[Exclusive skill, 'Reading Comprehension', is activating!]

[Exclusive Attribute, 'Scenario Interpreter', is activating!]

I couldn't help but feel my antic.i.p.ation grow after seeing the book's t.i.tle. To think, this would be a story regarding the 'Secretive Plotter' and the 'Most Ancient Dream'.

The Plotter often brought up this 'Most Ancient Dream', so I hoped that this could be an important opportunity to learn more about that 'thing'.

I didn't even notice that [999] had disappeared by then, all my being focused on reading this book.

*

Exactly eight hours later, I closed the book's cover, my face one of pure stupefaction.

"This...."

I knew of a perfect expression to describe this sort of book.

"It's even more boring than 'Ways of Survival'...."

I had no idea who wrote it, but if this book got published in the various platforms of the 21st century, then I was sure of it tanking as badly as the 'Ways of Survival'.

Not only was it boring, it was also quite a hard read, too.

"....Just what on earth was it even talking about?"

However, there was this one thing that I did understand. Which was, there were five great 'Outer G.o.ds' in the expansive [Great Hole].

⸢The 'Living Flame' that rises up from the east.⸥

⸢The 'Master of the Sunken Island', the calamity of the world in the west.⸥

⸢The 'Monarch of the Great Abyss', the ruler of the northern universe.⸥

⸢The 'King of Silver Heart', the ruler of the interstellar s.p.a.ce in the south.⸥

⸢And finally, the 'Great Plotter' that crawls from the place of nothing.⸥

"....This set-up is even cooler than the Ways of Survival."

In the context of the things so far, this 'Great Plotter' moniker seemed to signify the 'Secretive Plotter'. Actually, there were several interesting parts among the texts related to the Plotter himself.

⸢A few Recorders of Fear who had encountered the 'Great Plotter' came to learn that he was searching for the 'Most Ancient Dream'.... (Omitted).... Those lucky Recorders were able to ask the Great Plotter about the ident.i.ty of the 'Most Ancient Dream'.⸥

⸢[It is the beginning of this universe and the master of the gigantic cogwheel. My oldest mortal enemy and my parent. And the one who decides the end of everything.]⸥

⸢The few Recorders of Fear managed to see the Great Plotter's expression the moment those words were spoken, and they fainted right away. After waking up, they could no longer remember who they were anymore.⸥

….Records written by a bunch of people who couldn't even remember themselves? Was that why the author of this book was simply stated as a 'Recorder of Fear', instead?

I wanted to read more about either the 'Great Plotter' or the 'Most Ancient Dream', but the majority of the book didn't contain records of those two, but rather, a collection of boring anecdotes related to the general overview of the 'Outer G.o.ds', instead.

Even the plot development was all over the place.

Quite often, a story would end abruptly without warning just as it was getting interesting, or the sequence of events would be jumbled up even within the anecdote itself and made it utterly impossible to make heads or tails of it.

I wasn't just talking about one story here, but every single one of them, so I just couldn't get immersed within the book at all.

⸢(What an interesting story.)⸥

It was none other than Simulation who decided to b.u.t.t in.

'….Which part was interesting to you?'

⸢(This book has been deliberately engineered this way.)⸥

'Are you saying that it was written deliberately to be boring?'

⸢(The message this story wishes to convey is quite clear.)⸥

'If the author wanted to convey a message, then he should've written it in a way that others could understand.'

⸢It's written with the idea that 'Those who can't understand it, will not'.)⸥

'Pardon?'

I thought I heard a light sigh, and then tiny sparks danced in front of my eyes. The power leaking out from [The 4th Wall] flipped through the pages of the book and began extracting several paragraphs.

And once those seemingly disparate paragraphs, taken from different short stories, were connected, they formed the following lines of texts.

⸢Emotions, pa.s.sed down from the distant, remote universe. That is the flow of the ancient times that this writer could never follow after. We were terrified.⸥

⸢They were like monsters from a universe we couldn't recognise.⸥

⸢This 'Fear' didn't stem from what we could predict. This was pure 'Terror' emanating from those that we could never understand.⸥

⸢With great difficulty, we a.s.signed names to each of those Terrors. We wanted to pretend that, by a.s.signing names to the creatures of the unknown, we'd be able to understand them.⸥

Only now did it feel like the message this book wished to convey was revealing itself.

⸢Of course, whether our attempt has any meaning or not, only they can decide.⸥

After reading that resignation-filled paragraph, I thought I could see why the 'Outer G.o.ds' ridiculed these 'Recorders of Fear' so much. All those Modifiers attached to them, strictly speaking, didn't reflect their original essence.

⸢If you, the reader, meet them someday, remember this. The one who stares into the abyss will have no choice but to either go mad, or become the abyss itself.⸥

Having finished my second read-through, I closed the book while feeling despondent.

"....I've gained pretty much nothing here."

In the end, there was only one thing I got to figure out from this book.

⸢'Outer G.o.ds' are unfathomable creatures.⸥

Those were some pretty irresponsible words, that's for sure.

Such words could be applied to just about anybody, not only to the 'Outer G.o.ds', now couldn't they?

⸢'Yu Jung-Hyeok' is an unfathomable creature.⸥

⸢'Han Su-Yeong' is an unfathomable creature.⸥

You could say something like that and it'd still fit the context.

Even if it was not an 'Outer G.o.d', it was true that we couldn't fully understand each other. We might feel like we could, but that was nothing more than a momentary delusion on our part.

Some time ago, I had a conversation with Jang HYeong regarding this topic.

The 'Devourer of Dreams' silently listening to my thoughts began cackling away. ⸢(You're correct. That's the message this book wishes to convey. In the end, we are all simply 'Outer G.o.ds' to each other.)⸥

I put the book down and looked outside the window. It was circular-shaped, just like the circular room it was in.

Sunlight poured in faintly. I spotted the 'Outer G.o.ds' enjoying the sunbath in between the forest's dense foliage. Some of them discovered me and waved their tentacles about. As if I was looking at a scary scene from a fairy tale or something, I continued to stare at those tentacles. It could very well be that their outer appearance didn't reflect their true nature.

Now that I took a closer look, their movements seemed to be rather graceful, too.

⸢(Only those who reach out can discover the truth.)⸥

Maybe, there was no need for me to read that book from the get-go. Well, 'Outer G.o.ds' were everywhere in this place, weren't they.

I sneakily observed my surroundings for a bit, before activating [Miniaturisation] to slip outside the window.

I floated up and approached one of the 'Outer G.o.ds'. It also extended its tentacle towards me. I didn't sense hostility behind that action.

⸢I d on't car e if yo u reg ret it.⸥

Even after [The 4th Wall] warned me, I still reached out towards that tentacle.

I always regretted about something in my life. However, my regret over the things I hadn't done was way bigger than for those that I did do.

[Exclusive skill, 'Reading Comprehension', is activating!]

The very last scenario of this was a great war against the 'Outer G.o.ds'. And through that war, the 'Outer G.o.ds' would disappear from this world.

They were the only creatures in the 'Ways of Survival' without any detailed explanation.

I wanted to ask them. Ask them just where they came from.

Ask them for what purpose they were fighting against the .

Not even once during the original story did the 'Outer G.o.ds' reply to those questions. They only roared on, or spat out incomprehensible utterances and fought against the Constellations. That was all.

Tsu-chuchuchuchu.....

['The 4th Wall' is warning you!]

I grasped the Outer G.o.d's tentacle. As if it was responding to my touch, the tentacle wrapped around my hand like a tree's vine.

The 'Recorder of Fear' said this.

They said that the 'Outer G.o.ds' were unfathomable, unexplainable existences. They said that no one knew where they came from or what their real ident.i.ty was.

They could be right. My current actions might be completely meaningless.

We might end up fighting each other later, like how it was in the original storyline, and bring forth the wretched destruction and ruination to all.

Suddenly, my surroundings seemed to be blanketed by a slow-moving melody. Under the brilliant sunlight, 'Outer G.o.ds' were, one by one, bowing their heads in my direction.

[Fable, 'The One Who Is Loved by All', has begun its storytelling.]

Tiny flowers began blooming on the vines created by the Outer G.o.ds, as if they were giving me their precious hidden something. Fragrance wafted out from those flowers, soon becoming lyrics to a song. And afterwards, it formed a story.

⸢"Captain."⸥

It was a fragment of a very old memory.

⸢"Yu Jung-Hyeok-ssi."⸥

I listened to those voices like an entranced man. They belonged to different people, but I could accurately guess the owners of those voices with my eyes closed.

I had been thinking about this for a long while.

If the 'Secretive Plotter' was Yu Jung-Hyeok from the original story, and just like what he had shown me, if the countless world-lines of the 'Ways of Survival' existed out there, then….

The innumerable failed stories within those regression turns, just where would they have ended up in?

⸢"In the next life, without a doubt."⸥

⸢"Even if you regress many more times, I'll always accompany you, captain...."⸥

The surging waves of memories swept me up in an instant.

These memories lacked any obvious starting point, and they were not consistently linked to each other, either. However, I was able to follow them. As if I was connecting the constellations that couldn't be connected previously.

Perhaps only I was able to connect them in this world.

And in that moment, I understood.

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I understood what the 'Outer G.o.d' was, why Yu Jung-Hyeok from the original story had to become one willingly.

….And, why he had no choice but to become the 'Secretive Plotter'.

The story of pain that went on for tens of thousands, hundreds, maybe even for millions of years. Stories discarded by the world-line and couldn't be acknowledged as 'Fables'. And the fragments of Fables that became the subconsciousness of the worlds, drifting around in the universe and ruminating on the ancient memories. Finally, the voices of those that were not saved.

[Oooooooohhhh.....]

Branches of the 'Outer G.o.d' enveloping my surroundings like a garden began expanding. I couldn't take my eyes off these memories, even though it felt as if I'd asphyxiate from the cras.h.i.+ng waves of them.

⸢"Please, remember us."⸥

I grabbed hold of the Fables crumbling away at my touch and began sobbing. These were simply far too precious. And I felt uncontrollable sorrow now that no one remembered them.

I could neither understand or change this.

All I could do, whether it was back then or now, was to simply 'read' them.

'Outer G.o.ds' began screeching out all at the same time.

[YouknowusYouknowusYouknowusYouknowus]

[Wh.o.a.reyouWh.o.a.reyouWh.o.a.reyouWh.o.a.reyou]

The vines began tightening around me. I heard sobbing noises coming from the Outer G.o.ds. It sounded like they were happy. Or maybe, sad.

It was the ancient cry resonating from the distant other side of the universe.

⸢Tol d y ou not to do it.⸥

Outer G.o.ds rus.h.i.+ng towards me soon formed a dense, impenetrable forest. Vines grew and grew, choking me harder and tighter as if to swallow me whole. As if, they wanted to accept me as one of them. As if, they wanted me to join them and stay forever.

I somehow managed to regain my wits and struggled hard to get out of there while pus.h.i.+ng the vines away. Unfortunately, the more I did that, the tighter their restrictions became.

[DON'T GO]

[HOW COME]

I couldn't afford to get devoured here.

If I really wanted what's best for them, then I must not faint here.

[CAN'T GO]

Even before I could unsheathe the [Unbreakable Faith], both of my arms were sealed off. Just as I was about to get helplessly dragged into the darkness of the vines, blinding rays of light split them apart.

It was a mini [Heaven Shaking Sword], visible under the faint sunlight. I raised my head to find the kkoma Yu Jung-Hyeok number [999] glaring at me.

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, what have you done?"

Fin.