Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint - Chapter 665

“Why are you so harsh with Anna?”

Lee Seolhwa asked the question in passing. Normally, she would never have. She already knew well how much Yoo Joonghyuk disliked Anna Croft.

But today, she wanted to ask.

Maybe because tomorrow was the final day of the “Saint–Demon War.”

After tomorrow, Yoo Joonghyuk might be alone again.

“How about trying to get along with her?”

“She carries a sin.”

“That was in a previous regression.”

“She inherited the memories of the last one.”

“Just the memories, though, right? This Anna didn’t experience those things herself.”

The Anna Croft of this round was not the Anna Croft of the previous one.

She had only read the memories of that past life—like reading a novel.

Was it fair for such an Anna to bear Yoo Joonghyuk’s anger?

“I lived through that regression.”

Seolhwa fell silent.

Usually, that would have been the end of the conversation. After all, Yoo Joonghyuk was the one who regressed.

“But that past Yoo Joonghyuk—was that really you?”

“…”

“You’re not the same person as the one from before. Just like the Seolhwa from the last round isn’t the Seolhwa standing here.”

All humans are defined by the world around them.

Whether it’s the 1,600th or 1,700th regression—

He was still called “Yoo Joonghyuk,” but the meaning carried by that name changed each time.

Because the people of the 1,600th and 1,700th regressions were different people.

Different memories, different experiences, different time spent together.

The surrounding world changed—and thus Yoo Joonghyuk, too, was no longer the same.

That was what Seolhwa meant. To let go of the past. To release the curse he’d bound upon himself.

Yoo Joonghyuk gave no answer, only lifted his gaze to the sky. Seolhwa looked up with him.

The vast, unreachable Star Stream.

A world that turned everything beneath its heavens into stories.

From the side, his profile seemed lonely, maybe sorrowful—or perhaps, as if he understood everything.

A man who had lived one story for far too long.

In that moment, Seolhwa realized:

Only Yoo Joonghyuk truly existed. Everything else was mere phenomenon.

Seolhwa, Hyunsung, Jihye—all his companions—each one no more than a line written and erased within the endless repetition of a tale.

“I was Yoo Joonghyuk then, and I am Yoo Joonghyuk now.”

Hearing those words, Seolhwa parted her lips slightly.

A name is never truly one’s own.

He was Yoo Joonghyuk only because someone had once called him that.

“I will remain Yoo Joonghyuk.”

To speak his name—

Was to remember the people who had called it.

So that the people he’d met would not remain mere phenomena.So that the meanings layered upon his name would not fade.

[The Eternal Legend stirs.]

And, tragically, by speaking that name again, he would once more become the protagonist of the Legend.

Far off, dawn was breaking. Beyond the rays erasing the black night, the Legion of Nebulae marched in.

Watching that sight, Seolhwa asked quietly,

“Will you come find me again in the next round?”

Yoo Joonghyuk wordlessly reached into his coat and drew out a smoking pipe—his teacher’s keepsake. He hadn’t used it even once in this round.

He put the pipe to his lips and exhaled lightly, as if letting out smoke.

“Of course.”

—From “Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World”

***

Episode 21. Kim Dokja

Tyrant King Jeong Yonghu was a member of the Misread Alliance.

His hard drive held thousands of fantasy novels—his carefully hoarded collection, the record of his illegal history.

He had shared and downloaded files without a hint of guilt.

Though sometimes, he even bought books—just to scan or transcribe them into text files.

He knew his actions violated copyright law. But what did that matter? He’d paid for the books; that gave him the right to use their contents however he pleased.

That was how he saw it.

[Activating exclusive skill “Illegal Library.”]

His long record of piracy proved invaluable in another world.

Thousands of fantasy novels filled his head, and Annihilation Method was practically a compendium of every cliché he’d ever read.

Each time an incident occurred, he reviewed it against those stories—and because of that, he achieved “King Qualification” faster than anyone else and became one of the Seven Kings of Seoul.

“Is everyone here?”

The black flag fluttering behind him testified to his rank.

Jeong Yonghu slowly turned his gaze toward the National Palace Museum.

Inside lay the weapon they sought—the Four Calamity Execution Sword.

“Should we wait a bit longer before going in? You’re planning to rush right now?”

The Assassin King beside him sounded uneasy.

“We don’t know what’s going on in there. We released the Catastrophe, so it’s probably hell by now. We should send a scout to check—”

“They’re all dead. Unless Kim Dokja himself is inside.”

At that name, the Assassin King’s face twisted uneasily.

“That’s probably true… but we should still confirm—”

“The Throne Contest will begin soon.”

The Throne Contest.

The main event of the fourth scenario—a battle for the single Absolute Throne that would appear on the Korean Peninsula.

+

〈Qualification of Kings〉

—The Absolute Throne will never accept a weak king.To challenge it, you must already hold at least a [Black Flag].

—The number of kings who may challenge the throne is limited.To earn the right, you must eliminate the other kings around you.

+

The remaining number of kings hadn’t yet been revealed,but it never hurt to thin the competition early.

“Before the final condition unlocks, we wipe them all out. And if we can get the Four Calamity Execution Sword while we’re at it, even better.”

Just as they finished preparations, a messenger shouted, breathless—

“Chungmuro Group approaching!”

From across the ruins, another faction appeared—

the Chungmuro Group, led by Apostle Seven Ye Hyunwoo and Martial Fortress Lord Gong Pildoo.

Both held Black Flags, one of the strongest powers at present.

But the Tyrant King’s expression didn’t waver.

“So, they’re confident.”

“Of course. One of the Apostles of Seven isn’t enough to stop us.”

Magical waves surged from his entire body.

“I’m not the Tyrant King from the original.”

In Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, the original Tyrant King had risen using “Prophets,” backed by the ghost of Yeonsangun and wielding the S-class artifact Triple Rings as his main weapon.

But this Jeong Yonghu—he carried knowledge not from Annihilation Method, but from Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint.

From the start, he had collected every hidden item, absorbed every elixir, raised his total stats.

“Even if three or four versions of Yoo Joonghyuk attacked me at once, I’d kill them all.”

He could do it now.Even if that Overlord appeared, none could surpass him.

Thunder rumbled in the distant sky, echoing his confidence.

The Tyrant King looked up and laughed triumphantly.

“Even the Star Stream knows who the strongest king is.”

He chuckled—it sounded like a line straight out of a cheap villain’s script. He’d read too many dime-a-dozen fantasies.

Thunder boomed again. Lightning flashed down intermittently—and between those flashes, a black streak descended toward them.

What was that?

Frowning, the Tyrant King gripped his weapon. His shield-bearers moved to the front.

The first to sense something wrong was the Assassin King.

“That’s—”

When Jeong Yonghu turned, the Assassin King’s face had gone pale—and he was already fleeing.

Jeong Yonghu started to shout after him—but then, the black lightning struck.

He swung the Triple Rings, unleashing magic.

“This is nothing—”

Lightning couldn’t kill him. He was the Tyrant King, Jeong Yonghu.

“This is noth—”

But something was wrong. The moment the lightning touched him, the Triple Rings shattered.Then his arms, his torso, his legs—everything in range disintegrated.

“What the—”

Leaving that stock villain’s final line behind, his soul was erased within the black lightning—along with all the pirated fantasy novels he’d hoarded.

When the dust settled, the landscape looked as if a meteor had fallen.

And at the bottom of the crater stood one man, a black spear in hand, calmly gazing at the sky.

He swung the new spear experimentally and murmured,

“I thought I sensed an aura from this direction. Guess I was mistaken.”

Then the small girl riding on his back dropped to the ground and asked,

“Brother, who are you looking for?”

“There’s someone.”

He lifted her back onto his shoulder and leapt up the crater’s rim. The nearby Incarnations gasped in terror.

At their head, Ye Hyunwoo muttered,

“Yoo Joonghyuk?”

Yoo Joonghyuk looked at him.

That frigid gaze made Ye Hyunwoo immediately raise both hands.

“I’m not here to fight.”

Yoo Joonghyuk barely spared him a glance before turning toward the collapsed National Palace Museum.

“The scenario’s changed again. Why has the museum fallen?”

“…”

“Who’s inside?”

Ye Hyunwoo hesitated, then nodded.

“Cheon Inho?”

He didn’t know how to answer.

Several powerful figures had entered the museum.

And if Cheon Inho was among them, there was little to worry about—

At least, until now.

Until he saw Yoo Joonghyuk.

Impossible.

He’d been astonished before, but this—this was different.

It was only the 41st regression.

Not the 1,863rd. Barely the early stages.

Yet the energy rolling off him—just approaching felt like it would tear one’s head from their shoulders. Ye Hyunwoo swallowed hard.

If Yoo Joonghyuk is hunting the other kings…

Two kings had already been eliminated.

If Yoo Joonghyuk was moving to cull the rest, revealing Cheon Inho’s whereabouts could be fatal.

When Ye Hyunwoo stayed silent too long, Yoo Joonghyuk’s brow twitched.

The angle of his spear began to shift—

Then—

[Hmm. I didn’t expect the number of kings to have dropped this far already.]

Crackling static—and a dokkaebi appeared in midair.

[It’s about time we begin the final task, don’t you think?]

With perfect timing, the mid-grade dokkaebi Baul announced the last condition.

+

〈Qualification of Kings〉

—Only the king who can prove his strength unaided by others may challenge the Absolute Throne.

+

[“Final Qualification of Kings” begins.][Qualified kings are being transferred to the final testing ground.]

At last—the time had come to decide the master of the throne.