Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐎 #𝟏

Get to know the cast and general outlook of this story.

Author: ???

Cast: Hopefully, all of the ORV characters. Definitely the main ones, some side ones, I've forgotten so many already it's highkey going to be a pain in the rear to start this project.

Purpose: Stress relief. Thought blurbs. Word practice. Settings to come in the future.

        Side note, this was not at all planned so updates will be sporadic, too often, or unheard of. I have no expectations for this to fly at all, particularly because I'm almost disinterested in the ships for this whole work, especially the main ships (sorry, Uriel ily).

General Outlook: Every once in awhile, a chapter will be uploaded. They might have some relevance to past chapters, but most likely these are standalone drabbles that have no meaning nor significance to them, other than the simple fact that someone on planet Earth wrote them. As mentioned above, I have very little intention to write ships. Also, I will not be taking any requests. This project is simply to help ease the stress and burden of existing.

        I also have absolutely no intention of giving this project a desired ending. Most of this may be ridiculous ooc, and I would apologize, but I won't because I actually find that purposefully writing ooc is quite beneficial to understanding a character more. Multiple different types of AUs will be introduced, and none of them are going to be explained. It is up to you, the reader, to interpret each chapter however you see fit, to the best of your ability.

Or, don't. I'm not exactly here to tell you what to do, after all. The only thing I will ask of every reader, is to not be negative in my comments. They're free and open to everyone, no matter who you are, but I will not tolerate being hated upon nor judged for the entirety of this project. The Internet is not some far off place up in the "cloud" for you to send your negativity to. I am simply asking for some courtesy, and perhaps even a little human decency.

If you actually have read that, well, I am actually touched. I really didn't read what I wrote myself.

Shall we begin?

Chapter Text

Dear Reader,

        I looked up at the night sky, wondering if you were up there, looking down at me. I've been very lonely, waiting for you to return. It's been so long. Are you doing okay?

People tell me that I'm crazy for talking to the night sky, but I believe that you're up there. Do you even read these letters? I send them off, and they never return, but you never send one back. Is that because I've come to bother you? I'm sorry if I bother you. I'll try to be good to you, please return. Come back to this lonely and harsh planet. It needs something light and refreshing. (You. It needs you.)

The people that remember you... they miss you. Are you ever coming back? Why did you come at all, if you were just going to leave without ever saying goodbye? You know, not every star in the sky emits the same kind of light. Yours was always different. Better. Reader, is that because you are a reader?

I've been doing as you said before you left without a trace, you know. I've been trying to find a story that I love. But, I haven't been able to find one. I'm not very good at reading either, or writing. I don't think there is a single story out there that I could ever love. I don't really know what love is, to begin with, so how could I love a story? Still, I will try to find a story that I love. When I find it, I will not let go, as you told me.

I'm still waiting. I believe you're coming back, but why... why is it taking so long?

Are you really —

Kim Dokja stared at the letter, left unsigned, with trembling pale hands, too numb to process emotions any longer. Space was cold. It was dismal, barren, and the slightest bit frightening if one went looking in the wrong sort of corners. This idiot kept believing in him, and that was perhaps, the only thing keeping him alive.

"You just die too easily," Han Sooyoung stated firmly, rolling her eyes as she flipped through a mountain of books, tossing most of them to the side. "If you would simply stop being yourself, you could live long enough to go see that bastard."

"You don't understand," Dokja tried to say, but Sooyoung had stopped paying attention to him already, so he gave up trying to explain himself. After all, what was the point of arguing with someone who simply did not care? His back ached with the weight of space pressing down upon him, but he was too tired to care. His bones were growing asteroids and ripping up galaxies, and this too, he ignored. He was beginning to ignore everything. He had hoped to fade. Die out.

But this idiot was still writing to him. Every day. Multiple times a night. Dokja was dying, but he kept living another day just for the sake of his one writer.

"One writer? What am I? Proverbial imaginary meat?" Sooyoung hissed, smacking Dokja's shoulder. "Is this Library not good enough for you?"

"I am thankful," Dokja sighed, starlit eyes flicking from her pissed expression to the planet that was merely a speck in his soul. "but, you are not 'that bastard,' as you so kindly titled him. You would not understand, even if I explained it." Truly, in a manner of speaking, Han Sooyoung had saved his life, too. Before the letters came, her words were the only thing he could read, and she had read every single word she could imagine, feeding it into his soul, sustaining a life that had ended a long time ago.

"Do you even look at the other letters everyone else has sent?"

"No. Too painful."

"You're just running away from your responsibilities."

Dokja sighed, and it echoed in some far off universe. "I am tired."

"Your bastard idiot dumbass who keeps writing you letters which you consume at an unhealthy rate is also tired, I reckon. Tired of your bullshit, that is. Revert and go see him."

"No."

Han Sooyoung inhaled for five seconds, and then exhaled slowly for about seven. When she spoke, she sounded three seconds away from throttling him with a spoon (they didn't have spoons). "Kim Dokja. Revert in ten seconds, or I am burning this Library, and you're paying for the damages."

"That's the lamest threat I've ever heard, you'd never burn your own work."

She didn't even look miffed. "Sure, but the threat still sends across my point. Stop working. Go face him. Now."

"I don't want to."

"You definitely should for my sanity."

"No."

"You're being stubborn."

"I can't leave."

"Sure you can! It's really quite easy," Han Sooyoung smirked.

"Make me," Dokja said then, eyes full of the eternal fire that all stars burn with. His status overflowed and even someone as powerful as Han Sooyoung shrunk a little before it. However, she did not give up. Actually, it looked like she had been waiting for him to say something like this, for her grin was nearly manic, and Dokja felt as if he had said the wrong thing.

"Oh, sure! I'll do just that!" she cackled, causing confusion to stir within Dokja. Confusion, and then regret.

He tried to stop her, "No, wait —" but she was already pommelling his spirit, folding and twisting it, maniacal laughter ringing in his soul in the most painful and annoying manner possible. Then again, this was Han Sooyoung. That makes plenty of sense, as it stands.

His constellation body was condensed into... this?

Dokja scrambled towards a mirror, extremely displeased with what he saw.

"Why did she fashion me so... adult-ish?" he wondered out loud, blinking dull eyes of dirt brown into a foggy mirror. All which had made him regal and celestial was gone. He was... in a human form. Gross. He hated this form, wondering why Han Sooyoung would have made him so... "Ugly."

He tested his skinny limbs out for size, resisting the urge to yelp when they caved on themselves, flopping like squid suckers. She hadn't even given him a functional body?! No, no. It was simply the shock of losing at least 50 (probably 51, knowing how petty his Author could be) percent of himself, reverting to this... Thing. Human body. Bleh.

He was dressed in a long black shirt, black pants, black boots, and a startling white coat that glittered with a reminiscence of what he had been before. Pure and white, untouched, and irresistibly eye catching.

Dokja turned to look towards the door, for there was a door — his perception of Earth was widening already, how quaint — and he found a pile of...

"You," he gasped, heart groaning inside his empty hold where bones should have been splitting, and stars had once grown. He picked up a letter. Of course, it was from him.

A tear slid down his cheek. "You kept writing."

Letters, upon letters, upon letters, and they weren't old ones. These were letters unopened, letters Dokja had never seen before. The handwriting had grown less scraggly and uneven. As Dokja scrambled to read every word, he noted how grammar and punctuation were improved upon, how things flowed more, and how the person who had kept him alive had... grown. Matured. Tears slid down his ice cold cheeks (warmth had not yet flowed through him). "You should have stopped believing in me."

Every single letter held some sort of wild hope that Dokja would return. Who knew how much time had passed since Dokja had seen that pitiful child now? When Dokja had visited last, he had been blond. Strong, tall (he was still tall), broad, and exceedingly beautiful. Full of life, brighter than the sun, and quite witty with his retorts.

What was he now? An echo of a thought that should have ceased to exist, had it not been for... "Why do you still want to see me? I've changed."

Dokja did not want to meet that child. He must have grown up. He must have known that stars could not possibly be people, galaxies were simply a collection of balls of light, hanging in the sky, or whatever bullshit science taught kids these days. Dokja, was just supposed to be a fever dream. A fever dream, that had stayed on this Earth for five years.

"Don't come and find me," Dokja sobbed, taking a pile of opened letters. He reached into the pocket of his coat, and found a box of matches. Yes, this would do. He had to do this.

Not inside, though. He would burn this place if he struck a match inside. There was no fireplace. Dokja frowned. He had to find a place to burn these letters and erase himself from this world. No one should have remembered him. Everyone else had stopped believing in stars, hadn't they?

He opened the door, and was instantly met with shocking white hair, a shocked expression, and a hand poised to throw a letter under the door.

"Kim Namwoon," Dokja blurted out, not quite sure he was seeing things properly.

The Specter screamed, and Dokja took that personally. He had a rather higher pitched voice than he remembered, and it was increasingly annoying, so Dokja slapped his hand over the Delusional Demon's mouth, glaring with distaste.

"You will cease making noise this instant, or I am pulling your essence from this form and ingesting it," Dokja seethed. He had never liked Namwoon all that much. He was too... dramatic, though there had to be a better way to put that. Truly, Delusional Demon was a fitting title for this Specter.

Kim Namwoon removed Dokja's hand. "But! You're really here! You're back! Captain will definitely —"

"I don't even look the same, how do you know who I am?" Dokja asked, genuinely curious, ignoring the sentence he had cut Namwoon off from finishing. Truth be told, he was rather annoyed that he could not even get through opening his own door without running into someone in an unseemly fashion. It rattled the stardust floating in his brain.

"You look exactly as Captain said you would!"

Maybe Han Sooyoung had talked to this person. That was not wholly unbelievable, and he could see her demanding this white haired boy to call her Captain. "Aha. Don't tell anyone I'm here."

"But, Captain said to inform them as soon as you —"

Dokja only had 49 percent of his status, but he still unleashed all of it upon this poor Specter, watching the dead boy squirm in discomfort. "Should I eat your essence now?"

Kim Namwoon trembled.

"I didn't think so. Don't tell Captain or whoever that I'm here." Dokja snatched the letter from the trembling hand, pocketing it along with the rest of the letters. His pockets could hold an infinite number of things, which was the main reason he was glad he had this eye catching coat to begin with. "As you were," he said in a singsong lilting voice, whistling airily with fake confidence as he walked out of the building, and into the world.

Noisy. Distasteful. Organic. Dokja was not fond of many aspects that made up this silly planet, but this planet was the birth place of his favorite [redacted], so he supposed it was good enough. He almost got run over by three cabs, an angry cat lady, one bicycle, and a food truck. All, in just under half an hour. That wasn't even a new record. Dokja really died too quickly, which is why he often did not even bother with this process called Revert.

He could not find a good place to burn the letters in this changed world, so he entered a cafe and ordered thirteen shots of straight espresso. There was no reason why he ordered thirteen, he just felt like blurting out a strange number, and with the money one of his creations would send him (a creature he simply called Biyoo), he made his first purchase upon Earth in this Revert. The cashier gave him a judgmental look, and Dokja didn't even find a single ounce of him that could care. People were always judging and hurting others inadvertently, but that only worked if the recipient cared. Dokja had stopped caring after several thousands of sparks had broken his body into ash and flew into their dazzling cycle of life from his death.

"I'm sorry, but are you perhaps...?"

Dokja stared up into a female figure that looked slightly different than he remembered, but still held the same sort of gaze that had given him comfort, so many many many many many many many years ago.

"Yoo Sangah-ssi?"

"Kim Dokja?"

Thirteen shots of espresso were given to him, and he instantly downed one. He needed the boost in order to get through the day, it appeared, what with meeting two characters already, though Sangah had always been special to Dokja, differently from Sooyoung, differently from 'that bastard,' but almost just as precious in her own right. "How did you recognize me?"

"Well... actually, that, uh..."

"It's okay. Don't tell me," Dokja sighed, waving the matter away with a cold pale hand, smile wan but still a bit bright. Brighter than before, at least. "Are you... well?"

"Hm? Ah, yes! Very well. I recently got a promotion at work... but, oh! Dokja! Dokja, what took you so long?!"

Dokja stayed absolutely still for five seconds as Yoo Sangah burst into tears. Then, he picked up two more shots of espresso, and downed them all in one go. He refused to let his tear ducts start producing fluid, or however this human body functioned.

"I had to do something very important," he said quietly, voice hollow, as hollow as a seashell that echos to the songs of the sirens.

"Everyone waited for so long! Most of us thought that maybe..."

The weight in Dokja's chest was suddenly heavier than even space itself, and he stifled a groan, lips twitching. "You thought I was never really here."

"So long," she muttered. "I never stopped believing, but... but also... I wondered, if really..." She bit her lips. "Would it have hurt to reply to any of us?"

Yes. It would have killed me. It's killing me right now, don't you see? "I am sorry, Sangah-ssi."

He downed the rest of the espresso without so much as flinching, staring wordlessly at someone he had once naively thought would live with him, in a big house, just like friends in college. She was so much... older, now. How much time had flown by without him as he experienced a forced Revert?

"Oh! What am I doing? I have to let him know —" she started, and Dokja held her arm in a panic.

"Please, don't," he gasped, unwilling to go through that kind of pain right then and there. "I don't want anyone to tell him."

"But!" she started —

"If I am going to do this... I have to do it myself," Dokja said quietly, with absolutely no intention of ever talking to him, if only to spite Han Sooyoung for making him Revert when he had said he didn't want to yet (ever).

Sangah's face fell. "Ah, I understand. Dokja is right, of course."

There was a lull in the conversation, and Dokja felt uncomfortable. That wasn't exactly a new feeling, hence why it actually was less uncomfortable and more... unwanted. He didn't want to feel the way he did at the lack of words being spoken, but he had gotten used to the feeling, and therefore made no move to stop it.

"Ah, I'm going to be late to work —" Sangah muttered aloud, and Dokja broke into a smile, though a bit bitter and sad.

"Sangah-ssi should get to work, then," he said quietly. "Sangah-ssi should also forget that this stupid astral ball of light fell to Earth once more, with limbs of jello, no less, and go on with her life. Get promotions, rise above everyone else, dominate this planet... et cetera."

Yoo Sangah gave Dokja an odd look. It made him feel pathetic, but he no longer acknowledged such feelings directly. "Dokja-ssi should finish whatever he was doing that was so important so he can return to the people who [redacted]."

He censored it himself. He was not willing to hear whatever she had just said, it was not even processed. "Goodbye, Yoo Sangah."

He left first.

Five narrow misses with death, his head nearly decapitated on event number six, and he bumped into a ridiculously broad and muscular chest. He had to look up to see this person's face, and his jaw dropped. This time, he made the mistake of recognizing this person first.

"Lee Hyunsung?"

This... this was not the same child he had seen. This was... who... when had... He was so much taller. And, and broader. Also, rather attractive? His face had thinned out a bit — Dokja missed his cute chubby cheeks as a child... He was completely different, but the eyes were exactly the same. The aura of kindness was exactly the same.

The righteous man might not have recognized him if not for Dokja's own exclamation.

"You... Kim Dokja?"

He was instantly engulfed in the nicest, the absolute warmest, and most meaningful hug Dokja had ever experienced in all his time of, well... existing. Something crawled into his throat and stayed there. This had always been a person that was on the side in his mind, and some part of his conscience — the little bit left — felt a sort of guilt at that fact. Because, in this man's arms, Dokja felt as if this character held him in high esteem. Very high esteem.

"I thought I had lost the cartridge," the man heaved, and Dokja was confused. Where had that expression come from? What had happened to Hyunsung while he was gone? "But, I walk, just as Captain said to, and you're... the cartridge is back!"

Confusion. Warmth. Heat flowed through Kim Dokja's human body, the constellation inside of him screaming at the sensation. Space was cold, but Lee Hyunsung was so, so, so warm. He was like a large and plush teddy bear, but with muscles... It was a weird mental image, but Dokja was feeling... ah, but he did not really feel anything beyond that guilt.

"Hyunsung-ssi," he tried, but it was muffled by that large chest. He tapped the man on the back, and was instantly released, inhaling discreetly so the other would not be able to tell that he had felt almost smothered for a whole minute there. "Where is Jung Heewon?"

The man's face fell, and Dokja almost felt sorry for asking. Actually, no. He felt a deep sense of regret wash over him.

"Serial killer got her on the subway a few years back."

Several things hit Dokja like a runaway train (ah, memories). One, he was going to murder Han Sooyoung when he got back into space. Two, he was feeling the slightest bit sick that the little girl he had once saved... murdered... in the subway, no less... Three, Hyunsung must have —

"Is that ring..."

Hyuunsung nodded faintly, looking up at the sky to quell his tears. "Married for just two years. Should have proposed to her a long time ago, but... Waited too long."

Dokja was reading into the lines, and he felt more guilt eat him alive. Who needed to get killed? This was worse than he had imagined. Dokja's cosmic absence had caused so much to happen. Some of it was okay, such as Sangah, and since Kim Namwoon seemed to have a job, at least he was less... delusional than before. But... Hyunsung, left alone on this barren world, and Heewon... It felt like Dokja's fault. Self loathing filled his chest, to replace the bones he had lost, the virtue that was all lost somewhere in the ether of space and time. Dokja felt like he had lost more than just himself, watching the man struggle not to crumble.

He took a step back, wanting to run away, but no. He had a responsibility in this, even if Lee Hyunsung was too nice to say it outright. The shaking in his eyes was enough to tell Dokja everything the man simply would not say. He patted Hyunsung as gently as he could, as if afraid his touch would cause the other to disappear.

"I..." He couldn't even apologize. Her death was his fault. Hyunsung hesitating to ask the woman to marry him was also probably connected to him somehow. After all, hadn't Heewon vowed to the stars that she would search for Dokja until she found him? He hadn't opened many other letters besides the one sender's letters, but he had read a few random ones, and he had found Heewon's letter, wrote in bold and aggressive strokes. Dokja composed himself and spoke the bitter words. "Hyunsung-ssi, I have to do something important."

He felt like he had stabbed a puppy. The hurt in the man's eyes was so strong, Dokja almost faltered. "Is the cartridge going away again?"

"I have to."

"You won't even stay, for her? She looked for you, her whole life."

Regret. Self loathing. Hatred. Anger. He wasn't going to kill Han Sooyoung. He was going to fight [redacted], and win. That monster had promised him that his loved ones would be fine! They had claimed if he only just... but... Oh, he was going to wipe the blood of that sinner off his blade (once he found the damned thing, he kept losing it, you see).

"Lee Hyunsung, I will return." The words felt like a lie, and it appeared as if Hyunsung thought they were a lie, too.

"Goodbye, Kim Dokja."

The soldier (ah, the uniform) ran away from the Reader.

Dokja trembled.

At this point, he was resigned to nearly dying several hundred times more and running into someone else he knew. In this case, it left him surprised when he ran into a blonde woman wearing a pretty black dress, a flower crown, and...

Two children were clinging to her legs. Infants, really.

"Oh my gosh! Kim Dokja!" the woman screamed, loudly, blood spurting from her nose, causing the two children to scream in distress at the suddenly gush of red that nearly stained their heads.

Meanwhile, Kim Dokja was having an existential crisis (when was he not), staring at the beautiful constellation, older than him, but far fairer in appearance, undying and beautiful. "Uriel," he croaked, not at all ready to get literally pommeled by the skinny woman who nearly squeezed the very life out of him. She was far stronger than she appeared, and she belatedly wiped the blood from her nose before it stained his white coat.

"I thought I'd never see you here on this planet again! All the messages I sent to you got rejected!"

Ah, that explained why she hadn't ever wrote him. Dokja had briefly wondered why his favorite constellation had never called upon him. "If they had been allowed, I would have read your messages, Uriel."

She let him go, tossing him a child. Dokja was flabbergasted, looking at the small brown haired girl.

"That one is Shin Yoosung! I found her, and I love her! She is my child! This! This is Lee Gilyoung! He is also my child, whom I found, and I absolutely adore these precious little ones to pieces! Look! They've even got pets!"

She whipped out her phone to show Dokja a few photos. He nearly dropped Shin Yoosung when he saw that the 'pets' she was referring to, were a gigantic grasshopper looking thing, and a dragon literally the size of a mountain. Or, a continent? Ancalagon who?

Lee Gilyoung giggled in Uriel's arms. "Titano!"

So, he was apparently old enough to talk. Dokja had to struggle to keep holding onto the little girl in his arms. For some reason, she was softly crying as if grieved over something, holding onto him tightly. He did not understand why. This was a little overwhelming, but such was the nature of Uriel in general.

"It's good to see you," Dokja said dreamily, which surprised him. It seemed to surprise Uriel as well, for she set Lee Gilyoung down, whipping out a black handkerchief to wipe dust or tears from her eyes, he legitimately couldn't tell which it was.

[ One Who Is Adored by &^($#@#(*186# is telling its story! ] Story has been corrupted due to crossing world lines. Dokja would pretend to understand what that meant. "Are you staying for good now?"

Dokja wilted. "I have work to do. I was pulled too early."

Uriel looked devastated. "But, but what about —"

Shin Yoosung turned and gave Uriel a look, and the constellation shut her mouth promptly. "You're right, you're right! It needs to happen differently from how I want."

"What are you talking about?" Dokja asked, not liking how he was being kept in the dark, even if he knew it was hypocritical, considering he had essentially gone radio silent on everyone he had ever cared for for years unnumbered. Literally. Did I mention he was going to murder Han Sooyoung when he got back?

"Well, what am I waiting for? Let's wait and make it happen faster!" Uriel exclaimed.

Both kids gave her a look.

"I mean... uh, let's go somewhere else. It was good to see you, Kim Dokja! Bye!"

She speed walked away from him, which was odd in of itself, since he had assumed he would have to make up a story to get her to leave. Yet, here she was, leaving him of her own volition? Something was off, but he couldn't tell what.

Dokja could only blink tiredly towards the girl at a book signing event. He sighed, walking towards her at the end of the line, staring expectantly.

"Hey, Ahjussi. Have we met before?"

"Lee Jihye. I thought you were too mature for these sorts of things? Did you fall in love with books after I left?"

Her eyes squinted, and then they blew up, impossibly wide. "You?!"

"Yes, me."

She nodded in understanding, but her eyes were a little hazy. Dokja smirked, despite himself. "You don't recognize me, do you?"

"Not really. Almost?" She sounded apologetic, scratching the back of her neck in an almost tomboyish manner, which was charismatic in its own right. "Could Ajhussi give a hint?"

"But, I already gave you one."

"Then, another hint?"

The line moved up, and they both took a few steps forward. Dokja could have left her, but this girl... he had liked her. "It's awfully bright today."

Lee Jihye's face morphed into pure confusion. After the trauma of finding out Heewon was dead, and then nearly dying himself, Dokja had a small bit of fun with her lack of understanding. "Yeah... it's day time, though it isn't all that sunny."

He tried again, biting down a smile. "Maybe you'd recognize me if it were darker."

She frowned. "What would light or dark have anything to do w — oh! Oh!"

Her mouth was wide open, and despite himself, Dokja smiled as she dropped her book onto the ground, holding her hands to her mouth. His smile quickly slid off his face, for it probably wasn't meant to be there anyway. Lee Jihye was trembling greatly.

"Master kept saying I should come here..."

Master? Gosh, Han Sooyoung really had such a big head, didn't she? Master? Pft, how ridiculous. "Master told you," he said blankly.

She nodded, still lost in a daze. "Master said that I would be very disappointed if I did not come to this book signing event, today... Master must have known."

"I bet they did," Dokja muttered, glaring with defiance into the bright sky, imagining multiple ways to bash Han Sooyoung's head in... with a nice, solid brick (they did not have bricks up in space). He wasn't particularly one for violence (unless it was directed towards himself, that is), but she was really annoying him. "Do you even like the book you dropped?"

Lee Jihye picked it up off the ground, dusting it carefully. "Master told me to read things carefully and try to learn something. I can't say I like it, but it was... informative?"

Dokja nearly snorted, but he did a pretty good job at holding it in. "That's good, Jihye. That's very good. Read more, it's good for you."

"Not true. Some things should never be read, nor thought, or uttered. I rather live ignorant of some of the words people string together," Jihye said vehemently, looking a bit traumatized. Dokja winced. What kind of garbage had Han Sooyoung assigned her to read that was bad enough she looked like she had trauma? "Should I go and call Master? I should, right? They've been dying to — well, they'd kill me if I said that." That sounded like a Han Sooyoung sort of thing. "I'm calling Master!" Lee Jihye cried, pulling out her phone and making a phone call.

Dokja smiled a little bit when the phone went to voicemail, but it was once again wiped off of his face as Jihye sighed, "Ah, I guess Master is in the middle of something? He typically picks up when I call, since I try not to bother..."

He.

He.

He?

"Hey, Jihye. Who's your Master, again? I kinda forgot the name."

Jihye looked at him like he was stupid. "You forgot about Master? Oh, he's not going to be happy about that at all. He sent you so many letters, you know!"

The Fourth Wall is shaki — sorry, wrong universe. Dokja felt the stardust in his veins freeze. His body felt cold all over again. "He sent me lots of letters?" his voice cracked.

"Yeah! He tried to hide them from the rest of us, but I caught him a few times, me and... that idiot weeb," she said, adding the last part with a scowl. Somehow, Dokja could guess who she was referring to. There were only so many idiot weebs in the world, after all. "He wrote to you! Every day! I'm sure of it, surely you remember him?"

"No." It was a lie.

"Master is Yoo Joonghy —"

"Kim Dokja."

"Master!"

Dokja was afraid to turn around. Everyone around him had changed. There were new faces. There were faces that had changed completely. Some faces were gone, and he refused to look at the man behind him. He did not want to see him, how much he had grown, how he had changed. Kim Dokja wanted to forever remember Yoo Joonghyuk as a boy with soft eyes, a weird obsession with Murim Dumplings, and a little toy sword that hurt as if it were a real one, leaving very very real bruises if he attacked with enough force (the little boy had been a monster in that way, even then).

The letters inside his coat felt heavy. As long as he did not turn around, everything would be fine. He could believe that things were okay, that the voice wasn't filled with disbelief and rage, that he wasn't being spun around by powerful han — oh —

Kim Dokja had no choice but to stare into the scarred face of a man that could have slapped any other man or woman alive on planet Earth, several hundred times (i love this expression). Scar or no scar, it only seemed to enhance his looks, like every male lead in every kdrama who has a scar ever — anyways — but his eyes were filled with unmuted rage, and Dokja felt his throat go dry. He felt as if the man were going to literally murder him at any given moment, and Dokja should let him do that. He definitely deserved to die, though that would mean that [redacted] never died, and Dokja did kind of want to kill them, now, if just to get at them for letting Heewon die before Dokja could see her one last time.

"Oh, look! We're matching!" Dokja said, which might have been the stupidest thing to say, even if it was true. Yoo Joonghyuk was wearing a black version of the exact same coat that Dokja had on, and it was rather hilarious, wasn't it?

"Kim Dokja," the man repeated, and Dokja felt all the blood drain from his body. "You shall die here, today."

"Master?"

"Excuse me?" He was held up by the throat, unable to breathe. Then again, Dokja wasn't sure if his human body needed to breathe when he was still a constellation, after all. Whatever. He would find out soon enough. "Now, wait a minute! Joonghyuk! Yoo Joonghyuk!"

Jihye tugged on his white coat, trying to get his feet back to earth, since he was dangling in the air like a useless squid. "Master! Let go of him, he's fragile! Han Sooyoung said —"

"He will die here," Yoo Joonghyuk repeated, glaring at the younger girl with contempt. "This bastard... never responding even once..."

"He's turning blue! I thought you wanted to see him!" Jihye exclaimed.

"I am seeing him now. I will watch him die in front of me."

Dokja wanted to complain that he wasn't getting any say in the matter, but his throat had ceased to work properly. He could only gurgle and flop around uselessly with limbs that would not obey his commands.

Jihye kept pulling on his coat, and they were definitely causing a scene, but beyond moving away from the trio, no one was moving to call anyone nor help the situation. "But, what will you do after he dies, hu? I thought you were waiting for him to come back! What about what you told us all? What are we going to do, if he's gone?!"

"He has no problem leaving us. It is better this way."

Dokja wanted to scream, You think it was easy to leave? but, he felt the veins in his neck start to hurt. He couldn't breathe. He was beginning to think that perhaps this human body did need oxygen, or something stupid like that.

Jihye argued for him, sort of. "So, you're just going to get rid of him permanently? How does that make any sense?!"

"No one will ever expect him to return," Yoo Joonghyuk hissed, eyes fierce with rage. Anger. Pain. Was Dokja reading him right, or was Yoo Joonghyuk in pain because of Kim Dokja? "I will end things here."

So, I really don't get a say in this matter, Dokja thought to himself as Jihye screamed, "Uriel! Uriel, help me! Master's gone crazy!"

Kids were crying in the background. Uriel shrieked, Dokja thought he heard Hyunsung (he could have been imagining it, but several pairs of hands grasped at his body, his coat, his legs (?), and fought against the strongest man to save Dokja. The constellation thought it was ridiculous. Joonghyuk was only human, but he had this sort of power. This might, it was unfathomable, but this was just who Yoo Joonghyuk was. Extraordinary, even to those who were thought to be out of this world and special. This is just one reason why Dokja had always liked him, in a strange sense. He also hated Yoo Joonghyuk, a mortal who dared to be greater than everyone else. He loved him as well, for writing to a wall, hoping that wall would become changed and open up like a door to reveal what was beyond the wall.

His hearing went out but he caught a few bits of what happened next.

"You monster, let go of my Dokja!"

"The cartridge cannot be lost!"

"Master, please let go! Wait, Master? Stop! Let go of that!"

"Captain! What is the meaning of this?"

"Oppa, don't be stupid! Let go of Ahjussi!"

"Wait, what's this in Dokja-ssi's..."

Dokja nearly lost consciousness, and he had the notion that he was cut on his cheek somehow, but his body was dropped, and he gasped for air. Ah, yes. He did need oxygen in this human boy, damnit. How inconvenient. Even if space was cold, he never needed to breathe.

He felt someone emptying... something. His head was truly out of it. He couldn't focus well, yet. Everything was hazy, but something sliced his fingers, and he... there was something he had to hide... something important to get rid of... what was that again? Dokja's head swam. What were they uncovering from his endless pockets? Pocket... pockets? He felt a box of matches scratch his fingertips.

Dokja's eyes snapped open, and he let out a haggard cry.

Letters were raining down endlessly. Like confetti, they littered the ground. Countless letters, from one person. That special person. The person who was standing before him, looking at the opened letters, years of hand written words that Dokja consumed, as if he were literally eating them. Dokja felt exposed, as if he had come to this world fully naked, and everyone was staring at him, a soul barred for all to gaze upon, and he hated it. He did not like the feeling of being watched, which was hypocritical of him, since he watched everyone else.

No one spoke a single word as Dokja sat in an ever growing pile of letters that shot out from his pockets, gazing directly into unreadable dark eyes of a man who stood before him, looking all around quietly.  Every single letter Yoo Joonghyuk had ever sent Kim Dokja was adding up. Dokja even found one from elementary school, floating before his eyes. He recognized it, because the handwriting was a little bit... well, not as polished as recent letters had become.

Everyone knew now, that Dokja had read his letters. Every single letter. He had read them all, from that one writer, who kept sending him letters. And yet, not a single reply.

Dokja did not know what to say. He wasn't sure if he could explain anything, if he needed to explain himself, or if he should simply close his eyes and wait for death to take him. Did he deserve to get a chance to explain himself? No. He was unworthy. He did not deserve to even speak.

"Were you really going to try to burn all of them?"

Dokja stared at Yoo Joonghyuk with a funny expression. Why ask that question?

"Aren't you angry I never sent you a reply?"

"Answer the question."

"Yes. I was going to burn all of them."

"Why?"

Dokja did not answer, and Yoo Joonghyuk gripped his jaw harshly. "Were they vile to you? Did you want to forget them?"

The constellation opened his mouth to answer, but no sound came out, only pathetic tears.

Yoo Joonghyuk flinched. "Did you want me to stop believing? Is that it?" His gaze was intense. It was impossible not to give him an answer, when he held Dokja's jaw so tightly, eyes shaking with the emotion behind the words.

Finally, Kim Dokja broke. "Why didn't you stop? What made you continue to send me those stupid letters for this long when no one responded? You're crazy, don't you know that?! I never said even one word! How could you keep writing? You were only a child! You should have stopped. Stop! Sending me! Letters! Let me just —"

"Just, what?"

He had said too much, but he was riled up, and he kept pouring out words. All the words he had wanted to say to Yoo Joonghyuk as he had read his letters. "Stop believing I would come back! Me being here is a mistake, it wasn't supposed to happen yet! Stop having faith that I will come back and fix everything! I am not the solution to the problems you have all faced. My presence is not needed upon this world, nor should you have kept up hope! Throw it away! Throw this image of a star out of your mind. Do you know how much it hurt, to watch you? Every day, every night, multiple times some nights, I would read your damn letters, and I could not believe why you would keep writing! What was the point, hu? Why would you keep writing to someone who was better than dead?"

Yoo Joonghyuk shook him by the shoulders. "You are an idiot."

"No, you're the idiot for continuing to write! What the fuck, Yoo Joonghyuk?!" Dokja screamed, pushing Joonghyuk off him, or at least trying to. It was like trying to fight against the very wall that Dokja had set up in the years of silence. "How am I the idiot for telling you to forget about me? They all almost did!" He pointed to the others standing off to the side. "They almost stopped believing I had ever been real, so why couldn't you?"

"You told me to find a story I loved, do you remember?"

Dokja stilled, thinking back on his own words. Yes, he had told Joonghyuk to find a story he loved. The boy had told him he didn't like reading, which had horrified Dokja immensely. Find a story. Love it. If the story is not good enough, find a different story, one worthy of being loved.

"I looked everywhere for a story I could love, but there wasn't one good enough."

Really? In the whole wide world, Yoo Joonghyuk could not find a single story worth loving? Dokja's eyes watered. "Not even one?"

"The only one worth anything had left. How could I?"

Dokja's heart hurt. The realization of it all crashed down upon him, more than any status ever had. "That story isn't worth much at all."

"I chose to love that story."

The Fourth Wall is shaking. Dokja shook as Yoo Joonghyuk emitted a status that felt suffocating, even if it was freeing. Redemption for someone who had thought they could not be saved. "No, that story is useless. Pathetic. You chose a bad story, Joonghyuk."

"You told me to find a story. I found that story." The air was thin, Dokja felt like passing out at any given moment, but this world was not that kind.

"Find a different story."

"No."

"Stop being stubborn. The story you chose is going to disappear."

Joonghyuk held his floppy body. "No, you won't."

"Yes, I will."

"Shut up."

Dokja glared. "No. This is the worst story you could have chosen. Can't you see it's deteriorating, even as we speak?"

Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes twitched. "You really think it's disappearing?"

Dokja stilled.

[ The story, Companions in Life and Death is continuing its storytelling! ]

Dokja swallowed. "This is a terrible story."

"It's the only story worth telling."

"You pathetic fool. You can't stop me from regressing continually," Dokja spat, feeling nothing but bitterness and a certain sort of anger. "I will die soon, and you will be left alone again. This is not companionship. This isn't love. This isn't even a story."

"You're the fool," Joonghyuk seethed. "You may die, again and again, but I will keep bringing you back until you stop dying. You will not regress forever. I am not alone. You're a pure bright star, Kim Dokja. I will find your light, again and again, and bring it back until you are here to stay."

The Fourth Wall is shaking. The world was folding in on itself. Dokja's world was crashing all around him, and his senses were turning into white noise. "Stop telling this story. Stop writing it, I hate it, I hate you."

"Do you want to keep regressing?"

I will regress and revert, again and again. I will leave all of you, but all of you will be free to live your lives. You will be free. Free from me. "Yes."

"Do you really want that?"

It hurts. It's painful. I'm in agony every day. I want to stop. Death. Death, please take me. Please, release me. I want it all to stop. "Yes."

"Damn sunfish."

Dokja almost smiled. "You're the one who gets scared at nothing and everything, bastard."

"If you're not a sunfish, stop dying."

"No."

Yoo Joonghyuk made an irritated noise that sounded something akin to the roaring of a lion. Dokja added, "Can't you just live without me?"

"No."

The Fourth Wall is shaking. "Bastard."

"You are not allowed to die any more. If you do, I'll kill you."

Dokja snorted. "How many brain cells did you lose, just by speaking that sentence into existence?"

"More brain cells than you can afford to lose," Yoo Joonghyuk growled. "I don't see what's so important for you to do this, you know. Did you consider maybe informing us all why you keep dying? Maybe we'd understand, and leave you alone."

"You'd never understand."

"That's probably true. That's why I'm not letting you leave."

Dokja's head hurt. "You can't stop me from dying."

"Yes, I can."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, really."

Dokja was rather amused. "And, how are you going to do that?"

"By asking you a question you never read in my last letter."

"But, I read all the ones you sent?"

Yoo Joonghyuk pulled out a letter from his pocket. "I'll ask you one question, and you will stop regressing."

"That's a rather bold statement, even for you."

"Just one question."

"Try me, I dare you," Kim Dokja said, smiling faintly.

"If a human defeats a star, is it really a human any longer?"

Kim Dokja's face really wasn't meant for smiles. His whole heart stuttered. "What?"

"If a human destroys a star, is that person really human any longer?"

"No. I refuse to accept this."

"Too bad, what's done is done."

"What the fuck did you do?"

Yoo Joonghyuk emitted a powerful status that made the hairs rise on Kim Dokja's neck. "I did exactly what you told me to do. I found a story I loved. A story, that I did not want to let go, and I kept it."

"What the fuck did you do, Yoo Joonghyuk?!"

"The one story that I loved, a story for that one Reader... I kept it."

"You destroyed yourself!"

"Well, maybe that's true," Joonghyuk admitted, glancing up at the darkening sky. "But, if that is true, which it is... What will you do now?"

This bastard really — "Will you continue to regress? I wonder, if I could bear the agony of living through that many lifetimes, like you have. How many are you at, now? 1702? 1705?"

"1863," Kim Dokja whispered, tears trailing down his angular face all the way to his neck. "This will destroy you. You've chosen Destruction. You're not even an astral, how do you expect to —"

"Well then, you just have to stop regressing then, don't you?" Yoo Joonghyuk fired back, a bright light pouring from his eyes. "Stop your work. Come back home, Dokja. Home, to the people you left behind. People who lost everything, trying to find you again. Can't you do even that?"

Dokja looked towards people he had loved with his whole being. Yoo Sangah, Lee Hyunsung, Uriel, Lee Jihye... even Kim Namwoon was there, hu. Dokja supposed that he had played a rather big part in Kim Namwoon's life, turning him into a Specter, after all. He turned back to Yoo Joonghyuk. "My work is incomplete. I cannot come back. Han Sooyoung sent me here too early."

"You idiot."

"No, really! I can't stay here. I have to finish... 1864 more... I can't..."

"You're right on time. She was keeping count, right along with you."

"No, you don't understand, I —"

Yoo Joonghyuk slapped Dokja. Once. Dokja had created many stars, but he truly saw stars after just one hit. This was what Joonghyuk as a constellation was like. Wow. Dokja opened his eyes, and then he thought he must have been hallucinating.

"You..."

"Yes. Me," Yoo Joonghyuk said, voice ringing in Dokja's ears. "The alternative was worse than death."

"You," Dokja repeated, as if he could not process the truth any longer. "Why?"

"I just told you. The alternative was worse than death."

"How could you?"

"Funny, that you're asking me that. I could ask you that, over and over again. How could you do this? I had no choice. You forced my hand."

"Are you seriously telling me, that you split this 51 and 49, all because you wanted to be petty and hold this against me?" Dokja wondered aloud.

"I didn't want you to suffer more, you asshole. Accept the kindness."

"So... you then... have you already..."

"One thousand, eight hundred, and sixty-four," Yoo Joonghyuk confirmed.

"You... I can't feel it from you, though," he muttered, not able to understand it. 

"Well, that's because..."

"I only agreed to this in the first place so you all would live freely, you jerk!" Dokja cried, hitting his weak and floppy fists on Joonghyuk's much harder, firm chest. "What was the fucking point of doing all of this if you still suffered? I thought I was protecting the story I loved!"

"Who gave you the right to take away the one story we loved?" the constellation asked.

Dokja flailed internally. "Uh, who introduced you to the stories?"

"That's not even an argument, and you know it."

"Master's right, you know. We would have preferred to suffer with you, rather than be left alone like this."

"The cartridge has to be carried at all times, especially during a battle." Dokja still wasn't sure why this analogy worked, or why Hyunsung was attached to it, but it seemed to work alright. It seemed to suit the soldier. "Captain is right... this is one story... it should have never left."

"We would not have been here at all, had it not been for you," Uriel sobbed quietly, holding a bloody handkerchief to her nose, fanning herself with her free hand. Dokja was a little confused as to why she was having a nosebleed, but decided not to ask. "Did you really think we would have preferred things the way you chose?"

"But, what about what I want?" Dokja hissed. "What about the ending I desire? Does that mean nothing to any of you? All of you, secretly plotting behind my back!"

"You did the same! You were going to erase yourself, what else could we do?" Sangah cried.

"Not have interfered with my dreams, maybe! I had it all figured out. What the hell am I going to do now?"

A tired voice cut into the conversation. "Accept that we all did this to bring you back, and get a move on with our lives."

Dokja glared at Han Sooyoung with murder in his eyes. "I hate you."

"That's invalid. You actually love me."

"You lied to me!"

"You lie without flinching to everyone. If anything, it's your fault that I picked up your bad habits."

"Bullshit."

"Eh, fair enough," Han Sooyoung acquiesced. "Still, what's done is done. What are you going to do now? Will you keep breaking everyone's hearts, or are you going to come back home, for good?"

Everyone was looking at Dokja. This was not the ending he wanted. He had wanted everyone to live their lives without him. He had wanted to suffer alone. He had wanted to take all their suffering and their pain, and bury it inside himself. These were the people he... How could they have done this?

"If I stay here... is that truly, the ending you all wish to see?"

"Yes."

"Yes!"

"Isn't that what we've been saying?"

Yoo Joonghyuk held intense eye contact with Kim Dokja, which should have made him uncomfortable, but only succeeded in making warmth flow through his body. "Will you stay?"

No. I have to keep regressing. I need to fix this. I need to find a world where they are all safe, alive, and unhurt. I need to right their wrongs and fix this situation. I need to change the desired ending. I need to —

"Is there anything in this world that would make you want to stay?"

Oh, you heartless fool. Why am I trying to do all of this? Who said that it was okay for you to say things like that? Who told you to write to me, every day, waiting for me to return? Like a lonely wolf, howling at the moon. Who allowed you to take up my heart and my will to live, intertwining it into the person that is you? I've always wanted to stay, but how is this okay? I can't stay like this. What about the people you have lost? I don't see Persephone here, nor Hades. Sun Wukong isn't here either, nor your Master, or Jang Hayoung, the Abysmal Black Flame Dragon, and so many others. Lee Seolhwa. What about that pretty girl? Do you not miss them? Do you not want them here? I know Anna Croft did wrong by you before, but even her... What about everyone else?

"I will die."

Everyone stilled.

"I will regress."

Horror filled their faces.

"I will live."

Confusion.

The constellation that was Kim Dokja was screaming against the human that was also Kim Dokja. "I will die." "I will live." It was the same person speaking, but it was also not the same person speaking at all.

"I will regress."

"I will stay."

"I have to leave."

"I must continue."

"I can't go."

"I want to die."

"I want to live."

Kim Dokja was engulfed in a bright light. Yoo Joonghyuk surged forward with a, "Don't you fucking dare —"

The light wrapped itself around Kim Dokja. Someone screamed. Han Sooyoung grabbed ahold of Yoo Joonghyuk. Someone was crying.

The light dimmed. Everything stopped. No one dared to move a muscle.

In the center of a burnt crater, there was a little child. He blinked, innocent brown eyes, gazing at the world with sadness and sorrow. "I am Kim Dokja," the chid said.

Yoo Joonghyuk picked up the child. "Are you truly Kim Dokja? Are you that person? Are you really that star?"

The child looked deep into Yoo Joonghyuk's scars. "I am that person. Kim Dokja. That is who I am."

Scars began to appear all over the child. Large bruises covered his body, and his forehead began to bleed. "I am Kim Dokja," the child repeated, and he coughed up blood.

Someone was shouting. Everyone was screaming. No one understood what was happening, except one man, and one woman. They gave each other a look. Yoo Joonghyuk wiped the blood off the child. "I believe you. You are Kim Dokja."

"Yes. I am Kim Dokja." The child looked long and hard at Yoo Joonghyuk. "Is this the ending that you wanted?"

Yoo Joonghyuk looked into the child's eyes. "Are you really Kim Dokja? Wholly?"

The child shivered. "I am."

A sad, sad smile crossed the man's face, and he hugged the child tenderly, as a mother would their newborn. "Then, yes. This is the ending that I wanted."

Kim Dokja smiled. "I am sorry."

"So am I."

Blood dripped down Kim Dokja's nose. "Was this good enough?"

Han Sooyoung quickly wiped it away. "Yes, you did a very good job, Dokja."

The child smiled a little brighter. "I am scared. I feel so weak."

Lee Jihye shouted, "We'll protect you! If anyone tries to bully you, Namwoon and I will beat them up!"

Kim Namwoon nodded vigorously. "Before Heewon noona left, she taught me a bunch of really cool moves! I can definitely protect you from any measly old teenager." Dokja chuckled at that.

"That all sounds... nice," he muttered quietly.

Sangah smiled, crouching down to look at Dokja in the eyes. "We are all going to stay here for you, Dokja-ssi."

The child gasped as a cold entered his feeble bones. "I am sorry."

"Dokja? Dokja! Kim Dokja!"

"Master? Isn't he not breathing? What happened?"

"How could he have died so quickly?"

"Damnit, what happened this time?"

"Is he really gone?"

Yoo Joonghyuk held the child in his arms. "He was a child. He could not handle the shock."

"Shock? What shock? Joonghyuk! He can't go like this! Do something! Please!"

Yoo Joonghyuk took off his coat and draped it onto the child's thin shoulders. "Look after him for me."

The whole group stilled.

"Master?"

"If he does not live a good life, I am going to kill all of you."

"Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi, what are you..."

"Master, don't. Don't, please! Not you too!"

"Dear Reader. For the one story I found worthy."

"Captain!"

"That one Reader, you. Kim Dokja. Please live a good life. Grow up well. Work hard. Keep everyone happy. Be the person they love."

"Hey, you idiot! We can't lose you too, damn sunfish bastard!"

"Goodbye. Sincerely, Yoo Joonghyuk."

Kim Dokja woke up in a hospital bed, multiple tubes and needles attached to his arms. He felt tired and groggy. He rubbed his eyes blearily.

"He's up! He's really awake! Gilyoung-ah! Wake up! He's moving, get Sooyoung unni!"

"Why do I have to go get her? You do it, Yoosung-ah, I want to talk to hyung first!"

"I watched over him the longest! You go!"

"No, you go!"

"Children! Oh! Oh, he's awake!" a blonde haired woman cried, screaming and crying for joy. That much, Dokja could tell. "Sangah, he's awake! Look! Look, he's alive! He really is okay!"

People crowded all around Dokja. It was a cacophony of chaos that Dokja tuned out for the most part.

Han Sooyoung looked into his eyes. "Kim Dokja. What do you remember?"

Dokja thought long and hard. Slowly, his brown eyes widened in understanding as he remembered what had happened, and the sacrifice that had been made for him.

"Is he really... Truly, did he..."

No one could meet his eyes.

"Oh, I really want to die."

"Enough of that talk!" Jihye snapped. "Master died for you to live." She turned away from him, but Dokja could see the shaking of her shoulders. "Master loved you enough to die for you, because he wanted you to live!"

[ The story, Companions in Life and Death is continuing its storytelling! ]

The story. That damn story. Dokja hated that story.

[ The story, Companions in Life and Death is continuing its storytelling! ]

I don't want to see this story. Go away!

[ The story, Companions in Life and Death is continuing its storytelling! ]

Dokja wept. His nightmare, the one thing he had so desperately tried to avoid. Yoo Joonghyuk, that bastard.

But, wait a minute...

[ The story, Companions in Life and Death is continuing its storytelling! ]

How could this story still be...

[ The story, Companions in Life and Death is continuing its storytelling! ]

Dokja stared at the message.

[ The story, Companions in Life and Death is continuing its storytelling! ]

He ripped the tubes out of his body and began running, child limbs growing and stretching into thin, lean adult muscles. His strides grew long, and like a madman, Kim Dokja ran to find a pencil and a piece of paper.

People shouted behind him. He definitely heard Han Sooyoung cursing him out. 

He did not care.

[ The story, Companions in Life and Death is continuing its storytelling! ]

How could he? He had to write a letter.

[ The story, Companions in Life and Death is continuing its storytelling! ]

His one writer needed someone to send him a letter. Kim Dokja knew what he needed to do.

[ The story, Companions in Life and Death is continuing its storytelling! ]

The coat on his shoulders grew right along with him, fitting him perfectly. Kim Dokja grabbed a pen, and looked around everywhere for a piece of paper.

This damned hospital did not have paper. Anywhere. Digitalized. Everything was digital. Damnit.

[ The story, Companions in Life and Death is continuing its storytelling! ]

Kim Dokja stopped running when he found a blank, white wall. Ideas formed in his head, and he uncapped the pen, letting the cap fall to the ground.

Dear Reader, dear Yoo Joonghyuk,

        Is this really the ending that you wanted? Did you want me to know how you felt? Was that the ending you thought would fit us best?

Or, is this just the beginning? Am I supposed to hold onto hope and believe in you, much like you believed in me? Did you really think I could do that?

Kim Dokja laughed, a broken sound that filled the air.

        For you, I will do this. You stupid idiot, I will do this, for you.

[ The story, Companions in Life and Death is continuing its storytelling! ]

I will write on this damn wall, every day. Every night. Every waking moment, if that's what it takes.

[ The story, Companions in Life and Death is continuing its storytelling! ]

I will not be silly and expect a reply. Don't worry. Don't hurt yourself like that. Don't do that to yourself.

[ The story, Companions in Life and Death is continuing its storytelling! ]

I will bring you back. Yoo Joonghyuk, whatever you do, however long you need... I will wait for you. I will keep writing. I will show you everything. That one story, which you loved so dearly. The one story you were willing to die for.

[ The story, Companions in Life and Death is continuing its storytelling! ]

I will save it. I will save you.

        Signed...