Chapter Text
Kim Dokja was reading again. That's all he really did these days. That's all he could do these days. Read again and again and again.
But he had to do it. He had to make it up them. He's made them suffer long enough. Besides they still have 49%. Sometimes he finds himself jealous of his other self, but alas that's his ■■.
He was about to go back to reading when a bright red light illuminated the cabin. A flashing system window appeared in front of him.
[ERROR!!]
[E!ROR!]
[Ki mDo kja! !]
The fourth wall's distorted voice filled his ear.
[Som ethin gis wr ong!!]
It sounded urgent. But he didn’t have time to ponder on that as the subway started violently shaking.
Kim Dokja fell from his seat, and just as he was about to get back up, he felt a weightless sensation.
He was falling, no rather the train was falling.
‘but how? Is it even possible?’ he wondered. However he didn’t get his answer as something hit his head.
‘I must have bumped it on something while falling’ he reasoned as he let the urge to close his eyes win.
[K IM DO KJA!! !]
Cale was following behind Tasha through the Land Of Death. He was getting kind of tired. Even with his increased speed due to the Way Of The Wind, they’ve been running for good few hours.
He was gazing at the sky hoping that looking at it would somehow help them get to the Dark Elf Village faster.
Just then something fell from the sky. Was it a... shooting star? No, it was the middle of the day... and that something was falling towards near them too!
-Human what’s that in the sky?- the redhead heard Raon’s voice in his head. He himself didn’t know. The novel never mentioned meteorites.
“Hey, what is that?” Cale pointed towards the object in the sky. His party stopped and looked at it.
“Huh I’ve never seen this before..” Tasha said.
“Cale-nim we should get away! It’s going to fall near us!” Choi Han said.
“Yes, let’s go!”
The thing was now very near. Cale could make out the general shape of it.
And then finally the mysterious object fell with a loud sound following it’s crash. The black dragon put magic shields around them.
Once the dust has settled, they saw whatever mysterious object had been. He saw Choi Han stiffen, his eyes filled with recognition and nostalgia.
And he could understand why. It was a.... subway? How did a subway from the modern world get here? Was it the same situation as Choi Han? But why the subway then? Does that mean that it was full of people from Earth on the inside? Are they even alive? The Fall was great and so was the impact, what are the chances that whoever was there are alive? Cale did not want to see a sea of corpses today, thank you.
But it had to be investigated. As they got closer, Ron took out his dagger and tensed visibly.
‘this aura..! It's like the thing in there has killed millions of people!’ The old man thought.
They finally opened the door and were left in a stunned silence. Instead of seeing some kind of dangerous and terrifying monster or a sea of mangled bodies, they were met with a man, or rather a barely adult boy. He looked 20 at most. He was clutching something to his chest.
He had a lean physique, too lean for Cale’s liking. He looked malnourished. Looking at him, it brought back Cale’s own memories of his childhood.
His clothes were also unusual, a long white coat , with black pants and shirt underneath. They looked a bit too big for him, which only highlighted his unhealthily thin form.
Then Cale’s eyes wondered to the face. It looked ethereal. His ink black hair made for a striking contrast with his pale unblemished skin. His thin lips, opening slightly to ease the airflow through the body.
Though when the red head looked closer at the side of the mysterious man’s head, he saw a flicker of red. Blood.
He quickly hurried over to the man’s side to check on him. He kneeled next to him and turned his head. It was bleeding extensively.
That seemed to snap his companions out of their trance. They rushed in to help him.
“Cale-nim!”
“Young master!”
“Young master-nim!”
“Cale-nya!”
-Human, who is that?! His mana feels weird, I haven’t seen anything like this yet!
That’s weird. The black dragon has already seen both mana and dead mana. He should be able to recognise what mana it was.
Haaaaaaaaa-
He learnt something he shouldn’t again. He could feel his slacker life slipping away.
“We need to get him to the city fast!”
Tasha was right. Head injuries were a big gamble. It’s hard to tell if it’s bad at first, and Cale wasn’t about to take chances. He grabbed the phone that the man was clutching, and quickly got to action.
“Beacrox carry him with you!”
Beacrox took out a pair of white gloves and picked up the unknown man. He was surprisingly light and bony. That made the cook’s brows furrow.
“let’s get going! It’s not far!”
They resumed running with a new purpose. After a while, they stopped in the middle of the desert.
“We’re here” Said Tasha as her wind elemental swept the sand away to reveal an opening. The elf pulled it open and jumped into the hole.
“Beacrox you take him down next.” Said Cale.
Beacrox approached the hole and very carefully, as to not make the injury worse, jumped in.
The City of Death was mesmerising. It looked nothing like what the name might imply. It was filled with nature.
“Let’s go quickly!!”
When they finally arrived in the hospital and layed the boy out on the bed, they could finally see his face in more detail.
He had nice soft features, small lips, a cute button nose and closed eyes. He was pale. Really, unnaturally pale. It was like he hasn’t been outside in years, but if that was the case he’d at least still have some blush. With how his skin looked now, he looked dead.
“Luckily the injury wasn't fatal, but I’m really concerned about his state. He’s malnourished but still has some muscle. I unfortunately can’t tell his age but he looks about 20, poor thing”
The doctor explained. It just confirmed Cale’s suspicions. He frowned.
Just then the crazy priestess Cage spoke up.
“that’s weird....”
“what do you mean?” Cale hoped that nothing was wrong. He did not want to learn another useless and potentially dangerous thing.
“He’s got the aura of the God of Death around him. But it’s not a curse, it’s something else but I just can’t put my finger on it...” She said with a thoughtful expression.
‘oh no...’ It seems that his worst frear came to pass. He then made up his mind to just make sure this guy was ok and dip. He’s already meddled in far too much stuff that could threaten his beloved slacker life.
Just then, he heard a groan. He turned and what greeted him where eyes dark like the deepest abyss, but somehow filled endlessly with stars.
It felt like looking into an endless void that just drew you in like a black hole, and when you finally realised what was happening it was too late to turn back.
The boy has finally woken up.
-------------------------------------------
Kim Dokja opened his eyes in a modern office.
[Ki mDok ja!]
The fourth wall spoke. It sounded.... panicked? That’s weird. Did something happen?
The memories hit him like a train (haha get it?).
The subway!
It somehow fell!
So then we’re was he now?
They're his companions ok? He has to get back!
“Oh so you’re finally awake”
He looked around and saw a handsome man with white hair and dark skin.
“took you long enough to notice me.”
“Who are you?!” Kim Dokja asked still in a bit of a panicked state.
“I should be the one asking that! How did you get here with out any god’s power? That should he impossible! Unless...”
The guy seemed to have realised something. He was staring at him with a nervous curiosity.
“You’re also a God. But you’d have to have immense power to traverse the universes!”
[WH OA RE YOU!!?]
Kim Dokja winced at fourth wall’s annoying voice. Couldn’t it have been a bit quieter? But then again he was also really curious about that guy’s identity.
The other guy, some god, looked around with panic.
‘Ah so he can hear it too’ Kim Dokja thought.
“What’s that?!?!”
[An swear th eque stion!]
Kim Dokja realised some of his status to intimidate him further. It seemed to have worked. He was now squirming in his seat.
“I-I’m the God of Death of this world, I swear I don’t mean any harm!”
[The skill ‘lie detector’ has confirmed these words as truth]
‘Hmmmm so this world has gods... Are they like the constellations of his world? Just watching the suffering of others, treating it like entertainment.’ But wasn’t he the same? After all he did read TWSA and made the apocalypse happen.
“So tell me how can I get back to my own universe?”
“Well…. About that….” The God of Death hesitated.
“Since I don’t really know how you got here in the first place, I can’t really send you back” he said with an awkward expression on his face.
Kim Dokja stared at him, realising more of his status. So he was just gonna be stuck here for however long?! What about his companions?! Can he still do his job as The Oldest Dream in this universe?
“W-well you could always investigate on you own!” The god said nervously.
“I guess that may actually work…” he can just farm probability while he’s here and read the stories from his world.
“Well then I think you should get going!” the god was visibly just trying to get rid of him, but Kim Dokja guessed he was right.
He felt his consciousness slip away.
*
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*
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When he woke up he was surrounded by some strange people.
There was a redhead whose beauty could stand head to head with Yoo Joonghyuk’s or even Jiang Hayoung’s. Around him were two dark skinned women, who could slap Yoo Joonghyuk’s face at least once, quite an intimidating man with dark circles under his eyes and a black haired guy, who looked the most out of place among the group because of his black hair and dark eyes. He looked Korean.
His head begun to hurt. He groaned.
That seemed to alert the people, as every head turned to him.
“Ah, you’re finally awake! That’s quite a bit earlier than I expected!” one of the ladies ran up to him.
“Where am I..?” Kim Dokja asked.
“You’re in the City of Life sweetie!” the other dark skinned women replied.
“The City of Life?”