Kim Dokja exhaled slowly, trying to calm his heart. Even though this was something he had already lived through—though living was debatable in his case—the anticipation that came from knowing what would happen only made it worse. He would be mentally counting down the seconds until the moment he knew a curtain of fire would envelop him and leave nothing behind but ash.
[several constellations are anticipating learning more about 'The Prophets'.]
"Hyung?" Lee Gilyoung asked quietly, glancing up at Kim Dokja with a frown. "Are you okay?"
Was he okay? That was a very good question. He wasn't hyperventilating or feeling like his body was merely a puppet on a string, controlled from a distance. That meant he was probably okay, right?
"I'm fine, Gilyoung-ah," he replied with a slightly faked smile. "Don't worry about me."
Unfortunately, his words were just loud enough that Lee Hyunsung sent him a nervous glance, a nearly panicked frown marring his usually kind expression.
Unfortunately, subtle was not a word that described Lee Hyunsung, so his actions were definitely noticed by several other group members, even though Kim Dokja refused to look at any of them to figure out who they were or how they felt about it. This was a shitshow already and they'd barely started.
Walking into the station, Dokja notices that it hasn't been claimed by anyone. Sungkook informs him that it's part of the peace agreement between the prophets, in order to reduce the amount of danger. A 'prophet' notices them, and calls out to Minseob using his 'renouncer' number.
As they're welcomed to the meeting, the man looks towards Dokja with an eager face and starts to hesitatingly question who Dokja is, suspecting that he's the regressor they've all read about. With a nod from Minseob to confirm his suspicions, the man gasps and bows deeply, announcing, "It's an honour to meet you, Sir Yoo Joonghyuk!"
Naturally, this immediately grabs the attention of all present, who jump at the opportunity to compliment 'Joonghyuk' and introduce themselves. Suddenly, a calm voice speaks up as a man approaches.
"Your performance when you faced the Demon King Asmodeus in the second round was very impressive. It was only mentioned in a flashback, but I have always hoped to hear the whole story."
Looking over, the speaker introduces himself as Number 1,168. Dokja notes that he's almost read 50 chapters based on this, but the mention of Asmodeus makes him wary that this man has likely read more than he lets on.
Upon Dokja revealing that they're in the 3rd regression, many of the prophets look put out. However, the cheerier atmosphere is revived when women mob the flustered Hyunsung to compliment him. Heewon, on the other hand, is less happy since people keep asking if she's Jihye before leaving in disappointment.
[the constellation 'demon-like judge of fire' is narrowing her eyes at the mention of a demon king.]
"Wow, they really tried to get on your good side just because they thought you were my oppa," Yoo Mia drawled, completely unimpressed. Honestly, Kim Dokja had the exact same opinion—he had even mentally remarked that it felt more like a group gathering to gossip at the market than any kind of serious meeting.
Yoo Joonghyuk, however, was scowling deeply at the mention of Asmodeus. It was a sore spot for him, especially considering that he had lost. Sure, he had put up a good fight, but the Yoo Joonghyuk of the second regression couldn't hope to beat one of the strongest Demon Kings.
Kim Dokja had really enjoyed that scene in the novel for the lore and interesting character moments, but considering just how horrifically the end of that fight had gone, an uncomfortable feeling began building in his gut. It was one thing to enjoy a scene like that when Yoo Joonghyuk was nothing but a collection of words and spaces and pure imagination coming to life within the white snowfield of a page.
It was another to think about all the horrors now that Yoo Joonghyuk was a living, breathing human sitting only a short distance away from him.
Kim Dokja felt the nausea begin to rise as he watched Yoo Joonghyuk struggle with whatever awful memories were playing in his mind at that moment. He was clearly trying to hide it, from his little sister in particular, but there was a specific blend of fear and fury reflected in his mesmerizing dark eyes. It was hard to watch—a man with a tortured soul who had always been so strong, struggling to avoid falling into the weakness he hated experiencing.
[the constellation 'secretive plotter' narrows his eyes at the screen.]
"So that man lied about how much he read?" Shin Yoosung asked with a frown, and Kim Dokja nodded.
Kim Dokja knew the truth about how much that man had read—how he was even considered an Apostle—and couldn't help but clench his fists. This wouldn't paint the Apostles in any kind of a better light—not that he particularly wanted that either—but it certainly wouldn't improve anyone's opinion of them.
Lee Hyunsung fidgeted uncomfortably after he watched all the prophets approach him on the screen. "Dokja-ssi… I never got the chance to thank you for not treating me that way. I wasn't sure how to handle all of them mobbing me like that, and it was really confusing. It felt like they were talking about a version of me that I could never live up to."
Oh… that was…
"Even though I was just a 'character' to you at the start, you treated me like an actual person," Lee Hyunsung said passionately, tears gathering in his eyes. "Thank you."
He didn't deserve thanks for something like that, but Kim Dokja was too distracted and too anxious to do anything other than nod and smile weakly. The last thing he wanted was for the puppy-like man to start literally crying, or something.
Dokja seems confused by how noisy it is and interrupts the chatter to ask about their secret weapon. The prophets lift a blanket to reveal a large red rock.
No, hold on.
"Is that a 'meteorite'?" Dokja asks. His question makes the prophets excited to talk about it, and they reveal that they've been feeding the meteorite mana for some time. Knowing how bad this could be, Dokja's expression sours.
'No wait, this doesn't add up. The Red Meteorite. Isn't this something only people who've read at least 4 regressions should know about?' Feeling a sinking feeling in his gut, Dokja immediately asks who brought the meteorite, learning that 1,124 brought it.
How could someone who stopped reading this early know about this?
Dokja quickly asks where the prophet in question is, only to find out they're not yet present. This makes Dokja urgently state that they need to evacuate.
This is a trap.
[several constellations are alarmed that this situation was a trap.]
Jung Heewon stiffened up immediately, breathing heavily and glancing anxiously at Kim Dokja as though she needed to confirm every few seconds that he was still there. Lee Hyunsung wasn't much better, since he was as pale as a sheet.
Lee Jihye cocked her head to the side. "What's the big deal with a meteorite?"
That was a question Kim Dokja could answer.
"Remember that meteor shower we saw from the roof?" he asked, glancing over at her. Lee Jihye nodded, but still didn't seem to connect the dots. "They're setting up things that will happen in the fifth main scenario. This specific meteorite wasn't talked about in detail during the third regression, but was mentioned later on in the novel."
"Okay, but what does it do?" she asked, but frowned when she noticed how Jung Heewon and Lee Hyunsung flinched violently at her question.
[the constellation 'demon-like judge of fire' is anxiously watching the scenario.]
Stay calm. Breathe in. Breathe out.
He couldn't do it. He couldn't answer that right now.
"You'll see in a moment."
'Using that as a 'weapon'? Only a psycho could think that!' Dokja thinks as the meteorite begins to rumble. It shakes faster and faster, exciting the prophets, but Dokja is alarmed. The meteorite is hatching, and this is not a good thing.
'Damn it! I came here to wipe out The Prophets, not to get myself killed!'
As Dokja tries to run away, he finds that it's too late—barriers have already emerged around the station platform, and now they're trapped inside. Dokja gets annoyed when he tries to gather more information about the situation, and he finds those who didn't read far to be quite useless. Acting quickly, Dokja messages Heewon and Hyunsung to stay close to him since they can't run. It's better to work as a team to survive than get separated.
'Fuck. The Fourth Scenario isn't over yet, but a 'Disaster' of the Fifth Scenario is already here,' Dokja thinks with gritted teeth.
The 'Meteorites' are the main theme of the fifth main scenario. The compensation for neutralizing it depends on the risk, size, colour, brightness, and type… and that knowledge tells me that this meteorite should never be allowed to hatch.
Yoo Sangah's eyes widened. "What do you mean by 'neutralizing' it?"
Kim Dokja struggled to find the words with which to answer her, but thankfully the protagonist spoke for him.
"The Disasters are beings with large amounts of power that incarnations must fight in the fifth main scenario to prevent the destruction of the entire Seoul dome."
Shin Yoosung and Lee Gilyoung clung to Kim Dokja in fear, paling and trembling as they did. The kids were terrified, and it was all Kim Dokja could do to hold them close and hope that his hands weren't shaking too much either.
[the constellation 'prisoner of the golden headband' is tearing out his hair in excitement.]
Han Sooyoung pointedly stared at the screen, refusing to look at anyone else. Now that the secret was out, everyone knew that she had been the mastermind behind this entire situation.
"Wait, so the dragon thing…" Lee Jihye muttered, horror beginning to creep into her tone. "There's a dragon in there!?"
[the constellation 'abyssal black flame dragon' scoffs and says that the dragon in the meteorite is weak and lame.]
Sure, maybe to him, but it was deadly to regular people—as Kim Dokja had unfortunately proven.
A crack forms along the outer shell of the meteorite and quickly spreads while the foolish prophets are still happily discussing who should own it in the end. They're blinded by their greed as they hope for a treasure they expect to be inside, but Dokja knows that they'll be sorely disappointed. Their joy gets cut short when a pop-up appears, announcing the arrival of an omen from the Fifth Scenario. One Prophet lets his curiosity get the best of him, and he approaches the meteorite to examine the web of cracks. A beam of light erupts from a crack and his face is blown clean off from the jaw up.
Chaos erupts in the station and Dokja, standing in front of his two allies, prays for it not to be a 'Major Disaster' as he understands how the prophets made their mistake. The meteorite is red, just like the one from Joonghyuk's third regression, but it's the wrong shade.
Magma begins to drip through the cracks, running down the meteorite to the floor. A large talon rips through the remaining shell, shocking Heewon as she tries to comprehend what is before her.
The tier 5 monster, 'Lesser Dragon Igneel', unfurls itself in a brilliant display of flame and scales from the shattered remains of the meteorite before it begins to target the fleeing prophets. With frayed nerves and gritted teeth, Dokja informs her that it's a 'Disaster'. The prophets run towards their group, desperately pleading for 'Joonghyuk' to help them. Dokja gives them instructions to move to the corners of the room as he messages Heewon about their situation and what this means. He knows that since the difficulty level of this scenario is much too high, there should be an intervention happening soon.
"Oh god," Yoo Sangah gasped, covering her mouth as she watched on in horror. "That man died so quickly, I—"
She paused for a moment to attempt to get her composure back. "Please tell me you were all okay."
She cast a desperate glance over at the three who had been present, and Kim Dokja felt his heart sink as Yoo Sangah's eyes widened when none of them met her gaze. Their silence was telling, and the tensions in the group began rising faster than before.
[some constellations are confused, since all the incarnations appear to be okay.]
Kim Dokja closed his eyes and tried not to remember the flames licking over his skin, the burning agony of being charred or the horror that threatened to make him break character. Still, no matter how hard he tried, he could clearly remember watching the dragon open its mouth and let loose a wave of fire that encroached upon him like a tsunami, crashing over him and leaving nothing behind.
Kim Dokja shuddered involuntarily, and he grimaced, knowing that all their eyes were now on him.
[the constellation 'demon-like judge of fire' wishes to know if the incarnation 'kim dokja' is okay.]
No. No, he wasn't.
But he couldn't just come out and say that when the kids looked so scared, so he plastered as convincing a smile as he could manage on his face. "I'm fine."
A crackle erupts in the air as an Intermediate level dokkaebi appears, complaining about the situation while freezing Igneel in place. One of the prophets yells about the unfairness of this situation, prompting the dokkaebi to keep the difficulty of the scenario but tweak the requirements.
With a snap of his fingers, a window showing the details of the Hidden Scenario 'United You Die, Divided You Die' appears. The scenario requires them to either defeat the dragon within the time limit or survive for 20 minutes. At the bottom, there's a note telling them that hidden pieces exist.
Hyunsing asks if they'll be able to kill it but Dokja responds with a resounding no, mentally noting that they wouldn't be able to stand a chance against Igneel even with the real Joonghyuk present. The dokkaebi leaves, allowing the dragon to move once more. Dokja immediately yells at everyone to run clockwise, but it isn't able to save some of the stragglers who get caught in the dragon's fiery breath.
With a grimace, Dokja notes that normal attacks can be dodged, but that this is only the beginning.
[many constellations are shocked by the decision of the dokkaebi.]
[a few constellations are eagerly awaiting the carnage.]
"Twenty minutes!?" Yoo Mia cried in alarm. "Against something like that!?"
Lee Jihye looked like she would be sick. "Unnie… Oppa… Ahjussi… how could you survive against something like that?"
Though Kim Dokja wanted to reassure her that everything was fine, like with past fights, he couldn't do that here in good conscience. They had a casualty, even if it didn't seem like it now.
[the constellation 'secretive plotter' stays mournfully silent.]
Jung Heewon had buried her face into her hands and was mumbling something that sounded like "no" over and over again. Lee Hyunsung's eyes had become distant, like he was back in that scenario and watching everything happen all over again in person. His hands trembled and tears began gathering at the corners of his eyes.
"Your observation was correct," Yoo Joonghyuk said, quieter than Kim Dokja would have expected. "At this level, I wouldn't be able to stop that on my own."
Yeah, he had known that. Kim Dokja wanted to laugh soullessly, but managed to just barely keep it in.
"Good thing you weren't there then, right?"
Fall back on jokes. Lighten the mood. Do something, do anything to make everyone stop staring at him like that.
Yoo Joonghyuk's darkening expression only said that he did not find that very funny.
Upon Igneel preparing to use [Flame of Destruction], Dokja tells everyone to find a platform on the floor, yelling that it needs to add up to five. Even though the four members of his team are confused, they follow him closely and trust in his words. Not even a second later, a numbered platform appears right behind them, and it causes chaos to erupt as prophets begin to attack each other for a place on the platform. Just like Chungmuro's 'Green Zones', the platforms have a protective shield that can be activated. Unlike the 'Green Zones', however, this shield is only activated for 10 seconds, and can only appear with the correct number of people standing on the platform.
'This situation was definitely a trap laid out by someone. Probably by those so-called Apostles. This is probably the idea they came up with to get rid of all the earlier renouncers in one fell swoop, and it's admittedly quite a good idea,' Dokja thinks as he surveys the fights and confusion that surround them. 'No matter how minor it is, the fewer people who know the future, the better.'
The rest of the group frantically messages as they're unable to find a free platform despite searching as hard as they can. After a moment, Sungkook messages that he's located a platform, but there's one problem—it can only hold four people.
"Ahjumma… was that really the plan?" Shin Yoosung asked weakly, looking over at Han Sooyoung. The older woman glanced back at her, carefully keeping her face as blank as possible.
"Yes," she said flatly. "As he said, if there are too many butterflies, even they can cause a storm. I had to reduce the chances that someone would come along and fuck up my plans."
It wasn't a bad idea, Kim Dokja knew that. Logically, he even knew that Yoo Joonghyuk would do things like that on occasion in TWSA, but he had never expected to find himself on the other end of that kind of plan.
Lee Gilyoung gritted his teeth. "Isn't that too cruel!?"
"It doesn't matter." It was hard to hear, but Han Sooyoung's voice wasn't as steady as she likely wanted it to be.
She had made a witty remark earlier about Kim Dokja having a conscience, and he could say the same for her. Though she might be a plagiarist who started a cult and planned to have dozens of people die horrifically, it didn't sound like it was something she was entirely comfortable with on a personal level.
Kim Dokja couldn't help but wonder… before the apocalypse, what kind of a life had she led? Was she well-liked, with lots of friends? Or had she been like him—someone who buried themselves in fiction because the real world was too difficult to deal with?
[the constellations of the absolute good alignment are frowning at the incarnation 'han sooyoung'.]
Jung Heewon was shaking now, actively leaning on Lee Hyunsung for support. Kim Dokja wasn't much better—though it looked like he was comforting the kids, he knew that if he let go of them, he'd likely crumple himself.
"Wait, if that platform can only hold four people, then how did everyone live?" Lee Jihye asked suddenly, bringing up the question that no one wanted to ask. Even though his death hadn't happened yet, Kim Dokja felt his palms begin to sweat uncomfortably.
For once, he wanted the Secretive Plotter to cut in with an inane indirect message about spoilers.
"We were okay this time, Jihye-yah," Kim Dokja replied shakily, hating how dry his throat felt.
He couldn't suppress the instinctive flinch after Yoo Sangah, Yoo Joonghyuk, Lee Jihye, and the kids all processed the key words of that sentence. This time. Fuck.
[the constellation 'demon-like judge of fire' looks down at the incarnation 'kim dokja' with pity.]