「[Wind’s Path] is already recorded in me.」

I wondered what that meant.

Did it mean that since I was also a part of Kim Dokja, Kim Dokja’s tales were lying dormant inside me?

Kim Dokja had no talent for anything else, but he did have talent for tales.

Even when the Demon King of Salvation descended upon me, he had fought by using that talent.

If that was the case, then why couldn’t I use [Wind’s Path]?

Several hypotheses popped up in my head, but the most reliable way to verify it was to ask the speaker of the statement directly.

“What do you mean by that?”

Grrr, Lycaon growled low, then slowly opened his mouth.

【■■■ ■…….】

With a crackling sound, fierce sparks leaped up. Lycaon frowned.

As expected, this was filtering. I’d wondered when information I couldn’t hear would show up.

Perhaps it was related to the end of this world line. I didn’t know how Lycaon knew that information, but…

After pondering for a moment, Lycaon spoke.

【Hoju. That is the act of reading a record that has not yet been written. I could tell you, but now is not the time.】

In simple terms, he was saying it would go against plausibility.

【As you know, the fact that I am even here right now is itself an act that violates plausibility.】

Even as we spoke, the constellations of <Twelve Zodiac> were gathering up in the sky, holding a denunciation rally.

[Some constellations belonging to the nebula <Twelve Zodiac> ask why that wolf is not returning to the Otherworld.]

[Some constellations from the nebula <Twelve Zodiac> request a “Plausibility Suitability Judgment”.]

[Some constellations of the nebula <Twelve Zodiac> protest that it makes no sense for an “Otherworldly Divinity” to interfere with a scenario.]

[The Administration Bureau is currently reviewing this matter.]

System messages popped up in real time.

But I was neither particularly shaken nor flustered.

[The dokkaebi ‘Bihyung’ acknowledges that the existence of this ‘Otherworldly Divinity’ is plausible.]

[Some constellations of the nebula <Twelve Zodiac> protest that that makes no sense.]

[The Administration Bureau certifies that there is no problem with this matter.]

The reason was that Lycaon’s existence right now did not violate the plausibility of Star Stream.

[A minority of constellations of the nebula <Twelve Zodiac> are puzzled by the Bureau’s decision.]

For the constellations, it must have been bewildering.

[The constellation, ‘Dragon Lying Down’, observes you with interested eyes.]

To think about it in ordinary terms, their judgment was correct. Regardless of the rank of an “Otherworldly Divinity,” it was implausible for such a being to exist in nothing more than the eighth scenario.

But they did not know.

What kind of “Covenant” Lycaon and I had formed.

[You are currently under an ‘Otherworldly Covenant’ with the ‘Guide Who Lost His Way’.]

Guide Who Lost His Way.

That was the epithet of “Lycaon Isparang,” who had become an Otherworldly Divinity.

[The ‘Otherworldly Covenant’ you have formed with the ‘Guide Who Lost His Way’ is as follows.]

+

+

This was the entirety of the Otherworldly Covenant I had made with Lycaon.

To sum up the contents of the contract:

「For the next 30 days, Lycaon will exist at my side as a ‘wind doll’.」

Aside from being able to teach me [Wind’s Path], he could not help me at all, and not even if constellations stormed in would he protect me.

In fact, at the time of the contract, Lycaon had asked back like this:

―Hoju… are you truly a pushover?

I had grinned and answered,

“It would be impossible to form the covenant at all under different terms anyway.”

By the time we reached the eighth scenario, even my eyes could see certain things.

There were limits to the kind of “Otherworldly Covenant” that could be formed in a scenario of this scale.

―If this covenant goes forward, Hoju will gain nothing. Considering your talent, we cannot even guarantee that you will be able to learn [Wind’s Path]…

“I set the terms that way on purpose. The more the covenant’s terms are disadvantageous to me, the less likely it is to go against plausibility.”

Judging from the contents alone, there was a possibility I would gain nothing from this covenant and instead suffer a loss of tale shares.

But that didn’t mean it was # Nоvеlight # truly a loss.

“In exchange, these terms must never be known to the constellations.”

That was because this was the core of this Otherworldly Covenant.

[The constellation, ‘Dragon Lying Down’, realizes your stratagem and marvels at you.]

[The constellation, ‘Black Flame Dragon of the Abyss’, asks just what on earth is going on.]

[The constellation, ‘Dragon Lying Down’, says it would be boring if he explained.]

Apparently the crouching dragon had caught on, but it didn’t matter.

Because their modifiers contained the word “dragon,” they could watch the “Recycling Center,” but they would not interfere in the matters of <Twelve Zodiac>.

[Some constellations from the nebula <Twelve Zodiac> glare at the ‘Guide Who Lost His Way’.]

Receiving the constellations’ gazes in silence, Lycaon opened his mouth, as if belatedly realizing something.

【Hoju, you are the same even after reincarnating. You are truly, excellently cowardly.】

“I get that compliment a lot.”

My strategy was simple.

「Set a ‘wind doll’ at my side, and make sure no one realizes it is a ‘wind doll’.」

【The covenant could have failed. Were you not afraid?】

Even if it was an Otherworldly Covenant with unfavorable terms, if the overseeing dokkaebi had been someone like “Baal,” my plan might have fallen apart.

“I didn’t think it would fail.”

I had long since sized up the overseeing dokkaebi. And above all, this scenario area was the “Recycling Center.”

[The ‘Recycling Center Head’ takes interest in your scheme.]

Just from the name “Recycling Center,” I trusted that the Center Head would not cast out an Otherworldly Divinity. Because, among all materials in this universe, Otherworldly Divinities were precisely the ones who most needed to be “recycled.”

[Some constellations belonging to the nebula <Twelve Zodiac> refuse to accept the Administration Bureau’s decision and…]

Outwardly, they would make a noisy fuss, but since the constellations of <Twelve Zodiac> were cowards, this would keep them from interfering with the 13th District for thirty days.

One by one, as the party members practicing [Wind’s Path] returned to the lodging and the sun of the 13th District began to slowly set,

I confirmed that the stars from <Twelve Zodiac>, who had been fuming in the darkening sky, were disappearing one by one and opened my mouth.

“Lycaon. How about we tell an old story for a bit.”

I felt it was about time to bring it up.

I was curious about other things too, but most of all, I wanted to know what had happened to Lycaon.

As far as I knew, Lycaon had gone missing around the time the “Flood of Calamities” descended. Yet that same Lycaon had somehow become an Otherworldly Divinity and descended upon this world line.

【That is…】

If I could figure out that method, I might also get clues about other enemies that existed in this world line.

“Is that also a record that hasn’t been written yet?”

Lycaon hesitated for a moment, then opened his mouth.

【It is not a particularly interesting record, but if you are fine with that.】

*

The story went back to the “Disaster Scenario,” the fifth scenario of the 1,864th round.

At the time, Lycaon had been swept up in the explosion of the “Calamity of Questions” while fighting another guide, Antinus, the Queen of Parasites.

「“Grrr…… Hoju, I am so sor…….”」

Lycaon, who had lost consciousness, was placed under mind control by Antinus and then freed when he met Lee Gilyoung.

「“It’s a bug I’ve never seen before!”」

After “Antinus” was eliminated by Lee Gilyoung, Lycaon’s body began to die.

「A ‘Guide’ cannot endure the power of a Calamity.」

It was due to the aftereffects of the “Disaster Meteorite” explosion. His physical vessel had reached its limit, but Lycaon struggled desperately to survive somehow.

「Your tale reacts to your will.」

As a result, Lycaon entered a new evolution. He succeeded in leaping one step from a “5th-grade non-human species.”

「You have acquired the new skill [Recovery Devour].」

[Recovery Devour], which restored his incarnation body by devouring the bodies of other beast species.

Just then, as the “Flood of Calamities” began and [Monster Gate] opened, he was able to barely cling to life by devouring the corpses of dead beasts.

But the wounds he had received from the “Calamity” did not heal easily.

【By the time I was completely recovered, Hoju had already entered the ninth scenario area.】

The ninth scenario, “Dark Castle.”

【I also followed Hoju into the Dark Castle.】

“You were in the Dark Castle?”

【Yes.】

But nowhere in Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint was there any mention that Lycaon had been there.

Had Han Sooyoung omitted that content?

【There was one chance to come face-to-face with Hoju, but…】

“When?”

【When Hoju fought against the ‘Eater of Dreams’, Hoju could not see me, but I saw Hoju.】

Memories began to surface one by one.

Dark Castle, 2nd floor. To save his mother, Lee Sookyung, Kim Dokja had fought together with Yu Joonghyuk against the “Eater of Dreams.”

【Even now, the Hoju of that time remains vivid in my eyes.】

Lycaon’s eyes wavered faintly.

【Some tales, regardless of rank, can bewitch an existence just by being watched. All the more so for someone like me, who has no ■■, and is thus especially vulnerable.】

Under the dazzling glow of mortal starlight, Lycaon made up his mind.

【Since Hoju had given me realization, I thought I must also repay my debt.】

“Wait, don’t tell me.”

【Yes. When Hoju was swallowed by the ‘Eater of Dreams’, I also entered together into its insides.】

“Did you meet Kim Dokja there?”

【No. Unfortunately, I could not meet Hoju. The stomach of the ‘Eater of Dreams’ was too vast.】

The Eater of Dreams was a powerful Otherworldly Divinity.

Its stomach was so huge that it lay outside the outer universe.

So it was not strange that Lycaon and Kim Dokja had not encountered each other.

“But the Eater of Dreams must have ended up dying. No, more precisely―”

As far as I remembered, in the end the Eater of Dreams was absorbed into the [Fourth Wall] and became the librarian of the library.

And Lycaon had been inside the stomach of that Eater of Dreams.

【Yes. That was the problem. Things got a bit complicated from there. I became trapped inside the stomach of the ‘Eater of Dreams’, which had been devoured by [Fourth Wall].】

“What the…”

It was a cruel fate. To go in to save Kim Dokja and end up trapped inside the belly of an Otherworldly Divinity.

【I was trapped in there for an extremely long time.】

“…I’m sorry.”

【I do not know why you are apologizing, but it was not such a bad time. Through the tales that the ‘Eater of Dreams’ read, I was able to watch your story.】

Only then did I understand.

The reason he knew stories of Kim Dokja he should have had no way of knowing.

“How long were you in there?”

【Until the moment Hoju saw the ‘■■ of Everything’, continuously.】

“Then after that…”

【The ‘Eater of Dreams’ belatedly realized my existence and did release me.】

By the time he was released, the scenario of that world line had ended.

The Administration Bureau had collapsed, and the tales that had bound him were gone.

As a “Guide” of the scenarios, there was no role left for him now. And in this world, the fate of an existence whose role had disappeared was already decided.

【It was an empty but common ending.】

Most beings in this world died without ever reaching their ■■, without even figuring out what it was.

Lycaon’s fate was the same.

【If only I had not met that existence.】

There was someone who picked up the dying Lycaon.

Someone who existed outside this scenario.

「You know the ‘Oldest Dream’.」

There, Lycaon met one of the “great old beings.”