"Wait, hold on."

It was unfair. Because the one who left the Han Sooyoung of the 1,863rd round behind all alone wasn’t me.

"I’m not an [Avatar]."

"Then what are you?"

"I—"

I hesitated. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t come up with what I should say to persuade her.

For a moment, a short temptation arose.

What if I just used [Incite]? If I used [Incite] on Han Sooyoung and persuaded her to listen to my request.

"I can hear your brain working."

The moment I heard Han Sooyoung’s mockery, I realized. The person in front of me wasn’t someone that kind of method would work on.

There was no helping it. From here on out, I had no choice but to win with the straight-ahead approach.

"Just like you aren’t the avatar of the 'third round Han Sooyoung', I’m not merely Kim Dokja’s avatar either."

Han Sooyoung smiled as if she found it interesting.

"Yeah? How much of his memories did you get handed over?"

"I didn’t receive much memory."

"Yeah. That’s what you call an [Avatar]. But you’re saying you aren’t?"

"Does the amount of memories matter? Proving who I am isn’t about the amount of memories."

"Is that so?"

Han Sooyoung nodded and wrote something down in her notebook.

Watching that Han Sooyoung, I added,

"Just because the third round Han Sooyoung did something wrong, you don’t hold you responsible for that sin. It feels pretty unfair for you to ask me to pay for Kim Dokja’s wrongs."

"You want to say you aren’t that Kim Dokja?"

"Yes. I’m not the Kim Dokja you know."

"Then there’s no particular reason for me to help you either, right? Because you aren’t that Kim Dokja."

So that’s how it was going to be? Damn it. I hurriedly changed what I was saying.

"But there’s such a thing as joint responsibility. Since I’m using the name Kim Dokja too, I think I have the right to atone for his wrongs."

Joint responsibility for Kim Dokja.

Somehow, it felt unfair. If there was joint responsibility for Kim Dokja, then there should be joint benefits for Kim Dokja too. But I’d never received anything like that.

Of course, I couldn’t complain like that to the Han Sooyoung in front of me.

Han Sooyoung stared at me blankly for a moment, then let out a snort of laughter.

"So how are you going to atone, exactly?"

After lightly clearing my throat, I started talking.

"It’s all my fault. I’m sorry for leaving you alone. But I didn’t do it on purpose either."

Han Sooyoung’s eyes wavered subtly. I didn’t miss that opening and kept talking.

"I was curious about your story too. Whether you were doing well, what you were thinking as you lived, whether something big had happened to your world. I kept being curious."

"……."

"I didn’t avoid visiting on purpose. I was just scared."

"Scared?"

"Sometimes, when it’s a story you really like, you get scared for no reason about finding out how it ends."

Han Sooyoung looked at me quietly like that, then darted a glance at Lee Seolhwa, who had been peeking at us from behind, and gave a bitter smile.

"If someone saw this, they’d think I’m doing all this because I want an apology."

"Weren’t you?"

"What would I even do with something like that?"

"Then why were you sulking?"

Was that too straight to the point? For a moment, a crack widened on Han Sooyoung’s face.

I didn’t miss the chance and asked.

"Do you like Kim Dokja, by any chance?"

"What?"

"If that’s not it, then there’s no reason for you to feel this hurt. Weren’t Kim Dokja and you just in a business relationship? You gave what you had to give, you got what you had to get. And you separated cleanly."

"……."

"Or did you actually want to go back to the third round together with Kim Dokja?"

Belatedly, Han Sooyoung narrowed her eyes and asked back.

"Your mouth sure is running, but did you forget who’s holding the knife handle?"

"I know. You’re holding it. And you’re holding it real tight. So please spare me."

"Oh, look at you."

"If you spare me, I’ll help you meet Kim Dokja."

Han Sooyoung, who had flinched for an instant, asked back.

"Why do you think I want to meet that bastard?"

"If I’m wrong, I’m sorry, but that bastard probably really wants to see you."

Confusion flickered across Han Sooyoung’s face again.

"If you keep spouting nonsense—"

"Han Sooyoung."

Tsutsutsut, and sparks dyed my incarnation body. Before the omen of the Backlash grew any bigger, I decided to bring it to a conclusion.

"Kim Dokja is in danger. Only you can save him."

Kim Dokja was in danger. At those words, I saw clearly the blue spreading across Han Sooyoung’s face. I was a little jealous of it, and also a little sad.

"Can you take responsibility for that statement?"

"Yes, I can take responsibility."

I knew well how cowardly my words were.

Even if I didn’t do anything, she would meet Kim Dokja again. More precisely, the less I did, the higher the probability that she would meet Kim Dokja again.

Because she was destined to become tls123, and she would definitely encounter young Kim Dokja.

Of course, it wouldn’t be the kind of reunion she wanted.

"How is Kim Dokja in danger?"

"That’s…"

"If I save you, you’ll tell me?"

When I nodded, Han Sooyoung glared at me with a really dissatisfied look and asked,

"First I need to know who you contracted with to cross over here."

"Will you help me?"

"I’ll listen to your story."

Thankfully, the mood wasn’t bad. Swallowing a light sigh to myself, I said,

"I didn’t make a contract with anyone."

"What?"

"I didn’t come here by making an 'otherworldly covenant'."

It was possible that an 'otherworldly covenant' I didn’t know about had been triggered.

Strictly speaking, I came here through the 'apocalypse region', and the owner of the 'apocalypse region' was the 'King of Terror'.

The 'King of Terror' held countless otherworldly divinities within itself, so it wouldn’t be wrong to see the 'apocalypse region' itself as a single enormous 'otherworldly covenant'.

But now, the 'apocalypse region' had been destroyed, and the 'King of Terror' had lost that power.

In other words, the 'contract' that sent me here had lost its validity.

But when she heard my words, the expression on Han Sooyoung’s face was strange.

"Wait, then you right now—"

At that moment, thunder roared outside the window. Han Sooyoung’s eyebrow twitching and Lee Hyunsung pulling aside the curtain by the window happened almost at the same time.

"Captain, something’s wrong!"

Lee Hyunsung’s shout coming from outside.

In the sky outside the window, there was a gigantic portal swirling.

Both Han Sooyoung and I knew what it was.

「The Great Hall.」

A passage to another world was trying to open in the far-off sky. A feast of an enormous rank could be felt beyond the hall.

Han Sooyoung frowned and glared at me.

"You, what the hell did you do?"

I stared up at the sky in a daze.

「Even if it’s the 1,863rd round, there’s no way an 'Otherworldly Divinity' would suddenly descend from a clear sky.」

In the end, the scale of Plausibility flows toward the side that offsets that weight.

If an Otherworldly Divinity had appeared, it meant that in this world line, a ‘plausible’ basis had been secured for its descent.

It felt like my heart dropped with a thud.

「It’s because of me.」

Up until now, my existence had been protected by the 'scenario'.

[The Administration Bureau cannot accept your existence.]

But in this world line, there was no scenario assigned to me. In other words, right now, I was an existence unnecessary to the 'scenario'.

Tsutsutsutsut!

The sparks coiling around my incarnation body right now were proof of that.

This world line does not consider my existence ‘plausible’. Therefore, to protect the Plausibility of this world, my existence had to disappear.

【Ooooooooo.】

Therefore, the guy coming over from that # Nоvеlight # ‘Great Hall’ right now was a kind of reaper that came to erase me from this world.

【Wantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwantwant.】

The moment that terrible true word tore through the sky, the screams of incarnations rang out.

Han Sooyoung, without panicking, snapped her fingers in midair.

['True Word Defense System' is activated!]

I could feel something like a transparent membrane wrapping around the entire headquarters area. Amazingly, the barrier was enduring the true word of that distant ‘Otherworldly Divinity’.

Kugugugugu.

However, the larger the ‘Great Hall’ growing in the sky became, the more the barrier shook as well.

Han Sooyoung glared at me and asked.

"You know what you did, right?"

"I’m sorry."

"Is being sorry enough after bringing something like that here? Lee Seolhwa. Are you done measuring its grade?"

Lee Seolhwa, who had been standing by, shook her head and replied.

"The fable measuring device is broken."

"It was fine up until we measured 'Dream Eater' last time, wasn’t it?"

"The grade value is higher than it was then."

"Then it’s at least old being-grade or above. What’s that bastard’s true name?"

"I couldn’t find out that far."

"Hm."

Han Sooyoung’s expression turned quite serious.

"The Final Scenario is right around the corner, and because of this bastard, Earth could end up getting destroyed."

Calmly nodding, I said,

"I’m really sorry. So please help me, Han Sooyoung."

At my words, Han Sooyoung grumbled as if dumbfounded.

"This is one really shameless bastard."

"You don’t have a choice anyway. If you don’t help me, your world line will be destroyed."

"What do you want me to do to help you?"

"Please help me return to the 41st round."

As I said before, to ‘move world lines’ in this world, several conditions were needed. But I wasn’t Yoo Joonghyuk, and I didn’t have an ‘ark’ to cross world lines like constellations did.

Then the only thing left for me now was the last method.

"I’ll make an otherworldly covenant."

"Do you think you can do that right now?"

"Why not?"

"With that thing targeting you right now, do you think there’s going to be any Outer God that wants to make an 'otherworldly covenant' with you?"

Han Sooyoung was right.

The Otherworldly Divinity that made an 'otherworldly covenant' with me right now would inevitably clash with the Outer God targeting me from beyond the 'Great Hall'.

In other words, only an existence more powerful than the 'Otherworldly Divinity' targeting me would accept my offer.

"If that thing beyond there is stronger than an 'old being', there’s a chance it’s even great old being-grade."

Great old being.

At that expression I was hearing after a long time, I shut my mouth. Maybe because of how she took my silence, Han Sooyoung added,

"If that thing beyond there is great old being-grade, there won’t be any Outer God anywhere that’ll help you."

I knew that too.

An Outer God that reached ‘great old being’ was basically the same as a ‘myth-grade constellation’ among Outer Gods.

Even so, I shook my head.

"No, it’s not that there isn’t one anywhere."

Even if the existence craving me from beyond there was a ‘great old being’, it didn’t mean there was no Outer God that could oppose it.

"You… no way."

Han Sooyoung’s expression as she looked at me had stiffened strangely. She probably realized it too.

"The existence that made you cross over to this 'world line'."

The only thing that could stand against a ‘great old being’ was another ‘great old being’.

Taking a light breath, I opened my mouth.

"Han Sooyoung, please call the 'Secretive Plotter'."