonghyuk was starting to understand him better. The man's unease was clear.
What made someone build such high walls that he preferred his heart invisible even to himself? Yoo Joonghyuk couldn't fathom it.
As the numbers flashed one after another, Yoo Joonghyuk frowned. The one to get the highest score was Shin Yoosung. It was only a 56. The others had no way to know how high the scores could get, but Yoo Joonghyuk knew: 56 was low. It was the level of an acquaintance you'd exchange pleasantries with.
"How about I go next?" Han Sooyoung said, with the smile of a cat staring at a canary.
Yoo Sangah ignored her and held the device out to Yoo Joonghyuk. Only the three of them were left.
"Joonghyuk-ssi first…"
She wasn't looking anyone in the eye. Unlike most of the others, doing this in front of Kim Dokja seemed to embarrass her. Yoo Joonghyuk scowled at the reader and made no move to take it.
"This is meaningless," he growled.
He swiveled his glare toward Kim Dokja. The man was tense enough that he flinched in surprise.
"Are you interfering?" Yoo Joonghyuk accused.
"What? I'm not doing anything. I haven't even touched the item."
"What about that shielding skill of yours?"
"That…"
Kim Dokja trailed off. He hid his mouth in contemplation.
"It could be hindering the readings, I guess."
The depressed Lee Jihye perked up.
"So my real score is higher than 6, right? I knew it!"
"No, Noona is definitely the lowest," Lee Gilyoung retorted.
"Does it matter?" Han Sooyoung said. "As long as the numbers aren't random, we just need to know who has the highest one."
"But what if they are random?" Yoo Sangah countered, to Lee Jihye's vigorous nodding.
"Hey, this is an SS-grade item, you know!" Jung Heewon said. "It's not going to get fooled so easily."
"What do you think, Kim Dokja? Does the ranking order so far look right to you?" Han Sooyoung said, smirking like she wasn't asking him to rate his companions to their faces.
Kim Dokja ignored her.
"Look, let's just scrap that idea," he said, almost managing to sound reasonable. "Prophecies are tricky things anyway. It might not even be talking about a person…"
"I'm the one who told you that," Han Sooyoung scoffed. "Geez, you're boring."
She swiped the reader out of Yoo Sangah's hand.
"Han Sooyoung!" Yoo Sangah exclaimed, irritated.
"It'll take three seconds to finish going around the group," she said, already pushing the button.
[The affection score of the constellation 'Kim Dokja' toward the incarnation 'Han Sooyoung' is 71 points.]
The group fell silent. Shin Yoosung tried in vain to hide her disappointment. Han Sooyoung's smile twisted into something half-entertained, half-sour. Maybe she had realized too late that there was nothing funny about a prophecy hanging over her head.
That score had no business annoying Yoo Joonghyuk as much as it did. But why, why, why did Kim Dokja insist on seeking that suspicious woman's company?
He ripped the reader out of her hands.
"Yoo Joonghyuk…" Kim Dokja said, startled out of whatever thoughts this situation inspired him.
Yoo Joonghyuk pressed the button before he could finish that sentence.
[The affection score of the constellation 'Kim Dokja' toward the incarnation 'Yoo Joonghyuk' is ...]
Maybe because the system window was just under his eyes this time, Yoo Joonghyuk clearly saw the number flicker. He was certain he glimpsed three characters, but one disappeared before he could read it.
[... 99 points.]
[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is yelling.]
Han Sooyoung let out a mocking whistle. Her misgivings had disappeared like so much mist in the sun. The device whined under Yoo Joonghyuk's merciless grip.
Fool. He was such a fool. Why hadn't he remembered in time that he didn't want to know?
"Yoo Joonghyuk…" Kim Dokja said again, cautious like a man approaching a rabid dog.
The Affection Reader broke in two in a shower of sparks and metallic shards. Yoo Joonghyuk flung the remains to the ground and disappeared before anyone could do more than flinch.
Midday Tryst
[Kim Dokja] Did you really just leave Paradise?
[Kim Dokja] That's a bit of an overreaction, Yoo Joonghyuk.
[Kim Dokja] You could at least have left Yoo Mia here. How long are you going to drag her around?
[Kim Dokja] ... Fine, be that way.
Yoo Joonghyuk spent the following days raising his ranking. He checked on Lee Seolhwa's progress in the west plains and left Yoo Mia with her. He fought, and fought, and fought. Some of the hidden scenarios and items around Paradise had disappeared. He had a feeling he knew who was to blame.
Would he be the one to kill Kim Dokja? He couldn't fathom doing it, and the Affection Reader was hardly proof. Even if the numbers weren't meaningless, they had no way of querying every potential person. He had even broken the item before Yoo Sangah could use it, unwilling for anyone else to feel this heavy weight. But Yoo Joonghyuk had too much pride to be the toy of a prophecy. The mere possibility of constellations using him to achieve their cowardly goals rankled. And so he fought, taking his anger out on droves of demons.
Even as he fought, however, he couldn't help but think. Maybe wondering "who" would kill Kim Dokja was going about this the wrong way. Maybe he should be asking "how". How would the prophecy maneuver to have Kim Dokja die in a permanent way? What could it do about his resurrection skill? Kim Dokja had said he could still use it seven times. It meant he either had to die multiple times in quick succession, or something had to happen to bypass the skill. Or to make him lose the skill.
Yoo Joonghyuk froze at the top of a hill. The more he thought about that skill, the more something about the timing of Kim Dokja giving up King of No Killing tickled at his brain.
"There are a couple of things I want to get in the sixth scenario."
"In this scenario, I have to kill the Snake."
"It's a skill. I don't think you know it."
Yoo Joonghyuk braced his temple against a faint headache. He saw in his mind's eye Kim Dokja mixing golden alcohol in Peaceland.
Kim Dokja was wrong. He did know this.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Eight Lives.
How could he have forgotten about this hidden piece? Were his memories really so cluttered with his multiple lives that he would miss something so useful?
Midday Tryst
[Kim Dokja] What?
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Your resurrection "skill". It's the Eight Lives attribute.
[Kim Dokja] Huh. Did someone give you that information?
[Kim Dokja] I didn't think you learned about it in the first three rounds...
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Kim Dokja.
[Kim Dokja] What about it? Are you angry I didn't tell you earlier?
[Yoo Joonghyuk] You lied. That attribute has a restriction.
Kim Dokja fell silent. Yoo Joonghyuk gripped the second sword at his waist. Slowly, he unsheathed the Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds. The flat of the blade reflected the dark sky above.
Eight Lives was derived from the power of Yamata no Orochi. Then, if Kim Dokja was hit by the sword that had killed Yamata no Orochi…
Yoo Joonghyuk's knuckles went white around the handle. His first reflex was to throw the sword away, to destroy it or find a safe place to hide it.
But a prophecy wouldn't be so easily fooled. In mythology, many prophecies had been brought about by one's efforts to escape them. If Yoo Joonghyuk discarded the sword, the probability practically guaranteed that someone else would find it and use it to accomplish Kim Dokja's fate.
If he kept the weapon, what was done with it depended on him. But if he tried to escape that responsibility, he was as good as condemning Kim Dokja.
His arm fell limply to his side.
Midday Tryst
[Kim Dokja] You're thinking too hard on this, Yoo Joonghyuk.
Maybe he was thinking too hard. Not on the sword, but on the message. Even though there was no ascribing emotion to a row of white characters, he could have sworn Kim Dokja was trying to be kind.
Midday Tryst
[Kim Dokja] Do you really think you are who I love the most? Please.
[Kim Dokja] You said yourself my skill was messing with the Affection Reader's results. And a 99 is nothing to write home about.
[Yoo Joonghyuk] You wouldn't be able to recognize the person you love most if they walked up to you and punched you in the face, Kim Dokja.
[Kim Dokja] Well, that's rude.
Yoo Joonghyuk didn't humor him with an answer. He closed the window and swept down the hill.
Yoo Joonghyuk found Gong Pildu fending off hordes of monsters with the last of his strength. The man passed out just as Yoo Joonghyuk reached him, his Armed Fortress collapsing with him. Yoo Joonghyuk swung him on his shoulder and escaped with Red Phoenix Shunpo.
Gong Pildu had clearly been at this for a while. Although Eye of the Sage showed a significant increase to his stats, he was out cold from magical exhaustion. With no other choice, Yoo Joonghyuk reluctantly turned his steps back to Paradise.
The walls of the city were a wreck, but there were still incarnations keeping watch. His approach was noticed. When he made it to the gate, Jung Heewon and Lee Hyunsung were there to greet him.
"You're back, Joonghyuk-ssi," Lee Hyunsung said, looking nervous.
Lee Hyunsung always looked nervous around Yoo Joonghyuk in this round. Kim Dokja had turned him softer in some ways and stronger in others. It itched at Yoo Joonghyuk. Still, Lee Hyunsung was tenser than usual.
Jung Heewon observed Yoo Joonghyuk with a critical eye. She wasn't hostile, but she wasn't smiling either.
"I thought you were avoiding Kim Dokja these days?" she said.
Yoo Joonghyuk paused. It didn't sound like a reprimand. Maybe the rest of Kim Dokja's companions were relieved that he had left after the results of the Affection Reader. If he wanted to kill Kim Dokja, they would be hard-pressed to stop him.
Yoo Joonghyuk let Gong Pildu slide from his shoulder and held him out by the collar.
"Gong Pildu-ssi!" Lee Hyunsung said, taking the unconscious man from his hands. "You found him! We wondered where he had gone."
"Have you stayed here the whole time?" Yoo Joonghyuk said, not bothering to hide his disapproval.
He cast a glance through the gate. At least it didn't look like people had bothered rebuilding. He could see some of them training in combat in the main street.
"We're organizing the survivors," Jung Heewon glared.
For all her strength, she was too much of a bleeding heart. Then again, hadn't he thought just a few days ago that he wasn't enough of one? Who knew what was the right amount of attention to pay to helpless incarnations in the middle of the scenarios.
"What about the rankings?" he said. "Is Kim Dokja giving up on the tenth scenario?"
"Dokja-ssi is making us take turns to raise our rankings outside of the city," Lee Hyunsung said earnestly.
The plains around the city teemed with monsters since Reinheit released the Perpetual Motion, but still…
'Too slow,' thought Yoo Joonghyuk.
It was much faster to hunt the demons with the highest rankings. Maybe he should move on to the next scenario without Kim Dokja. It might be better, anyway. The less he saw Kim Dokja, the safer.
As he was about to turn around and leave, his wandering gaze zeroed in on a group waiting on the other side of the gate. He stiffened.
"What are they doing here?" he growled.
Jung Heewon and Lee Hyunsung followed his eyes.
"What do you have against the Wanderers?" Jung Heewon said, bristling in their stead. "Their leader just came to talk to Kim Dokja."
"Where is Kim Dokja?" Yoo Joonghyuk said, shoving through the two of them.
"Calm down, Joonghyuk-ssi!" Lee Hyunsung begged. "It's fine, Lee Sookyung-ssi is Dokja-ssi's mother…"
"Exactly, fools!"
Jung Heewon opened her mouth to talk. Her eyes belatedly widened.
Curse Uriel and that item of hers. It was too easy to focus on Yoo Joonghyuk as a threat and forget that the prophecy could involve a completely different person. Kim Dokja insisted it couldn't be his mother, but what did he know?
"Shit!" Jung Heewon said.
She took off running, Yoo Joonghyuk hot on her heels. Lee Hyunsung floundered, but he put Gong Pildu down somewhere safe and followed after them.
Yoo Joonghyuk saw the light of a powerful skill activating ahead. He turned on Red Phoenix Shunpo and tore down the street. His sword lodged itself in the shoulder of a middle-aged woman. She shrieked.
[The stigma 'Mechanical Gateway Array Method' has failed to activate.]
Two people stood alone beyond the spot where the woman had hidden herself. Kim Dokja whipped around. Lee Sookyung's eyes flashed.
"Cho Youngran!" she said.
She ran over to grab her injured subordinate.
"What have you done?" she said, seething, to Yoo Joonghyuk.
"Why are you moving against Kim Dokja?" he retorted.
Jung Heewon and Lee Hyunsung caught up. Yoo Sangah ran over, two women wearing the Wanderers' garb in tow.
"What happened?" she asked, wide-eyed.
Yoo Joonghyuk cursed her naivety. She had a good rapport with Lee Sookyung, so it was no surprise that she had allowed mother and son to talk alone without seeing this betrayal coming. But the real culprit here was Kim Dokja, for putting himself in this position just for the sake of protecting whatever secrets Lee Sookyung was privy to.
"The Mechanical Gateway Array Method?" Kim Dokja said with a twisting smile. "Really, Mother?"
"You don't understand."
"I understand very well. You were so adamant on me letting things run their course. You think my interferences are a hindrance, thus you want to remove me from the equation. I don't know what you're aiming for, but I won't bother asking."
An odd expression crossed Lee Sookyung's face.
"I love you," she said.
Kim Dokja's jaw locked. His eyes darkened. Whatever feeling these words evoked in him, it wasn't pleasure.
"I can't lose my son again. Wait in the Mechanical Gateway Array Method while I complete the next scenarios."
"Lee Sookyung-ssi…" Yoo Sangah whispered, her voice soft with misplaced compassion.
Kim Dokja burst into bitter laughter. Yoo Joonghyuk swept in between mother and son.
"You think you have what it takes to complete the next scenarios?" he said with contempt.
"This has nothing to do with you," she said. "Don't you have any manner? This is the second time you have interfered in family matters."
"I won't let you touch my companion."
"I am his mother. It is my responsibility to keep him safe."
"No blood will ever give you the right to trap your adult son in a gilded cage."
"What do you know?" one of the Wanderers scoffed as she braced Cho Youngran. "What can a man know of a mother's love?"
Yoo Joonghyuk knew far more than she expected. He loved Yoo Mia less like a brother loves his sister and far more like a parent loves their child. He had raised her, even through the cruel scenarios he kept raising her, and he could never picture himself denying her free will like Lee Sookyung intended to.
"Kim Dokja, please!" Cho Youngran said. "You have misunderstood everything. Sookyung is doing this for you! Just let me…"
"I have misunderstood everything?" Kim Dokja cut in, his voice chilly. "You don't know who my mother is. Otherwise you wouldn't dare say something like this to me. It is your responsibility to keep me safe? Mother, now you want to keep me safe?"
The scorn was heavy in his voice, but it didn't quite mask something else that Yoo Joonghyuk couldn't interpret. He could only guess at what unsaid things were being evoked here. Lee Sookyung's face closed. She stopped Cho Youngran from saying anything else.
"Sookyung-ssi," Yoo Sangah cut in, stepping closer in an effort to bring peace. "It isn't necessary to go this far. We will find a way to stop the prophecy…"
"You're a kind woman, Sangah-ssi," Lee Sookyung interrupter her, "but I cannot allow this to go on."
She was looking at Yoo Joonghyuk now. It made dark humor rise in his mind. She was so very like her son, turning away from what upset her and pretending an imminent threat justified her cowardice. Her eyes wouldn't quite rest on Kim Dokja where he was still half-hidden behind Yoo Joonghyuk's broad frame.
Come to think of it, Kim Dokja hadn't made any effort to step around him. With a burst of emotion that Yoo Joonghyuk refused to examine, he moved to completely block Lee Sookyung's line of sight.
Her expression darkened. It looked like she had figured something out. There was malice in her glare now.
"I dislike this method," she said, "but a mother should control her child if he mixes in with bad people."
She raised her status. Almost immediately, the rumor of a fight came from the gate. The three women at her side took out their weapons.
"Sookyung-ssi!" Jung Heewon shouted, outraged. "We welcomed you in good faith!"
"Heewon-ssi, go back to the gate," Lee Hyunsung said. "I'll stay here!"
Jung Heewon glanced at Lee Sookyung, then at the street behind her, indecisive. She took off with a swear.
"You'd better not die, Kim Dokja!"
Kim Dokja didn't react to her exit.
"Stop this, Mother."
Lee Sookyung ignored him. One of her subordinates leaped for Yoo Sangah and engaged her.
"Draw your weapon, Kim Dokja," Yoo Joonghyuk said.
He flashed forward. Cho Youngran barely escaped his sword's swing.
[The stigma 'Mechanical Gateway Array Method' has failed to activate.]
The woman glared at him.
"I won't let you," he said, and the status of a transcendent flowed like lava through his veins.
It didn't take long for the fight to engulf the entirety of Paradise. The Wanderers had more reinforcements than Yoo Joonghyuk had expected. Some found them, and Cho Youngran escaped while Yoo Joonghyuk was fending off her allies. Soon afterwards, the dead started rising and fighting for Lee Sookyung's forces.
"Dammit," Han Sooyoung said as she hacked through the undead, "someone got the story of the third-place ranker!"
'King of the Dead'. Could it have been Cho Youngran? Yoo Joonghyuk regretted not having used the Eye of the Sage on her. He had known who her sponsor was the moment she had tried to use the Mechanical Gateway Array Method, so he hadn't bothered. Should he go after her now?
"Joonghyuk-ssi, watch out!" Lee Hyunsung cried out.
Yoo Joonghyuk whirled around. An overwhelming pressure sent him to his knees.
[The energy of the old land is attempting to seal your skills.]
Every ounce of transcendent power in his body rebelled against the constraint. Through the terrible strain, he saw Lee Sookyung brandishing a bronze bell toward him.
The Eight Beaded Bell. To acquire such a powerful item so early in the scenarios, this woman must have truly been ready to do anything. Yoo Joonghyuk gritted his teeth and resisted with all his strength. Even though using the bell without the other two heavenly seals of the Hongik nebulae reduced its power, he didn't have enough probability yet to shrug it off.
"Mother!"
Lee Sookyung evaded Kim Dokja's attack. The weight slid off Yoo Joonghyuk's shoulders. He got back to his feet.
"You would harm your own mother to protect a fantasy?" Lee Sookyung said.
Kim Dokja visibly bit back something acerbic.
"Stop this, Mother. Whatever you're plotting here, this is not the way…"
"This can no longer be stopped."
With a blast of energy like a bolt of lightning striking the ground, the shadow of a giant bear engulfed Lee Sookyung.
[The constellation 'Founder's Mother' is looking at her descendants.]
"I tried to avoid this," Lee Sookyung said. "If you had listened to me…"
[Constellation Kim Dokja,] a deafening true voice rang. [You must not fight. I… will not take your life if you don't rebel.]
Half of the surrounding incarnations wailed and covered their ears. The undead kept fighting, gouging losses in Paradise's ranks and increasing their own. Yoo Joonghyuk destroyed a dozen of them with a single strike.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] Kim Dokja, she must be stopped.
Kim Dokja didn't answer. His jaw had gone tight again. Maybe he didn't want to kill his mother, despite his issues with her. But now that a constellation had partly descended, the situation was critical. Other incarnations raised their synchronization rates with their sponsors until the entire city filled with probability sparks. The sky turned dark over their heads.
Kim Dokja kept attempting to reason with his mother. Yoo Joonghyuk, Lee Hyunsung and Yoo Sangah worked to keep other enemies away from them, but Lee Sookyung refused to explain her actions.
It seemed that just like her son, she would rather take her secrets to the grave.
Eventually, what must happen did. Lee Sookyung exhausted the probability that the Eight Beaded Bell offered her. A crack appeared in the item. Lee Sookyung grabbed her head with both hands and screamed. Dark waves engulfed her.
Kim Dokja yelled and attempted to run to her, but the Founder's Mother swept him away.
[Constellation Kim Dokja. You… can't pass here.]
There was a fierce sound like the sky was being ripped apart. A vortex appeared among the clouds.
"Everyone, don't look at it! Close your eyes!" Kim Dokja shouted.
Yoo Joonghyuk didn't take the order for himself. Transcendence protected his psyche from the horrible sight. Still, it didn't negate the emotional impact of seeing the first colossal tentacle pass through the vortex.
"An outer god," he said, grim.
This was what the probability storm had earned them. That being was coming to destroy everything in order to restore the balance of the Star Stream.
"Yoo Joonghyuk!" Kim Dokja said. "If we don't stop it now…"
"It is too late. It isn't at a level I can stop."
Flattering that Kim Dokja even thought it was possible for him. Yoo Joonghyuk recognized this particular outer god. He had met the Devourer of Dreams in his second regression, but much later in the scenarios. Even then, all he had been able to do was escape.
Fleeing wasn't an option now. There were too many incarnations around, too many allies to sacrifice. In addition, letting the Devourer of Dreams destroy the second floor of the Dark Castle would make it impossible to cross over to the next scenario.
Lee Hyunsung was bleeding from his ears. Even Han Sooyoung, despite the strength of her sponsor, looked ill. Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja protected their companions and retreated. Yoo Joonghyuk could see the cogs whirring urgently behind Kim Dokja's eyes, searching for another trick, a way out.
"Don't worry," Kim Dokja said. "The constellations won't stay quiet once this type of guy descends."
He was right. Any constellation watching would intervene to prevent one of the creatures they hated so much from breaking the scenario.
But a minute passed. The first tentacle touched ground, burning the earth and everything it touched. No constellation descended.
Yoo Joonghyuk gritted his teeth.
"I don't know how they can be ignorant," he said.
Kim Dokja opened his channel messages. The shock on his face was enough to convince Yoo Joonghyuk to spare his own a glance.
[Many constellations are complaining about the tyranny of some nebulae.]
[The constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' is showing hostility to the nebula Papyrus.]
[The constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' is baring his fangs to the nebula Vedas.]
[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' resents the atrocious acts of the nebula Olympus!]
Ah. Of course.
The Founder's Mother, although already half-eaten by the outer god, spoke up.
[Constellation… Kim Dokja. There is… no other way. To protect the scenarios… of the Korean peninsula. You should stay here. If you return to the Korean peninsula… then the other nebulae…]
So that's why she had descended. Even the Korean constellations would rather give up on Kim Dokja then have to face the wrath of more powerful nebulae. Although it wasn't the case for all of them.
[The constellation 'Goryeo's First Sword' roars at the nebula Hongik's cowardice!]
Yoo Joonghyuk watched Kim Dokja. The man was facing a flood of indirect messages. A bead of sweat traced a clear path in the dirt on his temple. No doubt the nebulae were attempting some last-minute deal, trying to force him to bow down to them under the threat of annihilation. Kim Dokja let out a bitter laugh at what he was reading.
Yoo Joonghyuk didn't like to hear that. Kim Dokja's laughs should be confident, mocking. Kim Dokja looked up and met his eyes. There was something haunted in his expression. Yoo Joonghyuk didn't need to know what the nebulae had told him to want to rip out their tongues and shove them down their throats.
He didn't know how to convey that to Kim Dokja. He didn't know how to tell him that he would never be abandoned by all, not as long as Yoo Joonghyuk still breathed in this world.
"Yoo Joonghyuk," Kim Dokja said, slowly picking his words. "Do you remember the nebula we made? Kim Dokja's Company."
Yoo Joonghyuk's heart jumped into this throat. If Kim Dokja had been allowed to read his thoughts, he wouldn't have had to ask this question. Yoo Joonghyuk was already thinking the answer so hard.
But he had asked. Faced with desertion on all sides, he had still turned to Yoo Joonghyuk and wondered, 'what about you? are you with me?'
Yoo Joonghyuk unsheathed his sword and stepped closer to him.
"You still want to use that name," he grumbled. "I will choose the name of the nebula."
Kim Dokja smiled at him, a bright flash in a dark world. The emotion in his eyes twisted Yoo Joonghyuk's stomach. He dug his nails into his palm.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] We need a plan.
[Kim Dokja] I'll try to gain us a colleague before the nebulae lock everything down. Distract them for a minute.
Yoo Joonghyuk nodded. With a blinding burst of energy, he unleashed his transcendence.
Kim Dokja did manage to recruit Goryeo's First Sword somehow.
Cheok Jungyeong was a formidable swordsman. If his true body had descended, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that he could have dealt with the outer god alone. But the Dark Castle didn't offer enough probability for that, and he could only use Kim Dokja as a vessel. Kim Dokja's body would have been wrecked by the excess of probability if the Korean constellations, humbled by Cheok Jungyeong's bravery, hadn't finally left their reserve.
Yet even with their support, even with Yoo Joonghyuk's Giant Body Transformation, even with a few of the colossal tentacles cut down, the summoning of the outer god kept accelerating. Almost a third of the body had passed through the vortex. Where the tentacles landed, everything in their paths was destroyed. Incarnations too slow to evacuate died screaming.
Yoo Joonghyuk wasn't surprised when he saw Kim Dokja weave with purpose toward the main body. He didn't know what that fool thought he was doing, but Kim Dokja was incapable of moving without a plan. He hoped whatever it was worked. He was nearing his limits.
There was an explosion of power. Yoo Joonghyuk had to cover his eyes. In an instant, seven of the twelve gargantuan tentacles were severed. When they fell, the ground shook under Yoo Joonghyuk's feet. Yoo Joonghyuk, who had been hacking away at a single limb, could only feel equal respect and envy for a master of his craft.
The path to the main body was open. But he couldn't see Kim Dokja.
[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is urging you to go to your companion!]
Giant Body Transformation had come to an end. Yoo Joonghyuk dragged himself as fast as he could between the limp tentacles. He finally caught sight of the reckless idiot.
Kim Dokja lay on his stomach. His eyes were glued to a gash that Cheok Jungyeong had created in the main body. His arms shook as he tried to get up, but the only thing below his knees was a puddle of blood.
Yoo Joonghyuk stopped in his tracks. He had seen many, many gruesome wounds in his regressions, but this was far too reminiscent of the state Kim Dokja had been in when he had saved Yoo Joonghyuk from the Disaster of Floods.
He staggered forward on exhausted legs.
"Kim Dokja."
Kim Dokja turned his head and saw him. His face lit up in relief. Yoo Joonghyuk grabbed him and lifted him onto his shoulder. The outer god's injury was closing.
"I have to throw you over there?"
He was too tired to ask anything further.
"Can you do it?" Kim Dokja said.
Yoo Joonghyuk wordlessly turned on Air Steps. He used all the strength he had left to climb toward the monstrous body. The ascent was long. Soon they were far above the level of any surviving tree.
He stopped in front of the wound. Mechanically, he moved to grab Kim Dokja by the collar and dangle him in front of the gash.
He halted his gesture. After a second, he let Kim Dokja slide into his arms instead. Blood from Kim Dokja's legs dripped continuously toward the ground far below. Kim Dokja gave him a curious look.
"Yoo Joonghyuk?"
For this moment at least, he was warm against Yoo Joonghyuk's chest. He was missing two limbs and his sword arm was red and swollen from Cheok Jungyeong's terrible strength, but his undamaged hand was curled around Yoo Joonghyuk's shoulder.
If Yoo Joonghyuk dropped him into this chasm, did that count as killing him with his own two hands?
As if he could still hear what was going on through his mind, Kim Dokja smiled.
"Hey, do you think this outer god is the person I love most?"
Yoo Joonghyuk's grip tightened on him.
"Kim Dokja…"
"Have some faith. Don't I always come back, whether you want me to or not? I'm like a weed. You can't get rid of me."
"Fool."
Lee Seolhwa had told him once that weeds were the first sign of nature healing from an unnatural state.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] I always want you to come back.
Kim Dokja's eyes widened. Yoo Joonghyuk grabbed him by the collar and threw him as hard as he could.
And then he was once more watching Kim Dokja falling away from him; just like weeks ago on that bridge, as he had felt excitement curl in his gut for the first time in two regressions, wondering if this new prophet would pass his test.
There was only one acceptable answer now.
Midday Tryst
[Yoo Joonghyuk] I will be waiting.
The outer god's skin closed on Kim Dokja's searching eyes.