【A way for nothing in the apocalypse region to disappear, and to avoid the ‘end.’】

As if pointing out how unrealistic my words were, the King of Terror gave a bitter smile.

【You really are Kim Dokja, and there’s nothing to be done about it.】

In truth, I thought it would be the same for any Kim Dokja, not just me.

If it was a Kim Dokja who knew what the King of Terror was thinking, anyone would have made the same choice I did.

Once again, sparks of Plausibility burst up in midair. The train that had been running toward us from far away was caught in the net of Plausibility and couldn’t cross over to this side.

It was probably <Star Stream> that was blocking the train.

So that the train couldn’t take the “King of Terror” aboard, so that he couldn’t escape this world, it was forcing the Plausibility of the end.

One fortunate thing was that that Plausibility didn’t apply to the others besides him.

And by chance, because the backlash had grown stronger, the Final Dragon’s tail swing had also slowed down significantly.

Right now was the perfect time to escape the apocalypse region.

【Everyone, get on the train! Hurry!】

When Jang Hayoung, who was taking the Final Dragon’s tail swing at the front line, shouted, Outer Gods and Transcendents who couldn’t flee between the “time strata” began boarding the train one by one.

Watching the scene of the apocalypse region’s residents hurriedly evacuating, the King of Terror opened his mouth.

【I can’t get on that, but you and the other friends are different. Even now, you can get on that and run away.】

“I’m not getting on.”

The King of Terror looked at me quietly, then asked.

【You know what that means, right?】

“I do.”

A way to end this end without anything in the apocalypse region disappearing.

There was only one method.

「Us becoming a single Kim Dokja.」

For me to inherit his fable and close the “door” of the “time stratum” the Final Dragon was trying to cross over.

【It could fail. You could just die a dog’s death.】

“No. I can do it.”

Maybe it wouldn’t work alone, but if it was the two of us, it would. If we combined the authority of the “Kim Dokja fragments” the two of us had, if we combined our imagination that even <Olympus> coveted, it would definitely be possible.

And more than anything—

“I dream well too.”

I can’t be certain whether the dream we make will be the dream the “King of Terror” wanted.

But at the very least, it’ll be a fun dream.

[Constellation, ‘Number One Sword of Goryeo’ watches your choice.]
[Constellation, ‘War God of the Seas’ watches your choice.]
[Constellation, ‘Abyssal Black Flame Dragon’ watches your choice.]
…….
A dream those stars in the sky, still watching this story, like.

[Constellation, ‘Wealthy Father of the Night’ watches your choice.]

Even the father of the “Underworld,” who hadn’t appeared until now, was peering into the apocalypse region. Maybe he came after hearing news from <Olympus>.

Either way, it wasn’t bad for them to watch this story. The more stars watching this stage, the larger the scale of the “giant fable” we would complete and obtain.

The King of Terror, who was looking up at the stars in the sky together with me, said,

【I thought dreams were always something you dream alone.】

The King of Terror, reaching a hand out toward me, was already on the verge of crumbling to pieces. With that fragile hand, the second Kim Dokja grabbed my hand tightly.

Through our clasped hands, I could feel his fable flowing into me. A fable that encompassed the entirety of the apocalypse region.

【No matter what kind of dream it becomes, this is goodbye, Youngest.】

The moment I saw his weak expression, a fierce hunger churned inside me.

If we became a “single Kim Dokja,” one Kim Dokja would be absorbed into the other Kim Dokja.

[Fable, ‘Successor of the Eternal Name’ sneers at your will.]
[Fable, ‘Successor of the Eternal Name’ opens its mouth as if it had been waiting!]

Calming the fable down with stubborn patience, I said.

“What are you talking about.”

Sure enough, just like he said, normally, for us to become a “single Kim Dokja,” the two fragments would have to merge.

But there was something he still didn’t know.

“You still don’t know what a happy dream is.”

[Exclusive skill, ‘Fourth /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ Wall’ is activated!]

Instead of absorbing the King of Terror’s fable, I began to send his fable into the [Fourth Wall].

[Exclusive skill, ‘Fourth Wall’ is recording a fable.]
[Trait, ‘Record Mender’ is activated!]
[Your lost records begin to be mended.]

Realizing what I was doing, the “King of Terror” widened his eyes.

Facing him, I grinned and added,

“At least until you find out—”

The fable climbed up my veins like electric current. For an instant my consciousness went distant, then came back.

“Until we find out what our ‘happiness’ is, you have to stay with me.”

It was definitely different from back when it was the “first Kim Dokja.”

The story I had to copy over into the [Fourth Wall] right now was practically this entire “apocalypse region.”

[The Backlash of Plausibility surges!]

From far away, I could see Jang Hayoung noticing our anomaly and shouting this way.

But no one, including Jang Hayoung, could come closer. The net of Plausibility that wrapped around us without a single gap didn’t allow it.

As if the current was speeding up, the apocalypse region’s fable began to be delivered to me at an ever faster rate.

「The beginning and end of a world was there.」

The memories of nameless things and Outer Gods that had passed through the apocalypse region. The voices of the Transcendents. Even the contempt of the constellations all mixed together and flowed into me.

And in the deepest part of that fable, there was an oracle of some great being.

「【Are you the ‘King of Terror’?】」

Judging by the status I could feel from that oracle, it might even be a voice of an Outer God that fell under “end-grade.”

「【If you thought you could lock us in with a shabby ‘house’ like this, you were mistaken.】」

Even as my consciousness grew hazy, I tried not to miss the words of the fables I could hear.

「【We’ll wait a little longer, in recognition of your efforts, but.】」

「【Remember, child.】」

「【Just because you’re blocking us doesn’t mean you can stop the end.】」

I couldn’t even guess what Outer Gods’ oracle it was.

Was there something the “King of Terror” still hadn’t told me about the apocalypse region?

「【Keep this in mind. The ones who stole our ‘story’ first were you.】」

Like a dam filling up, I could feel something inside me swelling little by little. My breathing started to feel suffocating, and it became hard to breathe.

[Exclusive skill, ‘Fourth Wall’ warns you!]

In the end, even the [Fourth Wall] had reached its limit.

I had thought it might be like this, but it was too soon.

Unlike the [Fourth Wall] Kim Dokja had, the [Fourth Wall] I had was still incomplete.

【Youngest.】

To copy over the King of Terror’s fable without any damage, my library was too small.

【Let go.】

I didn’t let go.

If I just endured a little longer, I could learn your truth. I could learn what you’re hiding. Maybe I could understand you. And then,

「I can save you.」

But the next moment, with a feeling like something snapping in my head, my consciousness blurred.

【Youngest.】

In my receding consciousness, I heard the urgent voice of the second Kim Dokja calling me. A voice that sounded distant, like being sunk deep underwater.

【……!】

In the surging sparks, both of our incarnation bodies were slowly disappearing.

And then, at that moment, a small portal appeared behind the “King of Terror.”

What emerged from the portal was a pure white hand.

Knowing very well what it was, I tried to tell the “King of Terror” to dodge. He couldn’t be caught by that hand. If he was, then like the other “little Kim Dokjas,” he would disappear.

Just as the hand, moving like a shot, was about to grab the “King of Terror” by the nape of the neck, the King of Terror turned around.

When did he notice?

The King of Terror was grabbing the white hand with the opposite hand, the one that wasn’t holding mine.

【Sorry, but I can’t hand you over.】

It sounded as if he knew the identity of that “white hand.”

—A dream is something you dream alone. So go somewhere you can dream alone. With me.

【No.】

—Why did you change your mind now?

【Who knows.】

The King of Terror stared at me silently, then added,

【As long as you don’t know that, won’t it be hard for you to gather all the ‘Kim Dokja fragments’ forever?】

At those words, the white hand, which had flinched, let out a mischievous laugh and said,

—That’s why I hate “Kim Dokja.”

A blinding white light exploded, and the King of Terror’s painful groan was heard. The sparks that had been wrapping around us began to lessen little by little.

The moment my distant consciousness returned, I opened my mouth.

“King of Terror.”

No answer came.

“Kim Dokja!”

The hand that had been holding mine wasn’t there.

[Exclusive skill, ‘Fourth Wall’ stops recording.]
[Fable, ‘Successor of the Eternal Name’ smacks its lips.]

I couldn’t tell what had happened.

For a moment my consciousness went away, a white hand appeared, the white hand and the “King of Terror” spoke.

And when I came to my senses, the “King of Terror” was gone.

[You have achieved an impossible achievement!]
[A Grand Dokkaebi of the Administration Bureau is watching your existence!]
[Your ‘giant fable’ evolves once again!]
[Your fable holds the possibility of an ‘ultra-giant fable’!]
[<Star Stream>’s Plausibility begins to move!]

Even with the messages continuing one after another, I couldn’t be happy.

From far away, I heard the horn of the train. The train carrying the Outer Gods and Transcendents had finally finished preparing to depart.

【Kim Dokja! Run! We can’t hold out anymore—】

Jang Hayoung, who was still blocking the Final Dragon’s tail swing at the front line, shouted at me.

But I couldn’t move.

If the King of Terror had disappeared like this, if he’d been taken by that “white hand”—in other words, if he’d been kidnapped by Asmodeus……

Woooom.

That was when a vibration rang out from inside my bosom. My phone was ringing in my inside pocket.

Without hesitating, I answered the phone.

—You crazy bastard!

It was the voice of the first Kim Dokja, the “Demon King of Salvation.”

“What happened.”

—What do you mean what happened! Do you even know what kind of mess you made here because of you…….

“You saw it all. What happened to the King of Terror!”

At my urgent voice, the Demon King of Salvation shut his mouth. After a brief, ominous silence, the Demon King of Salvation let out a deep sigh and said,

—The second one made it in safely.

I let out a sigh of relief too.

—But it looks like there was some fable loss on the way in, so he still isn’t conscious……

“Fable loss?”

—Anyway, he made it in safely. No, more importantly, do you have any idea what you did? Right now……!

“Help me.”

—Huh?

What happened inside the [Fourth Wall] was an important issue too, but what mattered more was what was happening right in front of my eyes. As the Backlash of Plausibility subsided, the Final Dragon’s shockwave had now reached right up to us.

—Can’t you just get on the train and run?

“If I run, what about her.”

I was still looking up at the being blocking the shockwave in front of me.

Kim Dokja’s warrior.

A being that had sworn to protect Kim Dokja’s side no matter what.

“Jang Hayoung will die.”

Jang Hayoung never got on the train in the end. Maybe she had decided this place as her ■■.

Even if she blocked the first shockwave like this, the Final Dragon’s shockwave had three stages in total.

“We have to close the door. Isn’t there a way?”

At first, I tried to borrow the “King of Terror”’s authority and control the apocalypse region’s time stratum.

But maybe because I hadn’t properly absorbed him and instead put him into the [Fourth Wall], or because he was unconscious, I couldn’t properly exercise any authority over the apocalypse region.

In other words, if it stayed like this, it meant we were going to be helplessly struck by the Final Dragon’s tail and go to the Yellow Springs.

—Well, if you really want to close it, it’s not like it’s impossible.

“How?”

—You talked big to the second one, but you didn’t even make another plan?

“My plan is you.”

I smiled faintly and said.

“Tell me quickly. Or I might charge in like this and die.”

Maybe it was ridiculous that I was threatening him with my life, because the Demon King of Salvation clicked his tongue and answered.

—Then do it.

“What?”

—Just charge in. You have to get close to the door to close it.

“Then I’ll die.”

When even fable-grade constellations were disappearing from the shockwave, how was I supposed to approach the door?

Then the “Demon King of Salvation” replied.

—If it’s you right now, you’ll be fine. Ah, it’s just finished.

Then messages were heard.

[Trait, ‘Record Mender’ effect is activated!]
[Record mending has been completed!]
[Exclusive skill, ‘□□’ restoration has been completed.]
…….
[You have become a new ‘Horror Recorder’.]