Chapter 754

**Episode 32 Monkey King (1)**
「When I create a story, I frequently become uncertain. Am I the one writing the tale, or is the tale merely employing me to bring itself into being? Anna, have you considered that?」

—Asuka Ren

I had finally told my companions my real name. My hesitation until now stemmed from a desire to avoid creating any awkwardness.

While Han Sooyoung was the author of *Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint* in many realities, in the world I came from, it was I who wrote it.

And the readers standing before me are from that same worldline.

Hearing my name would inevitably shock them.

«Wait, that name…»

As anticipated, Kyung Sein was the first to react.

Dansu, the older man beside her, also looked startled, seeming to grasp something.

To be honest, I believed they might have figured it out, but everyone turned out to be less perceptive than I’d assumed…

«What are the Hanja characters for your name?”

I was somewhat taken aback by the unexpected question.

«It’s Hak鶴, meaning crane, and Hyun翾, meaning to fly lightly.»

I stated, leaving out the ‘lightly’ part of the character’s meaning.

Dansu shook his head in clear admiration.

«That is a truly dignified name. One can feel the deep consideration that went into your naming.»

«Wow, Ahjussi. You can even interpret my name?»

«I studied name meanings a bit when choosing a name for Jiyoon. Lee Hakhyun. It is an excellent name.»

An excellent name?

No, wait, that’s not the point… Didn’t he realize anything?

Did you not just hear my name?

«Excuse me…»

Kyung Sein waved her hand, cutting me off as if she knew what I was about to say.

«Ah, don’t be concerned. I’ll keep calling you ‘Kim Dokja’.»

«No, it’s just that…»

«If we call Hakhyun-ssi ‘Kim Dokja’, the name ‘Kim Dokja’ will spread! A story will form! It increases the chance that ‘Kim Dokja’, the Demon King of Salvation included, will become aware of us!»

«Yes, I suppose that’s accurate…»

«Don’t worry, I will make sure to protect you!»

I gazed blankly at Kyung Sein and released a soft sigh.

Perhaps it had worked out for the best.

I couldn’t tell if she was feigning ignorance or genuinely didn’t know.

Thinking it over, it wasn’t so strange that she wouldn’t know my name. Most readers remember the stories they read, not the author who wrote them.

Then, the Killer King across from me spoke up.

«I don’t know much about names, but it sounds very impressive.»

I scanned the faces of my companions one by one and noticed only one person whose expression had shifted.

A face that had grown unusually pale.

A fact suddenly dawned on me as I watched Cha Yerin avoiding my gaze.

Oh, that’s right, Yerin knows.

[It is time to enter the ‘Zodiac Ball’.]

[Representative of Zone 13, please assign ‘companion’ designations to those who will enter with you.]

Is it time already?

Our group, including Yoo Jonghyuk and myself, totaled six people.

I placed a ‘companion designation mark’ on the back of each member’s hand.

The mark resembled a face, but no matter how I looked at it, it didn’t seem to depict any animal.

This… Doesn’t it look a bit like my face?

The next instant, the sky tore open and an Orbital Elevator descended towards the ground. The doors slid open, stirring up a light cloud of dust.

However, the elevator’s interior was somewhat cramped.

[A maximum of two people may board the Orbital Elevator at one time.]

[Please board with one companion.]

Wait a second. What about the others?

[Additional Orbital Elevators will arrive shortly.]

Ah, so they come in multiple units? It would’ve been easier to all go together, but I suppose there’s a reason for pairing us up.

Could it be related to the upcoming scenario? Well, if not, there’d be no reason for such a restriction.

I turned to look at my companions.

It didn’t matter who I chose, but it was probably best to take the most unpredictable one.

Just as I was about to call out to Yoo Jonghyuk, a boy emerged from near the doors in the distance.

Cha Sungwoo pushed someone in my direction.

«Take her with you first.»

Long ago, I took part in a ‘Conversation with Readers’ event. It was held at a small local bookstore.

The event was set up so that five or six writers, including me, and about thirty readers could talk together.

Naturally, none of the readers there that day had read my novel.

That was to be expected. Back then, I was just a newcomer who had recently debuted. While we were all authors, the others were promising new talents gaining attention, while I was an unknown who hadn’t even published a single book.

Readers raised their hands to ask questions, and the authors answered them.

There, I was neither a writer nor a reader, but simply part of the audience observing their stories.

I recall the thought I had as I watched that Q&A session.

Will I ever be asked a question like that someday?

Will I ever meet someone who looks at my story with such profound curiosity?

«I.»

The view of Zone 13 shrank beneath the slowly rising Orbital Elevator.

«Well, I’m not sure what to say.»

I saw Cha Yerin standing beside me by the window. Perhaps because the elevator was so confined, the atmosphere inside felt stifling.

It occurred to me then that the authors being questioned back at that event hadn’t all seemed entirely happy.

Does Cha Yerin hold any resentment towards me for hiding that I was the writer?

But from my perspective, it was a necessary choice. At that time, I still couldn’t bring myself to fully trust Cha Yerin.

Even so, I might have revealed it too late. Should I have at least given a small hint? Otherwise—

«I’m sorry.»

Unexpectedly, it was Cha Yerin who apologized first.

I raised my hands slightly, feeling flustered.

«My brother made things awkward for no reason.»

«No. I am the one who should have told you sooner—»

«It’s because my brother knows everything.»

It wasn’t hard to understand what she meant.

The Killer King—Cha Sungwoo—likely knew I was the author and that his younger sister was an admirer of novels by someone named Lee Hakhyun.

That was probably why he pushed his sister into the elevator with me.

«So much time has already passed.»

Cha Yerin’s voice was low, tinged with reflection on the years gone by.

«It passed in an instant. It was like reading ‘and several months passed by’.»

It was a metaphor fitting for the Literature Girl 64.

I remembered the day I first met Cha Yerin. We were at the ‘Edge of Darkness’, fighting against the Misreading Association.

It was a time when it was still unclear who was a friend and who was a foe.

«It’s strangely captivating.»

I watched the beast people dwindling below the Orbital Elevator. The crane owner who was meant to support us was waving. The leader of the Bear Beastmen was also visible.

In a world where everything becomes a story, even this moment will one day become part of one.

We looked down at our comrades who shared this story. People were waiting there for the next elevator. Cha Sungwoo, Noh Kyunghwan, Sung Minwoo, and Yoo Jonghyuk.

Cha Yerin, gazing down at the view with me, added.

«Liking the same story is enough to make them comrades.»

«Fortunately, they are all good people.»

«Author-nim.»

«Yes.»

«I will only call you that until this elevator reaches the top.»

«Understood. May I call you reader-nim?»

Cha Yerin quietly bowed her head and looked at her own toes. Her expression then grew serious as she asked.

«Our situation is dire. Was this the author’s intention?»

«No.»

Using my authority as a Constellation, I searched for stars that might be watching us. Luckily, no prying eyes were observing the conversation inside this elevator.

It meant we could speak freely here without concern for being overheard.

«May I explain a little about my circumstances?»

Cha Yerin gave a brief nod, and I began to talk.

The day before I found myself possessing a character, I received a strange note from Representative Kim Dokja.

‘Participate in Kim Dokja’s banquet and meet Representative Kim Dokja’.

When I regained my senses, I had suddenly taken possession of a character in this world.

«It’s very similar to what happened to Kim Dokja. It’s almost like a parody of his experience.»

A parody.

I hadn’t considered that before.

«What does it feel like to inhabit a character from a story you wrote yourself?»

«I regret not writing a more peaceful story. I should have made the protagonist die less often.»

We exchanged a faint smile.

«Can the ending be changed?»

«I will change it.»

Before we realized it, the scenery of Zone 13 had vanished. As the elevator ascended through the floor, the world outside turned pitch black.

«The ending of the 41st Round is already set.»

«The story of the 41st Round hasn’t been fully read yet.»

«You can change it because you never finalized it.»

«Yes. I believe so.»

«It will not be easy.»

«I imagine not. But I have Yerin-ssi, Sungwoo-ssi, and the others.»

The scenarios awaiting us in the future are different from the early ones where we merely struggled against other incarnations.

«It is worth attempting.»

What awaits us above are, at minimum, ‘Great-grade Constellations’.

We will be competing with them in scenarios.

«Please promise me you can write a good ending.»

I looked at Cha Yerin in the darkness.

Though she had remained composed throughout, she must be afraid. If I recall her from the real world, she would be a girl barely in her late teens.

«I will do everything I can.»

«Please say it once more.»

«I will do everything I can. There are people who read my dull debut novel all the way to the end.»

«It was not dull.»

Even in the dark, I could sense her earnest expression.

«*The Origin of Memory* is my favorite novel.»

*The Origin of Memory*.

Hearing the title of my first novel, I felt a wave of self-consciousness. It was like being pulled back to that ‘Conversation with Readers’ event from years ago.

«Why? Why do you like that novel?»

On the entire Korean Peninsula, fewer than fifty people have likely read it. And most probably don’t even remember the title.

In a way, the Cha Yerin before me was the sole reader who remembered the novel written by ‘Lee Hakhyun’.

Cha Yerin said.

«Kim Dokja loves *Ways of Survival*.»

«Yes.»

«And I love *The Origin of Memory*.»

I had no response.

Cha Yerin continued, as if understanding my silence.

«『*The Origin of Memory*』. It is the story of a man searching for his own beginning.»

For the first time in a long while, I recalled the novel’s plot.

The protagonist of 『*The Origin of Memory*』 is nameless. He also has no parents. So he invented his own history. He crafted every story about himself—his birth, his parents, his family—and declared that this was who he was.

But no one could call his story a lie. Because no one knows his past.

Not even he himself.

«I was envious.»

I thought about who Cha Yerin is. A child who lost her parents at birth and was left in an orphanage.

The only people who remember her story are herself and her brother.

«I like the final scene. The part where the protagonist confronts his younger self.»

In the last scene of 『*The Origin of Memory*』, the main character faces his childhood self as if in a dream.

I had forgotten that such a scene even existed, and I was genuinely surprised. Here before me was a reader who remembered my novel better than I did.

«Thinking about it now, the ending is somewhat similar to that novel.»

«It seems that way.»

«And the author is Kim Dokja.»

In the darkness, Cha Yerin’s eyes were fixed on me. She was looking at me, yet in a sense, she was looking through me.

She was permitting the darkness between us. As if within its shadows lay an crucial sentence the author had been careful to include.

«A writer is the first reader of his own novel.»

For a moment, I felt a peculiar sensation.

It was as if I had finally heard the answer I’d been searching for, delivered from some far-off universe.

«If that’s true, then I could become Kim Dokja as well.»

Why is it that only after becoming Kim Dokja do I get to hear the story I most wanted to hear as Lee Hakhyun?

«I believe Yerin-ssi resembles Kim Dokja much more. The same goes for Sungwoo-ssi, Kyunghwan ahjussi, and Minwoo-ssi.»

In truth, they were fragments of ‘Kim Dokja’. People who loved this story more deeply than any other readers.

And what of me?

I am 49% Kim Dokja. An entity born from Kim Dokja, who wished to be Kim Dokja more than anyone, and therefore could never truly become Kim Dokja.

In that sense, I might be the person farthest from being Kim Dokja.

«Perhaps.»

After a moment of thought, Yerin spoke. A faint light glowed outside the window, softly illuminating her face.

«Maybe it’s not that we resemble Kim Dokja, but that Kim Dokja resembles us.»

I listened to those words, stunned, and then my mouth opened involuntarily.

At that moment, the Orbital Elevator halted with a loud noise.

[Main Scenario #8 – ‘Zone 13’ has ended automatically.]

Then came the long-awaited reward.

[You have acquired 300,000 coins as a scenario reward.]

[You have acquired the story fragment ‘Understanding of the Unemployed’ as a scenario reward.]

「 Understanding the Unemployed. 」

I had finally obtained this story fragment.

[A new main scenario has arrived.]

A new scenario area had materialized outside the elevator window.

It was a landscape I recognized well.

Cha Yerin looked at me with a tense expression. I nodded back at her in answer.

«The ‘Recycling Center Director’ knows who ‘Kim Dokja’ is,» she said.

Otherwise, the next scenario’s stage wouldn’t be here.

«This is—»

Just then, someone yanked open the elevator door. A large hand reached through the gap accompanied by a booming voice.

The instant I moved instinctively to shield Cha Yerin and gripped the hilt of ‘Unbreakable Faith’, the owner of the hand swung the door fully open.

[I wondered who had refused my offer.]

A monkey with golden fur was grinning at me.

[Are you the one they call ‘Kim Dokja’?]