Ch.84Chapter 84 – The Ending We Chose (3)

After being reborn as Bing-yeon in this world, I lived a life trying to leave behind as few regrets as possible.

I took responsibility for my mistakes and risked my life to save the characters in the novel.

In my previous life, I failed in my duty as a novelist, so I wanted to do my best now while I still could.

Yes, I thought this would surely be enough.

But.

“Master…!”

“Master!”

“Brother…!”

“Do-hyeon, wake up…!”

There were voices awakening me from the depths of my unconscious abyss. Some were wet as if they had been crying, while others had cracked voices as if they had been shouting.

“Where am I…? I was definitely…”

Led by the guidance of these voices, when I came to my senses, I saw the familiar place, the Ice Dragon Fate Sect. I was certain I had been devoured by Shub-Niggurath.

How could I have possibly survived?

It didn’t feel real that I had managed to stay alive despite coming into contact with an Outer God, considered the pinnacle among outer deities.

Moreover,

“Do-hyeon…! I missed you!”

What was even more terrifying was that right before my eyes was a woman with white hair and blue eyes, Bing-seol-hwa, hugging me tightly while calling my previous life’s name.

“You are… Shub-Niggurath?”

“No! I’m your girlfriend, Yoo Seol-hwa! This time it’s really me!”

Bing-seol-hwa, who insisted as much, even went so far as to rub my cheeks vigorously, saying I wasn’t in my right mind yet.

There was something suspicious that made it hard to believe this was truly an Outer God acting.

Namely, it was the fact that my disciples were staring at Bing-seol-hwa and me with uncomfortable expressions.

“……”

Bi-wol’s eyes were filled with burning killing intent, and her tightly closed lips seemed to be swallowing some kind of anger.

“Master, you really are a terrible man!”

In Verdandi’s case, she was speaking brightly, but her face was deeply shadowed. It looked as if she was forcing herself to speak cheerfully about the situation. Her attempt to act normal was setting off alarm bells in my instincts.

“Brother, you must take responsibility for this someday. Swear before the Lord that you will distribute love equally to everyone.”

Azazel was showing a devout attitude, praying with her eyes closed. Her tone, as if trying to absolve me of my sins, was somehow concerning.

“…What’s going on with all of you? Weren’t we just fighting Shub-Niggurath?”

I asked them, and as if she had been waiting, Verdandi raised her hand and spoke loudly.

“Good question! It seems that person wasn’t bad after all!”

“…What do you mean not bad? She clearly used Seol-hwa as she pleased and tried to kill all of you.”

I immediately refuted Verdandi’s words in disbelief. Of course, there were certainly instances where Shub-Niggurath showed unexpected mercy.

Despite being able to kill me and my disciples by bringing her true form, she deliberately used the Dragon and Phoenix Tournament to make the protagonists and final bosses confront each other.

Afterward, she readily accepted her defeat, and even after kidnapping Wolfram, she didn’t inflict a single wound.

“There were some contradictions, but if she didn’t harbor malice… there’s no way a future where we all die would come about!”

“…In the end, fate is determined by us, not decided by others.”

When I raised my voice slightly and vented my pent-up emotions, Azazel spoke softly with her eyes closed.

“What I can see are ‘possible futures in parallel universes.’ Cases like this must be among the rarest.”

“But…!”

“Brother Bing-yeon, no… perhaps it would be more correct to call you Han Do-hyeon now. We have come to understand the heart with which you saved us.”

“…!!!”

I couldn’t properly hide my reaction to the sudden mention of my previous life’s name. Come to think of it, they all must have heard what Bing-seol-hwa said earlier.

Strangely, there was no reaction. Even though a woman was clinging to me while calling their master by a different name.

“That’s right. Master, we are all characters in a novel. Beings born from your fingertips, like your children.”

“How did you all…”

“I thought of you as a parental figure, but I never imagined it would be literally true.”

As if there were no longer any barriers in the world that could stop her and me, Bi-wol caressed my cheek and spoke in a seductive voice.

How did they figure it out?

Even to Bi-wol, who was closest to me, I had spoken about this truth in the most roundabout way possible.

I didn’t think they could know that I was actually a web novelist who had written three novels, and that I was dragged into this world as punishment for discontinuing my serialization.

“Shub-Niggurath told us everything. It seems your avid reader was quite angry about the discontinued serialization and set up this whole scheme from the beginning.”

“…Seol-hwa? Is it really you?”

Bing-seol-hwa sighed deeply and pulled my cheek, explaining what had happened while I was asleep.

Looking at her, I instinctively knew she wasn’t Shub-Niggurath. It was a habit she often showed me.

“Yes, you idiot. It seems your avid reader wanted to save me in exchange for seeing the real ending of this novel.”

Bing-seol-hwa released my cheek with a smirk. The tingling and warm sensation brought me back to reality.

“So really…”

Feeling like it was time to reveal the complicated truth to my disciples, I kept swallowing my words.

How shocked would these innocent disciples be if they found out they had been deceived, that they were fake?

But,

“That doesn’t mean these children are fake, or that this world is false.”

With a smile that dispelled all my worries at once, the person presumed to be Yoo Seol-hwa spoke.

She wiped my tears and patted my back. Though her appearance was that of Bing-seol-hwa who had been tormenting me until now, I could feel Seol-hwa’s unique atmosphere.

“Shub-Niggurath created completely new life and a new world. Even if they’re characters from your novel, they’re not virtual here—they’ve gained real life and movement.”

“……”

In fact, there were aspects I had suspected.

The people in this world moved in ways I hadn’t set, showing aspects of free will as if they were truly living beings.

That was precisely why I tried to save as many people as possible during the Four Major Factions War.

The screams of people and their desperate cries for help were too harrowing and urgent to be considered fake.

“…Still, don’t you think discontinuing serialization three times was too much? It’s betraying the readers who waited for you.”

Seol-hwa gently stroked my head while admonishing me. Yes, this is exactly what she would say.

Unlike me, a half-baked writer, she was an author who tried to continue writing even after her body became paralyzed.

“I want to say I had no choice. The more I wrote, the more the memories in my mind faded.”

I expressed my slight indignation. Even writings that had been doing well gradually became gloomy as depression took over.

“…I felt like you were disappearing, Seol-hwa, and there were many days when I couldn’t write. I feared that when this novel ended, you would truly vanish from my side.”

My attempt to keep Seol-hwa remembered in this world was thwarted as the view count declined, breaking my spirit.

With the life of a lover who couldn’t return and a heart already broken and bleeding, I couldn’t find any hope.

“I tried. Even though I discontinued the serialization, I struggled because I wanted to leave some trace that you and I had lived…”

I chose to run away cowardly because I didn’t want to further hurt the precious novels filled with memories of her and me.

The fate of a miserable writer who abandoned his readers.

In the end, I was talentless, couldn’t succeed with even a single novel, and couldn’t fulfill the dream I shared with my deceased lover.

“…It must have been hard, Do-hyeon.”

Seol-hwa embraced me warmly without offering any particular advice. With emotions welling up, hot tears of sorrow flowed from my eyes.

“I’m sorry I left you. I didn’t want to, but it was like a darkness like quicksand was consuming me.”

Seol-hwa was calmly apologizing to me, even though I should be the one apologizing to her.

“…The source of our misfortune was Yog-Sothoth, right? In the future where your novel was completed, he was jealous of the attention your avid reader, Shub-Niggurath, was giving you.”

She began to talk about the contradictions. Why I couldn’t defer my military service, and why her improving health suddenly deteriorated.

And the traffic accident that was the beginning of all misfortune.

She said it was all orchestrated by Yog-Sothoth, and that Shub-Niggurath had resurrected her to make amends.

“Remember what I always used to say? No matter how sad and difficult things get…”

Seol-hwa gently stroked my hair and whispered in my ear with a sweet voice.

The greatest maxim I had learned from her, and the goal I had been trying to achieve while saving my disciples until now.

“A novel’s ending should always be a happy one. Of course I remember.”

For the happy ending that was just one step away, I needed to prepare to fight Yog-Sothoth.