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A Kingless World (2)

Kim Dokja had always been a passive person. From childhood to adulthood, he tried to avoid conflict as best as he could.

Because he never had the strength to retaliate. He couldn't even defend himself.

Call it a petty high school grudge, but despite knowing he was now a full-fledged grown man, at that moment, Kim Dokja wanted nothing more but to open the cage bars, drag Song Minwoo out, and beat the shit out of him.

[The exclusive skill, 'Fourth Wall' is trembling slightly!]

Ah, right. Kim Dokja couldn't forget about this skill even if he had tried.

He could more or less grasp what it does.

Ever since the apocalypse arrived, he had been thinking that the world of his favorite novel had come true. The fourth wall skill had been a major help during critical situations where his mental state was at risk.

[The exclusive skill, 'Fourth Wall' is nullifying your distress.]

He concluded that: as long as he regarded things as part of the novel and not a "reality", the skill takes effect and strengthens.

'Just like an author having the avatar skill, considering the name, is the fourth wall skill given to a reader as the 'viewer' of a story? '

It'd make so much sense if that were the case.

'There are two possibilities: all readers have this skill, or only the reader of Ways of Survival does... at least if they read until the end. Which means in the latter case, I'm the sole owner of this skill.'

Kim Dokja found that to be oddly ominous. For some reason, it felt like he was a fictional character who had the role of a stepping stone for the protagonist to shine, or became a supporting side character with much baggage to do so the protagonist could succeed, or he was the main character.

He shuddered. How scary.

All he wanted to do was see the end of Yoo Joonghyuk's story, nothing more.

For that, shouldn't he live long enough to see it come true in front of his eyes?

If he felt shaken just because of this, then how will he face the unforeseeable future?

'No matter what, I want to see the end of this story.'

Determination filled his eyes, and just then, the sponsor of Sung Minwoo replied to his offer. After all, they had to accept if they wanted their incarnation to live.

[The constellation, Eclipse-Devouring Wolf asks if your words hold the truth.]

Eclipse-Devouring Wolf, better known as Fenrir, was a narrative-grade constellation barely seen in the novel. Yoo Joonghyuk encountered him once or twice during one of the rounds. If he remembered correctly, Fenrir was a monstrous wolf beast in Norse mythology. Fenrir played a key role during the events in Ragnarok, destined to swallow the sun and moon, setting the world aflame and causing the collapse of humanity along with killing the god, Odin, only to be betrayed.

He was also the father of wolves, so it'd make sense why he had taken in werewolves as his incarnations.

And lucky for him, Fenrir was the type of constellation to take in wolf beast individuals and give them power, but while it liked them like a wolf would like its pups, it wouldn't go out of its way to save them when they were in trouble. They have to manage their trouble independently with the strength given to them. Basically, it just minded its own business. Of course, that was until given the choice of its incarnation's survival.

"I wrote it in the contract. If you agree to it then I won't kill him," Kim Dokja said, smiling at the blue display window and the invisible dokkaebi camera somewhere he couldn't see.

[Constellations who love violence cry out for blood!]

[Constellations who are peacekeepers are calming down the other constellations.]

[The constellation, Eclipse-Devouring Wolf is silent.]

[The constellation, Eclipse-Devouring Wolf has accepted your condition and signed the contract.]

Kim Dokja smiled as he read those words. "Thank you for your cooperation," he said with a shit-eating grin, turning around to face Sung Minwoo once again. It was satisfying to see a horrified expression on the face of such a terrifying beast.

"It's been a while. How have you been?" Kim Dokja asked, just for the sake of annoying the bastard, which it did.

"Son of a bitch!" the mutated wolf beast growled.

Kim Dokja resisted the urge to jump into the cage and tear him apart.

He had grown familiar with being called such. Son of a murderer. Furthermore, Sung Minwoo in particular left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Well," he shrugged. "Guess you're under my care now."

Kim Dokja would much rather not associate with him, but this was a golden opportunity presenting itself. Why would he pass this up when Sung Minwoo was stronger than other incarnations right now? Might as well make him work to pass the scenarios faster.

"Kneel."

"Agh!" Instantly, Sung Minwoo's tall form knelt on the floor inside the cage. "You!" he glared ferociously, looking frustrated, distraught, and... scared? That felt good to see. "What did you do, bastard?!"

You're the bastard here, bastard. I want to kill him. No, stay calm, Kim Dokja. King of No Killing King of No Killing King of No Killing King of No Killing King of No-

Kim Dokja ignored his question and stepped closer to the cage. Then he leaned down slightly and smiled. "I told you. You're under my care. I can tell you to do whatever you want. Pretty nice, hm?"

Sung Minwoo looked confused, naturally. Barely anyone knew the concept of forming an ownership contract between incarnations. Sung Minwoo hadn't read that far into the story to know about it.

Kim Dokja looked at Han Sooyoung who was standing with folded arms.

"Are you done?" she asked impassively. 

He flashed her a smile. "Yep. Open the cage, please."

Han Sooyoung rolled her eyes and opened the cage for him. Inside, Sung Minwoo tried to get up.

"Stay down."

At Kim Dokja's swift words, his body involuntarily slammed down onto the ground.

"Thanks, plagiator," he said as he walked past her.

"You—!" Han Sooyoung almost popped a vein but huffed. "Whatever! Take it up to that guy if this becomes a problem."

Ah, that guy.

Crimson Reaper.

The thought of facing him made him shudder.

Having watched a video of someone mercilessly killing a bunch of people by raining bolts of lightning on them was... something.

... There was something that had been bothering him at the back of his mind.

The relation between Cale and the mysterious man.

It started during the King's Road quest when each king had to claim a designated station. His target, Changsin Station, was claimed by Cale, and then the flag was given to him. Except... to claim a station and hold a flag, one must be "king", and to be king, you must start by being appointed as the leader of a station.

... How come the flag ended up in Cale's hand? Did he claim the station himself?

No, in the first place, he already had suspicions that the station was claimed by Crimson Reaper.

Cale did say that he had relations with that guy, just like Han Sooyoung. But what kind of relation does one must have with someone who commits a massacre for them to give you something so valuable?

More importantly, some things he knew in the novel are changing.

Kim Dokja couldn't help but shiver and sway.

[The exclusive skill, 'Fourth Wall' is trembling slightly!]

... Yeah, it's not good to overthink it. He's doing well so far. That's what matters.

"Ah, right!" Kim Dokja turned to Han Sooyoung with a beaming smile. "Do you have any dog collars on you?"

* * *

Ah, fuck.

Cale hated pain, so the headache felt annoying, regardless of how many times he had felt it in his life. But what was worse was what happened before the headache.

Those memories—a familiar and vague set of events forcefully shoved into his mind and made him relive them.

... Were those memories of his childhood?

Truthfully, he didn't remember much of what happened back then. Something that he was eternally grateful for. There were glimpses of bad things and big events that naturally stuck in his mind, but not most of them. His childhood was one without his ability—Record.

He is someone who cannot forget... because Record enabled him to remember everything he saw. And it was gained during his world's apocalypse when he was 20 years old as Kim Rok Soo. Like anyone else, everything before that was mostly a blur.

He didn't expect himself to experience it again so vividly.

No, the main question was... Kim Rok Soo exists? He's in this world?

'... Cale, are you alright?'

He could hear the hesitation and concern in Super Rock's voice inside his head.

Ah, did they...

'... We saw everything,' the Glutton Priestess confirmed.

Damn it.

He wasn't in the mood for questions, if they had any. Though he was sure that his ancient powers wouldn't ask anything. All they ever did was express their worry for him, but never pried. He never outwardly said it, but he always appreciated that.

"Don't worry about it." This time, all he could do was reassure them.

His thoughts were jumbled, so he took a deep breath and tried to arrange each one slowly and carefully.

First, there are obvious traces of Kim Rok Soo. He exists in this world, which shouldn't be surprising because he has long discovered the existence of parallel worlds. Hell, he was thrown into another world; this wasn't shocking. He just didn't expect that everything would be so different. Earth 2 also had its strange moments, but not to this point. Here, the apocalypse itself was different. Is it because he was so far away from his original world? The further you go, the more inconsistent the world is compared to where you came from.

Cale tried not to feel too miserable at the fact that the apocalypse existed in whatever world he was born in.

He looked down at the screen in front of him.

[ Record Acquired: 1% ]

[ Reward for Completion: ??? ]

A progress bar.

Fuck, he didn't like that. (At least there's a reward.)

It was safe to conclude that he'd practically be reliving his life upon each record gained. Either his or... the Kim Rok Soo of this world.

Then does that mean Lee Soo Hyuk and Choi Jung Soo...

Well, there's no reason they wouldn't be here. Maybe even Choi Han... if he didn't get sent to another world and didn't die of old age...

Oh, what the hell, whatever. He can't do this here.

"Hey," he said, looking at the baby dragon who was sniffing the box and curiously flying around to search where the flying words came from and went. "Let's leave. I hate this place."

He seriously hated this place.

However, instead of listening, Igneel just went, "Kuuru kuruu... kyang!" and flew to another room with a bright expression.

"Wait-!"

Cale sighed and followed the dragon reluctantly.

It led him to his old room. The very same one where his uncle would lock him up for misbehaving. If trying to get food counts as misbehaving.

He shook his head and walked in.

The place almost made him grimace. Not only from the bad memories (it was ridiculous how much he was affected) but also from how dirty it looked. The room seemed to be left alone and neglected for years now, which made sense since he eventually moved out of this place. He found Igneel shuffling on a thin dusty mattress while holding a plushie toy in its mouth. The dragon immediately flew to him and dropped the plush in his hand.

Cale frowned and looked down at it curiously. He didn't remember ever having a toy like this. In the past, everything he owned was sold by his uncle, and the drunkard would never have bought something for him.

It was a cute black dragon plushie.

He couldn't help but smile. 

"Wonder where he got this from," he muttered.

'Oooh, so cute! It looks like little Raon!' the Crazy Kid exclaimed with excitement.

I know, right?

Would it be fine to steal something from an alternate version of yourself and you don't know if they're even alive or not? ... Probably not but I can just give it back if I met him and he still wanted it.

Cale decided to take it with him, putting it away in his inventory. When he looked down, Igneel was already eagerly waiting for him to say something. "Good job." The dragon brightened at the praise. "Now let's go hunt for coins and find the others. Think you can locate them for me?"

Igneel immediately nodded and flew out of the room.

Calling the wind beneath his feet, he followed suit.

___

a/n: oh god, a major writer's block... every author's worst enemy...

anyway, i genuinely forgot where the story went after this so i'll be spending time re-reading... unless someone wants to help out in discord...

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