Chapter 190: Story Horizon (2)

“…Uh.”

「 The bones of the body seemed to be crushed and the skin was stiff, like a dead animal’s skin. 」

I listened to the Fourth Wall’s words as I slowly woke up. The obnoxious voice of the Fourth Wall was now welcome.

「 I am alive. Kim Dokja thought this. 」

I heard Fourth Wall so the plan seemed to be a success. In fact, I couldn’t really say it was a success.

It was natural. The ‘fate’ they gave me was the death of ‘Incarnation Kim Dokja’. It was natural that the ‘constellation’ Kim Dokja wouldn’t die.

If I was going to disappear so easily, I wouldn’t have built up my stories and become a constellation. The problem was that I lost my body and survived as a ‘constellation’…

“…Where am I?”

The surrounding area was filled with ruined buildings and roads. It was a familiar scene.

“This…?”

Not long after I spoke, I realized the situation I was in. I looked up at the air. The night sky had always been filled with the light of countless constellations. Now there was nothing there.

I was surprised by the deep words I was speaking to myself. I watched the night sky and laughed blankly. “Haha…”

Usually, numerous indirect messages from the constellations should’ve appeared.

For example, the Great Sage the Equal of Heaven who liked it when I talked to myself or the Abyssal Black Flame Dragon… there was also the Demon-like Judge of Fire who liked me for some reason. It was normal for someone to answer but no one answered my monologue.

There wasn’t the Bald General of Justice polishing his head, the One-Eyed Maitreya who would throw his eyepatch if he was bored or the shameless Lady of the Brocade Sleep.

The messages of the constellations disappeared and only a laughably terrible loneliness was left behind.

「 Kim Dokja thought: I’m really alone. 」

[You are currently expelled from the scenario.]

I slowly looked around the surroundings. Despite being expelled from the scenario, living beings would go to the nearest ‘outside the scenario’ area.

[You are currently in an area outside the scenario.]

The outside the scenario area that I was currently standing in was a very familiar place to me.

「 Seoul. 」

This place was Seoul’s Gwanghwamun square. It was the place where War of the Kings took place and I crushed the Absolute Throne.

The fact that Seoul had become an area outside the scenario…

The party members… thankfully, they escaped unharmed.

I looked at the place where the former Seoul Dome was located and felt overwhelmed. The place that used to be covered with a translucent membrane was now covered by a thick barrier.

Now the ‘Seoul’ scenario was completely over. The party members were moving onto new scenarios without me and making new stories. From there, they would continue to live.

…Maybe this was how it turned out.

「 Kim Dokja was glad but also somewhat lonely. 」

I thought about the party members for a moment before slowly turning around.

「The lonely Kim Dokja had something to do. For that reason, he chose a miserable death. 」

***

「 While walking on the streets of Seoul, Kim Dokja was immersed in his memories. Whenever he went, he saw where he performed the scenarios with his party members. Kim Dokja once again realized that he had become part of Ways of Survival. He was obviously living this story. 」

“…This is very touching but shouldn’t you stop now? How long are you going to keep muttering?”

「 Kim Dokja was irritated by the poor Fourth Wall. 」

At first, it felt good to have someone beside me. However, I didn’t feel happy about having everything I did explained.

「 How much time has passed? Kim Dokja wanted to ask but no one could answer. 」

“Dammit. You can answer me.”

I scolded him before deciding to look at my condition.

[Many of your stories have been damaged.]

[Your current body is completely collapsed.]

I had survived by using my status as a constellation but I had completely lost my physical body. In other words, my current existence wasn’t ‘flesh’ but a mass of incomplete stories.

[Your current body is in a very dangerous condition.]

[Methods to preserve your body can’t be found.]

It was an uneasy state where I could completely collapse if anyone touched me. This wasn’t living.

I decided to try everything I could.

[Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint isn’t available in this area.]

…As expected, it didn’t work.

[You can’t communicate with your incarnation.]

This also didn’t work. I was expecting it but I was really weird because it didn’t work out. It felt like I was living alone in an area where no communication was possible.

Of course, my actual situation was worse than that.

[You can’t use the channel system.]

Since I was banished from the scenario, I naturally couldn’t access the channel and my contract with Bihyung was cancelled. I stared at the sky without stars and felt empty freedom.

…Now I was really alone. Once I realized this fact, a chill started to creep in.

「 Nobody sees me and I can’t see anyone either. 」

No, I wasn’t completely alone.

「 In the midst of this, Kim Dokja suddenly realized. He felt a sense of existence through someone’s eyes. 」

“I’m not thinking such philosophical things, Idiot. Rather, how long are you going to keep this up?”

「 The stupid Kim Dokja doesn’t know. Why the great Fourth Wall is doing this hard work. 」

…What?

“Why can’t you just explain? What the hell are you? You are a skill right?”

「 The stupid Kim Dokja is talking to the air. 」

It was a real jerk.

「 Stupid Kim Dokja… 」

“Can’t you stop? Do you want me to turn the skill off?”

Then a sound was heard in the air.

「 The Fourth Wall asks, ‘Th en should I qui t?’ 」

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I was a bit surprised. This brat, it could express itself more clearly now? Come to think of it, last time…

“Yes, stop. I don’t want to be bothered right now.”

[The exclusive skill ‘Fourth Wall’ is silent.]

The next moment, I regretted my choice. I felt the air around me freezing. It suddenly penetrated deeply into my bones. I felt the air in my lungs clogging up.

“Cough…?”

At this moment, something belatedly came to my mind. It was the reason why Vedas and Olympus sent me to the outside the scenario area.

It was due to this exact situation. It was a plot to kill ‘Incarnation Kim Dokja’ and deal with ‘Constellation Kim Dokja.’

“K-Kuoooock…”

I tried to scream but there was no sound. I could breathe but I couldn’t breathe. It felt as if someone had squeezed my lungs and my breath was blocked. My head turned blank and my thoughts were erased one by one.

The Star Stream was a world of stories. There were no exceptions, whether it was for incarnations or constellations. Every being existed through a ‘story.’

[The speed of the damage to your stories has increased!]

[Your existence has started to vanish.]

In a place with no ‘stories’, nothing could exist. Even me.

‘Damn, save me!’

I shouted while fearing that I would disappear. I could finally see why the Fourth Wall had such a big mouth. It kept speaking in order to save me. In a place where there were no stories, it kept me alive…

It kept telling me ‘stories.’

[The exclusive skill ‘Fourth Wall’ is activated.]

「 The Fourth Wall says, “Je…rk.” 」

I managed to start breathing again.

“Pant, pant…”

I knew that being banished from the scenario was terrible but I hadn’t expected it to be this much.

Indeed, even Cheok Jungyeong couldn’t survive outside the scenario without the help of a nebula… damn, I thought too shallowly about the situation.

I thought I could move onto the first target area somehow if I gave up a few stories…

It would’ve been hard for me to live if it hadn’t been for the Fourth Wall.

「 Kim Dokja thought: I should never turn off the Fourth Wall again. 」

I couldn’t refute the words in my miserable mood.

“…By the way, how long can you keep it up?”

「 The Fourth Wall says, “No t lon g.” 」

Intense sparks appeared as the Fourth Wall spoke. Indeed, it would be strange that the Fourth Wall could cope alone with something that required the probability of a nebula.

I didn’t have much time. If I couldn’t finish my task in a timely manner, I would die here.

At this moment, a noise was heard from somewhere. It was reminiscent of a vacuum cleaner…

「 Kim Dokja knows what this is. 」

“Yes, I know. The scenario cleaners.”

The appearance of a cleaner meant a major ‘clean-up’ of the scenario area had begun.

「 Kim Dokja thought: Since the cleaning has begun, the Great Demon of the Horizon will soon reveal itself. The hyenas who wander through the ruins of the scenario can’t afford to miss out on these delicious ruins. 」

It was amazing to read. However, before I met them, I had to find something first.

「 Kim Dokja picked up his pace. 」

I staggered and gradually sped up. Things reminiscent of small clouds were wandering around the streets. They were the scenario cleaners.

They were ones to watch out for but I ran without worrying. In any case, the cleaners were low and their recognition range was narrow. If I carefully avoided them, it wouldn’t be difficult to reach the target point without being noticed.

I headed south of Gwanghwamun. Euljiro 3-ga, Chungmuro, Dongdae-gu, Yaksu, Geumho Station…

Like a salmon, I passed by the places I had been. Finally, I arrived at Oksu Station.

There, I faced the broken Dongho Bridge. I watched the broken bridge and memories passed through my head.  This was the place where Yoo Jonghyuk dropped me into the mouth of an ichthyosaur.

I didn’t know if he was doing well right now. Well, he had Han Sooyoung to help him.

…I had to hope.

I leapt lightly across the broken bridge. In the past, it was a bridge that could only be crossed using Deus X Machina. Now a single leap was enough.

It was a moment that showed how much had changed from the beginning of the scenario.

However, I still had a long way to go. The things I had to cross were waiting for me at a distant much greater than the gap of this broken bridge.

Finally, I reached a half broken subway. This was the start of all the scenarios. I looked at the appearance of the subway before entering and looking through the ruins.

How long did I look? I finally found what I was looking for. It was an item box that was shining white. There was a short message left on the item box.

-Kim Dokja, can I trust you? It was left as you requested. Thank you for being an incarnation of my channel.

It was very obvious who wrote the message.

-Please, be alive.

Of course. I wouldn’t die. I opened the item box. The box contained 300,000 coins and the items I asked to be purchased.

[A new attribute has been acquired.]

[The item ‘Dokkaebi Egg’ has been acquired.]

[The item ‘Unbroken Faith’ has been acquired.]

…

I grabbed all the items and left the subway. That guy was coming in the nick of time. I sat on the bridge and waited.

Soon, that guy would come.

As I thought this, someone appeared on the horizon where the story ended. He was an old man with a giant lump on one cheek. He walked towards this side with a strange expression. It was like he knew I was here.

“Are you the Demon King of Salvation?”

I looked at him for a moment before turning my gaze towards the light of dawn outside the dome.

I thought of the nebulae that would be waiting for me beyond that light. Maybe they would think I was dead by now.

Olympus, Vedas, Papyrus…

I remembered every one of them. All the constellations who laughed at the stories of the incarnations and finally made their own entertainment.

Just wait a little bit.

「 I will pull all of you down from that fucking heaven. 」

TL: Rainbow Turtle