Unemployed Yu Joonghyuk?

I stared blankly at the character list in the Bookmark. There was a memory slowly rising up.

「“I am neither jobless nor unemployed.”」

Somehow, I felt like I knew what kind of Yu Joonghyuk this “Yu Joonghyuk” was.

In that case, there was no need to hesitate.

[The character ‘King of the Unemployed Yu Joonghyuk’ has been registered in Bookmark No.1.]

I didn’t know what exactly that “unemployed” was supposed to mean there―

“I will activate Bookmark No.1, ‘Unemployed Yu Joonghyuk’.”

Whatever kind of unemployed guy he was, there was probably no one in this world who was better at games than that bastard.

“Excuse me, what did you just say?”

“Please pretend you didn’t hear.”

At Cha Yerin’s question, I shrugged my shoulders and fixed my eyes on the front.

[Activation time is determined in proportion to the level of the Bookmark skill.]
[Your understanding of the character is extremely low.]
[According to your exclusive attribute, the activation time of the Bookmark skill is partially adjusted.]
[Activation time: 10 minutes]
……
[The composition of your body differs from that of the character.]
[Warning! The tier of the character being activated is abnormally high!]
[The levels of the skills being activated are forcibly adjusted.]
[You cannot choose which skill will be activated.]

Unfortunately, I couldn’t choose which skill would be activated. But as far as I understood it, the skills that activate through [Bookmark] are that ‘character’s’ main skills.

If the target had been ‘Conqueror Yu Joonghyuk’, [Heaven-Sundering Swordsmanship] would have activated, but what I understood was ‘Unemployed Yu Joonghyuk’.

As far as I remembered, during his period as a jobless unemployed bum, Yu Joonghyuk hadn’t only trained the ‘sword’. So―

[Exclusive skill, ‘Looking at the Sky Lv.10’ has been activated.]
[You can now see the stars in the sky more clearly than anyone.]

I stared at the message with a blank face.

Is this for real?

“Our speed is dropping.”

“I know. Don’t worry.”

I really hadn’t expected a skill like this to come out.

It couldn’t be helped. This time, I had no choice but to use the second-best option.

[Exclusive skill, ‘Agitation Lv.10’ is activated.]

“I am ‘Unemployed Yu Joonghyuk’, who is good at games.”

Cha Yerin looked at me with eyes like when she saw Killer King. I deliberately avoided her gaze and focused on the effect of the skill.

[Agitation] couldn’t precisely activate a specific skill the way Bookmark could.

But the strong point of this skill was that, even if only slightly, it could imitate that character’s ‘attribute’.

[The understanding level of exclusive skill ‘Bookmark’ influences the activation of ‘Agitation’.]
[The attribute of Bookmark No.1 ‘Unemployed Yu Joonghyuk’ is activated.]

I have a conscience too.

I wasn’t even hoping for ‘Ruler of Play’. So please―

[Exclusive attribute, ‘Pro Gamer’ is activated.]

That’s it. This is it!

[Due to the effect of your exclusive attribute, all kinds of ‘gaming ability’ are greatly enhanced.]

Suddenly, my field of vision opened up wide.

I could see at a glance which part of the terrain we should run along. Cornering here. Going straight here. Incredible. So this was the viewpoint of ‘Pro Gamer Yu Joonghyuk’.

[Your exclusive attribute discovers the hidden piece of this stage.]
[You have discovered the ‘Acceleration Zone’ of the stage.]

Just as we entered the acceleration zone at the exact right timing, the carriage began to run at an absurd speed. It was to the point I doubted whether it was really the same carriage.

Watching the scenery shoot past like an arrow, even Cha Yerin’s mouth fell open.

Before long, I could see the formation of the carriages that had been running ahead.

At the back of the formation were our companions as well.

“Kim Dokja!”

Killer King and Yu Joonghyuk’s carriage.

“Dokja! Over here! Hurry up and come!”

And beside them, running alongside, were Uncle Dansoo’s and Gyeong Sein’s carriages.

I barely let out a sigh of relief. At this rate, at least we wouldn’t come in last.

We just had to go a little farther. Just a little more―

[Constellation, ‘The One Who Brought Ten Sheep’ worries for your safety!]
[Constellation, ‘Dragon Who Lies Down’ warns you to run away quickly!]

It was then that strange messages sounded in the air.

[Constellation, ‘Rat Who Brings Plague’ widens his eyes!]
[Constellation, ‘Tiger Who Eats Rice Cakes’ is greatly surprised!]
[Constellation, ‘Rabbit Without a Liver’ kneads the place where its liver used to be!]
[A considerable number of constellations doubt the plausibility of this incident.]
[A small number of constellations feel fear.]

I had a bad feeling. Constellations expressing ‘fear’?

Tzzzt, tzzzt.

Faint sparks flew from the arm with which I was steering the controller.

Remnants of plausibility backlash.

Why? Why had plausibility suddenly gone out of alignment? Was it because I had summoned ‘Unemployed Yu Joonghyuk’ with [Bookmark]? Or else―

[Someone has violated an important plausibility of <Star Stream>.]

Thump, it felt like my heart dropped.

[<Star Stream> detects your tale.]
[You have temporarily experienced another world line.]
[You have not completed the ‘Returnee Scenario’.]
[The plausibility of <Star Stream> moves.]
[For the next 10 minutes, the ‘Edge of the Otherworld’ will expand.]

Lightning crashed down from the sky, and the carriages running in the rear were destroyed with a great roar.

Through the thick clouds of dust, something was chasing us.

“Ah.”

Faint fear was tinged in Cha Yerin’s voice. It wasn’t hard to recognize the source of that fear.

Behind the carriage, in the pitch-black dust clouds, there were jet-black dogs. Just meeting their eyes made it feel like my soul was going to freeze.

[‘Hounds that Chase the Abyss’ have discovered you.]

Hounds that Chase the Abyss.

Watchdogs that kill the Otherworldly Divinities who damage the balance of world lines and destroy plausibility.

Those hounds were chasing me this time. The reason was obvious.

「Because I went and met the <Kim Dokja Company>.」

I bit my lip hard, then confessed the truth.

“I’m sorry. It seems this is my fault.”

“Why are they after you, Writer―”

“I’ll explain the details later.”

I gripped the controller with all the strength I had and somehow continued accelerating.

But it was useless. This was not a problem that could be overcome with attribute power alone. The distance between us and the dogs was shrinking in an instant.

At this rate, we would be caught soon.

“Yerin.”

Even if I handed the controller over to Cha Yerin, I would have to block the dogs.

[Your exclusive attribute is activated.]

In my head, I tried to recall methods of dealing with the Hounds that Chase the Abyss.

But in neither “Ways of Destruction” nor “Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint” was there a single page that described how to face those hounds.

That was only natural.

Those hounds were the very things that even Yu Joonghyuk, who had reached the end of the scenarios, had avoided.

Of course, there weren’t as many of them as there had been back then. At most there were five or six.

But with how I was now, even a single one of those hounds was hard to deal with.

“At this rate, I’ll have to personally―”

At that moment, one hound that had run up right next to us leaped onto the carriage roof. The moment our eyes met, I realized it.

This was not something I could face.

This ‘hound’ was not an existence but a ‘phenomenon’. For example, like the catastrophe ‘Indescribable Distance’.

No matter what I did with the ‘tier’ I had right now, I couldn’t shake off these things’ pursuit.

[So this is what all the noise was about.]

With a fierce shower of sparks, the charging hound was flung away.

I reflexively turned my head.

[When I said to wake me up when we reached the destination, you just went and left me.]

A golden monkey was standing on the torn-open carriage roof with a bored expression.

“Miho King!”

Miho King pulled something like a toothpick out of his ear and blew on it with a whoosh, and his main holy relic revealed its form.

Ruyi Jingu Bang?

No. There was something different about it. It had the same shape as the Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal’s staff, but it was a holy relic with a ‘different name’.

Just as the sword ‘Amanomurakumo-no-Tsurugi’, made from the tail of Yamata no Orochi, had been split into ‘different swords’ equal to the number in its name, it was the same for Sun Wukong’s Ruyi Jingu Bang.

[Oh? You recognize Cheonha Jeongjeo Sinjincheol.]

Cheonha Jeongjeo Sinjincheol.

That was the original name of Ruyi Jingu Bang.

A tool used to measure the depth of the rivers and seas of the world.

The ‘sea weight’ that had been stored in the warehouse of East Sea Dragon King O Gwang.

Swinging that divine artifact lightly, Miho King spoke.

[I don’t know why the hounds of the Otherworld are chasing you―]

His gaze lingered for a moment on Ji Eunyu, who was collapsed inside the carriage.

[but take care of that child.]

Miho King’s golden fur fluttered as he rose up into the air. The moment his divine body brushed past me, I broke out in goosebumps.

Facing the stars of the <Twelve Zodiac>, he shouted,

[You foolish beasts.]

As far as I knew, there was no official leader in the <Twelve Zodiac>. Because no one had ever come forward to call themselves the “leader”.

[Hounds are just ‘dogs’. They are animals just like you. What are you so afraid of?]

But the moment I saw him, I understood.

[All the constellations of <Twelve Zodiac> tremble.]

The reason there was no official leader in the <Twelve Zodiac> was because all of the <Twelve Zodiac> tacitly agreed on who the ‘leader’ of this nebula was.

[O measurer of the sea.]

He was the king of all beasts.

[I permit you to show your true form.]

The troublemaker of the Heavenly Realm, whom none of the <Emperor> dared to face.

The monkey king of Flower-Fruit Mountain.

[The Scales of Plausibility move.]

Miho King, who had raised his tier to the point of being able to face the Hounds that Chase the Abyss, roared toward the sky.

Cheonha Jeongjeo Sinjincheol’s volume swelled in an instant and grew to hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of kilometers. It no longer looked like a staff at all.

Perhaps because of the real-time increase in the volume of Sinjincheol, the hounds were soon pushed far into the distance.

[Go. I can’t drag this out for long.]

Faint sparks were surging across Miho King’s entire body.

[Damn it, if I hadn’t given that Jecheon rascal my hair, this much would have been…….]

I gave a deep bow of my head, then immediately started accelerating.

Miho King was a fable-grade constellation. No matter how vicious the hounds were, he wouldn’t die easily here.

I drove the carriage and drove it again. I had to make precious use of the small amount of time Miho King had bought for us.

How long did we run like that?

Smoke rose up from the carriage wheels, and the wheels stopped.

Now the destination was right in front of us. In the distance, a massive fortress was revealing its outer appearance.

Cha Yerin and I exchanged a look, then slung Ji Eunyu on our backs and started running.

And before long, we reached the entrance of the fortress.

[You have reached the ‘destination’.]

We had made it. We weren’t late.

Fortunately, at the entrance, our party, including Yu Joonghyuk and Killer King, Uncle Dansoo and Gyeong Sein, were waiting for me.

“So you’ve arrived.”

I nodded and passed by them. From far away, the chain of explosions was drawing closer.

If we didn’t get inside quickly, I couldn’t guarantee we would be safe until then.

Guarding the entrance was a low-grade dokkaebi in charge of gatekeeping.

[Prove your qualification for entry.]

“I’m ‘Kim Dokja’ from District 13. Let my faction in.”

But the dokkaebi only frowned as if bothered.

[The incarnation you are carrying is allowed to enter.]

I glanced back at Ji Eunyu on my back. She was still unconscious.

[She belongs to the ‘Monkey Faction’. But you do not belong to any faction. Prove your affiliation.]

“I told you I belong to District 13.”

[I haven’t heard anything about an incarnation from District 13 making it up here―]

As I slowly raised my tier, the expression of the low-grade dokkaebi, who sensed a constellation’s energy from me, changed.

[A-are you a constellation? But ‘District 13’ is not an official faction. If you wish to enter―]

The low-grade dokkaebi hesitated for a moment, then spoke like this.

[Decide the name of the ‘faction’ you belong to.]

I looked back at my companions.

As if he didn’t care about things like names, Yu Joonghyuk turned his back and guarded the very rear of the party.

“We don’t have time, so decide quickly.”

Grateful for his consideration, I looked at Killer King, LiteraryGirl64, Lee Dansoo, and Gyeong Sein.

And I thought of their real names.

Cha Sungwoo, Cha Yerin, Noh Kyunghwan, Sung Minwoo.

Perhaps in that moment, we were all thinking of the same name. The one and only name that tied together those of us who wrote, read, and lived that long, long story.

My companions nodded, and I opened my mouth.

“『Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint』.”

Slowly, the gate of the fortress opened.

[You have ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ reached the upper levels of the ‘Recycling Center’.]

The constellations were waiting for us.