While the short banquet went on, Han Sooyoung introduced my existence to the people.

“He’s my friend.”

Since I never expected her to introduce me like that, I just stared up at Han Sooyoung blankly. The people listening also looked flustered.

Some people were surprised, asking if the captain even had friends, while others nodded, saying that if he was the captain’s friend, then he could be trusted.

Han Sooyoung smiled as if their reactions were amusing, and added,

“I’m kidding. Actually, this guy is a messenger from another world line. He says he came to help our world with the Final Scenario coming up. Don’t exclude him, treat him well.”

It was an explanation missing something important. I wondered if people would really accept it like that, but surprisingly, the reaction wasn’t bad.

“If he came to help, then he’s welcome.”

“If the captain went out of her way to bring him, I’m sure there’s a reason.”

Even the constellations chimed in as if they were responding.

[Constellation, ‘War God of the Seas’ nods.]

[Constellation, ‘Bald Militia Commander’ says that if so, he can believe it.]

However, that wasn’t because my existence was plausible, but because of Han Sooyoung’s overwhelming charisma.

To be honest, it felt like the people here would believe Han Sooyoung no matter what she said, even if she claimed she made a Life-and-Death Pill out of a pebble.

“Han Sooyoung! Han Sooyoung!”

Everyone who survived all the way to the Final Scenario was calling her name.

Just calling her name, and just listening to that name, somehow made me feel like I could understand what kind of fable she’d lived through.

Even if all of this was elaborate staging for the “false epilogue”, it was a sight that made me think I could willingly be fooled if it was staged like this.

“Kim Dokja!”

And somewhere, there were also people calling my name.

“He’s handsome!”

Only after hearing that did I understand why Han Sooyoung had Lee Seolhwa put makeup on me.

[You have received a new scenario!]

That was when the scenario alarm appeared.

A scenario was the minimum justification for me to exist in this world.

It was proof that the staging she’d piled up had earned the recognition of the dokkaebis and the constellations.

I immediately checked the scenario contents.

+

<Sub Scenario - Uninvited Guest>

Category: Sub

Difficulty: ???

Clear Condition: Resolve the problem of this world line and find a way to return to the world line you belong to

Time Limit: 30 days

Reward: ???

Failure: Incarnation body disappearance

+

A sub scenario, not a main scenario.

As expected, since I didn’t perform a Main Scenario in this worldview from the start, was I not being given the right to the “Final Scenario”?

Still, the assignment was a little strange.

‘Resolve the problem of this world line and find a way to return to your original world line?’

Returning was one thing, but what problem did this world line have? No matter how I looked around, I couldn’t really feel any particular problem.

The scenario subtitle being “Uninvited Guest” also bothered me. What on earth was the Administration Bureau thinking when they issued this scenario?

Not knowing whether she knew my thoughts or not, Han Sooyoung waved at the people and muttered,

“If you’re going to live here from now on, it’d be good to get close with people.”

“…….”

“He left without any warmth, but you feel like you’ll be different, so I’m saying it.”

“About what you said earlier.”

In fact, the whole time the banquet was going on, Han Sooyoung’s words had been lingering in a corner of my head.

「“This time, watch this world’s ending with me.”」

As if she knew what I was going to bring up, Han Sooyoung shook her head back and forth.

“Don’t take it too seriously. I just said it.”

“Ah, is that so.”

“But if you stay here for about a week, you’ll want to settle down too, you know?”

I could feel a strange certainty in her voice.

“I don’t know which scenario your world line is on… but it won’t be easy to go back after messing around in Scenario 99 as a max-level character.”

“I’m not a max-level character.”

“Anyway.”

“And it’s not my first time coming to Scenario 99 either.”

“What?”

I had already carried out Cheon Inho’s 40th round through a “time stratum”. In that 40th round, I definitely performed the “Final Scenario”. Even if it was in the form of an indirect experience.

“No way, is your world line also Scenario 99?”

“It isn’t.”

“Then?”

“I can’t tell you the details.”

Han Sooyoung looked at me with a strange expression, then twitched her lips.

“Still, this place will be more fun. Not all Scenario 99s are the same.”

That was right. Han Sooyoung’s 1,863rd round was definitely different from Cheon Inho’s 40th round.

Unlike Cheon Inho, she had many companions.

“And in the world line you came from, there isn’t a ‘me’ either, right?”

At those words, it stabbed somewhere near my heart.

“Yes. Not anymore.”

“Then there’s nobody waiting for you either.”

“I don’t know why you’re so sure, but there are people waiting for me too.”

“Really? How many?”

I pictured the readers’ faces in my head. Uncle Dansoo, Gyeong Sein, Cha Sungwoo, Cha Yerin, Ye Hyeonwoo. And Ms. Ji Eunyu….

Then, in that moment, a strange thought occurred to me.

Are they really waiting for me?

「They were people who needed ‘Kim Dokja’ more than anyone.」

But did I become ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) enough of a ‘Kim Dokja’ for them?

As if to drive a nail into that doubt, Han Sooyoung added a single sentence.

“Is what those people need really you?”

As if she’d read the history I lived through, Han Sooyoung’s expression was triumphant.

Instead of resisting that triumph, I asked this.

“Why do you want me to be here?”

Han Sooyoung didn’t answer right away. She looked up at the distant night sky, then after a brief pause, said,

“You said it. That you’d help me get over the ‘Final Wall’.”

Final Wall.

Beyond that far night sky, there was definitely a last gateway Han Sooyoung had to cross.

“Is what you need really me?”

The few remaining starlights were shining on us. Because that light was so faint, Han Sooyoung’s expression was hidden in the darkness, and I couldn’t see it well.

*

The next morning, Kim Namwoon woke me up.

“The captain told me to take you around. You can walk now, right?”

I nodded.

The effectiveness of the Life-and-Death Pill really was exceptional. The lower body that hadn’t listened to me until yesterday felt as light as if it had been reborn today.

“No problem.”

“Then follow me.”

Kim Namwoon left only those words and shuffled ahead.

“Is there anything I’m supposed to do?”

“Well, not really.”

I wondered why it had to be Kim Namwoon again out of all people, but looking closer, it seemed like this guy was the most idle person in this base.

“She just told me to show you people a bit, and introduce you to the daily routine, and stuff.”

“What about Han Sooyoung?”

“The captain is always busy.”

Well, if she was going to lead a force this big, there would be plenty to deal with from morning. Unlike <Kim Dokja Company>, which had been somewhat small-scale, <Han Sooyoung Corporation> really did look like it had a lot of employees.

With an annoyed face, Kim Namwoon wandered around the base and introduced the facilities to me.

“This is the executive-only bathroom, and that’s the PC cafe Jihye goes to a lot.”

“There’s a PC cafe too?”

“Of course. Since the computers are made with magic engineering or whatever, the newest games won’t run. Anyway, the facilities down there are the pool hall Jihye goes to sometimes, and over there is the library Jihye hates….”

Somehow, all the explanations were leaning around a single person.

“Damn it, doing this makes me feel like a game NPC. Mister, do you know what an NPC is?”

“I do.”

“Oh, you like games?”

Maybe he thought he’d found common ground, because Kim Namwoon started going on for a while about the games he liked. It hit me again that Kim Namwoon was a high schooler.

“Ahem. I talked too much on my own, sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“Jihye hates hearing this kind of stuff.”

I watched Kim Namwoon scratching his head roughly, feeling a bit sorry for him.

Did Kim Namwoon, that Delusion Fiend, change like this because of Han Sooyoung? Or was the environment of the 1,863rd round just like that?

“But looking at you, mister, I get why the captain told me to take you around.”

“…?”

“You look depressed.”

At the unexpected insight, I was momentarily at a loss for words.

I look depressed.

When I checked the expression reflected in the window we passed, it really did look a little depressed.

If I tried to find a reason, I could. But I didn’t feel like thinking about it.

Looking back, ever since I possessed this world, not a single thing had gone according to plan. It was the same in the Recycling Center and in the apocalypse region.

And that was how I arrived at the 1,863rd round.

For whatever reason, Han Sooyoung left me to Kim Namwoon, and I got thrown into the Final Scenario of an unfamiliar world line, listening to Kim Namwoon talk about games.

I turned my smartphone on and off over and over, thinking that maybe it would help if I told someone something, but I couldn’t reach Big Bro Fortuitous.

Actually, even if I could reach him, that would be a problem too.

He’d obviously just tell me that reading Ways of Survival would make me feel better.

“I used to be like that too. I overcame it all now, though. Cheer up, everyone has a hard time sometimes.”

“Yes.”

That really is comforting.

I answered however and looked out the window at the view of Gwanghwamun.

Han Sooyoung was right.

It was the same Scenario 99, but the scenery of the world was this different.

Even in a world without Kim Dokja, people could get close enough to the ‘ending’.

Is everyone doing well?

Yoo Joonghyuk, the other readers—do they remember me? How much time passed there? What happened to Ms. Ji Eunyu and Ms. Heewon?

Was it because the sunset reflected in the window was too beautiful, or because the expressions of the people looking at that sunset were too warm?

Even if only for a moment, I ended up thinking that.

「Am I still a valid existence in this story?」

That was when a boom, a loud crash, rang out from inside the base.

Wondering if something happened, I turned my head, and Kim Namwoon shrugged like it was nothing.

“Looks like it’s training time.”

Training time?

As if resolving my doubt, Kim Namwoon guided me to the underground training grounds.

At the entrance of the training grounds, a few incarnations were gathered, chatting while watching a giant screen.

In front of the screen, there was a familiar person.

“You came?”

“Yo, Jihye.”

“I told you not to greet me like that.”

“Sorry.”

From behind the two of them, I also looked up at the screen. The man on the screen was someone I also knew well.

“Oh, what. Hyunsung is in good condition today.”

As befitting the Final Scenario, Lee Hyunsung was shirtless and throwing punches, boasting viciously huge lats and serratus muscles.

“It’s something the captain made. A kind of versus-fighting simulation made based on fables from the past.”

The background was a barren desert. Every time Lee Hyunsung’s fist moved, huge craters formed all over the desert.

Is that [Mount Tai Shattering]? At that level, he really might be able to smash a mountain, just like the name says.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

It seemed the identity of the loud booms I’d been hearing since earlier was that.

“If you enter and select a specific fable, you can fight the person in the fable.”

I roughly understood what kind of system it was.

But if he was fighting an opponent strong enough to match Lee Hyunsung, who had become that strong, then the enemy in the simulation must be on an insane level too.

Delicate, beautiful sword strikes flashing in and out through the sandstorm. As fists and blades crossed, an ecstatic torrent of fables bloomed.

Is the opponent a constellation?

If it’s a constellation that uses a sword that well…

Each time the sword strike flashed in the whitish surroundings, a roar rang out like the sky was breaking apart.

Wait, no way.

When I saw the black coat fluttering in the thick dust, I realized how the people of this world line could become this strong.

Some stories, even after reaching their ending, don’t disappear, but remain like shadows in people’s hearts.

“I wonder if you’ll be able to win this time, Hyunsung.”

On the screen, Lee Hyunsung and Yoo Joonghyuk of the 1,863rd round were fighting.