Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint Novel MTL - Chapter 592

Chapter 592

592 Episode 8. Representative Kim Dokja (2)

“Did… did you just say Jiyoon?”

At the uncle’s question, Ye Hyunwoo’s expression grew guarded.

“What about it?”

“Jiyoon! Do you know Jiyoon?”

“She’s a friend of mine. Why?”

“Where is Jiyoon right now?”

Startled by the sudden intensity, Ye Hyunwoo glanced over at me.

I tried to soothe the uncle as his breathing grew ragged.

“His daughter’s name is ‘No Jiyoon’.”

Ye Hyunwoo’s eyes went wide.

“No Jiyoon? Seriously?”

His gaze shifted uncertainly between me and the uncle before he spoke in a careful tone.

“But it might just be someone with the same name…”

“Hyunwoo-ssi, is your friend the same Jiyoon who always said she would marry Yoo Joonghyuk one day?”

When I asked, Ye Hyunwoo nodded, looking stunned.

“Huh? Yeah. Wow, so you really are Jiyoon’s father. But if you’re here, then that means Omniscient Reader’s…”

“Where is Jiyoon now?”

This was the first person he had met who knew his daughter in this world. Dansoo uncle was nearly breathless with urgency.

“I’m sorry… I haven’t seen Jiyoon since I arrived here either.”

“Ah…”

“But Jiyoon must be here somewhere. I was pulled into the theater with her.”

At the mention of the theater, Kyung Sein spoke up.

“Were you at ‘Kim Dokja’s Banquet’ too?”

“Yes. You as well?”

“I was there too…”

It seemed most readers from the theater had been drawn into this world.

Even Dansoo uncle added his own experience.

“I was in the hospital when I was suddenly brought here…”

He had been taken even though he wasn’t at the theater. Perhaps not only the theater attendees had come.

Ye Hyunwoo let out a sigh and continued.

“If I’d known this would happen, I never would’ve gone. I was having a great time until I got the quiz right. I was really looking forward to the prize for answering that difficult question…”

“What did you get right?”

“Well, the meaning of 1,863…”

“Oh, so you were the 7th Apostle.”

I had a vague memory of it.

The person who confidently linked Yoo Joonghyuk’s regressions to the year the first subway line opened.

Maybe the girl sitting next to him was the one who asked if Kim Dokja came back to life.

Could that girl have been Jiyoon?

Ye Hyunwoo sighed habitually and glanced toward Yoo Joonghyuk, who was still walking along the railroad tracks.

“I lost sight of Jiyoon when we got separated then. I thought for sure she’d be with Yoo Joonghyuk by now… She doesn’t seem to be in Jihye.”

Dansoo uncle’s face fell at the casual remark.

“Still, if it’s Jiyoon, she’s tough. She’s alive somewhere, so don’t worry too much. There’s no way a girl like that would die. She’s read the Book of Revelation more times than I have.”

I paused when I heard that.

Jiyoon had read it more than fifty times?

As if trying to lighten the mood, Ye Hyunwoo offered a faint smile.

“Anyway, it’s amazing you’ve made it this far already. I read it fifty times and was lucky to start near Chungmuro, but you guys…”

“We began at Geumho Station.”

“Wow, ‘Geumho Station’? Well, since you’re ‘Cheon Inho’… You must have met Jung Heewon there too, right?”

“Yes.”

Jung Heewon was talking with Lee Jihye a short distance away. It looked like Lee Jihye had been the one to start the conversation.

“That’s really unusual. Jung Heewon teaming up with Cheon Inho… Is this storyline even possible?”

When he asked me that, I had no answer.

I supposed it was a novel development.

“Anyway, I’m relieved to see other Apostles. It was really tough when Killer King showed up with a bunch of kids from the Misreading Association.”

Hearing that reminded me of the outer species corpses at the tunnel entrance. Apparently, that was the work of Ye Hyunwoo and Gong Pildu.

“Did the Misreading Association attack here too?”

“You’ve already met them, I take it?”

“Thanks to Killer King.”

“Ugh, that jerk… Anyway, they came here too. Seems they prepared a lot for this early rush. Of course, I think they seriously underestimated the third stage of my Invincible Castellan tech tree.”

Ye Hyunwoo seemed particularly fond of Gong Pildu and spent a while telling us about his Plan to Raise an Invisible Castellan at Home.

I’m not sure how long he talked.

“I want to go home.”

It felt like a thorn had pierced my heart.

I didn’t know how much time had passed, but Ye Hyunwoo had tears in his eyes.

It suddenly hit me that Ye Hyunwoo was the same age as Jiyoon.

On the surface, everyone seemed excited to be inside a novel, but no one could truly want to be in an apocalypse like this.

Kyung Sein clenched her fists, and Dansoo uncle, who had been sitting, stood and put a comforting hand on the boy’s shoulder.

Just then, a voice came from behind us.

“Stop chatting and get over here, kid.”

Ye Hyunwoo hurried over and sat beside Gong Pildu. As he sniffled, Gong Pildu shot me a murderous glare.

He was only a teenager. A child like that had endured the first and second scenarios and survived to reach this point.

I wanted to say something to him. That he would get home safely. That everything would be okay.

But who was I to make such promises?

Tsuchuchuchut.

Everyone’s pockets vibrated simultaneously.

One by one, with slight delays, we pulled out our phones.

And then.

“Inho-ssi.”

Kyung Sein’s voice was tense.

She wasn’t the only one. Dansoo uncle and even Ye Hyunwoo, next to Gong Pildu, wore similar expressions.

The same message was on everyone’s screen.

—It’s been a while. Dear readers.

A message from RepresentativeKimDokja.

“This, right now—”

I quickly scanned our surroundings.

I had to see if we were the only ones looking at our phones.

“Let’s read it first.”

I opened the message.

—Hello, dear readers. By now, you’re either on the second scenario or, if you’re quick, already on the third.

—You’ve all survived well. Of course, some of you haven’t, but what can I do? You should’ve read it harder.

The strangely cold way of speaking.

Was this really a message from the ‘RepresentativeKimDokja’ I knew?

—I’m sure you’re all wondering. Why me? Did I do something wrong to be transmigrated into this world? Was it because I read that damn novel? But I didn’t even say anything bad about it. Who the hell put me in this world and why?

A sudden sense of foreboding washed over me.

“Everyone! If you haven’t read the message yet—”

But I didn’t get to finish.

—I’m sure you’re frustrated. So, for those readers who have made it this far, I thought I’d give a little presentation on why you were brought to this world, and.

Tsuchuchuchut— I watched as Kyung Sein, Dansoo uncle, and Ye Hyunwoo dropped one after another, like puppets with their strings cut.

—What you must accomplish to return to your original world.

My own vision went black.

—See you soon then.

—

A dark tunnel.

The woman in the white coat, who had been watching Chungmuro Station with a lollipop in her mouth, sprang to her feet.

“Hey, mark everyone whose phone just went off.”

[The constellation ‘Sneaking Schemer’ asks what is wrong with them.]

“They’re all possessed. And also.”

The woman added, checking the faces of Cheon Inho and his group as they collapsed one by one.

“Track the coordinates of the new subspace. Find out where their souls have been summoned. Now.”

—

When I opened my eyes, I was lying in a spacious lobby. As I got up, my eye level felt strangely familiar.

Slowly, my vision adjusted, taking in the surroundings.

The dark ticket booth and unmanned concession stand.

It was the theater at Chungmuro.

Approaching the concession stand, I saw a reflection in the black screen.

It was my face. Not Cheon Inho’s face, but Lee Hakhyun’s.

A laugh escaped me, followed by a wave of sorrow. An overwhelming relief washed over me, mixed with a regret I couldn’t name.

Maybe it had all been a dream.

After all, transmigrating into a novel wasn’t real. Something like a web novel couldn’t just happen to me.

Then the ceiling lights blazed to life.

A brilliant pillar of light descended, and people began appearing one after another.

“Uaaaah!”

“What is this!”

Some screamed, while others looked around calmly.

They materialized in an instant.

I realized who they were.

「 Readers. 」

The readers who had been transmigrated into the novel with me. Seeing them made it clear.

We had all been summoned here, just as we were in our original world.

I quickly counted. Roughly, there seemed to be over a hundred.

Apparently, there were more possessed people from other places, not just the theater.

I had counted about a hundred and twenty when I noticed a familiar head in the crowd.

I didn’t recognize the others, but I knew them.

“Sein-ssi.”

“Huh? Who is it?”

The surprised man turned toward me, and I saw his name tag.

[JudgeHeewon].

He seemed to recognize my name tag too.

“I-Inho-ssi? It’s Inho-ssi, right!”

“Yes.”

“Uaaah! Inho-ssi!”

Kyung Sein rushed over and hugged me tightly.

I gently pushed him back and asked.

“Have you seen the others?”

“Well, I don’t know what the others really look like.”

That was true.

As people began to understand the situation, calls started to ring out around the room.

“Mijin-ah! Seo Mijin!”

“JihyesLove-nim! Is JihyesLove-nim here?”

“NamwoonsMom-nim!”

Then I remembered there was someone I needed to find too. This might be my only chance.

“Sein-ssi. I need to go look for someone.”

“What? Inho-ssi! Wait!”

I pushed through the crowd, checking every face.

“Ji Eunyoo-ssi! Is Ji Eunyoo-ssi here?”

Ji Eunyoo, my assignment editor.

The one who brought me to this theater. She must have transmigrated too, since she read Omniscient Reader and answered the quiz correctly.

“Ji Eunyoo-ssi!”

But there was no sign of Ji Eunyoo.

Had she not been summoned yet?

Or…

I bit my lip hard. This was ‘Ji Eunyoo’. She had probably read the novel more times than I had.

There was no way Ji Eunyoo hadn’t survived.

Then I heard a familiar name.

“Jiyoon-ah…… Jiyoon-ah!”

A well-dressed middle-aged man was on his knees, calling out desperately.

“Ahjussi.”

As I approached, the man looked up. It wasn’t a face I knew, but the moment I saw his eyes, I was certain.

“Inho…… Mate?”

It was unmistakably Dansoo uncle.

“Yes.”

The real-life Dansoo uncle was as handsome as his novel counterpart.

The only difference was that this man was deathly pale, looking ready to collapse, and his body was as thin as a dried branch.

“I’m sorry, mate, Jiyoon. Jiyoon, please…”

Dansoo uncle fainted after saying those words. His forehead was burning with fever. I quickly lifted him onto my back. He was as light as a child.

I looked around anxiously.

Should I take him to a hospital?

But there was no way to get there.

The theater’s exits and elevators were blocked by translucent barriers.

This wasn’t the ‘theater’ we knew, but a temporary subspace created by someone.

There was no way out.

There was only one thing I could do now.

“Jiyoon-ah! No Jiyoon!”

I began shouting at the top of my lungs. Kyung Sein, who had caught up, understood and started calling for Jiyoon with me.

“Jiyoon-ah, where are you!”

Time and again, I saw girls who looked Jiyoon’s age, but I couldn’t find her.

Soon, all the pillars of light vanished.

The summoning was finally over.

The next moment, I froze, feeling an immense pressure. It was hard to breathe, and my head spun.

「 Something is watching us. 」

I forced my head up, fighting against the weight.

Since when had he been there?

Someone was floating near the theater’s ceiling.

【Let’s see. You’re all here at last.】

Dressed in a white coat similar to Kim Dokja’s and wearing trademark sunglasses, he addressed us.

【Welcome to ‘Kim Dokja’s Banquet’. Everyone.】

RepresentativeKimDokja.

The one who had summoned us to this world.