Chapter 525

Yu Jung-Hyeok planted his sword on the ground as he wobbled . His irises were becoming translucent next . His eyes, exhausted from fighting a lengthy battle, were losing their sights .

“If I choose you as my Constellation sponsor, will I get to finally meet you?”

[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, is shaking his head . ]

“Just where are you exactly? All the stars in have fallen, so from where are you watching over me?” Yu Jung-Hyeok continued to mutter out . “No, wait . I know the truth already . You are . . . probably beyond that [Wall], aren’t you . “

I couldn’t say anything . I didn’t expect the 0th turn’s Yu Jung-Hyeok to be able to catch onto that . He continued to speak in the meantime .

“Something felt off to me about this world . “

It was my first time hearing such a shrewd tone of voice coming from him .

“One day, I suddenly came into existence in this world . “

A man who came to exist in this world without a warning .

“Without any memories of my childhood, I was suddenly cast into this world . I wandered around an illegal work site, and through sheer luck, got spotted by the director, and thus became a pro gamer . But then out of the blue, someone abandoned a child on my doorstep . A child, supposedly my younger sister . “

A conveniently-crafted life, a series of adversities created solely to become a tragedy later .

“Once, I searched for my parents . However, no matter how hard I searched, I couldn’t find them . Even the professionals that could unearth the president’s hidden illegitimate child couldn’t find my parents . It was as if such things didn’t exist in this world, to begin with . “

[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, is . . . . ]

“So I ask you, ‘Demon King of Salvation . ‘ Who am I?”

My heart was in pain . The fact that Yu Jung-Hyeok had eventually reached that question was endlessly tormenting me .

I needed to say something . Anything . . .

“Does the secret of this world lie beyond the wall, where you are?”

[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, asks you if you’re not happy currently . ]

“I am happy,” he replied without a shred of hesitation . “And that’s why I’m even more curious about what lies beyond the wall . “

[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, is . . . . ]

“I’m curious about the reason behind all the goodwill you’ve shown me . I’m also curious about the meaning of my life, where I was born, and why I had to come here . If I had one more chance . . . . “

From somewhere, sounds similar to the ticking clock hands could be heard .

⸢Kim Dok Ja⸥

I couldn’t show Yu Jung-Hyeok what’s beyond the [Wall] . Even if I was the ‘Most Ancient Dream’, that was still impossible .

Yu Jung-Hyeok continued on . “You told me this once upon a time . If I sign the contract with you, you will grant any one wish of mine . Back then, I didn’t accept your offer because I was suspicious of you . However, if it’s not too late . . . . “

His fingers hovered in the air, searching for a log message that reached him in the distant past .

[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, wishes to become your Constellation sponsor . ]

[Will you accept the offer?]

“I shall accept it now . “

Dizziness rushed in and the shaking of my surroundings worsened .

I called out to [The 4th Wall] .

‘The 4th Wall . ‘

⸢Y ou c a n t⸥

It already knew what I was going to say .

The prerequisite condition needed for Yu Jung-Hyeok to cross the [Final Wall] was to gather all the ‘fragments of the Final Wall’ .

However, [The 4th Wall] had no intentions of transferring to Yu Jung-Hyeok .

I gritted my teeth and sent a message out .

[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, says that wish can’t be granted . ]

“Why not?”

[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, says that it is a truly arduous path, that’s why . ]

“An arduous path?”

If I couldn’t transfer [The 4th Wall] to him, then there was only one option for him to see the conclusion .

[Constellation ‘Demon King of Salvation’, says that if you wish to cross the [Wall], you must ‘regress’ first . ]

“Regress?”

Along with the ‘Tsu-chuchuchut!’ noise, my entire figure was dyed in the sparks of Probability .

The world-line was telling me this .

It was saying that I mustn’t inform him of this . It said, this information wasn’t something the current Yu Jung-Hyeok should know .

Despite that, I bit down hard on my lip and shook off the world-line’s opposition . Even if I had to sacrifice much more Probability, I wanted to show him the truth .

⸢1 8 6 4⸥

“1864? What’s that supposed to mean?”

[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, says that is the number of times you must regress before you can witness the conclusion . ]

Memories from the life I had lived became a Fable and began unfolding next .

[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, says that even if you manage to live all those regression turns, the odds of you successfully seeing the conclusion will be extremely low . ]

Not only that, the current Yu Jung-Hyeok had broken free from the ‘original world-line’ .

He was no longer Yu Jung-Hyeok from the original novel .

Time-lines had branched off, and the ‘future’ no longer existed .

Even if he did reach the 1864th turn, there was no guarantee that he’d meet ‘Kim Dok-Ja’ in possession of [The 4th Wall] . . .

⸢Th ere i s⸥

What?

⸢Er ase the me mo ries of th is t u r n⸥

Goosebumps broke out all over my skin .

⸢What if I give Yu Jung-Hyeok the fragmented memories similar to the ‘original’ and send him to the next turn?⸥

If so, the world-line should think of this Yu Jung-Hyeok as the ‘original’s Yu Jung-Hyeok’ .

He’d be incorporated back into the original’s world-line, and live through the first and the second regression turns without any memories from this life .

⸢However, Yu Jung-Hyeok would become miserable once more . ⸥

⸢Why are y ou de ci ding th at?⸥

I slowly raised my head . Yu Jung-Hyeok was still talking to me .

“I don’t care even if the odds are low . “

[Incarnation, ‘Yu Jung-Hyeok’, has accepted your offer . ]

The Fable began its storytelling, and the starlights seemed to extend even further .

[Your Incarnation is waiting for you to say something . ]

I remained silent for a long time . And eventually, I came to a decision .

I had no choice but to tell him .

I slowly regulated my breath and opened my mouth .

[Yu Jung-Hyeok . ]

Been a while since I spoke in my true voice . An incredible storm of Sparks raged on around me . I tried to suppress the incoming waves as much as possible, yet it was still this bad .

Yu Jung-Hyeok opened his eyes wide and looked up at the sky . “Was that your real voice?”

[That’s right . ]

” . . . . I can hear it surprisingly well . “

Yu Jung-Hyeok, going slowly deaf, muttered softly . A faint crease spread over the old man Yu Jung-Hyeok’s expression . I pretended to not see that and spoke .

[I can send you back . However, if that happens, I won’t be able to help you from the next turn onwards . ]

The only way to make him reject the offer was to tell him the truth .

[You’ll have to use nothing but your own powers to break past the scenarios . Those scenarios will be far worse than you can ever imagine, and . . . And, you might end up encountering something you didn’t want to at the conclusion you’d eventually reach . ]

I thought back to Yu Jung-Hyeok . I thought back to the sorrows of the 3rd turn, the anguish of the 4th, and the despair of the ‘Secretive Plotter’ .

[And if you do choose ‘regression’, then . . . You will lose the majority of your memories as you cross over . ]

Those words caused the soft sounds of Yu Jung-Hyeok sucking in his breath to come out . No matter how resolute his determination might be, this one should be a hard pill to swallow .

[Only the tiniest fragmented memories from the scenarios will remain in you . ]

” . . . . “

[Meaning, everything precious to you will disappear . Yi Seol-Hwa you remember, Yi Hyeon-Seong, Yi Ji-Hye, all of them will . . . . ]

“Just because I will forget about them, that doesn’t mean they’ll suddenly stop existing . “

I shut my mouth then .

“They definitely continue to live in this world . “

⸢They definitely continue to live in this world . ⸥

Like branding a seal, those words slammed into a part of my head and invaded deep inside .

It felt as if a gigantic hand of fate was pouncing upon me .

⸢At that moment, Kim Dok-Ja realised that this was the true completion of the 0th turn . ⸥

The reason why there was no trace of the ‘Most Ancient Dream’ in the 0th turn . The reason why, despite that fact, Yu Jung-Hyeok still managed to cross over to the first and then, to the second regression turns . Maybe it was . . . .

[… . You dumb bastard . ]

I gathered my hands and used the power to manipulate the dream gathered in me .

The storm of Probability’s aftermath crashing in caused my whole arm to scream in pain as if it was getting twisted and torn off from my body . I recalled all of Yu Jung-Hyeok’s regression turns that I knew . I gathered all the lives he had led, as well as the Fables I knew, and created a certain Stigma .

A Stigma that acted as the motive power of this world, as well as the source of all of Yu Jung-Hyeok’s tragedies .

[Stigma, ‘Regression’, has been generated!]

[Your Stigma has been transferred to your Incarnation!]

Looking satisfied, Yu Jung-Hyeok accepted the Stigma .

[Stigma, ‘Regression Lv . 1’, is getting ready to activate . ]

“You said earlier that I’ll lose my memories . “

[… . I did . ]

“Will I lose everything related to you, too?”

I hesitated with my answer . Yu Jung-Hyeok asked me again .

“Even all that convenient information you told me, too?”

[… . Yes . ]

“I see . “

[If you regret it, then it’s not too late to . . . . ]

“You also said you won’t help me from the next regression turn onwards . “

[I can’t help you . ]

“It’s fine to help, however . “

[Even if I want to, I can’t . ]

“I heard that the scenarios exist not just for the Incarnations, but Constellations, as well . Maybe, it was the same story for you . “

[… . . ]

“Tell me, you fool . If I continue to regress, will I ever get to meet you again?”

I couldn’t say anything . These were utterances of someone who didn’t know anything . In every sense of the word, he was the 0th turn’s dumbass continuously babbling on while having no clue about his own future .

Along with the words that hadn’t been said yet, Yu Jung-Hyeok’s ears began disappearing .

⸢The night sky was reflected in Yu Jung-Hyeok’s eyes . ⸥

As if he was a child wondering about his origins, Yu Jung-Hyeok estimated where in the sky the [Wall] might be and extended his hand towards it .

He’d become the ‘Secretive Plotter’ someday, and . . .

… . And at the same time, also become the 1864th turn’s Yu Jung-Hyeok that I knew .

He’d grow to resent me, and eventually reach the truth of this world .

[Stigma, ‘Regression Lv . 1’, is activating!]

[You have agreed to the activation of the Stigma . ]

Yu Jung-Hyeok’s body began scattering away little by little . His arms, his legs, and then, his torso, too .

During the final moments, he called out to me .

“Demon King of Salvation . “

With a truly strange and mystifying expression . . .

“I shall pray that you may continue to exist somewhere, too . “

… . Yu Jung-Hyeok’s Incarnation body scattered into silvery powder and he left this world-line .

[The influence of the applicable world-line’s ‘Overwrite’ function does not extend towards the character ‘Yu Jung-Hyeok’s’ next regression turn . ]

[Your Incarnation has forgotten your Modifier . ]

[Your Incarnation has forgotten all memories related to you . ]

[All information related to you are now marked as ‘???’]

All of his memories that couldn’t be recorded anywhere would now be lost forever .

In that case, where would all those memories go?

I stared at the flickering light for a very long time .

*

“Hey, Yu Jung-Hyeok! Why aren’t you saying anything?!”

Yu Jung-Hyeok ended up staggering after receiving a loud impact to the back of his head .

He turned around to discover Han Su-Yeong and her deep scowl .

“I said, how do we do this ‘group regression’ thing?”

“I can suddenly remember . “

“Remember what?”

Yu Jung-Hyeok stared back with a stupid face, and muttered in her direction .

“The 0th turn’s memories . “

Fin .