To start with the conclusion, the group recognized me.

Who are these people.

They are monsters who have read the main story at least once, and up to a hundred times.

Even if it might be possible for someone else, there was no way they wouldn’t recognize me just because I was wearing a mask.

Even that dense Gyeong Sein went so far as to whisper this to me.

“Something happened that makes you have to call yourself ‘Kim Dokja’, right?”

The Seventh Apostle, Ye Hyeonwoo, rolled his eyes, wondering why I had said such a thing, and Literary Girl 64, Cha Yerin, was looking at me with bewildered eyes.

Uncle Dansoo was looking at me with an expression that said he was finally worried I had lost my mind, and lastly, Killer King―

“Right, Kim Dokja. Did you come to see me?”

Come to think of it, that guy had called me Kim Dokja from the very beginning.

I deliberately ignored him and continued speaking.

“Since they’re saying the Event Scenario will start soon, let’s get ready for the scenario first.”

“Ah, you don’t really have to worry about that.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“In this scenario, you’re safe as long as you just go inside a ‘house’.”

You’re safe as long as you just go inside a house?

“There have been a few of the same Events so far, and it’s been fine as long as we stayed inside a house.”

[The ‘Event Scenario’ will begin shortly.]
[The relevant ‘Event Scenario’ is ‘The Three Little Pigs’.]

I stared intently at the scenario message flickering before my eyes.

It was strange.

If that ‘Three Little Pigs’ was the story I knew, then this ‘house’ was absolutely not safe.

“Anyway, Inho…… no, Mr. Dokja. How did you end up here?”

“It’s similar to you all.”

“Ah, so Mr. Dokja also……”

“It seems you’ve gone through a lot of hardship.”

“Don’t even mention it.”

I briefly heard about what had happened so far from Gyeong Sein.

Having climbed the ‘Star Ladder’ from Washington and come over here, the group had already been thrown into the scenario of the ‘Recycling Center’.

From what I heard, Killer King, Ye Hyeonwoo, and Cha Yerin each placed in the rankings in the ‘Twelve Zodiac Race’ and chose ‘Zone 13’.

If it was them, I had figured they would, of course.

If you lined up the incarnation rankings of the Korean Peninsula, they were people who would inevitably be in the top ten.

Uncle Dansoo and Gyeong Sein hadn’t taken first place, but they said they had drawn ‘Zone 13’ from the selection options.

“When we first came to Zone 13, we thought everything was finally going to work out. Wow, so this is the hidden piece we’d only heard about. This is the protagonist’s path!”

It was the protagonist’s path, sure.

Kim Dokja and Yu Joonghyuk would have made the same choice.

Uncle Dansoo shook his head sluggishly.

“This place is hell.”

In fact, the group didn’t look to be in good condition.

Leaving aside Gyeong Sein in filthy clothes or Uncle Dansoo with soot smeared on him, even Cha Yerin, whose face used to shine, was in rags, and even the sharp Ye Hyeonwoo was sprawled on the floor like a patient with lethargy.

Shaking her head from side to side, Gyeong Sein said,

“They’re like that because they’re hungry. We haven’t eaten anything for days.”

“Can’t you just buy something to eat?”

“We don’t have any money.”

“Then can’t you just earn some?”

“You know the currency here is ‘Recycling Coins’, right?”

I nodded.

“Then you already know. The coins we gathered are useless here.”

“That’s true, but still―”

“Agh. You really don’t know since you just got here. Well, this place doesn’t appear in the main story of the novel anyway.”

Right. This was a place that didn’t appear in ‘Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’.

That was true, but…… did these people perhaps not know that ‘Recycling Coins’ were bottle caps?

No way, there was no way they didn’t know something even that brat Yu Joonghyuk knew.

“We’ve already been here for a month. Here, we’re the seniors, so feel free to ask us anything.”

“You’ve already been here for a month?”

“To be exact, it’s been a month and a week!”

A month.

That meant the time inside the ‘Recycling Center’ was flowing at a different speed from Earth’s ‘scenarios’.

For me, it was a good thing.

The enemies I would have to face from now on were the great nebulae aiming for the ‘Demon King of Salvation’.

To fight against them, I needed to build up my strength for as long as possible.

“But what’s going on outside? What about Yu Joonghyuk?”

Everyone here was part of the group that had entered Washington together with Yu Joonghyuk. They would naturally be curious about what had happened since.

“Yu Joonghyuk is safe.”

“Did you defeat the demon marquis? I heard it was an enemy even Yu Joonghyuk would have a hard time beating―”

Demon marquis, huh.

As expected, the group didn’t seem to know what had happened in the Washington Dome.

Of course, they must have taken the ‘Star Ladder’ before Yu Joonghyuk turned into the ‘black beast’.

If they heard what had happened since then, they would faint from shock.

……Come to think of it, these people also didn’t know that I had made a contract with the ‘Demon King of Salvation’.

To be honest, I didn’t even have a sense of where to start explaining.

“No, it’s strange. Does it make any sense for a ‘demon marquis’ to appear in the seventh scenario?”

It didn’t.

“Who on earth would clear a scenario like that?”

It had been cleared.

“Unless there’s even a Demon King of Salvation or something―”

The Demon King of Salvation had cleared it.

“At this rate, the great nebulae will soon swarm in and ruin all the scenarios!”

What was this? Did they actually know everything that had happened?

“Anyway, Yu Joonghyuk has to come. There’s no way to resolve this scenario unless the Conqueror comes.”

Looking at Gyeong Sein, who was filled with anticipation, there was no way I could tell her that the brat next to me was actually Yu Joonghyuk.

“But.”

That characteristically flat, toneless ending.

The one who opened her mouth was Cha Yerin.

“That.”

“Yes. Go ahead.”

“Kid.”

“Kid?”

“Who.”

Why was Ms. Yerin suddenly talking like that? Her way of speaking had always been strange, but not to this extent.

Killer King, who had been leaning against the window, interpreted her words.

“My little sister is asking who that kid is.”

The group’s gazes focused on the child Yu Joonghyuk.

“Ah, this guy is.”

I was thinking of just saying I’d picked him up along the way when the child Yu Joonghyuk opened his mouth as if he had been waiting for it.

“I am―”

The child Yu Joonghyuk looked around at the group, then finally looked up at me and answered with a frown.

“According to this guy, I’m called ‘Yu Joonghyuk’.”

It was a strange way to introduce himself, but for the current Yu Joonghyuk, it was the best answer.

The group looked at me with expressions that said they had no idea what kind of joke that was supposed to be.

I let out a light sigh and began speaking.

*

I briefly explained what had happened so far.

First, starting with the matter of having made a contract with the ‘Demon King of Salvation’―

“Wait, you made a contract with who?”

“With the Demon King of Salvation.”

“With who?”

“With the Demon King of Salvation.”

“T-th-that real, the― he existed?”

Looking at Gyeong Sein’s expression, like she was about to faint, I thought that if I had known she would be this happy, I would have told her sooner.

“Yes.”

With my answer, the inside of the house practically turned into a festival. Gyeong Sein and Uncle Dansoo, who had been leaning against the table, threw their arms around each other, Ye Hyeonwoo, who had been lying down, jumped to his feet, and Cha Yerin, who had been sitting at the table, had tears welling up in her eyes.

Aside from Killer King, who muttered, “Then which one is the real Kim Dokja,” everyone was happy.

To those happy people,

“Th-then right now, the ‘Demon King of Salvation’ is……”

I just couldn’t bring myself to say, He’s dead.

Strictly speaking, there were parts that made it a bit ambiguous to say he had ‘died’.

“He’s in a state where I can’t contact him for a while.”

“But he’s definitely the ‘Demon King of Salvation’, right? The ‘Demon King of Salvation’ we know, right?”

“That.”

The group held their breath and looked at me.

“His personality seems subtly bad, but for now, he is the Demon King of Salvation.”

Once again, the group let out cheers.

“You’re sure, right?”

“Yes, that’s true, but.”

To calm the excited group down, I slowly started laying the groundwork.

“But it’s possible I might not be able to contact him for quite a long time. It’d be better if you didn’t get your hopes up too much―”

“What do you mean by that?”

How was I supposed to say it.

These were all people who carried fragments of Kim Dokja. They were the ones who had been waiting for Kim Dokja in this world more than anyone.

How could I tell the truth to people like that.

“Did he…… save someone and die again, by any chance?”

I hesitated for a moment, then answered.

“That……”

When I went a long time without answering, Gyeong Sein and Uncle Dansoo, who had been clinging to each other, let go. Cha Yerin had tears in her eyes for a different reason, and Ye Hyeonwoo lay back down where he was.

Only Killer King muttered, “So Kim Dokja is one again.”

“What do we do! What do we do! What do we do!”

“Mm, please calm down.”

“It’s all over now!”

Gyeong Sein screamed.

“We can’t use our skills, we °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° can’t use our stigmas! We can’t even receive support from our backer constellations here! On top of that, we don’t have any tales, and now even Kim Dokja―”

Gyeong Sein, her mind shattered by the news about the Demon King of Salvation, staggered.

I quickly covered the child Yu Joonghyuk’s ears with both hands and added,

“It’s all right. I’ll figure something out somehow.”

“O-of course, it’s fortunate that Mr. In…… Mr. Dokja is here, but―”

Gyeong Sein had a face that said she didn’t know what was what anymore.

Even so, there was nothing to be done. The ‘Demon King of Salvation’ was not by our side right now.

However, the Demon King of Salvation had acknowledged me as the youngest, and so, in a situation where he wasn’t here, I had to take on Kim Dokja’s share.

“Even though he’s become a kid, Yu Joonghyuk came here too like this.”

“Right, why did Yu Joonghyuk turn into a kid?”

“That’s another long explanation……”

While the group was in confusion, Killer King, arms crossed, spoke to the child Yu Joonghyuk.

“A brat like you is no Yu Joonghyuk.”

At that, the child Yu Joonghyuk looked up at me as if he were confused.

“Was I not Yu Joonghyuk?”

“You can just ignore what that person says.”

I seriously wanted to quit being Kim Dokja.

[The ‘Event Scenario’ is currently in progress.]

Along with the scenario message sounding again, a roar of explosions came from far away.

I briefly looked over the layout of the house. Window frames that looked like they would crumble as soon as you touched them and roughly erected pillars. No matter how you looked at it, it was a roughly built wooden structure.

“Let’s save the detailed talk for later. Are you really sure it’s okay to just stay like this?”

“Hey now, it’s fine. It’s a sturdy house, I’m telling you.”

“It’s fine. We’ve already been through the same scenario several times.”

Gyeong Sein and Uncle Dansoo answered optimistically.

I stared blankly at the two of them, then asked,

“What’s that on your back.”

“Ah, this. It’s cute, right?”

A squirrel tail had grown out behind Gyeong Sein’s backside.

It wasn’t just Gyeong Sein.

Looking closely, a thick shell that looked like a turtle’s was sprouting on Uncle Dansoo’s back.

On Ye Hyeonwoo’s head, panda ears were sticking up, and as for Cha Yerin…… honestly, I wasn’t sure. Judging from her way of speaking and her movements, something seemed to have changed, though.

The only one who hadn’t changed at all was Killer King.

Right after, Killer King’s [Transmitted Voice] reached my ear.

―These guys are already hopeless.

Only Killer King was the sole ‘incarnation wearing a mask’ among them.

Mask. A mask.

For reference, the following sentence appears in ‘Destruction Method’ in relation to masks.

「Only humans wear the mask of a ‘different creature’ that is not themselves.」

Only humans.

I felt my back go cold.