Chapter 513

The subway train slowed down before coming to a stop before us, and then, opened its doors .

There was no mistaking it . This was the subway we all recognised .

Jeong Hui-Won’s lips bobbed up and down before finally breaking the silence first . “Why would a subway show up here . . . . ?”

Of course, no one here could answer that question .

The first one to make his move was Yi Gil-Yeong . Yu Sang-Ah shouted out . “Gil-Yeong-ah! You mustn’t get on that t . . . !”

The boy fearlessly stepped foot inside and climbed aboard the subway, and turned around to look at us . As if nothing was going on, he shrugged his shoulders .

Yi Ji-Hye watched that spectacle, then grabbed Shin Yu-Seung’s hand and stepped forward as well . “I don’t know anymore . Let’s just get in first and see what’s what!”

That was the beginning; other companions still hesitating entered the subway one by one . I too followed after them .

The moment I set foot on the floor of the subway that trembled ever so slightly, I was overcome with deja vu .

⸢Once upon a time, this was all of Kim Dok-Ja’s world . ⸥

No, that was wrong . This was not my world .

⸢This was everyone’s and anyone’s world . ⸥

For Yu Sang-Ah, Jeong Hui-Won, Yi Hyeon-Seong, and Yi Ji-Hye, too . . . Everyone carried their own, different expressions . Just like how I rode on this subway and lived my daily life, it should roughly be the same story with them as well .

Someone used to be an office worker, someone was a student, and someone used to be a soldier, but still . . .

“A subway, is it . . . Back then, I was really fed up of riding it, but now, I’m really happy to see it again . “

Jeong Hui-Won’s words made us carefully scan the interior of the subway itself .

All the seats were brand new, while the safety bars were wiped clean, too . Not even a hint of filth could be seen on the floor .

Of course, what proved to be even more surprising than that was . . .

” . . . . By the way, why isn’t anyone else riding in this thing?”

Not a single presence could be felt within the subway . This was a sterile, inorganic space where nothing was alive besides us . This vehicle was permeated with such a sense of abnormality .

I looked at the librarians remaining outside the subway and asked them .

“Aren’t you joining us? You wanted to witness the end of the world too, didn’t you?”

⸢(We can’t go with you . )⸥

“How come?”

Nirvana and the other librarians didn’t answer . They exchanged somewhat saddened gazes with each other, before finally making their reply .

⸢(You witnessing the end will be enough for . . . . )⸥

[The doors are closing . ]

The rest of their words couldn’t be heard; the doors shut close, and accompanied by the noises of a giant cartwheel turning, the subway began chugging forward . Its speed was neither quick nor slow . And outside the windows, we saw the view of the pitch-black darkness lazily shifting past us .

I gazed into that darkness for a long time . Just where was this train taking us?

“It’s the line number three . “

Han Su-Yeong muttered that out . I also looked up at the subway map .

The line number three . It was the line that I used to commute every day . Strangely, though, the ends of the map were broken off . Even the names of the stations were erased, as well .

… .

Meanwhile, the subway continued to chug along . Several minutes passed by since then, but it showed no signs of stopping . It seemed that this vehicle was planning to run straight to its final stop without a break .

With a ‘plop!’ noise, Han Su-Yeong settled down on the cushion next to mine . She glared at the subway map, her long eyelashes blinking constantly .

I asked her . “What’s up with that expression?”

“I don’t ride on stuff like subways . “

“Why not?”

Almost immediately, I realised what a dumb question that was . For sure, someone like her wouldn’t have a need to ride on subways, anyway . What she said next was completely out of my expectations, though .

“I mean, there’s nothing to see here . Both inside and out . “

We both stared at the broken subway map . Without a doubt, a subway train would travel the exact same line every single day . It would then stop at the predetermined time . Similar things would continue to happen within these unchanging sceneries every day .

I also hated subways . I used to stare at the smartphone during commuting for a similar reason to hers, too .

“Subways don’t operate for our amusement, though . “

” . . . . Oh, my? Now that’s not something the Constellation ‘Demon King of Salvation’ would say . “

I smiled bitterly .

We stared in the same direction next – at our companions . At the people who endured the apocalypse with me, cleared 99 scenarios together, and reached this place .

” . . . . Mm . We won’t suddenly go back to the first scenario or something like that, right?”

“No, that can’t be! Definitely not!”

“Should I ready some grasshoppers just in case?”

The companions saw Yi Gil-Yeong clenching his fist with a resolute expression, and broke out in smirks .

What did it mean to find humour from the most horrifying memory they held? With what kind of thoughts were they smiling at that story?

I spoke to Han Su-Yeong . “They need to go back to their old lives . “

“You think they’ll be happier like that?”

“All stories are supposed to end that way . “

“And since when did you start enjoying that sort of development?” Han Su-Yeong shot back with a retort . “Hey, you . You aren’t thinking up of anything weird again, right? Are you hiding something from me again?”

“I’d like to, but I’ve nothing to hide anymore . “

I was being honest . Even the original novel never reached this far . It was the same story for the ‘Secretive Plotter’ or the other individuals from the 999th turn . We were the first to ride on this subway .

I spoke up while looking at the end of the faintly-erased subway map .

“Han Su-Yeong, I think . . . . . “

“Could it be that a final boss is waiting for us there? Isn’t that how it normally is?”

Jeong Hui-Won said that . She wasn’t talking to me, however . It seemed that the companions were busy discussing something over there . Shin Yu-Seung added her opinion .

“Maybe there’s a dragon this big . “

“But, I don’t think a Modifier like the ‘Most Ancient Dream’ would get assigned to a dragon . To get a Modifier like that, it must be . . . . “

“Couldn’t it be the ‘author’?”

“The author?”

“You know, that . . . . “

When Yi Gil-Yeong saying that shifted his gaze in my direction, the other companions seemed to abruptly recall ‘it’ too, and all turned their heads towards me .

⸢⸢Three Ways to Survive a Destroyed World⸥⸥ .

They also knew about that novel now . They knew that that novel described the stories of this world, and that only I had read it to its conclusion .

” . . . . What do you think, Dok-Ja-ssi?”

Every novel out there couldn’t become ‘stories’ unless a writer wrote them down first . The suspicion my companions held some weight if this world was based off on the ‘Ways of Survival’ .

For sure, there was a good chance that the ‘Most Ancient Dream’ was the writer . I too thought that way .

However, why do I . . .

” . . . I don’t think the ‘Most Ancient Dream’ is the author of the ‘Ways of Survival’ . “

“Why do you think that?”

“I’m not sure, but I have a hunch . “

To me, the being at the end of this line didn’t seem like it’d be ‘tls123’ . I recalled what the Dokkaebi King said back then .

⸢[Rather than an author, you could say that the ‘Most Ancient Dream’ is much closer to being a reader . It’s not an existence that writes stories for someone else . It’s lazy and can be quite greedy, you see . ]⸥

I even began questioning whether an ‘author’ was necessary in our current hypothesis . Did this world really begin because of tls123?

Maybe tls123 simply alerted me to the already-existing world, instead?

Just like how the ‘Secretive Plotter’ or the other individuals from the 999th turn existed even though they weren’t recorded in the pages . . .

“Now that I think about, I’m curious . Dok-Ja-ssi, how did you stumble across that novel in the first place?”

“Ahh, I was also curious about that . “

Yu Jung-Hyeok disinterestedly polishing the [Dark Heavenly Demon Sword] shifted his gaze towards me when that topic was brought up . Jang Ha-Yeong asked as her eyes sparkled .

“Was it like some kind of a fateful attraction?”

“I also know something about such a feeling! The first time I held a grenade back when I was a private, I . . . . !”

“I just came across it while browsing the net, actually . “

Companions seemed to be disappointed by my reply . But, nothing could be done about that, because it’s true . Han Su-Yeong then retorted back .

“What did you search for exactly, to find such a crappy novel?”

“That is . . . . “

I couldn’t remember it all that well now .

Yi Ji-Hye shrugged her shoulders . “Oh, well . It’s not that important now, right? The only thing that matters is that ahjussi did read that novel somehow . “

“That’s right . What would’ve happened if Dok-Ja-ssi didn’t read that novel?”

I looked at Yu Sang-Ah grinning brightly and shut my mouth tightly .

I didn’t deserve to hear those words .

⸢In the end, stars fell and the world came to a stop . ⸥

We were marching towards a conclusion no one in the ‘Ways of Survival’ managed to reach, but there was no guarantee that what I wanted was waiting at the end of the line .

I too had no knowledge of the things about to happen from now on .

⸢What if it was someone else who read that novel to its end?⸥

There were better-suited people than me here . The righteous Jeong Hui-Won, the trusty Yi Hyeon-Seong, the straight-shooter Yu Sang-Ah, they should’ve been the one to read the novel . If that happened, maybe the world would’ve ended up in a far better shape than this .

“Thank you, ahjussi . For reading that novel . “

Shin Yu-Seung matched my eye level and was now smiling .

“That’s right . I heard that novel was really boring, too . If it really wasn’t for Dok-Ja-ssi . . . . “

“If it was me, I probably couldn’t get past the first page . I really hate books, you know?”

“I tried to read a couple of books back inside the ’s military library, but . . . As expected, me and reading were not really a . . . . “

While looking at Yi Hyeon-Seong scratching his head, I somehow managed to force my mouth shut .

Because the ‘Ways of Survival’ existed, the people before me existed, too . And because I read that novel, I was able to save them from the dangers .

“I . . . . “

I, someone of no redeeming quality, could be loved by the others .

“Because of the Fables you taught me, I managed to get this far, hyung . “

The kids’ small hands were tightly holding onto mine .

I slowly raised my head, and saw the darkness of the subway streaming by . And the Fables we lived through were passing us by within that darkness .

We silently observed those Fables . They were as beautiful as the Milky Way in the wintery night sky, yet just as futile as the fireworks going off . Stories that none among us could forget, but we’d do so eventually . Jeong Hui-Won opened her mouth .

” . . . . Dok-Ja-ssi . I think it’s fine to ask this now, so . . . . “

I knew already what she wanted to ask me .

“What exactly is the ‘conclusion’ you want to see, Dok-Ja-ssi?”

No Constellations were looking at us now . Even that ruled over the world no longer existed . So, there was no reason to . . . not tell them .

“I’ve already . . . seen one of them . “

I carefully peered into the faces of all my companions . No sentences floated up on their expressions . Even then, I could tell what the conclusion I wanted to see from their faces .

“And the other one is to repay my debt . “

“Your debt?”

I shifted my head to discover Yu Jung-Hyeok glaring at me .

Ku-gugugu . . . . .

Along with the dull vibration, the train’s speed began to decrease little by little .

We slowly got up from our seats . Once-noisy companions began speaking less and less . Nervousness was filling up their expressions .

I slowly approached the exit . Jeong Hui-Won stood to my left, while Yu Jung-Hyeok was on my right .

The Fables passing by in the darkness were slowing down .

It wasn’t just our story existing out there, however .

⸢There was the 0th turn, then the first turn . ⸥

Also, the second, and the third turns, too .

⸢And that’s how 1864 regression cycles have gathered, and in turn, opened up this world . ⸥

Countless Yu Jung-Hyeoks lived through those turns . Although none of them lived the right way, not one could be called wrong, too .

The world was far too cruel a place to debate the ethics of life, and the volume of despair was far too great to tell the tale of hope . However, Yu Jung-Hyeok remained resolute because he didn’t try to justify himself .

⸢His sole desire to see the end of this world . ⸥

I too carried that same desire .

That was the dream of 1865 Yu Jung-Hyeoks existing from the 0th to the 1864th regression turns, and the end of the world that I wanted, too .

” . . . . It’s really been long . Wasn’t it?”

Yu Jung-Hyeok shot back, as if to question what the hell I was even saying here . “It’s only been four years, Kim Dok-Ja . Compared to the time I experienced, it’s . . . . “

“Right . “

Four years . That was how long we had been fighting together .

“Four years that felt like a lifetime . “

When I said that, Jeong Hui-Won to my left lightly poked me with her sword’s hilt .

“We’ll still stick together from now on too, so why do you sound so grimly determined? Don’t worry . No matter what kind of a monster is waiting for us, I’ll finish it off . “

I gently smiled . Meanwhile, the subway was slowing down even further .

My reflection could be seen in the black window of the exit door . There was a splatter of blood on my cheek reflected on the glass . I wiped it off my face . And then, my mood cooled down .

⸢The blood was really on my cheek, and not on the window . ⸥

“Doors are opening!”

Along with Yi Hyeon-Seong’s cry, everyone got ready to fight .

” . . . . Ng?”

However, contrary to everyone’s nervousness, what greeted us was a rather empty subway platform . Sure, there were a few people walking around in the surroundings, but none of them paid us much attention .

“What’s this, there’s no . . . . “

Jeong Hui-Won muttered that out, and as we stepped onto the platform, I was overcome with an ominous foreboding . There it was, the unfamiliar sense of reality touching my feet . Faint sparks, along with every single one of my Fables, were pointing in a certain direction .

⸢Someone was sitting on the subway’s bench . ⸥

A thick school bag filled with textbooks, as if its owner had left school not too long ago . A thin, small-statured child who might have passed off as an elementary schooler were it not for his school uniform, was sitting on that bench .

As if he was trying to memorise English words, he was busy scribbling something like a chart on his notebook .

As the pulsing migraine assaulted me, I somehow managed to lift my unmoving feet .

⸢Kim Dok-Ja made a promise . To end the culprit who made this world . No matter what that existence was . ⸥

Maybe, he was struck by someone somewhere? There was a big bruising on the kid’s pale arm . A bruising that I could more or less figure out where he got it from . All strength left my legs and I couldn’t move anymore .

⸢Time isn’t moving because not reading and not imagining . ⸥

I did think that all of this could be a dream, a lie . I even believed that this was a dream the evil had created .

But now, I couldn’t deny it anymore .

All of my senses were telling me the truth; they said that that child was the culprit behind all these scenarios .

⸢Y ou we re al rea dy ex pec ting this di dn’t you Kim Dok Ja . ⸥

The most ancient dream . The world’s most omniscient yet powerless god .

[‘The 4th Wall’s’ influence is getting weaker . ]

⸢Kim Dok . . . . ⸥

[‘The 4th Wall’s’ influence is getting extremely weak . ]

I thought I heard something fall to the floor, and I saw Jeong Hui-Won’s sword rolling around on the ground .

“Ah, ah . . . . “

She was now looking at me . She was looking at the child, then back at me . Her eyes were filling up with despair .

As if she couldn’t believe this . As if she’d prefer that this whole thing turned out to be a lie .

[The promise with the ‘Secretive Plotter’ is activating . ]

I opened my mouth only to close it several times . Maybe, this might be my punishment . It might very well be the time to pay the price for the salvation I received .

[You have promised to destroy . ]

[ will not be destroyed unless the ‘Most Ancient Dream’ is ended . ]

I now stared at the child .

At the child with the exact same face as mine .

And the boy slowly raised his head to look back at me .

[Please end the ‘Most Ancient Dream’ . ]

Fin .