Chapter 541

They immediately took Kim Dok-Ja back to their headquarters located in Gwanghwamun .

Aileen was summoned, and they even requested aid from the Constellations with expertise in medicine, such as ‘Guam Divine Doctor’ .

⸢Their plan was perfect . With this plan, they couldn’t have failed . ⸥

They even called upon every Fable expert scattered throughout the world, too .

⸢This plan was the one where they couldn’t afford to fail . ⸥

For the period of over a week, dozens of famed doctors were brought in to treat Kim Dok-Ja . It was to collect the remaining Fables somehow and restore his soul form .

– There is nothing that can be done currently .

Yi Seol-Hwa worked throughout the night and as a result, passed out . A Russian expert subbing for her afterwards said these words .

– We can’t say he’s dead, but . . . We also can’t say that he’s alive, either . This child will never wake up again, that’s why .

But, that couldn’t be . They worked tirelessly and finally managed to come this far, so this story simply couldn’t end like this . The one to stay as the pillar of support for the crumbling companions was Yu Sang-Ah .

“The problem is with Dok-Ja-ssi’s soul, yes?”

In that case, they only needed to restore his soul, then .

So, the companions sought out the assistance of the Constellation most well versed in everything soul-related .

[This child’s soul didn’t come to the ‘Underworld’ . No, his soul didn’t go to any of the afterlives found in the other worldviews . ]

The queen of the Underworld, Persephone, could only stroke Kim Dok-Ja’s forehead with a sorrowful expression .

[… . This was this child’s choice . ]

“His choice?! Please don’t make me laugh . You also saw it too, didn’t you? Back in that subway, we all saw the Fables Dok-Ja-ssi possessed, didn’t we?! He, he wanted to be with us, he wanted to us to save . . . !”

[There are countless Fables within a person’s soul . The words we saw were simply a small part of that . ]

“Don’t . . . Don’t say something like that as if it means nothing . “

Jeong Hui-Won shouted out . There was no other way for her to endure except to shout .

It was his choice? This, this was Kim Dok-Ja’s choice??

⸢The companions didn’t give up . ⸥

Even the collecting of Fables, even the recovery of his soul, they were impossible . In that case, only one method remained .

[I was waiting for you . ]

The master of the ‘Isle of Reincarnators’, Sakyamuni, welcomed them with a benevolent smile – as if he knew they would come here .

[It’s truly lamentable, but he’s not someone this one can reincarnate . ]

“A portion of his soul still remains . We can divide and share the Fables we all possess . Just like how I did it back then, if we utilise the powers of samsara . . . . “

[Ah, my dear arhat . I understand your sorrow . I do . However, he can’t be reincarnated . ]

Sakyamuni looked at Yu Sang-Ah with a regretful expression before letting a soft sigh escape from his lips .

Soon, a truly countless number of threads began floating up before his eyes that observed Kim Dok-Ja quietly slumbering away . There were so many of these red threads that counting them all was impossible . Yu Sang-Ah too could see them .

The threads of fate .

The threads stretched out to the night sky and eventually, even pierced through itself . Yu Sang-Ah stared at them, and realised why Kim Dok-Ja couldn’t be reincarnated .

” . . . . I see . “

She didn’t want to acknowledge it . Even then, the truth didn’t change .

“His soul, it . . . It has already reincarnated in another world-line . “

Sakyamuni nodded his head .

[More correctly, we should say his ‘souls’ . ]

*

In front of everyone, Han Su-Yeong passed on the things she’d been told .

” . . . . Kim Dok-Ja’s soul has been scattered throughout the whole universe . “

The memories from the moments when she faced off against [The 4th Wall] inside the darkened room – she didn’t leave a single word out and repeated every part of that conversation to her companions . Someone fell down, some despaired .

Yi Ji-Hye cried out . “Let’s go find that guy again . [The 4th Wall] might know a way, right?! We might be able to recover Dok-Ja ahjussi’s soul somehow!”

“If you do that, then what about Kim Dok-Jas reincarnating in other worlds? They must be living their own lives, won’t they?”

“T-that is . . . . ” Yi Ji-Hye panting like a bull gulped down a glass of water on the table, before carrying on . “There must be some other way . Whatever that thing was, [The 4th Wall] or whatever, you said it knows something . “

” . . . . We don’t have any methods to meet that guy again . We used up all of our fragments when opening the wall . “

Another four days flew by in an instant . The companions had become utterly devastated, ravaged – some missed their meals, while some didn’t even bother to sleep . How long passed by like that? Jeong Hui-Won sought out Yu Jung-Hyeok .

“Jung-Hyeok-ssi . “

Yu Jung-Hyeok polishing his [Dark Heavenly Demon Sword] out of an old habit raised his head . He frowned slightly as if the sunlight stung, before shifting his gaze back to the sword . No matter how much he polished it, the dark stain on the blade didn’t want to come off . The stain came from Kim Dok-Ja’s letters that he cut down . He quietly stared at the stain, before finally opening his mouth .

“Four days is quite fast for making up your mind . “

“That’s because we don’t have any other choice . “

Yu Jung-Hyeok’s emotionless eyes locked on to Jeong Hui-Won . Despite experiencing so many tragedies until now, her eyes still burned vigorously . He too used to have such eyes, once upon a time .

“We can do this . We’ve already done it twice . That’s why-!” Jeong Hui-Won shouted .

Yu Jung-Hyeok used to think that .

Their plan was like a well-constructed fantasy .

They believed that they can pull it off this time, that they should be able to see the conclusion they wanted .

⸢Even if this world ends in tragedy . . . Don’t think that you’ve all failed . ⸥

Did that fool feel this way back then?

Yu Jung-Hyeok spoke up . “Right . We did do it . “

“Please, let’s try it one more time! We can definitely pull it off this time! We can definitely save Dok-Ja-ssi . . . . !”

“Do not think that things will turn out better than this turn just because you went back in time . “

After spitting out those words reflexively, Yu Jung-Hyeok stopped breathing for a little while .

” . . . . . Why are you saying such things? This turn was a definite improvement, wasn’t it? We can definitely do better!”

“It’s impossible . “

“Why not? When we haven’t even tried it . . . . !”

Yu Jung-Hyeok didn’t reply . Her expression grew deeply incensed . Her hand then gripped the sword, implying that she’d not hesitate to cut him down if he didn’t cooperate immediately . Even then, even under her intense threat, he didn’t budge an inch . Seeing him act like this, something else slowly floated up on her expression .

“You . . . Can it be . . . . ?”

Yu Jung-Hyeok still didn’t reply . Jeong Hui-Won began urging him in sheer disbelief .

“Is it true? Is it . . . . ??”

He finally replied while staring at his own attribute window floating before his eyes .

“I’m no longer the regressor . “

The category of [Regressor] no longer existed among his attributes . His Stigmata had vanished, too – both [Regression] and [Group Regression] . He didn’t possess any Stigma to turn back the clock .

Winds began blowing in from somewhere . While letting the winds hit him, Yu Jung-Hyeok looked up at the clear skies of .

He couldn’t sense the gaze he used to feel all the time . No matter how much he sharpened his perception, he simply couldn’t locate it like before .

⸢He was no longer the protagonist of the story . ⸥

His story came to an end when the lone reader went away .

Along with his final regression, too .

*

“We can cross over to another world-line . “

And then, someone said something like that .

“It doesn’t really have to be a regression, does it? We cross the world-line, and enter the location of a different scenario . We then gather the fragments of ‘Final Wall’ one more time and meet [The 4th Wall] . “

It was a crazy plan .

What made it even crazier was the fact that the person suggesting it was none other than the usually-composed Yu Sang-Ah .

Han Su-Yeong replied . “That guy might not even help us . “

“Even still, we need to try . It’s better than not trying, right?”

They had already done it once before . No reason not to try it again .

But why was this? Han Su-Yeong didn’t believe that this was the right way to go .

What would happen to them if they fail this time, too?

Wouldn’t they try to skip over the world-line again?

And just like that, they would cross the world-lines again, again, and again . By continuing that, they might end up no different from the 999th turn’s ‘Outer Gods’ . Their lives might get damaged beyond repair .

The truly wretched thing was, despite knowing the truth she couldn’t fight against the temptation .

“How will you cross the world-line, anyway? We can’t regress anymore, remember? And we don’t even have the ‘Secretive Plotter’ to help us in this place, either . “

“Have you forgotten? This world-line is different from the 1864th turn . “

It was at that moment something, a certain thought, brushed past Han Su-Yeong’s mind .

⸢There was one more method . ⸥

Accompanied by the thunderous “Ku-gugugu!” noise, a gigantic shadow was cast upon Gwanghwamun right then . It came from a massive flying object large enough to completely blanket the main street and then some .

[Fufufu . Long time no see, everyone . ]

Bihyung was riding on that flying object .

He had become the Dokkaebi King of this world after the Bureau was completely ruined . And it seemed that this ruined world was exactly to his liking .

[Right, so you need this thing, is that it?]

That was the item only found in the ‘last scenario’ .

⸢The Final Ark . ⸥

Han Su-Yeong slowly approached the ark .

Without a doubt, using this would allow them to jump the world-line . Well, Dokkaebis and Constellations of the very last scenario were also planning to escape to another world-line using this vessel, after all .

Yu Sang-Ah spoke up . “However, if we use this . . . We’ll end up being no different to Dokkaebis . “

“You should’ve raised such points before we used the group regression, you know . “

Han Su-Yeong reached the ark . That prompted Bihyung to issue a warning .

[Let me make this crystal clear . This ark is a lot older than it looks, so it can be used only once . ]

“Doesn’t matter . “

Being able to travel to another world-line implied that they could use this ark in a similar capacity as Yu Jung-Hyeok’s own ‘regression’ .

What if, they could move to another world-line’s specific point in history? If they could do something like that, then they might be able to change world-lines in a far more efficient, effective manner than Yu Jung-Hyeok’s regression .

Han Su-Yeong hurriedly shouted out . “Bihyung . The world-line we want to go to is . . . . !”

However, even before she could finish, a message came to her first .

[It’s impossible to set sail to the applicable world-line . ]

Bihyung’s expression became confused . [Mm? What’s gotten into it? I don’t think it has ever said something like this before?]

“What’s wrong? Is it broken?”

[Call out a different world-line . ]

Han Su-Yeong spoke up again . That resulted in yet another message .

[It’s impossible to set sail to the applicable world-line . ]

She repeatedly mentioned other world-lines . She spoke, then spoke again . However, the message floating up remained the same .

[It’s impossible to set sail to the applicable world-line . ]

[It’s impossible to set sail to the applicable world-line . ]

…

… . . .

[It’s impossible to set sail to the applicable world-line . ]

Utterly flustered now, Bihyung began muttering out . [Passageways to all those world-lines have been closed off . It means the possibilities that used to be open between the world-lines have completely shut down . ]

“We can’t go?!”

[Looks that way . Huh, can something like this even happen?]

All the world-lines related to the ‘Ways of Survival’, the ones she could remember, were blocked off .

” . . . . Does that mean we can’t go anywhere?”

[No, there is one . ]

“Really? Which one?”

[But, it’s a world-line with all the scenarios already concluded . ]

Bihyung displayed the entered route .

Surprisingly enough, the destination was a location they all knew quite intimately .

Yu Jung-Hyeok’s 1864th regression turn .

The planetary system number 8612, where all the scenarios had already ended .

It was Earth . The one they left from .

Fin .