[the constellation 'maritime war god' believes that the incarnations will succeed.]
Well, they weren't truly in that much danger—by Kim Dokja's own admission—so he wasn't overly worried, but it was nice to know that the constellation cared so much.
Still, this was necessary for Shin Yoosung's growth as an incarnation. If this situation was able to provoke just enough desperation in her that she pushed past her unconscious mental barriers, then it would be worth it.
Dokja quickly draws his sword as he activates
"Ahjussi!" Yoosung screams out, horror apparent on her face from where she clings to Sangah. Dokja doesn't respond, and he instead continues to fight what seems like a losing battle as his narration kicks in.
Become more rash, and increasingly… more desperate.
"Your acting is a bit better than I expected, to be honest," Jung Heewon said in an amused tone, shooting Kim Dokja a grin.
What, did she expect his acting to be absolutely abysmal or something? He wasn't that bad, was he? After all, he had done a good job pretending to be the protagonist earlier, right?
"You are being very dramatic, Dokja-ssi!" Lee Hyunsung exclaimed, and he very much looked like an excited dog. As always, he was extremely eager to support Jung Heewon's opinion, and Kim Dokja thought that was kind of cute. He was a bit pathetic, but who knows—maybe Jung Heewon liked pathetic men.
[constellations who like the theatre believe that there is room for improvement.]
Well sorry, he wasn't exactly trained in acting or anything. Plus, he was genuinely fighting off the monsters, even if he was pretending to struggle more than he was in reality. This was only working because the future Shin Yoosung had never actually seen him fight anything before, and therefore had no idea how he was doing in comparison to other fights.
Lee Jihye snickered a bit, but she looked away innocently as soon as Kim Dokja looked over at her. Just what was going through that girl's head? Ah, she was probably making fun of him, wasn't she? Well… whatever made her happy, Kim Dokja supposed. It was none of his business, really.
"I can do it," Shin Yoosung told herself. "I can tame the monsters."
[the constellation 'demon-like judge of fire' is cheering on the incarnation 'shin yoosung'.]
Yoosung's pupils tremble as she gets lost in her memories. Images of Dokja's smile and head pats meld together until Yoosung's hands reach out in her imagination. Before her isn't Dokja, but instead there's her small puppy. Tears pool down her face as she grits her teeth in determination.
「NO…!」
A burst of light comes from the girl's body as Dokja looks up at her from where he's fighting the beasts. Yoosung's eyes are blank and glowing as a large golden hand reaches over the ichthyosaurs and draws their attention. As the screen goes white, Yoosung's voice begins to narrate.
I'm sorry. Next time, I'll definitely protect you.
In the blank space of her cleared mind, Yoosung picks up the puppy in her arms, allowing it to lick away her tears. She hugs it close as its tail wags rapidly.
'So that's the ruler of all monsters, the Beast Lord,' Dokja thinks as he looks upon the girl in awe. Despite her bleeding nose, Yoosung looks confident and determined as she finally succeeds in taming her target.
"You did it!" Yoo Mia exclaimed, scrambling over to grab Shin Yoosung's hand excitedly. "That's awesome!"
Whoa, that was really OOC of her, but Kim Dokja couldn't bring himself to care—not when Shin Yoosung looked so happy because of the praise, or when Yoo Mia was genuinely being social. They were finally getting to be kids, and Kim Dokja wouldn't interfere in that. Instead, he just looked down at them with pride, gently nudging Lee Gilyoung so he would join in as well.
The kid just stayed where he was, pouting and mumbling that he was supposed to teach her how to use the skill, and Kim Dokja had to hold back a laugh. For all that he pretended that he didn't care, and despite all their petty arguments, Lee Gilyoung genuinely wanted to earn her respect. Kim Dokja patted his head while trying to hold back a chuckle.
Another chance would come soon enough, at least.
"It's actually working," Han Sooyoung muttered, eyes wide, "shit, I didn't actually think it would."
"I'm not going to do something reckless like that if I don't think the risk is worth the reward, you know," Kim Dokja told her, unamused. "I wouldn't risk Yoosungie's life like that."
Still, it was amazing to see her really start coming into her own, and finally reach the starting line of her power. Right in front of him, Kim Dokja was witnessing the birth of the Beast Lord, and it was a scene far more impressive than anything he ever could have imagined.
[many constellations are applauding the incarnation 'shin yoosung'.]
"Why does your [Taming] get to look like that?" Lee Gilyoung wondered, grumbling slightly. "That's so not fair…"
"Because I'm awesome, that's why," Shin Yoosung boasted, grinning widely.
She quieted down when the dog appeared on the screen, but she stayed strong despite the way her lips trembled. It was a tragedy for sure, but it wasn't one that would chain her to the past anymore.
[the constellation 'queen of the darkest spring' is watching the incarnation 'shin yoosung' fondly.]
Out of the corner of his eye, Kim Dokja even caught Yoo Joonghyuk looking at the girl with something like approval in his gaze, and that pleased him far more than he expected. Shin Yoosung would live a good life in this round if he had anything to say about it, and he had no doubt that the protagonist would help to some degree. Though he wouldn't admit it, he had always had a bit of a weak spot for Shin Yoosung, especially in rounds when he had lost Yoo Mia early. Still, with any luck, all of the kids would be able to survive and live as long as possible.
The water parts as a large ichthyosaur swims through the raging current, carrying the group of three on its head. Sangah, still surprised, says that this is amazing. Dokja looks towards Yoosung, astounded and surprised by her talent. In front of them, the girl mutters unrecognizable words to the beast with her eyes closed.
We're currently on the back of an ichthyosaur tamed by Yoosungie, crossing the Han River.
A quick flashback shows that the ichthyosaur erupted in the middle of the others from a large whirlpool. Looking at it, Dokja gets a notification that it's the Grade 5 Sea Monster, Queen Mirabad. Panicked that something has gone wrong since this beast is even more massive than the Sea Commander he killed in the first scenario, he quickly calls out for Yoosung to stop, but upon looking at her calmly walking along the finger of the hand to rest her palm against the calm ichthyosaur's snout, he realizes that she's succeeded.
"Hoooly shit," Han Sooyoung said in surprise. "You're riding the damn thing!?"
Okay, wow, that surpassed expectations. Kim Dokja had thought that her [Taming] would be enough to hold the beasts off for long enough to allow them to get across the river, not this.
Lee Jihye turned around excitedly, looking at Shin Yoosung with an expectant gaze. "Hey, we should all do this together later! Imagine going everywhere while riding a monster—we'd be the coolest incarnations in all of Seoul!"
[the constellation 'abyssal black flame dragon' is very excited by that idea.]
[the constellation 'secretive plotter' is amused by the idea of the incarnation 'lee jihye'.]
"That's amazing, Yoosung-ah!" Yoo Sangah praised, smiling at the younger girl with a beautiful and gentle look on her face.
Shin Yoosung practically beamed in response. "Thank you unnie!"
[the constellation 'prisoner of the golden headband' is shocked by the identity of the monster.]
Wait, Shin Yoosung had tamed Queen Mirabad!? That creature was absolutely massive!
Jung Heewon's eyes went wide as they watched the flashback play. "Goddamn, thank goodness the skill worked. That's really impressive."
It really was. He had truly picked a very talented incarnation, hadn't he?
The scene changes to an overhead view of the trio and the beast going down the river, followed by several other ichthyosaurs, revealing that Queen Mirabad is at least triple the size of the others. Sangah then asks if their Yoosung getting stronger means that the future Yoosung would be even more difficult to beat, but Dokja says that they don't have to worry about that.
I told Yoo Sangah that the disaster is Yoosungie's future self, but the original novel says that the disaster's identity is… a Shin Yoosung who came from 'a different regression's future'.
As Sangah becomes confused as to how killing her would stop the disaster since they're from different timelines, Dokja brings up the 'Disconnected Film Theory', something created by tls123 specifically for TWSA to help explain how that world worked.
"Assume that Yoosungie's entire life in our world is like a roll of film. If Yoosungie from this world is 'Film Roll 1', there would have to be countless such film rolls from all other worldlines."
A movie reel spins, and as it does, every slide shows a different scene of Yoosung's life and past.
After Sangah states that there must be as many film rolls as there are worldlines, Dokja then asks what would happen if you cut off a strip and attached it to the end of the first film roll. When Sangah gets confused, Dokja rephrases it and asks her what would happen if you spliced a later part of film roll 41 to the end of film roll 1 and then played it. Of course, the contents of the film would suddenly change part of the way through.
"Oh goodness, that one is… much bigger than the others," Lee Seolhwa observed in shock.
Seeing it from this angle… yeah. It was astounding that such a young girl had managed to get this beast under her control.
[several constellations praise the incarnation 'shin yoosung'.]
When Kim Dokja began explaining things to Yoo Sangah, however, Lee Hyunsung just began to look confused. "A different regression's future? How does that work?"
Ah, so they were talking about this now… well, the entire situation was extremely convoluted and relied entirely on a paradox. After all, the existence of the future Shin Yoosung in the second and third rounds (among others) proved the existence of the future round where she came from, and guaranteed that it would eventually come to pass. Honestly, Kim Dokja had occasionally wondered if the 41st turn Yoo Joonghyuk had decided from the beginning that the round had to end that way for her—sent back in time to become a disaster. After all, the 41st round was actually somewhat glossed over in TWSA for some reason.
There was also another theory that he had toyed with once, but wasn't certain if it was true: what if there was a separate timeline with the first 41 regressions where Yoo Joonghyuk had never encountered the Disaster of Floods? By sending back Shin Yoosung to help his past self, had the 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk created a split in the timeline of the 2nd round? If the story of TWSA followed this split timeline, then what had happened to that original Yoo Joonghyuk?
Kim Dokja laughed slightly as he shook off his thoughts. "Let's just call it a bit of dimension and time travel to make it simple."
Lee Hyunsung still looked a bit bewildered, but Kim Dokja couldn't blame him. There wasn't exactly a good way to simplify all of this, unfortunately.
"Wait, ahjussi, is that why you said that she is me, but I'm not her?" Shin Yoosung asked curiously, and Kim Dokja could only nod.
[many constellations are intrigued by the 'disconnected film theory'.]
As they watched the explanation, several of the group members nodded along with Kim Dokja's words. Of course, Yoo Sangah and Lee Seolhwa were among them, and considering his impassivity, Kim Dokja figured that Yoo Joonghyuk already knew about it. Still, something about that felt off, for some reason, but he shook it off. It was more important to pay attention to the screen and Shin Yoosung's emotional state right now. Whatever was slipping his mind would come back to him sooner or later.
Lee Jihye, on the other hand, looked completely lost. Honestly, if she thought any harder about it, Kim Dokja thought that he might see smoke coming out of her ears as her brain combusted.
[the constellation 'abyssal black flame dragon' complains that he doesn't understand.]
Well, that certainly wasn't Kim Dokja's problem.
With this example, Sangah understands that the films technically can't affect each other as Dokja explains that 1 is their current Yoosung and 41 is the disaster. She then tries to break down how the current Yoosung could have an effect on a separate entity. Dokja then asks what would happen if they set the tape on fire, and Sangah realizes that they would both end up burning thanks to being connected.
The end of film reel 1 begins burning as Dokja's narration kicks back in. At the end of the reel, there's an obviously spliced portion displaying the back of a grown woman adorned in furs. Beneath the reel, the two stand back to back, showing just how small their Yoosung is in comparison.
A forcibly forged connection between two worldlines will cause the future self of Shin Yoosung to die when the present Shin Yoosung does. However, changes to the Shin Yoosung in the present will not cause any change to the future Shin Yoosung from a different world. This cryptic paradox is the core of the upcoming disaster.
"Wait, so… they're only connected now that the future self is in this world?" Jung Heewon asked, frowning as she tried to grasp the concept. "But if she died before the disaster arrived, then it wouldn't have any effect, right?"
That was exactly the case. "That's right."
Yoo Joonghyuk had learned that one the hard way. In one regression—it had been somewhere in the five hundreds, if Kim Dokja recalled correctly—he had planned to use the Disconnected Film Theory to defeat the Disaster of Floods early after a particularly close call in the previous round. Unfortunately, Shin Yoosung had already died in an earlier scenario, and Yoo Joonghyuk had only learned of that fact when he stumbled across her body in the middle of the fourth scenario.
[some constellations are surprised by how much the incarnation 'shin yoosung' will grow.]
"It's so confusing…" Lee Gilyoung whined. "Hyung, why did the author write something so weird?"
Probably just to explain away some of the confusing plot. That's usually how it ended up happening in most webnovels, anyway.
"It's definitely convoluted," Han Sooyoung muttered with a sigh, looking as though she was about to jump into a rant about all the ways she would have written something better. With a roll of his eyes, Kim Dokja cut in.
"Even if it doesn't make too much sense, just know that it means that our Yoosung-ah can get as strong as she can and the disaster won't get any stronger."
Shin Yoosung looked up at him with determination blazing in her brown eyes. "I'm gonna get so strong that you don't have to do anything, ahjussi!"
Ah... that was unnecessary, really. Still, he couldn't help but ruffle her hair anyway.
Sangah smiles at Dokja and calls him knowledgeable, mentioning that she's never heard of this theory before. Dokja just laughs awkwardly in response. Mentally, Dokja explains that the theory was made up by TWSA's author. Seeing that they've reached their destination, Dokja deflects from the conversation to point out that fact.
Once on dry land, Dokja notices Yoosung sighing in relief after waving goodbye to Queen Mirabad. He pats her head and tells her that she did well. As Sangah joins in on praising her, Dokja realizes that Yoosung's still young enough for compliments to go a long way in boosting her confidence.
Suddenly, there's a rustling sound and Dokja immediately prepares to defend them as the relative quiet is interrupted by a loud screeching noise. Upon looking over, Dokja notices a large mantis coming down the street. As he prepares to attack, someone calls his name and he freezes with wide eyes. Right in front of them, two boys peek out from atop the mantis' head, and Dokja realizes that they're Gilyoung—who looks awestruck—and Donghoon—who looks significantly less tired than the last time they saw each other.
"I'll give that author one thing, they're creative," Han Sooyoung admitted begrudgingly. "Their story still sucked ass, though."
Kim Dokja had felt positively about her for a moment, but seriously? Did she have to follow up the compliment with slander? Still, he didn't have the time or energy to fight with her right now.
"That was good," Yoo Joonghyuk said, glancing down at Shin Yoosung. The girl stared back at the protagonist, looking conflicted—caught between being thrilled at being given praise and exaggerating her disgust at the fact that it had come from Yoo Joonghyuk. The resulting expression on her face was pretty funny, and it took as much willpower as Kim Dokja possessed to keep himself from laughing. Still, he was able to gently ruffle Shin Yoosung's hair.
"Joonghyuk-ah is right, you know," he told her with a grin. "You did well, Yoosung-ah."
The girl beamed at him in response, looking the happiest she had ever been. That happiness did turn to smugness somewhat when she turned and stuck her tongue out at Lee Gilyoung, though, and Kim Dokja wanted to sigh and shake his head. Why were the kids bickering so much...
[the constellation 'prisoner of the golden headband' agrees that having one's efforts praised feels great.]
That was a rather complicated way of saying that he loved having his ego stroked, but whatever.
The strange noise set everyone on guard, even though they weren't quite as paranoid as Han Sooyoung had been during the night a few segments ago. It wasn't a noise that Kim Dokja recognized immediately, so could they be in danger—
As soon as something screeched, Lee Gilyoung's eyes lit up. "Hyung! That's Titano! I just know it!"
It was??? How could the kid identify the massive bug from that one noise alone?
[a constellation who likes grasshoppers is pleased to see an insect.]
Wait, could that be…?
Lee Gilyoung laughed in a carefree manner, excitedly launching himself at Kim Dokja. He caught the kid in a sudden hug that made him let out an oof from the impact, and Kim Dokja patted his head as he relaxed slightly, realizing that Lee Gilyoung's future self was safe.
And Han Donghoon too, apparently.
"I found you first, hyung!" Lee Gilyoung said, his voice half muffled by the robe. "We're back together now!"
Kim Dokja smiled gently down at the boy. "You did find us; good job."
When he shuddered in response to the praise, Kim Dokja tried not to pay attention to it, or to the soft crying coming from where Lee Gilyoung's face was buried in his clothes. Though it was hard to admit, he felt a lot of relief to know that the kid was safe, too.
[the constellation 'secretive plotter' is pleased by the current events.]
Yeah… this was nice. Kim Dokja tugged Shin Yoosung into a hug too—one that she was all too eager to accept—and he held the kids he was slowly beginning to see as his own close. He didn't know how to be a guardian, let alone a proper parent. He had never had any good role models in that regard, after all, but at the very least Kim Dokja had a very clear example of what to never do.
Though he didn't turn around, he could tell that Yoo Joonghyuk was looking at him pretty intently for some reason. Maybe he was seeing this and remembering the family he had lost in the second round, considering the fact that even though it had happened in a different lifetime, it had been less than a year since that tragedy for him.
Still, that didn't feel quite right. Kim Dokja couldn't quite place it, but something about the gaze didn't give him the impression that the protagonist was watching this with grief plaguing his heart. Even though he didn't know exactly which emotions were likely dancing in Yoo Joonghyuk's obsidian eyes, Kim Dokja just hoped that this sight wasn't one that brought him any pain.
Despite that, he couldn't bring himself to turn around. After all, Kim Dokja wouldn't know what to do if he was wrong.