Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint Novel MTL - Chapter 663

Chapter 663

Noh Gyeonghwan advanced slowly, one step after another. The world before him was an absolute blackness, offering no sight to guide his way.

He murmured into the deepening gloom as he pressed forward.

“What does it look like right now?”

It was not a question asked in expectation of a reply. Yet a voice answered him.

—It’s a garden of flowers, ahjussi.

The sound was so faint, its owner was impossible to identify.

Hearing it, Noh Gyeonghwan pictured the unseen vista. Then, one by one, blossoms began to open within the darkness.

Red marigolds blooming in every direction.

They were the flowers that would be his end.

Noh Gyeonghwan said:

“It’s beautiful.”

He thought of his wife, who had been killed by a meteorite’s impact.

He thinks of his wife, who died in a garden of flowers, and then he dies.

If his life were a story, wouldn’t this be the final line written for him?

A novel.

Noh Gyeonghwan remembered the book his daughter loved so much.

He wished this, too, was just a tale. He hoped that one day his daughter might read this story and smile. He wished he could tell her something like it.

See, your father is in your favorite novel, too.

Noh Gyeonghwan gave a bitter smile.

Jiyoon was most likely dead.

She would have died in this life, just as his wife had.

He imagined his daughter’s final moments.

How much had she suffered? How terribly lonely she must have been.

Noh Gyeonghwan mustered his strength and took another step. Soon, he would be reunited with his wife and daughter.

To make that happen, the story of Lee Dansu must be ended, not the life of the man called Noh Gyeonghwan.

‘I am Lee Dansu.’

The name given to him in this new world. What kind of life had the original owner of this body lived?

He did not know.

But his body had now reached its limit, and his awareness was steadily fading. He had lost too much blood.

[The power of the star gem strengthens your body!]

If not for the one star gem he still possessed, he would surely have collapsed already in this condition.

The sound of the Lesser Dragon’s breathing drew nearer.

An intoxicating, floral scent reached his nostrils.

Lee Dansu finally recalled the name of one man.

‘Inho-ssi, I’m sorry.’

And in that moment.

The voice grew distinct.

—I see you can hear me now.

The same voice that had called this place a flower garden. Lee Dansu now recognized who it belonged to.

“Inho-ssi?”

I answered.

—Yes, it’s me.

Lee Dansu looked around, though he knew he was blind. The man’s voice was shaking.

“How are you awake? You shouldn’t be here. You need to return to the scaffolding—”

—I am safe. You are what matters now.

“It’s over for me.”

The voice of a man who had already released his grip on life.

Lee Dansu’s eyes were blind, and every part of his body was necrotic. The muscles in his limbs were sloughing away.

But his desire to give up on living likely wasn’t due to his ruined body alone.

“Why does the world insist on taking my family?”

I did not know how to respond.

What would Yoo Jonghyuk have said?

「 «As soon as the scenario begins, there is a dead boy. Are you more unhappy? Or is the boy more unfortunate? What is the meaning of fighting over misfortune in this world?» 」

What would Han Sooyoung say?

「 «All misfortunes are ordinary. They only seem special because they were captured in a story.» 」

But I could not speak as they would.

Those words were not what he needed.

“I don’t want to live anymore.”

The reason I wanted Lee Dansu to survive here was probably just my own selfish greed, because I had come to care for him.

—Ahjussi.

I knew. Even if he lived through this, his misfortune would not vanish.

He would have to endure life.

He would have to exist in a world without his wife and his daughter.

What meaning would that hold for him? Could I create that meaning? How could I possibly presume to do such a thing?

Even as I thought this, I could not suppress my greed.

「 I want to write a novel. 」

Sitting in an unknown theater, I wanted to show the next part of the story to the readers who, like me, were hoping for this man’s survival. I began to write the sentences.

「 What kind of person was my father? 」

Lee Dansu trembled, overcome with emotion, and lifted his head toward the empty air.

「 My mom died after being hit by a meteorite and my dad got cancer. 」

The man’s lips moved soundlessly, again and again.

「 Are we a cursed family? 」

Even a man who could see nothing would hear that sentence.

“Who said that just now…”

The ahjussi stammered, unable to believe it, and then he asked:

“Is it Jiyoon?”

—Yes.

“Is Jiyoon alive?”

I hesitated to answer.

To answer truthfully would strip him of his last hope.

But was a lie something that could ever be forgiven?

I closed my eyes slowly.

And I thought about a person’s heart, not about truth or falsehood.

「 «Please save my father, Kim Dokja.» 」

A daughter’s wish for her father to survive. I chose a sentence that could embody that feeling.

—Yes.

This world is the <Star Stream>.

A world created together by the author, the readers, and the protagonist.

A world where the dead can return to life, where one can defy time, and be reborn as someone else.

At the very least, in this world.

-Yes, she is alive.

This was not a lie.

—For that to be possible, you must survive first.

Spores were spreading rapidly through the air. In less than half a minute, they would saturate the entire area.

“B-but how…?”

The voice of a man on the verge of panic.

I prepared to transfer into the man’s body, as if I were about to leap into the ocean behind him, and took a calm breath.

[Stage 3 of ‘Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’ is strongly activated!]

The man’s eyes began to glow brilliantly. Where his eyes had been, new pupils formed from gathered light took shape.

“I can see!”

They were my eyes.

—Run!

The ahjussi and I ran to evade the spores. I guided our steps, careful to avoid the flower buds covering the ground.

—The coat!

The man snatched up the coat that had fallen to the floor. It was my white coat, dropped earlier while dodging an attack from the poisonous species.

—There’s a brown bottle in the inner pocket!

He immediately located the item I described.

Sidok Kobulo’s Horn Powder.

A consumable item with poison-neutralizing properties.

—Spores ahead! Dodge right! Now grab the book beside you!

Where I indicated, a small booklet lay on the ground. It was an item dropped by one of the king’s men who had died earlier.

[Item ‘Donguibogam Miscellaneous Soldiers’ was acquired.]

The groups gathered here were likely those who had cleared the 5-person dungeon ‘Donguibogam’s Field’.

[Item ‘Donguibogam Bedding’ was acquired.]

A total of 9 books from the Donguibogam were scattered on the floor.

[Item ‘Donguibogam’. The effect of ‘incomplete version’ is in effect.]

And the Donguibogam is an item that activates poison resistance when more than 8 pieces are collected.

[Your body temporarily develops its own poisoning ability.]

I felt the man’s breathing grow easier. But this was only a temporary reprieve.

Even with the combined effects of ‘Sideuk Kobulo’s Horn Powder’ and ‘Donguibogam’, they wouldn’t last more than thirty seconds in these spores.

The man’s skin was already turning brown where the spores touched it.

Grrrr…

At that moment, the dragon, sensing something amiss, turned its gaze toward us.

An additional phase was triggered because the man had not died from its attack.

The poisonous dragon species let out a harsh cry into the air and released its breath.

“Hey, Inho-ssi.”

The man’s face paled as he watched the breath fall like acid rain.

I tried to reassure him.

—It’s okay. Run, hurry!

“Can I really keep living?”

—We have to see Jiyoon again!

The man gasped, offering no answer. That brief silence told me everything.

The ahjussi already knew the truth.

“Even if I survive, I’ll just be a burden to you, Inho-ssi.”

A burden. That was how Lee Dansu saw himself.

—Ahjussi.

Killer King looked at him with [Eyes of Sin].

It was said that Lee Dansu possessed a soul of purest white, as if he wore a white coat.

I could read the footsteps of that pure white soul.

「 «Could you please tell me how to catch bugs?» 」

A man who completed ‘Proof of Worth’ by killing bugs on the subway.

「 «Do you really have to kill others?» 」

Lee Dansu, who alone defended his beliefs in a scenario where everyone else was killing each other.

「 «I won’t kill you. I won’t kill you.» 」

A man who became a monster after consuming the ‘star jewel’, yet never killed anyone in the end.

—None of us has ever lived the way you have.

In this world, a single person’s life soon becomes a story.

[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ looks at incarnation ‘Lee Dansu’.]

[The constellation ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ watches incarnation ‘Lee Dansu’.]

[The constellation ‘Maritime War God’ supports the history of incarnation ‘Lee Dansu’.]

However, to prove a story, a ‘qualification’ is required.

[The constellation ‘Sneaky Schemer’ nods.]

A ‘qualification’ to prove that the ahjussi’s story was worth recording.

That very qualification was lying on the floor.

—Run! Pick it up! Now!

At my shout, the man grabbed the ‘brown flag’ that had fallen on the ground.

A gentle light enveloped Lee Dansu’s entire body.

[Incarnation ‘Lee Dansu’ took the ‘brown flag’.]

[The King’s Road begins!]

Acidic liquid fell from above, pouring down toward the man’s head. An attack that neither ‘Donguibogam’ nor ‘Sideuk Kobulo’s Horn Powder’ could neutralize.

[The shield is activated by the effect of the ‘brown flag’.]

A shield materialized in the air, blocking the acid breath.

I scanned our surroundings quickly.

A total of eight flags lay on the ground, all dropped by dead kings.

To complete the ‘King’s Path’ in this world line, the ‘Black Flag’ must be achieved.

—Pick them all up!

With each new flag he seized, the color of the man’s banner began to shift.

Dark brown, heated purple, violet, deep purple, and—

The man’s foot caught on a stone, sending him tumbling to the floor. The sound of a flower bud bursting under his weight. Thick spores clung to his entire body.

“Ah.”

Flowers sprouted from the man’s skin. Wildflowers bloomed in rapid succession, emitting a powerful fragrance. The man’s magical energy began to vanish at an alarming rate.

[Incarnation ‘Lee Dansu’ achieved the ‘Black Flag’.]

His breathing slowed.

I could feel the man’s fear.

Now even the ahjussi understood.

What was about to happen.

And what my plan had been all along.

[The key conditions for ‘The King’s Road’ are unlocked.]

I did not know if this operation would succeed.

“Thank you.”

The man, now covered in red petals, smiled as if he understood everything I was feeling.

「 This is a path that only Lee Dansu can walk in this world. And for this method to work, the ahjussi must die once. 」

Death.

I do not know what that is. Perhaps I don’t even want to know.

Is it something that can be ‘experienced’? What comes after you go through it?

—Ahjussi, don’t worry.

No one knows that except for Kim Dokja.

—I will be with you.

We would find out together.

“Friend.”

With the man’s final word, my vision went utterly dark.

A pitch-black void arrived. A blank page with nothing written upon it.

I called out to the ahjussi again and again. But Lee Dansu did not answer.

[Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint has an abnormal reaction!]

Was I alive now, or was I dead?

If I was neither.

Was I merely staring at an immense wall?

I fumbled along the endless surface, searching like a madman for any text I could read.

And the next moment.

Black. With that sensation, the darkness swallowed me whole. The surroundings grew bright. I was back in the labyrinth.

[A new king was born.]

[You made a decisive contribution to the birth of a new king.]

[The <Star Stream> reassesses your story.]

[A new ‘loss’ is recorded on the ‘Final Wall’.]

A dazzling light shone through the swirling cloud of red flower petals.

Within it, the body of Lee Dansu was being remade.

「 Now, it was the moment when a new ‘King of No Killing’ was born. 」