Up until now, there were three “Kim Dokjas” I’d met.

One, the Demon King of Salvation.

The sponsoring constellation I contracted with, and now my “eldest brother” who helps me inside the [Fourth Wall].

Two, the King of Terror.

The master of the Terror Order, and the being that created the time stratum. My “second brother” who wants to turn all of the <Star Stream> into the “Terror Order”.

Three, the Kim Dokja of the Snowfield.

The Kim Dokja I met first.

The Kim Dokja who spoke to me in the snowfield and shared tea with me.

The only one who wasn’t called by an “epithet” was neither the eldest nor the second, nor the yet-unseen third Kim Dokja.

I knew who he was.

‘Kim Dokja, 49%.’

A Kim Dokja split off, like me, in the process of the ‘Oldest Dream’ scattering into fragments.

The difference was that he fell not to Earth, but to the snowfield, and was raised there by Cheon Inho.

He probably used Cheon Inho to increase the total amount of “Kim Dokja fragments”. And in the end, he must’ve raised his power to the point of threatening the original’s status.

That’s right. This “Kim Dokja” in front of my eyes right now was—

「It’s been a while.」

The one who tore apart Kim Dokja’s original body and created the current “Kim Dokja brothers”.

“You—”

I opened my mouth in a trembling voice.

Was it just my imagination? Something felt different from when I’d faced him before. The smile that used to feel strangely sad and wistful had grown a little deeper.

「You finally made it here, ■■.」

From the “Unbreakable Faith” he held, pitch-black fables dripped, drop by drop. The fable of the ‘King of Terror’.

Ignoring the scream the fable let out, he twitched his lips and said,

「You lost your name, huh.」

As if he understood what had happened, the Kim Dokja of the snowfield gave a bitter smile.

「I told you. To tell the story you wanted.」

“…….”

「If you’d done what I said, you wouldn’t have lost your name.」

The story I wanted.

Before I knew it, that phrase sparked resistance in me.

What story did I want, exactly? What story should I have told so I wouldn’t lose my name?

「Well, whatever. You wanted to become ‘Kim Dokja’ too.」

Saying that, the Kim Dokja of the snowfield turned his back on me. From far away, the ‘King of Terror’ was watching this way. The arm that had been cut off had already regenerated.

I staggered to my feet.

I didn’t know why the ‘Kim Dokja of the Snowfield’ had appeared here. But instinctively, I felt repulsion. A feeling that I couldn’t leave him be like this.

“Why are you here.”

From the King of Terror’s whole body, a different kind of killing intent began to flow than before. A tremendous aura that looked like it could drown the entire snowfield in “terror”.

The Kim Dokja of the snowfield began to manifest his power as well. It was a grand fable I’d never witnessed before.

「■■.」

My name, filtered so I couldn’t hear it. Even so, I could clearly feel that he was calling me.

「I came to save you.」

「I came to save you.」

Judging by the circumstances, his words were correct. But the moment I saw the smile on his face, a bad premonition ran through me.

[Exclusive Skill, ‘Fourth Wall’ is shaking.]

As if agreeing with that premonition, the [Fourth Wall] writhed. Beyond the wall, the fierce rage of the “first Kim Dokja” I could feel.

Whether he knew my state or not, the Kim Dokja of the snowfield kept asking.

「If we don’t stop that guy, this worldline will be destroyed. Is that what you want?」

I shook my head. Of course I didn’t want that. I wanted to protect this worldline too.

「Then step back. I’ll handle it here.」

I didn’t step back. I felt like I couldn’t. I knew exactly why I felt that way.

“You’re planning to absorb the ‘King of Terror’, aren’t you.”

The Kim Dokja of the snowfield stared at me, then asked back without changing his expression at all.

「Is there any reason I shouldn’t?」

The moment I met that face—more like mine than any other Kim Dokja’s—my heart felt like it dropped with a heavy thud.

「You absorbed the ‘Demon King of Salvation’ too.」

“I didn’t absorb him.”

「Oh? Then he’s inside the [Fourth Wall] by his own will?」

The Kim Dokja of the snowfield smiled and reached a hand toward me. The instant his long fingers touched my cheek, sparks flew up with a tzzztzzzt— sound.

[Exclusive Skill, ‘Fourth Wall’ is strongly activated!]

With his characteristic wistful smile, the Kim Dokja of the snowfield looked at me and asked.

「How long do you think that kind of trick will work?」

“…….”

「In the end, ‘Kim Dokja’ will gather again. Because <Star Stream> wants that.」

His voice felt unfamiliar.

Was the Kim Dokja of the snowfield always like this? Who changed him like this? Or was he always this kind of person, and I’d been looking at him wrong?

“If it was going to be like this anyway, why did you tell me to tell you ‘my story’.”

Once, I trusted him. I thought he was on my side, that no matter what happened, at least he would support me. Because no matter what anyone said, he was the first person to tell me to tell “my story”.

「But you couldn’t.」

The moment I heard that, I felt like I understood what had changed him.

「You couldn’t properly make your story. Without doing this right or that right, you ended up becoming an ‘ordinary Kim Dokja’.」

An ordinary Kim Dokja.

「So I’m going to do it.」

Maybe what changed him was me.

The story I made.

「Because I’m you.」

For the first time, his smile didn’t look beautiful.

「Like you always have, stay there and watch. Until this ‘episode’ ends.」

Unable to answer at all, I watched his back as he turned away. The white coat fluttering brilliantly. A back view whose coat suited him better than any Kim Dokja I’d ever seen.

In the end, stories need a protagonist.

And in this war of Kim Dokjas, maybe I wasn’t the protagonist.

The Kim Dokja of the snowfield opened his mouth toward the King of Terror.

「We won’t need a long talk, right?」

[Fable, ‘Snowfield Wanderer’, is beginning its story.]

Snowfield Wanderer.

It was a fable that never appeared in the main story.

[Fable, ‘Master of the Terror Order’, is roaring!]

In response, the ‘King of Terror’ also drew out his fable. The two fables let out long roars at each other, and the next moment, the footsteps of the ‘Kim Dokja of the Snowfield’ vanished.

Then, a thunderous roar that shook the entire snowfield rang out.

Wrapped in White Azure sword energy, the Kim Dokja of the snowfield was pushing the King of Terror back. Fast, clean sword forms that reminded me of Lee Jihye’s [Sunsal]. [Jeoninhwa] that he could activate freely even without [Miniaturization]. Brilliant sword energy extending from the sword strikes burst one after another like fireworks, pounding the King of Terror’s entire body.

But the King of Terror wasn’t just taking it. The King of Terror, who had been crouched down tightly, spread his wings wide. The dust falling from his wings looked like it would cover the entire snowfield—then, centered on some of that dust, enormous whirlwinds began to form.

The whirlwinds soon turned into pitch-black portals.

【Oooooooo!】

Black tentacles that emerged from beyond the portals.

I immediately realized which divinity they belonged to.

「This is interesting.」

“Disaster-class Outer Gods,” including the “Dream Eater,” crossed through the portals to save the ‘King of Terror’.

「That’s a power that’s really not like ‘Kim Dokja’.」

「That’s a power that’s really not like ‘Kim Dokja’.」

The Kim Dokja of the snowfield activated [White Azure Steel Aura] again. A level of proficiency on an entirely different plane from the [White Azure Steel Aura] I used.

A “Blade of Faith” dozens of times longer cut off the Dream Eater’s leg.

【Oooooooo!】

As the Dream Eater roared, more Outer Gods began to pour in from beyond the portals. From catastrophe-class up to disaster-class terrors. Divinities of another world that had lived as terror under the ‘King of Terror’.

Without hesitation, the Kim Dokja of the snowfield cut down the Outer Gods charging in. In an instant, the corpses of the Outer Gods being sliced apart piled up on the snowfield floor.

They were speaking.

「I hate it.」

Death was swelling.

「I hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate itI hate it.」

I pushed through the Outer Gods’ corpses and moved toward the two of them. But because of the fables of Outer Gods pouring down from the sky, before I knew it, I couldn’t see either of them anymore.

That sense of [N O V E L I G H T] distance felt like proof of the gap between them and me.

As if there was no room for someone like me to interfere, the two of them stood in their respective places. One to destroy the worldline, and the other to stop the worldline’s destruction.

Then where was my place?

Was I on the side that wanted to destroy the worldline, or the side that wanted to protect it?

[Fable, ‘Successor of the Eternal Name’, is growling.]

If it was neither, if my place was to choose neither of them, where was my place?

「“Tell your story.”」

As the price of choosing this place, what story did I want to write in the end?

Once again, I felt like someone was tightly holding my hand. It was Gilyoung hyung. The body of Gilyoung hyung, clinging tightly to me with his small hand, was shining brightly.

Through the [Fourth Wall], Gilyoung hyung’s memories flowed into me.

「“Writing an interesting story is protecting world peace.”」

That was right.

「“If everyone’s focused on my story, people won’t fight each other.”」

Without realizing it, I nodded, taking one step, then another.

My steps weren’t flashy like the other Kim Dokjas’. But I had walked hard too.

“If you’ve got a mouth, you can talk, and if you’ve got ears, you can listen.”

An interesting story remained in my head. That story wasn’t over yet.

“So listen to me.”

There was an ending I absolutely wanted to write. A debt I had to repay, and a sentence I had to write.

And to fill that sentence in—

“Stop fighting, you bastards!”

This ‘line gap’ still had to stay empty.

[Fable, ‘Wind Path’, is beginning its story!]

They weren’t the only ones who weren’t bound by the constraints of plausibility here.

The same was true for me.

I wasn’t as strong as them, and I didn’t have overwhelming proficiency—but I was Kim Dokja too. I could fight in Kim Dokja’s way.

“I told you to stop!”

[Exclusive Skill, ‘Agitation Lv.???’, is activated!]

Even with [Agitation] that had sharply increased in proficiency, I couldn’t stop them.

I thought. I needed a sentence that would stop them, even for a moment. But what should I say right now to stop them?

What was the most effective thing I could say here to provoke them?

[Exclusive Skill, ‘Agitation Lv.???’, is strongly activated!]

Leaping over the Outer Gods’ corpses, I shot up into the air and opened my mouth toward them.

“You guys—”

Even if these words weren’t true, if I could steal even a single moment from you—

“You’re not Kim Dokja!”

With a tzzztzzzt sound, sparks flew up in midair.

The two Kim Dokjas, who hadn’t reacted at all until now, turned to me at the same time. In that instant, a deep silence swept over the battlefield. Neither of them spoke, but both of them were asking me with their eyes.

「What did you just say?」

I smiled, hiding the cold sweat running down my spine.

“Aren’t you curious?”

Seriously, you damned brothers.

“Why words that aren’t even true stopped you for just a moment.”

Maybe I envy you.

I envy you, who don’t doubt for even an instant that you are ‘Kim Dokja’. It’s pathetic how I, who kept running to become Kim Dokja, to become even a little more like him, ended up.

But because I ran like that—because I’m the weakest Kim Dokja—there are things I can do, too.

Standing between the two of them, I reached out my hand and said.

“Honestly, you know it too. That if you were the real Kim Dokja, you wouldn’t act like you are.”

Before I even finished speaking, a storm of fables swept out from both beings’ whole bodies. As if they didn’t care whether I was between them or not, whether my soul got torn apart or not.

“So that’s how you want to play it.”

They knew too. That with my current strength, I couldn’t stop the two of them anyway.

But there was something the two of them didn’t know. For example—

“Old one who covets terror.”

That from now on, the one who would stand between them wasn’t me.

“Here and now, I will carry out the promised record with you.”

It was a card I didn’t want to use if I could help it. But there was no other way. Because on one side, a house-sized [White Azure Steel Aura] was bearing down, and on the other, a wave of Outer Gods’ magic power was surging in.

With the incantation to fulfill the contract, a pillar of light shot up from the center of the snowfield.

【Ahahahahat! You’ve finally kept your promise with me!】

With a brilliant, noble blue, Asmodeus appeared, wearing a pitch-black gothic dress.

[Terror’s Recorder, ‘Demon King of the Cinema’, responds to your contract.]

And the next moment, Asmodeus—having grasped the situation—glared at me and screamed.

【You damn Kim Dokja!】

A massive explosion erupted.