Chapter 362: 362

The stone in my hand trembled like it was alive .

[You have acquired a new story!]

[The story ‘The Stone and I’ wants to continue . ]

It was a first for me . I just touched the stone and a story occurred? There were all sorts of complicated hypotheses in my head but I didn’t have an answer .

[The probability of the first generation is around you . ]

[Currently, the Fourth Wall is in a very thin state . ]

The only doubts were these two system messages . Yoo Hosung stared at me with suspicious eyes . “I see, you are a reincarnator . Is that right?”

I

t seemed he had the wrong hypothesis about me .

“Were you stoned to death in your previous life? That’s why the stone is . . . “

“No . “

“Oh, you’re a stone head . That’s why the stone―”

I picked up a branch thrown by Yoo Hosung .

[The material of the story is sensitive to you . ]

[The story ‘Kim Dokja Likes a Branch’ has begun!]

I glanced towards the dazed Yoo Hosung who had a gaping mouth . “I’m afraid that my head isn’t that bad . “

By my side, Lee Jihye glared at me . Yoo Hosung shouted with wide eyes .

“H-Hold this!”

I accepted the flower that Yoo Hosung gave me .

[The story material has an affinity for you . ]

[The story ‘Kim Dokja with a Flower’ has begun . ]

Yoo Hosung continued to give me things and I accepted all of them .

[The story material has an affinity for you . ]

[The story material has an affinity for you . ]

My surroundings were filled with singing stones and flowers . After much agonizing, Yoo Hosung made a decision .

” . . . Grab me . “

“Where do you mean?”

“Here, grab me here . “

Yoo Hosung’s eyes were blazing . I understood his anger . The ‘real stories’ that took 10, 100 or even 1000 years to build up were easily obtained by me . . . he was bound to feel like this .

“If you wish . . . please excuse me . “

I sighed and placed a hand on Yoo Hosung’s shoulder .

. . . Why was this small shoulder so hard?

Yoo Hosung said, “There is no change . Is it limited to inanimate objects? Hrmm . . . “

[The character ‘Yoo Hosung’ shows a small liking towards you . ]

The shocked Yoo Hosung withdrew from my hand . “W-What is this?”

The next second, I heard a message in my ears .

[The story ‘Person Who is Loved by All’ has been acquired!]

***

It was the other residents of the village who showed interest in me while Yoo Hosung was in shock .

“It has been a long time since I’ve seen this crazy talent . “

“Huh, this is a rare friend . . . did you come from the outside?”

“Are you interested in the cattle feed?”

I accepted the cattle feed that the woman gave me in a dazed mood .

Human Kim Dokja . This was the first time I received such attention in my almost 30 years of living . I . . . was talented?

「 (Dokja-ssi is definitely talented . You’ve been reading this novel for over ten years . ) 」

Perhaps her librarian’s work had been busy lately because Yoo Sangah sounded tired .

‘Is it related to reading the novel?’

「 (I can’t think of anything else but that . ) 」

‘This has never happened in the meantime . . . ;

Come to think of it, that wasn’t true . There were some characters who had good feelings towards me as soon as they saw me .

「 (Maybe it is because the wall is thinner?) 」

I heard Yoo Sangah’s words and thought it was possible . I didn’t know the exact reason but it was possible the failure of the Fourth Wall had closed the distance between the world and me . Then how far did this power apply?

Looking back, Lee Jihye seemed to have her own sense of pride as she muttered to herself while holding a branch in her hand . I poked her with my finger .

“Eek!” The startled Lee Jihye screamed . “Ahjussi, are you crazy? The finger that touched poop . . . !”

It didn’t work . Now, let’s see . . .

I poked the shoulder of Cheok Jungyeong sitting next to me .

“Is this a challenge?”

“That’s not it . “

. . . This didn’t work either . Then what were the principles behind it? No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out how my talent worked .

“It is really fucking talent . I can’t explain it any other way . “

The one who spoke with Yoo Hosung, who had been preoccupied with his thoughts for a long time .

Ferocious anger was seething on his face .

Yoo Hosung approached me with a child’s stride . “You might not know but I hate strange fates the most . In particular, I hate those like you who don’t try hard and easily obtain something .

One Invincible Fist Yoo Hosung was such a person . He liked people with a persistent spirit and cared for those who strove to overcome their insurmountable talent . In Yoo Hosung’s eyes, a man like me was a criminal who would destroy the first generation with talent .

“For the first time today, I am going to break my belief . “

Huh?

“I will teach you Story Control . “

***

I didn’t know why Yoo Hosung changed his mind . The only certainty was that he discovered some possibilities from me . As if to leave a lifelong disciple, Yoo Hosung troubled me day and night .

“Phenomena and truth aren’t the same . Using a story properly means understanding its language . “

“Solid ground is needed to leap into abstraction . That is the details of the stories you have built up . “

. . . Etc . There were so many ghostly words that I thought it would be better to read Ways of Survival again .

I ate a tangerine that the villagers gave me and thought hard about it .

“Stupid guy . It is a face that doesn’t understand anything . “

“I’m sorry . “

“Don’t try to understand it if you don’t know . Not everyone will learn control in the same way . “

“What are you saying?”

It was like I was struck .

“It is your problem from the beginning . You lack respect for the elderly . “

” . . . “

“You must learn how to listen first . “

“I don’t think I can listen better than this . “

“I’m telling you to listen to the words of your story!”

. . . Words of the story? Was this mentioned in Ways of Survival?

“You already have the talent to communicate with stories . It is the talent to listen to their emotions and words . “

It was true . I didn’t know when but I was able to read the stories, just like they were people .

“However, I want to control the stories, not chat . “

“The stories aren’t controllable . “

The one saying this was the person who taught the method to control stories .

“Can you control your thoughts?”

“Of course I can . . . “

“Then don’t think of anything for five minutes . “

I nodded as if it was easy . Don’t think, don’t think . . .

Damn, I was thinking ‘don’t think’ . I tried hard to escape my thoughts but it wasn’t easy .

In five minutes, many things passed through my head . For example, the probability of Yoo Jonghyuk becoming a girl and killing the demon kings or Han Sooyoung suffering from an unknown delirium declaring, “I’m sorry for plagiarizing Kim Dokja at the time” . . .

I raised both hands and surrendered . ” . . . I can’t do it . “

“You’re a fool . “

[The story ‘Demon King of Salvation’ is laughing at you . ]

“This is what you have to do from today . Listen to the words of the story . “

“But . . . “

“Don’t be afraid . No matter how big the story, they are stories that you gained . “

Turning away, Yoo Hosung looked like a teacher for the first time .

“A story can dominate us but sometimes it tells us the way . “

From that day on, I started practicing Story Control . To be precise, it was practice to hear the voices of the story more accurately .

[The giant story ‘Torch That Swallowed the Myth’ is annoyed by your interest . ]

The stories were unfamiliar to me but after a day or two, they started to gradually open up . I listened to the voices of the stories that had refrained from expressing their emotions so far .

[The story ‘King of a Kingless World’ says it was very happy at the time . ]

The stories told their tales and I heard them . The stories became the memories we accumulated .

The feeling of pleasure as the Four Yin Demonic Beheading Sword broke the Absolute Throne . Yes, I really enjoyed it . It was because this was my first story .

[The story ‘Person who Opposes the Miracle’ says the returnee was really troublesome .

That’s right, the Myung Ilsang bastard was really tricky . I fought with Yoo Jonghyuk and Han Sooyoung and still almost died .

[The story ‘One Who Hunted the King of Disasters’ misses the taste of the snake wine . ]

[The story ‘One Who Killed an Outer God’ is asking you to remember . ]

Every time I heard these words, I was immersed in my memories . On the other hand, it was hard to suppress the urgency if I delayed here for too long .

Han Sooyoung, Yoo Jonghyuk, Anna Croft . . .

Those who pursued a different ending from me might already be knocking at the door of the next scenario .

[The story ‘Demon King of Salvation’ says you shouldn’t run away anymore . ]

I focused on the story again . From a certain point, the voices of the stories grew and I found it hard to distinguish between reality and the illusion . My sense of space was fading . I couldn’t tell if I was in the story or if I was listening to the story in reality .

[The story ‘Revolutionary of the Silver Screen’ is hungry for a new revolution . ]

Yes, I’m sorry . I neglected you for too long .

[The story ‘Gourmet Association’s Heretic’ is complaining of hunger!]

[The story ‘ Miracle Gambler’ wants another big bet . ]

In between, dream-like screens passed by .

-Dokja-ssi . We almost died . Do you know?

-Ahjussi!

The voices of the party members were faintly heard from somewhere .

– . . . Oh, how cheap . You are training alone?

-We will learn quickly! Who can we learn from?

I had a thought while listening to those voices . If this was really a dream, it was a sweet dream .

– . . . Why am I not getting a story? Dokja hyung got a story from doing this .

-Get your hands off him, Lee Gilyoung .

-You stay away, Shin Yoosung .

In my dream, I heard the children muttering things like ‘Ahjussi and I’ or ‘Dokja hyung and Lee Gilyoung’ . I didn’t know how they would use such stories even if they did obtain them but . . .

[The giant story ‘Demon World’s Spring’ is looking at your story together . ]

Why? I listened to the voices of the children and felt warm . In my dim vision, countless stories were watching the scene with me .

[The story ‘Person Who is Loved by an Archangel’ likes your stories . ]

[The story ‘King of a Kingless World’ is watching the children . ]

[The story ‘Giant’s Liberator’ is looking at the party members with fond eyes . ]

All the stories resembled me and I resembled all the stories . If so, that guy alone on the other side was surely part of us .

[The giant story ‘Torch That Swallowed the Myth’ is turning away from you . ]

I spoke to it . ‘Stop being grumpy and come here . ‘

There was no answer . The one who threatened other stories with its size was turning its back to us . Its head was drooping like a child reading something .

Maybe I already knew . This was a small child immersed in its own story . Still, such stories couldn’t exist alone .

I spoke carefully to its back . ‘It looks interesting . ‘

The Torch That Swallowed the Myth looked up at me and raised its body .

「 You . . . ! 」

The story will a very large body glared at me . Strangely, I wasn’t afraid of it . This guy was a story . All stories had to flow somewhere .

‘Where do you want to go?’

It couldn’t easily answer my question and shut its mouth . It probably couldn’t answer . I knew its heart .

‘Come with me . ‘

「 . . . To where? 」

I slowly opened my mouth and spoke . I wanted all my stories to reach ■■ .

The story asked,「 What is at the end of the whole story? 」

‘I don’t know . Still, at least we won’t be alone . ‘

[The story ‘Hell of Eternity’ is looking at you . ]

After a while, I felt the stories wrapping around my fingertips . My body floating in the waves of the story gradually became heavy and I slowly opened my eyes .

I couldn’t tell how much time had passed .

My legs were numb . I looked down and saw Lee Gilyoung and Shin Yoosung leaning against them while sleeping . They weren’t stories . They were children with real bodies . I lightly stroked the hair of the children .

[The giant story ‘Torch That Swallowed the Myth’ is listening to your story . ]

Finally, I was ready to leave for the next scenario .

***

At this time, the only survivor of the 331st island was moving towards the next scenario .

[You have slaughtered all participants on the island . ]

[You are the only survivor of the 331st Island . ]

[You are qualified to enter the following scenario . ]

A black coat was flapping and the Black Demon Sword shone . Looking at the portal to the next scenario, Yoo Jonghyuk was reminded of the insidious presence he met just before coming here . The outer god in the third round whose identity was unknown .

-I can’t tell you the full contents of the revelation . It is too much of a breach of probability, even for me . However, I can give this much . This way, it will be a fair fight .

He turned on the smartphone and a text file appeared .

『 Han Sooyoung – Record of the 1963rd Round (First) 』

Yoo Jonghyuk moved towards the portal while opening the first chapter of the story he didn’t know .

TL Note: Due to personal reasons, I have quit and will no longer be translating Omniscient Reader . A new translator has already found so there should be no gaps in the chapters, but some terms and stuff might change .