Chapter 170: Episode 33 – Reading Again (1)
Translator: Rainbow Turtle
I rembered the mont I read a novel for the first ti.
The texture of the soft paper touching my fingertips. The black letters blooming on a white field. The texture of the page I folded with my hands.
「 It isn’t important to read the letters. The important thing is where the letters lead you. 」
My mother, who loved books, used to say this. At least for , it wasn’t just a saying.
The gaps in the black print. My own little snow garden lay in between the letters. This space, which was too small for soone to go into, was a perfect place for a child who liked to hide. Every ti a pleasant sound was heard, the letters stacked up like snow.
In it, I beca a hero. I had adventures, loved and dreamt. Thus, I read, read and read again.
I rembered the first ti I was about to finish a book. It was like being deprived of the world.
The protagonist and supporting characters walked off with the sentence ‘They lived happily ever after’ and I was left alone at the end of the story. In my vanity and sense of betrayal, my young self struggled because I couldn’t stand the loneliness.
「This... is the end? 」
Perhaps it was similar to learning about death. For the first ti, I realized that sothing was finite.
My mother said, 「This is the end. 」
「There isn’t anything that cos next? 」
「There is no ‘next.’ 」
My mother was cold as she told a brutal truth.
「 However, just because it is the end doesn’t an you’ve seen the whole story. 」
Then she gave wise advice.
「 Yes? 」
「 Read it again. 」
Reread the finished story. As a child, I didn’t know what this ant.
「 Why read a story I already know? 」
「 If you read it again, it will definitely be a different story. 」
「...I don’t want to. 」
I was stubborn because I was afraid of feeling the deprivation again. Then my mother said, 「 Do you want to read it together? 」
Thus, I learnt to read again.
At first, I only saw the main character’s position. The second reading showed the position of the supporting character and the third reading showed the position of the enemy.
The story changed every ti I read it. The story was over but it wasn’t over. The story wouldn’t end unless the reader gave up on the story.
I still thought about it often. What if my mother had said sothing else at that ti?
All fiction was fake and it would just be a loss of my life if I read it.
Would I then have a lot of friends? What if I didn’t study hard, wasn’t bullied and didn’t run away from the reality given to ?
Sparks appeared in the air and the flowing mories were broken.
「 Kim Dokja. You look relaxed. 」
I turned my head and saw soone standing in the darkness. It was a presence that could easily pierce other people’s dreams. Apart from a mighty god, the only possible people who could do this were prophets. However, the person here wasn’t Anna Croft.
「 Is ‘fate’ bearable? 」
I knew this face. It was a crowned wanderer dressed in old clothes. That reminded , there was a prophet among the constellations.
‘Poked Out His Eyes.’
It was King Oedipus of Olympus, who I t at the banquet. King Oedipus said to .
「 Your fate is approaching. 」
‘Fate? Hasn’t it already been realized? Aren’t I dead as you planned?’
「 This isn’t a fate that can be avoided with a shaful story. You have to decide which side you will stand on soon. I believe you will make the right choice. 」
‘I’m not on anyone’s side.’
King Oedipus laughed.
「 You will definitely co to Olympus. It is because no incarnation fits the story of Olympus as much as you. 」
‘What are you talking about...’
Before I could finish speaking, my mories ca back.
「 Dokja. 」
Shit. I rembered this. It was a bloody living room. My mother was holding a knife and standing in front of a dead man.
「 From now on, I will read all of this again. 」
My mother smiled towards and said.
「Thus, you have to rember well. Understood? 」
A nightmare was coming towards . I heard screaming. King Oedipus’s voice was heard, as if he was laughing at all the mories.
「 Succeed the Lightning Carnival. Otherwise you will die ‘forever’ in the following scenarios. 」
***
[The attribute ‘Eight Lives’ has been activated.]
[Your body will be resurrected.]
My breath burst out of like amniotic fluid.
[The second head of the snake has been sacrificed.]
[The power of the head is ‘intelligence.’]
My cold skin turned warm again and my stretched muscles gained strength. This was the fourth death I had experienced.
Once against the fire dragon, once against the Disaster of Floods and once when dealing with Nirvana. At this point, I should think about whether Yoo Jonghyuk was the sunfish or if I was the sunfish.
“...Uh, where is this place?”
I looked around but I couldn’t tell where I was. I only saw a white cloud-like ground and an open sky.
...Was this Dark Castle?
[The bonus effect has sped up the actions of your brain.]
Due to the resurrection bonus, my judgnt of the situation beca clearer and faster. I decided to look at it again from the beginning.
First, there was the biggest question.
‘Why did I die?’
I had been using third person’s viewpoint to watch Paradise and left my body with Han Sooyoung. Suddenly, my consciousness blurred and the death ssage erged.
There was only one conclusion. Soone killed while I was asleep. Who was it? Han Sooyoung?
[A new achievent has been added to your fifth story.]
[People will know you as the ‘ssiah Who Bears Sha.]
I died at a strange ti so a weird achievent was added to my story.
...I didn’t think it was actually shaful.
The prophecy was ‘Incarnation Kim Dokja will be killed by the person he loves most’. Then to kill , they must be soone I loved.
“Hey Kim Dokja! You survived?” In the distance, Han Sooyoung was walking this way.
“What on earth happened?”
“An ambush.” Han Sooyoung grumbled as she looked at the cloud field. It was a place where nothing could be seen except for floating clouds. It was an overly peaceful scene to be called an ambush.
“As soon as you fell asleep, so people appeared who were after you. I tried to stop them but it didn’t work. You ended up with a fatal wound and I carried you away while crying. Suddenly, I appeared in this place.”
The story flowed as naturally as the clouds but it was unbelievable.
[The exclusive skill ‘Lie Detection Lv. 2’ is activated!]
[You have confird that the statent is true.]
“...Did you see the faces of those who attacked?”
“Everybody was wearing an mask and I couldn’t see properly. I saw a few people using Detect Attributes but I didn’t know them.”
The three day journey had made Han Sooyoung considerably stronger. Now Han Sooyoung would be 20th in the Dark Castle rankings. Yet the people broke through her to kill , then brought us here. I couldn’t co up with a plausible group, no matter how hard I thought.
“You didn’t find out anything else?”
“By the way, aren’t you really relaxed? Who was the one suffering for three days...”
“Three days?”
“You have been dead for three days. Didn’t you know?”
That reminded , Eight Lives had a bit of a wait ti. Three days... damn. What happened to the other party mbers? Surely they hadn’t already passed onto the next scenario? If so, all my plans would go wrong.
Han Sooyoung sighed. “No matter how far I go, there are only clouds. I have already given up.”
“...Is that why you released your clones?”
Han Sooyoung’s clones were training in various parts of the cloud field. Han Sooyoung training in Hidden Weapons Technique, Han Sooyoung training her footwork... each Han Sooyoung was devoted to one skill.
“It is my own training. I didn’t want to waste ti waiting for you and once I take back my clones, my skill proficiency increases quickly.”
Sohow, I discovered the secret behind how Han Sooyoung could beco so strong in such a short ti.
“What? Are you a ■?”
“I’m a ■?” Damn... it is filtering sothing like this. Well, I have an idea of what you wanted to say.”
In any case, she didn’t seem like just a plagiarist writer anymore. I was suddenly curious. The original description in Ways of Survival didn’t describe the Avatar skill in detail. It wouldn’t be bad to learn a bit more about this skill.
“Are there no constraints on the skill? You can make infinite number of clones as long as you have the magic power?”
“That would be a scam. Of course there are restrictions. Every ti I use the skill, I share so of my mories with the avatar.”
“...So of your mories? Then what about after the avatar dies?”
“Then I will lose the mories.”
I felt a bit surprised when Han Sooyoung responded casually. Wasn’t it a skill that could give her Alzheir’s if she made a mistake?
Han Sooyoung read my thoughts and smiled. “Don’t worry. I usually use unnecessary mories. In addition, the mories will co back if I recover the clones. Sotis... it is a problem because so go out of control.”
“Out of control?”
“The first ti I tried creating a clone using Avatar... I gave away too many of my mories and it went out of control.”
“...Is that possible? Then did you lose those mories?”
Han Sooyoung shrugged. “I don’t know. But now I use small mories so it’s fine.”
“You just think that you’re fine.”
“Shut up.”
A clone ended up having important mories due to a mistake. I shivered as I thought about another Han Sooyoung that might still be moving around sowhere in Seoul.
One be one, the clones turned into smoke and returned to Han Sooyoung. It was probably to recover the accumulated skills proficiency.
Han Sooyoung suddenly exclaid, “Ah! There was sothing I didn’t say. I just rembered. A constellation ca looking for when you died.”
Why give such an important mory to her clone?
“I forgot the na but the constellation belonged to a nebula. Vedas or... Tamna?”
These nas were dangerous. Regardless of how I felt, Han Sooyoung muttered in a relaxed manner,
“I heard so ambiguous words. Make the right choice...”
“Can’t you rember it properly?”
“I’m sorry. If I recall all my avatars then I can rember... oh, it was a strange Goryeo warrior.”
“Goryeo warrior?”
“He left without saying anything. He stared at your dead body for a mont and left straight away.”
If it was a Goryeo warrior, it was probably Cheok Jungyeong. There were also Olympus, Vedas and Tamna. The big nebulae were moving so it seed like sothing was going to happen.
At this mont, sothing crossed my mind. “Wait, a constellation appeared directly? It wasn’t an avatar?”
“Yes. It was a symbol. Why?”
“...Don’t you know the problem with this?”
“Eh?”
“No matter how symbolic, a constellation can’t appear in the scenario area without consuming a lot of probability.”
The constellations feared probability the most and wouldn’t descend as a symbol.
I slowly looked around. “...I think I know where this place is.”
This place was a ward but it wasn’t a normal ward. It was a ward where constellations could appear in symbolic form.
Han Sooyoung belatedly noticed sothing. “...The chanical Gateway Array thod.”
The chanical Gateway Array thod It was a technique used by constellations who mastered the principles of the five elents, four heavenly divisions and three calamities.
By the way, it was hard to see people use this technique. Zhuge Liang of China could use it freely. Yet this was the Korean Peninsula. Then...
“Won’t you co out?” I spoke to the air.
With the exception of Zhuge Liang, there was one other constellation who could use it freely. It was also a constellation I had already t.
“...It seems it is impossible to deceive you with the shape of a constellation.”
A voice was heard as clouds gathered in the air and ford the image of a person. It was a woman in her 30s wearing a prison uniform.
“Haven’t we t before?”
“It isn’t a very good reunion.”
[The constellation ‘First Spiritualist of Joseon’ is giggling at you.]
First Spiritualist of Joseon, Jeon Woochi’s incarnation.
She was the first ‘limb’ of the King of Wanderers.
“The king is waiting for you.”
Sohow, I knew who had killed . This situation appeared to be the worst. Either way, I had no other choice.
I nodded and said. “Guide .”
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