#it's painful really that there seems to only be only one kim dokja

[blerghie]

kinda funny that 1864 hsy and 1863 yjh were both jealous of 1863 hsy and 1864 yjh, respectively, for the same reason: kim dokja

[kimdokja-real]

Yoo Joonghyuk Chooses Kim Dokja over Lee Seolhwa.

I happen to be reading parts of the novel and

[You are a '1st turn' Regressor.]

The first time he chose to go back, he thought that he was given a great opportunity – an opportunity to survive the scenarios by possessing more information than everyone else.

[You are a '2nd turn' Regressor.]

When he chose to go back for the second time, he began thinking that this life wouldn't be as easy as he thought.

And, after witnessing his companions die over and over again…

After losing the person he loved so much…

…He finally realized that he was destined to experience the same pain many more times in the future. As the price for possessing more information than anyone else, he had to lose his precious companions many more times.

[You are a '3rd turn' Regressor.]

- Lee Seolhwa is mentioned as the person he loved so much.

Buuuut Yoo Joonghyuk doesn't seem to love her anymore in the current regression turn, cause he obviously fell in love with Kim Dokja. He made one attempt to reconcile with her and got poisoned and Kim Dokja saved him and he even said to kill her for the sake of the world but Kim Dokja chose to save her instead so Yoo Joonghyuk wouldn't be unhappy and that's it.

"What kind of a person was I in the novel you read, Dokja-ssi?"

I got flustered for a moment there by the unexpected question. "You were an important person."

"Okay, by how much?"

Lee Seolhwa was one of the heroines to appear in the 'Ways of Survival'. However, I couldn't come out and say that she was Yoo Joonghyuk's lover from the past. From the get-go, I thought that he wouldn't want that to be known… And most importantly, I wasn't sure if that would be an appropriate description of the person called 'Lee Seolhwa'. Who was she, really?

- Like Kim Dokja agrees she's not Yoo Joonghyuk's lover anymore.

The problem I have with Lee Seolhwa is she's mentioned and known as Yoo Joonghyuk's lover before, even his lover in some rounds and enemy in others, but just that, there's no indication of why he fell for her, was it her personality or her looks (though dokja assumes her looks are his taste), or because she could bring people back to life. It's just, oh, there's this woman who was Yoo Joonghyuk's lover before whom he loved so much, and even in the 0th turn he marries Lee Seolhwa and takes care of kids from an orphanage with her, but still there's no explanation why. And it makes it seem like they just had to have a female heroine for the main character to be in love with, like many stories.

And in the current regression turn, the actual novel, Yoo Joonghyuk and Lee Seolhwa hardly interact. The only time I remember them interacting is this:

It was a bustling street reminiscent of a battlefield. On the way to the auction house, countless merchants were selling all types of items.

Yoo Joonghyuk spoke behind him. "Go quickly."

Despite his harsh words, Yoo Joonghyuk was constantly concerned with Lee Seolhwa's movements. He blocked the front of her like he was worried she would be hurt by the passing incarnations and constellations. Some of the incarnations cursed him but Yoo Joonghyuk didn't care.

"You should be avoiding us…"

"Pedestrians first."

Yoo Joonghyuk's shamelessly was so high that Lee Seolhwa laughed. Yoo Joonghyuk asked, "…Why are you laughing?"

"Joonghyuk-ssi said that you are a regressor."

"That's right."

"Then did you meet me in your previous life?"

Yoo Joonghyuk had no answer for a moment. "No."

"…I see."

An awkward atmosphere formed between the two people. Lee Seolhwa glanced sideways at Yoo Joonghyuk. He was someone who seemed to be walking in the far distance, despite being by her side.

Lee Seolhwa smiled bitterly. "Slow down a little bit. There might be items or skill books that you want to buy."

"There's no time for that."

"I already bought one?"

Lee Seolhwa smiled and waved the skill book in her hand.

[Skill — Preserve Humidity].

Yoo Joonghyuk confirmed the skill book and narrowed his eyes. "You bought a useless skill."

Lee Seolhwa was already using the skill as her cheeks and lips were moistened. It was harder to find the daily necessities after the scenario began and these life skills were gaining huge popularity, regardless of gender. Lee Seolhwa glanced at Yoo Joonghyuk's face and spoke, "Joonghyuk-ssi, don't you need it? The back of your hand and your lips are dry. This city's temperature is low overall so your skin becomes dry quickly."

"You don't need skills that aren't for combat."

"But Dokja-ssi has this skill as well?"

Yoo Joonghyuk's eyebrows twitched. "Kim Dokja has this skill?"

"Yes, he said this is required if you want to be popular with constellations…"

"That guy wants to be an idol." Yoo Joonghyuk gritted his teeth and kept moving.

Lee Seolhwa looked at Yoo Joonghyuk like he was funny. She didn't know why but this cold-hearted man became angry whenever he heard Kim Dokja's name.

Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes shifted towards a stand.

–50% discount on skill books.

Lee Seolhwa couldn't help laughing. "Do you want to buy one?"

- And in the end it was about Kim Dokja. So I'm pretty sure Yoo Joonghyuk is in love with Kim Dokja in canon, the novel.

And this is literally the Only scene in the whole novel of 551 chapters where they interact.

Well, there is the continuation of the scene:

Yoo Joonghyuk's steps stopped. She wondered if he liked an item but something was wrong. His fists were trembling. Anger overflowed from Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes and dominated his expression. "…Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi?" The entrance to the auction house could be seen in the distance. A group of incarnations was entering it. A girl with blonde hair. Lee Seolhwa felt her heart sink. Yoo Joonghyuk couldn't control his killing intent as his hand moved towards the Black Heavenly Demon Sword. "Joonghyuk-ssi, wait!" Lee Seolhwa instinctively grabbed Yoo Joonghyuk's arm. She knew the identity of the blonde girl.

Asgard's prophet. She remembered the story. Yoo Joonghyuk of the last round died after being betrayed by her.

"No. This place… the other members…!"

Her heart was in a hurry. No matter how strong Yoo Joonghyuk was, this place was the auction house of constellations. It was a place where low-grade and historical-grade constellations gathered. Moreover, Yoo Joonghyuk's enemy wasn't alone. If he rushed over now…

"I thought it would be like this." There was a sarcastic voice and Han Sooyoung was standing there. "Have you forgotten? Kim Dokja told you not to get into trouble."

Han Sooyoung clicked her tongue like he was pathetic and flicked a coin around her fingers. Yoo Joonghyuk replied in a cold voice, "This is none of your business."

"None of my business? Aren't we companions?"

"Companions?" Yoo Joonghyuk's expression distorted. "You aren't."

"This is the bottom line… hey, you might be the protagonist but…!"

"Sooyoung-ssi."

The words of the latecomers caused Han Sooyoung to touch her forehead and mutter. "Sigh… I can't live because of Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk…"

"Anna Croft should be removed here."

"Well, Kim Dokja doesn't want that."

"It has nothing to do with Kim Dokja."

"You just want to deal a blow to her?"

Yoo Joonghyuk paused and glanced at Han Sooyoung. Han Sooyoung stared back at Yoo Joonghyuk for a moment before turning her gaze to the entrance of the auction house.

"What if I have a good idea?" There was an item in Han Sooyoung's hand.

Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes shook. "That…?"

"I sneaked it out from Kim Dokja's coat." A wicked smile formed on Han Sooyoung's face. "Let's test it once, the prophecy ability of the prophet.

-And in the end it's about Kim Dokja again.

Yoo Joonghyuk only has one interaction with Lee Seolhwa in the entire novel of 551 chapters, and they call her his lover (well, previous).

I've searched the entire novel, it's literally the only interaction between Yoo Joonghyuk and Lee Seolhwa in Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.

Yoo Joonghyuk and Lee Seolhwa interact so little Lee Seolhwa has more interactions with Kim Dokja (not even kidding).

"How delicious can the food you make…" I said this but I quickly took a bite out of the dish Yoo Joonghyuk was making.

Then… No, what was this?

Lee Seolhwa, who was helping Yoo Joonghyuk nearby, smiled and asked me, "Is it delicious?"

"…Yes."

It was damn delicious. Really, it was delicious. No, it was the best dish I had ever eaten. What was this meat skewer?

One side of the expressionless Yoo Joonghyuk's mouth curved up. Damn. Even if he was a regressor, how could this bastard cook so well?

I stared quietly at her. A woman who was called 'Poisoner' or 'Doctor' depending on the rounds. She was Yoo Joonghyuk's lover in some rounds and enemies in others.

I wore a white coat and was mistaken to be a doctor. I looked at the patient's details and answered, "Perhaps he was hit by an unnamed thing. It seems that the tentacles contaminated the wound."

"Indeed… um?"

Lee Seolhwa slowly blinked at me.

[The character 'Lee Seolhwa' has received a strange feeling from you.]

"Who are you?"

Who should I say? No, she wouldn't know no matter what I said.

"Whoever it is in the <Kim Dokja's Company>, I can save that person as long as he or she still breathes. I can ensure that no one will die."

It was true that Lee Seolhwa's current growth rate was unmatched in any of the regression turns from the original novel. If my guess was correct, then she should soon reach the pinnacle of 'Life and Death Miraculous Doctor'. Without a doubt, she was a necessary person to achieve my dream ending.

"What kind of a person was I in the novel you read, Dokja-ssi?"

I got flustered for a moment there by the unexpected question. "You were an important person."

"Okay, by how much?"

Lee Seolhwa was one of the heroines to appear in the 'Ways of Survival'. However, I couldn't come out and say that she was Yoo Joonghyuk's lover from the past. From the get-go, I thought that he wouldn't want that to be known… And most importantly, I wasn't sure if that would be an appropriate description of the person called 'Lee Seolhwa'. Who was she, really?

"Well, that…"

Just before I could carry on, Lee Seolhwa's expression brightened and she shouted out. "Ack! Found it!"

Her hand was holding a small flower. That must be the herb she was searching for. I immediately recognised what that was.

⸢White Ghostly Flame Flower. The final ingredient for the 'Life and Death' pill.⸥

At a casual glance, it looked like an ordinary wildflower. Eating this herb alone had no effect whatsoever. However, the miraculous elixir that was the [Life and Death Pill] could never be concocted without this herb.

She began smiling like a little kid. This sense of life that couldn't be felt from the pages of the 'Ways of Survival' was emanating vividly right before my eyes.

⸢This is Lee Seolhwa.⸥

That's why I gave up on recalling the words from the novel altogether.

And then, I said some lame things instead. "You're the best doctor that I know of."

Praise cooked up by a small kid might be better sounding than that.

Even so, Lee Seolhwa grinned back at me. "Thank you. Even if you didn't mean it."

"I did mean it, though…"

"Please wait for me. I will turn those empty words into reality soon."

I watched her leave in search of another herb, and came to a realization. What she was curious about earlier wasn't the 'Ways of Survival'. Unlike me, she didn't need such a novel in the first place.

I have two things to say.

"Please wait for me. I will turn those empty words into reality soon."

Before I read the novel, I actually thought this quote was a romantic, strong heroine quote Lee Seolhwa told Yoo Joonghyuk. I thought it was in the midst of him fighting on the battlefield as she did her best in the medical field...saying 'Please wait for me. I will turn those empty words into reality soon.', with confidence rare for a heroine.

And then when I read the novel and saw this quote I was like... 'what, it's not even to Yoo Joonghyuk? Why do they even call her Yoo Joonghyuk's lover??? Even if it's past'.

The other thing, I actually found this scene of Lee Seolhwa cute. As Yoo Joonghyuk's lover, she's portrayed as elegant, nurturing, gentle, etc, that it was slightly surprising to see

She began smiling like a little kid. This sense of life that couldn't be felt from the pages of the 'Ways of Survival' was emanating vividly right before my eyes.

her grinning like a little kid. It was so cute.

And yeah finally

Lee Seolhwa was one of the heroines to appear in the 'Ways of Survival'. However, I couldn't come out and say that she was Yoo Joonghyuk's lover from the past. From the get-go, I thought that he wouldn't want that to be known… And most importantly, I wasn't sure if that would be an appropriate description of the person called 'Lee Seolhwa'. Who was she, really?

Kim Dokja is finally getting over the 'Lee Seolhwa is Yoo Joonghyuk's lover' reminder he keeps telling himself.

And yeah, Kim Dokja has at least 3 interactions with Lee Seolhwa, Yoo Joonghyuk, her so-called lover, only has 1 interaction with Lee Seolhwa, and this is in the entire novel of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint. (Maybe 2 if you count the continuation scene of Han Sooyoung appearing and Lee Seolhwa grabbing Yoo Joonghyuk's arm as a different scene). Even Kim Dokja has more interactions with Lee Seolhwa!

So why he kept going back to her when Kim Dokja wasn't an option, there's no explanation at all.

And finally finally

My preparations for dealing with the 73rd demon king were up to here. So from now on… I should leave it to someone else.

"Kim Dokja." Yoo Joonghyuk had risen from the stone wall and was watching me.

I saw that Lee Seolhwa was exhausted by his side. She had probably poured all her magic power into healing him. I saw many emotions cross his eyes as he identified me as the demon king.

"Don't make such an expression. You can't change what has already happened. Don't you already know?"

Yoo Joonghyuk wiped his bloody lips and murmured, "It should've been me who died here."

Fortunately, Yoo Joonghyuk was Yoo Joonghyuk. He already accepted that he would have to kill me.

Yoo Joonghyuk is just staring at Kim Dokja when Lee Seolhwa is healing him.

Lee Seolhwa glanced sideways at Yoo Joonghyuk. He was someone who seemed to be walking in the far distance, despite being by her side.

- Lee Seolhwa admits it, and yeah, in the 0th turn he was always looking at the constellation or star, the Demon King of Salvation. And he regressed to find Kim Dokja in the first place, so he's 'walking in the far distance' 'despite being by her side', despite having her as his lover in his regressions, Kim Dokja is more important to him and the one he wants to meet. And he eventually gets so affected by Kim Dokja his feelings change here and there, like no one's been able to do for him before, so he's definitely in love with Kim Dokja!

It's like what Lee Jihye says:

I asked Lee Jihye who was next to me. "Hey, do you know where Yoo Joonghyuk is?"

"Ah, he was going somewhere with Seolhwa unni."

…Lee Seolhwa? Lee Jihye looked at me with pitying eyes, as if she knew what I was thinking.

"…Sigh, it isn't what ahjussi thinks."

"…"

"Really. I watched the whole time. It is completely different from the two of you. I'm certain."

And yeah, no need novel scenes, with the limited interaction he has with Lee Seolhwa in the novel, it's clear that Yoo Joonghyuk chose Kim Dokja over Lee Seolhwa.

[pttucker]

"…Will I keep getting smaller?" I stared at the crumbs of Stories drifting away outside the windows and asked. "Where are those Stories going off to, anyway?" ⸢To uni ver se's sub con scious ness⸥ "And where is that?" ⸢In a wor ld-li ne y o u ar en't con sci ous of⸥ The role of the 'Oldest Dream' was to imagine all of the world-lines. Even if I wasn't conscious of it, my subconsciousness was still continuously watching the world-lines. ⸢Tho se Stories wi ll be reb orn as ano ther Kim Dok ja⸥ "As another Kim Dokja?" ⸢Me ta phor ica lly spea king its li ke th at⸥

⸢Kim Dokja stared into the universe with no visible end.⸥ And now, I knew what my future was like. Every time I read something, I'd crumble away. My crumbling Stories would scatter to countless world-lines out there and become the 'gaze' that maintained this universe. I would lose all of my memories, and lose everything that I hold dear. And in the end, only the desire to see the 'next story' would remain in me. But, without that desire, this universe couldn't continue. This universe could only continue telling its story as long as someone was looking at it.

Okay, we're totally talking about ORV itself here, right? And possibly us?

Like, Dokja is fading away, but he's saying that things will only be maintained if "someone" is looking at it. He doesn't specifically say "so long as I look at it."

And the Fourth Wall is being open and vague at the same time, saying that it's a worldline he's not conscious of despite him supposedly being part of every worldline?

So it's something he's subconsciously aware of, and the novel has really been having a lot of conversations that could be pointing towards ORV itself these last chapters, not to mention moments here and there throughout the entire novel, so he may be subconsciously aware of it already.

Just like I think he's subconsciously aware of the fact that something has gone wrong in his turn and that's why he got such a bad feeling about leaving the 0th turn. Not to mention we literally just saw Sooyoung and Joonghyuk discover the in between space that is ORV itself.

So I'm wondering if Dokja could drift back to 49% just like Sooyoung drifted back to her avatar/vice versa (who Dokja thinks died and doesn't seem to consciously know has returned to a whole) and the story could be maintained by us reading it? Or maybe he's going to be "reborn" as the Kim Dokja of ORV, starting the cycle all over, just like how Sooyoung writing TWSA started the cycle...

Repeating story! Repeating story! Repeating story!

Or, as Sooyoung would say, a Neverending Story.

Also, ughhhhh, I knew Dokja was going to take it all to heart. Even though Sooyoung tried so very hard to tell him that it's not his fault, he didn't cause all this tragedy, Dokja is totally going on about "atoning" for the story by becoming one with it and basically disintegrating himself. Which is nothing new, but it is sad that despite his long journey, in his heart, he's still that same Dokja that makes me want to cry and throw him into the cuddle pile.

Not to mention, him asking "If I forget about everything… I won't feel this pain anymore, right?" 😭😭😭

And then wanting to read TWSA just one more time, properly, on his smartphone, just like he did all those years ago. 😭😭😭

Oh, and I guess I misunderstood previously. Dokja must have been reading the afterward of the final revised version and that is why it was all about Sooyoung. Lmfao this is what I get for reading too quickly, trying to see what happens in the next part. It even said that when he opened it, it was scrolled down to the bottom. I just figured it was like...the epilogue or something and thought it was weird that the epilogue of TWSA was about Sooyoung. 😅

Veeerrryyyy interesting that the final revised version is the first version Dokja read. Everything in this novel is just one big circle.

[lizhly-writes]

so i was dithering about trying to figure out what to do for an orv fic today and then, like a lightning bolt of inspiration, i saw this post and decided sure.  why not.  Let’s continue the bihyung-kdj coparenting au.  further inspiration from @mytoomanybookstoread‘s tags which i took some liberties with, but are:

#For extra fun dies combine it w some of those kdj and yjh knew eo in high school very briefly#And you get an intensely consumed yjh who tracked down kdj years later only to find him w a 10yo and is squinting at the Situation so hard

Yoo Joonghyuk doesn’t really remember much about high school.  He doesn’t particularly want to remember very much about high school.  Still, there are some things that stick in his mind.  Cheap cafeteria food, playing games underneath his desk and hoping his teacher wouldn’t catch him, voices he couldn’t care less jabbering at him and blending into so much white noise, one voice in particular that didn’t –

“Stop telling me what to buy, I can feed myself.  I did it without you for years, don’t you have any faith in me by now?”

Yoo Joonghyuk really thinks he’s hallucinating when he hears that one voice in the middle of the produce section on his weekly grocery run.  

“What’s with that look on your face.  It’s like you don’t trust me.  Bihyung, you know a healthy parenting relationship needs to be built on –”

“Kim Dokja,” Yoo Joonghyuk says, mouth moving before he can even think of doing anything else.

Kim Dokja – could it be anyone else? – looks up from an argument he appears to be losing.  “Sorry, do I know you?” he says, polite smile automatically stretching across his face, and then, “...Yoo Joonghyuk?”

Kim Dokja looks… better than he did in high school.  He doesn’t have that adolescent gangliness anymore; doesn’t have the bruises, the bandages, that sallow look to his skin.  There’s a faint darkness under his eyes that speaks of the fact that he could be sleeping more, but overall, he looks… healthier.  Like he’s improved his lot in life.  Like he’s doing well.

Instead of saying any of this, Yoo Joonghyuk says, “You have a child.”

This is less of a non-sequitur than it should be, because Kim Dokja has a hand resting loosely, absentmindedly, in the hair of a little girl clinging to his leg.  She looks up at Yoo Joonghyuk with big dark eyes that look unsettlingly similar to the man she’s currently attached to.    

“Yes, I see you’re as observant as ever, Yoo Joonghyuk,” Kim Dokja says, which doesn’t explain anything at all.  “This is Biyoo,” he adds, which helps less than he seems to think it does.

“Kim Dokja, who is this,” says the man who Kim Dokja was arguing with.  He’s holding a cabbage like he thinks he can do serious damage with it and is contemplating whether he should aim for Kim Dokja or Yoo Joonghyuk first.

“Oh, that’s Yoo Joonghyuk,” Kim Dokja says, and then to Yoo Joonghyuk, he says, “This is Bihyung.”  

From the look on Bihyung’s face, he’s finding this introduction about as helpful as Yoo Joonghyuk is, which is to say, not at all.  “Really?” 

“What?” says Kim Dokja.

“You have a child?” Yoo Joonghyuk repeats, because the longer he looks at the little girl the more distressingly similar to Kim Dokja she appears and the obvious conclusion is not one that he’s readily capable of believing.

“I feel like I should be offended here,” Kim Dokja says.  “Is there something wrong with me having a child?”

“Is she a relative.”

Kim Dokja sighs, sounding faintly pained.  “Technically correct, I suppose.”

“In the sense that she’s related to him because she’s his daughter,” Bihyung says.

“Who are you,” Yoo Joonghyuk says, because the name ‘Bihyung’ doesn’t tell him anything at all about who Bihyung actually is and why Kim Dokja knows him.

Bihyung quirks a brow up.  “I’m the other parent,” he says dryly.  “Who are you?”

“High school classmate,” Yoo Joonghyuk says automatically.  “You’re married?”

In perfect unison, Kim Dokja and Bihyung take on matching faces of distaste.

“Absolutely not,” Bihyung says.

“Right, Bihyung’s just the other parent.  We’re ex-roommates.”

This is raising more questions than answers. 

[peachyxin]

unbroken faith

ao3 link • 1,159 words • mild angst but it's really just YJH being down bad and bad at communication

pairing: Joongdok

tags: pining, overthinking, grief/mourning, reunions, overthinking, character study, canon compliant, mild hurt/comfort

cw: canon-typical mentions of suicide

summary

Not even the pain of regressing could rival the stagnation that comes with indefinite waiting. Yoo Joonghyuk lives as if his life is on pause, yet despite his resignation, he does not let go of his faith in the absurd, even as his weary grip begins to cramp and seize with the burden of time.

Kim Dokja dies again, and Yoo Joonghyuk only has one coping mechanism.

---

Yoo Joonghyuk blinks slowly in response to the information a red-eyed Lee Jihye relays to his quarters not long after he wakes. He turns it over in his head, tormenting himself with its bitter aftertaste. Kim Dokja is dead. He sacrificed himself. Again.

He attempts once more to contact his companion through Midday Tryst.

[ The constellation 'Demon King of Salvation' doesn't exist in the Star Stream. ]

He isn't surprised by the result. He has already received identical messages countless times before Lee Jihye entered the room.

Yoo Joonghyuk is used to bearing the weight of the world alone. It shrouds him, suffocates him, and saves him. Through his regressions, the accursed responsibility that threatened to drag him into its viscous, unforgiving depths morphed into a liberating prison, his refuge. He learned to extinguish the flicker of hope and stamp out its fluttering insistence in his heart before it has the chance to germinate. Yet, just this once, he places his cynical repudiation of faith on standby. His and Kim Dokja's ideals are diametrically opposed — he remembers being as optimistic as the other in another far-away lifetime, but with the years and failures, he has become jaded. Even so, something about Kim Dokja's naive obstinacy rustles the wings of hope he thought had long perished.

He had expected this outcome. After all, the idiot in question was the Demon King of Salvation, whose imposed deliverance came with the hellish trauma of his selfish sacrifice. He expected it, but it still hurts. The song of their companionship is silent and their future remains murky, with red death and hateful destiny clouding the reflection of the stars and that which lies beyond.

When the story goes awry, regress and repeat until the end of the world. This line of thought is the single consistency in Yoo Joonghyuk's life of eternal damnation. Under ordinary circumstances, he wouldn't hesitate to surrender his final breath to the strength of his sword, spilling a crimson libation to his fated samsara. But this round is different. He can no longer imagine a world without Kim Dokja. He feels the cold metal and minute vibrations of the watch ticking steadily in his breast pocket, a constant reminder that time does not, in fact, halt in the absence of his life's central axis, unlike the momentum of his existence, which becomes suspended like an unfinished breath as his anchor to reality is all but severed. Time waits for no one, so, begrudgingly, Yoo Joonghyuk allows it to tow him along.

He isn't as he is before. He's quiet, keeps to himself in his room, and often stares with blank eyes as the unforgiving second hand marches forward, taunting him. His mind fixates on the moment he was incapacitated after the final battle of the Demon King Selection. If he had been stronger, if he had known what was going to happen next... perhaps the company would not be in such a sorry state today. He wasn't the only one affected — Jung Heewon seethed with a sharpened resentment; the kids and Lee Hyunsung moped around like dejected, lost puppies; and though Yoo Sangah was engrossed in her work, even she didn't seem able to maintain her usual, saintly composure.

In his grieving, he does not forsake his responsibility to his companions. Ever the valiant protector, he watches over them from afar, ensuring they always escape from harm unscathed and stronger than before, even without his physical presence.

Without that insufferable fool by his side, he once again becomes acquainted with the sharp sting of loneliness that he hadn't felt since Life and Death Companions began its storytelling. In the depths of insomniac nights, lying smothered under the weight of his sins and transgressions, he opens Midday Tryst, paying to extend its efficacy period without hesitation. 

[ Lee Jihye doesn't know the value of her life. ]

[ Lee Hyunsung rushes recklessly into danger to protect the party. ]

[ Jung Heewon and Han Sooyoung are fighting again. It's troublesome. ]

[ Yoo Sangah does not have to do this. ]

[ Your kids cry when they think no one is watching. ]

[ Kim Dokja... ]

Even with the faceless nature of the transmitted messages, Yoo Joonghyuk still can’t bring himself to admit how he truly feels. He sends the uncompleted message, anyways. 

He feels silly. Though he already knows the response he'll get, every instance of [ The constellation 'Demon King of Salvation' doesn't exist in the Star Stream. ] still grinds mercilessly at the already shattered pieces of his hardened heart, refining them into particles of sand in a parched and desolate wasteland. He begins to regret, to spiral into depression. When he sees stupid Kim Dokja again, he hopes he can muster up the courage he wields in the face of his endless adversities to give the bastard a piece of his mind.

Not even the pain of regressing could rival the stagnation that comes with indefinite waiting. Yoo Joonghyuk lives as if his life is on pause, yet despite his resignation, he does not let go of his faith in the absurd, even as his weary grip begins to cramp and seize with the burden of time. He believes, even as Yoosung continues to bring back unrelated animals that she thinks "might be Dokja ahjussi". He believes, even as Yoo Sangah's body begins to crumple for the sake of their companions while he is helpless to do anything but watch. He believes (he knows), even when the ridiculous squids descend from the sky toward Yeouido. 

[ Come on sunfish. ]

[ I am the king of the sea. ]

This clown is definitely him alright.

The simmering anger that fueled both his depression and his will to live over the past three years finally erupts. With a darkened expression and ghastly fire in his gaze, he pours his three years of anguish, waiting, and faith into his practiced sword strikes. He is unable to do as he hoped, to openly bare his heart to Kim Dokja. He is a swordsman, not a poet, after all, but the art of his sword speaks on his behalf.

As the battle concludes and Kim Dokja reverts to his human form, he can't bring himself to meet the star at the center of his turbulent, revolving sentiments. The thoughts he had organized, the admonishments he had been ready to administer, they all dissipate at the sight of those sorrowful eyes and that frayed, pathetic smile. He watches as Jung Heewon knocks the idiot out, watches as the party tucks him away in a space where his safety is ensured. He dutifully plays the silent sentry outside Kim Dokja’s “prison”, yet he does not — cannot — face his companion, his lonely messiah.

His hand subconsciously ghosts over the watch above his heart, tentative and disbelieving, to ensure that their time is still moving, and he finally allows its incessant rhythm to begin to lull his restless heart and smooth its irreparable pieces, if only for a fleeting, but cherished, moment.

[headphonemouse]

Ch. 375-396

Ch. 375

"I…" I forced a smile and spoke up. "…I'm sorry that I came so late, Sooyoung-ah."

AUUU

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Ch. 380

⸢"You said that you'll stay with me! You said that you'll become my guardian, didn't you?! I really loved the scenario you've shown me. I can't let you go like this! I…!!"⸥

⸢"My bad, Yuri."⸥

Blood bubbled out of her mouth and she staggered unsteadily before collapsing on the ground. I hurriedly held her in an embrace. Most likely, there was a war being fought between Han Sooyoung and Yuri di Aristel inside this body right about now.

Not enough people talk about this scene

"I'd like to say something, but it seems that someone else will do that for me, instead." "What?" Right in that next instant, fiery pain shot up from the back of my head. "Hey, Kim Dokja!" I looked back to find a familiar grinning face waiting for me. "Everything's screwed up because of you!" Han Sooyoung brushed her hair lazily and sat upright, before smacking me in the head once more.

I just liked this passage.

When Lee Hyunsung and Jung Heewon stood on my sides, the threatening air pouring down on me softened by a good deal. I felt reassured with the greatest sword and shield gathered in one place like this.

It must have been ridiculous seeing the First Prince and revolutionary leader, the Swordmaster and 9th Circle Magician Queen, two seasoned knights and the Fourth Prince with average stats at 10 points walk into this room

□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□

Ch. 382

…Could she have landed in this place all alone?

"Shin Yoosung?"

A boy pushed his head out from among the scrap metal like some kind of a baby octopus.

"Lee Gilyoung?"

Feeling happy now, she shifted her gaze over there, but then, the figure of woman leapt out from the piles of rubbish while stepping on the boy's head.

Aww she felt happy to see Lee Gilyoung. Fellow baby cephalopods

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Ch. 385

"Kim Dokja… He's a hardcore bastard, alright. He might be the only idiot who'd come up with something this crazy as a solution in situations like this one."

"He's originally like that."

"It's the same story for you, too! You two are so damn similar."

At her rebuke, Yoo Joonghyuk retorted with a curt tone of voice. "You aren't that different from us, either."

"Whaaat? I'm different from you two idiots. Anyway, let's stop yapping and get cracking already."

This scene, I wanna compare it to this one in ch. 427

I could guess who the Scenario Master was already. Well, there could ever be only one person capable of coming up with such an out-there story in <Kim Dokja's Company>, after all.

All these crazy plans, only one only two only THREE people are crazy enough to come up with them. There are other passages like this but I can't be bothered to find them.

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Ch. 389

[For the eternity of all scenarios and their epilogue!]

HUH?! WHAT'S THIS UNDERWORLD JUDGE DOING JUST SAYING THAT BEFORE HE'S EVEN REVEALED HIS ■■

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Ch. 396

In that brief moment, the gazes of these two met each other. ⸢"Everyone knows how to deal with Demon Kings, right?"⸥ They carried the same pain, and they lived with the same hurt. They had lost people they cared about right before their eyes. ⸢"Let's begin the final scenario."⸥ They had failed to save their companions many times over. And that was why they could never turn their backs on the people dying right in front of them. The lives they had lived so far made sure of that.

Kdj really ethereal dead wife-ing it up here. Like. Isn't he the only companion they ever lost?

She then grasped her sword tighter, planning to help Lee Hyunsung. But then, right at that moment… …A chilling premonition tickled her entire figure. She had never felt such a thing before in her entire life. Not even when she was about to lose Kim Dokja in the [Dark Castle], not when she lost him one more time back in the 73rd Demon Realm, and then… "Heewon-ssi! Get down!!"

HE REALLY IS THE ONLY ONE THEY THINK ABOUT WHEN THEY REMEMBER LOSING PEOPLE GKSHEBFKW

[porcelaintoybox23]

Things that can’t be said

Hi, I’m mentally ill. Here’s a small continuation fic set after 551. I am also bi, so it’s fem!dokjoong. Feel free to imagine their male selves.

Joonghyuk sits on the sidewalk. It’s still early, and the industrial complex remains silent, most of its occupants still asleep. She looks up to a small window in the upper right corner, floor three room five. It was a room she was painfully aware of, one she avoided for the better part of two years. Her hands shake and she grabs her water bottle to steady them.

The person occupying was the one they had all longed to see. Someone worth braving another fucking apocalypse, someone worth causing an unending apocalypse. Despite the odds, their little nebula had succeeded. That’s what they had always done, fight with their backs against the wall unyielding from probability. They created a reality that’s worth living in.

Joonghyuk isn’t happy. She’s not unhappy nor is she regretful. Joonghyuk doesn’t know how she feels. There’s something there, deep down, but her emotions have been dulled from 1864 regressions. That nameless thing sits there like the outer gods and the hounds that chase them, writhing and desperate to grab onto something. Joonghyuk can’t say when they appeared, these feelings she can’t quite suppress. They sit in her bones.

The curtains in the room are closed, but they’ll open around eight. By then, Joonghyuk will be taking Mi Ah to school and helping Namgung Minyoung in her restaurant. It’s been a month since she’s returned from the other reaches of the universe. Time was meaningless there, but the silver streaks in her hair was sign that she was firmly grounded in it nonetheless. That trip did change her. She prefers the day now, feels the seeming insignificance of her stories. Sometimes, she finds Biyoo in her bed, clutching tightly onto her fingers. Joonghyuk wonders who the comfort is really for.

She finishes the water and stretches. Sounds are emerging from the complex and she knows people will start milling about. She needs to go.

“Joonghyuk-ah.”

Joonghyuk stiffens at the hand on her shoulder. That buried feeling sharpens, howling for release. There’s no point in feigning ignorance.

“Kim Dokja.” She gets up and the hand slips through her arm, leading her to a secluded corner. Even in a world without scenarios, her strength far surpasses that of Kimcom’s leader, but she can’t fight against the firm touch.

It’s a tiny grotto Lee Seolhwa had nurtured behind the complex. Little bunches of chrysanthemums, lillies, and surprisingly, sunflowers decorate the ground as weeping willows provide a curtain of privacy. They sit on a stone bench and watch the passerby through the trees.

“Joonghyuk, why have you been avoiding me.” It’s phrased like a question but is a statement, an acknowledgment of the awkwardness. Dokja moves in closer, leaning against Joonghyuk’s shoulder. The tentacles grab at her ribs and it feels like drowning from the inside out.

“You won’t even look at me. What happened?”

“Why don’t you ask the 1%?” She clamps her mouth shut, bending her head to hide beneath her bangs. The hounds are chomping at their bits.

Joonghyuk can see Dokja’s face clearly. The brown-grey eyes widening, eyebrows slightly pinched as her mouth twists in the left corner. It’s one of many looks she’s memorized, one of the only faces still clear in her memories.

“You’ve been avoiding me all month. Han Sooyoung thinks your hiding from me.” Dokja ends with a small laugh. Joonghyuk hand starts to shake as she takes a sharp breath. That feeling has risen into her throat, coats her mouth in a bitter, inky poison that she cannot handle. She stands.

“Joonghyuk-ah, I know your mad—“

“I’m not mad!” Joonghyuk isn’t mad. What she feels is indescribable, it’s the vast darkness of the outer worlds, the bright emptiness of the space between words, it’s the pain of hope taken and dashed in front of her for thousands of years, it’s a fragment masquerading as a whole, it’s the small child lying comatose in room five of the third floor. She finally turns and sees those calculating eyes, the slight paling of skin due to recovery and nerves.

Dokja’s hand is still on her arm, warm, pulse thrumming steadily with life. She looks at Joonghyuk expectantly, like she knows how this would go, how Joonghyuk would react. She always seemed to know, what she thought, how she felt. Those eyes held an answer for every question Joonghyuk has. Does she know what this feeling is? What name to give in order to bind it to the depths of her fragmented soul?

“I’m not mad!” Joonghyuk’s never been one for words, that’s Han Sooyoung. She could describe the indescribable, break it down into digestible words and metaphors that would bring tears to the coldest of hearts, but Joonghyuk isn’t a writer, she’s not a reader, she’s a protagonist.

How can she describe that pain of realizing Dokja had left, again, the pain of looking at that child like some cruel mockery sent to punish her?

Dokja moves in front and carefully traces a finger under her eye. Joonghyuk’s cheeks are warm and she feels wetness traveling down. When did she start crying? What regression did she last shed a tear in?

Those eyes that she imagined in those pages, words she desperately devoured to stay whole, during what she thought was her ▪️▪️They look at her. The certainty that followed her through the 1863rd round. Even deeper lies thus realization, the outcome was already fated. The hounds and outer gods howl as her tears flow in earnest but she can’t let them out. Her chest heaves and her heart feels like it will burst but she will endure. That’s what she does, even in a world with a weakened star stream.

“I can’t undo what’s been done,” two thin arms surround her and her eyes take in the sunflowers through blurry eyes.

“but, I’m sorry. I missed you.”

A mangled scream comes from somewhere. The demons within her cry out in freedom.

If Dokja finds the dead weight leaning on her heavy, she makes no complaint. She just stands there holding the woman who had saved her countless times, again and again, gently patting her hair. In between soul-shattering sobs, she hears:

“I missed you too.”

[ekanatsume]

Finished the orv sidestory season1. Istg i just wanna get inside this damn story and hug this man (lhh) and break them bones. Bro needs a hug and i can gladly provide it. Cant believe the orv sidestory has way worse angst than the main story like the authors be sadists istg. I have no other explanation of how many mood swings i just went as i read this shit. I am now left indescribable despair and unending urge to get inside the story and hug all the goddamn characters. I am done. Yes lee hakhyun, i love you. Well more seasons to go! I feel like im slowly turning into kim dokja as time passes by. Id survive the hellish scenerios only to see the epilogue of this damn story. I understand kdj now, very well in fact. The desire to create a happy ending for the characters one loves although may seem stupid to an outsider but goddamn, if it aint powerful. Too bad that this isnt the reality and i can only read this from the screen unable to change anything. The urge to time travel and finally see orv completed and see kdj get back to kimcom and Ihh being the happiest and confident successful writer of all time. Maybe finally hsy can write her books and have her reader to read them. Is it too much to ask for? Is it really? I ask for one thing and this damn authors be going "n a h". im left traumatised, in pain, and unable to get away from it. Very cool of me to think the sidestories wouldnt be THAT sad if i knew the spoilers but boy oh boy, the scenes hit me more than any meteorite could ever do. Thenks singnshong, i love you but you like hurting your readers

[ksalientian]

29. [orv] joongdok

'brother'. text version of my twitter post.

.

Joonghyuk didn't know when it had happened, but without realising it, he had gained a brother one day. Kim Dokja had appeared out of nowhere, like a magic trick. No one seemed to think it was weird; but then, Joonghyuk didn't really feel weird about it either. It wasn't like he had a lot to compare to. For all he knew this really was how brothers came about, and everyone just never talked about it, all part of some collectively buried secret. So he kept his silence too.

"Do you miss your parents?" his brother asked one day, as he walked Joonghyuk to school (Dokja didn't go to school, and for some reason no one ever called him out about this either). Joonghyuk thought for a moment about asking, what about your parents? Then he let it go.

"I don't know," said Joonghyuk. "I've never had any."

"Hmm." 

"What?"

Dokja shrugged a little. "They're just— I don't think parents are that great, anyway. Real parents aren't like in the stories." He skipped ahead so Joonghyuk couldn't see the look on his face, but he wasn't very good at hiding his tells. His hands were being loud.

Joonghyuk reached out and caught one of Dokja's hands in his own. His brother's fingers were cold, as they always were, as though he had taken them straight out of a freezer. "I believe you," he said. He didn't know how to comfort someone else, having never been comforted himself, but he thought Dokja might like hearing something like that. Dokja gave him the same sort of feeling he had when he saw stray puppies in the rain. Like he was always alone, even when Joonghyuk was right there.

"Thanks," said Dokja, turning to beam at Joonghyuk. That was a smile he only ever had when he was looking at Joonghyuk. "You're just like in the stories, though. Maybe it was worth ■■■ after all."

This would happen, sometimes. Dokja would say something, and it was like Joonghyuk's ears just blanked out. Dokja never seemed to notice it, though, so Joonghyuk never brought it up either. He just nodded, as he did now. He thought he probably knew what Dokja was forbidden to say, anyway, after all this time touching Dokja's cold skin and seeing people's eyes slide right over his existence. It was another one of those things about which Joonghyuk would stoically keep his silence.

"Don't do it again," was all Joonghyuk said. His grip on Dokja's fingers tightened enough that someone else might have cried out in pain.

Dokja, however, only looked terribly pleased. "Oh," he said, and his smile seemed to have far too many teeth in it, "I'll never leave you."

[generallypo]

in all sincerity, kim dokja makes me happy and he deserves to be so too :^(

incoherent yelling and sobbing under the cut. these fEELINGS will not be contained aaauuunnghhh. 

------

anyway i binge-read all 500+ chapters of ORV this week and i honest to god feel bad for this -- completely! fictional! aghhhh -- guy. in case you haven’t figured it out, the following is some spoilerly shit

i went in expecting a fun, brainless power trip fantasy for dudes with an isekai addiction. instead, it turns out ORV is actually a gigantic, self-deprecating prank on the entire genre itself. kdj plays more into the sad -- if high-functioning-- clown trope than the sexy, edgy, chuuni bastard type i was prepared to laugh at. there were -- gasp! -- female characters with personalities! parents (aka ADULTS who act like ADULTS) who actually survive and feature prominently! adorable children! a real sexy, edgy bastard! a power trio with amazing fashion! sexual tension and bickering! friendship! life and death bonding! 

*breathes in deeply* fouND FAMILYYYYYYY.

like, yeah, the plot around the first few arcs seems a little aimless, but the buildup is worth. the world-building is pretty decent. there’s discernible effort put into the fight scenes, and i can appreciate that. but -- but! what i stayed for were the characters -- namely, the fantastic OT3 of KDJ, HSY, and YJH -- who come together despite their initial rivalries and end up saving each other’s asses, like, every other day. granted, the other characters don’t get as much focus, and they do fall into certain character tropes.. 

but a trope done well is nothing i would gripe about. every significant character in ORV has a coherent, and more importantly, respectful take on their respective trope. maybe it’s because sing-shong is actually a married couple, but all the interactions between even minor characters are a convincing blend of awkward rambling, suggestive humor, sharp remarks, and casual banter. in other words, this cast of mostly working adults (plus a teen and two kids) talks like working adults. the relationships built throughout the story are, frankly, some of most realistic of its genre. sing-shong has managed to craft a dynamic that undoubtedly brims with fluffy fondness all around, but also drips with sarcastic tension, with unspoken urgency, with a wariness that softens into sincerity over the course of many, many chapters. it’s the kind of progression that makes even stock characters read like more than just the 2-bit villain or comrade or love interest. here, we have relationships both straightforward and not, strained or otherwise, romantically-oriented as well as decidedly the opposite -- and then numerous others scattered along the spectrum with the freedom to shift either way. 

it’s also an interesting point of note that our MC kdj actually does not end up with a stated romantic partner, much less a conventional heteroromantic harem. he gets teased about that fact from time to time, but it’s with less of the sleazy shonen locker room humor one would expect and more of the good-natured ribbing you’d find among friends or that one especially nosy auntie at the yearly family reunion. kdj is a grown ass man. in the background, i applaud his maturity, and he handles all the prodding like a champ. 

so instead of finding and fulfilling his horny, he builds himself a wealth of loving family. yeah, there are beautiful men and women around him. yeah, they unequivocally adore him. but they’re also adults, and they have priorities, too -- which are not so much finding a way to bang kdj’s brains out and more so simply keeping the damn guy alive. this is truly not ‘oblivious mc with his thirsty, sex kitten harem’. it just so happens that a guy proves himself to be unflinchingly gentle and capable in an apocalyptic setting despite his broken self-esteem, and lots of people find that attractive, romantically and platonically. 

it.. kinda makes sense? he’s a hard worker, thoughtful, and good with kids. kdj is the kind of guy you know would make a reliable partner, and anybody with eyes can plainly see and appreciate that. 

and it’s not that our MC’s a total brick wall. in fact, it’s likely the opposite, and he’s just too darned repressed to admit it. from what has been implied, kdj does indeed recognize and accept love, or at least a primitive concept of it. i like to imagine that the kind of love that he ends up seeking out simply manifests itself more easily as acceptance and safety, as warmth and a home of people to return to every day. even better, the people who surround him know this, and they give him exactly that. it’s refreshing, and honestly, really sweet.

(as a side note, i really, really do appreciate the cosmic bi energy radiating off of kdj, who canonically earns the title of being loved by all and is all but in name married to yjh and hsy. he also respects women and small children and honestly anyone who isn’t total scum to him or his family. i respect that.)

but the happy stuff aside, you know it it just ain’t ORV without the generous screaming dollop of angst. admittedly, there’s self-sacrifice, injury, lonesome wandering, more sacrifice, some epic fighting, reunion and confrontation. all of it is a lot to digest, sure, but never does it feel entirely hopeless, or truly, truly heart-clenching. ORV, up until the final act, is a mostly light read. you relax in your chair, thinking that nothing beyond this point can disturb you. 

yeah fucking right.

------

and then the beginning of the end arrives. when the squad finally break through to their ‘ending’, the scene that kind of breaks me is the reveal of the Most Ancient Dream. it ties so much thematically into the little tidbits that we get of kdj’s past, and it though it feels like almost a joke that the source of the goddamn apocalypse is a kid with bruises smeared across his skinny ass body -- it’s such a pathetic picture that it’s kinda poetic, actually. you’re left mystified but somewhat convinced, like a math problem explained halfway through. this.. child.. is a villain somehow, isn’t he?

and then 999th turn uriel speaks up, and she. just. hugs him. 

[[You are this universe’s most powerless existence, aren’t you.]] 

that. that gets me. kdj’s reaction immediately upon this revelation? absolute murder. seeing him essentially self-destruct upon realizing that all these people he’s surrounded himself with -- some who continuously proclaim their loyalty and affection for him throughout their journey, some who suffered eons of war and loss and trauma because of his existence -- not only forgive his younger self but smother him with unconditional acceptance and love is stifling, is too vulnerable and exposed and he simply can’t cope -- it’s so telling of his true mentality, of his crippling insecurity and crumpled sense of self-worth. kim dokja is a liar, through and through, so much that he fails, or perhaps refuses, to comprehend the veracity of others’ kindness and love towards himself. 

by some miracle, the events at the end of the world somehow resolve.. or so it seems. there is a departing train, a liberated team of ex-gods, and a child rousing from his slumber. in the aftermath, i am left shaking. somehow, despite the ending having been (happily?) reached, there’s still another chapter ahead. what is this witchcraft?

------

and then ah, yes -- the epilogue arc. i teetered on the edge of being critical for a little bit there -- is that display of deus ex machina, of sad, self-sacrificing nobility a bit too egregious to be acceptable? is this some wild last let-me-yank-this-outta-my-ass plot twist to drag out the chapter count? i sincerely thought that the arc before it would have been the finale. i was wrong. thank god.

anyways, as an answer to the above: no, and no. i stake my firm claim on the belief that the epilogue arc was meticulously planned out well in advance of its release, confusing and time-warpy as it is. i liked it. tremendously. even if it entirely invalidates all of kdj’s supposed development (”haha lol yeah sure i won’t sacrifice myself or anything anymore guys don’t worry about me” -- KDJ, at some point because he’s a lying rat bastard). actually, our beloved MC disappears for a large chunk of this arc, and i think it’s great. in his absence, the other characters not only go absolutely fucking nuts, but they have to figure out this new problem on their own, even if the lure of peaceful complacency in the newly saved Korea might convince them otherwise. 

and then the whole time paradox thing comes around. yjh goes to space, hsy saves the only life she can, and kdj grows up. the crew waits, holding onto their hope even if it bleeds them dry. sing-shong does a damn good job of illustrating their fraying calm, their lurking madness, the unseen but pervasive depression that seeps in from kdj’s absence. the kids lose their father, lhs and jhw lose their reliable leader figure, ysa loses a best friend and confidant, lsk -- as distant as she pretends to be from her son -- loses her only child. and then there’s hsy and yjh , who are essentially bereft of the other half of their existences. their pain is palpable, is grounded in the hopeless, gnawing frustration of an utterly meaningless victory. emotionally, ORV hits all the right -- if agonizing -- beats.

however, a story can’t sustain itself just through its pathos. i’m happy to say that ORV doesn’t drop the ball after the first milestone, and after all the hurt, the characters do leap straight back into action. even better, the plot holes actually do get patches, and the poetic cycle of writer, protagonist, and reader comes full circle by making use of all those supposedly throwaway characters from the myriad world lines. 

at the end of the road, there is a distinct sense of unity, of a delicate but undeniable cohesion to the world lines and their origins. sing-shong lets us guess a little here at the finish, but there’s just enough information to feel hopeful. maybe there never had been a definite start -- or finish -- to the story of kdj company, and... that’s okay. everybody ends up where they were meant to be, where they fought and struggled to reach. it’s.. almost like a happily ever after, if we’re allowed to dream of that.

------

now, i realize, this was all an orchestrated maneuver.

i’ll take it.

to me, all of this work sounds like someone put some serious thought into this behemoth of a plot. it cements the entire original premise of the story. it suggests -- but never explicitly confirms! -- the possibility that breaking free of the cycle is possible through the exact same system that sustains it. it’s terribly interesting -- and inspirational! with all the dramatic revelations and life-threatening scenarios  and the cast’s resigned acceptance of them that essentially make up ORV’s entire mood, there’s still that last hint of rebellious and righteous anger that lights up the whole damn nebula. it’s like the kdj company blasting away at the heavens just to yell into the nether: we’re not looking for the happy end, but the free one. stay alive.

it’s subtle, and yet it’s such an emotional gut punch. i came away with the most ruinous, frustrating, bittersweet sense of longing in ages. i pined. for these fictional darlings. god, i am weak.

so. yeah. ORV is pretty good. flawed, but ambitious and impressively thought out.  i’m stoked that the webtoon is making pretty good progress, even if it’ll take an eternity and a half to meet that monstrous chapter count. i’m still gonna follow it. hell yeah. 

------

(by the way the idea that secretive plotter and co are literally gonna take care of and raise baby kdj and spoil him and be the best friggin family a kid could ever want does things to me. protect him. he’s suffered too much. let at least one worldline’s version of him know happiness. and actually, aLL OF THEM DESERVE DOMESTIC BLISS TOGETHER IN A BIG OL MANSION WITH SUN AND FRESH AIR AND TENDER FAMILY MOMENTS UGH)

------

and there you have it, folks. you made it to the end. in the far, far distance, i’m cheering you on and crying my eyes out in gratitude. thanks for tuning in!

[directorofthefalselastact]

ebooking pt. 2

i think if there was one change i love above all others in this edition, it’s kim dokja’s increased... empathy(?). not in a, “oh he understands people better” way, because he doesn’t, lol. i mean it more in a... he sees a hurt or a frustration someone might express and is more likely to go “ah, me too.” in a way it might seem trivializing of their pain, i guess, but it really feels like kim dokja going, “well you’re not the only one thinking that/feeling like that, i can assure you.” thinking about some of his exchanges with min jiwon, jung heewon, yoo sangah, even han donghoon... there are some small changes that essentially boil down to this kind of reciprocity, almost. he’s still very presumptuous in his way LMAO kim dokja king of making assumptions about people, and he’s by NO means effusive or smooth about it, but like... it works. idk, i think it really works.

[izanyas]

do you have any favorite quotes, including from your own writing? i would supplement some from your works but that would lead me to reread all ur bsd ones and i save my izanyas rabbit hole phase for every six months or else i'd be emotionally destroyed (your power...!!)

YOUR IZANYAS RABBIT HOLE AAAAAH

oh god i haven't thought about it before!! let me just check Everything

Portrait of You:

The only people who know of Chuuya’s exploits are his boss and those who live to tell the tale; and the tale is told in whispers around meeting tables, never flashed onto TV screens for the uninvolved to consume. HERO NAME v. VILLAIN NAME, the screens say, red or blue background on the left where a hero smiles, purple or black on the right where the villain stares, mouth open to show teeth.

Chuuya knows which side of the screen he’d be on. He knows what Corruption looks like.

In Normalcy's Good Name:

Loneliness, he thinks. A disease he cannot fix by himself, though he tries.

Febrile:

He dreamed of long expanses of grass that turned to rocks and sand; he dreamed of high stone buildings, white as snow, of empty wooden bell-towers that still sang alongside his breathing; he dreamed for a long time, and he dreamed for no time at all. Instants blended together into infinite stretches of time as he flew and crawled and swam, each chime of the unseen bell turning the world into something different and new.

Outside the Realm of Gratitude:

What a mind Claude has. What a heart too, so well-hidden and preserved that Lorenz once thought it non-existent. It is painfully clear to him now just how obtuse he has been.

Build Upon the Ruins:

He understood, right then, that he had never known anyone before. Not like this. He stood wordless in the only home he had a claim to, however reluctant a claim it was; and as he let the whispers of a connection that no two humans should ever share bleed out, he realized that he would never again know someone.

“Now,” Dazai said, watching him greedily. “This is a sight for sore eyes.”

Hello, Chuuya thought, heart shaking.

It was Dazai’s voice he heard whispering back.

It’s so good to meet you.

Tomorrow Has Not Yet Come:

Killing, it turns out, is like riding a bicycle. You never forget how to do it.

Slow Learner:

That was the problem with cultivating the image of a perpetual liar—no one believed him when he wanted to say the truth.

Light:

“It’s a beautiful name,” she said, looking at him with what she thought must be obvious longing. Chuuya, her mind told her again. Chuuya. A name to say in one heartbeat. “You should be proud of it.”

Chuuya looked up at her from under his lashes, cheeks flushed, eyes bright. He always wore vulnerability around him like cloth, but this kind, she had not seen before. This kind she felt in her heart at the turning point of anger; this kind she felt under her skin like a second set of ribs.

Feet Over Harsh Ground:

She remembered blooming petal by petal in the dark of that secret place. She remembered sunlight in the shape of a girl. She remembered her joy and her fear and no one can ever know, Akiko.

No one could ever know.

End of the Famine:

That’s the thing with Dazai. He always looks a second away from fading into thin air, like his being corporeal is only an exercise in politeness. Like his true form lies somewhere between nothing and less than.

Blind Eye:

If only you’d been born a boy, he wished, not for the first time. If only I had a brother.

If Huaisang had been born a brother of his, someone like Lan Xichen or Meng Yao, or even one of those boys she so liked to write about; perhaps then Nie Mingjue would have known how to talk to her.

Perhaps, like Jiang Fengmian, he should find himself a stray to love above his own kin.

and the calm is deep where the quiet waters flow (this was SO FUCKING HARD to decide)

“Does it matter?” she asked him after she had caught her breath. “Does it matter who did it? It was all of them. Every single one of them.” With a brown-stained hand, she roughly rubbed away the tears streaming down her face. She said, “It’s all of you every time one of you does it, and when it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us.”

She said, “This is the only true difference between us all.”

Simmer Down:

He grabbed his too-hot cup of coffee with the fingers of his free hand and let the liquid burn his tongue, bitterer he thought than what he really wanted to drink. Orihara watched him with half-lidded eyes. Like a great bird of prey, wounded and landed and still dangerous.

“Kine once said you were like an animal,” Shiki said into the brim of his cup. It seared his lips, grounding, unsatisfying.

“Did he,” Orihara replied a little shakily.

“He called you vicious. Said that’s why I should be your contact inside Awakusu instead of someone else.”

“How peculiar.”

Shiki let out a thin smile. “He seemed to think I was ruthless enough not to get caught into your sick little games.”

“I don’t play with my food,” Orihara said, like a hum or a song. “If I’m playing then I don’t plan to eat at all.”

Mercy Bid:

For a very long second, he considered looking back. He thought about texting Kadota and telling him to leave him here. He thought about sitting by Izaya’s side until the sun rose and Izaya himself awoke again.

He thought about Celty back home. He thought about Izaya here.

“Yeah,” he replied, the word so heavy on his tongue that he almost sobbed with it. He tugged the door open to the darkness and silence of the hallway. “Sleep well, Izaya.”

All Excuses Aside:

Then the man smiled.

“Well, Izaya,” he said. The cheerfulness in his eyes which had till then made him look almost childish seemed to shift under Izaya’s very eyes. He leaned over the couch once more until his face was right above Izaya’s, and this time Izaya didn’t think anyone could have mistaken his expression for anything close to good-natured. “You’re very, very lucky to be alive.”

For the first time in years, Izaya felt those words to be true.

Withholding Care:

Gintoki was too busy warring with Kagura’s wandering hands to answer him. Eventually, and despite his best efforts to stop her, she managed to land one solid palm in his face with what felt like the strength of three grown men.

“You really are hot,” she said in victory, ignoring the grunt of pain he gave at the blow. “Hot enough to egg on.”

“To cook an egg on,” Shinpachi corrected.

Fires Find a Home:

Yoo Jonghyuk shoves his entire head into the crook of Kim Dokja’s neck and declares, “If I could tie you in place and make sure you never move out of my sight again, I would.”

That would be highly bothersome considering everything Kim Dokja still needs to do, but here and now in the silence of that abandoned building, with Yoo Jonghyuk breathing onto his skin and rubbing off against his hip, he can’t feel too strongly about it.

Surrender:

There is a bereft wife somewhere inside another moonlit room, and Natori is taking her naked husband to his bed.

OK IM STOPPING HERE i cant do Every fic i have it would take so long

[pttucker]

This sort of affectionate behaviour felt uncomfortable to me, like some kind of ill-fitting clothes. Was it okay to be like this? Was it okay to experience moments like this already?

How long had it been since all of my companions were smiling together like this? Maybe, this could be our first time. They were able to smile even though the scenarios hadn't ended yet. They were able to chat away in happiness like that, and share their stories. ��And while looking at that spectacle, Kim Dokja suddenly felt lonely for some reason.⸥

"Well, Dokja-ssi, your communication skill has always been a little lacking, so it can't be helped, I guess. You were also like that back when we were working for the company." "…I was?" "You really didn't speak all that much to other people." I became utterly speechless after she mercilessly carpet-bombed me with facts. But then again, after giving it a bit of thought, it made total sense. I grew up without a friend from a young age. I wasn't clued in on how to socialise with other people, and back then, I only thought about how to weasel myself out of the company meal get-together. I figured that, rather than wasting time doing that, I might as well read the 'Ways of Survival' one more time instead.

I wasn't sure what to say to her. It felt as if I'd only sound like an ass just by thanking her or expressing my gratitude. The 'Ways of Survival' never taught me what I should say in moments like this.

Ughhhhh, Dokja not having a single friend and basically teaching himself how to socialize based on how characters interacted in a web novel. With the main character of said web novel being Yoo Joonghyuk so...yeah...

Granted, apparently even Joonghyuk took time to give his companions breaks and hang out with his little sister.

Of course, it's not like Dokja has ever had to pay attention to what anybody else wanted when out and about doing things, nor did he expect anybody else to pay attention to him.

Ughhhhh, the pain. I know it was heavily implied that he had no friends, like ever, on top of being badly bullied and abused and traumatized from killing his own abusive father as a little kid and mentally covering it up to the point that he thought his mother killed him, who then wrote a very popular book claiming she did just that and and and...but I think this is the first time he outright says that he never had any friends?

And it seems to also be heavily implied that the relatives who took Dokja in were perhaps not the greatest considering he apparently didn't learn how to socialize from them either and moved into a hostel at seventeen...

And maybe I'm reading too much into this, but it almost seems to me like Dokja maybe thinks, at least subconsciously, that he has to earn the right to be happy and to have friends to be happy with? Or that he has to get through the bad stuff first before being allowed to finally enjoy life? (And doesn't that say a lot about his own life in the Before?)

He mentions twice that they're happy and smiling before the end of the scenarios, with one of the times literally being him saying, "Was it okay to be like this? Was it okay to experience moments like this already?" And he just feels so alienated and alone at seeing them all do exactly that, meanwhile he's got serious anxiety about all this "affectionate behavior" that can be ripped away at any moment. That he hasn't secured yet.

And maybe that's just it. Maybe he's just worried about having fun when there's still a threat nearby that can swoop down on them at any moment, and that in and of itself says a lot about his mentality and you can see pretty easily how that can tie into aspects of his past.

And that's not even getting into the fact that some part of Dokja probably feels that getting them to the end is kind of what he's there for, it's how he proves his worth and his love for them. He has no "place" at the big found family barbecue.

Ughhhh, someone please just cuddle him. 😭 Who wants to start the Kim Dokja cuddle pile? Kids? Hyunsung?

[lizhly-writes]

tried to write something for normal orv fan knw for an ask.  it didn’t work, i ended up with this instead. context: this takes place at a point where our normal orv fan knw no longer thinks that kdj is going to kill him on sight.

This is the most useless ability ever.

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Kim Namwoon says as he scrolls through all of the ORV stuff on his Twitter timeline. Seriously? This is what he gets? Kim Dokja gets the whole text of WoS with revisions, and Kim Namwoon gets the ability to scroll through orvtwt?

That can’t be the only thing he can do, right? It’s not like he ever downloaded a copy before, but he should have a copy of ORV, shouldn’t he? Ah, but Kim Dokja got a system notification when he received his copy of WoS. Kim Namwoon hasn’t gotten any such thing, so does he just not have the text at all? If he doesn’t, maybe he has to level up or something so he can access it? Though even that’s looking at it really positively. It could be that he doesn’t have any chance of obtaining the text all and he’ll just have to rely on his year-old shitty memory of the webnovel because everything is —

“Are you trying to crush your phone?”

Kim Namwoon comes amazingly close to punching Kim Dokja in the face. It would probably be really satisfying if it actually hit, but as it is, Kim Namwoon’s fist touches nothing but air; Kim Dokja sidesteps neatly away, eyebrows raised like a schoolteacher who’s just witnessed his student do something truly ridiculous. It feels like Kim Namwoon’s going to get a scolding for wasting valuable education time any moment.

It’s annoying. It’s really annoying. Kim Dokja is really annoying. Kim Namwoon knew that before ever entering this novel, he thought it had been really funny. But it’s one thing to read it in text, another thing to be stuck with that smug smirk in actual meatspace.

“What do you want,” Kim Namwoon says.

“Oh, nothing in particular,” Kim Dokja says breezily. “Problem? It seems you’re experiencing technical difficulties.”

Out of spite, Kim Namwoon shoves the screen at him, which is, of course, stopped on a beautifully rendered picture of Kim Dokja making out passionately with Yoo Joonghyuk for like, the millionth time. Kim Namwoon isn’t much of a Joongdok fan, to be honest, but the artist did really well with the color palette and subsurface scattering. Kim Namwoon would be full of envy if he had the energy to spare for it right now.

Kim Dokja takes in the screen for only a moment before his eyes flick back to Kim Namwoon’s face, completely unfazed. “Did you expect the internet to work fine through all this?” he says, confirming Kim Namwoon’s assumption that ORV-related shit gets censored through this skill. Maybe his screen’s blank or there’s a connection issues pop-up or something.

“I don’t know, maybe there’s some guy with an internet skill out there and I could just stand next to him for wifi,” Kim Namwoon says.

Kim Dokja almost looks surprised — there’s the slightest twitch in his brows — before he says, like the irritatingly smug person he is, “Well, it’s good to have imagination.” As if they don’t both know that yeah, there is actually a guy out there who can act as a walking talking wifi signal.

…Well, Kim Dokja doesn’t know that Kim Namwoon knows, at any rate. Kim Namwoon wonders if he can push it. How much knowledge can he pass off as lucky guesses before it becomes apparent he knows something he shouldn’t? Not that he’s planning on doing anything like that. It would make Kim Dokja suspicious. Make him poke around. End up asking questions Kim Namwoon doesn’t know how to answer. It’s not an ideal situation.

…Then again, it’s not like Kim Dokja likes him much anyway. Kim Dokja might decide against poking around and just kill him on the spot.

“Ahjussi, you’re such a pain,” Kim Namwoon says, letting his head loll back. “Has anyone ever told you that?”

Kim Dokja smiles thinly. “Frequently, actually.”

[katcadecascade]

The One Thing You Can’t Replace (ORV fic)

Summary: Shin Yoosung wakes up in tears. She will not grieve over a man who can still be saved. All she has to do is make everyone remember Kim Dokja.

Chapter One: As the World Caves In 

“Okay, everyone calm down.”

“No, no, no, Ahjussi!”

“You have a plan. Of course you do, good… But about this?”

“Well I have never seen this scenario before actually.”

“Oh god, there’s a countdown!”

“We can overcome this scenario. We just have to work together like always… Why are you all staring at me like that?”

“Bastard, you can’t be this stupid.”

“Hmm?”

“The one thing we can’t…”

“Yes I can read too and just because we’re caught off guard doesn’t mean we can’t figure it out. We just have to be smart and find out what exactly is missing when this starts.”

“…”

“Ahjussi…”

[00:05 Before Scenario Begins]

“Hey, there’s no need to cry, Shin Yoosung.”

“Ahjussi, please… please don’t…”

[00:03]

“Don’t what? I’m not going any-“

[00:00]

[Sub-Scenario: The One Thing You Can’t Replace has begun!]

   Shin Yoosung wakes up in tears.

She rubs the wetness off her cheeks in almost a painful pace but it doesn’t matter. Nothing compares to the giant ache in her heart. Dread spreads throughout her core as she looks around the room.

It’s her room obviously, a bit messy with clothes and books tossed around. There’s that animal fur smell that she is immune to but Lee Jihye always complains about when the older girl comes around. At one side of the room is her most cherished possessions.

Small animal tanks for the little frog and other small creatures she picked up. Then there are the bigger tanks that Lee Hyunsung had set up for her bigger creatures, like the tentacle monster. From the trail of water droplets, it seems like it crawled up the ceiling to perch on top of her closet.

Shin Yoosung rushed over to the tanks. For three years she did this routine, wake up only to immediately pay attention to the beasts she has gathered for two reasons.

The first is that she is a responsible beast tamer. Of course, she’ll take good care of them.

The second reason is to see if any of them could actually be…

Fresh tears erupt from the girl.

Each tank has a nameplate, craved with the unorthodox names she given them.

[Frog Who Could’ve Been _ Ahjussi]

[Elephant Monster Who Was Almost _ Ahjussi]

[Tentacle Monster Who Unfortunately Wasn’t _ Ahjussi]

They were all missing his name.

Her hands are tightly curled together, digging nails into the skin as another wave of tears pour in. It drips onto her shirt and it’s the same shirt she wore when the scenario started. Shin Yoosung knows that because she wanted to wear an outfit to match him. When she announced so his face was red but his smile was so big and Shin Yoosung wants him to smile more.

Him.

His name is missing.

He was gone for three years and they just got him back until that scenario sprang up on them.

“Shin Yoosung?”

She never noticed the door opened and before Lee Gilyoung could ask more worries, Shin Yoosung launched herself at her best friend.

“Did you forget him?” She asks with a crazed desperation, clutching onto his shoulders. She hasn’t held him so tight since they confronted the chimera underneath Paradise. “Ahjussi, Lee Gilyoung, please tell me you remember him!”

For the most part, Lee Gilyoung is utterally confused and scared of his weeping friend. That is until she said one word.

“Ahjussi?” He repeated with a daze. An odd look passes over his eyes, as if he’s having a mental crisis from sharing a mental link with a dying insect.

When he gets like this, Shin Yoosung knows to lead him over to sit on the bed in case he collapses.

“Ahjussi,” Lee Gilyoung mutters again, this time recognition sparks in his eyes. He is entirely alert and aware and now tears are falling from his eyes. “Shin Yoosung, the scenario!”

The message popped up above their heads, beaconed to their distress and awareness of the current event.

 [Sub-Scenario: The One Thing You Can’t Replace

Clear Condition: Something irreplaceable has been forgotten by the world. Participants of scenario must identify it without the help of nonparticipants. (2/9) participants have recovered the identity.

Time Limit: 12 Hours

Compensation: Retrieval of the irreplaceable thing.

Failure: The irreplaceable thing will fade from existence]

 The two kids paled at the failure consequences.

Immediately they ran out the door, nearly tripping over a tentacle.

Shin Yoosung normally would apologize whenever that happens but not now. Not when the one thing she can never replace might lose his existence.

“Hey, why are you to running?” Someone up ahead calls out to them, unknowingly becoming their target. “If Noona sees you she’s going to blame it on me and hey!”

The two kids do not drop their speed and tackle Lee Jihye to the floor.

“Lee Jihye,” Shin Yoosung rushes, “we’re in a scenario.”

The older girl shoves them off her to stand in a battle stance, pulling out her sword, “What, is something attacking the Master’s Industrial Complex?”

Shin Yoosung shakes her head, “No, we lost memories of someone.”

Sheathing her sword, Lee Jihye mutters, “Lame.”

Lee Gilyoung worriedly asks, “What did you say before? The name of this Industrial Complex?”

“Yoo Jonghyuk’s Industrial Complex,” she answers with a bored expression, “Hey are you two trying to prank me? What kind of scenario gives us amnesia?”

“Do you remember Ahjussi?” Shin Yoosung tries this method again since it worked so well with Lee Gilyoung.

It doesn’t work a second time.

“Ahjussi? You mean Lee Hyunsung?”

Seeing the pure confusion on Lee Jihye is really tormenting Shin Yoosung. She knows that out of everyone in the party, he is not Lee Jihye’s favorite person. Yet she does care in her own way, something about being the admiral of a huge ship of him and her Master.

Is this the point of the scenario, have everyone forget except Shin Yoosung and see how painful it is to ever dare live in a life without him?

Shin Yoosung knows that in the main party, she met him last. In that three-year period of heartache, she learned how the others meet this irreplaceable person.

He saved them one way or another.

He always had a risky plan that succeeded.

He was thoughtful and compassionate and…

Lee Gilyoung steps up to Lee Jihye.

“Play rock paper scissors with me,” he demanded with one fist readily above an open palm.

While Shin Yoosung was lost in her internal misery, Lee Gilyoung was also thinking deeply.

She recognizes that calculating glint in his eyes. Shin Yoosung knows who exactly he picked up that express from.

“Huh, that’s a weird change of topic,” Lee Jihye scratches her head. She shrugs and mirrors his hands. “You know that I’m very good at this game.”

“No you aren’t,” Lee Gilyoung said proudly.

“Tsk.”

They play one round. Lee Jihye throws down scissors and Lee Gilyoung throws down rock.

“Ahjussi also choose rock the first time,” he said calmly as his eyes tear up. “You played against him so many times and lost nearly all of them.”

A jab like that usually enrages Lee Jihye but right now, she is frozen. Her hands loosen up, falling to her sides as she stares at Lee Gilyoung.

“The Theater Dungeon,” she utters weakly. Then Lee Jihye laughs too sharply, smiling too pained, “He must have cheated.” Bizarre ranges of emotions quickly flash through her face, making her look a little crazy until she rubs her cheeks and snaps back into a fierce frown, “What did we do yesterday?”

In their rushed morning, Shin Yoosung didn’t recall everything, just the important bits like the fact that they were going to forget the one thing they can’t replace.

“We finished a monster hunting scenario and on the way back here this scenario came up.” Lee Gilyoung summed up and pointed at the scenario message log that appeared.

It updated.

 [(3/9) participants have recovered the identity.]

 Lee Jihye narrows her eyes at it, hesitantly muttering, “Nine?”

“We have to get to the others.”

Shin Yoosung did not wait for her friends as she dashes through the Industrial Complex to find the other party members. Lee Gilyoung is at her side but not Lee Jihye.

Instead, they hear her shout away, “I’ll find Master!”

It’s likely their best course of action. There is no time to waste.

 [Time Remaining: 11 Hours]

[siderealmarch]

the lsh/anna croft naruto au absolutely nobody asked for

Anna Croft is long gone when Seolhwa arrives at the Yoo clan compound. So too are the lively family that once lived there; now it is only dust and blood and an unsettling quiet that greet her when she passes through the gates, past the broken security seals, to the house Joonghyuk once promised they would share.

For approximately eighteen seconds, she entertains the thought that the bodies may still be recovered. That Joonghyuk, her fiancee, is not entirely lost to her. Then she realizes what exactly the dust is, and she—doesn't mourn, exactly. A numb determination settles over her instead, heavy like a shroud. No, there is still so much work to be done before she can mourn.

"You seem to be taking this remarkably well," says Kim Dokja, through gritted teeth. This is the first time they've worked together—it's rare, after all, for Seolhwa's work to intersect with his, her being a medic and him being a paper pusher—but after three hours in his acquaintance, she can tell why all of her friends who are active combatants call him their favorite mission assignment clerk. Really, it's a shame his part-time job maintaining the village library seems to be his life's passion, or his near-encyclopedic knowledge of the continent's flora and fauna would have made him a great colleague in her old field.

 "Well," Seolhwa says, rummaging through her bag, "I've worked on worse deadlines before."

"Sure, but how much experience do you have treating unknown poisons in the field? They say the Insect King has the world's most dangerous collection of venomous insects, you know," Kim Dokja says. He's been more talkative the past eight minutes than he looks comfortable being—the price one must shoulder when one is too slow to dodge the snapping fangs of multiple brightly colored arthropods. "Everyone who's tried to collect his bounty before died a quick and painful death. I would know. One of them died while I was filing her mission report."

"Mm. Before I moved to this village, I was an assassin," Seolhwa tells him, "specializing in poisons. You'll be fine." Under his dubious look, she continues, "You might have seen me in your bingo books under the Ten Evils—"

"Oh! Page twenty-six, the Poisoner, flee-on-sight," he says, with flattering alacrity. And then: "What lead you to change careers and become a healer at the general hospital, Lee Seolhwa?"

She shrugs, taking care not to disturb the delicate vials in her hands with the movement. They clink against the lip of the thermos she's cradling in her lap, high and sharp, as she works. "Life can surprise you, sometimes. …Love can surprise you."

Kim Dokja nods after a moment, eyes unfocused. From the pain, Seolhwa assumes. "I think I get what you mean."

She hums. Offers him the thermos. "I need you to drink this now, Dokja-ssi. If I've done this right, it should counteract the venom currently running through your system."

"And if not?" he asks with a smile.

"Ah, you might die, I suppose. But your odds are much better this way."

Kim Dokja doesn't end up dying, but it's a near thing. Not even because of the venom; Seolhwa's improvised antidote is a complete success, as far as she can tell. (She'll still insist on a more detailed inspection when they get back.)

No, instead, the man nearly loses his life trying to coax their quarry to come home with him. Some switch in his head visibly flips when he sees ten-year-old Lee Gilyoung, and—well, Lee Seolhwa can't fault him for it, really, but she thinks she understands why he has the job that he does now. That, and his frankly atrocious physical conditioning.