「 When I write a story, I often get confused. Am I writing the story, or is the story using me to reveal itself? Anna, have you ever thought about that? 」
—Asuka Ren
It was the first time I revealed my name to my companions. The reason I've been hesitating so far is because I didn't want to cause any unnecessary discomfort.
In fact, it was Han Sooyoung who wrote Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, but it was I who wrote Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint in the worldline in which I lived.
And the readers in front of me are people from the same world line as me.
When they hear my name, they can't help but be embarrassed.
"Wait a minute, that name."
As expected, Kyung Sein reacted first.
Dansu ahjussi, who was next to Kyung Sein, also looked surprised as if he had realized something.
Actually, I thought they might know, but everyone turned out to be not as perceptive than I expected...
"What Korean characters form your name?"
I felt a little embarrassed by the ahjussi's unexpected question.
"This is mine: Hak鶴(crane) Hyun翾((lightly) flying)."
I said, omitting (lightly) in front of Hyun.
Dansu ahjussi shook his head in admiration.
"It's a very noble name. I can sense that the person who named you put a lot of thought into it."
"Wow, Ahjussi. Can you even read my name?"
"I did some studying on the meaning of names when I came up with Jiyoon's name. Lee Hakhyun. It's a good name."
A good name?
No, wait, this isn't important… Did he not notice anything at all?
Didn't you just say my name?
"Excuse me…"
Kyung Sein responded by waving her hand as if she knew what I was going to say.
"Ah, don't worry. I'll call you 'Kim Dokja' from now on."
"No, that's…"
"If we call Hakhyun-ssi 'Kim Dokja', the name of 'Kim Dokja' will become famous! A story will be created! There will be a higher chance that 'Kim Dokja', including the Demon King of Salvation, will notice us!"
"Yes, that's true…"
"Don't worry, I will definitely protect you!"
I looked at Kyung Sein blankly and let out a light sigh.
I thought it might have gone well.
I don't know if she's pretending not to know, or if she really doesn't know.
When I thought about it, it wasn't strange that she didn't know my name. Ordinary readers remember the works they read, but they do not remember the name of the author who wrote the work.
At that time, Killer King across from me spoke.
"I don't know about naming, but it's a very cool name."
I looked at the faces of my companions one by one and found the only one whose complexion had changed.
An unusually pale face.
There was a fact that suddenly occurred to me as I looked at Cha Yerin avoiding my eyes.
Oh, come to think of it, Yerin knows.
[It is time to enter the 'Zodiac Ball'.]
[Representative of Zone 13, please designate companion signs to 'companions' who will enter together.]
Is it finally time?
There were a total of six people in the group, including Yoo Jonghyuk and me.
I left a 'companion designation mark' on the back of each member's hand.
The mark looked exactly like someone's face, but no matter how I looked at it, it didn't look like that of an animal.
This… Doesn't his face look similar to mine?
The next moment, the sky split open and an orbital elevator descended toward the ground. Elevator doors open with a light cloud of dust.
But for some reason, the inside of the elevator was a little narrow.
[Two people can board the orbital elevator at a time.]
[Please board with one companion.]
Wait for a sec. What about the rest?
[Additional orbital elevators will arrive soon.]
Ah, is this how multiple units arrive? It would have been more convenient if we all went together, but I don't know why we formed pairs.
Could this be related to the following scenario? Well, if it weren't for that, there's no reason to put this kind of restriction on it.
I looked back at my companions.
It doesn't matter who I take, but it would probably be better for me to take the most dangerous one.
Just as I was about to call out to Yoo Jonghyuk, a boy appeared from afar near thedoors.
Cha Sungwoo pushed someone towards me.
"Take this one away first."
A long time ago, I participated in an event called 'Conversation with Readers'. It was an event held at a small local bookstore.
The event was structured in a way that five or six writers, including myself, and about thirty readers had a conversation together.
Of course, none of the readers who participated that day had read my novel.
It was natural. At that time, I was a kid who had just debuted in the literary world. Even though we were all authors, I was an unknown author who had not published a single book, and the other authors were new artists who were attracting attention in the literary world.
Readers everywhere raise their hands and ask questions, and writers answer them.
There, I was neither a writer nor a reader, but simply a member of the audience watching their stories.
I think I had that thought at first glance as I watched the Q&A going on.
Will I be able to be asked that question someday?
Would I be able to meet someone who is curious about my story with such deep eyes?
"I."
Below the slowly ascending orbital elevator, the scenery of Zone 13 was receding.
"Well, I don't know what to say."
I saw Cha Yerin standing side by side inside the window. Maybe it was because the elevator was so narrow, but the air inside made me feel suffocated.
It occurred to me later that the writers who were being asked questions at that time were not all that happy.
Does Cha Yerin resent me for hiding my identity as a writer?
But from my perspective, it was an inevitable choice. Because at that time, I still couldn't trust Cha Yerin.
Even so, I didn't reveal my identity too late. Shouldn't I have given at least a small hint? Otherwise—
"Sorry."
Unexpectedly, it was Cha Yerin who apologized first.
I threw up my hands, somewhat embarrassed.
"My brother created an uncomfortable situation for no reason."
"No. I should have told you a long time ago—"
"Because my brother knows everything."
It wasn't difficult to take into account what it meant to know.
Perhaps Killer King—Cha Sungwoo knew that I was a writer and that his younger sister liked novels by an author named Lee Hakhyun.
That's probably why he pushed his sister into the orbital elevator.
"A lot of time has already passed."
Cha Yerin's voice was deep, as if she was reflecting on the past years.
"It went by so quickly. It was as if it was written 'and several months passed'."
It was indeed a metaphor worthy of Literature Girl 64.
I remembered the day I first met Cha Yerin. That day, we were in the 'edge of darkness' and fighting against the Misreading Association .
It was a time when enemies and allies were still unclear.
"It's somehow fascinating."
I could see the beasts moving away under the orbital elevator. The crane owner who was supposed to support us was waving his hand. The leader of the bear beastmen also stood out.
In a world where everything becomes a story, even this moment will one day become a story.
We looked down at our colleagues who shared the story. There were people there waiting for the orbital elevator. Cha Sungwoo, Noh Kyunghwan, Sung Minwoo, and Yoo Jonghyuk.
Cha Yerin, who was looking down at the scenery together, added.
"They can become colleagues just by liking the same story."
"Luckily, they're all good people."
"Author."
"Yes."
"I'll only call you that until the orbital elevator is up."
"I understand. Is it okay if I call you reader?"
Cha Yerin quietly lowered her head and looked down at her own toes. Then, her expression hardened and she asked.
"We are in a bad situation. Is this the author's intention?"
"No."
With the authority of a constellation, I searched for the stars that watch over us. Fortunately, there were no prying eyes on the conversation inside the orbital elevator.
Well, it meant that here you can talk as much as you want without worrying about filtering.
"Can I tell you a little about my situation?"
Cha Yerin briefly nodded her head and I started talking.
The day before I possessed a character, I received a strange note from Representative Kim Dokja.
'Participating in Kim Dokja's banquet and meeting Representative Kim Dokja'.
When I came to my senses, I was suddenly possessing a character in this world.
"It's very similar to what happened to Kim Dokja. It's almost like someone parodied it."
It's a parody.
I hadn't even thought of that.
"What does it feel like to possess a character in a story you wrote yourself?"
"I should have written a more peaceful story. I should have made the main character die less."
We looked at each other and smiled.
"Can we change the ending?"
"I will change it."
Before we knew it, the scenery of Zone 13 was no longer visible. As the orbital elevator entered the floor, the view outside was pitch black.
"The ending of the 41st round has been decided."
"The story of the 41st round has not been read properly yet."
"You can fix it because you've never worked on it."
"Yes. I think so."
"It won't be easy."
"I guess so. But there's Yerin-ssi, Sungwoo-ssi, and other colleagues."
The scenarios that will come in the future are different from the initial scenarios where we were just grappling with the incarnations.
"It's worth a try."
What is waiting for us above now are at least 'great-grade constellations'.
We will compete with them in scenarios.
"Please tell me you can write well."
I looked at Cha Yerin in the dark.
Even though she appeared calm from beginning to end, she must be afraid. If I remember her in real life, she would be a girl in her late teens at most.
"I will do my best."
"Please tell me one more time."
"I will do my best. There are people who read my boring debut work to the end."
"It wasn't boring."
Even in the dark, I felt like I could see her straight face.
"The Origin of Memory is my favorite novel."
The Origin of Memory.
When I heard the title of my debut work, I felt embarrassed. It felt like I was being dragged back to 'Conversation with Readers' after a few years.
"Why? Why do you like that novel?"
Even on the entire Korean Peninsula, there would be less than fifty people who have read that novel. And most of them probably even don't even remember that title.
In a sense, the Cha Yerin in front of me right now was the only reader who remembered the novel written by the author 'Lee Hakhyun'.
Cha Yerin said.
"Kim Dokja loves Ways of Survival."
"Yes."
"And I love The Origin of Memory."
I couldn't answer anything.
Cha Yerin continued speaking as if she understood my silence.
"『The Origin of Memory』. It's a story about a man searching for his origins."
For the first time in a while, I remembered the contents of that novel.
The main character of 『The Origin of Memory』 has no name. Neither does he have parents. So he created his own past. He designed all the stories related to himself, including his birth, his parents, and his family, and said that it was him.
But no one could say that the story was false. Because no one knows his past.
Even he himself.
"I was jealous."
I thought about what kind of person Cha Yerin wa. She 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 last scene. It's the part where the main character faces his younger self."
In the final scene of 『The Origin of Memory』, the protagonist faces his childhood self as if in a fantasy.
I had forgotten that such a scene even existed, but I was honestly surprised. Right now, before my eyes, there was a reader who remembered my novel better than me.
"If you think about it, the ending is similar to that novel."
"It seems like that too."
"And the author is Kim Dokja."
In the darkness, Cha Yerin's eyes were looking at me. She was looking at me, but in a sense she wasn't looking at me.
She was allowing the darkness between us. As if between the lines of darkness, there was an important sentence that the author did not forget to write down.
"A writer is the first reader of his novel."
For a moment, I felt strange.
I felt as if I had heard the answer I had been looking for all along from a distant universe.
"If that's what you mean, I could also become Kim Dokja."
Why is it that only after becoming Kim Dokja, I hear the story I most wanted to hear as Lee Hakhyun?
"I think Yerin-ssi looks much more like Kim Dokja. The same goes for Sungwoo-ssi, Kyunghwan ahjussi, and Minwoo-ssi."
In reality, they were fragments of 'Kim Dokja'. People who loved this story more than any other readers.
On the other hand, what about me?
I am 49% Kim Dokja. A being that originated from Kim Dokja, who wanted to become Kim Dokja more than anyone else, and therefore could not become Kim Dokja more than anyone else.
In that sense, I may be the person who is furthest from Kim Dokja.
"Perhaps."
After thinking about something for a moment, Yerin opened her mouth. It was dimly bright outside the window, and the light dimly illuminated her face.
"It's not that we resemble Kim Dokja, but perhaps Kim Dokja resembles us."
I listened to those words in a daze and suddenly opened my mouth.
At that time, the orbital elevator stopped with a loud noise.
[Main Scenario #8 – 'Zone 13' has ended automatically.]
Then came the long-awaited reward.
[300,000 coins were obtained as a scenario reward.]
[The story fragment 'Understanding of the Unemployed' was obtained as a scenario reward.]
「 Understanding the Unemployed. 」
I finally got my hands on this story fragment.
[A new main scenario has arrived.]
Before I knew it, a new scenario area appeared outside the elevator window.
It was a landscape I knew well.
Cha Yerin looked at me with a nervous expression. I nodded at her as if answering her.
She said, "The 'Recycling Center Director' knows who 'Kim Dokja' is."
Otherwise, the stage for the next scenario cannot be here.
"Here is—"
It was then that someone opened the door of the orbital elevator. A large hand came through the crack in the door along with a shout.
The moment I reflexively protected Cha Yerin and grabbed the hilt of 'Unbreakable Faith', the owner of the hand completely opened the elevator door.
[I was wondering who it was that rejected my offer.]
A monkey with golden fur was smiling at me.
[Are you the guy called 'Kim Dokja'?]