[many constellations are worried.]
Yoo Joonghyuk clenched his jaw, but he stared ahead resolutely. There was nothing that could be done, no matter how much Kim Dokja wanted it to be different. All they could do was keep watching and hope that everything turned out alright.
'This bastard! Just as I expected, he decided to make the disaster hatch early! No wonder he's in love with Lee Seolhwa…' Dokja thinks before addressing Joonghyuk angrily, actually shouting at the protagonist.
"We can do without the Guide, but what on Earth were you going to do once the disaster woke up early? Have you finally lost it?"
Joonghyuk states that the disaster was a companion of his in a past life, which means that she's safe and harmless. All the while, he side-eyes Dokja like he's an idiot for thinking that she's a threat.
Harmless..? Oh, Joonghyuk-ah… of course. I'd somehow got the impression that you were doing well in this regression.
Dokja facepalms as he realizes what slipped his mind—the fact that Joonghyuk will take a hundred steps towards death before getting even one step forward. As the meteorite shakes, preparing to hatch, Dokja yells for Seolhwa to take Joonghyuk off the island. He proceeds to tell her that the scale of the Disaster of Floods is far beyond those from before, and that everyone needs to join forces to fight it.
Oh shit. Kim Dokja winced, grimacing at his own thoughts. Fuck, why did he have to think that?
Lee Seolhwa shifted uncomfortably, looking away, and Yoo Joonghyuk was pointedly keeping his gaze fixed on the screen. God, this was awkward.
"I'm sorry, Seolhwa-ssi…" Kim Dokja muttered while being unable to meet her eyes.
"It's alright," she whispered, even though she really didn't look fine with it, "your future self doesn't know, after all."
[the constellation 'abyssal black flame dragon' thinks that the incarnation 'kim dokja' is stupid.]
For once, he'd agree. Honestly, he wanted to reach through the screen and throttle his future self for making the atmosphere in the room so tense because of his assumptions. Yoo Joonghyuk would probably be fine—he was fairly unflappable when it came to stuff like this, after all—but Lee Seolhwa looked almost miserable at the reminder.
Still, he couldn't do much more other than hope that something else would happen to take the attention off of his fuck up.
[the constellation 'prisoner of the golden headband' is amused by the current events.]
Kim Dokja gritted his teeth and looked anxiously at the screen. Of course the protagonist assumed that the disaster was friendly, considering that she had been in his last life. That assumption would be his downfall, and the fact that he wasn't listening was both incredibly frustrating and understandable. This was something that he believed to be a constant despite the difference in lifetime, and unfortunately he was wrong. The 2nd round was an anomaly, and the Disaster of Floods would be an enemy from then on. Though Yoo Joonghyuk didn't look pleased by Kim Dokja's internal insults, he wasn't contradicting any of them, either.
"Shit, it's hatching," Jung Heewon swore as the meteorite began to shake. This was beyond bad, and Kim Dokja genuinely had no idea if he could fix it now.
Before he can finish his thought, Joonghyuk appears behind him and uses acupuncture to stun him. Joonghyuk reminds him not to get in his way unless he wants to die as Dokja falls to his knees, paralyzed. Desperately, Dokja yells that the disaster they're awakening isn't the one that Joonghyuk knows. Unfortunately, before he can finish, his voice cracks into a series of coughs as Joonghyuk watches impassively, completely unconvinced by his plea.
The intermediate dokkaebi appears once more, calling them impatient incarnations since they're awakening a disaster that all other planets have tried to avoid. With a snap of his fingers, the meteorite finally opens with a flash of light like a morbidly blooming rose of death. All across the city, incarnations get a window announcing the arrival of the 'Disaster of Floods', to their shock and horror. In particular, Yoosung looks distraught as she stares at the scenario window from her hiding spot with Sangah.
Back in front of the meteorite, a woman wrapped in feathers falls forward, out of the pistil of the meteorite. As she lands on the ground, others rush into the clearing, since Jihye and Hyunsung alone can't cover the entire island.
The disaster pushes herself to her knees, and her hands look more beastly than human, covered in claws and fur. When she opens her eyes, white fur grows all over her body to cover herself. On her back rests a large fuzzy cape, but unlike the rest of her garb, her pants still appear to be quite normal. Oddly, they also look like they have been placed there after the fact—just like Ilsang's loincloth—as the fur covering her legs can be noticed when she moves.
"Ahjussi!" Shin Yoosung cried out, looking incredibly anxious. At the same time, Lee Gilyoung sent a vicious look at the protagonist, and Kim Dokja quickly grabbed onto him. Worst case, this would prevent the kid from lunging at Yoo Joonghyuk.
"You sooty bastard!" Lee Gilyoung yelled. "If anything happens to hyung, then I'm gonna…"
Thankfully, he was cut off by a message.
[the constellation 'demon-like judge of fire' is pleading for the incarnation 'yoo joonghyuk' to treat his companion better.]
Shit, had his voice been affected too? This wasn't good at all. Yoo Joonghyuk's jaw was clenched to what must be an almost painful degree, and he looked as though he wanted to set the screen on fire through the force of his glaring alone. While it wasn't an unusual sight to see him that angry, it was the fact that he was seemingly angry at himself that gave Kim Dokja pause.
"Wait a minute," Han Sooyoung muttered as she narrowed her eyes, "why aren't you just using Midday Tryst?"
Kim Dokja paused for a moment, looking bewildered. That was an excellent question, actually, since the duration of the item shouldn't have expired yet. Why the hell wasn't he using it?
[the constellation 'abyssal black flame dragon' is laughing at the stupidity of the incarnation 'kim dokja'.]
Oh shut up. Maybe it didn't occur to him that he should use it because he was panicking, or he just didn't think that Yoo Joonghyuk would pay attention to it. Honestly, it would not surprise him if the protagonist straight up ignored the message.
Still, Kim Dokja couldn't wonder about that for long since the meteorite cracked open and he flinched. If he couldn't do something soon, then Yoo Joonghyuk would…
No, he couldn't believe that would happen. Yoo Joonghyuk had to live, no matter what.
"Yoosung-ah, are you alright?" Yoo Sangah asked quietly, looking at the girl's nervous expression. Shin Yoosung didn't answer for a while, but she eventually nodded once.
"I'll be okay, unnie."
[the constellation 'queen of the darkest spring' is wishing to comfort the incarnation 'shin yoosung'.]
She was being as strong as she could, and Kim Dokja had to respect that. At least Lee Gilyoung had grabbed her hand again, so at least she had some immediate support.
[several constellations are in awe at the appearance of the 'disaster of floods'.]
She truly looked fearsome, and Kim Dokja had to restrain a laugh at the clearly edited-on pants. He recalled that in the novel, it had just been the fur covering her modesty, so he was glad that whoever was running this scenario decided to help out a bit more. Poor Shin Yoosung was having enough trouble as it was.
As she looks up, Joonghyuk steps forward and tells her that he's been waiting for her.
"Captain..?... I see," she says, looking at him with wide, manic eyes—a far cry from the serene look they had previously. "The fact that you were waiting for me… means this isn't the first time we've met, right?"
Yoo Joonghyuk was only able to reach the 46th scenario in his second regression because the 'Disaster of Floods' gave him valuable information.
Dokja watches on, a dark and terrified look on his face, as Joonghyuk tells her that he needs her help. When she asks what regression round he's in right now, Joonghyuk just wonders why she needs to know that. While she insists on knowing, Dokja tries to move forward and ends up collapsing on his front on the ground as he desperately thinks, as though he could project his thoughts into Joonghyuk's head.
'No, Joonghyuk! Don't say another word! Yoosung was cooperative in the second round… but she's different this time!'
[the constellation 'secretive plotter' is sighing and shaking his head.]
"Goddammit," Han Sooyoung muttered anxiously, biting on her nail. "This isn't going to be good."
It wouldn't be, but that sunfish of a protagonist really had no idea just how bad it was going to get. Acknowledging that this wasn't the 2nd round was the first mistake, and he had no idea how many would be made by the end of this. Everything was already going downhill and spiralling out of Kim Dokja's control, and that was making him anxious.
[the constellation 'maritime war god' is watching anxiously.]
"The 46th scenario? You mentioned it before, but what kind of scenario is that?" Lee Hyunsung asked curiously, glancing over at Yoo Joonghyuk. Fuck, that wasn't a great question to ask either. "It must be difficult since Dokja-ssi used it to try and convince you back on the bridge, too."
The protagonist's breath hitched, alarming Yoo Mia, and he clenched his chiseled jaw even further. "It is a scenario that can easily ruin everything."
He said nothing more, and Kim Dokja knew why. It was the 46th scenario that allowed Anna Croft to control him after betraying his trust, and he had spent the rest of that round trapped under her thumb. To say that he had bad memories of it would be a gross understatement.
Still, for Kim Dokja, watching himself struggle to try and pull himself forward, even to the point of attempting to crawl, was horrific in a different way. Kim Dokja hadn't felt so out of control before in the apocalypse, and now it looked like everything was falling to pieces in front of his eyes. All his plans would be for nothing if the protagonist regressed, and he might take the world itself with him.
The sheer desperation in his thoughts struck something inside his heart, and Kim Dokja had to bite his tongue before he could say anything stupid. Despite that, he couldn't help but mentally plead with Yoo Joonghyuk.
Please… please just listen…
[several constellations pity the incarnation 'kim dokja'.]
When Joonghyuk tells her that it's the third regression, she flinches and her baggy eyes narrow. She stands, announcing that she was right. She laments that he still failed despite her giving him information in the previous round.
The Shin Yoosung of the second regression told Yoo Joonghyuk everything she knew and ended her own life.
Joonghyuk insensitively states that that's the reason why he needs more information.
It was her last act of selflessness for the Yoo Joonghyuk she used to know.
"It took thousands of years," she grits out, her face taking on a terrifyingly haunted expression—one that almost looks like it was shot through a fish-eye lens—that startles Joonghyuk.
[many constellations are wringing their hands anxiously.]
Kim Dokja had to close his eyes and grimace. That was it; the protagonist had sealed his fate. Now, the disaster would give everything she had to kill him for his failure. This conflict and festering hatred had been something that had always intrigued him in the novel—Shin Yoosung's justified anger for being sent into endless suffering, and Yoo Joonghyuk's chance at success being incredibly slim even with the information gained from the disaster.
Even a single misstep would mean death, and in this world, it was all too easy to do that. The Yoo Joonghyuk of the 2nd round had died through no fault of his own—save for trusting Anna Croft in the first place. This was something that hadn't been anticipated, and something that the disaster couldn't have warned him against.
Kim Dokja remembered reading this fight in the 3rd round, and despairing at the collective tragedy that spanned its pages.
"Thousands of years…" Shin Yoosung muttered weakly, looking blankly at the screen. It was an unfathomable amount of time, especially for one so young. All Kim Dokja could do was gently stroke her hair in an attempt to comfort her, and she leaned into the touch.
She is an arrangement prepared by Yoo Joonghyuk from the 41st regression to help his past self. For the sake of fulfilling his plans, she drifted alone in the Labyrinth of Worlds for thousands of years before being found and turned into a disaster for the scenarios of Earth in the past.
A young Yoosung wearing a white dress appears in a labyrinth of wobbly stairs and doors in all directions, akin to an Escher painting on drugs. The young girl slowly transforms from a naive girl to a tired teenager. As this image is shown, the disaster asks Joonghyuk if he knows what she went through and how long she had to endure that excruciating loneliness.
The first two hundred years were endured by dedicating her life to humanity, two hundred more years were endured with the promise to save the world, and the millenia that followed were endured with memories of her captain and companions…
As the TWSA narration kicks in, the girl in the labyrinth goes from impassively looking around to clutching her head and her body in despair. The passage of time is shown only through the growing length of her hair. Eventually, she attempts to reach out the backs of those that she knew, only for them to disappear before her eyes, shattering her mentality entirely.
What meaning did any of this have in the end?
Joonghyuk, clearly not understanding her struggle, asks for her to quickly relay the information that was supposed to come from the 41st regression. Dokja panics behind him, already preparing for their deaths.
"Master?" Lee Jihye gasped, looking absolutely horrified. "Why would you…"
Glancing over, Yoo Joonghyuk looked equally shocked, and turned to Kim Dokja like he held all the answers. "Kim Dokja, why…?"
And so it fell to him, huh?
"The 41st regression was… brutal," Kim Dokja admitted quietly, trying to distance himself from the situation. "You—no, he—decided to go through that regression and close off his heart to everyone. There were no companions in that round, only tools."
[the constellation 'secretive plotter' is looking at the incarnation 'yoo joonghyuk'.]
"He was a real asshole, doing all that without giving a shit about anyone," Han Sooyoung griped, stretching her arms out like she was unaffected by the whole situation. "But I guess people will do anything when they're desperate."
That was the thing that Kim Dokja hadn't said. The Yoo Joonghyuk of the 41st regression may have treated them all like tools, but that didn't mean that he didn't care. He had 40 lives of memories with these people, and he knew full well how much it hurt to get attached and then lose them. It had still hurt when they died, but he had forced himself to fight through the pain and never mourn their loss. Underneath his cold and distant facade, the 41st Yoo Joonghyuk felt as much as any other.
[many constellations look at the incarnation 'shin yoosung' with pity.]
Yoo Joonghyuk paled, and he held tightly onto his sister. He had understood that she was included in that statement, and that was something unfathomable to the him of the 3rd regression.
"Oppa…" she murmured, burying her face into his coat. "You can't ever do that, okay? If we get to the end of the scenarios with Dokja-ahjussi's help, then… then you won't have to end up in the 41st round!"
Yoo Mia had the right idea—that was what Kim Dokja was aiming for. If they could end the Star Stream itself, then Yoo Joonghyuk's regressions would stop, and he would be free from the chains that bound him to this world.
[the constellation 'demon-like judge of fire' is shifting anxiously.]
"Captain, what did we ever mean to you?" the disaster speaks, stating that he has never changed and never will, even when she gave him a chance. Dokja struggles to get off the ground—desperately pushing through the paralysis and begging for his body to move—as she continues to speak, accusing Joonghyuk of treating people like pawns and claiming that he will once again throw her into the labyrinth.
"That petty sense of righteousness, that wretched noble cause of yours…" The disaster speaks in an accusatory manner as she prepares an attack in her hand before heel-turning and speaking in a soft voice, tinged with nostalgia. "...Captain, I missed you so much. I despise you for living only for yourself."
Although smiling softly, her dead eyes meet Joonghyuk's, which—although clearly shocked—are still full of life. "Now I only have one thing to say—you can't be anyone's salvation. Your third regression ends here."
As the blast rockets towards Joonghyuk, who is too stunned to move, Dokja rushes towards the protagonist with an outstretched hand, desperately calling for him to dodge.
Yoo Joonghyuk looked away from the screen, clenching his hands into fists. Though the words being flung at him were for a different version of him—one who he hadn't yet become—they still hurt. Kim Dokja understood how that felt on a visceral level as memories of the accusations he received for years threatened to burst forth.
"That's not you, Joonghyuk-ah," Kim Dokja said quietly, only just restraining the urge to reach out to touch him. "You haven't done that."
[the constellation 'secretive plotter' agrees with the words of the incarnation 'kim dokja'.]
"Yeah," Lee Jihye insisted, frowning deeply. "Master, you wouldn't do anything like what she's saying! You're the best teacher I could ever ask for!"
He relaxed slightly at his apprentice's words, but even they could only do so much. With any luck, something would happen soon that would change the outcome of this situation. Maybe, with just a little bit more determination, then Kim Dokja would be able to interfere.
"What a shitty thing to say," Jung Heewon muttered with a frown, but she looked conflicted. It was clear that there wasn't a perfect answer to this situation, and everything was dyed in shades of grey. The fact that the disaster missed and hated him could coexist and both be true.
[constellations who like tragedies are leaning forward in their seats.]
Then, Kim Dokja froze.
She believed that Yoo Joonghyuk couldn't save anyone…?
That wasn't true. Maybe that was the case within the universe of TWSA, where he was trapped in this endless cycle of repetition, but for over a decade, Yoo Joonghyuk had been the only salvation that Kim Dokja had. It had been a story about a man's indomitable will and perseverance, and that was a trait that Kim Dokja had desperately wanted to emulate.
For every step that Yoo Joonghyuk took, Kim Dokja had been given the strength to match it. For years, he had clung to life because of it, and even when everything had felt like it was crumbling around him, this story had been there through it all. TWSA had been the only constant in his life; the only thing he could rely on. When every day barely had any meaning, the ding of an update notification was the only thing that kept him going.
Kim Dokja wanted to say something—to reassure Yoo Joonghyuk that he could succeed—but the words wouldn't come. He could never explain that for all that time, Yoo Joonghyuk had been the one thing pulling him back from an edge that was impossible to come back from.
Her eyes were on him, but thankfully, she stayed silent. Still, the gaze was far more knowing than he was comfortable with.
"Fuck!" Han Sooyoung yelled out of nowhere, and Kim Dokja zoned back in to see the disaster launch her attack. At that range… and considering how shocked Yoo Joonghyuk was…
Kim Dokja paled drastically and it felt like he was wading through a field of wool as his mind slowly connected the dots. "... He won't be able to avoid that."
"I'm nearby, so surely—" Lee Seolhwa said immediately, shooting worried glances in Yoo Joonghyuk's direction, before Kim Dokja cut her off with a shake of his head. That hadn't been the attack she had used in the novel that had almost killed him; that was a different beast entirely.
Yoo Mia sobbed with a frantic wail, squeezing her brother as tightly as she could. It was like she was afraid that he would simply vanish from between her arms, and there was nothing anyone could do to calm her. Lee Jihye was frozen in shock and fear, and the other kids weren't doing much better either.
[the constellation 'secretive plotter' is closing his eyes mournfully.]
[the constellation 'demon-like judge of fire' is frantically praying.]
[many constellations are sitting in mournful silence.]
For Kim Dokja, he could almost see the scissors hovering in front of him, poised to cut his fragile lifeline.
Unless there was a miracle, then Yoo Joonghyuk would die here.
Everything goes quiet as blood splatters across the screen. The disaster's eyes are wide and her expression looks almost devastated as her hand is frozen in the air. More blood drips down to the grass in the foreground and Joonghyuk's expression slowly comes into focus in the distance. He looks shocked, completely caught off guard by the scene in front of him. The scene zooms out to reveal that the viewers have been looking through a gaping hole encompassing much of Dokja's side and stomach.
"...Kim Dokja?" Joonghyuk whispers in a disbelieving voice as Dokja spits up blood before staggering and collapsing to the ground, his hand instinctively reaching out to grasp the protagonist's jacket. Joonghyuk's mutter of his name quickly turns to yelling, desperate and frantic. Using his arm to brace Dokja's torso, Joonghyuk kneels to hold Dokja in his arms, bending him over to allow him to safely retch out blood.
"Kim Dokja…! KIM DOKJA!"
Of course. This was how the world from the novel had always been. A world where just one mistake would immediately kill you.
Yoo Sangah shook and Jung Heewon barely managed to keep her composure as the blood splattered everywhere. Lee Hyunsung looked devastated, too. God, there was so much blood—that definitely wasn't something that even Lee Seolhwa could heal.
Kim Dokja had to close his eyes and hold onto the kids to try and keep himself from shattering right then and there. Yoo Joonghyuk was—
Suddenly, a frantic scream cut through the air, and Kim Dokja's eyes jolted open. Shin Yoosung's eyes were wide and she was harshly tugging on her hair as she wailed, shuddering from the hiccuping and sobbing that interspersed her absolute devastation.
"Yoosung-ah?" Kim Dokja asked in shock, trying to calm her, but he couldn't focus when he was suddenly spammed by indirect messages.
[the constellation 'secretive plotter' is stunned into silence.]
[the constellation 'demon-like judge of fire' is in despair.]
[the constellation 'abyssal black flame dragon' is looking away.]
[the constellation 'prisoner of the golden headband' is punching the wall in anger.]
[the constellation 'queen of the darkest spring' is clutching her hands to her chest in worry.]
Just what was going on—
Shin Yoosung shoved herself away from Kim Dokja and wrapped her arms around her torso as she gasped. "Ahjussi, ahjussi please— please stay away! You can't touch me, please ahjussi, I'm gonna… I'm gonna…"
Then, just before Kim Dokja could try to get more clarification from her, Yoo Joonghyuk spoke in a tone that Kim Dokja had never heard come from his mouth before, and he looked back up at the screen just in time to see the massive hole through his body.
Kim Dokja stared at it for a moment, eyes wide and breath catching in his throat. "Oh."
For some reason, he wasn't trembling. Maybe he was in shock. Maybe his mind was too focused on the girl who had curled up into a sobbing ball on the floor and flinched whenever he reached towards her. Maybe it was also because of Lee Gilyoung, who was unresponsive and catatonic with tears streaming down his cheeks. Maybe it was all three.
Maybe it was because this was the future—something that hadn't happened yet—so it was easier to distance himself from what was happening. It didn't feel real, like he was watching the character 'Kim Dokja' instead of himself, even though he knew that he would have done the exact same thing in that situation only to end up right there with a hole through his body.
Did it make him a bad person that the only thought in his mind was, 'Well, at least Joonghyuk-ah is alive'?
At the very least, Yoo Sangah was a functional adult who immediately pushed down her own panic to rush over to Shin Yoosung, rubbing her back and trying to get the girl to calm down.
"Fuck," Han Sooyoung whispered. "Fuck!"
Despite the panic erupting around him, the only thing that Kim Dokja knew was that he didn't want to turn around and see the expression on her face. Regardless of whether she was silent from shock, fury, or impassivity, he wasn't sure he would be able to handle it right now. Maybe it would be better if she simply didn't care because any other answer would hurt too much.
It still hurt anyway. The child locked away deep down inside was screaming and crying and desperately hoping for his mother to say something, to say anything just to prove that she still cared. Why wasn't she angry? Why wasn't she crying? Why wouldn't she just give him even the slightest proof that he was worth caring about as he stared at her through the glass and begged for answers that would never come.
No, If she really loved him, then she wouldn't have done what she did all those years ago. All he could do was cling to that truth that kept his worldview from shaking, and reinforce it with every scrap of evidence he could find.
Jung Heewon turned to Kim Dokja frantically. "Hey, your karma points—"
"I don't know," Kim Dokja admitted quietly, and for a moment, he thought he heard a wounded sound coming from Yoo Joonghyuk at that.
As he slowly watched himself die, Kim Dokja couldn't believe his eyes when the Yoo Joonghyuk on the screen seemed genuinely horrified and upset. That couldn't be right. There was no way—it was just… it was just the trauma of watching someone die in front of him. It didn't matter that the person in question was Kim Dokja, right?
"Joonghyuk-ah?" Kim Dokja whispered, turning widened eyes on the trembling protagonist. Why was he trembling? Why was he affected? What had gone so wrong?
"Shut up," Yoo Joonghyuk snapped back. "Shut up and survive."
He couldn't guarantee that, and they both knew it.
[the constellation 'demon-like judge of fire' is sobbing uncontrollably.]
With a weak voice, barely audible and with a slight wheeze, Dokja requests that Joonghyuk kill him, catching the other man completely off guard. Dokja slowly turns his head to look up at Joonghyuk, blood pouring from his mouth and eyes looking sunken, as he cites that killing him within the minute will allow Joonghyuk to earn coins from the bounty scenario that's still active. Joonghyuk's expression shatters for a moment, looking stunned and completely out of his depth, before he whispers that he can't do it.
Instead, Joonghyuk desperately tells him to hold on as he tries to stop the bleeding, completely ignoring Dokja's request. Like a broken record, Joonghyuk keeps repeating that it's not too late, despite Dokja's attempts to refute him—it's hard to tell whether he's trying to convince Dokja or himself.
Dokja lets a small smile grace his face as Joonghyuk's determined yells turn fuzzy.
Bastard, the entire lower half of my torso being blown to bits means that even Lee Seolhwa can't…
Through Dokja's slowly blinking eyes, he can see a shaky and blurry image of Seolhwa sprinting over to them as Joonghyuk turns from yelling at him to yelling for her.
… easily fix…
With a final blink, everything goes dark and quiet.
[You have died.]
Ah, so that's how he was playing it? It made sense—Yoo Joonghyuk would be able to get the bounty reward, and maybe that would be enough compensation for him. At least he could get something out of this situation.
"How could you say something so stupid, ahjussi!?" Lee Jihye yelled angrily. "Master wouldn't… he couldn't…"
But he could, though. It wouldn't even be the first time in TWSA that he had ended someone for less.
"Dokja-ssi, are you…" Lee Seolhwa trailed off, her expression grave, before she took a deep breath and continued. "Are you trying to get Joonghyuk-ssi to mercy kill you?"
[the constellation 'divine doctor guam' is closing his eyes.]
[the hands of the constellation 'secretive plotter' are trembling.]
Was he? Maybe that was a factor. If he was just dead, then enough karma points or not, his suffering would be over sooner. More practically, though, the protagonist would be able to focus on the enemy in front of him instead of wasting his time and energy on Kim Dokja.
This kind of hesitation made no sense—killing him was the practical and logical move.
Kim Dokja's heart pounded painfully in his chest as he kept his gaze firmly fixed on the screen.
…So why did Yoo Joonghyuk's expression hurt so much to look at?
"Kim Dokja," Yoo Joonghyuk spat. "Why would you ask me to do something like that!?"
Wasn't it obvious? "So you get more coins…?"
Suddenly, Han Sooyoung froze, staring at Kim Dokja with a haunted look. "Wait a minute."
Huh? What was it?
"He can't kill you," she said, sounding almost manic as she pushed back her bangs in a frantic motion, "he's still under your fucking oath."
Ah.
So that's how it was. Pieces that had been haphazardly scattered settled into place to form a picture that Kim Dokja was much more familiar with. Yoo Joonghyuk didn't want to kill him, because doing so would trigger the conditions of the oath. If he did anything here, then the protagonist would die as well.
That made more sense. It made too much sense, so it had to be the truth.
[several constellations curse the stupidity of the incarnation 'kim dokja'.]
Kim Dokja allowed a sad smile to grace his lips as he turned to Yoo Joonghyuk. "Hey, it's fine, Joonghyuk-ah. You're okay, you sunfish bastard, so just let me go."
"What part of this looks fine to you!?" Yoo Joonghyuk raged, only restrained by his sister's tight grip. His eyes shook and he looked almost frantic in his insistence. "I just have to stop the bleeding and then…"
His gaze darted over to Lee Seolhwa, who shook her head, and Yoo Joonghyuk froze entirely as the Kim Dokja on the screen breathed his last.
[some constellations toast to the death of the incarnation 'kim dokja'.]
[many constellations are furious because of the current events.]
Only a moment later, a bunch of messages announce that Dokja has enough karma points to allow him to activate his privilege. A crackle of probability shoots through the dark as a window announces a conflict error between the skills, just like what happened when he died to the dragon.
Everything turns bright as [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint] Level 3 activates, and Ghostja's eyes snap open with a determined look.
Everyone breathed out a collective sigh of relief when the karma points appeared, and even though Kim Dokja would hate to admit it, he was one of them.
He refused to think about the way he had noticed her shoulders relax drastically after that reveal, too. Why would she even care now? It was far too late to pretend she had any role in his life anymore, and she hadn't done anything to show it before.
Lee Gilyoung slumped over onto Kim Dokja's lap, shaking and grasping onto the material of Sungkook's pants. Shin Yoosung's wailing had stopped, but she was curled up in Yoo Sangah's arms and refusing to look in his direction. Still, he could hear her repeating "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" over and over.
It wasn't her fault. She may not realize that now, but Kim Dokja would ensure that she did eventually.
[many constellations are hoping that the incarnation 'kim dokja' can help turn the tide.]