Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint Novel MTL - Chapter 649

Of course. Here is the paraphrased chapter in English, following all your conditions.

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**649 Episode 19 People of the Past (1)**

These days, I have a fondness for tales from the past.

*Tsutsutsu.* Shin Yoosung’s eyes snapped open abruptly.

The final image burned into her vision was the dungeon’s landscape dissolving into particles of light.

A heavy feeling settled in her chest.

*Something must have gone wrong.*

*How is Ahjussi?*

She blinked repeatedly, but her sight was met with nothing but impenetrable darkness.

[Connection Lost]

Shin Yoosung let out a soft sigh and raised her hands to remove the goggles.

Then, her gaze fell upon the pristine white, circular device and the patients spinning wildly around it.

[Part 41: The connection error is being corrected.]

[Searching for a new access point.]

«Hey! It disconnected because of you!»

Nearby, Lee Gilyoung, visibly irritated, was also removing his connection gear. Shin Yoosung narrowed her eyes and retorted.

«Don’t be ridiculous. It was definitely your fault.»

«It kicked us because you overused your abilities. Sooyoung-noona specifically told you not to use skills carelessly in the 41st round! And why did you even log in at the same time as me!»

Shin Yoosung shrugged, completely dismissing his complaint.

«Who was the one recklessly sending indirect messages? Didn’t that trigger the probability error?»

«That was—»

«You’re pretty good at that formula, though. Such a Sneaky Schemer.»

Lee Gilyoung’s face flushed red, and he nearly shouted.

«Go get Seolhwa-noona, now! This needs to be fixed!»

«You go. I could have talked to him longer if it weren’t for you.»

«But he said he wasn’t Dokja-ssi!»

«He *is* Dokja-ssi. Dokja-ssi was reincarnated.»

«Hyung has no memories, so what’s the point?»

How many minutes did they continue to bicker like that? Eventually, Lee Seolhwa’s voice came through the speaker mounted on top of the connection device.

—Did you break it again? I will handle the repairs, so please stop arguing. Step outside for a moment and get some fresh air.

At the voice from the air, both children chorused a reluctant «Yes.»

—And I was very clear that you should not connect simultaneously, correct? The device is not yet perfected, so if you both log in at once…

The two hurried out of the room. Lee Gilyoung asked as they walked down the lengthy corridor.

«Where is Sangah-ssi?»

«Room 3. She’s still connected.»

Through the glass door marked with a ‘3’, they could see Yoo Sangah.

She was seated before a device identical to theirs, goggles firmly in place.

Her eyes were covered, making her expression hard to read, but her lips were moving with clear intensity as she spoke to someone.

Shin Yoosung said, her voice laced with concern.

«She needs to eat.»

She’s pushing herself too hard; she’s been online for thirty-six hours straight. On the floating screen in front of her, the scene she was watching was mirrored.

A view of Gwanghwamun in utter ruins. The National Palace Museum of Korea had collapsed. A lobby was engulfed in flames. Among the incarnations frantically scrambling to escape, they could see a beautiful incarnation shouting something.

Beside her was another familiar face, subtly darkening the surrounding area.

Lee Gilyoung, recognizing the face, spoke up.

«Will Sooyoung-noona be alright?»

«…»

«She went in personally. I heard she already expended a great deal of probability.»

Unlike them, who could only indirectly interfere with the 41st turn using the ‘Seolhwa Connector’ built by Lee Seolhwa, Han Sooyoung had infiltrated the story directly.

To be precise, she had used [Avatar] to transmit a portion of her memories, but this method granted her far more freedom regarding the scenario’s probability than other members of <Kim Dokja’s Company>.

—Never connect directly. Understood? The 41st turn is not like other world lines. I am the only one who enters that world directly. Do you know what happens to constellations that descend into the beginning scenarios? Do not even attempt to possess incarnations. Preserve your probability. I will find a way to save Kim Dokja, so all of you just observe from here.

A strategy only possible for the writer, Han Sooyoung.

She had her own [avatar] participate in the scenarios of the 41st turn.

To bring Kim Dokja back, she had thrown herself once more into that hellish landscape.

—Never come in. If you want to see what’s happening, just watch from the sidelines like the constellations, okay?

They understood Han Sooyoung’s concerns, but they found it impossible to remain completely passive.

This was why Yoo Sangah and Lee Gilyoung had entered into ‘behind-the-scenes contracts’ with incarnations in the 41st turn, and why Shin Yoosung had intervened through ‘possession’. Lee Gilyoung spoke as they walked.

«You used possession.»

Among the members present, Shin Yoosung was the only one capable of possessing a character from the 41st turn by utilizing the ‘broken film theory’.

«How was it?»

Lee Gilyoung didn’t specify, but Shin Yoosung knew what he meant.

«You saw it too.»

«Seeing something and experiencing it firsthand are completely different.»

«What would you know about it?»

She had so much to say.

The <Star Stream> was still the same <Star Stream>.

Scenarios more brutal than any they had endured were unfolding everywhere.

The damned constellations and dokkaebis laughed at the incarnations’ desires and scorned humanity.

Countless people had died.

Shin Yoosung understood better than anyone why Han Sooyoung had forbidden the group from going there.

«It was a world I never wanted to return to.»

That was undoubtedly true. And yet.

«I missed it.»

Shin Yoosung answered honestly. Lee Gilyoung thought for a moment before asking.

«Why don’t I just descend directly into the 41st turn?»

«Do you have a death wish? The probability strain is already dangerous as it is.»

Lee Gilyoung and Shin Yoosung were incarnations who had cleared the final scenario.

Their true rank now surpassed even the stars in the highest heavens.

For beings like them to descend into a beginning scenario in another world line, the resulting backlash would be catastrophic.

«I heard that even if Dokja-ssi got hit by the aftershock, he’d just bounce a couple of times and be fine.»

«That’s Ahjussi for you.»

Even Kim Dokja, who was resilient against probability, would find such a feat difficult. Lee Gilyoung grumbled.

«Tch, I want to have some fun too.»

«Fun? You think this is about fun?»

Shin Yoosung, angered by Lee Gilyoung’s words, frowned deeply. Lee Gilyoung pressed on.

«Don’t you find it fun as well?»

«I am—»

Could that feeling really be described with the same word?

Shin Yoosung bit her lip, a sense of guilt and something else she couldn’t quite define washing over her.

Even so, she lacked the confidence to outright deny Lee Gilyoung’s words.

«Returning to the scenarios… honestly, it was exciting. Just admit it.»

To be thrown back into that terrifying world, to execute life-or-death scenarios under the gaze of constellations.

The moment she was thrust back into that time she never wished to relive, Shin Yoosung strangely felt her heart pound and her blood race through her veins.

Perhaps they had become that kind of people now.

The two of them looked out the window of the [Industrial Complex]. A cool breeze brushed through their hair.

Lee Gilyoung was the first to break the silence.

«Sometimes, this all feels unreal.»

«Yeah.»

A white landscape stretched out beyond the window.

A world that seemed like it had been drawn by someone’s hand.

Staring at the unfinished scenery, Shin Yoosung recalled the moment they had first entered this world.

「 She had believed they would finally get Kim Dokja back. 」

Having finally reached the story’s conclusion, <Kim Dokja’s Company> opened the door to the hospital room.

Beyond that door lay two possible endings.

One was a world where Kim Dokja existed. The other was a world where he did not.

Faced with these two choices, the party selected the latter.

They were wise enough to know this kind of option was a trap.

Just as he had done on the subway long ago, Kim Dokja would likely be wandering alone on the far side of some scenario, leaving behind only sweet illusions for his companions.

「 Perhaps Kim Dokja never anticipated his party would make that choice. 」

They would choose the world without him.

This world lacking Kim Dokja was not a complete world. It was a world his gaze had never fully touched.

A dream that even the oldest dream had never envisioned.

«It’s already been half a year.»

So much had transpired in those six months. The members of <Kim Dokja’s Company> each embarked on their own plans to retrieve him.

—You can connect to all world lines from here.

Yoo Sangah, the third to cross over, was the first to discover this fact.

Yoo Sangah, who held the authority of the ‘Guardian of Mandala’, diligently extended the [thread of bond].

She searched for the soul of Kim Dokja, which was scattered across countless worlds.

However, the world line was impossibly vast, and the fragments of Kim Dokja were far too numerous.

The party decided to gather the fragments of Kim Dokja that had not yet been reincarnated.

Some fragments were on world lines they recognized, while others were on lines they had never seen.

Every single fragment was a trace of where Kim Dokja had been.

Yoo Sangah had warned them:

—Even if we collect every fragment, the Kim Dokja we know will not return.

Gathering someone’s footprints does not bring the person back. Their companions understood this.

Lee Jihye had replied:

—But if we don’t do this, what else do we have left?

Even if this was merely their way of mourning Kim Dokja, even if the Kim Dokja they knew was gone forever.

Just as they had once waited for Yoo Jonghyuk to return from space, they wanted to cling to an eternal hope.

And so, the party continued to collect the fragments of Kim Dokja’s stories.

The fragments gradually accumulated, gaining mass, until they began to move of their own accord, drawn by a gravitational pull toward a specific destination.

The party tracked the direction of the stories and finally discovered a world line.

’41’.

This world was not the one recorded in Ways of Survival. It was an unrecorded world, much like Yoo Jonghyuk’s 0th turn.

The companions felt it instinctively.

*Kim Dokja might be here.*

«Has the sooty bastard been in contact yet?»

«Not yet. And stop calling Yoo Jonghyuk-ssi that. It’s disrespectful.» Shin Yoosung said, her gaze fixed vacantly on the view outside.

She stared and stared. Watching her, Lee Gilyoung asked, his white coat seeming to flutter in the white landscape.

«Can we actually find him?»

«Yes. We already found one.»

«But that isn’t Hyung.»

«…Then who is Ahjussi?»

«Hyung is…»

What constituted Kim Dokja?

Shin Yooyoung and Lee Gilyoung believed they knew the answer.

They were familiar with Kim Dokja.

They knew his likes, his dislikes, the foods he couldn’t eat, his height, his age, his weight, the expressions he made, and the way he smiled when he saw them.

But if they gathered all those things, would that being truly be Kim Dokja?

If they compiled every one of Kim Dokja’s memories, would it become an entity that could be called Kim Dokja?

One day, Lee Seolhwa had asked them,

—Do you remember the lunch we shared a week ago?

Shin Yoosung had shaken her head. Then Lee Seolhwa asked another question.

—I don’t remember it either. So, does that mean I am no longer Lee Seolhwa?

That question had deeply unsettled Shin Yoosung. The disturbing thoughts she had been harboring all this time swirled violently in her mind.

Perhaps the ‘Kim Dokja’ she knew no longer existed anywhere.

Just as the ‘Shin Yoosung’ from one year ago, two years ago, three years ago was also gone from the world.

They had definitely existed once, but now didn’t they only persist within stories?

She didn’t want to dwell on such complicated matters.

Even so, whenever she thought of Kim Dokja, Shin Yoosung couldn’t help it.

What was Kim Dokja?

「 There is a story I haven’t read yet. I’ll be back soon. 」

Kim Dokja had left that note. Because of that, Shin Yoosung already knew what Lee Gilyoung’s answer would be.

«My Hyung is someone who loves stories.»

As if satisfied with his own answer, Lee Gilyoung nodded several times and added.

«Hyung likes my story.»

«Wouldn’t he prefer my story?»

«No. He prefers mine.»

The two began to argue once more.

Shin Yoosung thought to herself.

In this world, conflict inevitably transforms into a story. And stories were Kim Dokja’s most beloved things.

If Kim Dokja truly loved stories, he would undoubtedly be watching them now.

No matter what form he took, if he saw this story, Shin Yoosung was certain she would get her star back.

How long had they been talking?

Suddenly, Lee Seolhwa’s voice was broadcast throughout the industrial complex.

—He’s back.

He’s back. At those words, Shin Yoosung and Lee Gilyoung held their breath.

It couldn’t be.

Yet, it was impossible for Kim Dokja to have returned. That could only mean—

Along with a sharp beep, they heard someone grab a microphone.

—Everyone, gather. I have an announcement.

Yoo Joonghyuk was back.