Omniscient Ocean Sunfish (8)

The life returned to Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes — those same eyes that had gone dull under the Theater Master's brainwashing — and she fixed Park Jinwoo with a murderous glare. Sensing the very real threat to his life, Park Jinwoo frantically shouted at the Theater Master.

"You son of a bitch! How shoddy was that mind control if it broke halfway through?! Hurry up and put it back on!"

……………?

"That insane bastard is so scared for his own life he's telling the hidden boss to brainwash her again…."

"Jinwoo-ssi…."

"Oppa…."

"Jinwoo hyung…."

The Theater Master looked between the freed Yoo Joonghyuk and Park Jinwoo — who was saying things that made one question whether these people were even allies — and grew thoroughly confused. Kim Dokja and the rest of the party stared at Park Jinwoo with thoroughly unimpressed eyes.

"Hey! Are you deaf?! Put the brainwashing back on already!"

"You bastard!"

"Ughk…! Joonghyuk-ssi! If you shake me that hard I'm actually going to die!"

"Fine. Then die right now!"

"Aaaagh! Somebody save me!"

Park Jinwoo, collar seized in Yoo Joonghyuk's grip, was being shaken like a dusty rug. Yoo Joonghyuk glared down at him with a face contorted in pure fury, fist clenched in his shirt, rattling him for all she was worth.

"What a circus…."

"Seriously…."

"If that's my oppa, I'm suddenly kind of embarrassed…."

"Same…."

For the first time in the channel's history, an Incarnation, the Constellations, and a hidden dungeon's boss all found themselves of one mind — united by the spectacle of Park Jinwoo and Yoo Joonghyuk.

"H-hey? Let's talk this out like civilized people for a second."

"What."

"This is all because you got brainwashed by that boss, right? I was the one who freed you from it. So instead of threatening my life, shouldn't I be getting a thank-you…?"

"You treated a person like a dog and now you want a thank-you?"

Yoo Joonghyuk was so incredulous she actually let out a short, dry laugh. Then her face twisted again.

"A thank-you? Fine. I'm grateful you broke the brainwashing. So…."

She drew the True Heavenly Blade hanging at her waist.

"I'll send you off in one clean stroke. No pain."

"Fuck! You actual crazy gorilla of a person! We can't even have a conversation?! Are you a real primate or what?!"

"Is that your final struggle? Your last words? Rant all you like. This is the end for you."

"Simulation! You bastard! Put the brainwashing back on already! And while you're at it, erase her memory of me treating her like a dog — I'd really appreciate it!"

"Khhhk…! Don't interfere…!"

Yoo Joonghyuk seemed to resist the Theater Master's brainwashing for a moment, but in the end she succumbed once more. However—

"Huh? Hold on? She still has me by the collar?"

Even in her mindless, brainwashed state, Yoo Joonghyuk's grip on Park Jinwoo's collar never loosened.

"Hoo……."

"Ugh, one mountain after another."

Yoo Joonghyuk fixed Park Jinwoo with eyes empty of all reason, then drove the drawn True Heavenly Blade straight toward his abdomen.

"Gleipnir."

Clang!

"………?!"

Park Jinwoo wrapped Gleipnir thickly around the spot Yoo Joonghyuk was stabbing, blocking the strike. Then he lifted one foot.

"Sorry about this, Joonghyuk!"

Thud!

"Kh…!"

He drove the raised foot into the side of Yoo Joonghyuk's temple. The impact made her stagger, and she finally released his collar.

"Ah, even Simulation stabbed me in the back! What point is there in living further! I'll kill you, and I will live!"

Free of Yoo Joonghyuk's grip at last, Park Jinwoo lamented in a theatrical voice as he leveled his sniper rifle at the Theater Master.

A chill ran down his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠spine.

The oppressive presence flaring up beside him made Park Jinwoo reflexively scramble backward.

Tszzzzt.

Yoo Joonghyuk coated the True Heavenly Blade in Breaking the Sky Energy and locked her gaze on him. Cold sweat beaded on Park Jinwoo's skin.

"……If I keep clowning around, I'm actually going to die."

He drew Barisada from where it hung at his waist.

"Lightning Enchant on Barisada and Gleipnir."

"Come at me, you deranged bitch!"

Park Jinwoo's eyes met Yoo Joonghyuk's. And it was Yoo Joonghyuk who moved first.

Kaaang!

"Ugh…!"

Without the slightest warning, in the blink of an eye, Yoo Joonghyuk high-speed-moved right in front of him and swung the True Heavenly Blade. The raw sense of mortal danger made Park Jinwoo's hands move on pure reflex, catching the blow. But the unbelievable force pouring out of that slender frame set his arms trembling violently.

"Her strength is literally just a gorilla's!"

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Every slash Yoo Joonghyuk threw sang with the sound of air being split. To Park Jinwoo, that sound felt like the reaper's scythe. He blocked with everything he had, but he didn't think he could last much longer. The gap in combat experience between them was simply too vast.

Kh…! I raised every stat to 20 and barely managing to block her attacks is still the best I can do.

Kang! Kaaang! Kagagagak!

He had known Yoo Joonghyuk's monstrous strength and speed in his head, but experiencing it with his own body made him feel anew just how terrifyingly strong she was right now.

"Gleipnir! Bind Yoo Joonghyuk's legs!"

Slither.

At its master's command, Gleipnir shot toward Yoo Joonghyuk's legs with a snakelike motion. But—

Yoo Joonghyuk casually slipped past Gleipnir with Red Phoenix Shunpo.

Kagagagak!

"Ugh…! No, why does it feel like you're going all-out just to wreck me?!"

Whether it was his imagination or not, the sword strokes aimed at him felt sharper than the ones he'd seen against Kim Dokja in the webtoon — and on top of that, he could feel a fierce killing intent.

"Joonghyuk, you're not actually brainwashed, are you?! You're just pretending!"

Even in a situation where a single misstep could end his life in one cut, Park Jinwoo still needled Yoo Joonghyuk in that same playful tone.

"……………."

But Yoo Joonghyuk simply kept attacking him in silence. The brainwashing was real enough — and yet Park Jinwoo still couldn't shake his suspicion.

"Jinwoo-ssi!"

Then Kim Dokja came running to help him. Park Jinwoo broke into a bright smile at her arrival.

"Finally coming to save me? I genuinely thought I was going to die, Dokja-ssi!"

"I'll handle Yoo Joonghyuk! In the meantime, take the sniper rifle and aim for the Theater Master!"

"Got it!"

At Kim Dokja's shout, Park Jinwoo quickly fell back, swapped his gear to the sniper rifle, and trained the sights on the Theater Master's brow.

Bang!

The round from the anti-materiel sniper rifle streaked toward the Theater Master's forehead. But something was wrong. Even with a bullet flying straight at its brow, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Theater Master was smiling.

Clang!

"……How does a melee character outrun a sniper rifle bullet. Needs a balance patch…."

To protect Theater Master Simulation, Yoo Joonghyuk blew past Kim Dokja, planted herself in front of the Theater Master, and deflected the bullet. Park Jinwoo stared at her face in pure shock.

"Jinwoo-ssi…."

"Dokja-ssi, let's just fight Yoo Joonghyuk together and make an opening. Otherwise we're going to be fighting all day."

"Understood. Get ready."

He would have liked to tell Lee Jihye and Jung Heewon to handle the Theater Master, but both of them had already been drained dry by Yoo Joonghyuk's assault and were lying companionably on the floor. That left Lee Gilyoung — what was he doing?

Park Jinwoo glanced toward where Lee Gilyoung stood. The boy was currently staring into empty air, muttering something under his breath. Judging by the look of it, Kim Dokja had probably asked him to summon the Insect King before joining the fight.

Then the only breakthrough is breaking through Yoo Joonghyuk.

Kim Dokja and I looked at Yoo Joonghyuk. And she looked right back at us.

Kagagagak!

Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk charged each other at the same time. Their blades met with a savage, sparking clash of steel.

"Gleipnir."

Paaang!

Park Jinwoo gripped Gleipnir like a whip and cracked it toward Yoo Joonghyuk. For an instant it broke the sound barrier, the whip-crack of it lashing out at her.

Clang!

Yoo Joonghyuk casually batted Gleipnir aside with the True Heavenly Blade. Watching that, Park Jinwoo grinned and shouted.

"Bind her, Gleipnir!"

Slither.

"……!"

At his words, Gleipnir slid down like a snake and coiled around Yoo Joonghyuk's arm. Her brow furrowed. It was an attack the real Yoo Joonghyuk would never have fallen for — but right now she was brainwashed, stripped of reason, and that made it possible.

"Now, Dokja-ssi! Hit her with one!"

"Yes!"

Kim Dokja seized the opening Park Jinwoo had made, rushed Yoo Joonghyuk, and swung her sword at the woman's body.

"…………."

Whoosh.

Without so much as a blink, Yoo Joonghyuk casually slipped the attack with a few steps backward. But Kim Dokja wasn't flustered in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the slightest that her strike had missed — because it had been a feint.

She clenched her free left hand into a fist, gathered power, and drove it hard into Yoo Joonghyuk's face.

Thud!

Kim ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Dokja's fist landed clean on Yoo Joonghyuk's face. Bright red blood streamed from Yoo Joonghyuk's nose.

A thrilling sensation ran through the fist she still held clenched. The punch she'd buried in Yoo Joonghyuk's face still tingled.

Damn bitch. That actually felt great.

Looking at Yoo Joonghyuk bleeding from the nose, Kim Dokja felt a decade of pent-up frustration finally drain away, leaving her insides clear and light.

But Yoo Joonghyuk's reaction was strange.

"…Yoo Joonghyuk?"

Something felt off about the way Yoo Joonghyuk simply stood there after taking the hit to the face.

「It hurts.」

What?

Kim Dokja flinched at the inner voice that reached her through Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Stage 2.

「How many more times do I have to keep repeating this.」

This bastard, already…?

Kim Dokja knew Yoo Joonghyuk's current condition. The regression depression that had set in after her mind had been worn down by repeated regressions.

"Snap out of it, you bastard!"

Having read Yoo Joonghyuk's thoughts, Kim Dokja's face twisted.

"You… idiot!"

With a surge of emotion, she clenched her fist tight and drove another punch toward Yoo Joonghyuk's jaw.

Thud!

Kim Dokja's fist struck Yoo Joonghyuk's jaw cleanly. Yoo Joonghyuk's body swayed.

「When the regression begins, everything goes back to the start.」

「My companions all lose their memories, and every history I lived is erased.」

「And then everything repeats again.」

「What am I even…」

"Huh?"

Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes went hazy and unfocused as she stared blankly up at the Sky Garden's ceiling. Looking at the woman who'd sunk into that empty philosophy right in front of her, Kim Dokja felt rage climb all the way to the top of her head.

"Are you even really the protagonist?"

This was the righteous fury of a reader who had read all 3,149 chapters of Ways of Survival.

"You're already like this after only three regressions?"

Slap!

Kim Dokja cracked the cheek of the frustrating regressor standing before her and roared.

"Do you really think that? The resolve you had the first time you regressed — have you already forgotten all of it?"

「In this world, the only one alive is me.」

Grit.

This damn ocean-sunfish of a woman…!

"You said you wouldn't sink into that kind of sentimentality!!"

Kim Dokja charged at Yoo Joonghyuk.

"You decided that if you couldn't find meaning in life right in front of you, you'd live for a greater cause!!"

Kang! Kang! Kang!

Who am I even talking to right now. Why do my eyes sting, why is my skin burning, why is this rising up in my throat.

Kagagagak!

「I'm alone.」

"…Alone? After how far we've climbed to get here."

「I…」

"You're alone?!"

Kaaang!

Aside from Kim Dokja's words and Yoo Joonghyuk's inner voice, not a single other sound rang through the Sky Garden. It was as if the Sky Garden had become a stage for the two of them alone.

"Why would you be alone?"

As if pouring out every last drop of her rage, Kim Dokja kept swinging her sword at Yoo Joonghyuk like a madwoman as she spoke.

"Even when you died like an idiot in the Theater Dungeon, even when you clung to your dead little sister and cried, even when the prophet stabbed you in the back and you died!"

As she spoke to Yoo Joonghyuk, strangely, other memories were rising in Kim Dokja. Letter by letter. The long memories of a life lived reading Ways of Survival.

"Even when you looked at the corpses of the companions massacred by your own mistake and went berserk!"

A complicated home life, and the teenage memories of being beaten and harassed by girl bullies for rejecting a confession.

"Fighting Demon Kings, standing against the Returnees!"

The ostracism from university students who'd heard the rumors about her after she'd finally made it into college.

"Helping the Otherworlders, facing those damned Reincarnators! And finally standing before the Constellations!"

The days of thrashing to find a job, groveling before superiors, enduring their sexual harassment just to get through another day. Solely to live. Living each day just to stay alive.

"Watching you thrash and struggle somehow to keep living!!"

And still, on the way home.

Finding relief in the fact that there was one novel she could still read.

"I also…!"

Kim Dokja flinched in sudden panic.

Damn it, I got too worked up. I was only planning to buy time….

Having gotten so overexcited over Yoo Joonghyuk's regression depression that she'd spilled a bunch of unnecessary things, Kim Dokja suddenly felt embarrassed of herself.

How mortifying, goddamn it….

Then Yoo Joonghyuk's thoughts reached her again.

「You…」

Huh…?

Something about Yoo Joonghyuk's inner voice felt strange, so Kim Dokja looked at her face. A faint light had returned to Yoo Joonghyuk's pupils.

"Her eyes are back…?"

Kang!

"Who the hell are you?!"

Click.

Park Jinwoo lay comfortably on a sunbed, munching popcorn as he watched Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk fight, then took a long pull of cola.

Gulp gulp.

"Kyaaah―! Man, getting to watch this live."

Getting a front-row seat to one of Omniscient Reader's famous iconic scenes had put Park Jinwoo in an excellent mood. And most importantly — there was the object currently running right beside him.

"Aigoo, my pretty little thing. You're a goldmine."

Park Jinwoo lovingly stroked the square, glossy black object as if it were something precious. That object was a voice recorder.

Looking at the recorder that had captured Kim Dokja's black history, Park Jinwoo grinned.

"Jackpot."

Gonna tease the hell out of her later.