“P-p-private Lee Hyunsuuung—!”

Foam spilled from Lee Hyunsung’s mouth as he went into a seizure once, then collapsed with a thud.

From afar, Gu Seonah’s eyes widened as she watched this side.

“How—”

I poked the shoulder of the fallen Lee Hyunsung a few times. Having completely lost consciousness, Lee Hyunsung only repeated faint convulsions.

Watching the saliva dribble down, it seemed this plan just wouldn’t work. Even if breaking Gu Seonah’s hypnosis was urgent, the characters still had something called human rights.

I quickly passed by Kim Namwoon, Lee Jihye, and Shin Yuseung and spoke.

“From now on.”

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

“Everyone wakes up from the hypnosis.”

Those I touched at my fingertips convulsed like Lee Hyunsung. However, they didn’t foam at the mouth or let out trauma-seared screams like he had.

[Exclusive skill, ‘Agitation Lv.10’ is colliding with ‘Daily Corpse Lv.10’!]
[Exclusive skill, ‘Agitation Lv.10’ is colliding with ‘Hypnosis Agitation Lv.10’!]

Sparks crackled in the air, and then the characters collapsed to the ground like dolls whose strings had been cut.

Only then did Gu Seonah realize what I had done. She walked toward me and said,

“[Agitation]. So it can be used like this too.”

“Let’s stop now. I can subdue you the same way.”

“Me? That won’t work on me. Because [Agitation]—”

Once again, Gu Seonah closed the distance in an instant and reached a hand toward me.

“It only works on opponents with a lower ‘stature’ than you, right?”

「Nails Cornered to Extremity」 went for my neck.

I quickly leaned my upper body back to evade the attack and activated [Agitation] at the same time.

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

“From now on, you—”

Tsst, tss— the skill dissipated with a sound.

[Activation of ‘Agitation’ has been canceled.]

Gu Seonah was smiling.

“I told you it wouldn’t work.”

In truth, it wasn’t impossible. If her stature didn’t fall far behind, resisting [Agitation] empowered by 「Bug Massacre」 was theoretically possible.

But no matter how many ‘Kim Dokja fragments’ she’d gathered, could she really possess a stature that didn’t lose out to me, the proxy of the ‘Demon King of Salvation’?

Gripping ‘Unbreakable Conviction’ tightly with both hands, I released my magic power.

[‘Blade of Conviction’ is activating!]

At this point, it was a blitz.

I’d just taken the Great Reversion Pill, so my reserves of magic power were sufficient. The best course was to subdue Gu Seonah as quickly as possible and then go deal with the Great Demonfolk.

However, Gu Seonah didn’t look like she would go down easily.

“Kim Dokja stubbornly clung to that weapon until the end. I really hated that.”

From Gu Seonah’s hand, the pure white ‘Ravebringer’ poured out light.

“With this many items, why did he insist on using only that sword?”

‘Blade of Conviction’ and ‘Ravebringer’ collided, bathing the surroundings in brilliant light.

‘Ravebringer’ was a weapon that displayed power greater than a holy relic within this world.

[Character ‘Gu Seonah’ is activating the skill ‘Moon Shadow Swordsmanship Lv.10’!]

Moon Shadow Swordsmanship.

The swordsmanship Bihyung recommended first—and the swordsmanship Kim Dokja did not purchase.

Gu Seonah had deliberately chosen to learn that sword art, as if to prove that Kim Dokja was wrong.

“Only the path Kim Dokja took isn’t the right one.”

The [Moon Shadow Swordsmanship], whose proficiency had reached the extreme, pierced my shoulder and thigh. I barely activated [Baek Cheong Ganggi] to deflect the attack, and then I saw the iron flail gripped in Gu Seonah’s left hand.

The primary weapon that had earned her the name ‘Iron Flail Woman’.

[Character ‘Gu Seonah’ is activating the skill ‘Heavenly Spirit Flail Lv.10’!]

The iron flail flew in while securing the angles, narrowing my range of movement until there was no space left to evade the Moon Shadow Swordsmanship.

As if waiting for this, Ravebringer blazed with light.

Blood burst from my chest, and pain flooded my mind.

“Your physical stats are terrible. Your combat proficiency is low too. How did you even survive until now?”

As if mocking me, Gu Seonah continued to press me.

“What, are you a mouth-only build like Kim Dokja?”

Something struck me anew.

We had all read the story of the same world, but the way we understood that story was different. There was no guarantee that someone who read the same book many times would necessarily do a better ‘reading’.

Sometimes, someone who read it once could understand the story better than someone who read it a hundred times.

And this was Gu Seonah’s reading.

A reading belonging only to ‘Gu Seonah’, one no other reader experienced.

She survived in this world with that experience—learning Moon Shadow Swordsmanship with one hand and Heavenly Spirit Flail with the other.

At the point where she was crossing blades with me, the proxy of the ‘Demon King of Salvation’, on equal stature, her reading was already proven.

A stature on par with the tales I’d obtained only after grappling with ‘Otherworldly Divinities’ and fighting battles of life and death.

Of course, the way she had formed her ‘stature’ was somewhat different from mine.

「She compensated for the poor quality of her tales with their quantity, and reinforced their cohesion with ‘Kim Dokja fragments’.」

The countless small tales dwelling across her entire body seemed to clamor as they spoke to me.

[Tale, ‘Imitating Fingernails’ wants to imitate you!]
[Tale, ‘Rice Cakes Over Meat’ is examining you.]
[Tale, ‘Brick House Good for Hiding’ is showing interest in you.]

Tiger Who Eats Rice Cakes. Rat Who Eats Nails. The dog that threw itself into the flames. Pig Who Lives in the Brick House……

The tales once held by the constellations of <Twelve Zodiac> had taken root in her body, forming a single constellation.

[Tale, ‘Master of the Twelve Zodiac’ is emitting bright light.]

That was the tale she had obtained.

The tale, 「Master of the Twelve Zodiac」.

A tale that bound together the scattered tales of the <Twelve Zodiac>.

「The wisdom of animals used to contend with tale-grade strength through great-personage–grade power.」

As a result, a leader of the <Twelve Zodiac>—one that had never been born in the main story of Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint—was manifesting before my eyes, if only for a moment.

“I won’t lose.”

The instant I heard those words, I understood how long she had planned this stage.

“I’ll never lose to you. Even without items! Even without companions!”

Swinging the holy sword and iron flail through clenched teeth, Gu Seonah was almost desperate. The histories she had lived carved lethal wounds across my body.

「Wow, this episode was seriously fun!」

Each time another wound was added, the comments she had left came to mind.

「But does the reader like Yoo Sangah, or Han Sooyoung?」

She was a reader who, more than anyone else, loved Kim Dokja—loved Kim Dokja’s choices.

「Wow, I don’t think I could ever do that. As expected of Kim ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ Dokja!!」

I didn’t know what had made her this sad. And so I wanted to understand that anger.

I wanted to know her purpose and her motive.

Even in this very moment, as I was bearing that intense rage.

「I realized that I wanted to write even this story.」

“Aaaaargh—!”

Gu Seonah’s kick, having seized the upper hand, smashed into my abdomen. As my breath caught in my throat, the iron flail moved for my heart.

「Just how much effort did Gu Seonah put in to become this strong.」

All her actions turned into sentences in my mind. I even thought that dying here might not be so bad.

Strangely, the face that came to mind at that moment was Yu Joonghyuk of the 41st round.

「“As long as you don’t give up on life, I’ll keep writing you.”」

I still hadn’t kept that promise yet. The promise not to turn this story into a tragedy.

So I couldn’t die yet.

I must not die.

[‘Blade of Conviction’ flares up brightly!]

I gathered the magic power I’d been saving and caught the iron flail with my blade. Planting my heels, I steadied my stance and felt the incoming wind.

[Wind’s Path].

The onrushing gale made Gu Seonah stagger.

“You—”

From Gu Seonah’s entire body, the tales of the <Twelve Zodiac> wailed violently.

「Rat’s Footwork」
「Tiger’s Monstrous Strength」
「Rabbit’s Leap」
「Snake’s Recovery」
……

As the fragments of the <Twelve Zodiac> tales raised their voices at once, my head spun. But I, too, had a ‘tale fragment’ prepared for moments like this.

[Tale Fragment, ‘Understanding of All Beasts’ is starting a story.]

A tale fragment obtained as a reward for clearing District 13.

There, I had helped animals who had lost their homes, their paths, or their own stories.

「Understanding of All Beasts」.

And as the price for that help, I had barely gained a single line of understanding.

[Tale Fragment, ‘Tiger’s Monstrous Strength’ senses your gaze.]

The muscle power of the charging Gu Seonah rapidly weakened.

[Tale Fragment, ‘Rat’s Footwork’ becomes aware of your gaze.]

Her feet, which had claimed positions at just the right moments, slowed.

[Tale Fragment, ‘Rabbit’s Leap’ is satisfied with your understanding.]

Her movement as she leapt backward to retreat dulled.

I didn’t miss the opening and struck down hard on the hand holding the iron flail.

The iron flail rolled uselessly across the ground.

[Tale, ‘Master of the Twelve Zodiac’ is stammering through its story.]

The effect of the tale fragment 「Understanding of All Beasts」 was quite simple.

To become the ‘sole understander’ of all beasts.

As long as one possessed this tale fragment, animal-type constellations could not truly become hostile toward the holder of the fragment.

[Tale Fragment, ‘Tiger’s Monstrous Strength’ is stopping its story.]
[Tale Fragment, ‘Rat’s Footwork’ is stopping its story.]
[Tale Fragment, ‘Rabbit’s Leap’ is stopping its story.]
……
[Tale, ‘Master of the Twelve Zodiac’ is stopping its story.]

The moment Gu Seonah snapped back to her senses at the sight of the collapsing tale, I seized the opening and grabbed her shoulder.

“It’s over, Gu Seonah.”

At the voice carrying [Agitation], Gu Seonah’s knees gave out as she collapsed. Even so, she resisted until the end.

Lips clenched tight. Bloody tears flowed from the eyes glaring up at me.

“This isn’t fair.”

She was right. This fight wasn’t fair.

To begin with, our ‘reading’, the texts given to us, had never been fair.

“That face of yours, like you knew this would happen from the start—it pisses me off.”

I had nothing to say in defense of this unfair fight. I only hoped she would give up.

After struggling for a long time, Gu Seonah finally let her head fall.

“Stop dragging it out and kill me.”

“I won’t kill you.”

“You’re going to kill me anyway. Just like you did to Mister Gyeongsik.”

“I didn’t kill Mister Gyeongsik.”

“Don’t lie. You—”

[Character ‘Gu Seonah’ is activating ‘Lie Detection Lv.8’!]
[Character ‘Gu Seonah’ has confirmed that your statement is true.]

Gu Seonah stared up at me blankly.

“Really…… you didn’t kill him?”

“I’ve told you so many times that I didn’t.”

“Why? You’re Kim Dokja. Didn’t you want to become the one and only Kim Dokja?”

It was true that the tales I possessed kept whispering things like that.

But just because my tales said so, there was no reason I had to act accordingly.

“I just don’t want this world to end as a tragedy.”

Apparently, Gu Seonah found that answer quite funny.

“You think you have the right to say something like that?”

“What?”

“You…… do you really not know how this ‘world’ was born?”

“How would I know that.”

“I see. You still haven’t obtained the fragment containing ‘that memory’……”

Gu Seonah murmured while gazing at the distant sky.

“I don’t know whether you simply didn’t obtain it, or if someone is preventing you from reclaiming that memory…….”

“Do you know how this world was born?”

“Curious?”

As if she’d had some idea, Gu Seonah started to smile. As though what was about to happen would be a refreshing act of revenge directed at me.

“Absorb me. Then you’ll learn the answer you were looking for.”

I frowned.

“Why? You don’t want to?”

“Gu Seonah.”

“Not curious? About why the backer constellation you were so desperately searching for ended up like that. Why ‘Kim Dokja’ had to be torn into multiple paths.”

A cold wind ran along my spine.

Gu Seonah was smiling brightly, as if she already knew the choice I would make.

“Why the ‘Kim Dokja’ we knew couldn’t return to <Kim Dokja Company>. Aren’t you really curious?”