Chapter 168: 170. Reading Again (1)

I remembered the moment I read a novel for the first time.

The texture of the soft paper touching my fingertips. The black letters blooming on a white field. The texture of the page I folded with my hands.

「 It isn’t important to read the letters. The important thing is where the letters lead you. 」

My mother, who loved books, used to say this. At least for me, it wasn’t just a saying.

The gaps in the black print. My own little snow garden lay in between the letters. This space, which was too small for someone to go into, was a perfect place for a child who liked to hide. Every time a pleasant sound was heard, the letters stacked up like snow.

In it, I became a hero. I had adventures, loved and dreamt. Thus, I read, read and read again.

I remembered the first time I was about to finish a book. It was like being deprived of the world.

The protagonist and supporting characters walked off with the sentence ‘They lived happily ever after’ and I was left alone at the end of the story. In my vanity and sense of betrayal, my young self struggled because I couldn’t stand the loneliness.

「This… is the end? 」

Perhaps it was similar to learning about death. For the first time, I realized that something was finite.

My mother said, 「This is the end. 」

「There isn’t anything that comes next? 」

「There is no ‘next.’ 」

My mother was cold as she told me a brutal truth.

「 However, just because it is the end doesn’t mean you’ve seen the whole story. 」

Then she gave me wise advice.

「 Yes? 」

「 Read it again. 」

Reread the finished story. As a child, I didn’t know what this meant.

「 Why read a story I already know? 」

「 If you read it again, it will definitely be a different story. 」

「…I don’t want to. 」

I was stubborn because I was afraid of feeling the deprivation again. Then my mother said, 「 Do you want to read it together? 」

Thus, I learnt to read again.

At first, I only saw the main character’s position. The second reading showed the position of the supporting character and the third reading showed the position of the enemy.

The story changed every time I read it. The story was over but it wasn’t over. The story wouldn’t end unless the reader gave up on the story.

I still thought about it often. What if my mother had said something else at that time?

All fiction was fake and it would just be a loss of my life if I read it.

Would I then have a lot of friends? What if I didn’t study hard, wasn’t bullied and didn’t run away from the reality given to me?

Sparks appeared in the air and the flowing memories were broken.

「 Kim Dokja. You look relaxed. 」

I turned my head and saw someone standing in the darkness. It was a presence that could easily pierce other people’s dreams. Apart from a mighty god, the only possible people who could do this were prophets. However, the person here wasn’t Anna Croft.

「 Is ‘fate’ bearable? 」

I knew this face. It was a crowned wanderer dressed in old clothes. That reminded me, there was a prophet among the constellations.

‘Poked Out His Eyes.’

It was King Oedipus of Olympus, who I met at the banquet. King Oedipus said to me.

「 Your fate is approaching. 」

‘Fate? Hasn’t it already been realized? Aren’t I dead as you planned?’

「 This isn’t a fate that can be avoided with a shameful story. You have to decide which side you will stand on soon. I believe you will make the right choice. 」

‘I’m not on anyone’s side.’

King Oedipus laughed.

「 You will definitely come to Olympus. It is because no incarnation fits the story of Olympus as much as you. 」

‘What are you talking about…’

Before I could finish speaking, my memories came back.

「 Dokja. 」

Shit. I remembered this. It was a bloody living room. My mother was holding a knife and standing in front of a dead man.

「 From now on, I will read all of this again. 」

My mother smiled towards me and said.

「Thus, you have to remember well. Understood? 」

A nightmare was coming towards me. I heard screaming. King Oedipus’s voice was heard, as if he was laughing at all the memories.

「 Succeed the Lightning Carnival. Otherwise you will die ‘forever’ in the following scenarios. 」

***

[The attribute ‘Eight Lives’ has been activated.]

[Your body will be resurrected.]

My breath burst out of me like amniotic fluid.

[The second head of the snake has been sacrificed.]

[The power of the head is ‘intelligence.’]

My cold skin turned warm again and my stretched muscles gained strength. This was the fourth death I had experienced.

Once against the fire dragon, once against the Disaster of Floods and once when dealing with Nirvana. At this point, I should think about whether Yoo Jonghyuk was the sunfish or if I was the sunfish.

“…Uh, where is this place?”

I looked around but I couldn’t tell where I was. I only saw a white cloud-like ground and an open sky.

…Was this Dark Castle?

[The bonus effect has sped up the actions of your brain.]

Due to the resurrection bonus, my judgment of the situation became clearer and faster. I decided to look at it again from the beginning.

First, there was the biggest question.

‘Why did I die?’

I had been using third person’s viewpoint to watch Paradise and left my body with Han Sooyoung. Suddenly, my consciousness blurred and the death message emerged.

There was only one conclusion. Someone killed me while I was asleep. Who was it? Han Sooyoung?

[A new achievement has been added to your fifth story.]

[People will know you as the ‘Messiah Who Bears Shame.]

I died at a strange time so a weird achievement was added to my story.

…I didn’t think it was actually shameful.

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The prophecy was ‘Incarnation Kim Dokja will be killed by the person he loves most’. Then to kill me, they must be someone I loved.

“Hey Kim Dokja! You survived?” In the distance, Han Sooyoung was walking this way.

“What on earth happened?”

“An ambush.” Han Sooyoung grumbled as she looked at the cloud field. It was a place where nothing could be seen except for floating clouds. It was an overly peaceful scene to be called an ambush.

“As soon as you fell asleep, some people appeared who were after you. I tried to stop them but it didn’t work. You ended up with a fatal wound and I carried you away while crying. Suddenly, I appeared in this place.”

The story flowed as naturally as the clouds but it was unbelievable.

[The exclusive skill ‘Lie Detection Lv. 2’ is activated!]

[You have confirmed that the statement is true.]

“…Did you see the faces of those who attacked?”

“Everybody was wearing an mask and I couldn’t see properly. I saw a few people using Detect Attributes but I didn’t know them.”

The three day journey had made Han Sooyoung considerably stronger. Now Han Sooyoung would be 20th in the Dark Castle rankings. Yet the people broke through her to kill me, then brought us here. I couldn’t come up with a plausible group, no matter how hard I thought.

“You didn’t find out anything else?”

“By the way, aren’t you really relaxed? Who was the one suffering for three days…”

“Three days?”

“You have been dead for three days. Didn’t you know?”

That reminded me, Eight Lives had a bit of a wait time. Three days… damn. What happened to the other party members? Surely they hadn’t already passed onto the next scenario? If so, all my plans would go wrong.

Han Sooyoung sighed. “No matter how far I go, there are only clouds. I have already given up.”

“…Is that why you released your clones?”

Han Sooyoung’s clones were training in various parts of the cloud field. Han Sooyoung training in Hidden Weapons Technique, Han Sooyoung training her footwork… each Han Sooyoung was devoted to one skill.

“It is my own training. I didn’t want to waste time waiting for you and once I take back my clones, my skill proficiency increases quickly.”

Somehow, I discovered the secret behind how Han Sooyoung could become so strong in such a short time.

“What? Are you a ■?”

“I’m a ■?” Damn… it is filtering something like this. Well, I have an idea of what you wanted to say.”

In any case, she didn’t seem like just a plagiarist writer anymore. I was suddenly curious. The original description in Ways of Survival didn’t describe the Avatar skill in detail. It wouldn’t be bad to learn a bit more about this skill.

“Are there no constraints on the skill? You can make infinite number of clones as long as you have the magic power?”

“That would be a scam. Of course there are restrictions. Every time I use the skill, I share some of my memories with the avatar.”

“…Some of your memories? Then what about after the avatar dies?”

“Then I will lose the memories.”

I felt a bit surprised when Han Sooyoung responded casually. Wasn’t it a skill that could give her Alzheimer’s if she made a mistake?

Han Sooyoung read my thoughts and smiled. “Don’t worry. I usually use unnecessary memories. In addition, the memories will come back if I recover the clones. Sometimes… it is a problem because some go out of control.”

“Out of control?”

“The first time I tried creating a clone using Avatar… I gave away too many of my memories and it went out of control.”

“…Is that possible? Then did you lose those memories?”

Han Sooyoung shrugged. “I don’t know. But now I use small memories so it’s fine.”

“You just think that you’re fine.”

“Shut up.”

A clone ended up having important memories due to a mistake. I shivered as I thought about another Han Sooyoung that might still be moving around somewhere in Seoul.

One be one, the clones turned into smoke and returned to Han Sooyoung. It was probably to recover the accumulated skills proficiency.

Han Sooyoung suddenly exclaimed, “Ah! There was something I didn’t say. I just remembered. A constellation came looking for me when you died.”

Why give such an important memory to her clone?

“I forgot the name but the constellation belonged to a nebula. Vedas or… Tamna?”

These names were dangerous. Regardless of how I felt, Han Sooyoung muttered in a relaxed manner,

“I heard some ambiguous words. Make the right choice…”

“Can’t you remember it properly?”

“I’m sorry. If I recall all my avatars then I can remember… oh, it was a strange Goryeo warrior.”

“Goryeo warrior?”

“He left without saying anything. He stared at your dead body for a moment and left straight away.”

If it was a Goryeo warrior, it was probably Cheok Jungyeong. There were also Olympus, Vedas and Tamna. The big nebulae were moving so it seemed like something was going to happen.

At this moment, something crossed my mind. “Wait, a constellation appeared directly? It wasn’t an avatar?”

“Yes. It was a symbol. Why?”

“…Don’t you know the problem with this?”

“Eh?”

“No matter how symbolic, a constellation can’t appear in the scenario area without consuming a lot of probability.”

The constellations feared probability the most and wouldn’t descend as a symbol.

I slowly looked around. “…I think I know where this place is.”

This place was a ward but it wasn’t a normal ward. It was a ward where constellations could appear in symbolic form.

Han Sooyoung belatedly noticed something. “…The Mechanical Gateway Array Method.”

The Mechanical Gateway Array Method It was a technique used by constellations who mastered the principles of the five elements, four heavenly divisions and three calamities.

By the way, it was hard to see people use this technique. Zhuge Liang of China could use it freely. Yet this was the Korean Peninsula. Then…

“Won’t you come out?” I spoke to the air.

With the exception of Zhuge Liang, there was one other constellation who could use it freely. It was also a constellation I had already met.

“…It seems it is impossible to deceive you with the shape of a constellation.”

A voice was heard as clouds gathered in the air and formed the image of a person. It was a woman in her 30s wearing a prison uniform.

“Haven’t we met before?”

“It isn’t a very good reunion.”

[The constellation ‘First Spiritualist of Joseon’ is giggling at you.]

First Spiritualist of Joseon, Jeon Woochi’s incarnation.

She was the first ‘limb’ of the King of Wanderers.

“The king is waiting for you.”

Somehow, I knew who had killed me. This situation appeared to be the worst. Either way, I had no other choice.

I nodded and said. “Guide me.”

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