The first Kim Dokja—the Demon King of Salvation glared at the newspaper on the table with displeased eyes. The little Kim Dokjas clinging all over his body spoke.

「(I can’t see.)」
「(Hyung.)」
「(Show me. Show me.)」

The Demon King of Salvation frowned and peeled the little Kim Dokjas stuck to him off one by one. When he pulled the Kim Dokja stuck to his face away, the last sentence of the newspaper, half torn, came into view.

「World line movement succeeded.」

That was the Youngest’s last record.

「(What the hell. Why did it cut off all of a sudden. Where did he go?)」

The Demon King of Salvation was inwardly flustered.

He had a rough grasp of what happened. That Youngest brat jumped into the world line where the Apocalypse Dragon existed in order to save the others in the apocalypse region, and closed the ‘door’.

To summarize, he couldn’t break the habit and committed another “reader action”.

「(Fuck. Why are all Kim Dokjas like this?)」

Was this how <Kim Dokja Company> felt when they looked at him in the past.

The Demon King of Salvation thought as he stroked the last page of the newspaper where the sentences had been cut off.

[Restoration of the ‘Fourth Wall’ is currently in progress.]

He could roughly guess why the sentence had been cut off.

[Exclusive skill, ‘Fourth Wall’ structure is extremely unstable.]

A library swaying uneasily as if it could collapse at any moment.

A few little Kim Dokjas, as if scared, clung to his leg. Kim Dokja looked around, dangling little Kim Dokjas from himself like a fruit tree.

Over the past few days, the inside of the [Fourth Wall] had changed quite a bit. It was a place that already felt somewhat dark and damp, but now it had turned into an atmosphere where it felt like real ghosts might come out.

Not metaphorically but literally, something was wriggling in the darkness deep inside the archive where the lamplight didn’t reach.

The Demon King of Salvation knew what that wriggling thing was.

「(Hey.)」

The Demon King of Salvation nudged it with his toe—something stretched out like a caterpillar in the darkness. But the man sprawled there comfortably didn’t get up.

When he brought the lamp closer, he could see the man’s appearance in detail.

The second Kim Dokja—the ‘Watcher of Light and Darkness’ was there.

「(How long are you going to sleep? You’re not getting up?)」

Of course, he knew it wasn’t simply sleep. Rather than being asleep, the bastard couldn’t come to his senses because of severe tale damage.

After hesitating for a moment, the Demon King of Salvation placed a hand on the second Kim Dokja’s forehead.

What should he do.

If he fed him the ‘sad tales’ he liked, would he get better?

After a short deliberation, the Demon King of Salvation pulled out what he considered the “saddest tale”.

But at that moment, a sound like something collapsing with a crash came from one corner of the [Fourth Wall]. At the same time, there was also the sound of the archive floor cracking open with loud splits.

Letting out a light sigh, the Demon King of Salvation stood up and asked toward the direction the sound came from.

「(What are you guys doing?)」

Then, from the darkness, grotesque lifeforms abruptly stuck their heads out.

The first Kim Dokja pouted his lips and asked.

「(I told you to tidy up the books that fell. Did I tell you to wreck the whole library?)」

Then the grotesque lifeforms grinned idiotically. In the swaying lamplight, their faces were revealed.

They were all Outer Gods that had been in the apocalypse region.

From the shell of the ‘Dream Eater’, to the headless dragon, and then…….

「(Especially you. Aren’t you doing your work properly? I thought you’d be useful because you’ve got a {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} lot of arms.)」

At the Demon King of Salvation’s remark, the four-armed skeleton clattered its jaw. It was the ‘Founder of the Absolute Throne’.

「(I’ll just kick you all out?)」

The ‘Founder of the Absolute Throne’ clattered again, looking sullen.

Just as the Demon King of Salvation, irritated by the sight, couldn’t hold back and was about to add one more line—

「(Hoho, a friend who can’t even speak properly. Don’t bully it too much.)」

With that voice, three Transcendents revealed themselves.

Cheongheo, Ryunad, and Carlton.

All of them were core figures of the Transcendent Alliance.

The Demon King of Salvation glared at the three of them and replied.

「(Then you guys who can talk can do the work instead.)」

「(Ahem.)」

「(No, to begin with, why did you crawl in here? You could’ve just gotten on the train and run away.)」

「(That’s the thing—unfortunately, we’re existences that belong to the ‘apocalypse region’ itself.)」

Unlike the other members of the Transcendent Alliance, the three of them were cases that had been incorporated into this side from a ‘different world line’.

The reason they could exist in this world was because the ‘King of Terror’ shouldered the insufficient Plausibility for them.

In other words, as the ‘King of Terror’ who ruled the apocalypse region became affiliated with the [Fourth Wall], their affiliation also changed into the [Fourth Wall].

「(In an already cramped library, just how many more are you trying to cram in, damn it.)」

「(…….)」

「(If you came in, at least be some help. Do you even know our Youngest is about to fucking die?)」

「(Hmm. I can roughly guess what happened.)」

「(Don’t you have some useful ability? You guys must’ve had some pull back in your own worlds.)」

「(According to the Transcendent Alliance regulations, we can’t exercise power outside the ‘apocalypse region’.)」

「(So you can’t help with anything?)」

At that, the three of them all flinched their shoulders at once.

Cheongheo cleared his throat again, deliberately rolling his shoulders as he changed the subject.

「(That guy Zeus, he was ridiculously strong. Are the ‘myth-grade’ guys in this world line all around that level?)」

At Cheongheo’s subtle question, something came to mind belatedly.

Come to think of it, the three of them did play their part. The reason the Youngest could do what he did in the apocalypse region was because these three held down myth-grade constellations of a ‘Great Nebula’. If people from another dimension did that much, it wouldn’t be wrong to say they used up most of the Plausibility allowed in this world line.

「(Fuck, fine. I didn’t expect help from you in the first place.)」

The Demon King of Salvation walked back toward the table and began reading the newspaper from the start.

Since entering the ‘apocalypse region’, too many things had happened at once.

Not just the matter of the second Kim Dokja, the ‘King of Terror’…… the incident that especially drew his attention was Cheon Inho becoming a Horror Recorder, and the appearance of yet another Kim Dokja.

Those bastards are so quiet it’s making me uneasy.

Cheon Inho, fine, but the appearance of the Kim Dokja the Youngest named ‘Kim Dokja of the Snowfield’ was something he hadn’t expected.

Even now, the Demon King of Salvation remembered the bastard who tore the brothers to pieces.

An existence who had been watching this 41st turn even earlier than that, and who gathered over 50% of ‘Kim Dokja fragments’ and became closer than anyone to ‘the one and only Kim Dokja’.

Not only did such an existence start seriously intervening in the scenario, it even appeared in the snowfield and directly attacked the ‘King of Terror’.

It meant that the Plausibility of this world was finally flowing to a level where it would allow that bastard’s actions.

At least one fortunate thing was that no more ‘Kim Dokja fragments’ flowed to that bastard. And that thanks to the Youngest, the first and second, who had been separated, met again.

Now that the two of them had gathered, only one thing remained.

「(Please pick up.)」

Muttering that, the Demon King of Salvation pressed the call button on his smartphone.

—The third Kim Dokja.

The guy who always set his smartphone to ‘Airplane Mode’.

He actually knew the third’s number, but the Demon King of Salvation had never once heard the third’s voice.

There was, in fact, exactly one time the call connected. But back then, some unfamiliar man picked up instead, and all he heard was “Don’t call again.” At first he wondered if he’d dialed the wrong number, but no matter how he thought about it, that couldn’t be.

More than anything, the ‘third Kim Dokja’’s number was something he obtained through a deal with the great Otherworldly Divinity, ‘Father King’.

[The other party is currently in ‘Airplane Mode’.]

As expected, was it not going to work this time either.

The Demon King of Salvation shook his head and slipped the smartphone into his pocket.

Just as the first and the King of Terror did, the third would also be trapped in his own tale. And inside that tale, the third might have made his own decision in his own way.

Letting out a light sigh, the Demon King of Salvation glanced over the torn newspaper again and muttered.

「(Youngest. Looks like we’ll have to figure something out among ourselves.)」

But then, a vibration came from the smartphone he had put away in his pocket.

—The third Kim Dokja.

The Demon King of Salvation threw away the newspaper he was holding and answered the call.

*

Is there really no one there.

Jaehwan let out a light sigh and looked around. Centered on him, a cubic space spanning exactly about ten meters in width was, quite literally, ‘blocked off’ by a translucent membrane.

Those guys called Grand Dokkaebis of the Administration Bureau were more troublesome than he’d expected.

Even if he had overused his strength, to think they could temporarily set up a ‘dark dimension’ that could seal him.

‘Looks like the 《Big Brother》 of this place is a pretty impressive bastard too.’

Jaehwan tapped the translucent membrane with his finger. It looked like a barrier made of a material similar to a ‘Void Curtain’.

‘If I really want to break through, I can break through, but…….’

If he tried to force his way out from the inside, a part of this dimension would get blown away entirely.

If that happened, ‘that bastard’ would definitely get angry.

Looks like this barrier was set so it could only be opened from the outside……

“Interesting. They say even a tiger comes when you speak of it.”

Jaehwan spotted a man approaching from the other side of the translucent barrier and let out a crooked grin.

The man in a pitch-black coat glanced around for a moment, then flew straight at him.

When he confirmed the man as he came close, Jaehwan’s expression stiffened slightly.

“Judging by the spear, it’s that guy of ‘this world line’.”

Even though the voice couldn’t cross the barrier, the two of them could still understand each other’s words.

The one who spoke first was the Yoo Joonghyuk of the 41st turn.

“I need your help.”

What had he gone through on the way here. Yoo Joonghyuk’s entire body was close to rags. The black coat he had once boasted about was torn to shreds, one finger of his left hand was gone, and his thigh and shoulder had wounds so deep bone was showing.

Jaehwan said with a bitter smile.

“Looks like you do need help.”

“Will you help.”

“Are the humans of this dimension incapable of doing anything on their own?”

Even at Jaehwan’s provocation, Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t snap back.

Jaehwan stared at Yoo Joonghyuk like that for a moment, then said.

“I’m in no state to help. Because of that damn bastard called ‘Kim Dokja’, I got trapped in here.”

“I can free you.”

“It’s not a seal you can break with just your strength.”

At those words, as if his pride was hurt, Yoo Joonghyuk pressed his lips together. As if he found the sight of Yoo Joonghyuk amusing, Jaehwan added.

“If you want to help me, you should go regress about a thousand more times and come back. Or bring someone who’s regressed that much.”

“I can’t regress that many times. I don’t want to regress any more, either.”

“So a regressor gave up even regression. Then you’re even more useless.”

He said that, but there was a strange light in Jaehwan’s eyes.

He liked Yoo Joonghyuk’s answer.

“I can save you.”

“That’s what I’m saying—at your level right now, it’s not something you can…….”

“Teach me so I can break this barrier.”

“What?”

Jaehwan’s eyebrow twitched for an instant.

The eyes of a regressor, endlessly serious.

Meeting those eyes, Jaehwan laughed.

“You saw ‘something’, didn’t you.”

Jaehwan knew, to some extent, the history of a person called ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’.

Unlike him, who hated repetition to the bone, a regressor who lived while repeating thousands of regressions.

He didn’t want to admit it, but this regressor looked quite a bit like him.

Just as he repeated “stab” for an immeasurable stretch of time, this man likewise only grew strong by repeating ‘life’.

But that was after the man repeated thousands of regressions.

The regressor in front of him now was, at most, a rookie who had only regressed a few dozen times.

“You’re already close to the peak that the current you can reach. It’s not something you can overcome just because I teach you.”

“I know you have a special method of ‘transcendence’.”

Jaehwan fell silent for a moment, as if weighing Yoo Joonghyuk’s sincerity.

“If you use that method and become stronger, you won’t be the current you anymore.”

“I don’t care.”

An expression filled with firm resolve.

As if making one last check of that resolve, Jaehwan said.

“You’ll end up thinking it would be better to die, you know.”

He said it as a warning, but unexpectedly, Yoo Joonghyuk looked pleased.

“That’s what I wanted.”

After answering like that, Yoo Joonghyuk suddenly turned around.

It wasn’t that anyone was there. And yet, if you asked whether there was nothing there, it wasn’t that either.

The galaxy of <Star Stream> spread out vast and wide.

The stars that had cheered for him, and the people he had loved. The tales he had walked, and maybe the distant tales he still had to walk, were there. It was a history too long for a single human being.

And yet, because it still wasn’t long enough, he was still here.

“Because that was the only wish of my entire life.”