She's a Glass Cannon, But She's the Strongest
You have reached the fourth ‘Ending Credit’.
Performers: Kim Dokja, Jung Heewon, Lee Jihye, Lee Gilyoung, Park Hayeon
“Looks like we’re heading back to the theater.”
A blue light soon enveloped us. That familiar lurching sensation returned as the scenery shifted, and just like that we were back inside the Theater Dungeon.
“You rest here for a bit and come up later. We’ll go save Yoo Joonghyuk.”
“But…”
“Listen to Dokja, Jihye.”
We didn’t have the luxury of covering for a completely exhausted Jihye right now. The rest of us immediately started racing up the escalator toward the rooftop.
You have entered the 8th Floor above ground, ‘Sky Garden’.
When we reached the rooftop, Yoo Joonghyuk was standing there completely vacant, staring into nothing. We were too late after all.
“Dokja-ssi, isn’t that the Yoo Joonghyuk person?”
“She looks completely fine, though?”
Dokja, furious beyond words, stormed straight up to her and smacked her across the back of the head.
“Hey, Yoo Joonghyuk!”
“Oh my god.”
Even after Dokja hit her, Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t react at all.
“…Yoo Joonghyuk?”
“Dokja-ya. Something’s wrong.”
Then the bastard revealed itself from one of the benches on the rooftop.
We’re completely fucked.
“Hey, wait a second…!”
“Joonghyuk-ah, calm down. Let’s talk first…”
Thud—!
Dokja took a full-powered kick to the gut and went flying.
“Dokja-ssi!”
“Heewon-ssi! Hold on a second, calm—!”
My words never reached her. Eyes blazing red, Jung Heewon charged straight at Yoo Joonghyuk. She brought her sword down, but Yoo Joonghyuk slipped the attack and instead seized Heewon’s arm. Heewon barely twisted her face out of the way of the incoming hand, then kicked free of the arm locking her own.
“Hah…”
“Heewon-ssi! You need to fall back first…!”
KWAANG—!
Before I could finish, a fist smashed into her face and drove her into the wall.
“Kyaaaah!”
“…! Heewon unnie!”
“Lee Jihye, watch out!”
Yoo Joonghyuk was already right in front of Jihye, fist swinging. Did she really think I was just going to stand there and watch?
Kwang—!
“…Mister?”
“Kh… she hits like a goddamn truck…”
I barely managed to block Yoo Joonghyuk’s punch. My appearance began to shift.
“Following the directive… I’ll hold her here.”
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“Yoo Joonghyuk is being controlled right now!”
“Go for the Theater Master!”
“This bastard did that to Master…!”
Puck—!
“Kh!”
Yoo Joonghyuk kicked me away and instantly opened distance.
“Jihye! Look out!”
A kick caught Jihye square in the face and dropped her. Heewon, finally back on her feet, charged in again. Yoo Joonghyuk leapt clear of both Jihye’s desperate kick from the ground and Heewon’s follow-up strike.
Incarnation ‘Lee Gilyoung’ activates ‘Thunder of Mjolnir’!
Incarnation ‘Jung Heewon’ activates ‘Hour of Judgment’!
A set of scales appeared behind Heewon while sparks leapt from Gilyoung’s hammer. Lightning erupted from the hammer and streaked toward Yoo Joonghyuk.
Incarnation ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’ offsets the impact of the attack with ‘Lightning Resistance’.
Constellations of the Absolute Good faction remain silent in response to Jung Heewon’s request.
“What?!”
“Damn it… even this doesn’t work?!”
“Unnie!”
Kwang—!
“Where do you think you’re going…? You’re playing with me!”
I blocked the sword strike, but the shock still rattled through my entire body. Is this thing even human?
“Gilyoung, I’m counting on you. You know what to do, right?”
“Yes, Nuna.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
“If you’re going to do it, do it faster, Dokja-ya?!”
Just tanking this thing’s attacks was already hell…!
Dokja downed an ampule and drew her sword. Then it was my turn as well.
Kang—!
A clean metallic click as the lock on my blade released. Time for a little liberation.
Kaaang—!
Yoo Joonghyuk casually deflected both of our attacks. We clearly had the numbers, yet the fight was still basically even. How the hell did that make any sense?
“Snap out of it, you bastard!”
“You… idiot!”
Dokja drove an uppercut home. By now Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint had to be active.
“Huh? You’re really the protagonist? Only three regressions and you’re already this pathetic?”
“Is that really what you think? The resolve you had the first time you regressed—have you already forgotten all of it?”
“You said you wouldn’t drown in that kind of sentimentality!!”
Dokja swung her sword again. I had read the webtoon. I hadn’t seen every last page of their story, but I had seen enough. I knew how completely Dokja had leaned on the novel Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World.
“You decided that even if you couldn’t find meaning in life right in front of you, you’d keep living for the greater cause!!”
She had been saved by that novel. Or rather—finding meaning for her life through it was the better way to put it.
“Alone? After everything we went through to get this far, you’re saying you’re alone?!”
Their blades clashed again.
“Why the hell would you be alone?”
“Even when you died like an idiot in the Theater Dungeon,”
“even when you were bawling while holding your dead little sister,”
“even when the Prophet stabbed you in the back and you died,”
“even the first time you had a child with the person you loved…!”
“even after the child died and you went completely insane,”
“even when you fought the Demon King and faced the Returnees!”
Word by word. Memory by memory. Dokja poured everything out, her voice growing more and more fierce.
“Even when you helped the Outer Gods and fought those damn Reincarnators!”
“Even when you finally stood before the Constellations!”
“Watching you thrash and struggle just to stay alive no matter what!!”
“I also…!”
A violent collision of raw emotion. What Dokja was doing right now was both an emotional appeal to bring Yoo Joonghyuk back—and a recitation of the very reason she herself kept living.
KWAAAANG—!
Their swords met once more. The rooftop, unable to withstand the force of the two of them, shattered.
“You…”
“Who the hell are you?!”
Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyes had returned to normal as she spat the question.
“…What?”
“Just who… are you…”
‘Theater Master Simulacrum’ is flustered.
Reinforces control over Incarnation ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’!
Our glass cannon slipped back under the brainwashing. Their blades collided once more.
“Hey, Joonghyuk-ah.”
“I asked you before, didn’t I? Whether I could hit you just once.”
“You clearly said I could.”
Dokja’s sword ignited. The sudden explosion of power forced Yoo Joonghyuk back. In that instant, words began to stream around Dokja’s body.
“Arrows loosed like rain,”
“cannons of every kind firing,”
“the chaos like thunder and storm.”
Countless arrows formed behind Dokja and poured down on Yoo Joonghyuk.
“Khhhk!”
In the brief moment Yoo Joonghyuk’s feet stopped, Dokja closed in on the Simulacrum.
Incarnation ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’ uses ‘Recovery Lv.2’!
But Yoo Joonghyuk recovered in an instant and stepped back into Dokja’s path.
“Not a chance.”
I kicked her out of the way. Interfering at this point was just rude, wasn’t it?
“Gilyoung!”
“U-Uwah…!”
KWAJIK—!
Cracks spiderwebbed across the rooftop barrier. A massive praying mantis smashed through it and charged in.
“Heh… hehe… Titanoh…”
Titanoptera lunged at Yoo Joonghyuk. Under the combined assault from me and the mantis, she was forced into a pure defensive stance.
“What are you relaxing for?”
Dokja swung her sword at the Simulacrum smiling behind Yoo Joonghyuk.
‘Theater Master Simulacrum’ attempts ‘Mental Erosion’!
Black energy tried to swallow Dokja whole—but mental skills had never worked on someone who possessed the Fourth Wall.
“You… bas…tard…”
“Aaaah!”
The Simulacrum vanished before her blade could even cut it.
“Huh?!”
Clear Conditions Met
🎁 Reward: 4,000 Coins
“Nuna…”
“Gilyoung!”
Dokja caught Gilyoung as he collapsed, completely spent.
The barrier surrounding the Theater Dungeon has vanished.
The moment the barrier disappeared, the Titanoptera Gilyoung had summoned flew away.
“Dokja-ssi, Hayeon-ssi, are you okay?”
“Yeah… I think we’re fine…”
“I’m all right. How about you, Heewon-ssi?”
“I’m okay. Jihye’s safe too, thankfully.”
The end time of the Third Main Scenario is approaching!
“Looks like things downstairs are wrapping up too.”
“Ah… Seoul…”
Looking down revealed a nightmare. Compared to the slowly brightening dawn, the view of Seoul was nothing short of catastrophic. Buildings burned. Wrecked cars and corpses littered every road.
“It’s really… all over, isn’t it…”
“Shooting stars!”
Gilyoung, who had come to at some point, pointed at the sky. Countless meteors were falling.
“They’re damn pretty, in a fucked-up way…”
Meteor showers—the harbingers of the Main Scenario. Those falling across the entire world would bring terrible disasters with them.
“Aren’t Nuna and Hyung going to make a wish?”
“I don’t know…”
“I already made one.”
“What was it?”
“They say wishes don’t come true if you say them out loud.”
A wish, huh… I hadn’t really thought about it.
“I wished to see the epilogue of a certain novel.”
“What about you, Hyung?”
“I…”
What did I even want? Survival? Power? Deep down, though, the answer had already been decided. The question that had haunted me ever since I met Ayin.
“…I wished I could find my past.”
The Hidden Scenario has ended!
Main Scenario #3 — Emergency Defense has ended.
Reward: 1,000 Coins
The Fable ‘One Who Endured the Dark Twilight’ opens its eyes.