Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint Novel MTL - Chapter 613

Chapter 613

613 Episode 12 □□ (4)

I finally comprehend the sight before me.

[The great story ‘Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’ has commenced its narration!]

It is a tale beyond the conclusion, one still unknown to the world. The imagery, which had only ever existed within the minds of its readers, was now materializing before my eyes.

Its opening line was:

「 Han Sooyoung blinked in confusion. 」

Han Sooyoung blinked, utterly bewildered.

What in the world was happening?

「 This is a story for a single reader. 」

The very sentence she had just thought hung in the air before her. Han Sooyoung retraced the events of just moments ago.

Yoo Jonghyuk had returned from his long journey across the stars, and their stories, which they believed were lost, had been restored. The system was active once more. <Kim Dokja’s Company> was whole again. They had been standing before the hospital room they had visited every day for four years. Everyone had reached for the door.

She remembered that much.

So what was this now?

Abruptly, Han Sooyoung found herself thrown into the center of a vast, snowy plain. Nothing but endless white stretched out in every direction. She had been to a place like this once before, during a ‘group regression’ with Yoo Jonghyuk. The memory surfaced, but she couldn’t be certain it was the same location.

«Where are we now?»

It was Jung Heewon’s voice.

Turning, she saw the others who had been at the hospital door now scattered on the ground around her.

«Wow, what is this? It’s suddenly snowing.»

Lee Jihye stood up, brushing snow from her clothes, while Lee Gilyoung scanned their surroundings, his eyes sharp and alert.

Shin Yoosung asked, «Where is Kim Dokja?»

«I don’t know. I just woke up here.»

«Could it be another scenario?»

It had been years since the scenarios ended. Yet a new one was beginning?

Yoo Sangah, repeatedly clenching and opening her fist, added. The scent of lotus blossoms drifted from her white knuckles. «My skills have returned.»

Han Sooyoung was realizing the same thing. Her senses were as sharp and alive as they had been at the height of the scenarios.

Yoo Jonghyuk, who had already been surveying the area, landed amidst the blowing snow. «I sense nothing. There are no enemies nearby.» The power of the Transcendental Seat had returned; a faint golden aura radiated from him.

Han Sooyoung shot him a sidelong glare. «Why do you look so excited?»

«Noona, Biyoo is gone.»

At Shin Yoosung’s words, the group looked around. Of everyone who had been at the hospital room, only Biyoo was missing.

How had this happened? They had definitely all been together until the moment the door opened.

*Tsu-tsu-tsut.*

Sparks suddenly crackled in the air.

[Congratulations.]

A system message rang out. Han Sooyoung suppressed a shudder and stayed silent.

[You have cleared all scenarios.]
[You are worthy of witnessing all things.]

With the message, two swirling portals materialized before them. Lee Gilyoung asked, «Huh? Portals?»

«Gilyoung-ah, step back.»

Lee Hyunsung moved forward to shield the younger members and cautiously approached the portals. Beyond each swirling entrance, a familiar scene wavered. The flickering image resembled the hospital room they knew. The difference was that the shadow of a person was visible in only one of the two rooms.

Lee Hyunsung muttered in disbelief, «That shadow…»
«It can’t be.»

The moment Lee Gilyoung moved toward the portal with a confused expression.

[Baat]

Biyoo, who had vanished, suddenly reappeared. She tugged on Lee Gilyoung’s hair and spoke urgently.

[Baaah! Don’t just go in! Listen to me first! There’s a problem!]

«A problem?»

Biyoo, having gotten everyone’s attention, let out a soft sigh. After staring at the portals with a solemn expression, she delivered her shocking news.

[The end of the universe has split in two.]

…

After hearing Biyoo’s explanation, the party was left speechless. Han Sooyoung was the first to break the silence.

«Let me summarize what just happened.»

She looked up at the falling snow and began.
«One. Yoo Jonghyuk spread the novel I wrote across the universe.»
Han Sooyoung recalled the day she first wrote ‘The Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’. She had remembered and recorded their old stories alongside her companions, weaving a tale of mourning for Kim Dokja. Yoo Jonghyuk, who received that story, crossed world lines to finally share it with the fragments of Kim Dokja scattered throughout the cosmos.

«Two. Those fragments began to read our story, and they even imagined an ending that I never wrote.»
The party’s efforts had safely reached the far ends of the universe. The fragments of Kim Dokja had reclaimed the story she wrote and the memories they had lost.

«Three. These portals in front of us are that ending.»
The fragments of Kim Dokja scattered across the world lines were the ‘Oldest Dreams’ who had imagined the conclusion of 『Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint』. Up to this point, everything had gone according to plan. The problem was this: «Why are there two endings?»

Biyoo sighed softly and replied.
[Because there are two endings they imagined.]

She pointed to the first portal.
[One is the ending where ahjussi returns.]
Inside that portal’s hospital room, a shadow that looked like Kim Dokja was waving.

[The other is the ending where ahjussi did not return.]
She then pointed to the second portal. It showed the identical hospital room, but the bed was empty; there was no shadow.

The companions were silent for a long time.

«Why…» Han Sooyoung muttered. «How is that possible?»

How could one imagine ‘two endings’ after reading the same story? Even though she knew the answer, she had to ask. The expected reply came.

[The fragments of ahjussi scattered across the world lines are not the ‘Dokja’ ahjussi we remember.]

Countless readers had read the story and imagined the finale. One was the ending where ‘Kim Dokja’ returns. The other was the ending where ‘Kim Dokja’ does not.

[They are free to imagine what they wish, even from the same story. It is a miracle that the conclusion has been narrowed down to only two.]

Biyoo was right. Despite so many people reading and imagining, only these two outcomes remained. ‘Miracle’ was an understatement.

Jung Heewon was the first to speak. «We’ve struggled so hard to get here.» She shook her head and said, «I suppose it’s fitting we have to do this much.»

Two endings were offered. At least one promised a clear happy ending. Jung Heewon looked up. «I’m choosing the first portal.» She glanced at the others for confirmation. «Does anyone else find it strange? If we go to the first one, we see Dokja-ssi again…?»

[Probably.]

«Is the Kim Dokja in there the ‘Kim Dokja’ that we remember?»

[I don’t know.]

«You don’t know?»

[Because I am not the ‘Oldest Dream’.] After a moment, Biyoo added, [But it is the ‘Kim Dokja’ your fragments brought back, so it should be the ‘Kim Dokja’ we remember.]

«Good. That’s settled then.» Jung Heewon gestured to the others, as if afraid to dwell on it further. «What is everyone waiting for? We can meet Dokja-ssi again. The Dokja-ssi we remember is right there.»

Shin Yoosung looked up, her eyes glistening. Lee Gilyoung, Lee Hyunsung, Lee Seolhwa… everyone seemed to have reached a decision.

«I’m not going,» Han Sooyoung said.

Jung Heewon narrowed her eyes. «You, what…?»

«The first portal is a trap. It’s too obvious.»

«It’s not a trap—»

«Have you forgotten what happened on the subway?» Han Sooyoung’s words made Jung Heewon freeze. «It was just like that back then. We were deceived by a fake Kim Dokja.»

Her statement altered the expressions of the entire group. It was true; they had been tricked by an avatar of Kim Dokja once before. On the subway returning from the final scenario, he had left an avatar containing 49% of his memories with them and departed to become the ‘Oldest Dream’.

«What happens if we go through the first portal and it’s just another incomplete Kim Dokja? Will you believe it’s really him this time?»

«Don’t say things like that,» Jung Heewon retorted, her voice tight with restrained anger. «I’ve said it before. No matter how much you remember, it’s still you. Even if we have to do it again, it’s still our choice.»

«You’re saying that again—»

«What if you’re wrong?» Jung Heewon interrupted.

«What?»

«What if you choose the second portal and we never get to see Dokja-ssi again?»

«That won’t happen.»

«Han Sooyoung.» Jung Heewon let out a deep sigh and spoke with resolve. «We aren’t going to find him. We can’t have ‘100% Kim Dokja’.»

Han Sooyoung’s expression hardened.

«No one can possess every part of another person.»

Han Sooyoung’s lips twitched into a faint, bitter smile. Who didn’t know that? Who didn’t understand such a simple truth?

«I can’t accept that.» Han Sooyoung’s clenched fists trembled. «How dare he read everything I wrote and still not come back?»

«Hey, you—»

Han Sooyoung shook off Jung Heewon’s hand from her shoulder. «If you want to go to the first portal, that’s your choice.»

Han Sooyoung knew the choice she was making was potentially the worst one. But she had always lived this way. No matter how many dozens or hundreds of times she was faced with a choice, she would make the same decision again and again.

Taking a slow step forward, Han Sooyoung declared, «If he didn’t come back, there’s a reason why. I need to know what it is.» She took another step. «I’m going to find him and bring him back, one way or another. I’m sick of this numbers game, whether it’s 49% or 51%. I need 100% or nothing.» And another step. «And I will hunt down every last one of you ‘Kim Dokja fragments’ who imagined that miserable ending, and I will make you suffer until you imagine a proper one.»

«Han Sooyoung! What the hell are you—?!»

«What I’m saying is—» Han Sooyoung looked back at them. The story she had lived, the narrative she had shared with them all, was right there. From the first scenario to the last, a life alongside everyone she would never trade for anything. That was precisely why she understood what their happiness should be. «Take care of yourselves.»

She smiled and walked into the portal. Letters swirled in the air around her, and she merged with them.

Perhaps her assumption was wrong. Maybe the readers weren’t imagining a tragic ending; maybe something had gone terribly awry, and Kim Dokja hadn’t returned simply due to a twist of fate.

In any case, Han Sooyoung was not worried. She would simply write again. She was a writer; writing was her vocation. As long as a single person was reading, she could write forever. Now that the system’s power had returned, she could write once more and persuade the ‘fragments of Kim Dokja’. She would ensure that not a single fragment scattered across any world line would ever again imagine an unhappy ending.

When Han Sooyoung’s senses returned, she found herself standing before a familiar hospital room door.

As she lifted her gaze, a voice spoke beside her. «How long are you going to stand there?»

She turned to see Yoo Joonghyuk leaning against the closed door.

«What? When did you get here?»

«While you were still spouting nonsense.»

Something moved on Yoo Joonghyuk’s shoulder, and Biyoo poked her head out.

[Baat.]

Han Sooyoung stared, her mouth agape. She wasn’t alone. These two had come through the portal with her.