"Ahjussi."

Cale turned to see Na Bori inching closer towards him as the group walked back to Chungmuro Station.

"Did you know?" Bori asked, her gleaming eyes widening slightly.

He raised a brow at the cryptic question, silently asking her what she's talking about.

Na Bori lowered her voice. "That Yoo Joonghyuk Mister and Dokja Ahjussi had a child together."

Cale deadpanned. 'Well, isn't this a familiar scene?' He thought motionlessly.

In the Omniscient Reader, Lee Jihye was the first to enable the misunderstandings between the life and death companions.

Cale sighed. "You probably got it all wrong."

"No, I didn't! They even had an argument! Namwoon, Jihye, and I heard it!"

"You know I can hear you, right?" Kim Dokja said from the front, his flat tone and blank face telling that he's very unimpressed.

[Demon-like Judge of Fire insists that it's okay to embrace your orientation!]

Kim Dokja deadpanned.

"It's okay, Ahjussi! I understand that you don't wanna talk about it," Kim Namwoon patted his back comfortingly, trying to show his support.

Dokja exhaled a deep breath. "Haaa..."

But everyone just thought that he's simply reminiscing about a (nonexistent) past relationship.

For some reason, Cale pitied him. It must be hard being misunderstood all the time.

[Prisoner of the Golden Headband objects to what his incarnation had said.]

[Demon-like Judge of Fire gasps loudly and feels offended.]

[Prisoner of the Golden Headband says the rebound between incarnation 'Kim Dokja' and 'Cale Henituse' is way more interesting.]

Cale frowned.

'What rebound?'

His internal question wasn't answered as another message popped up.

[Abyssal Black Flame Dragon is insulting their tastes.]

[Abyssal Black Flame Dragon says the forbidden flame between incarnation 'Yoo Joonghyuk' and 'Cale Henituse' is better.]

Cale's expression became more sour as seconds went by.

'What's happening...?'

[Demon-like Judge of Fire glares and declares war with the two constellations.]

[Prisoner of the Golden Headband and Abyssal Black Flame Dragon are responding to the declaration.]

Oh no.

[Secretive Plotter is frowning.]

[Everlasting Shelter of Bloodshed is laughing loudly.]

[Sovereign of Eternal Rest is eating his popcorn while wearing 3D sunglasses.]

He glared at the notifications, thinking that the upper-gods are of no help before shaking his head. Cale decided to ignore it.

Kim Dokja was the same. He was staring ahead with indifference.

Obviously, The Fourth Wall helped him to maintain it.

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

That message has been appearing for a while now.

'But...'

The edge of Kim Dokja's lips quirked up slightly.

'This isn't bad at all.'

For the first time, he's thinking that traveling with a group of people is quite nice.

Lee Hyunsung, who has been watching the constellations' argument, finally turned to Kim Dokja and opened his mouth to speak.

But suddenly, Dokja felt a sharp pain in his head as he staggered backwards. He winced and shut his eyes closed, groaning when the feeling intensified.

"Dokja-ssi!" Jung Heewon called out to him in panic, followed by the others.

[The exclusive skill, 'Fourth Wall' is offsetting some of your pain!]

'Some?! How bad would it be if I didn't have this skill—'

"Ugh." He clutched his head and his weakened legs lost their footing.

Before he could fall to the ground, Hyunsung managed to catch him with wide eyes and slowly laid him on the ground, using his arm as the assigned headrest.

Before the others moved, Cale already ran forward, kneeling to observe Kim Dokja's condition.

He frowned slightly.

'His limbs are shaking, and...'

Cale looked at the flickering windows that only he could read with his skill.

[The exclusive skill, 'Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Stage ???' has been activated.]

[The exclusive skill, 'Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Stage ???' has been deactivated.]

[The exclusive skill, 'Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Stage ???' has been activated.]

[The exclusive skill, 'Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Stage ???' has been deactivated.]

[The exclusive skill, 'Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Stage ???' has been ..........]

"What's happening to him?!" Heewon kneeled beside the stoic man.

"... I'm not sure," He responded with uncertainty.

'This never happened in the novel. What the hell is this?'

[The constellations are wondering what's going on.]

[Demon-like Judge of Fire is watching in concern.]

[Prisoner of the Golden Headband is pulling his hair at the sight.]

[Everlasting Shelter of Bloodshed is deep in thought.]

[Sovereign of Eternal Rest says to knock him out.]

"Are you crazy?" Cale bluntly retorted to the absurd message from his sponsor.

[Sovereign of Eternal Rest says incarnation 'Kim Dokja' will continue to be in pain unless he's unconscious.]

[You have gained an exclusive skill!]

[Would you like to take a look?]

[Y / N]

Cale briefly looked at Kim Dokja's state before pressing the 'Yes' option.

[Exclusive Skill: Death's Lullaby]

His eyebrows furrowed at the vicious skill name, but he continued to read the description.

[This skill allows the user to put everyone to sleep including themselves. It can be used to put people in a state of unconsciousness between the realm of life and death.

+ This skill can be hard for the target to resist. Target will wake up after a designed amount of time.]

Cale pursed his lips, contemplating whether he should just throw it out but eventually got rid of that thought. It doesn't necessarily sound like a bad skill anyway.

For some reason, he instantly knew how to use it. His hand automatically moved to Kim Dokja's forehead.

[Exclusive skill, 'Death's Lullaby' has been activated!]

'5 minutes. After 5 minutes, wake up, you damn main character,' He thought while slowly closing his eyes.

• • •

When he regained his senses, Kim Dokja realized he was no longer in pain, but he also noticed that he wasn't where he was supposed to be.

He stared at the bright window.

[Due to being affected by a skill, your consciousness has been completely liberated from the constraints of your body.]

[Exclusive skill, 'Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint Stage ■■' has been activated!]

'Huh...?'

He was overcome with a dizzy feeling, but it wasn't as bad as before. No, wait a minute. What was happening this time?

The dizziness flooded in. His consciousness narrowed and stretched like a rubber band. Then he opened his eyes. He was in Chungmuro.

His field of view moved slowly. To be exact, his body was moving regardless of his will.

He raised his arm, gripping the hilt of his sword like it was something he had done a million times. The grip of his fingers was strange. It was natural and beautiful.

The blade moved silently. No one could see anything. It went through something, successfully slashing with strength he didn't know he had. That something fell to the ground.

Some people were shocked while other people’s mouths dropped open.

One step, another step. Slowly but steadily, he was closing the distance.

Kim Dokja was uncomfortable, like he was wearing clothes that didn’t fit his body. The height of his gaze was different from usual as well as his five senses.

At this moment, he realized who ‘he’ was, and he couldn’t help but laugh.

He disliked it. He really disliked it.

"You son of a b*tch!"

He heard an apostle curse at the 1st who threw the bomb.

"Why the f*ck did you betray us?! I thought we had an agreement!"

The avatar of Han Sooyoung faintly smirked. His eyes coldly curled up. "Sorry, buddy. Compared to you, there's someone else I'd rather not make an enemy of. I want to live. I'm sure you understand."

Just when the apostles were about to lunge at him, the tip of 'Kim Dokja's' sword stopped them, warning them to not take a step closer.

The first one to speak was the 3rd Apostle.

“You… who are you?”

How funny. It was a stupid question. He slowly opened his mouth. It was like he was this guy from the start.

“I am Yoo Joonghyuk.”

The coldest and loneliest voice in the world. The sleeping prince had finally woken up from his deep sleep.

“And you shall die here.”

Before he could see what's next, he felt a hand pulling the real him at the back of his collar. The previous sight dispersed, and his consciousness escaped from Yoo Joonghyuk’s body.

Only to feel coldness.

Everything felt so cold, but he couldn't shiver or shake because of it. For some reason, he knew he was incapable of responding to the temperature, as if he was familiar with it.

[ Kim Dokja. ]

A quiet feeble voice spoke.

He felt a gentle caress on his cheek, and warmth immediately spread through his body, completely erasing the coldness.

'Who...?'

He attempted to see who had called for him, but no matter how much he wanted to open his eyes, he couldn't.

Kim Dokja found that he could not move at all.

[ Wake up, Kim Dokja. ]

'I can't,' He wanted to say.

[ Everyone's waiting for you. ]

He would've tilted his head in confusion at the statement.

'Everyone is... waiting... for me...?'

[ Don't worry, okay? You don't have to worry anymore. So just... stay. ]

He had no more time to ponder about the desperate pleads of the unknown individual as he was dragged somewhere else.

[Exclusive skill, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint Stage ???' has been deactivated.]

His consciousness slowly returned to his original body.

When he fluttered his eyes open, the first thing he saw was Donghoon's anxious face hovering over him, Igneel on his shoulder, alongside a worried Na Bori. He blinked a few times to get rid of the blurriness.

"Dokja Ahjussi is awake!" Donghoon said to the others, and everyone else came rushing closer.

Jung Heewon immediately inspected him, scanning Kim Dokja from head to toe. "Dokja-ssi, can you hear us?" She asked carefully.

Kim Dokja pushed himself to sit up, being assisted by Lee Hyunsung. "Yeah. What... happened?"

The pounding in his head told him that something had occurred.

"You suddenly fell unconscious, Ahjussi. Are you sick?" Na Bori inquired in concern. "You shouldn't have moved too much if you are."

He only shakes his head slightly. "I'm fine. It was only a headache," He said, dismissing their worries with ease as he looked around. He didn't notice how the others immediately frowned at that. "Everyone's okay, right?"

"We didn't encounter any monsters if that's what you're concerned about."

Cale's monotonous voice was heard, and Dokja turned to see the man approaching closer with Kim Namwoon. They just finished checking the surroundings for any upcoming dangers.

"You were knocked out for more than 5 minutes, I thought you were dead," Cale remarked bluntly.

Kim Dokja made a dramatic offended expression. "Do you want me dead?"

He expected Cale to answer with something witty, but it startled him instead.

"... No. Not at all. So don't die on me, Kim Dokja."

He blinked, mouth slightly gaping. He didn't know what to say, so Dokja awkwardly looked away, not liking the way his stomach churned and his chest giving a pleasing tingle. "Ah, geez. I really prefer you being cheeky."

Cale shrugged. "I knew you'd react like an emotionally repressed person."

Kim Dokja's jaw dropped. "Okay, you have absolutely no right to say that, you emotionally constipated little piece of—"

"Ahem," Jung Heewon coughed to her fist, instantly gaining their attention. "Should we... be on our way?"

"O-Oh, right." A switch flicked inside Kim Dokja's head before he stands up. Chungmuro is safe because Yoo Joonghyuk is there, but the faster they could get there, the better. "We wasted too much time. Let's go."

They continued on their walk and soon arrived in Chungmuro Station.

Kim Dokja could see Yoo Sangah welcoming them in the distance. Something ran into him, and he looked down to find Lee Gilyoung attaching himself to his right leg.

"Have you been well?" He asked as he ruffled the young boy's hair.

Lee Gilyoung nodded.

Dokja scanned everyone, and relief filled his chest when he realized that none of them got seriously injured.

However, everyone else could see the traces of fight and explosions, especially the people's dusty appearances.

"Jihye-ya!" Na Bori called out, running ahead of the group to pull her best friend into a hug. "Are you hurt? What happened?"

Lee Jihye scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Some people tried to attack us, but one of them betrayed the group and Master managed to wake up in time," She explained as she looked towards the railroad.

The heads of number 2, 3, 4 and 7 were lined up side by side on the railroad tracks. Their expressions seemed like they didn’t realize their own death. Kim Dokja knew who was this skillful.

He asked Lee Gilyoung, “Where is Yoo Joonghyuk?”

As he spoke, he felt an ominous presence from the Hoehyeong tunnel side. He somehow knew despite the distance. The arrogant and dignified hero practiced the Alone Under Heaven and Earth scripture.

“Yoo Joonghyuk?”

The protagonist looked at him with no change in his expression. Kim Dokja thought he would immediately say something about what happened in the Theatre Dungeon, but...

Yoo Joonghyuk was holding the 1st Apostle, his blade close to cutting his neck.

Kim Dokja figured that this must be the apostle who betrayed his own group when they ambushed the station. The only reason his head has yet to fly away was because he helped instead of being the enemy.

"Tell me, who is the person you were talking about?" Yoo Joonghyuk's cold voice echoed as his sharp gaze pierced the apostle.

The 1st Apostle doesn't seem too worried about the possible looming threat. A relaxed smile stayed on his face as he chuckled lightly. "Ah, sorry, but that's classified. They didn't want me exposing their identity. I don't really want to die a meaningless death. Anyways, could you let me go? I helped you instead of trying to kill everyone here, didn't I?"

The tall man was unresponsive and pressed the blade closer to his neck.

"Yoo Joonghyuk."

Kim Dokja turned his head to the side and saw Cale stepping forward.

Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes seemed to widen slightly, easily recognizing the person.

"... Cale Henituse."

'Huh, wait, they know each other?' Dokja felt extremely baffled and confused.

Although Cale seemed calm on the outside, his head was a mess.

'Why am I doing this? What if Yoo Joonghyuk kills me? I don't want to die.'

But that avatar was Han Sooyoung, and she had fulfilled her part of the deal. That means he considered her as one of his people that he should protect, or at least give compensation to. He knew Sooyoung wouldn't die even if Joonghyuk kills the avatar, but he'd rather not have her suffer from trauma because of it.

"He's right. Let him go," He said pointedly.

The 1st Apostle looked at him questioningly. It's only fair. Han Sooyoung knows him as the masked man, not Cale Henituse. She wouldn't understand why a stranger stepped up to save her.

Yoo Joonghyuk's grip onto the apostle didn't waver.

Cale expected this. There's no way the unhinged protagonist would straight up listen when someone tells him what to do.

Kim Dokja, who more or less had figured the whole situation, sighed. "Joonghyuk-ah, let's not kill meaninglessly—"

"What if he's lying?" Yoo Joonghyuk cuts off his sentence as he glanced back and forth to Cale and Kim Dokja. "Foolish. It's better to eliminate all threats than to see what would happen."

Both of them knew where he's coming from. After all, Yoo Joonghyuk had gone through many things in his regressions, including betrayals and sugar-coated lies. It's natural for him to be more wary and cautious than the two of them, who had never lived more than half of their lifespan.

"We can tie him up and figure out what to do later. Isn't that the better option?" Kim Dokja suggested, and Cale was glad that they seem to be on the same page.

Yoo Joonghyuk's expression didn't change, but he eventually threw the apostle forward, which Kim Dokja instantly grabbed.

"... It's none of my business. Do whatever you want."

Dokja was stunned, but quickly told Lee Hyunsung to tie the guy up despite the protest.

Yoo Joonghyuk turned to leave.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Kim Dokja asked.

'This jerk, he must think he was so cool.'

… Honestly, he was a bit cool.

“Wait! Are you going to leave just like that?”

“Since the future has changed, the plan has also changed.”

“Why don’t you act together with me? I can help you."

Yoo Joonghyuk turned towards him. He reflexively shrank back at his eyes.

“The debt is paid off. My last favour is not taking away your flag.”

'This bastard.'

“In any case, you can’t leave the station unless I remove you from the group. Do you want to receive the punishment?”

Yoo Jonghyuk slowly moved his hand towards the hilt of his sword.

Kim Dokja quickly added, “I know what your plan is. Aren’t you going towards Jung-gu? It is your goal to complete the black flag by walking the King’s Road. I will help you.”

“I would rather take your flag right now.”

“Then try it. Which is faster, your sword or my tongue?”

It was a gamble. Yoo Joonghyuk could stab his neck before the effect of the punishment appeared.

“You don’t need to go towards Jung-gu. Go to the north. There are many stations who have yet to be occupied by the Tyrant King. Or you can just kill him yourself, it'll be like hitting two birds with one stone.”

“You can't," The apostle who had been staying silent spoke up, causing the rest to look at him. "The Tyrant King is dead. I saw it with my own eyes."

"... What?" Yoo Joonghyuk said.

Kim Dokja was in the same state as him. The gears in his brain moved. "Is it by the person you're afraid of?"

"..."

The man was silent, but that was enough to answer his question.

He pursed his lips. “You're right. Change of plans. There are 48 hours left until the end of the fourth scenario. Can you occupy 20 stations and complete the black flag in that time?”

Yoo Joonghyuk’s hands hesitated. He was caught.

“Master,” Lee Jihye said, gripping the hilt of her sword tightly. "I'll help you."

Na Bori nodded. "Me too, I'll come with you." She glanced at Kim Namwoon who was busy picking his ear in boredom before nudging his ribs harshly.

"Ow—! You— Ah, fine. I'll join too, I guess."

"I can assist until you've successfully occupied the stations as well, Joonghyuk-ssi," Lee Hyunsung said with determination.

Yoo Joonghyuk observed the faces of the group impassively, but Kim Dokja knows him too well. The latter could see something briefly flashing in his eyes

“… You.”

“Then it's settled. We'll meet again in the Last King's Qualification.”

Yoo Joonghyuk’s angry eyes stared at him for a moment. The atmosphere was strained, but the killing intent soon disappeared.

“... Let's go.”

He turned around, but before he walked away, he briefly glanced at Cale.

The stoic man spoke, "Take care of the kids. If they get hurt because of you, I won't stand still."

As if his fear of the protagonist never existed, the threat spilled out of Cale's mouth easily.

Yoo Joonghyuk averted his gaze, but Cale knew it was a silent agreement.

Cale and Kim Dokja watched them disappear through the tunnel before they simultaneously looked at the apostle.

Han Sooyoung grinned and cursed herself once again.

Maybe she's the true unlucky bastard in this story.

———

a/n : ahhhh, i tried to get this chapter out as fast as possible. i'm literally all over the place rn but i hope you'd enjoy it.

i finally got myself a beta reader! and the result of the beta reading will be released on ao3, so wattpad will basically be some kind of 'raw early access'. i'll also edit the ones on wattpad after the beta is finished.

that's it. see you on the next chapter. ^^