Chapter 170

Translator: Rainbow Turtle

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 .

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 . ”