Chapter 751

Yoo Joonghyuk, still a child, slowly lifted his head to look at me.

I gazed downward at Yoo Joonghyuk.

The perspective felt unfamiliar. Whether grown or young, Yoo Joonghyuk had always been the one looking down from a height. But this version of him was different.

His expression made it seem as though he had truly become a child.

Had he lost so much of his memory that he reverted to this state?

I wanted to ask him. How long have you been here? How much time has he spent enduring this cold completely alone?

“You’re the first person to come here.”

It was the young Yoo Joonghyuk who spoke first. As he raised his head, a faint spark of life flickered in his eyes.

“You’ve finally come to take me away, haven’t you?”

Little Yoo Joonghyuk lifted his hand and pointed behind me. White wings, for some reason, were spread out behind my back.

I understood then what kind of story this was.

[The ‘unidentified fragment’ discloses its true nature.]

[The story fragment ‘The Lost Wings of the Demon King’ starts its narrative.]

It appeared the ‘unidentified fragment’ that ‘Tiger Eating Rice Cake’ held was these very ‘Wings of the Demon King of Salvation’.

“You can bring me with you.”

Little Yoo Joonghyuk stated.

“Is it over now? What is heaven like?”

Heaven.

It seemed Yoo Joonghyuk genuinely believed such a place existed.

“You’re an angel. You must know what heaven is like, right?”

I answered with some hesitation.

“Heaven might not be as wonderful a place as you imagine.”

“Then what is it like?”

I don’t even know what heaven is. The heaven I knew was merely one of countless worlds within the Constellations.

“Well.”

I thought of the Archangels from the <Star Stream>.

The Archangels, bored by Metatron’s directives, yearning for freedom while bound by rules, loving their cherished incarnations.

“It’s just a world where Angels watch over sheep.”

“What?”

“If I could explain it in more detail…”

I slowly lowered myself, sitting beside the young Yoo Joonghyuk. Fragments of stories drifted around him like dust. These were all Yoo Joonghyuk’s memories.

「 [Supreme King, leave this to me and see the ending you desire.] 」

There was an Archangel who gave himself up for Yoo Joonghyuk.

「 [I’m sorry, but I cannot allow you to become the Demon King.] 」

There was an Archangel who stopped Yoo Joonghyuk from turning into the Demon King.

「 [I can see the sins you have gathered. You are destined to become a great evil in this world.] 」

There was an Archangel who labeled Yoo Joonghyuk as ‘evil’.

「 [Regressor, you will never reach heaven. Because the one who dreams of your heaven would never wish for you to go there.] 」

There was an Archangel who viewed his fate with despair.

In just 41 regressions, Yoo Joonghyuk had been told so many things.

So this child already knows what heaven is. He knew, but now he has forgotten.

“No. You don’t need to tell me.”

“What? Why not?”

“I don’t want to be let down. I’m sure it would be disappointing if it’s anything like the place I used to live.”

“Where did you live?”

“Hm.”

The place Yoo Joonghyuk called home.

When I thought about it, I realized I knew very little about Yoo Joonghyuk’s early years.

Like Kim Cheolyang and Bang Cheolsoo from Geumho Station, no records remained of Yoo Joonghyuk’s childhood.

The main character’s youth was never fully explored in ‘TWSA’ or ‘Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’.

Reflecting on that felt strange.

Even though Han Sooyoung wrote so extensively, she never properly wrote about Yoo Joonghyuk’s childhood.

“What was it like where you lived?”

So, in a way, Yoo Joonghyuk’s childhood doesn’t truly exist ‘yet’.

“Where I lived…”

Little Yoo Joonghyuk furrowed his brow. Rubbing his forehead with a small hand, he said:

“I can’t remember.”

I observed the story fragments floating like fine dust around Yoo Joonghyuk.

[Story fragment ‘Pro Gamer ◼️◼️’ has paused its storytelling.]

[Story fragment ‘◼️◼️◼️ Slave’ has paused its storytelling.]

Stories left unread for too long; some were damaged beyond repair, most of their contents vanished. Or perhaps they never had any content to begin with. Like a novel with only a title, never properly written.

I spoke.

“It’s the same for me.”

“You don’t remember where you lived either?”

“I remember, but only pieces.”

“Pieces.”

“Yes, pieces.”

Whether main character, supporting role, or extra, maybe it’s the same for everyone. We all move toward death, consuming our memories.

No one remembers their whole life along the way. As time passes, we end up forgotten, even by ourselves.

So we tell stories.

We speak, like I am now, to remember what has been lost.

“The place I live is filled with stars. People explore the world using those stars. We all hunt monsters together and discover new items.”

“…”

“Some are blessed by the stars and become great beings.”

Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyes shone as he listened. How much of this narrative remains inside him?

“A great being.”

“Yes, a great being.”

Yoo Joonghyuk shook his head at my words. Then he hunched over. Looking closer, I saw Yoo Joonghyuk was holding his stomach.

“Can I become an Angel like you?”

“I am not an Angel.”

“Then what are you?”

I couldn’t bring myself to tell the truth to Yoo Joonghyuk, who gazed up at me with pale eyes.

I am a Demon King.

So I said this instead.

“I am a writer.”

“Writer?”

“A person who writes all kinds of stories. Funny ones, sad ones, difficult ones, even stories that shouldn’t be written. A person who writes many different stories to survive.”

“A person who writes stories.”

Little Yoo Joonghyuk blinked slowly and offered a faint smile. I wondered what thoughts were passing through his mind.

It was my first time seeing the young Yoo Joonghyuk smile, and for a moment I was captivated.

“Then you are a god.”

Instead of answering, I gently reached out to trace the stories surrounding the young Yoo Joonghyuk.

The flow of the story was slow. He was dying, as expected.

“If I were God, I would be the most powerless god in the universe.”

“What’s the greatest story you’ve ever written?”

“That story.”

I began to speak.

That was the story I could tell best.

A story about a man whose life was spent loving a novel that became real.

A story of monsters emerging, stars observing, saving others, making friends, and running toward the epilogue of a world.

The child listened.

As I watched him hear the story, I thought.

Kim Dokja was once saved by the story of Yoo Joonghyuk. He survived through his narrative and ultimately lived.

So what about Yoo Joonghyuk?

When he was pushed to the edge of life, standing at a cliff where no one could save him. What saved him as a child?

I couldn’t comprehend it.

His world is nothing but an endless snowy field.

A world I cannot read or write. A beginning that perhaps not even I, nor anyone else, can ever know.

The origin of this entire universe.

「 Every story we know began from this 41st Round. 」

In 『Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World』, Yoo Joonghyuk managed to clear the scenarios using information from Shin Yoosoung of the 41st Round.

And again, in 『Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint』, Kim Dokja could see the world’s end based on the knowledge from ‘Ways of Survival’.

The entire story started with the Yoo Joonghyuk before me.

The whole story was only possible because he survived, fought, and in the end, failed.

“It’s interesting.”

The young Yoo Joonghyuk smiled and slowly shut his eyes.

“But I’m sleepy now.”

Little Yoo Joonghyuk’s shoulders trembled as if he were cold. All the while, the child was clutching his stomach.

I carefully moved his hand aside to check his condition.

Little Yoo Joonghyuk had a hole in his stomach.

It was identical to when Shin Yoosoung was dying in the 24th Round. Yoo Joonghyuk’s stomach bore the same scar as Shin Yoosoung’s, who had asked him to attend the graduation ceremony.

「 Side effects of ‘story imprinting’. 」

If this wound isn’t treated, Yoo Joonghyuk will die. Even if he returns, his soul will be permanently damaged.

Little Yoo Joonghyuk asked.

“Are you taking me to heaven now?”

“I’m not taking you to heaven. I’m not an Angel.”

All I can do is make sure he continues to live like this.

But I knew his ending.

A life that will ultimately fail and become sustenance for other worldlines.

To keep the promise of the 0th Round, he traveled back and forth, ending on a path to nowhere—I knew this world’s conclusion would be a ‘road with no road’.

That’s why I couldn’t advise him to choose life. He was already so exhausted; I couldn’t tell him to live a life destined for failure.

“If I live a little longer.”

Yet, Yoo Joonghyuk spoke once more.

“Can I hear the story you wrote again?”

I looked down at the child, unsure of what expression to wear.

And I barely managed to whisper.

“If you wish.”

Everything I’ve written is merely a copy of one person’s life.

That person nodded.

White snow fell on the Snowfield.

A world where no one had left any footprints.

An emptiness not even Han Sooyoung had touched.

[The exclusive skill ‘□□’ is intensely active.]

Only then did I realize why I needed to come to this 41st Round.

[The amount of ‘Disappearances’ you have gathered has surpassed a specific threshold.]

The reason I possessed Cheon Inho’s body.

[The ‘Kim Dokja Fragments’ you have collected are beginning to bloom.]

The reason I had to become the incarnation of the Demon King of Salvation, the reason I needed to gather the fragments of Kim Dokja.

[The story ‘Heir of the Eternal Name’ acknowledges your name.]

The reason I had to enter this ‘Recycling Center’ and mend my story.

“Yoo Joonghyuk. Let’s make a promise.”

And the reason Kim Dokja had to witness this world.

“Never abandon life.”

Just as the universe was born one day, Yoo Joonghyuk was born.

“As long as you don’t abandon life.”

In return, he will have to walk for all eternity once more.

But if he doesn’t give up, this time he won’t be alone.

Most likely not.

“I will keep writing for you.”

Yoo Joonghyuk, watching me, gave a slow nod.

As if answering his call, I made the first footprints to fill this Snowfield.

「 This is a story about unreadable despair. 」

Writing that sentence, I understood Han Sooyoung, who wrote of the world’s destruction for the sake of one person’s life.

[The character ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’ has attained a new enlightenment.]

[The transcendence level of incarnation ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’ is rising.]

Even if only one person lives in this world, even if everyone eventually forgets and it is fated to collapse and vanish—I will not abandon this story until the very end.

[The story ‘Between Truth and Lies’ is born!]

At last, the sky above the Snowfield opened.

[You have created a total of four stories.]

[All the stories you have accumulated are of ‘legendary grade’ or higher.]

[The Management Bureau is analyzing your status.]

[The <Star Stream> is reassessing your status.]

[Your sponsor is currently absent.]

[Your sponsor has granted you full authority.]

.

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[You may now act as a Constellation.]