As the next segment began to play, Kim Dokja noticed Yoo Joonghyuk cringing slightly at how he had acted while he was possessed. It made sense, and he couldn't blame the protagonist for it. He hadn't meant to attack them like that, and especially not in defense of the boss who was controlling him. Knowing the protagonist as well as he did, Kim Dokja knew that Yoo Joonghyuk probably felt sick to his stomach right now.
[several constellations are worried about the incarnation 'yoo joonghyuk'.]
Joonghyuk's visible eye glows as his fist makes contact with a loud boom. Luckily, Jihye was able to move out of the way in time thanks to Dokja's warning, and she looks both stunned and horrified as she sees the sizable dent that Joonghyuk's fist has left in the concrete wall. Jihye seems shocked he'd attack her, but Dokja frantically yells that he's under mind control and urges her to go after the Dungeon Boss.
The old man lifts his hat a little, smirking as veins extend around his oddly-coloured eyes. It looks almost like he's goading Jihye, and she immediately changes her direction, lunging at him as she begins to draw her sword. In a flash, Joonghyuk is beside her and Jihye doesn't even have the time to react before he easily knocks her down with a swift kick to the face.
As Heewon jumps back into the fray, her hair now loose and flying around due to the speed of her dash, Jihye uses the slight distraction to kick at her Master's legs to try and knock him off-balance. With barely an empty gaze at either of them, Joonghyuk simply jumps and easily clears both of their attacks.
Lee Jihye rubbed her cheek with a frown, remembering just how it had felt to take a full-power kick from Yoo Joonghyuk. It had been bad enough that the girl hadn't been able to speak afterwards, and knowing just how hard he could punch, Kim Dokja really didn't want to find out how much that had hurt.
"Master, you really are super strong," Lee Jihye muttered, and Yoo Joonghyuk only frowned deeper.
Han Sooyoung sighed and scowled. "Seriously, who let this guy be so OP at the start of the scenarios? How the fuck can he jump that high?"
[The constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' is curious about the strength of the incarnation 'Yoo Joonghyuk'.]
Well, Kim Dokja could safely say that given enough time, the protagonist could absolutely go toe-to-toe with even Myth-grade constellations. They would absolutely hate to hear that, though.
Jung Heewon looked intensely dissatisfied with how the fight on the screen was going, especially considering how easily Yoo Joonghyuk was dealing with the two of them. Neither Lee Jihye nor Jung Heewon were weak fighters—in fact, they both belonged in the vanguard—but Yoo Joonghyuk was just a monster when it came to combat.
"You did your best," Kim Dokja told the two of them, "and you helped to distract him long enough for Gilyoungie and I to regroup."
Lee Jihye shot the two of them a small smile, but Jung Heewon still didn't look very pleased, and was probably taking her loss personally.
Heewon then attempts to commence her [Time of Judgement] as Gilyoung stands in front of Dokja and activates [Mjölnir's Lightning], aiming at Joonghyuk with a determined stare. Unfortunately, even though Gilyoung's attack hits, Joonghyuk is able to completely neutralize it due to [Lightning Resistance]. Heewon curses as the absolute good constellations don't agree to the activation, and her skill is terminated, much to her frustration. That distraction comes at just the wrong time as Joonghyuk moves to attack her again, and Jihye screams Heewon's name to try and warn her.
Of course. Yoo Joonghyuk might be ruthless, but he's on the side of 'Good' rather than 'Evil'.
As Joonghyuk once again toys with both Jihye and Heewon like they are little more than irritating annoyances, easily attacking without a single wasted motion, Dokja notes that Joonghyuk is stronger than he anticipated. Wanting to find out why, Dokja activates [Character List].
Joonghyuk turns towards Dokja and Gilyoung, glancing over his shoulder with an eerie blend of calmness and fury caused by his possession. Right on cue, his [Character Summary] appears in front of Dokja.
[The constellation 'demon-like judge of fire' agrees with the alignment of the incarnation 'Yoo Joonghyuk'.]
Though his methods may be crude, Yoo Joonghyuk had always done what he did for the sake of the greater good. The only time in Kim Dokja's memory that the man had ever been assigned the 'Evil' designation was the time he had become a demon king.
"How many skills do you even have?" Yoo Sangah asked in disbelief after seeing an obscure skill trivialize the fight. "Even Dokja-ssi mentioned that you seemed stronger than you should be at this point."
"It's because of my other stigma," Yoo Joonghyuk replied cryptically, which didn't help anyone except for Han Sooyoung and Kim Dokja himself. They had no idea what his stigmas were in the first place.
Kim Dokja just sighed and shook his head. Why was the protagonist so bad at explaining himself? Thankfully, his [Character Profile] should help somewhat with that.
[Name: Yoo Joonghyuk
Age: 28
Constellation sponsor: ???
Personal attributes: Regressor <3rd Round> (Mythical), Pro Gamer (Rare)
Exclusive skills: Eye of the Sage lvl.8, Close Combat lvl. 8, Advanced Weapons Training lvl. 5, Tiger God Aura lvl. 5, Weapons Proficiency lvl. 8, Mental Barrier lvl. 5, Crowd Control lvl. 5, Hundred-Step Divine Fist lvl. 2, Red Phoenix Shunpo lvl. 1, Reasoning lvl. 5, Lie Detection lvl. 4, Cooking lvl. 10, Breaking the Sky Swordsmanship lvl.2 … List of skills have been abridged
Stigma: Regression lvl. 3, Transmission lv. 1
Overall stats: Stamina lvl. 28, Strength lvl. 27, Agility lvl. 26, Mana lvl. 25
*This character has currently lost their ability to reason.]
Dokja's eyes narrow in on [Transmission lvl. 1], 'Damn it. Just as I thought, he already got a new stigma. It restores all the skills that Yoo Joonghyuk had in his earlier lives over time.'
[The constellation 'Secretive Plotter' is suspicious of the incarnation 'Yoo Joonghyuk'.]
Suspicious of what!? It wasn't the protagonist's fault that he had [Transmission] or several past lives' worth of skills to draw from.
Lee Hyunsung's mouth had dropped open as soon as he had seen the sheer number of skills on the profile. "Wow, no wonder Joonghyuk-ssi is so powerful…"
Lee Jihye, on the other hand, looked excited. "That's amazing, Master! You must have worked really hard to get all of those before!"
Some of them had been extremely hard-won, as far as Kim Dokja could recall—especially the [Breaking the Sky Swordsmanship].
"My oppa really is the best," Yoo Mia exclaimed, shooting her brother a wide grin. Not even Yoo Joonghyuk could resist smiling back, and it was a scene that Kim Dokja wanted to memorize. There was something enchanting about it, and he couldn't explain why or how. It just… was.
Han Sooyoung raised a brow. "Seriously? Who the hell picks up a cooking skill, let alone gets it to level 10?"
Wait, a cooking skill? Kim Dokja didn't remember seeing that during his first look at the summary during the fight, but to be fair, he hadn't had that much time either. Kim Dokja examined the [Character Summary] on the screen again until he found the aforementioned skill.
Huh. it really was there.
Yoo Joonghyuk glanced at Han Sooyoung with a challenging expression. "And? I won't eat anything cooked by anyone else."
She clicked her tongue. "Paranoid bastard."
[A constellation who likes to cook is pleased to see an incarnation valuing such a useful life skill.]
[The constellation 'queen of the darkest spring' says that she always appreciates gourmet meals.]
Kim Dokja couldn't help the frown that crossed his lips as he thought back to TWSA in confusion. Sure, Yoo Joonghyuk liked to cook, and he was damn good at it too. No matter which regression it was, everyone in the group had agreed that his cooking was godly whenever they had the rare chance to try it.
(He remembered a whole page dedicated to just how good his cooking tasted, and a young Kim Dokja had spent the next week pretending that his nearly-expired convenience store kimbap had been something cooked to perfection by Yoo Joonghyuk's skillful hands instead.)
(It had been the best thing he had eaten in years.)
In fact, it had been during Yoo Joonghyuk's 81st regression that he had officially… levelled up his… cooking skill. Wait. Kim Dokja's eyes went wide as he felt a cold shudder run through his body.
It had never been expanded on in the third regression, but Yoo Joonghyuk definitely shouldn't have had any skills at level ten by this point. Though [Transmission] allowed him to regain skills he had used in his past lives, they should be returned to him at a drastically lower level—hence some of his most powerful combat skills getting returned to him at levels one or two.
But ten!?
TWSA had never shown the first or the second rounds, but considering when it had been mentioned that Yoo Joonghyuk had regressed in each of them—and considering the absolute disaster that was his second round—there was no way he should have had anywhere near enough time to level up his cooking skill.
As the screen began to play the next segment, Kim Dokja couldn't shake the eerie feeling that something was incredibly wrong here.
Dokja pats Gilyoung on the shoulder as he apologises for what he'll have to do next, but the boy accepts it without question, closing his eyes and beginning to focus on his task. Dokja then takes the elixir he got from the T-rex and downs it, boosting his skills temporarily. Energy crackles around his body from his boosted stats as Dokja stands before Joonghyuk and activates [White Star Weapon Aura].
What I lack in skills, I'll make up for with stats. It's a method only possible now, when Yoo Joonghyuk's skill levels are still low.
The two draw their swords and dash towards each other, each using their preferred sword art. Metal clangs as they clash multiple times in the middle, the ground cracking from the sheer force of their strikes, but it quickly becomes apparent that Dokja's skills just can't hold up under Joonghyuk's fierce and skillful barrage of attacks. Dokja clearly notices this as he's getting forced back, and he activates [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Level 2] as a last ditch effort.
「It hurts.」
Dokja's eyes widen slightly from Joonghyuk's thoughts that betray his true feelings, even through the haze in his mind. Joonghyuk looks like a man who has given up as more thoughts flow into Dokja's head.
「How many more times do I have to repeat this?」
Dokja grits his teeth, unwilling to accept what he's hearing.
…This jerk, what the hell is he saying?
"Go ahjussi, beat him up!" Shin Yoosung cheered even as she clung to Kim Dokja. He had to try very hard not to laugh awkwardly. What part of what was being shown looked like Kim Dokja managing to do anything close to beating the protagonist?
He had barely held his own even with boosted stats; Yoo Joonghyuk would have absolutely creamed him without them.
[The constellation 'abyssal black flame dragon' is excited by the fight.]
Yoo Joonghyuk looked uncomfortable with his thoughts being broadcast again, and Kim Dokja understood. It was easy to be vulnerable in your own mind, certain that no one was listening, but someone was, and now everyone knew.
"Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi…" Lee Hyunsung began saying, his tone filled with pity, but the regressor cut him off harshly.
"Don't."
He didn't want pity. He didn't want apologies or consolations for his situation. He didn't want empty words. Lee Hyunsung couldn't have known that—it wasn't his fault—but Kim Dokja knew that those weren't the words that Yoo Joonghyuk wanted to hear.
Even though he knew Yoo Joonghyuk better than anyone else in the world, Kim Dokja wasn't sure what to say to make things better. Still, he felt compelled to try.
"We'll try to make sure that you don't have to repeat it again," Kim Dokja said quietly, just barely loud enough for the protagonist to hear. Yoo Joonghyuk shot him an odd look, not hostile in the least, which was probably the most confusing part. Maybe… maybe he had said the right thing.
He didn't say thank you or anything of the sort, but Yoo Joonghyuk seemed to clench his jaw slightly before nodding in an extremely stiff way. Kim Dokja would take that for now.
"Wake up you damn bastard!" Dokja yells as he breaks the deadlock and punches Joonghyuk in the face. "You idiot!"
It was only a graze, but it was just enough to catch the regressor off-guard.
Suddenly, the screen changes to a scene of gears that creak and slowly turn forwards before jolting back to where they began, starting the cycle anew. Joonghyuk stands amongst them, looking up hopelessly as he's consumed by the cyclic machinations of this world.
「The moment I regress, time will rewind back to the beginning. As my companions lose all their memories, any proof that I had lived disappears.」
Drop by drop, blood drips and splatters over the gears as they continue to turn without fail. Joonghyuk's exhaustion is clearly overwhelming, staring into space with tired eyes. He's lost and broken, unsure of his place in the world, but he's still beautiful in his moment of weakness.
「And once again… everything will repeat itself.」
The only reason why the dungeon boss could control Yoo Joonghyuk was due to his unstable mental state.
Han Sooyoung whistled under her breath. "Shit, that's some powerful imagery right there."
Kim Dokja had to agree with her. It was morbidly beautiful, almost macabre in its representation. After all, like those gears, the protagonist could never truly move forward. Yoo Joonghyuk was the star of a Sisyphean tragedy of cosmic proportions, desperately trying to climb closer to the end of the story on a staircase made of his own corpses, yet he would end up tumbling right back to where he began with the slightest misstep.
The world might never remember the man carrying the weight of hundreds of lives upon his shoulders, but even if everyone forgot, Kim Dokja silently vowed to remember everything for him.
Yoo Joonghyuk's hands clenched into fists as he seemingly tried to keep himself as calm as he could. This wasn't a great situation for him, and Kim Dokja understood uncomfortably well how he felt.
[The constellation 'secretive plotter' is frowning.]
"Joonghyuk-ssi…" Lee Hyunsung muttered quietly, his empathetic side affected by the protagonist's turmoil. Even Jung Heewon seemed uncomfortable with just how deep into his own mind the man had been, even if she wasn't fond of him. Yoo Mia grabbed onto her brother like he was a lifeline, and refused to let go.
Yoo Joonghyuk gritted his teeth and hissed, "I won't let someone influence my mind like that again."
He said it like a promise, and Kim Dokja couldn't help but believe him without hesitation.
Dokja mentally applauds Joonghyuk's physical capabilities while pointing out his gaping mental weakness, stating that even high levels of mental barriers may not work for him. As he thinks this, Simulacrum just laughs as he watches from the sidelines.
「Why am I alive…」
This depressed thought makes Dokja annoyed and frustrated with him.
I have every right to be pissed off right now as the only reader of all 3,149 chapters of TWSA.
Dokja immediately lashes out, angrily stating that Joonghyuk is the protagonist and tries to remind Joonghyuk of the resolve he had after his first regression, seeing that he's seemingly lost it somewhere in his depression.
「I am the only living being in this world,」 Joonghyuk thinks, sinking deeper into his depressed state, not even hearing anything that Dokja is saying.
Dokja grits his teeth and yells at Joonghyuk to not drown in these feelings, pointing out Joonghyuk's vow that he made to live for the greater good if he couldn't find the will to live on.
I wonder who I'm speaking to right now. I wonder why my eyes sting, and why my skin is burning up when there's no use getting emotional.
All the while, strike by powerful strike, they continue to cross swords. However, as if reading Dokja's thoughts, [The Fourth Wall] begins to shake.
「I am alone.」
Dokja freezes, eyes widened in shock, and then he turns and looks incredulously at Joonghyuk. Frustrated, he demands to know who he even came here for if Joonghyuk's truly alone. He attacks again, only for his strike to get blocked expertly by the regressor
"How are you alone!? The time you died pathetically in the Theatre Dungeon, the time you held your dead younger sister in your arms and cried, the time when that prophet backstabbed you! The one time you had a baby with the one you loved and went mad after they died!"
Yoo Mia was trembling, and Kim Dokja tried not to stare as Yoo Joonghyuk drew her into a desperate hug. She was just a kid, and shouldn't have to find out about her own previous deaths like this. He knew that neither of them would want attention on them right now.
He had to do something to distract everyone else. What could he—ah, right. Jihye. That, he could work with.
"See? I didn't say anything weird," Kim Dokja exclaimed as he immediately turned to look over at Lee Jihye, hoping to see her finally give up on whatever nonsense she had filled her head with. Unfortunately for him, though, the teenager had clasped her hands over her ears and was shaking her head vehemently.
"Nuh uh, ahjussi," she said with a side glance in his direction, "I heard what I heard."
Was this girl delusional!? Kim Dokja felt despair weigh on his shoulders as he slumped forward and buried his face in his hands to prevent himself from screaming in frustration.
"I trust my own ears over you—no offense," Lee Jihye continued as though Kim Dokja wasn't two seconds from a breakdown. "Plus, how can we trust that this suspicious recording heard you right, either?"
Fuck, she had a point. After cheating at goddamn rock-paper-scissors, who would take his words at face value!?
Yoo Sangah looked extremely confused. "Um, Dokja-ssi, what is she talking about?"
Oh god. Kim Dokja wanted to actually die this time. He would be mentally counting down the seconds until Lee Jihye spouted her nonsense on the screen, setting off far too many misunderstandings. Even if it was for Yoo Joonghyuk's sake, he shouldn't have ever brought this up. What the hell had he been thinking?
Kim Dokja just let out an agonized groan. Upon seeing his distress, Han Sooyoung looked worryingly interested in finding out what it could be about.
[The constellation 'demon-like judge of fire' squeals as she remembers what was said.]
Uriel, you are not helping.
"That aside," Jung Heewon said cautiously, glancing at Lee Jihye with a raised brow before shaking her head and focusing back on Kim Dokja, "what is up with your skill shaking?"
Ah, right. That.
"I really don't know," Kim Dokja replied, muffled through his hands. "It's happened a few times, but I'm not sure why."
[The constellation 'scribe of heaven' is narrowing his eyes.]
Lee Gilyoung frowned. "Could it be broken, hyung?"
Kim Dokja couldn't help but grimace at that idea. He sure hoped not, but that would be a worryingly possible reason for his skill to not be working right now.
A moment later, Yoo Joonghyuk looked almost concerned as he glanced over at Kim Dokja, but it was probably more because of the skill's odd behaviour than anything else. If something could go around breaking or damaging mental barrier-type skills, then he could be at risk too.
… A single letter, followed by the next, and then the one after that.
"The times you fought the demon kings and the returnees!"
Those were the memories of reading TWSA that stretched far back into my past.
"The times you helped the transmigrators and fought the damn reincarnators!"
Scenes flash in Dokja's memory of reading the novel and the times he was humiliated, like a film reel of some of the hardest times of his life.
"The time when you were finally able to challenge the constellations! I was there too, watching your struggles for the strength to live on!"
All this time, Dokja has been with Joonghyuk on the other side of the metaphorical fourth wall, experiencing all his tragedy and heartbreak and joy. As though this has resonated with him, Joonghyuk seems to pause momentarily as Dokja rushes in again, desperately, and their swords clash once more.
I read the story just to live–
"You read it just to live…?" Yoo Mia asked bluntly in her confusion, peeking out from her place safely held in her brother's arms. "What does that mean, ugly ahjussi?"
Fuck.
He didn't want to answer that. He really didn't want to answer that.
[The constellation 'secretive plotter' is impatiently waiting for the answer of the incarnation 'Kim Dokja'.]
[many constellations are curious.]
God, that entire speech had been so goddamn humiliating, and it put him in way more of a vulnerable position than he was even remotely comfortable with. It felt like he was lying on a table, about to be cut open and examined until he had no secrets left. It felt like microphones shoved into his face and the flash of cameras and the desperation he felt as his small hand closed around the latch of the window and—
"Hey, that's enough."
Yoo Sangah's gentle yet firm voice cut through everything, chastising everyone for prying into something he clearly didn't want to talk about.
It was all he could do to shoot her a thankful glance, and he knew he wouldn't be able to bear it if he looked back at the protagonist right now. Kim Dokja had no idea how much Yoo Joonghyuk had been able to deduce about the twisted parasocial bond that Kim Dokja had formed between the two of them over thirteen long years. It made him nauseous just thinking about it, so Kim Dokja decided he would just stop thinking.
Silence and nothingness and oblivion sounded like great options right about now.
Dokja snaps out of his memories as Joonghyuk vanishes, only to dart around him to attack from behind. Dokja curses, knowing that he was just supposed to stall for time, but that he went a bit overboard. Haloed by the sunset outside the barrier, Joonghyuk falls from the sky and uses gravity to add power to his blade. Dokja barely blocks in time, and the attack is so strong that it creates a shockwave and sends rubble flying.
「You…」
Joonghyuk's eyes, now clear, are focused on Dokja with a terrifying intensity. "Who the hell are you?!"
"It makes sense now," Yoo Joonghyuk said in a tone that didn't betray if he was angry or not. That certainly didn't help to ease Kim Dokja's nerves in the least.
He had been wondering how Kim Dokja could have known all of that, and well, he had his answer now. That segment hadn't explained everything—of course it hadn't—but Kim Dokja was aware that he had less curtain to hide behind now. All he could do was nod once in confirmation.
Both of the kids shuffled in closer to him—with Lee Gilyoung straight up playfully shoving Shin Yoosung out of the way so he could clamber back over to Kim Dokja's other side—until they were pressed against his sides, and he tried not to show that it relaxed him somewhat.
[The constellation 'secretive plotter' is contemplating what was shown.]
Please don't. Not that Kim Dokja could stop him, though. Constellations always did what they wanted.
[A few constellations are still wishing to see an epic battle next time.]