Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint Novel MTL - Chapter 676

Chapter 676

Of course. Here is the paraphrased chapter:

Han Sooyoung’s gaze settled on me. Then, her lips curled into a smile as she replied.

“You’re a terrible liar.”

So it was no use after all.

Well, it was only to be expected. There was no chance that someone like Han Sooyoung would ever fail to recognize ‘Kim Dokja’.

Stories poured continuously from her fingertips, bringing a palpable warmth to the air around us. It felt like the time Kim Dokja had handed me a warm cup of tea in the middle of a snowfield.

“How did you get here?”

There was only one possible route from the scenario area on Earth to this place.

“Did you cross the Great Hall?”

She had risked her life to traverse the ‘Great Hall’. But why? What was her reason for coming?

Han Sooyoung ignored the question and instead lifted her head to stare at the sky. A sort of opaque barrier was visible against the pitch-black expanse. Things that resembled walls were shifting and trembling.

I understood immediately what they were.

Deities from another world.

These were higher-level beings, more powerful than any I had encountered before. And there wasn’t just one of them. Their numbers were vast enough to blanket the entire sky. A direct encounter with even a single one would be fatal.

“Don’t worry. They can’t break through.”

Han Sooyoung added this without a trace of fear in her voice.
“Even though this is an outskirt of the scenario area, beings beyond a certain level of status cannot cross that ‘Void Curtain’. And—”

The moment her words ended, I sensed something attempting to force its way through the barrier. A long, watery tentacle bulged against the periphery of the curtain before bursting through. A tremendous roar echoed from the other side.

A wave of magical energy shot across the opaque curtain. Its path was like a meteor shower. The otherworldly gods touched by this trajectory recoiled with loud shrieks, either retreating or turning to dust.

“Because there’s someone holding them back.”

The depth of trust in Han Sooyoung’s voice was unmistakable. I knew exactly who was fighting the gods beyond that veil.

It was all the same.

“You said your name was Lee Hakhyun.”

I gave a slow nod.
“Did I ever properly introduce myself?”

“Do you need to? You know my name, too.”

She was right.
We had never actually exchanged names. And yet, I knew hers. We had been exchanging our stories all along.

“Names are important. A story is only complete once it is named.”

[The story ‘Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’ is resonating.]

The sentences she had written and the ones I had written began chattering in the air between us.

「 *»A writer doesn’t have full ownership of their novel. When you look back, you always find holes everywhere. In the end, reading is about connecting those irregular gaps in your own way.»* 」

The words burned in the air, emitting a gentle energy. In this place, devoid of any scenario, only our stories protected us from the cold.

「 *»I have no idea what you’re talking about.»* 」

「 *»…It means that as time passes, you can look at your own writing as if someone else wrote it. In the end, every person is a stranger to themselves.»* 」

Han Sooyoung was igniting her stories one by one, like matches, to keep us warm. I couldn’t bring myself to ask if she was okay. Of course she wasn’t.

So I said something else.
“I enjoyed that time, back then.”

What did my answer mean? A faint tremor passed through Han Sooyoung’s eyes.

“You remember that?”

“How could I forget?”

In a way, it was my memory. In my past life, I lived through those times, and in this life, I wrote about them, so I had lived them twice. And now, by reading them, I was living them for a third time.

I watched the stories burn in silence before asking.
“Isn’t it a waste?”

Han Sooyoung pressed her lips together and said, “It’s fine now. You read it.”

I nodded. “Kim Dokja never forgets.”

“Hah.”

We became readers again, watching the sentences vanish into the flames. In those words, Kim Dokja was the king of a world without kings, the one who defied miracles, the slayer of the king of disasters and an otherworldly god, and the Demon King of Salvation.

“What salvation. Damned salvation.”

I let out an involuntary laugh. Han Sooyoung smiled as well. Our laughter didn’t matter; Kim Dokja’s story continued.

He liberated the industrial complex, confronted the zodiac, faced the constellations of the Gourmet Association, journeyed to the island of the reincarnated, freed forgotten stories, and earned the acknowledgment of the Last Dragon of the Apocalypse.

In that tale, Kim Dokja was known by many names. We muttered the names resting on the tips of our tongues, recounting the entire narrative together like two readers who had followed the same person.

“Lee Hakhyun.”

When she suddenly turned her head, a story burned like a fire in her eyes.

「 *»Kim Dokja! You too, say something! When will I get to feel like this again?»* 」

I knew what she was about to say. She was going to ask, ‘Can I call you Kim Dokja one more time?’

I prepared a bitter smile. I was going to say yes. After all, lying is what I do best.

However.
“Kim Dokja, I’m sorry.”

Her words left me speechless. Why was this person apologizing to me?

A sudden wave of dizziness hit me. A box of memories, locked away in the depths of my mind, was thrown open, and scenes from the past flooded my thoughts.

「 *»Kim Dokja, I’m sorry.»* 」

In 49% of my memories, Han Sooyoung was speaking. I was about to ask if she had said this before, but she was faster.

“I’ve wanted to tell you so many times, but as you know, I’m terrible at apologies.”

I simply looked at her.

“In the 1865th round, it took the company two years to see the end of the scenarios.”

During those two years, as we overcame countless scenarios, so many things happened to us.

「 *»What are you apologizing for?»* 」

「 *»It’s about…»* 」

「 *»That time you tried to cut my head off?»* 」

My former self said to a downcast Han Sooyoung.
「 *»I don’t mind. Since when have we not tried to kill each other?»* 」

「 *»That was then. Now—»* 」

「 *»If I were you, I would have done the same. If you had suddenly confessed to plagiarizing ‘Ways of Survival’, I would have beheaded you on the spot.»* 」

「 *»Ah, if you put it that way…»* 」

Two years is not a short time. We talked a great deal during those two years. I’d brushed against death numerous times. We ate meals prepared by Yoo Jonghyuk together.

「 *»But I really almost killed you.»* 」

In that world, the 49% Kim Dokja had received everything the original Kim Dokja was meant to receive. I went to the Han River and the sea with my companions, and we ate chicken and pizza. We didn’t live in a very big house, but we lived together in that world in a tangible way. With them, I witnessed the completion of another world.

At the end of that world, Han Sooyoung spoke.
「 *»I’ll die for you at least once.»* 」

The girl from the past, who spoke as if she had lives to spare, was now right in front of me.

“Sorry.”

She was repeating the same apology. As if she had never offered one before. Why? Hadn’t the entire story concluded in the 1865th round?

「 *»I had an avatar I created the first time I used [Avatar]… I must have given away too many memories. It went out of control and I couldn’t get it back.»* 」

It wasn’t until I saw the story disintegrating in the flames that I finally understood. I see. So that’s it.

「 *»I don’t know. But since I’m fine now, they must have been trivial memories.»* 」

She had lost her memories.
「 *It’s because of Kim Dokja.* 」

And so, she had become someone who could never forgive herself.

I hesitated, trying to find the right words to say. The person I am today is not the person I was yesterday. Moreover, between the 49% Kim Dokja and me stood a much thicker wall of time. As the years passed, Kim Dokja became me. To what extent could the person I am now speak for the person I was in a past life?

“I’m not asking for your forgiveness, you know. That’s just the kind of person I am.”

If Han Sooyoung didn’t remember the story, wouldn’t it be better to stay quiet for now?
“I’m sorry about that, too.”

We paused for a moment, watching the snowflake-filled waterway burn. Suddenly, everything seemed absurd. She had forgotten her own memories, and I couldn’t fully remember my past life. The two of us, so strangely alike, were here speaking on behalf of our former selves who no longer existed.

“You tried to kill me.”

Can one human being ever truly forgive another? Can past wrongs be absolved in the future? Can the Kim Dokja of a past life become the Lee Hakhyun of now?

“I did.”

“That.”

Perhaps it could have been a simple forgiveness. Just as Yoo Jonghyuk, who had also tried to kill Kim Dokja, had been forgiven. I could have just moved on as if nothing had happened.

But I could tell. That wasn’t what Han Sooyoung wanted now.

“I can’t forgive you, you know?”

Han Sooyoung smiled. It was the smile of someone who was finally satisfied with never being forgiven.

「 *»Do you really think I’m an emotionless monster?»* 」

In my memory, I saw Han Sooyoung running toward the Demon King of Salvation through the flames. I was starting to feel concerned. No matter how strong Han Sooyoung was, it would be dangerous if she lost any more stories.

“Excuse me.”

*Cuckoo goo goo.*

It was then that something happened in the sky. Something was emerging near the shaking Void Curtain.

Han Sooyoung shook her head, trying to reassure me. “Don’t worry. Like I said before—”

There was a faint, almost silent tearing sound, and something actually came through. It was too small to be an ‘otherworldly god’. I saw a humanoid figure spreading black wings in the air.

“Han Sooyoung.”

Her expression instantly hardened.
“That’s—”

The humanoid god beat its wings and began to descend toward us. Its form was small, but it did not feel weak. The ‘Void Curtain’ is a barrier governed by probability. Absolute beings of overwhelming status could never cross that wall.

「 *What if there was an entity that could control its status precisely enough to slip through the ‘veil’?* 」

【Ooooooooo】

A cry that made my skin crawl. I never imagined I would meet a god from another world in a place with no active scenario.

“I know what that is.”

It had the appearance of a human skeleton. On closer look, a high collar and arms were visible. The backstories of various cultures were being suppressed. Mosaic patterns shifted every time its wings moved.

*Tsutsutsutsu!*

A diamond shone brilliantly at the center of the crown on its head. Only then did I realize its identity.

“He is the one who created the Absolute Throne.”

The reason for his direct appearance under the Void Veil was clear. He was searching for an ‘agent’ to inherit his throne. In other words,

“Yoo Jonghyuk.”

It felt like the scattered puzzle pieces in my head were snapping together all at once. There was no way this person was so eager unless…

“You.”

Han Sooyoung stepped forward, a strange heat in her voice. As I moved to stand beside her, an enigmatic smile appeared on her lips.

“You said you wanted to prevent this world’s destruction.”

“Even if Yoo Jonghyuk ascends to the ‘Absolute Throne’, there is a way this world can be spared.”

In the 41st round, Yoo Jonghyuk had spoken through the disaster Shin Yoosoung. Using the ‘Absolute Throne’ meant you would never see the true ending. This is because the ‘Absolute Throne’ is a passage that connects to the ‘God of the Other World’.

Then…
“Is that possible?”

What would happen if we eliminated the very reason the ‘Absolute Throne’ was the ‘Absolute Throne’?

“It’s possible if I help.”

I slowly tightened my grip on the hilt of my sword as I watched the otherworldly god descend from the sky. There were two authors here. But there was only one sentence left to write.

“Here, we will kill the ‘Founder of the Absolute Throne’.”