NOVEL NEXT chapter 610 - □□ (1)
「A story does not obey the rules of time. It merely flows toward the empty spaces.」
—Dokkaebi King
***
How is Han Sooyoung here?
Is that person truly the Han Sooyoung from Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint that I know?
My instincts said yes, but reason demanded proof.
[The target is not available for use of ‘Reader Comment List.’]
[The target is not available for use of ‘Character List.’]
Unavailable.
“Are you… really Han Sooyoung?”
Until now, I had never once seen such a message.
「Didn’t you expect this?」
When I learned that this world was the 41st regression that didn’t exist in the original.
When I saw the child Kim Dokjas at the theater.
And when I met Kim Dokja in the snowy dreamscape.
Perhaps I had always imagined that such a moment would come.
Han Sooyoung silently studied me, then spoke.
“Yeah. I’m Han Sooyoung.”
[Someone has activated ‘Lie Detection.’]
[‘Lie Detection’ has confirmed that the statement is true.]
Even authentication through Lie Detection.
Down to the last detail, she was exactly the Han Sooyoung I knew.
The only difference was that this Han Sooyoung radiated an atmosphere even more untouchable than the one I remembered.
It felt like standing before some great personage.
“No need for introductions, right?”
“I am—”
“I know who you are, Cheon Inho. Or rather…”
Han Sooyoung tilted her head ever so slightly.
“The author of Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint from planetary system Z865123.”
Without thinking, I clenched my fist.
“How did you know?”
“You kept snatching up the items I had my eye on. How could I not notice? Either a passionate reader or the author himself… but you didn’t act like a reader.”
Han Sooyoung gave a small laugh, and the strength drained from my hand.
“You did fine even on your own, though. Must’ve read diligently.”
Read diligently. Those words lodged in my ears like barbs.
“Looks like there are other ones like you as well… You’re nothing like the so-called ‘Prophets’ from our worldline.”
Her expression was as if she already knew everything.
And in her tone there was no hostility at all. If anything, it sounded like genuine encouragement.
“So, your worldline must’ve sold quite a few copies of the novel, huh? In some, it was a total flop.”
“The reception wasn’t bad. It was my breakout work.”
“Really?”
Han Sooyoung smiled faintly.
“That’s a relief.”
A relief.
What could possibly be a relief?
I hesitated, then spoke.
“Until I met you, I thought I had written all of this.”
Han Sooyoung looked at me with a pitying gaze.
“Yes, but it was me who wrote it.”
I could not deny it.
The mythos coursing through her entire being was proof enough.
That she was the real one.
Not me, but her.
“You’ve written before, so you know. Every sentence you thought you came up with was already stored in the cloud—”
“They reached me from the cloud as fragments of inspiration. And I believed them to be my ideas.”
“Exactly.”
…Was it really so? Was there truly not a single line of this story that I had written myself?
As if to cut off my doubts, the original author said:
“So you stop here. Step back.”
My knee almost buckled before I even realized it.
And yet, at the same time, I felt a strange sense of relief.
“You don’t have to bear the responsibility. I’ll handle the rest. Just go back down and rest.”
Why… why did those words make me want to stop everything and believe her?
“What do you mean by ‘handle it’?”
“You’re a writer too, aren’t you?”
As if to say I already knew the answer, Han Sooyoung asked.
The vague premonition solidified into certainty. My fingertips trembled.
And then she drove the nail in.
“The end of this regression is already fixed. I’m just trying to bring it about a little sooner.”
The memory of the 41st regression’s ending flashed clearly through my mind.
「Yoo Joonghyuk, having used the ‘Absolute Throne,’ fails to progress the scenario.」
「He loses all his companions, then contracts with Humpback, sending Shin Yuseung into the past worldline.」
「Shin Yuseung wanders through worldlines for over a thousand years.」
「And descends upon the past as the ‘Disaster of Floods.’」
There was not a single good thing at the end of this story.
That was the kind of world it was from the beginning.
As if to comfort me, Han Sooyoung said:
“There’s no need for sympathy, no need for grief. Some stories are just like that.”
I knew.
This world was already a finished story.
The aftermath of the 41st regression’s ending had already occurred, and its ‘end’ had to remain fixed.
Only then could the Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint we knew truly begin.
I understood that.
And because I understood, I could not accept it.
“Then why were we summoned to this worldline?”
It was unfair.
Yes, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint was Han Sooyoung’s story.
But—“Ordinary people were dragged into this worldline and forced to fight for their lives.”
Could every moment that I and the other readers endured here also be called her sentences?
“We fought monsters we had never seen, struggled to secure food, killed others just to survive…”
I had believed there must be a reason we were here.
That it wasn’t mere chance we were chosen.
That surely, we had some rightful role to contribute to this story.
“Not just me—everyone who came here with me felt the same. So I believe we deserve to know why.”
I thought of Gyeong Sein doing squats in the corner of Geumho Station.
I thought of Ahjussi Dansoo, thrashing in nightmares while calling his daughter’s name.
I thought of Killer King, who stayed behind in the film to send me upstairs, and of LiteratureGirl64, who trusted that Killer King and helped me.
All of them people who had been possessed into this place for the sole reason that they read ORV.
“Some of them even died here. Those people—”
“They didn’t die. You know that.”
Han Sooyoung sighed lightly and added:
“They just returned as ‘fragments of Kim Dokja.’ They went back to their original state.”
“They’re no longer Kim Dokja. They were people living ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ their own lives in other worlds. They had their own existences.”
“…”
“You summoned them.”
“I didn’t summon them.”
Of course, the one who kidnapped us was not Han Sooyoung, but the ‘Kim Dokja Representative.’
But could she really claim she was unrelated?
“I saw the video you appeared in.”
“My video?”
“You said, ‘That was just a preview.’ That ‘the side story would begin soon.’”
The memory of the held in the theater was still vivid.
The Kim Dokja Representative who abducted us had shown a video of Han Sooyoung on the screen.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Han Sooyoung narrowed her eyes in puzzlement.
“I never did anything like that. What are you on about?”
Judging by her expression, that video had not been her.
So someone had impersonated her?
Not impossible.
One of the Representatives possessed the ‘Ten Thousand Transformations Stealth Garment.’
And since the Representatives knew about Kim Dokja and ORV, imitating Han Sooyoung’s manner of speech wouldn’t have been difficult.
But the question still remained.
“Then you’re saying you had nothing to do with us being brought here?”
For the first time, Han Sooyoung hesitated.
“I might not be entirely unrelated… but I wasn’t the one who brought you into this worldline. I never intended to, either.”
“Then why are you here?”
By her own words, this story had already ended. And that went double for her.
“ORV is already finished. Why did you return to this story?”
To complete one tale, countless universes had bloomed and withered.
Tragedies beyond number had unfolded, and the ending had been reached. The worldlines closed.
By rights, she should not even be able to come here again.
“I…”
Han Sooyoung’s eyes trembled. For the first time, the composure of the lofty, unshakable writer cracked.
“I came here because of Kim Dok—”
Crackle, crackle—sparks burst across her body.
The backlash of probability.
The reason was simple.
「That was information she was forbidden to say.」
Her face froze. Staring at the sparks flickering across her hand, she spoke in an even colder tone:
“I don’t owe you the details.”
“Wait. You can’t just brush it off like—”
“Hey.”
My blood ran cold.
“You have any idea what I went through to get here?”
The chill in her gaze made me instinctively take a step back.
“I pity you, I do. Being dragged here is unfair. You think I don’t know what it’s like to endure scenarios? I’ve lived through them too. I’ll find a way. So just stay quiet. Didn’t I say I’d take care of it?”
Just hearing her speak was overwhelming.
And she was right.
Han Sooyoung had already lived through the scenarios. She had even reached the end—twice.
No matter how much I or the readers knew about ORV, there was no way we could carry out the scenarios better than she.
「Wouldn’t it be wisest to entrust everything to Han Sooyoung?」
The weak thought rose unbidden.
When I first possessed this world, didn’t I also intend to rely on Kim Dokja or Yoo Joonghyuk if I met them?
If that reliance shifted to Han Sooyoung instead, what changed?
So even now, I could just trust her and—
Thud.
I must’ve stepped back without realizing it. Something pressed against my back.
I turned—and saw Yoo Joonghyuk standing there.
I stared blankly at his frozen expression.
And at that moment—
「Something I want to protect.」
The voice of Yoo Joonghyuk’s story reached me.
Not the Yoo Joonghyuk of ORV that I knew.
Not the Yoo Joonghyuk of Ways of Survival that Kim Dokja had read.
A different Yoo Joonghyuk.
「Do I still have something left that I want to protect?」
Just by looking at his face, I could tell.
[Character ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’ has fallen into ‘Regression Depression.’]
The very method Han Sooyoung had used to subdue him.
She had employed the technique Kim Dokja used in the 1,863rd regression.
“This ‘taking care of it’ you spoke of… was this what you meant?”
Something surged up inside me before I realized it.
Did I even have the right to say this? And yet, I couldn’t stop.
“This Yoo Joonghyuk has done nothing wrong.”
“I told you not to concern yourself.”
I wanted to trust Han Sooyoung.
But her actions now were incomprehensible.
Why hadn’t she killed the Simulation?
[Your exclusive attribute is activating!]
Why had she instead subdued Yoo Joonghyuk here?
I looked at the Simulation she was controlling, and at Yoo Joonghyuk connected through it.
「Kim Namwoon, with such effort you will never catch up to me.」
Yoo Joonghyuk was dreaming.
「Lee Hyunsung. Sometimes you must think and decide for yourself.」
Even in dreams, he was fighting through scenarios at the cost of his life.
「Stand back, Lee Jihye. From here on, it’s mine to handle.」
Losing comrades. Failing scenarios.
Unaware that it was all an illusion, Yoo Joonghyuk struggled on.
He would likely never see the ‘end’ of the 41st regression.
And in that instant, I realized Han Sooyoung’s plan.
Right now, there were too many variables disrupting the ‘ending of the 41st regression.’
Me.
The readers.
And a Yoo Joonghyuk whose strength had diverged far beyond the main story.
What if there was a way to eliminate all of those variables at once?
“You don’t intend to clear this ‘Theater Dungeon,’ do you?”