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Huge sparks appeared around Yoo Joonghyuk and the startled Asmodeus moved back. Something blinked inside Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyes while something else woke up. Of course, it was Kim Dokja who used that weird skill that possesses others.
[You…]
[The constellation ‘Demon King of Salvation’ is looking at the ‘Demon King of Rage and Lust’.]
Kim Dokja glared at Asmodeus with bright eyes and said with his true voice, [Don’t touch my incarnation, Asmodeus.]
Asmodeus’ energy was still blazing in front of Yoo Joonghyuk. The regressor could feel Kim Dokja’s state of tension, but Yoo Joonghyuk can feel something else within him stir from the words uttered by his companion.
[Demon King of Salvation?]
Yoo Joonghyuk felt himself nod his head—the experience of being a puppet for Kim Dokja always felt disconcerting. He tried struggling to get his body back, but the reader forced him to sleep. Not wanting to distract his companion, Yoo Joonghyuk ceased struggling, making Kim Dokja assume he did fall asleep. The regressor listened on as Kim Dokja continued the conversation with the other demon king.
[I am the Demon King of Salvation.]
The use of the true voice must have consumed an excessive amount of probability for the constellation, and Yoo Joonghyuk couldn’t help but feel a smidge of concern for the other.
[…He is really your incarnation?]
[That’s right.]
Yoo Joonghyuk felt something within his heart clench when Kim Dokja called him his incarnation. He didn’t understand why, but he could feel the nervousness from his companion (probably thinking he’d be mad at the lie). If the regressor would be honest, he didn’t actually mind the proclamation—at least in the current situation. He doesn’t know his own sponsor from his first life after all.
[I didn’t hear that you have such an incarnation.]
[Your information network seems to be slower than I thought. This person is my incarnation.]
[Hrmm…]
Yoo Joonghyuk settled in his mindscape to think about what happened earlier, while keeping an ear out for Kim Dokja and Asmodeus' conversation as they tried to one-up each other. Something stirred within him when he heard the claim of being Kim Dokja’s incarnation. Was there really a connection between them? But that couldn’t be real. The reader was human and only managed to become a constellation not too long ago. He also never appeared in any of the previous regressions.
[Constellation, ■■■■, asks you if you’re not happy currently.]
Yoo Joonghyuk startled at the faded glitching screen in front of him. What is this?
“I am happy,” he replied without a shred of hesitation.
His eyes widened at hearing what he recognizes as his own voice declaring words he couldn’t remember saying ever since the scenarios started.
A sudden explosive sound from outside pulled Yoo Joonghyuk away from his mindscape. There was a throbbing pain around his chest, but he instinctively knew his body didn’t receive any physical damage.
Asmodeus’ body scattered into ashes as he left these last words. [I can’t stand that thing wandering around in front of me.]
Kim Dokja gazed at the disappearing Asmodeus before hurriedly touching his chest where the symbiotic doll was. “…Uriel?”
He pulled out the Uriel doll that was already tattered and almost beyond repair. Not long afterwards, both of them felt something being disconnected from the doll. The messages rising in front of Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyes confirmed his suspicions.
[The connection with the constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ has been temporarily disconnected.]
[The personal scenario has been automatically terminated.]
Yoo Joonghyuk received a personal scenario from Uriel and came here. The problem was the scenario had just been forcibly terminated. Sparks started appearing around Yoo Joonghyuk’s body and Kim Dokja instantly realized what would happen.
“Uriel! Wake up!” He desperately shook the doll but there was no reaction from Uriel. The symbolic body was excessively broken and the connection with the body was forcibly terminated. Yoo Joonghyuk grimaced at the situation they’re in as he could feel his own connection to his body start unraveling.
“Shit,” Kim Dokja cursed and hurriedly looked around to find a way to fix the situation. Cracks were spreading over Yoo Joonghyuk’s hard body as notifications continued to show up at the corner of their eyes.
[You have left the main scenario.]
[The exile penalty has begun.]
Kim Dokja tried to desperately shout towards the sky, but his body was already almost destroyed. The cracks that started in the legs spread to the neck and paralyzed the vocal cords.
It was a penalty that prevented them from asking the constellations in the night sky for help. The whole universe was intensely hoping for Yoo Joonghyuk’s death, as if it was going to take away his stories and kill him.
[The constellation ‘Demon King of Salvation’ is looking at Yoo Joonghyuk’s sponsor.]
[The sponsor of incarnation ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’ is looking at ‘Demon King of Salvation’.]
A huge presence was looking at them. It was somewhat familiar but also unfamiliar. Before Kim Dokja could open his mouth, the reader was forcibly expelled from his possession.
Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyes instinctively closed at the abrupt loss of connection, feeling the pain of being pulled apart. He then staggered as he suddenly felt better than the searing pain from a minute ago. He blinked and looked down at his body that did sport some cracks, but most of them were already starting to fade.
The regressor looked up at the sky in bewilderment at his survival, before he looked at the screen in front of him. He stared at the personal scenario given to him by one of the constellations watching Biyoo’s channel.
Well… he supposed changing genders is better than getting exiled from the scenarios and dying….
The next few days were a mess of fixing the industrial complex that somehow ended up in his name due to the actions of his companion. He’s found that Kim Dokja was unconscious in bed after ‘killing himself for an hour’ as the story expert Aileen told him. It’s been a few days since the Asmodeus incident and Yoo Joonghyuk had been getting short flashes in his sleep of a story that couldn’t be true for how unbelievable it was.
He silently watched Kim Dokja’s sleeping face as he mulled over the contents of his dreams. It was a story where no one got sacrificed due to the help of a constellation who somehow knew the future. The behavior of the constellation in the dreams(?) confused Yoo Joonghyuk as there has never been any star that helped them without wanting anything in return. There was always a price.
At least, that was the case until this turn where Kim Dokja came into the picture. Yoo Joonghyuk could admit that the new constellation knew what he was doing most of the time, even if he’s a disaster that wants to keep dying on them. He couldn’t help but compare the dream and Kim Dokja’s actions. Their narratives were very similar, from the glimpses he’d seen.
The Yoo Joonghyuk of the dream did not choose a constellation backer in all the times it was offered during the scenarios. He also didn’t choose to become a constellation despite having the prerequisite number of Fables, one of which was a very familiar one called “King of a Kingless World” . All because of a constellation that kept giving him future information for free.
After he figured out that these dreams might be his first life when the scenarios started, the question that came to Yoo Joonghyuk now became: “Why did I choose to regress?”
If he managed to get to the end of scenarios, and from how the dream continued to play out it was completely possible, then what pushed him to go back and redo the whole apocalypse?
“If I choose ■■■ as my sponsor, w■ll I ■in■■■ ■■■ ■o ■e■■ y■■?”
[Constellation, ■■■■, is shaking his head.]
“Just ■here ■■■ ■■■ exa■tly? All the ■■■■■ in <Sta■ Str■■m> ha■e ■■■■■■, so fro■ wh■re are you w■■chi■g ov■r me?” a very much-aged Yoo Joonghyuk muttered out. “■o, w■■t. I k■o■ the t■u■■ alre■dy. Y■u are… prob■■ly b■yo■d t■at [■■■■], aren’t y■u.”
There was also that…
While most of the words from his old self were censored in his ears, he could somewhat understand what was being said. His older self wanted to meet the constellation that helped him clear everything with minimal loss. Was that really why he started this whole thing? He didn’t understand—he couldn’t remember everything clearly yet.
Yoo Joonghyuk glared at the sleeping man, wishing the other would wake up already so they can talk about this. He normally wouldn’t turn to just anyone for advice, but his companion had proven himself quite a lot of times already. There was also the thing on his attribute window…
Just as he stood to leave the room, Kim Dokja gasped and sat up abruptly in panic. Kim Dokja was about to pull off the IV drip when Yoo Joonghyuk swiftly grabbed his trembling hands.
“... Kim Dokja,” Yoo Joonghyuk called him to stop whatever the man was thinking. “Just what are you doing? Your body isn’t stabilized yet.”
Kim Dokja froze at the words and finally looked at him, mouth gaped open in surprise. Yoo Joonghyuk raised an eyebrow at him, taking in the reader’s expression. It seemed his companion thought he was dead… not that he could blame him for thinking that. Their connection was snapped rather abruptly after all.
Finally after minutes of gaping like a fish, Kim Dokja settled back down on bed, still looking at him in wonder. “When did you come here?”
“Two days ago,” he replied and crossed his arms. "You were asleep for a week."
“… How did you survive? It was a situation where you couldn’t survive.”
So Kim Dokja did believe Yoo Joonghyuk died just then. “I received a bit of help.”
“From who? Was it your sponsor?”
“That guy has never helped me once,” Yoo Joonghyuk snorted and shook his head. At least, unlike the one in his dream (or is it memory?). “A constellation helped me.”
“A constellation?” Kim Dokja asked in surprise. “Who?”
“You don’t need to know the details,” Yoo Joonghyuk frowned, not really wanting the other to know he would change gender every day until the end of the current scenario.
“What did you give in exchange? None of them would help for nothing.”
Of course, he’d be curious about the situation. Yoo Joonghyuk looked away. “I just received a slight penalty.”
“Penalty?”
“Until the Demon World scenario is over, I will disappear for 10 minutes a day.”
“Disappear? What does this mean?”
“Something like that. In any case, I have now entered the main scenario and the scenario error has been resolved. There is no need to worry about it.” Yoo Joonghyuk’s expression was nonchalant as he talked.
An awkward silence filled the treatment room. Yoo Joonghyuk stared blankly down at the table, thinking of a way to broach the subject of his dreams. Before he could start, Kim Dokja asked about the rest of their party.
“The others… are they doing well?”
“Lee Hyunsung went to the army,” Yoo Joonghyuk started talking. “Jung Heewon and Lee Jihye are training new incarnations. They are strengthening their power in preparing for future disaster scenarios.”
“…Eh?”
“Yoo Sangah and Han Sooyoung are in contact with government officials.”
“The two of them are together?” Kim Dokja exclaimed in surprise.
“Gong Pildu is buying land in Seongnam to build a huge castle. He seems to really think he is a king.”
“Haha, that ahjussi is really…”
“The two children are doing well. They seem to throw a coin every time they are bored.”
As he continued to tell the story of what everyone had been doing, Yoo Joonghyuk noticed the sad and nostalgic expression on Kim Dokja’s face. “Everybody is busy living...” the tone warned him that his companion is thinking stupid things again.
Yoo Joonghyuk frowned at the next change in Kim Dokja’s face. It’s that face again—Kim Dokja’s self-deprecating attitude showing itself. Yoo Joonghyuk needed to stop him from overthinking and so he opened his mouth.
“In addition, everyone is telling your story.” Kim Dokja raised his head at the words and stared at Yoo Joonghyuk’s impassive face. “They say it a lot. Your story.”
Kim Dokja smiled slightly and covered his eyes with his hands. It looked like Yoo Joonghyuk managed to distract him from being stupid this time around. He finished the tea before turning to the reader with a serious gaze.
“Kim Dokja, we need to talk about something.”
“Hm? What about?” Kim Dokja looked at him with surprise.
“You know of my future, correct?” Yoo Joonghyuk started, and the reader nodded slowly. Kim Dokja looked nervous as he usually did when he’s asked about his foresight. “Then, do you know of the past regressions? Specifically, the one where I got my sponsor.”
“The zeroth turn?” Kim Dokja slowly sat up and frowned. He fiddled with a smartphone and seemed to be looking for something in it. Yoo Joonghyuk gazed at the phone screen and he could recognize words written in it. He tried to look closer, but most of the words looked censored. “I don’t have much information about it, but what did you want to know?”
Yoo Joonghyuk pursed his lips and thought. So Kim Dokja did have a lot of information that was specifically about him. “Do you know if there was anything that talked about a constellation that kept helping me by giving away free information?”
Kim Dokja stopped scrolling whatever it was on his phone and looked at him in surprise. “There was no such thing from what I know,” he said slowly, seemingly contemplating what to tell him. “But my information of that turn is very limited so I’m unsure if that happened in your past.”
Yoo Joonghyuk frowned. “Kim Dokja,” the man looked at him warily. “Give me your phone, I want to check something.”
“What?” Kim Dokja didn’t manage to stop him from grabbing the device. Yoo Joonghyuk ignored his flailing and turned the phone screen on—there was a text file open. He skimmed through the massively censored story and furrowed his brows again. “What the hell are you up to now?” Kim Dokja grouched but surprisingly didn’t fight him for it, likely assuming he wouldn’t be able to read anything.
It took Yoo Joonghyuk almost half an hour before he looked up from the phone and stared at Kim Dokja who had already laid back down on the bed. “Is this a story about me?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about—”
“Answer me, Kim Dokja.”
“What will you do if you don’t like the answer?”
“... I won’t kill you if that’s what you’re worried about,” Yoo Joonghyuk relents but doesn’t take back his question. He needs to know—he’s been thinking over this since the first vision and figuring out the context of each. “Then, am I just a character to you?”
Kim Dokja’s eyes widened before he shook his head. “N-no! Of course not!”
“Then answer me,” Yoo Joonghyuk crowded Kim Dokja in his sickbed and stared him in the eye. “Do you know my story? Both past and future?”
“I…” Kim Dokja gulped, unable to look away from his fierce gaze. “Yes…” he says weakly.
The regressor pulled away with a satisfied nod and looked down at the phone. “I can read bits and pieces of what you have on your phone,” he told his companion who stiffened under him.
“Star Stream was censoring my phone to others when the scenarios just started…” Kim Dokja looked down at the phone in his hand. “I believed only I could read the contents… how did you…?”
Yoo Joonghyuk sat down on the bed and kept scrolling through the phone to read what he could. “I started having dreams of what I presume is the start of my regressions,” he explained to the confused reader.
“The zeroth turn was never really told in the story…” Kim Dokja stated as he gazed at the protagonist with unsure eyes.
“If I am merely a character from this novel you read,” Yoo Joonghyuk turned to his companion, “then how have I started getting memories of that turn?”
“I don’t know…”
“It started after you called me your incarnation.”
“... huh?”
“Does the number 1864 mean anything to you?”
Kim Dokja had his overthinking expression on. Yoo Joonghyuk waited patiently—the man was the only one who may have a clue of what’s happening. “It would’ve been your next regression…” he finally said.
“Then, can you see my attribute window?”
Kim Dokja looked confused for a moment before he turned on his attribute reading skill. The man’s eyes widened at whatever he saw on his profile.
“What do you see?” Yoo Joonghyuk asked, already knowing what’s written within the [Sponsor] and [Attribute] part of his status.
“... how?”
“I was hoping you would know,” Yoo Joonghyuk sighed, but didn't push any further. They have other things to worry about now instead of this mystery of his sponsor. “Let’s go back to Earth, Kim Dokja.”
Kim Dokja was silent for a while and looked to be thinking hard on the subject. “… I can’t go back now.”
“I see,” Yoo Joonghyuk answered as he already knew what the man planned. He looked at the phone again and skimmed through one of his ‘future’ regression details. He was starting to get visions of memories again—and it wasn’t just about the zeroth turn, but about what he was reading.
“…Yoo Joonghyuk, did you bring the Uriel doll?” Kim Dokja eyed the phone but still didn’t take it from the regressor. Yoo Joonghyuk silently pulled out the doll at the question and handed it over to the reader who carefully examined it.
“Are you going to take part in the Demon King Selection?” Yoo Joonghyuk asked as he continued to read about the near future scenarios.
“…That’s right. I’m sorry for the party members but I have to get a Great Fable here,” Kim Dokja spoke while carefully fixing Uriel’s torn arm. “This way, I can prepare for the future destruction scenarios.”
Yoo Joonghyuk hummed in thought. From what he could read on the reader’s future knowledge, getting a Great Fable this early in the scenarios will help them a lot. He stared at Kim Dokja for a moment. “It isn’t a bad idea.”
“What are you going to do?” Kim Dokja asked curiously.
“I'm going to stay in the Demon World for a while,” Yoo Joonghyuk explained. He couldn’t leave due to the penalty scenario anyway.
“Really? If you don’t mind, why don’t you help me out?”
Yoo Joonghyuk stared at him before he sighed heavily. “Fine. I understand what your ‘future sight’ is now,” he said with another sigh, “therefore, tell me whatever you have planned. We will plan things together. Got it?”
Kim Dokja gaped at him as if he couldn’t believe what he said. Yoo Joonghyuk had the brief urge to hit the reader. “Wait… were you also planning to participate in the Demon King Selection?”
“I was going to, since you made me into a Duke without my consent,” Yoo Joonghyuk raised an eyebrow at him. Kim Dokja sputtered and started to complain, but he cut him off before he could spout nonsense. “But instead I’ll make you into a real demon king. I can’t have my sponsor’s status be weaker than myself.”
Kim Dokja shamelessly pouted at the words and looked away. “Damn protagonist bastard… not my fault I’m not overpowered like you are.”
Yoo Joonghyuk smirked at the muttered grievances. He nudged the reader, dangling the phone in front of him. “What did you have planned for the selection?”
Kim Dokja pouted and snatched the phone from him. “I plan to use whatever constellation or nebula will come to mess with us to germinate the Great Fable. Considering the movement of the other two dukes, we already know what nebulas we’re going to fight.”
“Has this happened in any of my regressions?” Yoo Joonghyuk asked, a little curious. “It feels like you orchestrated the events to specifically get here after getting expelled from the scenarios.”
The reader bit his lip and the regressor could clearly see the conflicting thoughts in his mind. “I didn’t plan to die, if that’s what you're asking,” he sighed eventually. “The nebulas forced my hand. However, I did plan to get the story here when I figured expulsion was inevitable.”
“I see,” the regressor nodded thoughtfully. “Kim Dokja.”
“Yeah?” the reader was already scrolling through the phone text file—probably reading about their next plan of actions.
“You don’t have to do anything alone anymore,” Yoo Joonghyuk placed his hand on top of the reader’s. “Don’t go to a place I can’t follow—not when I’ve finally found you.”
Kim Dokja stared at the regressor’s eyes with his own quivering ones. “Yoo Joonghyuk… I…”
“Let’s get to the end of scenarios together,” Yoo Joonghyuk declared with finality. Kim Dokja uncontrollably shivered and he hoped the reader finally understood him. “Don’t die on me again.”
“... I can’t promise that.”
Yoo Joonghyuk glared at him, once again pulling the phone away from his stupid companion. “There are always other ways to do scenarios. You have plenty of information to look through—it doesn’t have to end in a sacrifice like you’ve been doing.”
Kim Dokja grimaced and sighed, sounding ever suffering. “…fine… I’ll try.”
“I suppose that’s the best I can get from you for now,” the regressor sighed and got up to go to the window, frowning at the skies. “Our time to chat is over. They’re coming.”
A cold surged from outside the window as Aileen and Mark ran through the door of the treatment room. Even without listening to them, both already knew what’s going on. It was because Biyoo had woken up and was staring at Kim Dokja nervously.
[The constellation ‘Founder of Humanity’ is looking at the Yoo Joonghyuk Industrial Complex.]
[The constellation ‘The Last Pharaoh’ is looking at the Yoo Joonghyuk Industrial Complex.]
[The constellations of certain nebulae are looking at the Yoo Joonghyuk Industrial Complex.]
More than a dozen stars twinkled in the sky and one of them let out an intense burst of light and sparks. After a while, a huge shape started to appear at the entrance of the industrial complex.
It was the direct descent of an incarnation body. It was a giant mummy with a golden crown on its head. The height surpassed the walls and the incarnations in the industrial complex started screaming. This constellation belonged to Papyrus who joined hands with the Duke Bercan.
Yoo Joonghyuk spoke amusedly, “…I guess they have come to protest.”
There was no need to ask what the protest was about. It was already the prelude to the Demon King Selection.