As he heaved and desperately grasped at his chest, gulping down whatever air he could manage, a gentle hand landed on Kim Dokja's back. Someone was talking to him, but his head was spinning and he couldn't hear anything through his panic.
[many constellations are concerned about the incarnation 'kim dokja'.]
Fuck. Fuck. He hadn't expected it to be this bad.
Dying once had been awful, but seeing it on the screen like that just sent him spiralling.
[the constellation 'demon-like judge of fire' is hoping the incarnation 'kim dokja' is okay.]
When his stomach finally settled and the ringing in his ears went away, Kim Dokja glanced up to see Yoo Sangah standing over him, gently rubbing circles on his back. She was whispering quiet words of reassurance, and he honestly appreciated it. Still, he could tell that her hands were shaking.
"Dokja-ssi? Are you doing better now?"
He wasn't sure he could speak, so he just nodded. Still, he felt awful that he had reacted so strongly, and that he had made a mess. Dammit.
As Yoo Sangah carefully helped him back to his feet, Kim Dokja watched in awe as probability crackled and the vomit completely disappeared. It was as though he had never been sick at all, other than the fact that he still felt like shit. Apparently this place was self-cleaning. Who could have guessed.
Kim Dokja internally thanked her as she supported him in their walk back to the group. From what he could see, nobody else in the group looked okay, even if his reaction was clearly the worst.
Jung Heewon was still crying into Lee Hyunsung's shoulder and he was holding her as tightly as he could. Lee Jihye looked devastated and far too small, curled up by herself, and Han Sooyoung seemed frozen. Shin Yoosung and Lee Gilyoung were distraught and looked over at him with so much fear and terror in their eyes that made Kim Dokja's heart hurt, and Yoo Mia was clutching her brother with everything she had. Yoo Joonghyuk was still holding onto his sister as though he could take away all her anxiety, but the protagonist was looking at Kim Dokja with a complicated blend of emotions instead of looking down at her, and Kim Dokja had to look down at his feet before everything consumed him again.
Take deep breaths. Breathe in. Breathe out. Take a step. Repeat. Kim Dokja just had to calm himself down as best as he could. It wasn't working well, but it was still better than before.
When he sat back down with the group, the kids instantly clung to him and tried to suppress their cries in his robe, but they took care not to squeeze him too hard and they thankfully didn't ask him any questions. It took more effort than Kim Dokja wanted to admit to hold back the urge to cry. He couldn't handle looking at anyone else's pity or horror-filled gazes right now, either. If he did, he knew he would break.
Dokja's scream breaks through the darkness and he wakes up, desperately gasping for air. Clutching his chest, Dokja sits up, wearing only a simple black button-up and black pants. He attempts to calm himself down.
'They say that burning to death is one of the most painful ways to die… it really does feel like hell.'
Thankfully [The Fourth Wall] comes in to offset some of the trauma. Looking at this message, Dokja briefly contemplates its existence and how he feels that there's some kind of wall around the world before moving on to thinking about the title 'King of No Killing'.
"What…?" Jung Heewon asked, a confused expression on her face. Her eyes were still red from crying, but at the very least, she had settled down, or she was just feeling numb from the shock of seeing whatever was going on on-screen. "You really just… woke up like that?"
[the constellation 'lily blooming in aquarius' is relieved that the incarnation 'kim dokja' was alright.]
Kim Dokja nodded, and internally grimaced as his voice cracked when he tried to speak. "It isn't a pleasant experience."
Han Sooyoung shot him a pitying glance. "No shit, you fucking died."
Yeah, he was more than aware of that, thanks. And she deserved to feel bad about it, considering it was her fault in the first place. At the very least, the kids were doing everything they could to comfort him, and he truly appreciated it. They were helping more than they could know, and it also helped that nobody was asking prying questions about everything that had happened before his guts unfortunately decided to empty themselves on the floor.
[the constellation 'scribe of heaven' is curious how the skill 'the fourth wall' could offset trauma.]
Kim Dokja had the same question, honestly. Even if it was representing how this world was fictional to him, he had really died. Not much could get more real than that, so how was it still doing anything in that situation?
[the constellation 'secretive plotter' narrows his eyes at the incarnation 'kim dokja'.]
What? Why?
[the constellation 'secretive plotter' is curious about how the incarnation 'kim dokja' came to the conclusion that this world is surrounded by a wall.]
He frowned, thinking back to that moment. "It's hard to explain. I'm not sure what it has to do with my skill, but it still feels like there's something separating TWSA and reality. It's definitely real, especially now that I'm living through it, but it's just this nagging feeling I have."
It was a visceral feeling, and it wasn't a good one. Somehow, despite still knowing next to nothing other than his barely-formed theory about this wall, something deep inside him told him that it existed. He had the vague sense that he should know something about it, but he couldn't quite place it right now. Maybe it was the true fourth wall—the one that actually separated the world of the novel from reality, and Kim Dokja's skill was just an extremely watered-down and pale imitation of it.
[the constellation 'scribe of heaven' is greatly alarmed.]
[the constellation 'secretive plotter' snarls.]
[many constellations scratch their heads in confusion.]
Regardless of whether his theory was right or wrong, that didn't explain these constellations' confusing reactions. Did the idea of there being a wall around the world actually mean something to them?
A title that can only be obtained if you haven't killed anyone before the 'King's Path' is completed; the 'King of No Killing'. Thanks to its privilege, I can soon return to my body.
As he plans for the future after his resurrection, a new window appears, surprising him.
[The effect of the privilege of the 'King of No Killing' has been delayed due to a clash with your exclusive skill.]
A skill clash error?
[Death has completely freed your consciousness from the confines of your body. The exclusive skill 'Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint' level 3 has been activated automatically.]
The world warps and wavers as Dokja wonders about what level 3 even is. Dizziness strikes him out of nowhere, and the darkness in front of him vanishes in the blink of an eye.
"Level three? What does that do, ahjussi?" Lee Jihye asked, shooting Kim Dokja a confused glance.
Ah, fuck. And just when everything was starting to look up again.
"So, um," Kim Dokja cleared his throat, glancing anxiously around at everyone else, "please don't get mad at me. Obviously I had no idea this would happen beforehand."
Lee Hyunsung looked extremely bewildered. "Dokja-ssi? Did something bad happen?"
Kim Dokja grimaced. "Not bad, per se, but I still don't entirely understand what happened either."
After all, saying "Yeah, I was temporarily sitting in the passenger seat of Yoo Joonghyuk's body" definitely wouldn't go over well.
[the constellation 'prisoner of the golden headband' yawns.]
Shit, he had to say something. "Remember what Han Sooyoung said about viewpoints in her writing session thing earlier?"
"Oh I remember!" Lee Gilyoung said excitedly. "Ahjumma said something about seeing everything, right?"
Kim Dokja nodded. "Yeah. That's kind of what happened."
[several constellations are intrigued by this idea.]
When he opens his eyes again, he's in Chungmuro. Pildu complains about having to listen to Dokja with a sour face as Gilyoung snores away on his thigh. After complaining some more, the landlord finally looks down at Gilyoung one final time and reminisces about his own family.
A crying girl and a worn out woman appear on screen—his wife and daughter. The girl says she wishes he wouldn't talk about getting land all the time, while the woman just asks tiredly to stop.
He's brought out of his thoughts by Sangah, who pulls him into a conversation about being a landlord since Pildu was the only one with the 'Land Owner' attribute, even though others in the coalition owned land. This prompts Pildu to go into an educational lecture about the quality of land, but the conversation ends on a somber note when Pildu states he used to own land like that.
Suddenly, Dokja's face appears on the screen, and he looks extremely confused. As the scene zooms out, it reveals his ghostly form hovering behind Sangah, though it seems no one there can see him. Dokja, although he's incredibly caught off guard, assumes it must have something to do with [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint].
"You saw what happened in Chungmuro!?" Yoo Sangah asked in shock, turning to look at him with wide eyes. All he could do was nod once in agreement.
"Whoa, that's cool ahjussi!" Shin Yoosung said excitedly, smiling up at him. "That looks super useful!"
Lee Gilyoung glared at her. "Not if hyung has to die for it to work."
Well, that was a solid point for Lee Gilyoung in this arbitrary rivalry they had established. Still, it's not like he could have known the exact details that Kim Dokja had worked out about his skill in the few days since that had happened. At the very least, the kids would be thrilled to learn that he did not, in fact, need to die every time.
[many constellations are baffled by the current events.]
Wait, they didn't know?
"You couldn't tell?" Kim Dokja asked, glancing up at the ceiling to where the stars that represented the constellations twinkled.
[the constellation 'demon-like judge of fire' shakes her head.]
Huh. That was strange. He would have assumed that the constellations were able to see him, even in that state, but maybe that meant it had even more tactical viability than he thought.
At that moment, one of Sangah's threads snaps, making the three group members in the station suddenly tense up. Something is wrong, and they're instantly alerted to the problem. As Pildu and Gilyoung stand up, an ominous rumble goes through the station, which prompts Pildu to call everyone to gather around him as he unleashes his [Militarized Zone lvl. 8] for protection.
As monsters crash into the station, Sangah begins directing people what to do, reminding everyone to do as they practiced earlier that day. Even though they're being ambushed, they're prepared and organized, and Sangah commands everyone to split into pre-assigned groups with ease.
Ground Rats swarm down the tracks towards the platform, and the members of Group C do as commanded and defend Pildu, while the other groups stand near the turrets or go beyond their range to be on the offensive. Chungmuro's soundscape explodes into a barrage of yelling, snarls and growls from the monsters, and the rattling blasts of Pildu's turrets.
After a few long minutes of combat, the ground rats are all dead and the station members stand victorious, unharmed but tired.
Yoo Sangah immediately stiffened up again, and this time Lee Gilyoung looked equally anxious. Lee Jihye fidgeted with her sleeves, glancing frantically between Yoo Sangah and Han Sooyoung, like she was afraid that either of the women would break the fragile truce that existed and go for the throat.
"That was a good strategy," Yoo Joonghyuk said suddenly, his voice carrying an undercurrent of approval. Was he trying to reassure Yoo Sangah that she had done a good job despite everything else that had happened? That seemed a bit out of character for him, especially since he had no prior connection to her.
Still, Yoo Sangah didn't thank him. Instead, she clenched her fists, bit her lip, and looked down tearfully. Clearly, the fact that they had been ambushed and that the invaders had gotten the best of her was weighing heavily on her shoulders.
Kim Dokja maneuvered around Lee Gilyoung to reach out to her and place what he hoped was a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Sangah-ssi, you did as well as you could."
"But—"
"I made the right choice when I left you in charge," Kim Dokja said firmly. "Sometimes things don't go according to plan."
Tears streamed down her cheeks and she tried her best to wipe them away, but she nodded regardless. "Okay," she whispered, trying to suppress a hiccup. "Okay."
[the constellation 'lily blooming in aquarius' wishes to comfort the incarnation 'yoo sangah'.]
Unfortunately their relief is cut off by a voice from the tunnel. "So was
The intruders are revealed as a group of five people step out of the darkness. The speaker is a woman holding a flute who has a tattoo of the roman numeral II on her left cheek. Behind her stands two men, one with the roman numeral for 4 on his shoulder-cape, and the other with the roman numeral 3 on his headband. A larger man with a battle axe is beside them, and he reasons that the station lead by Joonghyuk would never fall to mere grade 9 monsters.
However, it's their presumed leader who seems the most mysterious—a man with a cloak, the roman numeral I on the hood, leads the group forward
All in all, they appear incredibly like a cult.
Sangah startles with wide eyes, recognizing their difference in power and immediately reasoning that these people are totally different from the people they've faced until now. Pildu immediately swears and calls for anyone to get 'the samurai girl', but Jihye's already there. She strides forward confidently, irritatedly reminding them not to call her a samurai.
She steps up beside Pildu, her hand ready on her sword, as she addresses the group on the tracks. "So you all want to face retribution."
"Sorry, Master," Lee Jihye muttered quietly. "I couldn't stop them either."
Yoo Joonghyuk nearly pinned her in place with the intensity of his gaze, and Kim Dokja couldn't help but pity her. Still, he was relieved that the protagonist's firm focus and mesmerizing eyes weren't trained on him at the time. With everything that had happened already, he didn't think that his heart would be able to handle it.
No, he needed to take the opportunity to brace himself for Yoo Joonghyuk's inevitable anger later on.
"Jihye, there is no shame in losing."
Her eyes widened in surprise, and her head whipped up to stare at her Master in bewilderment.
[the constellation 'maritime war god' says that the incarnation 'yoo joonghyuk' is right.]
"What…?"
"Not even I win every fight," he said firmly. "You learn from your failures, and that's how you grow."
Wise words from the protagonist himself. Kim Dokja approved, and internally felt the excitement rise at seeing Yoo Joonghyuk actually give a minor pep talk.
"Yeah, unnie, you'll be better next time," Yoo Mia said after a moment. In an instant, Kim Dokja watched as Lee Jihye's walls collapsed, and she shuffled closer to the younger girl.
"Mia, can I hug you?"
Yoo Mia raised a brow in a way that was so like her brother. "Why?"
Lee Jihye forced herself to smile. "Because I want a hug and I don't think Master likes hugging people?"
Though Yoo Mia stared at her for a moment, she sighed in an overexaggerated manner and wrapped her arms around the older girl's neck. "Ugh, I guess."
Kim Dokja tried his best to conceal the chuckle that threatened to escape his throat when he saw Yoo Mia's lips curl into a slight smile, hidden ever-so-slightly by Lee Jihye's shoulder.
The man with the battle axe seems unbothered as he casually smiles and talks about the rumours about Jihye and Pildu being on the same side. This prompts Pildu to do his standard routine of cursing the man out and threatening to shoot him.
1 talks to 4 as Pildu continues to shout in the background, asking who went 'Dragon hunting'. 4 states that 5, 6, 8, and 9 went, as well as a man who isn't an Apostle, but is still useful. He then mentions that other than them, the only remaining 'Real Apostle' is not in Seoul.
Pildu is getting increasingly angry that he's being ignored, but this only continues as the larger man smirks and says that he calls dibs on Jihye, claiming that she's useless without the sea. This ticks Jihye off and prompts Pildu to give into his impulse to tell them to go to hell as he unleashes the bullets from his gatling guns once more.
'These bastards… they really did plan to attack Chungmuro, grab Yoo Joonghyuk, and take over the world.'
Behind the chaos floats Ghostja, who grits his teeth at the scene. Dokja surveys the chaos below and notices that they have not only
Still, he's more confident that Chungmuro's defenders will be victorious. 'But things won't be as easy as they think.'
"Um… I thought ahjumma was part of the attack?" Shin Yoosung asked quietly, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Did she just plan it and stay home?"
Technically yes? Kim Dokja wasn't sure how he was supposed to explain that to her, especially since the [Avatar] skill hadn't been mentioned yet. It would make a lot more sense with a visual of how it worked.
Han Sooyoung glanced over, pretending to be bored as she rested her chin on one hand. "I was there, in a way."
"The First Apostle," Yoo Sangah spat. "The one with the 1 on the cloak."
Lee Gilyoung blinked in confusion. "But that's a man?"
"I'm just that awesome," Han Sooyoung drawled, lips curving into a slight smirk. Wow, was she serious?
[the constellation 'abyssal black flame dragon' cackles.]
Before Yoo Sangah could lose her cool, Kim Dokja shot Han Sooyoung a wry glance. "Not awesome enough to beat Yoo Joonghyuk, though."
He ignored the protagonist focusing on him after those words, choosing instead to grin when Han Sooyoung viciously cursed him out.
"No shit! You'd have to be a monster or a fucking constellation to stand a chance against that bastard!" she raged.
[several constellations scoff at the idea that the incarnation 'yoo joonghyuk' could be a threat to them.]
They were so wrong, but they'd understand eventually when the protagonist had his sword pointed at their hearts and an impassively cold expression on his face.
Jihye rushes forward and clashes with the Axe wielder, catching him off guard as she attacks him in a ferocious manner. Clearly, she's way stronger than he expected as she matches every strike with an equal one, even beginning to overpower him.
"W-what? Was Lee Jihye this strong at this point in time?" The man shouts anxiously. "Something's not right!"
However, his allies can't help him. 3 is too busy dealing with a problem of his own, attacking one of Pildu's turrets and wondering why it's so powerful.
Dokja confirms their suspicions, although they would never hear it, stating that the two were much stronger than they were originally in the 3rd regression. He also mentally adds that Sangah and Gilyoung are no easy opponents as the two of them team up to take on 2.
1 clicks his tongue, reaching into his cloak and catching Dokja's attention with his odd movements. He backs up against the wall of the tunnel and pulls out an item that Dokja identifies as a
It explodes in a brilliant flash of magical power and sends many people flying. Jihye, struck by the blow from behind, spits up blood as her eyes roll back. Both Sangah and Gilyoung do their best to brace themselves as they close their eyes to keep shrapnel out, but they're still struggling to stay where they are. Ghostja, though he's unaffected by the blow due to being intangible, braces as screams echo down the train tunnels and bodies fly everywhere.
"Go noona!" Lee Gilyoung cheered as he watched Lee Jihye fight off her opponent. "I did good too, right?"
"Yep!" Lee Jihye grinned in return as she gave him a thumbs up.
That was all well and good, really, but the slightly rising mood instantly plummeted as soon as Han Sooyoung's avatar pulled out the bomb.
"A bomb!? You didn't even care about your own allies?" Jung Heewon hissed, glaring at the plagiarist with a furious expression on her face.
Han Sooyoung raised a brow. "Really? That's what surprises you?"
She had literally arranged for the dragon to take out all the other prophets, after all. Kim Dokja had to sigh. Was Han Sooyoung trying to make herself more hated, or something? Was she cutting her losses and trying to ensure that no one would care about her after this?
Still, she was lucky that all the members of their immediate group had survived the blast. If any of them had died, she might be finding herself in hotter water.
[the constellation 'abyssal black flame dragon' is enjoying the carnage.]
Lee Hyunsung went pale. "Dokja-ssi, you couldn't feel things going through you, right?"
Well wasn't that an uncomfortable question?
"I couldn't," Kim Dokja confirmed, but he grimaced nonetheless. "I'm going to be thinking about that possibility now, though."
"Oh…" Lee Hyunsung said regretfully. "Sorry."
As the dust settles, Dokja looks down towards the cloaked man with a terrifying expression that shows he's absolutely furious. 'Is that bastard the one? The one who is the 'King' of the Apostles?'
1 slowly climbs up onto the bloodstained platform, and as the cloak shifts with his movements, Dokja spots a brown flag strapped onto his back. The other four Apostles move close and stand around him before the man with the axe kneels down to laugh at Jihye. She was thrown onto the tracks from the blast, but she's still conscious even though she's struggling to pull herself off the ground.
He slimily tells her that she should have stayed in her place as a supporting character before pulling her head up by ponytail and saying that he'll kill her slowly. Jihye spits up blood as she tries to speak, managing to insult him at the very least. The man is finally identified as 7 by 1, since only part of his tattoo previously was visible on his bicep, who tells him that he's wasting time. 7 states it would be a waste to kill them quickly, saying that he didn't read to the end but that it's a fake heroine's fate to be thrown away.
Jihye, seemingly looking off into the darkness down the tracks, mouths a single plea.
"Help. Me."
"Unnie, can you let me go now?" Yoo Mia asked, squirming in Lee Jihye's hold. "Your arms tightened too much."
Lee Jihye jolted and let go all at once, clearly having lost control of her strength a bit as she had to see herself get injured again. "Sorry."
Yoo Sangah looked like she was torn between shooting more glares at Han Sooyoung and standing up to go and comfort the teenager herself, and Jung Heewon wasn't much better. Both women truly had a soft spot for the teenager, and Kim Dokja was honestly glad for it. Even he had to admit that Yoo Joonghyuk could be a… questionable… role model at times, and she deserved to have older women she could look up to.
[the constellation 'maritime war god' is looking at his incarnation.]
Lee Jihye curled in on herself a bit and let out a small laugh. "I can't believe ahjussi saw me being all uncool like this. Lame, right?"
Was she trying to deflect her discomfort using humour? That was Kim Dokja's thing, but he'd let her use it this once, even if she definitely needed more practice.
"I was so angry," he replied honestly, catching her gaze when she looked up at him in shock. "You shouldn't have had to deal with that."
"Ahjussi…"
Ah shit, please don't cry. Kim Dokja didn't know how to handle crying teenagers.
She looked up at him with a teary smile. "I know I tease you a lot, and I say a lot of shit, but… it really means a lot that you'd still feel angry because someone was hurting me."
How could he not? She was still a character in the story he loved so much and she had always meant something to him—his embarrassing teenage crush on her notwithstanding. Even though she wasn't the protagonist, TWSA wouldn't be the same without her. Still, even more than that, she was a child. 'Character' or not, she was a child getting beaten to a pulp by an adult, and that resonated with Kim Dokja more than anything else.
Even now, watching from afar, he felt the protective fury rise up inside him once more as the screen began playing the next scene.
Dokja stands before her, wide eyed and staring at Jihye's battered form with no small amount of shock. He had been in the air only a moment ago, and Dokja has no idea how he got there. Jihye also seems to be looking directly at him, making him wonder if she somehow saw him. This causes [The Fourth Wall] to tremble as the sound of heartbeats start overtaking everything he can hear and slowly speed up, getting louder with every beat.
Lee Jihye is just a side character.
Jihye pants, her eyelids fluttering as she attempts to stay conscious.
But…
The veins on Dokja's face seem to bulge in his anger as he mentally rips into 7 for holding a child by the hair. His protectiveness surges and it's clear that he wishes he could be there in person to fight this man off himself.
Just because she's a 'character'...!
[Due to excessive immersion, some effects of 'The Fourth Wall' have been suppressed.]
Dokja's vision blurs, causing him to double over and hold his hand over his mouth to try and restrain the sudden nausea. Too distracted by his sudden dizziness, he misses the next message.
[Your proficiency in the 'Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint' skill has increased drastically due to increased immersion.]
As his dizziness overcomes him and his vision goes black, all he can hear in the darkness is the ding of a pop-up message.
[Perspective has been changed to First Person.]
"You really did get angry," Yoo Joonghyuk remarked curiously, shooting Kim Dokja a glance, and he took the opportunity to glance back at the protagonist because he wasn't sure he could keep it together if he had to see Lee Jihye's face right now. Still, there were greater things to worry about, and Kim Dokja could only nod and mentally gulp as he remembered what would come next.
"Did you get so mad that you passed out?" Jung Heewon asked curiously. "And why did you just teleport like that?"
"No, that's not it…" Kim Dokja began, but he was cut off by the ping of an indirect.
[a few constellations are curious about the 'excessive immersion' message.]
That was concerning to him too, honestly. The fact that the skill that seemed to protect him was able to be suppressed just by 'immersion' was worrying—whatever immersion actually meant in this context.
Lee Jihye, however, frowned. Clearly, she remembered who she had been looking at at that moment, and it hadn't been Kim Dokja.
Han Sooyoung narrowed her eyes. "Wait, 'First Person'? Don't tell me…"
Of course the plagiarist would put it together first. He should have expected that.
[the constellation 'prisoner of the golden headband' is tearing out his hair in excitement.]
[constellations who love literature are excited.]
The scene resumes, and just like before, both 7 and Jihye are looking down the tracks. The view spins as a man wearing a black coat emerges from the darkness, his footsteps echoing ominously down the tracks like a countdown to an execution. As soon as she recognizes him, a tear runs down Jihye's cheek.
'What's going on?' Dokja thinks as he takes a step forward. 'I can feel my feet touching the ground… and it feels like they can all see me.'
He doesn't know how he could possibly be in Chungmuro right now, even with the [King of No Killing] attribute. As he walks forward, he grasps the hilt of a sword in his hands and draws it.
There's something unusual about this…
An ominous shadow looms over 7 and Jihye, and the man is clearly intimidated, but he still tries to question who is standing before him. He doesn't even get halfway through his sentence before his head is severed from his neck in a single, precise strike.
Ah. It can't be.
Lee Jihye's brow furrowed. "What the…?"
Yeah, Kim Dokja was a hundred percent dead after this. He dared to glance over at Yoo Joonghyuk out of the corner of his eye, and he noticed that his expression of bewilderment almost matched Lee Jihye's. In any other circumstance, Kim Dokja would think that was hilarious, but right now, he was too stressed to do that.
[a few constellations are confused by the current events.]
[the constellation 'maritime war god' does not remember seeing the incarnation 'kim dokja' at this point.]
Well, of course not! Because that wasn't him!
[the eyes of the constellation 'secretive plotter' widen in realization.]
As 7 falls, the Apostles realize that they're absolutely fucked. Sangah, who has crawled to the edge of the platform, also looks up at the man with a small amount of alarm, but also some relief. Behind her, Pildu nurses an injured arm as he walks towards an unconscious Gilyoung.
"You… who are you?" one of the Apostles asks. 'Dokja' kneels down to catch Jihye's falling body on his lap, since her last vestiges of consciousness have given out.
I really hate this.
A steel grey eye, somehow looking both indifferent and angry at the same time, lies beneath a sculpted brow as 'Dokja' moves his head to look towards the intruders.
"I am Yoo Joonghyuk. And now…" Joonghyuk holds his sword in front of him like a clear threat as energy crackles around it, making him look more like a vengeful god than a mere human. "All of you… Will die."
"Oh shit," Han Sooyoung gasped. "What the actual fuck?"
Yeah, that had been his reaction too.
[many constellations are baffled.]
Yoo Joonghyuk stared at him with a searching gaze, and Kim Dokja honestly had no idea how to feel about that.
"Kim Dokja," he began, his tone tinged with an ever-so-slight growl, "just what is going on?"
"I really don't know," Kim Dokja blurted out honestly. "I think we were temporarily sharing a body… or something?"
Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes narrowed, and though the inherent fierceness of his expression was breathtaking, Kim Dokja didn't have the time to waste.
"I didn't have any control!" he hurried to continue. "If anything, it was more like I was a passenger? I don't understand it myself, but you saw that I didn't choose to do that!"
[the constellation 'secretive plotter' is flabbergasted.]
Yoo Joonghyuk appeared to be struggling to process that revelation, and no one else was doing any better. It made sense—Kim Dokja couldn't believe it either, and he was the one who had experienced it.
"You… couldn't feel anything?" Kim Dokja asked hesitantly, and all he got in response was a single shake of the protagonist's head. So that was a no, then.
Still, it had been an extremely uncomfortable experience on his end anyway, so Kim Dokja looked directly at Yoo Joonghyuk's handsome face and tried to give him even a bit of reassurance. "I'll try not to do that again."
He definitely didn't want to die again either, so that was an easy declaration to make. Kim Dokja just hoped he could keep it up.