Probably even Kim Dokja hasn’t heard the incantations of an Otherworldly Divinity as many times as I have right now. If a constellation’s incantation feels clear and confident, then the incantation of an Otherworldly Divinity was closer to listening to dissonance. A voice that endlessly went against this world’s system, infinitely subversive.

Yet even inside that subversion, there was a temperature. Some kinds of subversion were hot and damp, and some kinds of subversion were cold and severe. And the incantation I had just heard was clearly closer to the latter.

The polar region in the dead of winter. A voice heard from the end of the universe that has reached absolute zero.

It is not Asmodeus.

Then who is it?

What was certain was that it was a voice I felt like I had heard somewhere before. And the one who sent this incantation was exactly the person who had helped me and the <Kim Dokja Company> to be able to meet.

I wanted to answer. Even if, just as you say, I end up ruined, I still want to know the cause of why Kim Dokja could not come back.

But my voice still did not come out, and all I could do was blink my eyes as hard as I could.

【In that case.】

Fortunately, the owner of the voice read my signal.

【Try climbing all the way up to the top floor of the ‘Recycling Center.’ The ‘story’ you are looking for will be there.】

[Exclusive skill, ‘Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’ Stage 3 is released.]

*

With a screeching sound, two carriages clung to us from both sides. The sound of carriage wheels scraping.

“Yerin!”

Cha Yerin pressed the acceleration button down hard, but the opposing carriages were faster. When the carriages pressed their wheels close, the three carriages tangled together and shook dangerously.

“I’m sorry. I’m not good at driving―”

“No. It’s not your fault, Yerin.”

Cha Yerin had clearly accelerated properly. The problem was on their side.

“That carriage looks like it has options attached to it.”

[Exclusive skill, ‘Editor’s Eye Lv.10’ is activated.]

When Ji Eunyu’s exclusive skill [Editor’s Eye] activated, the tale-configuration diagram of the carriage came into view at a glance.

[Tale fragment, ‘First-class Acceleration’ continues the story.]
[Tale fragment, ‘Swift Steed’ continues the story.]

Ji Eunyu frowned.

“Why don’t we have things like that attached?”

No matter how she looked at it, they were not options that had been attached from the start. If they were, then the same ‘tale fragments’ would have been detected in the carriage they were currently riding. Which meant those people had gotten them from somewhere and stuck them on.

[Constellation, ‘Snake Who Cuts Off Its Tail’ grins slyly.]

It seemed there was someone among the <Twelve Zodiac> who was using tricks. They must have figured out the Recycling Center’s scenario ahead of time and secretly supported their incarnation.

“Miho King! Please wake up! Tell them to make something like that for us too!”

But the Miho King, who was snoring, did not wake up. The man sprawled out beside him was the same.

Meanwhile, the pressure from the carriages on both sides continued.

“Hand over Kim Dokja!”

A voice came from somewhere. At first I wondered if I had misheard, but even when I listened again, there was no mistake.

“Hand over Kim Dokja!”

Ji Eunyu let out a hollow laugh.

“They kept going on about that in the main story, and now they are doing it here too.”

“……”

“Huh? Yerin, did you just laugh?”

“No.”

The two of them glanced at the face of the sleeping man. He had clearly said he would be back in one minute, but it felt like ten minutes had already passed.

But neither of them tried to wake him. They believed that if he was not getting up, he had a reason not to.

The number of carriages tailing them outside the window was increasing. Three, four, five.

After hesitating, Ji Eunyu pulled out a single dagger from inside her clothes and began to tend to it.

[You begin tending to the holy relic ‘Strange Blade’.]

Watching Ji Eunyu fuss over it, Cha Yerin asked,

“Eunyu.”

“Yes.”

“Are you close with the writer?”

“Mm, we went through some rough times together, more or less.”

“Rough times.”

“Yes, rough times.”

“Was the writer like this the first time you met as well?”

“Like this, meaning……”

“Kim Dokja’s face.”

“As far as I remember, yes.”

“Then was the writer Kim Dokja from the very beginning?”

“What?”

“The writer―”

From outside, another shout demanding Kim Dokja rang out.

After a brief pause, Cha Yerin continued.

“When this story ends, will he go back to the world he was in?”

The world he was in.

After thinking for a moment, Ji Eunyu answered,

“I’m just an editor, so I don’t really know about that kind of thing, but there is one thing I know for sure. The world the writer goes back to is ‘reality’.”

“……”

“And the writer’s reality is.”

Just as she finished tending to the dagger, Ji Eunyu sprang to her feet and looked at Cha Yerin.

“The place where there are readers to read his writing.”

[Tending to the holy relic ‘Strange Blade’ is complete.]

“Yerin. I’m going to leave the writer with you for a bit. I need to get up on the roof.”

“Will you be all right?”

“Please take the wheel.”

Leaping quickly out the window, Ji Eunyu landed on the carriage roof. As if they had been waiting, incarnations jumped up onto the opposite roof as well. Judging from the tales flowing around them, they were incarnations of the ‘Snake Faction.’

“Hand over Kim Dokja!”

“Our writer sure is popular around here.”

At someone’s command, the incarnations on the side carriages rushed over the roof toward her.

Ji Eunyu immediately threw the dagger.

The Snake Faction incarnations sneered as they watched the dagger cut through the air. The trajectory and speed of the thrown dagger were ordinary.

[The holy relic ‘Strange Blade’ remembers your sincere tending.]
[The first ‘oddity’ of the holy relic ‘Strange Blade’ activates.]
[The cutting power and acceleration of the holy relic ‘Strange Blade’ increase tenfold for 10 minutes!]

The Strange Blade was one of the treasures of <First Murim>. It was a “hidden piece” obtained from a meteorite with the support of her backer constellation.

If there was a downside, it was that you could only use it after going through ten rounds of tending every day.

But once the tending was done, for ten minutes the Strange Blade’s attack power could surpass even the famous sword ‘Black Heaven Demon Sword.’

“You crazy―”

Feeling that the sharpness of the blade’s energy had changed, the incarnations’ faces twisted. Limbs were sliced off like cutting soft tofu.

As two incarnations collapsed at once along the dagger’s path, one incarnation on the rear carriage roof shouted,

“Kill her, quickly!”

By now, the Strange Blade had already traveled far along its trajectory.

With her weapon gone, five incarnations rushed at Ji Eunyu all at once.

But then,

“What a waste of page space.”

“What?”

“Ah, I mean you are just perfect to get edited out.”

From somewhere there came a slicing sound, and two more incarnations’ legs flew off. It was as neat as cutting unnecessary sentences out of a manuscript.

“Arghhh!”

The Strange Blade, which they had clearly thought had flown away along its path, was already back in Ji Eunyu’s hand.

A translucent spiderweb was attached to the tip of the dagger.

Only then did the incarnations realize what was happening.

“No way, that’s―”

[Exclusive skill, ‘Arachne’s Spiderweb’ is active.]

The stigma of <Olympus>, [Arachne’s Spiderweb].

Originally, this stigma could not be used unless you were a terminal incarnation of <Olympus>, but she alone was an exception. Because Ji Eunyu’s backer constellation had privatized this stigma.

It was something only possible because in her backer constellation’s world line, <Olympus> had been destroyed.

[A few constellations are startled by your skill.]

On the carriage following in the rear, the incarnations were murmuring.

“Who is that? Could she be an incarnation from <Olympus>’ side?”

“That can’t be. The use of stigmas should definitely be restricted.”

“If we mess with her the wrong way―”

“The bounty is no joke. We can’t let this chance slip by.”

From what they were saying, it was clear how the situation was playing out.

Someone among the <Twelve Zodiac> who was harboring a grudge had apparently placed a bounty scenario on this side.

Ji Eunyu grinned and continued,

“If you mess with me, all of <Olympus> is going to come charging in. Are you ready for that?”

At a glance, there were far too many carriages, so in a way this was convenient. If she could make use of this misunderstanding, then without any unnecessary fighting―

[Someone is activating ‘Truth Discernment’.]
[Someone has confirmed that the statement is not true.]

Ji Eunyu let out a light sigh.

“As expected. There is no way this novel would proceed easily.”

“Strike! You only ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ need to deal with the man inside the carriage!”

Ji Eunyu deflected the incoming weapons with [Arachne’s Spiderweb].

But even for her, it was hard to withstand the onslaught of so many attackers.

“Yerin! Drive!”

Whether it was because of the fundamental performance gap between the carriages or something else, no matter how much they drove, the enemy carriages were not pulling away.

It was then that one end of the spiderweb snapped.

“Now!”

In the brief instant of carelessness, a round object pierced through the carriage window and flew inside.

[Constellation, ‘Snake Who Cuts Off Its Tail’ awaits your ruin.]

Ji Eunyu immediately recognized what that item was.

‘Mass-Destruction Magic Bullet.’

The very same item that Han Sooyoung had used in the main story.

Cursing inwardly, Ji Eunyu shouted,

“Yerin! The writer!”

But the explosion was faster. With a deafening roar, the carriage shattered, and Ji Eunyu was swept up in the blast as well.

[‘Orient Express Carriage’ has been destroyed.]

Along with the despairing message, her consciousness flickered.

The moment her body, flung high into the sky, began plummeting furiously toward the ground, Ji Eunyu felt a wind blowing from somewhere.

Someone was supporting her with both arms.

In the dazzling halo, a man’s face was reflected, and Ji Eunyu drew in a breath. Because that face resembled the person she had imagined for such a long time.

“Kim Dokja?”

The man answered,

“That’s right. That’s my name.”

Ji Eunyu replied,

“Liar.”

The man nodded.

“Lying is my job. More importantly, you can pass out now.”

Relieved, Ji Eunyu closed her eyes.

*

I landed on the ground with the unconscious Ji Eunyu on my back.

Just by roughly checking her pulse, I could tell what had happened. So she had used the Strange Blade. It was an item that only had the settings written out and never actually appeared in the main story, but she had somehow managed to obtain it.

[The current target is in ‘Stun Vulnerability’ state.]

Depending on the oddity it manifested, the Strange Blade inflicted status ailments on its user as well. It looked like the Strange Blade’s status ailment this time was ‘Stun Vulnerability.’

I observed the complexion of the unconscious Ji Eunyu for a moment. Even though it was Min Jiwon’s face, the exhaustion revealed there was definitely that of the Ji Eunyu I knew. She had always looked like this when she locked herself in the editing department all night long to edit a volume. Maybe she had not gotten even a single proper night’s sleep since the possession. Even with a ‘Stun Vulnerability’ penalty, she was not the kind of person who would just collapse like this.

“Writer.”

With the wind blowing, Cha Yerin landed beside us. As expected, since she had [Wind’s Path], it seemed she had come out unscathed from the explosion.

“What happened to them?”

“I dealt with some of them, and the rest all ran away.”

I guess they decided their objective was achieved since our carriage had been destroyed. It made sense. In this scenario, without a carriage you were as good as dead.

“I am sorry. I―”

“No. You did well.”

“Are the others all right?”

I hesitated slightly before answering.

“They are safe.”

If I told her I had just gone and seen the <Kim Dokja Company>, would Cha Yerin believe me? If in that short span of time I had gone and met them, and that alone had made the scope of the word “companions” inside me feel unfamiliar, would Cha Yerin be hurt?

I shook my head lightly and made a resolve.

“I will make sure they are safe.”

Right now, my “companions” are here on this side. And these are the people I have to protect.

“What should we do? We lost the carriage―”

“It is fine. This is how it went in the original plot.”

In the main story, on the way to the Banquet of the Constellations, Kim Dokja had also fallen from the carriage. I had expected this from the very beginning.

[You have lost the ‘Orient Express Carriage’.]
[A new event has occurred!]

For reference, after falling from the carriage, Kim Dokja was chased by the nebula’s divinities.

[You can no longer receive protection from the ‘Orient Express Carriage’.]
[The divinities near the Cloud Road notice your presence!]

Damn it, it looked like a similar event was going to happen here too.

[‘Edge of the Otherworld’ opens.]

I did not know what it was, but just from the name alone, I knew it was ominous.

In the main story, Kim Dokja had Dionysus to protect him. But here, there was no Dionysus.

“Let’s run.”

We activated [Wind’s Path] at full power and ran without looking back.

[Warning. Your rank is in the ‘lowest tier’.]
[You are the representative of ‘District 13’.]
[If you do not reach the destination within the allotted time, all the members of your faction will die.]

If we used [Wind’s Path] at full power, we could reach the destination faster than a carriage. The problem was simply that the distance was too far. At this rate, our magic power would run out before we reached the destination. And once our magic power ran out, the divinities crawling out from this so-called Edge of the Otherworld would come to kill us.

There was only one choice.

“It is those guys, right?”

Riding [Wind’s Path], I landed on the roof of a carriage that had been running ahead of us.

[Tale fragment, ‘Facial Recognition’ recognizes you.]
[You are not the correct passenger for this carriage…….]

I tore off the carriage roof together with the tale fragment. As soon as they saw me, the incarnations of the Snake Faction widened their eyes in shock.

“You bastard―”

[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’ reveals his tier.]

“U-urghhh―”

Just from the mere release of his tier, they went ashen and collapsed on the spot.

I grabbed them one by one and threw them out, then took a seat together with Cha Yerin.

[You have hijacked the ‘Orient Express Carriage’.]
[Tale fragment, ‘Facial Recognition’ stops the story.]
[‘Orient Express Carriage’ recognizes you as its new passenger.]
[‘Controller’ is provided.]

I gripped the controller. Even if the roof was gone, the fact that it was a model with tale options attached meant the speed would be decent. The problem was the handling.

“I will do it. You said you are bad at games.”

Cha Yerin held out her hand.

“Did Eunyu tell you that too? It is not that I am bad―”

To be honest, I am about average.

Even so, this time I had to be the one to hold the wheel.

“Still, let me do it this time. Right now I am the ‘Demon King of Salvation’.”

“Kim Dokja is bad at games too.”

That was true. Kim Dokja might actually be worse at games than I am.

“But he is good at copying people who are good at games.”

[Exclusive skill, ‘Bookmark’ is activated!]
[‘Character Bookmark’ is activated.]
[Due to a temporary error, ‘the list of characters registered in the Bookmark’ cannot be activated.]

Was it because I had not fully inherited the Demon King of Salvation’s tale? Unfortunately, the ‘characters’ from the original that the Demon King of Salvation knew were not in the list.

That did not mean there were no ‘characters who could be registered.’

+

<Current list of characters that can be registered in the Bookmark>

1. Life Cult Leader Kim Cheolyang (Understanding 25)

2. Operations Captain Bang Cheolsu (Understanding 30)

3. King of Non-Killing Lee Dansoo (Understanding 55)

4. Kang Ilhun Who Wants To Be Yu Joonghyuk (Understanding 65)

…….

+

All the ‘characters’ I had met so far were in that Bookmark.

I flipped through the list again and again, like leafing back through my short history.

+

7. Demon-Exterminating Judge Jeong Heewon (Understanding 50)

8. Strategist Ye Hyeonwoo (Understanding 20)

9. Assassin Gu Seona (Understanding 10)

10. Bald King Gong Pildu (Understanding 15)

11. Warrant Officer Jeong Munho (Understanding 35)

12. Magician Martinez (Understanding 5)

13. Hypnotist Christina (Understanding 20)

+

But no matter how much I turned the pages, the name I wanted was not there.

+

14. Salvation Cult Leader Nirvana (Understanding 3)

15. Prophet Anna Croft (Understanding 15)

+

“Writer.”

Cha Yerin looked over at me.

I kept flipping through the character list.

Could it be that he was not there?

「Could it be that I do not understand ‘the Yu Joonghyuk of the 41st round’ even a little?」

It was possible. This ‘Bookmark’ would only show the characters I understood, even a little. I had loudly insisted that I would write out his story for him, acting like I knew better, but in truth I did not really know what kind of person he was.

[This is the last page.]

At last, the final page of the character list.

As expected, the Yu Joonghyuk of the 41st round was not registered in the Bookmark.

Instead,

+

25. Unemployed Yu Joonghyuk (Understanding 1)

+

There was a strange Yu Joonghyuk.