Han Sooyoung looked at me. Then she let out a short, amused laugh and answered.“You tell good lies, don’t you.”So it still didn’t work.Well, of course—of all people, Han Sooyoung would not fail to recognize ‘Kim Dokja.’From the tips of her fingers, tales flowed without end and warmed the air around us. It felt as cozy as when, in the snowy fields, Kim Dokja had handed me a hot cup of tea.“How did you get here?”There was only one way to come here from the scenario region, Earth.“Did you cross over the Great Hall?”To risk one’s life and cross the Great Hall.But why had she—For what reason?Instead of answering, Han Sooyoung looked up at the sky.Something like an opaque barrier drifted between the jet-black heavens. Things stirred against that veil as if using it for cover.I knew at once what they were.Divine beings from another world.And not the low-grade kinds I had seen before.These were higher-tier entities I’d never encountered.There wasn’t just one.Their numbers were so vast they could cover the whole sky.If even one of them descended before me, I’d probably spew blood from my mouth and die on the spot.“Don’t worry. They can’t get through.”Han Sooyoung added the words without a shadow of fear.“Even if this place is on the periphery of the scenario, any being above a certain rank can’t pass the ‘Void Veil.’ And—”As she finished speaking, something began to push through the veil.A long tentacle pressed against the edge of the barrier and burst out like a cyst, and a thunderous roar came from beyond the opaque veil.I saw a wave form of magical power cutting across the opacity.Trajectories that recalled a meteor shower.Where those paths struck, the otherworldly divine beings screamed, then recoiled or disintegrated.“There’s someone holding them back, too.”An unshakable depth of trust trembled in Han Sooyoung’s voice.I thought I knew who was fighting those divine beings beyond the veil.“Lee Hakhyun, wasn’t it?”I nodded as I said it.“Did you introduce yourselves?”“Do I have to say my name for you to know it? You know mine too.”True enough.We had never once given each other our names.Even so, we already knew one another.Our stories had told each other about us.“Names matter. Every tale needs a name to be complete.”[The Tale, ‘Omniscient Reader’ resonates.]The sentences she wrote and the sentences I penned chattered as they drifted in the air.“‘Being an author doesn’t mean you perfectly control your novel. When you look back, you find so many holes. Reading is, in the end, the work of connecting those irregular holes yourself.’”Those sentences burned in the air and radiated a gentle warmth. In this place without any scenario, that single story shielded us from the cold.“I don’t know what you mean.”“…In time, you can see what you wrote as if someone else wrote it. Ultimately, everyone becomes a stranger to themselves.”Han Sooyoung lit the tales as if striking matches, one by one, and their heat spread.I couldn’t ask whether it was all right.Of course it wouldn’t be all right.So I said something else.“I had fun back then.”How did my answer sound to her?Her pupils flickered for the briefest moment.“You remember?”“How could I forget.”In any sense, it had been my memory.In a previous life I had lived those days; in this life I had written them.So I had lived them twice—once living, once writing.And now, by reading them, I lived them a third time.Watching the tales flow wordlessly, I asked.Don’t you feel it’s a pity?Han Sooyoung puckered her lips and said,“It’s okay now. Because you read it.”I nodded.“Kim Dokja has a good memory, after all.”“Mm.”Once more we became readers and watched the sentences reconcile and die in flames.Within those lines, Kim Dokja was king of a kingless world, one who stood against miracles, who slew the calamity king and the otherworldly divinities, who was also a demon-lord of salvation.“That damned salvation. Goddamn salvation.”I couldn’t help the short, involuntary laugh that escaped me. Han Sooyoung smiled faintly as well.Regardless of our laughter, the story of Kim Dokja continued.He liberated the industrial districts, confronted the Zodiac, opposed the seats of the Gastronomy Council.He visited the island of the Reincarnators, freed forgotten tales, and was acknowledged by the final dragon of the apocalypse.Throughout, Kim Dokja was called by many names.We murmured those names on the tip of our tongues and, as if we were a single reader, shared all those narratives together.“Lee Hakhyun.”When I turned my head, the tales burning like a hearth danced in her eyes.“‘Kim Dokja! Say something too! When will you feel like this again?’”“‘I—I’m the protagonist!’”I knew what she would say.“Could I be called ‘Kim Dokja’ one more time?”I forced a bitter smile.I was about to tell her to go ahead.I am the best liar in the world, after all.But then—“Kim Dokja, I’m sorry.”The words stopped me.Why was this person apologizing to me? For what reason?A dizziness stabbed through my head. A box of memories sunk deep in my mind opened, and scenes from the past rose in a rush.“‘Kim Dokja, I’m sorry.’”Han Sooyoung in the 49% memories spoke the words.I meant to ask if we had said this before.But Han Sooyoung spoke faster than I could.“I wanted to say it so many times, but you know I’m not good at apologizing.”I looked at that Han Sooyoung.“In the 1,865th run, it took the party two years to see the end of the scenario.”During those two years, Han Sooyoung had been with my previous self—49% Kim Dokja.We had gone through many things while breaking through countless scenarios.“What are you apologizing for?”“Well…”“You tried to cut my throat?”Toward the bowed Han Sooyoung, the Kim Dokja of that life said,“Don’t worry. When haven’t we tried not to kill each other?”“That was then. Now—”“If I were you, I would have done the same. If a Han Sooyoung suddenly claimed she’d plagiarized the Annihilation Method, I’d have cut her throat right away.”“Hey, still—”Two years is no small span. We had countless conversations in that time. Countless near-deaths. We had eaten Yu Joonghyuk’s cooking together.“Even so, I did nearly kill you, so that’s certain.”In that world, 49% Kim Dokja took what the original Kim Dokja should have taken.We went to the Han River and the sea with our companions, ate chicken and pizza.We couldn’t live together in a huge house, but we lived that world in a definite shape. Together, we saw another world to its conclusion.At the end of that world, Han Sooyoung had said,“I’ll die for you once too.”The past version of her said it as if she had many lives to spare, and that very woman stood before me now.“Sorry.”She repeated the apology once more, as if she had never apologized before.Why?Hadn’t all of that ended in the 1,865th run?“When I first used the Avatar, I created a clone… I must have given it too much memory and lost control, so I couldn’t retrieve it.”Only when I watched the tales collapse into sparks before my eyes did I suddenly realize.I see. She—“I don’t know. But since I’m fine now, it must have been nothing important.”She had lost that memory.“It’s all my fault.”And so she had become someone who could never forgive herself forever.I stopped mid-sentence, uncertain what to say.Today’s me and yesterday’s me are different. Between 49% Kim Dokja and I there lay an even thicker wall of today and yesterday.After an immeasurable time, Kim Dokja became me.How much of my previous self could I now represent?“This isn’t me asking for forgiveness. You know me. I’ve always been this kind of person.”If Han Sooyoung did not remember those words, perhaps silence would be better for her now.“Sorry about that too.”We paused and watched the flames of the tales.Suddenly everything felt ridiculous.No one exists as a full hundred percent. She had lost memories; I could not fully recall my previous life either.We who resembled each other oddly now spoke on behalf of our past selves that no longer existed.“You tried to kill me, didn’t you.”Can one human truly forgive another?“Yeah.”Can past wrongdoing be forgiven in the future?Could the Kim Dokja who had tried to kill become Lee Hakhyun now?“That is—”Perhaps forgiveness would be very easy.Like Yu Joonghyuk, who tried to kill Kim Dokja and yet was forgiven, as if nothing had happened.But I could tell.What Han Sooyoung wanted now was not that.“I can’t forgive. You know that, right?”Han Sooyoung smiled.“Right.”As if she were finally satisfied with the idea of never being forgiven.“‘Do you think I’m some emotionless monster?’”I saw Han Sooyoung running through the flames toward the demon-lord of salvation.I began to worry.Even for Han Sooyoung, losing more tales now would be dangerous.“Hey.”Kugugugug.It was then that an anomaly occurred in the sky.Something was bursting out near the Void Veil that had rippled earlier.Han Sooyoung shook her head and tried to reassure me.“Don’t worry. Like I said—”A faint tearing sound came from the veil, and something actually burst forth.Too small a frame for an otherworldly divinity.Something humanlike unfolded black wings in the void.“Han Sooyoung.”Her expression hardened.“That is—”The human-shaped divinity that spread its wings in the heavens dove straight toward us. Small in body, but its rank did not feel weak.But the Void Veil is a barrier governed by plausibility. Absolute beings of overwhelming rank could never cross it.What if there were an entity capable of adjusting its rank to pass through the veil?[O O O O O O O]A chilling cry sounded.I hadn’t expected to meet an ‘otherworldly divinity’ in a place without a scenario.“I know what that guy is.”Its appearance was a human skull.On closer inspection, it had all sorts of cultural accessories hanging from its neck and arms, clinking ornaments that jingled whenever its wings moved.Tssstt!A diamond gleamed brightly at the center of the crown it wore on its head.Only then did I realize its identity.“It’s the one who created the Absolute Throne.”The reason it came down beneath the Void Veil was clear: to find a proxy who would inherit its throne. In other words—“Yu Joonghyuk.”It felt as if scattered puzzle pieces in my head snapped into place.Could it be that this forty-first run had [N O V E L I G H T] been ruined because—“You.”Han Sooyoung stepped forward and spoke.“You said you wanted to stop this world from perishing.”A strange heat thrummed in her voice. Standing beside her, an unreadable smile played at her mouth.“Even if Yu Joonghyuk sits on the Absolute Throne, there might be a way for this world not to perish.”In the forty-first run, Yu Joonghyuk had sent a message through the calamity Shin Yooseung.He had said that using the Absolute Throne could never yield a correct ending.Because the Absolute Throne is itself a passage linked to otherworldly divinities.If so—“Could that be possible?”What if we eliminated the reason the Absolute Throne was the Absolute Throne?“It’s possible. If I help.”I slowly gripped the hilt of my sword as I watched the otherworldly divinity descend through the air.There were two authors here.But only one sentence needed to be written.“‘Here, kill the Founder of the Absolute Throne.’”

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