Donning his noble attire, Joonghyuk steps inside the grand halls of the Underworld Manor, his cape billowing behind him. As he makes his way through the now familiar halls of the manor, servants and attendants give passing bows to him, all too familiar with his presence. They didn't even have to follow his steps to know where exactly he was striding to. Each time Joonghyuk visits, he takes the exact same path through the lavish halls, heading straight to Dokja's chambers. Today as he made his way through, he encountered Duchess Persephone approaching from the opposite direction. Their eyes locked with each other. Pausing his steps, Joonghyuk bowed to her in greeting.
"Your Grace."
"Oh, Joonghyuk," the Duchess acknowledges, her smile warm and welcoming. However, her expression quickly shifts, doing a double-take as she looked him over with confusion. "What… exactly are you doing here?" she asked hesitantly.
Joonghyuk frowned. "I'm on my way to visit Dokja as usual, Your Grace."
The Duchess shook her head at him. "What? But Dokja isn't here. Didn't he tell you?"
Joonghyuk's body tensed as he processed the Duchess's words. "Pardon me, Your Grace, but he didn't tell me of any plans he had for today," he clarified.
"But that can't be…" her voice filled with disbelief, Persephone continued staring at him with widened eyes. "He specifically mentioned that he would visit your manor!"
"What?" Joonghyuk echoed, mirroring the Duchess's turmoil.
"Persephone?" The duke's voice cuts through the air, the man hurriedly coming over after he heard his wife's distressed shout. Finding her frozen on the spot, he gently places his hands on her shoulders. "Are you okay?"
But the Duchess didn't respond to her husband's question. Instead, she turns towards him, her voice filled with urgency. "Hades... Joonghyuk just said that Dokja hasn't gone to Kaizenix Duchy."
Surprise registers on his face as he notices Joonghyuk's presence. "Dokja isn't with me, I haven't seen him all day." Joonghyuk affirmed.
"What?" The duke's eyes widened as he tried searching for a reason. "Maybe he's already there right now and—"
"It's been two hours, Hades!" The duchess interrupted. "Our son would've arrived a long time ago!" With her son's history of putting himself into danger, the duchess had a whirlwind of what-if scenarios swirling in her mind.
Hades reaches out to comfort his wife, his touch gentle and reassuring. "Do you have any idea where he might have gone?" he asks Joonghyuk. As Hades spoke, the Duchess's attention also shifted towards him, her eyes searching for any glimmer of information.
Joonghyuk's mind races as he tries to find an explanation for why Dokja would lie about where he was going and where he could be right now. For the last couple of days now Dokja had been under the weather mentally, and maybe he wanted to spend some time alone without worrying his family. There weren't many places Dokja liked to go to willingly, so it didn't take long for the forest to pop into Joonghyuk's mind. Dokja would probably find solace there, playing with the creatures that he befriended.
"I know a place, I'll head there right now."
Without wasting a moment, he swiftly turns and begins to run, his focus solely on reaching Dokja's possible location. In his rush, he nearly barreled into a passing maid just as he was going to reach the entrance, the woman stumbling back before balancing herself. Joonghyuk was about to ignore her and go on his way, but the head of crimson hair halted him in his tracks abruptly. Without hesitation, Joonghyuk reached out and grabbed her arms, his grip urgent. Asuka Ren was taken aback by her master's sudden appearance.
"Kim Dokja. Where is he?" Joonghyuk questioned without preamble.
Her eyes widened before she attempted to answer him. "W-Well... I... I can't—" Asuka Ren could only stammer, not even able to look at her duke in his eyes.
Fueled by his worry, Joonghyuk's grip on her shoulder tightened to an almost painful degree. His voice took on a dangerous edge as he demanded answers.
"Asuka Ren! Where is Kim Dokja?" he growled, his tone hinting at severe punishment if she refused to comply.
Asuka Ren's face paled, pupils shaking as she just barely brought herself to be able to meet Joonghyuk's eyes. Biting her lower lip, she wrestled with herself, torn between honoring Dokja's wishes and the pressure of Joonghyuk's intimidating presence.
With a trembling voice barely above a whisper, she finally reveals the answer that Joonghyuk desperately sought. "Young master... he's gone to the royal palace."
The breath was knocked out of Joonghyuk's chest, the man nearly stumbling back from the shock of the admission. "What in the world is he doing there?" he hissed out, barely reigning in his outrage.
Asuka Ren trembles as she responds, her voice filled with regret. "The empress invited... or rather, ordered him to meet with her," she reveals, her words sending a chill down Joonghyuk's spine.
"Why in the hell did you not inform me about this earlier?!" he gritted out.
"I-I-I'm sorry sir! I promise I was going to, b-but Kim Dokja specifically told me not to disclose it to anyone, not even you! I…I wanted to believe that he had his own reasons for it…"
Asuka Ren's words hit Joonghyuk like a ton of bricks, intensifying his worry for Dokja's safety. Without wasting another moment, Joonghyuk's swiftly makes his way towards his carriage, his mind solely focused on reaching the palace as quickly as possible.
-------
It was this place again—a manor soaked in blood, a lifeless body covered wounds and a sword piercing somebody's heart. A bitter smile remained on the corpse's lips. Once more two figures loomed over it—Yoo Joonghyuk and Lee Seolhwa. A realization came: the scene immediately after Kim Dokja's death had never been accounted for in the novel.
Originally, Kim Dokja's final confrontation with Yoo Joonghyuk had been skipped over, the only detail being that Kim Dokja had 'finally met his fate'. The author had rushed through it so that they could write the details of Joonghyuk and Seolhwa's wedding and their happily ever after.
The only reason a more thorough description of Kim Dokja's death had been touched on at the very end was from the protests that readers (mainly Dokja) had spammed in the comment section. The sad death Kim Dokja had endured was given through the lens of Lee Seolhwa, the character having grown old with Yoo Joonghyuk and was caught in a moment of reminiscence upon her life and past regrets.
Intrigued about why this scene was being shown to him, he looked on with morbid interest. With a disgusting squelch, the sword impaled through Kim Dokja's chest was removed. Yoo Joonghyuk's condemning stare was removed from the corpse when Lee Seolhwa nudged her body closer to him in a bid to seek comfort and wordlessly tell him that they should take their leave from the gruesome scene.
With a small nod and a comforting peck to the forehead, the two set off from the room, Lee Seolhwa giving the body one last pitying glance before passing the doorway.
His eyes remains fixed on the retreating figures, wondering if he should follow them. However, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something that shouldn't have been possible—the twitch of a finger from the corpse. One by one the muscles of the corpse began jolting, until its eyes flew open, and the body sat up with a gasp.
Kim Dokja was dazed, looking at his fingers and carefully flexing his limbs, not believing that he was still alive. When he tried standing up, his body couldn't obey, his legs as shaky as a newborn fawn. Kim Dokja fell back into the puddle of his own blood. Weak and drained of blood, he could only marvel at the miracle that he could still move at all.
In front of Kim Dokja a small ball of light flickers into existence. Initially flinching back from it, Kim Dokja then leans in hesitantly, wondering what exactly it was. But soon the ball began to glow brighter, until Kim Dokja was forced to shield his eyes, the brilliance too intense to bear.
Eventually the entire room was covered in blinding light. Through the radiance, a figure emerges, shrouded in a long veil. The man's piercing gaze fixates upon Kim Dokja's bewildered face. Again, another phenomenon that had never appeared in the novel.
Scanning the state of Kim Dokja's body, the mysterious figure breaks the tense silence that formed between them.
"It seems Yoo Joonghyuk didn't treat you kindly in this life," he remarks, his voice oddly soft. As he goes to approach Kim Dokja, the former corpse attempted to crawl backward in fear, making the veiled man pause to reassure him.
"Don't be scared. I would never hurt you, I promise" The stranger held his hands up soothingly.
His words did nothing to curb Kim Dokja's skepticism as he carefully observed the figure before him for any sign of danger.
"What's going on, how can I trust you?!" Kim Dokja's gaze fixates the stranger's face, trying to make out any of the features that lay hidden under his veil. "Who exactly are you? "He could feel the power that the stranger exuded, leaving Kim Dokja on edge.
"…"
The veiled figure remains silent for a moment, carefully contemplating his next words. "You can simply refer to me as Secretive Plotter," he reveals, "I cannot offer you reassurance, but I must confess that I am here to witness your demise," he admits, his words laden with an unsettling certainty.
Surprisingly, a wry chuckle escapes Kim Dokja's lips. "Why would you want to witness that? A man driven to his doom by an unrequited love… seems like a rather tired story by now, is it not?" he questions. In his attempt to rise once more, the pain from his wounds quickly remind him of his weakened state. "Or maybe you seek the satisfaction of witnessing my suffering for my past deeds?"
SP hums a tune as he casually walks over to a chair and settles into it, his demeanor relaxed as Kim Dokja's cautious eyes continue to follow his every move. "I don't... maybe," SP responds cryptically, crossing one leg over the other and resting his hand on his lap.
Tilting his head slightly, he locks eyes with Kim Dokja, though the intensity of his gaze remains hidden. "You truly are foolish, you know?" SP remarks, a note of reproach in his tone. Kim Dokja offers no retort. "You've committed countless acts of treachery for someone who will never return your affections," SP continues, his voice bordering on a sneer.
Kim Dokja's laughter rings out, its bitterness echoing off the room's walls. "Are you here simply to taunt me for my misdeeds?" he spat out. Locking eyes with SP, he shoots a piercing glare. "You have no right to speak of my actions. You know nothing of me!" he shouted, pain evident in his voice
SP remains unfazed by Kim Dokja's anger. With a nonchalant hum, he responds, "That's where you're mistaken, Kim Dokja, I am familiar with the sentiment."
"…h-huh…?"
"It is a great torment to never have your love returned, for your beloved to remain oblivious to your existence, isn't it?"
Kim Dokja remains silent, allowing SP to share his thoughts. "Not even deities are immune to the fickle nature of love." SP's words linger, capturing Kim Dokja's undivided attention. "I too found myself falling for a man once. Yet, he'll forever remain unaware of my feelings, for it is deemed forbidden for a deity to love a mortal." SP's words were hollow, whatever longing he felt having long turned into reluctant acceptance.
"You're…a deity?"
Magic was a rare and ancient practice in the world, the only humans bestowed with the skill being chosen by the deities themselves. Such people would go on to become the Saints or Saintesses of their respective lands, a beacon to guide their people and a proxy through which citizens would be able to communicate with their deities. The only other way to get ahold of magic would be by practicing witchcraft or demonic rituals.
"I won't apologize for my words… but know that I am just as much of a fool as you," SP confesses regretfully.
"…How so?"
SP's gaze lingers on Kim Dokja. "I can never tell when he caught my attention, when I became enamored by his every move...but before I realized it, I couldn't take my eyes off of him. Time will always pass, and the sly smiles he would always give became worn and strained, until eventually he passed away. But I refused to accept it. Again and again, I would rewind the clock to his youth, just to see him go through the same triumphs and surpass the same failures, never allowing the world to move forward just so that I could keep my beloved in my sights. But then, I had an idea."
SP took in a breath, as if readying himself for his next words. "Once more I went back, but this time it would be different. This time, I would put a creation in my own image by his side. Though unable to be by him physically, I could watch over him through that surrogate and indulge in my fantasies. Perhaps if I could see their happy ending, I could finally move on and allow the world to proceed on its natural course. But I had no control over my creation, and in turn it did not share my sentiments, "
SP reveals, his voice heavy with the weight of his confession. '' In the end, I could only watch as my creation carved a place for itself over my love's corpse, my love having already broken himself apart."
Kim Dokja remains speechless, taking in the information slowly. Eventually he broke the silence with an indecent snort. "You outdo even my own foolishness..." he remarks, amusement in his tone.
Tilting his head in contemplation, he questions, "As a deity, why go through the trouble when you could just elevate him to deity status like yourself?"
SP shook his head, "I can't do that..."
"Why?"
"I understand his nature. He would not choose to be with me, never in his right mind would he leave his family," SP reflects somberly. "Should he ascend, he would be required to depart from his loved ones to dwell in the realm of the unknown. But because of the extent that I unknowingly corrupted him, he threw everyone around him away, much like yourself. Even now my love continues to suffer because of my own selfishness."
Kim Dokja grit his teeth, wanting to retort to the man's words but knowing he couldn't say anything. He had doomed Han Sooyoung without a second thought, only moving on to endanger Yoo Sangah and Lee Seolhwa. Sooyoung's unwavering loyalty was unmatchable, a once in a lifetime blessing from his closest confidant, and he couldn't even protect her, couldn't care to save her even. He was disgusting. He just had to correct this, but how? As Kim Dokja stewed in his self-loathing,
SP continued to talk. "I despise this reality... I yearn to undo my actions, yet the laws of this world forbid it. I've already intertwined my creation's existence into the fabric of this world. Trying to undo his existence would disrupt the delicate balance of this world."
"…You mentioned rewinding time... Can you do it for me?" Kim Dokja implored shakily, looking up at SP with trembling lips, his words heavy with desperation. He bowed down to the man, hands flat on the floor and legs tucked under his torso. "Please, I beg of you. Let this world go back, anything in your power!" he pleads, his voice cracking.
At the deity's silence, Kim Dokja's cries become more and more anguished. "It can't end like this! Not because of me!" he bellows. "I'm begging you, please!" A steady stream of tears ran from his bloodshot eyes. Despite the searing pain of his wounds and the toll on his body, his pleas didn't falter for a second. "They can't die like this! No matter what happens to me, just let them get another chance!"
"…"
SP lets out a heavy sigh. "Are you truly certain? Altering the past comes with a price—there are consequences to consider. You will be the one to bear all the burden of this action," he warns.
A small flicker of hope had made its way back into Kim Dokja, his eyes shining with resolve. "I'm willing to face the consequences, no matter the cost. Please, grant me the chance to fix this—I will do whatever it takes to make amends."
The anticipation was suffocating as Kim Dokja earnestly waited for SP's decision. After careful contemplation, the deity arrived at his choice.
"…Very well. The world shall reset, just as you wish. In exchange, your soul will be forbidden from returning as it is now" he declares.
"What…what do you mean my soul is forbidden?" he inquires. "How can I make amends if I can't be there to do so?"
SP tried to clarify the situation. "Your soul will be intact, for it is also woven into this world, but you won't be the one orchestrating the change," At Kim Dokja's continued confusion, he reiterated himself. "In simpler terms, a soul from another world will inhabit your body, guiding the course of this world's destiny. Worry not, they will have the knowledge and power to see that this reality gets a better ending."
Kim Dokja slowly nodded as SP spoke, taking in the terms of their deal. "And…What will become of my soul?"
"For you, since you seek to make amends for your past actions, from here on you will devote yourself to the protection of the Mystic Forest. For the rest of your existence, you shall guard its inhabitants and defend it from outsiders. To do so, you shall ascend to a deity like myself."
At Kim Dokja's stunned expression, SP was quick to warn him, "Don't think that the existence of a deity is free of consequence. If you fail to stay vigilant in your duties, then the forest will be reduced to mayhem, endangering both the empire and your family once more. As long as you follow accordingly, you will be able to glimpse your family unseen and witness the actions of the new soul from the realm of the Mystic Forest, if you so wish."
Kim Dokja knew that this was the best chance he would get at a do over, that his family would be able to be happy without him to ruin their lives again. But having to leave them forever and only be able to watch them from afar was painful to think about. He couldn't push down the bitterness at the possibility that they would love whatever new soul was brought in more than him. But at the end of the day, that too would be punishment for his selfish actions. With a deep breath, Kim Dokja opens his mouth to answer.
"Fine, proceed as you must. I will surrender my body and soul, and accept all responsibility for the Mystic Forest."
SP's smiles in acknowledgment, getting up from his seat to approach the man. Placing a hand on Kim Dokja's chin, SP lifts the man's face to meet his gaze.
"Hmm... with your body and soul forfeit, the name Kim Dokja shall no longer be yours, it will belong instead to the new soul. From this moment forth, you shall be known as Oldest Dream, the embodiment of a longing for hopeless love," SP declares, bestowing a new identity upon the character.
The soon-to-be former human closes his eyes in acceptance. "I shall embrace this name."
Looking softly at Oldest Dream, SP takes the man into his arms and slowly lifts him up in a princess carry. With a gentle glow, the stab wound on the man's chest began closing up, and strength slowly returned to his body. Oldest Dream closed his eyes and sighed in relief, appreciative for the healing. Letting himself relax, hiss body slumped, resting his head on SP's shoulder.
"Will the new soul be made aware of these events?" Oldest Dream asked quietly.
"If you wish it be," SP responds gently, squeezing his arm in comfort.
"As the sun and moon converge in that realm, he shall become aware, and we shall rendezvous in the forest," he declares. Oldest Dream gazes up at SP, struck by the towering presence before him, and tilts his head inquisitively. "You mentioned being in love with a mortal... may I inquire who?"
SP smiles warmly as he gazes at Oldest Dream, a sense of tenderness in his eyes before leaning in to place a gentle kiss on Oldest Dream's forehead. A soft light emanates from the point of contact, casting the room in another radiant glow. A whisper could barely be heard as the scene faded away.
"....Kim Dokja...."