Side Story: Episode 12-6 - Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint

Episode 12. □□ (6) Han Sooyoung found herself unable to comprehend the situation unfolding before her eyes. 'What on earth is happening?' She gazed down at Cheon Inho, who had collapsed before her. The 'Unyielding Conviction' pierced through his chest, incessantly causing blood to flow. It was an irreversible wound. The amount of blood pooling on the floor was overwhelming. Not even the 'Essence of the Elven Forest' or any immediate action could possibly save him now. "Why, why would you do this?" It was Cheon Inho's face, but he was from a different timeline—an 'ORV' writer. Han Sooyoung understood his intentions, his desire to save the readers. "I told you... I'd manage somehow." This world was the <Star Stream>. Once a scenario commenced, sacrifices were inevitable. The outcome—'Destruction'—was already predetermined, and so Han Sooyoung decided on a swift conclusion with minimal sacrifice. She was aware this could be harsh on the characters. But leaving it as is would result in a greater tragedy within the episode, and attempts to alter the ending could lead to catastrophic events across all timelines. Han Sooyoung again took on the role of the villain. She designed a roadmap to the ending with minimal suffering. In this process, she planned to recover as many possessed souls entangled in the scenario, sending them back to their original timelines, with as little loss as possible. Everything was going smoothly until the appearance of this individual. "You, as a writer, must know, right?" The words he left behind continued to echo in her mind. "What you're trying to do isn't concluding the story, but giving up on it." Han Sooyoung felt a ringing in her ears as she gasped for breath. Why did he leave those words and throw himself forward? "Did you tell me to try persuading you?" She had no intention of killing him. If she had, she'd have severed his head long ago. Yet, as if walking the predetermined path of tragedy, the 'Unyielding Conviction' pierced through his chest. "Are you ready to be persuaded?" Several times she tried to alter the trajectory of her sword, but her muscles wouldn't listen. As if the world enforced his death. 'Could it be...' A monochrome landscape unfolded in her mind. If that was his 'skill'? A skill that required paying the price of coherence to create the desired events? If he had sacrificed himself as the price for that coherence? "Han Sooyoung knew someone who had sacrificed themselves this way." Staggering amidst a wave of dizziness, Han Sooyoung slowly bent toward the fallen Cheon Inho. Before he died, she wanted to ask why he did this. Then, his hand slipped out of his pocket with a thud. In his hand was a lollipop with a shape somehow familiar. Like finding an inexplicable sentence in an unexpected place, Han Sooyoung blankly stared at the lollipop. She slowly reached out. With a fizzing sound, sparks flew. A narrative trickled out from the lollipop he held. 'A narrative?' It was impossible. The third main scenario was just coming to a close. Unless it was someone exceptional like her, there shouldn't be an Incarnation with a 'narrative' already— "Hey, are you not ready? Did you forget where we were supposed to go today?" An inexplicable occurrence. It was clearly her voice, her words. But why did this person have a narrative related to her? "Is this pizza?" "It's chicken, you moron." "Today was the first outing of the <Kim Dokja's Company>." The voices flowing out were familiar. All voices she knew. Phrases she knew. "It's so cold, do we really have to eat by the Han River?" Her mind grew increasingly chaotic. "Kim Dokja." "Hm?" "These days you're not reading that much." An all too vivid memory surfaced in her mind. She had indeed had such a conversation with Kim Dokja. "Oh, that's right. I need to read." A long-ago outing by the Han River. Gathered with companions, she talked with Kim Dokja about the 'Ways of Survival.' She had asked Kim Dokja something about the 'Ways of Survival.' "But Kim Dokja." "Hm?" "In the third playthrough of Ways of Survival, that doesn't happen." Kim Dokja couldn't answer. "Hey. Who the hell are you?" Her heartbeat slowed, her breathing constricted. She had thought it strange from the start. Who exactly was this 'Cheon Inho'? She knew he was another timeline's 'ORV' writer, but there were too many peculiarities to dismiss it simply as that. "If it's an 'avatar,' there's a very easy way to confirm." Han Sooyoung stretched her trembling fingers toward the lemon candy. "The one to read my story... isn't you." Like a wound bursting open, the narrative flowed out. It was a story Han Sooyoung, the author of 'Ways of Survival,' herself didn't know. "He walked towards his origin." An untold tale existing between the lines she had written. * Few remember the moment they were first born. He was no different. "Kim Dokja." Yet, people called him by that name, and he introduced himself as such. Solo 독(獨) and son 자(子). Bearing the name his father gave him, he lived a life fitting that name. Eating alone, working alone, sleeping alone. He did everything alone, always. Was that why it felt strange the first time he wasn't 'alone?' "Hey. Who the hell are you?" It was from a comrade he believed in. Words from possibly the one who understood him best in this world. She subdued him effortlessly and tossed him onto the cold ground. And she called him an ‘avatar’ to their comrades. He didn’t understand. Hadn't they just moments ago eaten together, laughed, and chatted? Why suddenly say such a thing to him? The reason was straightforward. He couldn’t properly remember a particular novel. Thinking it to be a simple misunderstanding, he said with a smile as he usually did. “Han Sooyoung. I'm sorry, but I really don’t remember well. Lately, I haven’t been reading ‘Ways of Survival’…” The woman's dagger flew through the air, and blood spurted from his shoulder. The comrades criticized the woman. They defended him, saying he's not a fake because avatars don't bleed. Yet she did not back down. “If we cut off his head, we’ll know. Avatars continue moving even if beheaded.” As he locked eyes with the woman filled with certainty, a cold chill ran down his spine. He thought. “Maybe, I’m not really ‘Kim Dokja’ after all.” The memory of that day wasn't clear. He only vaguely recalled the intense pain of the wound. Despite being shallow, the bleeding wouldn't stop easily. He eventually collapsed. Those were all the fragments he could vaguely recall. “Dokja-ssi, are you okay?” Even after that day, his comrades called him ‘Kim Dokja.’ But every time he heard that name, he felt as though he drifted further away from it. “It might just be that I’ve lost some memories due to exhaustion. Don’t worry too much.” Throughout the comforting, he felt disoriented. “What exactly did I forget?” It was unknowable. Because a person with memory loss can’t remember what they’ve forgotten. But the moment he realized he’d forgotten something, he began to feel strange. His complexion worsened noticeably every passing day, his vivid memories slipping away into oblivion. He grew increasingly afraid. “Yoo Sangah-ssi, I’m not a fake.” “Yes, I know.” A comrade took his hand with a warm smile. Yet, strangely, that smile felt unfamiliar to him. The smile seemed not to be directed at him but placed by chance over the empty space where the 'real Kim Dokja' should have been. He began to sleep longer and more deeply, often overhearing the words of his companions in drowsy dreams. “Dokja-ssi, can you sit up for a moment? Staying down like that will ruin your back.” “Shouldn’t you try exercising with me?” “Uncle, will you be okay like this? Let me bring some narrative packs over.” The companions did not press or harangue him. They only spoke of the possibilities. “Heewon-ssi, have you heard Sooyoung-ssi’s plan?” “If indeed Dokja-ssi’s memories were split, and the 'real Dokja-ssi' exists separately…” “Do you think that’s possible, unnie?” Even the first comrade who doubted him visited his hospital room. Her visits were mostly in the late night. In his half-conscious state, he often felt her pulling the blanket up over him. She would watch him in the dark for a long time, then quietly leave the hospital room near dawn. “Here’s food. Kim Dokja.” At times, when he awoke, a comrade would bring him food. Devouring the meal in the grip of intense hunger, he pondered. Surely he’d eaten this dish several times while advancing through scenarios. So why could he not remember any of it? “Someone once said something like this.” Face serious, a man stared at him as he spoke. “Human beings all suffer from amnesia.” And having said that, the man gazed at the clock hanging in the hospital room for a long while. With the man, he watched the seconds tick, then the minutes. “You don’t need to be anything. Only what you wish to become matters.” Did that comment impact him? He wasn’t sure. What was certain is that the following day, he said something strange to his comrades. “I want to help find the ‘real Kim Dokja’ too.” “Dokja-ssi. Don’t say that. Is there such a thing as real or fake? You are—” It wasn’t that he truly believed in the existence of a ‘real’ one. But he wanted to know. If there truly wasn’t a ‘real Kim Dokja,' the truth of him being 'real' would unavoidably reveal itself. Stories like him being an [avatar] or that the 'real Kim Dokja' is still wandering a timeline, unable to disembark from the 'Subway' at the final scenario—such idle fantasies would fade naturally from his comrades' minds. “Please let me join the plan.” The journey of <Kim Dokja’s Company> to rediscover the lost ‘Kim Dokja.’ Thus, he crossed over to the 1,865th iteration's timeline with his comrades. Mass regression, 'Octopus Catching.' Though he didn’t achieve any great deeds, he continuously observed his comrades executing the scenarios. Watching his comrades carry out hellish scenarios from the beginning, he often experienced an irrational feeling. “Wow, this is the method Dokja-ssi used?” His comrades silently fulfilled the scenarios. With the progression of each, they found the ‘Kim Dokja' they were all seeking. "Dokja taught us this recipe once." In every moment, the 'Kim Dokja' he couldn’t remember was present. “Did Dokja always do everything by himself?” While witnessing their story, he naturally came to a realization. This was not his story. Determining whether he was real or a fake wasn’t his responsibility. “Dokja-ssi. Are you okay? Stay back for now. We’ve got this.” They sympathized with him. “We can take care of it ourselves this time.” But perhaps even that wasn’t rightfully his share. Years passed, and finally, the companions faced the world’s conclusion. Receiving a premonition, for the first time, he spoke honestly. “That might not be what another me would want. That story... ends there…” It was his last struggle and plea. Please, do not open it. Do not open that door, the final compartment of the subway. Then the woman replied. “Let’s ask the other you about that.” At that moment, he instantly felt the role he played in this story. "If this is the tale you all desire..." Finally, the last compartment of the subway opened, and he found himself confronting the fearsome sight he had dreaded. There stood Kim Dokja, the one the companions had been searching for. Kim Dokja transformed into a child. A Kim Dokja who, like him, was also losing memories. But the moment he saw that Kim Dokja, understanding dawned upon him. That Kim Dokja was the 'real Kim Dokja.' “Ah... ah, I am…” Like a satellite drawn by the gravity of a star, his body moved towards Kim Dokja. The memories he held shattered into pieces, drawing him towards the Kim Dokja before him. As he felt his form disappearing, he pondered: Who was I, then? “Dokja-ssi!” He was Kim Dokja. “Kim Dokja!” But he was not the Kim Dokja this world desired. “At the last moment as consciousness faded, he thought.” If rebirth were possible. Such a thought, perhaps akin to the fantasies the 'real Kim Dokja' might entertain, according to his companions. At least, let me not be Kim Dokja. He imagined an exceedingly distant universe, utterly unreachable within this world—a nameless entity born in that universe. A creature not recognized by <Kim Dokja’s Company>, having nothing to do with Kim Dokja. “I wish to have my own story.” There was a sound like an explosion, and in the next moment, his consciousness fragmented and scattered across the cosmos. Yet, the largest fragment of his core consciousness did not fully disperse but became a meteor. The meteor began a long voyage, traversing beyond the fringes of the world line, venturing into the unknown universe beyond. For how long did it sail? The meteor eventually came to a stop. “There was a planet there, exactly as he had imagined.” The meteor descended towards the planet, fracturing into even smaller shards of soul. It entered the body of a newborn baby on the planet’s edge. “Why isn’t our baby crying?” A muffled voice was heard. With the last of his strength, he let out a weary cry. Immediately after, someone embraced him tenderly. “Oh, you’re alive. You made it!” He was gently swaddled and placed on a bed. Was it because he lost all his memories? Or due to the fatigue from the long journey? He quickly fell into a deep sleep. And upon waking again, people called him by a name he had never heard before. “Lee Hak Hyun (李鶴翾). Your name is Lee Hak Hyun.” Finally, his wish was fulfilled. --- **Terms and References:** 1. **Lee Hak Hyun(이학현)**: The name "Lee Hak Hyun" is a newly introduced character's name, signifying a fresh start, or a rebirth disconnected from the identity "Kim Dokja." It could be translated as "Flying Crane" with the hanja (李鶴翾) suggesting grace and new beginnings. **Additional Context:** - The story explores themes of identity, memory, and the desire for an individual narrative separate from one's past or expected identity. - The idea of an "avatar" in the original context suggests someone who is perceived not as the original but a representation, leading to questions about authenticity. - The character's journey across universes signifies a search for self, only to culminate in a rebirth into a new life, as Lee Hak Hyun, which achieves his wish of having his own story.