Around him, the group are subtly sending dirty looks to Yoo Joonghyuk, silently scorning him for his actions. It feels like betrayal when Mia does the same. That quickly turns into looking at Dokja with fearful gazes as they see a horrifying of a smile that crosses his swarmy scamming smile and the feral grin from earlier during the subway scene.
Joonghyuk refuses to admit he was wrong when dealing with what was an anomaly at the time. The hostility had been warranted. But he is willing to apologize for being rude.
He doesn't like that that smile is turned in his direction.
Kim Dokja briefly contemplates just ignoring this asshole.
It was very brief. Instead, he impulsively replies. "Why should I?"
When Joonghyuk tries to apply his 'don't wanna talk, get punched' by sending another punch to his gut, Dokja blocks it with the empty hand hanging to his side as quick as a fire spark. There is a manic glint in his eyes as he watches the protagonist's face contort in surprise, a feral grin soon splitting across his face to match it. The blood that smeared on his face from the bastards soiled hands adds the perfect effect to make Dokja look all the more unhinged.
"Now that we can see his face clearly, doesn't that smile look a little... scary?" Shin Yoosung whispers to her seat mates, looking uneasy at the Dokja on the screen.
Gilyoung looks at her with a strange look before he just shrugs. He continues the trend of whispering though. "It's hyung. He's always been like that. We can just see it now."
Yoo Mia hums as she observes, tilting her head before turning to her peers. She has a stern look on her face. "Ahjussi seems to have been through a lot."
Both of the kids nod along to that, Jihye leaning in closer to nod as well. She decides to give her input. "I say it pairs perfectly with master. How else would ahjussi keep up with him?"
A chorus of 'ahhh's ring out quietly and there are more nods. They all come to the conclusion on their own and just settle back into their chairs to keep watching.
"Sorry, but you're younger than me." It feels odd to voice that out loud. He's made it. He has lasted long enough that he can hold this over the brat of a protagonist in front of him. It feels greater than he thought it would.
If TWSA had come to life when he was younger, Dokja wouldn't have this perfect opportunity to tease this guy. He also was in the perfect occupation to bullshit his way out of this volatile situation.
What volatile situation? It's just this volatile bastard...
"Pro-gamer Yoo Joonghyuk, you should be the one to show me some respect." Dokja replies with a smug grin, the feral edge melting off a little. The glint has been muted.
['The Fourth Wall' activates.]
"Oh wow." Lee Jihye blurt out as she watches, her mouth hung open and the rest of her rigid in her chair. She snaps her head over to Dokja with a completely baffled gaze. "Ahjussi, you were playing with fire."
Snorting at her surprise, Dokja smiled at her indulgently. This isn't the first she's seen of his antics after all. "What fire? There was no chance of being burned. I got the exact result I wanted."
This time, a surprised Joonghyuk snaps his head to Dokja in a similar way to how Jihye has just done. He's back at it again with the intense eye contact that he can't quite decipher without his skills. Maybe he's been relying on them too much.
"What is it, Joonghyuk-ah~?" He flips to his 'scammer' smile and slowly lets it more feral the longer the protagonist deigns to just sit there and look at him. He's not going to be the only one uncomfortable in this situation. If he has to be uncomfortably stared at, Dokja will just unnerve him just as much.
Yoo Joonghyuk just turns back to the screen reluctantly, a huffed out sigh that sounds something close to exasperation.
It's pleasing to see Yoo Joonghyuk's face twist in surprise. What a deliciously unexpected sight. He looks pristine and flawless despite the first scenario, contrasting the dirt, sweat, and blood that coats Dokja.
[The character 'Yoo Joonghyuk' has become cautious of you.]
When he demands to know how Kim Dokja knows him, he smirks and speaks with as much sarcasm as he can fit in that stick body of his. "I'm a fan"
'It's not a lie per say, since I'm a fan of the novel. I liked you. I hated you. I resented you. I cheered for you. I was with you throughout your three-thousand episode journey.'
The white screen with black text is back, this time the thought is written out as well as read. The voice sounds unsteady. It fades back to the regular scene quickly.
"A fan." Yoo Joonghyuk mutters. The earlier grin returns when he takes the bait. "I haven't heard that in a while. I'll forgive you for your impudence, but that won't change anything. How did you survive the subway?"
It's here that Dokja realizes how uncomfortable this must be for the guy who just figured out about the novel. Trying to slowly extricate himself from the chair, he mumbles. "Sorry- this... this must be uncomfortable for you-"
He is interrupted twice.
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' declares you have nothing to be sorry for.]
Where did this guy come in?
Yoo Joonghyuk pulls him back into the chair completely, squishing him up against his side even further than he had been before. There is a scowl plastered on his face, but it looks sort of sad. "You fool."
When he goes to try to talk more, leaning away from the protagonist in his best attempt to make space. He's trying to actually do something to fix this before it ruins everything. He is thwarted again.
"Shut up, Kim Dokja."
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' implores you to stop apologizing.]
"They're both whipped as fuck-"
"Shhh Heewon-ssi."
'He's not dropping me or punching me again. At least not yet.' Dokja rapidly constructs a plan as he hangs there.
'If this is his third regression, his main priority must be getting past the 46th scenario. After succeeding quite far ahead by mirroring his previous actions in the early regressions, Yoo Joonghyuk's go to plan has been closely replicating the actions he took in previous turns to go even further. His repetitiveness is the reason why everyone else dropped TWSA and called it a flop.'
The scene glitches multiple times, showing different versions of Kim Dokja throughout his life in the exact same position he is in. They are all greyed out. It eventually stops back on his previous self.
'I don't think I could ever consider his story a flop. When this world went from bad to worse, Yoo Joonghyuk never gave up trying. He keeps going. Keeps fighting. Keeps at it. Even when he kills himself just to regress, he only did it because those rounds couldn't be salvaged anymore and so he looped back to the very beginning and repeated all those days just to get to the last save point and move forward.'This time, it's as if both Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk have entered an entire separate plane. It's a plain white expanse that looks to go on for miles. A place where only the two of them exist.
A wind starts at Dokja, blowing past him and ruffling his hair. It moves towards the protagonist, but as it moves past him, Yoo Joonghyuk seems to rapidly duplicate. The others are all shadowy and greyed out. Exactly like he had been before. The previous blank world had been filled up with just copies of the man in front of him.
Although there looks to be too many to count, an endless amount that goes to the eye can see and possibly futher, Dokja knows exactly how many are standing here. There are one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
'One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three regressions'
No matter how he looks at it, 1,863 was an ugly number that Yoo Joonghyuk couldn't wrap his head around. He was only on his third. He was only on his third and he was already so tired. That number meant so much.
Much more than he wanted it to. It was a record of the time it took to reach the end. It was how many times it took to get it right. It was the very same amount of lives Dokja himself read about.
It was the record of how many times he had failed. Over and over and over again.
He was already so tired.
There is an abrupt silence. Nobody moved, nobody spoke. There was no longer any whispering. No small talk or the restless hemming and hawing. It had gone stark quiet in the theater. They didn't speak while the screen kept running.
Dokja knew better than to say anything, this would be a big blow to the protagonist no matter the state of mind he was in. And he was not doing good mentally this round.
He ignores the hand squeezing his arm. If that's what that guy wanted to do, then his arm could take a little bit of abuse.
'The one standing before me. This was only his third.'
That thought shocks him out of his own thoughts as a feeling of terror skitters down his spin and takes a grip on his lungs.
'If he regresses, I won't be able to see his story.'
The idea feels like a blade slotting in between his ribs. It knocks him out of his mind enough for the scene to change back to the current Yoo Joonghyuk with various state of mutilated corpses behind him replacing the shadows of the regression iterations. The world snaps suddenly, jarringly, back to the bridge.
It's then that Dokja remembers that he was asked a question. Yoo Joonghyuk was expecting an answer. Even knowing the answer, he decides to ask a question anyway. "Are you going to let me live if I answer?"
"Depends on your answer." The response was immediate and there was no give or change of emotion in those steely eyes.
'Liar.' Dokja snorts out in his head, a little knowing smile on his face. He looks like he's ready to hand ship me to whatever afterlife would accept me. Not like any would. 'I'd believe it from second round Joonghyuk, definitely the 81st and 999th ones, but third round Yoo Joonghyuk has zero intention of letting an anomaly like me live.'
Joonghyuk isn't watching the screen anymore, hasn't been for a bit now. He has been watching every slight change in Dokja's surprisingly clear face. It's only when he hears about other regressions does he flit his eyes over to glance at it for a little bit. His neutral face turns down into a frown. 'Does he always do that? Compare me to those that haven't happened yet?'
A window pop up takes over a good half of his vision, reverting his attention from Joonghyuk.
[Your understanding of the character 'Yoo Joonghyuk' has increased.]
[You already have a high understanding of this character.]
[You have unlocked level 2 of your exclusivr skill, 'Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint'!]
A couple of confused hums pipe up from the group, a whole bunch of eyes turning to where Han Sooyoung is sitting. She is looking back at everyone with an unimpressed stare.
"So, ahjumma?"
Sooyoung scowls at the teenager, but opens her mouth reluctantly anyway. She's interrupted.
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' warns you not to spoil the show.]
"It's not even a good show." Sooyoung grumbles, taking a sweet from her pockets and popping one in her mouth with a grumpy face.
Kim Dokja's eyes widen as Yoo Joonghyuk's voice filters into his own head, narrating his thoughts.
['Only Lee Hyunsung and Kim Namwoon were supposed to survive. But Kim Namwoon is dead and four other people survived instead. And at least one of them has a powerful enough constellation to have paid the probability for a deus ex machina. It has to be this man who stayed behind. Who is he? I need information. If I deem him a threat... I will kill him.']
[The Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is shocked.]
[The Constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' is dumbfounded]
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' is astonished.]
[The Constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' is baffled.]
[The Constellation...]
[The Constellation...]
[The Constellation...]
[Many Constellations are alarmed.]
That was to be expected, though he had expected more outrage from his ability than he got. The looks being aimed at him tells him he'll be getting it from his companions rather than the constellations.
Arguably, a worse outcome.
"Dokja-ssi..." Yoo Sangah trails off, sounding unsure in herself and even a little uncomfortable. But she doesn't say anything more, averting her gaze from him and towards one of the people that this actually affects.
Yoo Joonghyuk says nothing yet, just watching with a mostly neutral look on his face. That was the most surprising part out of any of this actually. Dokja should probably be more anxious about this. Nobody is really saying anything, just looking.
['The Fourth Wall' has activated.]
He is going to resolutely ignore it until somebody makes it his problem. It's not like he's doing anything wrong here, he's just using his skills just like everyone else.
He's just using his skills like everyone else-
That's actually kind of cool, ahjussi." Lee Jihye call out in the middle of the weird silence the adults have blanketed the room in. She rolls her eyes when wide eyes are turned on her. She points to the screen, a cheeky grin on her face as she attempt to break the tension. "You can actually read minds! Not the weird one word thing from earlier! And it's in masters voice!"
She's slightly bouncing in her chair, a wide grin on her face. She has turned her attention solely to Dokja, a proud look on her face. She did it on purpose, it seems. In his own mind he admits he's thankful to her for that.
"Jihye-ie," Heewon starts, her lips pursed and eye calculating. Her tone is slightly gentle, but still stern. "This... It's not as cool as you think it is. It's an invasion of privacy."
Heewon's words kind of hit him where it hurts and it sounds like she doesn't exactly trust him anymore. Dokja tries to lean away from the protagonist again, this time sure that violence will follow. Jihye's face sours quickly.
"But aren't we listening to ahjussi's thoughts right now?" Her question is more of a statement and it catches the group off guard, Heewon actually flinching back at that. She says it so resolutely as if it negates his invasion of privacy. "And it's apart of his skills. It doesn't look like any of ahjussi's skills give people privacy."
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' agrees with incarnation 'Lee Jihye']
The protagonist huffs, nodding once along with her words. He grabs the back of Dokja's robe, yanking him back to his side and into the chair proper. He looks a little grumpy now, but he removes his hand from the readers collar all the same. Joonghyuk does pin him down with a look though, so maybe he should stop trying to leave the recliner.
The other kids have been mostly quiet throughout this whole thing, mostly just whispering between each other. Yoo Mia looks a little grumpy though.
Dokja looks at Joonghyuk warily. Could he really read his mind? A smirk crosses his lips, and he decides to answer.
"Insects." Dokja admits and the sudden change in tone throws the protagonist off a little. "Insects are also counted as living organisms in the first scenario."
The regressor is clearly surprised that they cleared the first scenario by killing insects, judging by how his eyes widen in shock. It's not a large reaction, but Dokja knows that this is the equivalent of bafflement from anyone else.
Inexplicably, the corners of Dokja's mouth tick upwards in delight, finding it unexpectedly fun to bewilder the man. Well, if he's going to make sure that Yoo Joonghyuk doesn't regress, he'll have to find a way to convince the man that he's useful, and Dokja knows so many ways to let the protagonist cheese through at least more than a dozen scenarios. "I spotted them because of the explosion that happened in the other cabin."
['The future has changed.']
"The explosion... the insects...']
Dokja knows this information will be a shock to him, considering how there was supposed to be a battle to the death in cabin 3807 with only two survivors. Joonghyuk looks away, exposing his excellent side profile. Even in the middle of the apocalypse, the man really is handsome.
['Did I cause this? Was it because I started out by killing them with an explosion, unlike in my previous runs?']
A fuzzy image of Joonghyuk staring at the carnage in his cabin appears, and he seems long desensitized to the gore that surrounds him.
'Maybe dropping into the third round isn't too much bad luck after all,' Dokja contemplates with a thoughtful look.
'This is still when Yoo Joonghyuk tends to deviate in the beginning. In the fourth round, he kills the bomber before killing one person to clear the scenario and leaves everyone to make the choice for themselves. In the fifth round, he intervened in the middle of the struggle to eliminate the ones that tended to turncoat. After he found that basically no one in cabin 3707 would even make it past the early scenarios, that's when 21st Yoo Joonghyuk and later regressions would mercy kill them.'
Dokja's thoughts are borderline obsessive again, rambling on and on about the different regression rounds. Around him, several people groan as he continues his thoughts. Dokja grumbles, embarrassed, and brings his legs up to curl them close to his chest. The sunfish bastard can just deal with him being closer in his space. If he didn't like it he can move to his own chair.
Yoo Joonghyuk doesn't say anything about it.
But Sooyoung does say something in his place, turning and looking over Dokja's head to make contact with the protagonist. She makes the same long whistle that Jung Heewon had made earlier, a shit eating grin on her face when she finishes.
There is a meaning there that Dokja can't catch at all, but a nod from the bastard beside him means that Joonghyuk had. When he tries to ask either of them, he only gets a low grunt and an enigmatic smile as a result.
Fine then. Not like he wanted to know anyway.
[Su lki ng]
Shut up you.
['Something is wrong here.']Something is wrong here.']
Crap. That's not good.
['He's too calm for a newbie. The world has turned upside down, and he's taking it in stride. Abnormally so. He must be the one who kill Kim Namwoon.']
This jerk! Just because he's not melting in horror at the situation, he's 'abnormally calm'?! Dokja grits his teeth as he looks over at the scenario window to check the countdown. It's only getting lower.
Yoo Joonghyuk's black eyes sharpen as hostility seeps into his thoughts, leveling Dokja with a piercing glare.
['He's not just useful... He's dangerous.']
Many deadpanned faces have been turned to Yoo Joonghyuk. He can feel his ears turning hot as he ignores them. It's none of their business. He doesn't have to explain his thoughts to them.
Dokja risks saying something, bringing back the earlier sass with a vengeance. He knows exactly where this is going to go, how this is going to end. There's no point in coddling this bastard. Might as well have some fun. "If you're done with your questions, can you let me go? Let's move on to Oksu station together. We're running out of time."
His breath hitches and he chokes when Joonghyuk closes his hand around his throat tighter. A dissatisfying result, but the expected one nonetheless. "Not so fast. Everything fits together too perfectly."
Joonghyuk's right eye begins to glow golden again, activating a skill that Dokja easily identifies.
'It's the skill [Eye of the Sage]. It allows you to see someone's attribute window and their hidden information. It's the highest grade detection skill.'
He had wondered why the bastard had turned it off earlier. This is a blessing in disguise considering Dokja's own lack of access to his own attributes window. He doesn't know what his skills or other attributes are other than whatever he's been able to accidentally use. The downside is Joonghyuk learns about them, the upside is that he can finally figure it out by reading the bastards mind.
[The exclusive skill 'The Fourth Wall' activates.]
The window popping up surprises him. Never mind the fact it popped up earlier and he just barely missed it. The next window is just as much of a surprise.
['The Fourth Wall' has detected the detection skill, 'Eye of the Sage'.]
A blue crackle of light interferes with the protagonist's skill, making it backfire and fail. The protagonist couldn't read the reader and has to close his eye, staggering back in pain. The fingers curled around Kim Dokja's throat loosen ever so slightly and he takes the reprieve to breath a lot easier.
[The exclusive skill 'The Fourth Wall' blocked the skill 'Eye of the Sage'.]
Yoo Joonghyuk flinches, his eye inflamed and a bit red. Veins protrude on his temple, raising slightly from the skin here, but he's still somehow unbelievably attractive.
"You..." His face twists up in upset, his jaw setting in a way that tells Dokja he's currently seething. Good. That bastard needs to be cut down a little bit.
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' agrees with you]
"What are you?"
Dokja is too stunned to respond, just staring ahead while reading and rereading the notification windows. 'I have a skill that can block the [Eye of the Sage]?? First it's [Bookmark], and now I have a skill called [The Fourth Wall]? Do all of my skill have to do with the fact I read the novel? What even is my attribute?'
[Several Constellations are curious about your exclusive skill.]
Han Sooyoung groans in her chair, muttering under her breath constantly while glaring at the Dokja on screen. He can barely make out the most recent statement. "It's all literature themed."
She spat it like an insult.
Kim Dokja is unamused.
Lee Hyunsung perks up in his chair, getting up to lean over the chair that holds both Dokja and Joonghyuk. "Dokja-ssi, how do you fight without knowing your skills or anything? You at least know your stats, right?"
Dokja looks up, leaning his head back and letting it fall against the headrest. He turns and rolls his answer in his mouth, debating actually telling the soldier just how little he knows of himself. He admits it anyway. "I don't know my stats. Wait- that's a lie. The only reason I know what my stats are is because of the last time I upgraded them."
Hyunsung face falls, he sucks in a breath and looks majorly concerned. "How do you fight so well, then?"
Dokja smiles at him, trying to be comforting. "I have a really good memory."
Notes: