Han Sooyoung watched my reaction and, in a peculiar voice, asked again.

"You're not saying you didn't know what would happen if you told me that?"

I replayed our earlier conversation.

To open the door of Han Sooyoung's heart that she had tightly shut, I confessed a secret I shouldn't have told her.

「"You are tls123."」

If the Han Sooyoung of the 1,864th round heard it, she'd probably faint in shock. She'd ask what I was doing saying something like that, if I was out of my mind.

Still, I said it.

tls123. The author of 『Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World』 that you had always been curious about. That person is you—Han Sooyoung of the 1,863rd round.

And Han Sooyoung, who had [Predicted Plagiarism], would have vaguely sensed the truth of this world from just that one line.

"I'm not joking. I have no intention of becoming some tls123 for real."

"I see."

"What, you think this is funny?"

Maybe my answer didn't satisfy her at all, because Han Sooyoung frowned.

To reassure her, I added a word.

"You can do whatever you want. Yes. Don't become tls123."

But instead of being reassured, Han Sooyoung made a dumbfounded face. Then, after silently glaring at me, she reached out her right hand and pressed it to my forehead.

"Your fable status is normal."

"It's perfectly normal."

"Did something go wrong while you were separating from the main body? Did you pick up some fable you weren't supposed to? Like 「Crazy Soldier Yoo Joonghyuk」. No, wait. Even if you got a fable like that, you wouldn't be acting like this—"

A fable I wasn't supposed to get.

"I did get a lot of weird fables."

[A fable, 'Successor of the Eternal Name', snickers.]

Hearing the fable's mocking voice inside me, I thought about my decision once more.

In truth, my decision wasn't entirely 'my decision alone'.

It was a decision made together with the other two Kim Dokjas who shared Kim Dokja's fables with me.

I hadn't really talked to them about this, but there were things I could feel beyond the [Fourth Wall].

「Han Sooyoung has the right to decide her own future.」

The world we had lived through depended entirely on Han Sooyoung's sacrifice.

The 'Ways of Survival' that the Han Sooyoung of the 1,863rd round, returned to her childhood, wrote over more than ten years.

Because that story existed, Kim Dokja survived.

But as the price for writing that story, the Han Sooyoung of the 1,863rd round couldn't meet Kim Dokja again and scattered into her own unconscious.

And the 『Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint』 we know begins.

「And Kim Dokja thought.」

Did that story really need to be repeated one more time? Even if all causality in this universe collapsed because Han Sooyoung did not become tls123, could that become a justification for sacrificing the one person in front of us?

「Han Sooyoung must have thought as well.」

Maybe, on that day, Han Sooyoung was standing at the same crossroads of choice as I was.

And Han Sooyoung chose.

Instead of stopping the great tragedy that would come upon the universe, she decided to save the one boy dying right in front of her.

"Fine. What's the point of talking so long? Don't regret it later."

As if she was tired of arguing back and forth, Han Sooyoung glared at me for a moment and then let out another deep sigh. A moment of silence settled between us.

Having completely regained consciousness, I calmly looked around. A dark underground space that reminded me of an old warehouse. Countless flasks packed tightly and neatly arranged throughout the basement.

I looked at the incarnation bodies inside those flasks. Characters including Lee Hyunsung, Shin Yoosung, Lee Seolhwa, Kim Namwoon, and Lee Jihye were being preserved there with the [Special Preservation] skill. The Blood Demon's warehouse where it stored the heads of the dead had felt like this too.

Do stories that can't be recorded eventually come to resemble each other little by little?

If there was a difference between the two scenes, it was that the incarnation bodies stored in this warehouse still had breath in them.

"So this is the real 'headquarters'."

I could tell without examining it closely. The scenery of the 'headquarters' I had seen until now had all been the effect of [Avatar] made by Han Sooyoung.

Not only the incarnation bodies, but an [Avatar] that wrapped the entire headquarters.

She had covered and controlled the entire area, including this building, with her avatar.

"Then everyone I met was you?"

"They move and talk the way I wrote them to, but basically they act based on the characters' fables. It's not like I'm controlling them however I want."

"I see."

"Yeah, it might sound like deception, but…"

Han Sooyoung gave a bitter smile, as if she knew well how her words would sound.

"Disappointed?"

"I was impressed."

"Are you being sarcastic?"

"I'm serious."

Either way, Han Sooyoung had done her best to keep her promise to Kim Dokja. Not everyone survived, but even so, she had tried to save 'as many as possible' incarnation bodies. That effort alone deserved to be acknowledged.

"What happened to the constellations who tried to stop you?"

"Most of them died when the Apocalypse Dragon resurrected. There are a few left, though."

They probably got on the broken 'Ark'. Maybe some of the myth-grade constellations I'd seen in my memories were still there.

"They've almost lost all their power too. Originally, I was going to use the Apocalypse Dragon's breath to finish them off, but…"

Right then I appeared, and in the end, the Apocalypse Dragon's breath was used to save me from the 'Otherworldly Divinity'.

She probably had almost no Plausibility left now.

"I'm sorry."

"No. Well, if a scenario goes smoothly and easily, it's not fun."

"Are you going to use [Avatar] again?"

"When my strength recovers."

"Why are you trying to maintain [Avatar] to that extent? Because of your promise with Kim Dokja?"

"That too, but…"

Han Sooyoung closed her mouth for a moment and looked at the characters contained in the flasks.

"When these guys wake up again someday, I want to pass on the fables I made."

"…"

"I know. I know this is all just self-satisfaction. I know it could just be deception to these guys."

I understood Han Sooyoung's heart. She didn't want to clear this 'scenario' alone.

She wanted to tell the comrades she'd been with the whole time, the story that she saw the end of the world together with them.

"Is there a way to revive them?"

"Maybe."

Wounds that couldn't be healed even with the Reincarnation Elixir. To cause a miracle big enough to revive them, she needed Plausibility powerful enough to twist the laws of this world line.

And as far as I knew, there was only one material in this 'Final Scenario' that had accumulated that much Plausibility.

"It's the fable core."

If we used the 'fable core' that moved the Ark, we might be able to revive the party standing at the edge of death.

"That's right. But a problem came up when you came."

With an "Heave-ho," Han Sooyoung got up and dusted off her pants.

I followed behind Han Sooyoung and left the warehouse. When we opened the lid of the underground passage and came outside, a muggy heat that I hadn't been able ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) to feel before washed over us. The seal sphere of the Apocalypse Dragon floating in the sky, and the Ark being stuck there, were the same as before, but the sunlight felt beyond the atmosphere was not normal.

[All beings in the corresponding area are affected by the 'Final Apocalypse Dragon'.]

[All beings in the corresponding area are exposed to madness.]

['Otherworldization' is in progress in the corresponding area.]

[All living creatures in the corresponding area have their mental strength decrease in real time.]

[A 'Distorted Fable' is parasitizing the corresponding area!]

[All beings in the corresponding area experience 'fable contamination' in real time!]

Warning messages that popped up without rest.

Inside, I muttered, oh my god. This wasn't an environment you could possibly survive in, even if you had a perfectly fine incarnation body.

Looking at me, Han Sooyoung grinned.

"This is the real 1,863rd round."

To mitigate the wide-area debuffs pouring down in real time, Han Sooyoung and I began an all-night work session.

Since we couldn't use [Avatar], we moved our bodies ourselves and installed the related equipment one by one.

[Item, 'Wide-Area Fable Curtain' is activated!]

[Item, 'Area Nullification Spray' is activated!]

[Item, 'Special Contamination Purification Device' is activated!]

When we finished installing the equipment at the main spots, the air in the area changed. We couldn't feel the Apocalypse Dragon's fear that had been pressing down on our shoulders, nor the otherworldly fables that had given an ominous feeling.

So there were even items like this once you reached the Final Scenario.

"That's it. It's only for a while, but we can hold out until I recover my strength again."

"Were you prepared for moments like this too?"

"Why do you think [Predicted Plagiarism] exists?"

I sat side by side with Han Sooyoung in the front yard of the ruined base.

In the world that was falling apart, the sun was slowly going down.

Han Sooyoung must have watched that scenery alone, over and over. Left alone in this world where not a single star watched over it, she must have written a story that no one read on a lonely blank page.

[A constellation, 'War God of the Seas', watches you and nods.]

Huh?

[A constellation, 'Bald Militia Commander', watches the two of you and wipes its head.]

Wait.

[A constellation, 'Supreme Horseback Archer', hides a pounding expression.]

"Are those messages real?"

"Then do you think they're fake?"

"You said all the constellations were dead."

"A few of the guys who took my side are left. They're still basically on the verge of dying, though."

In fact, there wasn't any of their original rank to be felt at all from the constellations' indirect messages.

"Up until recently, I was lending them incarnation bodies with my [Avatar], but now we're in trouble."

"Then shouldn't they conserve their power? If they're spamming indirect messages like that—"

"Why do you think they're so excited?"

I blankly looked up at the sky.

[A constellation, 'War God of the Seas', holds expectations for your existence.]

[A constellation, 'Bald Militia Commander', expresses curiosity about your existence.]

[A constellation, 'Supreme Horseback Archer', shows deep interest in your existence.]

A chill ran down my spine.

So that was it. The reason the constellations were talking to me, risking the consumption of their existence, was—

"It means there's finally something to talk about in this world line."

Only now did I realize what kind of place this world line was.

This world line was a world line where even that 'Dokkaebi King' had lost interest in the scenario.

After the disaster of the Apocalypse Dragon swept through <Star Stream>, now there were no incarnation bodies left to make fables, and no stars left to read them.

"Is it fun, you little shits."

As if those stars annoyed her, Han Sooyoung casually flung dirt into the air. The few stars left in the night sky blinked their faint light instead of answering.

I understood their hearts. They just wanted to read the last fable of this world. Stars that were dying while shining the fables they loved, even until this moment when they didn't have much life left. Looking up at those stars, Han Sooyoung muttered.

"Do you think Kim Dokja is watching this story too?"

"He is."

"Why aren't you mad?"

"Why would I suddenly be mad?"

"Because you're Kim Dokja."

I scratched my cheek and replied.

"I am Kim Dokja, yeah."

"Can I ask you a few things?"

"You've been asking the whole time."

"How have you been doing all this time?"

"Are you asking me, or are you asking the other Kim Dokja?"

"Either one."

"I can't tell you for free."

"So that's how you're going to be."

"You said you weren't going to do tls123 either."

With a face like she couldn't believe it, Han Sooyoung looked at me, then pouted and asked.

"Am I really tls123?"

"If you use [Lie Detection], you'll know."

But Han Sooyoung didn't use [Lie Detection]. Was her not bothering to verify me with a skill the bare minimum of trust she had in me, or her last struggle to not want to confirm the truth?

"You have the 'Writer' attribute, don't you?"

Like someone hit by an unexpected ambush, I blankly worked my lips.

As if she'd known, Han Sooyoung snickered.

"You can tell at a glance. There's this particular disgusting vibe. It's like… some nuance that people who want to leave everything they've experienced behind as a record give off."

"That's scary to hear."

"It's kind of a shock. To think there's a 'Kim Dokja' who writes."

Han Sooyoung looked at me with a face like she felt oddly betrayed, then soon let out a snort and added.

"But you don't seem like a proper 'writer' yet."

At those words, my expression stiffened without me realizing it.

What was she seeing to say that?

Was she reading the story of the 41st round that I ruined with [Predicted Plagiarism]?

If not, then…

"Seeing as you still don't even know how to use [Avatar]."

Ah.

"Hey, do you know why a writer has the [Avatar] skill?"