I reflexively turned around.

“Tie up Killer King. Quickly!”

The wolf was not only outside the house. There was also a wolf inside this house.

“Kim Dokja. I do not lose to something like ‘Stageification’.”

Killer King, wearing the black wolf mask, spoke with full confidence.

Of course, I knew he would not attack us. I trusted him as well.

“I know.”

It was just that I trusted the “story” more.

“This is to protect you. Please believe me.”

Killer King looked at me for a moment, then nodded.

“I will trust you, Kim Dokja.”

Even now, he was a man who stuck to his persona.

Gyeong Sein darted like a flying squirrel and tightly bound Killer King to a chair, then Cha Yerin smeared sticky snail slime over him. Moving at a leisurely pace, Ye Hyeonwoo wedged a bamboo stalk between Killer King’s legs as if tightening a torture rack.

I had never told them to go that far.

“Does it hurt?” Ye Hyeonwoo asked Killer King, who was grimacing.

“A little.”

“I see.”

Just as Killer King was about to protest, sparks began to crackle in midair.

Tztztztztz—

Old tales are remembered by the stars.

The stars retrace their memories, reminisce, sometimes add plausibility to aid reenactment, and in their own way, enjoy the tales.

[Constellations from <Twelve Zodiac> who remember this tale are delighted.]

[Tale, ‘The Three Little Pigs’, accelerates its story.]

The tale fragment “Brick House” became even sturdier. That was not all. The eyes of the wolves outside, who had been blowing at the house with all they had, were changing.

[You wretches—]

The flustered wolf constellation uttered a proclamation.

[Stop! Stop! I said stop at once!]

The wolf incarnations ignored the constellation’s injunction and jumped one by one onto the brick roof.

The wolves who had been blowing, the wolves who had been ramming their bodies into the walls—
every last one of them, as if bewitched, began leaping up onto the roof.

Even Killer King, bound tight, trembled as his eyes turned red.

This was the power of a tale.

“Gyaaaah!”

The wolf incarnations that came in through the chimney fell into the boiling water and screamed. Under normal circumstances, it would have been impossible to drive them off with something like boiling water. Anyone who had survived up to the eighth scenario would have built up a certain resistance to pain.

But under the influence of this Stageification, such resistance was meaningless.

Right now, their core attribute was “wolf,” and the water in the hearth would inflict pain on “wolves” comparable to Uriel’s [Hellfire].

If you asked me why such a thing happened, I had no answer.

It was simply that this was that kind of story.

A story where the little pig who built the brick house defeats the wolves.

The wolf incarnations that entered through the chimney convulsed and screamed the moment they touched the water. Some had their legs melt away in the steam and crawled back up through the chimney passage; others shot up like popcorn, bursting out of the cauldron.

[The constellation, ‘Pig Who Died First’, cheers!]

[The constellation, ‘First Rooster To Cry’, lets out an intrigued crow!]

[The constellation, ‘Sacrificial Lamb of God’, says it has been a while since they saw a pig story.]

[The constellation, ‘Black Flame Dragon of the Abyss’, yawns.]

And there were constellations who voyeuristically enjoyed their suffering.

[The constellation, ‘Pig Who Built the Brick House’, nods.]

And we were the protagonists of this “stage.”

The pitiful “Three Little Pigs.”

In the original, the process in which the “first pig,” who built a straw house, and the “second pig,” who built a wooden house, were sacrificed, was included. In this staging, that part was omitted.

Yet not a single constellation raised an objection.

[Constellations from <Twelve Zodiac> chuckle, saying it has been a long time since they saw this tale.]

Because this was a story everyone already knew.

Predictable sacrifices and predictable deaths gave the stars no thrill at all.

What they were curious about was not the little pigs’ trials.

“So what happens next?”

All that mattered was how satisfyingly the revenge was carried out, and how miserably the star who once stood in the predator’s seat would fall.

[Some constellations look forward to your ‘tale reenactment’.]

[You have received sponsorship of 8,000 Recycling Coins.]

[A few constellations want you to torture the wolves even more cruelly.]

[A very small number of constellations suggest turning the water in the hearth into hydrochloric acid.]

Right now, we were the agents of that revenge. We were the ones reenacting old stories on behalf of the stars, and reinterpreting the tales on their behalf.

Incarnations who received coins and lived.

[You have received sponsorship of 5,000 coins.]

This was the world Kim Dokja had lived in all along.

Gyeong Sein grabbed my sleeve.

“If…”

Her faint trembling passed through the fabric.

“If all of us had chosen the Wolf side… what would have happened?”

There was no need to think about it.

“We all would have died.”

[You have received sponsorship of 3,000 Recycling Coins.]

The tale had been successfully reenacted, and the wolf incarnations who had threatened us were eliminated.

Had we made the right choice? Had we safely cleared the “Event Scenario”?

[‘Recycling Center Director’ pays attention to your choice.]

If so, why was the Center Director still waiting for my “choice”?

“Is there still something left to ‘choose’ in this story?”

When I slowly turned my head, I saw other beastfolk who had failed to evacuate and remained inside the inn.

Even though the wolves who tormented them were being utterly destroyed, their expressions did not look pleased. Some even looked pained or sorrowful.

“This is a place where animals who failed to enter the Twelve Zodiac live together.”

And the ones now watching this story from the sky were all from <Twelve Zodiac>.

“Reader. Killer King is—”

Killer King’s eyes were reddening, his breathing growing harsh. The rope binding him was stretched to the point of snapping.

The tale was eroding Killer King.

[A very small number of constellations are puzzled why there is a ‘wolf’ inside the brick house.]

[A very small number of constellations order you to kill the ‘wolf’ inside the brick house.]

“Bind him tighter! Just a little longer!”

“Should we twist the bamboo more?”

“Do as you see fit!”

Killer King’s screams rang out. But screaming was better than dying.

[Some constellations are puzzled by your judgment.]

[A very small number of constellations say you will receive an even greater reward if you eliminate all the wolves.]

A greater reward. It sounded nice.

No one here wanted to sacrifice Killer King.

He had voluntarily chosen the Wolf side and protected the party for an entire month.

And now we were supposed to kill him, just to complete one Stageification?

“Hey, Wolf!”

I shouted toward the wolf constellation beyond the wall, “Wolf Who Likes Red Hoods.”

“Cut it out. You know full well what will happen if this Stageification continues like this.”

“Wolf Who Likes Red Hoods” had not yet climbed onto the roof.

Probably because this Stageification was imperfect, and as a constellation he could resist its influence to some extent by his own will.

Even so, if things continued, the ending was obvious.

[Constellations from <Twelve Zodiac> want you to finish off the ‘wolf’.]

But could Killer King endure until then?

I took a slow, deep breath, gathered my thoughts, and continued speaking.

“I get it. You’re resentful too, right? You’re not even the original wolf from this tale. So let’s end it here.”

“The Three Little Pigs” was an old story.

By now, there were no pigs who had built houses, and no wolf who had tried to devour them.

All that remained were the calmly twinkling stars overhead, chewing and biting and savoring this old tale.

[Constellations of <Twelve Zodiac> look at ‘Wolf Who Likes Red Hoods’.]

Through the dim window, I could see the wolf incarnation trembling.

In “The Three Little Pigs,” the Wolf had undoubtedly been the villain. But in this larger story called <Star Stream>, was the wolf still the villain?

What was this predator so afraid of, that he shook like that?

[The constellation, ‘Pig Who Died First’, tilts their head at you.]

[Some constellations from <Twelve Zodiac> are puzzled by your choice.]

[A very small number of constellations ask if you are siding with the wolf.]

[Some constellations ask whether you feel no pity for the incarnations who died to the wolf.]

They were right. The wolves of District 13 definitely filled the villain’s role. And yet the animals here did not seem particularly terrified of the wolves.

If anything, they were worried about how the wolves would act.

The crane innkeeper, in particular, looked as if he might collapse at any moment.

“Please, I beg you, stop. That wolf cannot die. A far greater tragedy will occur.”

What exactly were these animals so afraid of?

[The constellation, ‘Wolf Who Likes Red Hoods’, roars.]

Blood vessels burst in the corners of his eyes as the wolf lost his sanity and slammed his body into the brick house. A dull impact rang out.

Kugugugugu—

The wind blown from the wolf’s lungs became a violent gale that battered the house. His massive body crashed into the wall again.

Again and again, over and over. But the thing breaking was not the brick house, but his body.

The crane innkeeper and the other beastfolk screamed.

“No! I—I will offer meat instead! Please, please!”

“Isn’t that the wolf who tormented you?”

At my words, the crane innkeeper’s eyes went wide.

“It may look that way to you. But you have no idea how this district really works. His death will change nothing. This story—”

For a moment, I felt as if I understood.

What they feared was not the wolf.

They feared the beings so far “above” that wolf that he could not even be compared.

[Some constellations belonging to the nebula <Twelve Zodiac> are delighted.]

The wolf constellation was dying. His incarnation body was in ruins, and most of his tales had been shattered.

By now, almost no memories of “The Three Little Pigs” remained in him.

His modifier had nothing to do with the “little pigs” either.

Even so, he had been dragged onto the stage simply because he was a wolf.

I spoke to him. But my words did not reach him.

The blood-soaked wolf constellation was looking up at the sky.

Speaking to the stars who were laughing at him.

[Fine. If this is the story you want. Watch. As much as you like.]

Watching the wolf hurl himself again and again against an unbreaking wall, I was suddenly swept up in a strange emotion.

[Some constellations belonging to the nebula <Twelve Zodiac> enjoy the wolf’s downfall.]

Maybe it was because I knew the story of a man who resembled him.

A man born regardless of his own will, swept into scenarios that had nothing to do with his own desires.

A man who had thrown away his life again and again to break the scenario, yet in the end had never managed to cross the final “wall.”

In the end, that wall—

[Tale, ‘Successor of the Eternal Name’, stirs.]

—could only be opened from the other side.

I heard someone shouting to me. Voices trying to stop me. Indirect messages from constellations. Screams and wails.

All those sounds, jumbled together like dissonance—

vanished as if by magic the moment I opened the brick house door.

The world outside was eerily quiet. No indirect messages from constellations, no screams from incarnations.

Only raindrops falling from the gloomy sky.

The wolf constellation, wearing a bloodstained wolf mask, looked down at me.

I said to him,

“Come in.”

[What?]

A sharp killing intent rose from the wolf constellation’s front paw. With a single strike, he could tear me limb from limb.

“The game is over. Now that Stageification has occurred, you know there is no way for you to win.”

It was a gamble with low odds of success and enormous risk.

Even so, the reason I insisted on doing this—

“You seem not to know this, but the end of this ‘tale’ is not fixed.”

—was because the same kind of tale as my backer’s flowed within me.

“The Three Little Pigs is an old folk tale. The ending changes depending on who tells it. The part where the three pigs unite to defeat the wolf is the same, but what happens after that varies.”

If my memory was right, this story had an “open ending.”

Just like a certain story I knew very well.

“In some versions, the wolf falls into the boiling water and turns into soup. In some versions, he pops and dies like popcorn. And in some versions—”

I knew the odds were low.

The chance that the ending I wanted would appear was as small as the chance that <Kim Dokja Company> would finally reclaim Kim Dokja and live together in a big house.

Even so, if this gamble succeeded—

“In some versions, the wolf reconciles with the three little pigs and they all live together in the brick house.”

—this 41st round might finally allow a story that had never been possible in any world line.

[I—]

The wolf opened his mouth.

But unfortunately, the wolf had no right to speak in this story.

[The constellation, ‘Pig Who Died First’, opposes your ‘recycling method’.]

[The constellation, ‘Rabbit Without Liver’, opposes your ‘recycling method’.]

[The constellation, ‘Philosopher’s Horse’, questions your ‘recycling method’.]

[Some constellations from <Twelve Zodiac> strongly oppose your ending!]

With those ominous indirect messages, ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) the wolf’s eyes began to turn red again.

[The plausibility of ‘Stageification’ is being reinforced!]

Lightning fell from the stormy sky. Beyond the swirling clouds, a huge hole opened.

“Kim Dokja.”

The child Yu Joonghyuk hurriedly stepped in front of me.

“Something’s wrong.”