"What the hell are you doing!?"
I never thought I'd ever miss waking up on that subway, but Han Sooyoung's ear-splitting voice clawed at my ears as I woke up in this strange new world-line.
Not a new world-line, the ache in my gut tells me. Home.
But I buried the thoughts deep down in me, because the idea of it was absurd. I had already mourned the epilogue of my original worldline, accepted it was not a chapter meant for me to read, and moved on.
And just like all the things that I couldn't imagine, they couldn't become reality.
There's a tense silence from the other individual as expletives are hurled, but the moment Han Sooyoung's anger subsides just a little, Yoo Junghyuk interrupts, arms crossed:
"You can feel his status. At minimum he's a constellation. That much should've been nothing."
"Nothing!? He's OUT COLD."
"…"
"His body might've gone become an adult again, but what if Kim Dokja is still mentally a child?"
It's been a long time since anyone has said my name out loud.
"Then it's nothing new."
"…Hah. For once I agree with you."
…These bastards.
The 4th Wall is going to scold me for this but I don't care anymore. Illusion, dream, or whatever this was—with how little I'm conscious these days, this might be the last chance I get to do something like this as 'me'.
[Constellation, "Demon King of Salvation" disapproves of being rude towards 'Kim Dokja'.]
They whipped around to yell at my direction.
"Kim Dokja!"
Hearing them exclaim my name in unison causes me to flinch, and I belatedly realized no one's been able to make eye-contact with me for… well, since forever ago. But is this really alright? The gaze of 'Yoo Junghyuk's sponsor' was heavy enough to be felt across worldlines and beyond the Last Wall. Would just looking at them as I am now affect them?
I suppressed my status even further and asked:
[Constellation, 'Demon King of Salvation' is wondering if you are speaking to him]
"Look at what you've done," Han Sooyoung said, exasperated. She gestured helplessly at me. "You knocked out the only braincell that he had."
Yoo Junghyook ignored her.
"Who else would we be speaking to?"
I looked behind me just to check if they really weren't just speaking through me and hesitated on a response. Normally when I'm viewing a worldline, they can't hear my voice, so I prepared myself to send another indirect message.
"…You don't have to use indirect messages. You said this guy's name out loud before he knocked you out cold. We can hear you and see you just fine."
That's new.
I tried to accept this as reality, but I just couldn't. The 4th Wall should be thickening in times like these, but it's strangely silent here.
I open my mouth to ask why or how, but snapped it back shut as I realized I wasn't even sure what I wanted to ask.
[Personal attribute 'Scenario Interpreter' is activating!]
Just like everything in this universe, I read them, hoping for some clarification.
[Exclusive skill, 'Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Lv. ?', is activating!]
[You are the 'Most Ancient Dream'.]
[You can utilize 100 percent of your skill's abilities regardless of your understanding on the target!]
The familiar messages appearing told me that this wasn't some hallucination, and I glanced towards Han Sooyoung for some clues about the situation.
[This target is not a 'Character'.]
Ah, right.
Han Sooyoung frowned disapprovingly, as if she could see the blue holographic pop ups facing my direction.
"I'm not a character so quit trying to read me, dumb squid."
Hearing her accurately guess my thoughts twice made me feel like I was the one being read. Out of habit, I turned my attention to the protagonist only to be stunned by the following message:
[This target is not a 'Character'.]
…What?
I could feel the beat of a heart quickening in my chest. Not just a heart. My heart. Thumping louder and more rhythmically than any sound of a subway track ever could and my vision nearly shifted to black as I looked up at Yoo Jonghyuk and read it again:
This target is not a 'Character'.
"As I thought, hitting him once wasn't enough," Yoo Jonghyuk decided, cracking his knuckles. "Perhaps I should start with one punch for every regression—"
"…It's you."
The sound of my voice surprised everyone.
The only Jonghyuk he's ever met that wasn't a constellation, or a 'Character'. The one who broke free from the story, the one I bled for and the one who bled for me.
"It's really you. Yoo Jonghyuk."
Not the 0th regression or the hundreds of regressions afterwards. My Yoo Junghyuk.
[Fable 'Life and Death Companions' has begun its storytelling once more.]
The Yoo Junghyuk I fought with and the one who held such a high stake in many of my stories.
The one who received my Stigma.
Suddenly my throat felt dry.
"...I'm sorry," I choked out.
They were his wish, but it was still my hands that brought upon hundreds of lifetimes of misfortune.
I felt weak. My vision was fading to black at its edges as reality held me by the shoulders and shouted my name.
The 4th Wall—where was The 4th Wall?
"I'm—I'm sorry. I'm sorry," I repeated, apologies stumbling out between breaths.
"Hey, remember to breathe—" someone says, but I could barely register who said it.
There's a firm grip on my shoulders and a dark blur in front of me.
"Get a hold of yourself."
The voice is commanding. Familiar.
"Kim Do—"
"This damn fan boy..." Han Sooyoung grumbled, tapping her foot. "He starts crying over you but not me, the one who literally wrote the novel that saved his ass!?"
Yoo Junghyuk held Kim Dokja's listless figure, all but collapsed on his chest. He set him down back to the bed, but not before examining his condition.
He's breathing deeply at least, expression twisted as if troubled.
Maybe it's the shock of waking up in an incarnation body, but something about Kim Dokja seemed more… raw. The unabashed surprise at seeing them all in the doorway, the crinkle of his eyes as he recognized our faces, and crying until he lost consciousness.
It was a stark difference to the eerily calm man he first met that transitioned far too easily from commuting to a mundane office job to stepping over corpses and expertly clearing scenarios.
"That's twice he's passed out now in the past half hour and both times was because of you. At least the others already went to grab Seolwha when you punched him in the gut."
Han Sooyoung let out a long sigh of frustration.
"That's it," she decided. "Out. You're too problematic."
"No."
"You're not helping here."
"Oh?" Yoo Junghyuk spared her a glance with bemused wrath. "And what have you contributed?"
"More than you, you violent bastard."
Yoo Jonghyuk was ready to show her the true meaning of violent when the door burst open.
Seolwha walked in radiating a sinister aura that instantly stopped their bickering.
"Both of you," Seolwha addressed them with a smile. There was nothing even remotely pleased about her expression. "Get out."