「"Whether we record it or not, what happened has happened, and what will happen will happen. If so, aren’t you curious? Why are we trying so hard to record stories, and for what?"」

- Wei Long, King of the Heavenly Flying Fox

*

【You know, right. Even if you run at full power right now, you’ll be late.】

The Heavenly Flying Fox was right. Even if I escaped this subspace right away and went to save Jung Heewon, I would be late.

By the time I arrived, the Recorders’ [Fate] would be realized, and the blazing heat of Agni, Flame of Purification, would burn everything in the surrounding area, including Jung Heewon.

Thankfully, I had a way to resolve this spatiotemporal discrepancy.

[Tale, ‘Successor of the Eternal Name’ begins the story!]

[Exclusive skill, ‘Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’ is activated!]

It helped a lot that I was located inside the subspace the Heavenly Flying Fox had made.

【Strictly speaking, this space is a place made by processing ‘dreams.’ So it’s an endlessly suitable space for using ‘that ability’ of yours.】

At this point, it made me suspect everything was the Heavenly Flying Fox’s scheme, but I wasn’t in a position to be picky about cold water or hot water right now.

Besides, one more obstacle remained. For [Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint] to activate, both the target and I had to be thinking of each other at the same time.

「Something that makes her, who is nothing, become special.」

Thankfully, the obstacle was resolved naturally.

「Someone who was once Cheon Inho, and now is called Kim Dokja. Protecting that person. The desire to protect.」

The moment I read that sentence, my breath caught in ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) my throat.

Even after eight years had passed, Jung Heewon still remembered me. My heart pounded violently.

Leaning on that sentence, I could read her. I would be able to see the world one more time through her eyes.

I should have.
But.

[The connection with the current target is not smooth.]

Why? Even though the activation conditions were met, the ‘first-person viewpoint’ didn’t activate.

What was the problem?

When I looked back, the Heavenly Flying Fox was looking at me with an enigmatic smile.

【Why, is it not going well?】

That old man, it looked like he knew I wouldn’t be able to properly manifest [Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint].

【Is that why you called me here?】
【Ho ho, I don’t know what you mean.】

I let out a light sigh and focused my mind. If I couldn’t use [Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint], then in this situation there was only one way to help her.

Tsssss.

To manifest the ‘authority’ as a Horror Recorder.

「At last, it was the Radiant Sword Emperor’s end.」

The sentence of [Fate] that the Recorders had bestowed rose vividly, and I could see it clinging to Jung Heewon like a restraint.

I didn’t hesitate and reached my hand toward the sentence.

Tsssss.

The moment my hand touched it, the sentence flowed between my fingers like a living loach. I tightly grabbed the slippery words and put force into them. Then the end of the sentence I was touching began to crumble, pasusss, as if fizzing apart.

「At last, it was the Radiant Sword Emperor’s en—」

Beside me, the Heavenly Flying Fox, who had been watching, let out an exclamation of admiration.

【How surprising. Have you already realized the power of ‘Revision’?】

The power to record an character’s tale in real time. More precisely, the power to force history in a ‘certain direction.’

That was the Recorders’ power of "Revision."

The method itself wasn’t difficult. With a feeling similar to when using the [□□] skill, I just had to twist the sentence floating before my eyes into the shape I wanted.

Tsssss!
Every time I intervened in the sentence, a threatening Backlash of Plausibility surged near me.

It was probably because I had gone against the ‘Plausibility’ other Recorders had poured in.

[‘Recorders’ supporting the Great Nebula are expressing dismay at the altered ‘Fate’.]
[‘Recorders’ supporting the Great Nebula are once again unleashing ‘Fate’!]

I could feel the tale’s context violently wavering. Sentences swarmed in like crackling insects and stuck to my hands. A handwriting that made me feel discomfort just by touching it.

I grabbed those words once more and crushed them hard.

「At last, it was the Radiant Sword Emperor’s—」

This was how Recorders fought.

[‘Recorders’ supporting the Great Nebula are looking around!]
[‘Recorders’ supporting the Great Nebula have noticed your existence!]

A record war to define the future each of us thought for the character - that is, to define [Fate].

「At last, it was the Radiant Sword Emperor’s—」

Despite the Recorders’ struggle, control of the record was gradually shifting to my side.

It was only natural. It was far easier to erase sentences that had already been written than to write new ones.

[The Plausibility of ‘Fate’ is twisted!]
[Some of the ‘Recorders’ supporting the Great Nebula take a major hit and retreat!]

As if that sight amused, the Heavenly Flying Fox said,

【As expected, you’re not an ordinary Recorder.】
【I only erased a few characters.】
【The better the tale, the harder it is to erase.】

It felt like I had just heard something important, but I didn’t have the mind to respond.

Even if the binding force of [Fate] had weakened, Jung Heewon was still in danger. Before my eyes, Flame of Purification, Agni, had half-descended. With an incarnation body that had reached its limit, Jung Heewon truly was a candle in the wind.

As if to help me, the Heavenly Flying Fox said,

【There’s no time. They retreated for a moment, but those Recorders over there aren’t easy either. They’ll soon regroup and come at you.】
【Isn’t there some method?】

As if waiting for those words, the Heavenly Flying Fox added,

【If you make a ‘record contract,’ you’ll be able to describe the character’s future with far less Plausibility.】

I see.

I immediately tried the ‘record contract.’ But.

[You cannot perform a ‘record contract’.]

When I looked back, the Heavenly Flying Fox said with the same smile,

【A ‘record contract’ is a sacred ritual. Only Recorders who possess an ‘modifier’ can perform that ritual.】

Only then did I realize something.

That crafty fox knew from the beginning that, to save Jung Heewon, I would try to make a ‘record contract.’

In the end, to help her, I had no choice but to choose a ‘modifier.’

+

1. Scribe of the Apocalypse.

2. Knight of Salvation.

3. Witness of Infinity.

+

Modifiers floating before my eyes with bright rays of light.

Surely, the Heavenly Flying Fox had foreseen this entire situation and created modifiers for me.

【The name you choose will help you.】

If I chose one of these modifiers, I would receive the protection of a high-ranking Recorder and overcome this crisis.

【Yes. I’ve chosen.】

With dazzling rays of light, the modifier slowly floated up before my eyes.

The Heavenly Flying Fox stared at that modifier for a moment, then smacked the tongue and asked,

【Are you really going to make that choice?】
【You’ve been watching me this whole time, so you must have predicted what choice I’d make.】

Naturally, what I chose wasn’t one of the modifiers the Heavenly Flying Fox had presented.

【You know what kind of price writing a modifier yourself will bring, right?】

I nodded.

【The word combination you chose is too heavy and harsh. I’ll ask again. Are you really going to use that modifier?】
【I’m prepared. I didn’t become a ‘Recorder’ just to change a few characters and be done with it.】

What did my words make the Heavenly Flying Fox think? For an instant, something like worry flickered in those two eyes.

【Even if you’re a Recorder, you can’t escape ‘Fate.’ What we can do is only change sentences so a fixed future can be ‘interpreted differently.’】

Interpret a fixed future differently... I chewed on those words and said,

【Even if it’s fine for it to be an interpretation swapped around like wordplay.】

If you decide to intervene in a character’s [Fate], then the writer must also steel that resolve. No matter what incident, what hardship comes crashing down - together with the character, you must cut through all of those stories and move forward.

Even if the end becomes ruin,

【If someone reads that wordplay and believes it, that wordplay could become ‘reality,’ too.】

You must remember that such a ruin could become this world’s eternity.

[A Horror Recorder, ‘One Who Rewrites Eternity,’ requests a ‘record contract’ from character ‘Jung Heewon’.]

One Who Rewrites Eternity.

That was the Recorder ‘modifier’ I had chosen.

With a nervous heart, I stared at Jung Heewon on the screen.

Please accept it.

But on the screen, Jung Heewon only stared blankly at the message floating before her eyes, with a confused expression.

【Well now, you make mistakes sometimes too.】

A mistake?

【If you’re an excellent Recorder, before you write the ‘record’ you want, you must first listen carefully to what emotions the character is feeling.】

A series of facts came to me belatedly.

Damn it, that’s right.

【Because of the Recorders’ [Fate], she lost her teacher.】

In my urgency, I had forgotten for a moment.

【In that situation, if you suddenly propose a record contract, she wouldn’t accept it...】

The Heavenly Flying Fox, who had been speaking up to that point, made a dumb expression.

I also stared at the screen with dumb eyes. As if the me here was visible to her, Jung Heewon was looking straight at me from beyond the screen.

"......Dokja?"

How could that be possible.

Like a character who had crossed over the [Fourth Wall], she was speaking to me.

"Inho, right? It’s you, isn’t it? Right?"

It was unbelievable. Even from this far away, Jung Heewon was sensing me clearly.

The next moment, sparks burst from her eyes.

[Tale, ‘Regret, Ruin, Obsession’ ripples.]
[Tale, ‘Regret, Ruin, Obsession’ senses your existence.]

"Have to protect have to protect have to protect have to protect have to protect have to protect have to protect have to protect have to protect have to protect have to protect have to protect"

Radiant rays of light burst, and a faint link appeared between her and me.

[The ‘record contract’ has been concluded.]

The world’s scenery flipped, and Jung Heewon displayed [Vermilion Bird Divine Steps] to evade Agni’s blow.

Was it because her movement was different from before? Agni furrowed the brow and asked,

「[What did you do?]」

I slowly opened my mouth as I measured the weight of that Agni’s presence.

【Heewon. Listen carefully. The situation is really bad.】

I couldn’t be sure my words would reach her properly. She now had almost no magic power left, and her incarnation body had long since reached its limit.

【Even so-】

I still had to say it. I had to deliver even a banal cheer. Because in this tale-made world, a banal sentence can also become a connecting adverb that overturns the flow of the battlefield.

【We can win.】

The enemy was one of <Veda>’s Lokapala. A fable-grade constellation comparable to Surya, the ‘God of Supreme Light.’

「But if it was the Jung Heewon of now, who had achieved Transcendent-type Stage 4, it wasn’t that there was no chance of victory.」

[A Horror Recorder, ‘One Who Rewrites Eternity,’ explains the operation.]

If we could properly record this battle-

[Constellation, ‘God of Supreme Light,’ looks at the Radiant Sword Emperor.]
[Constellation, ‘God of Wine and Ecstasy,’ watches the Radiant Sword Emperor’s battle.]
[Constellation, ‘Bald Militia Commander,’ cannot hide the excitement.]
[Constellation, ‘Owner of Baekrokdam,’ watches your record.]

In this city, we could obtain a ‘great tale’ comparable to "Spring of the Demonic Realm".