Author's Note: I apologize for not writing yesterday, I had some personal problems to take care of. Also, this chapter contains a little spoiler from ORV! "ORV is my salvation." Credits to 'SingShong' , I really love your novel, thank you for saving me and inspiring me to write my heart out about this novel!
Flip! Flip! Flip!
Countless pages were being flipped aggressively,
Tick tock! Tick tock!
Clock ticking, and me... standing in a snowfield. Pure white snows covering the vast field, seemingly endless one, letters floating around like fallen leaves, the sunlight shining down on us. What a beautiful sight.
However, Caden Aeon knew it was all a dream.
"A dream without that man..."
I roamed around the vast snowfield without a purpose, no... I was hoping to find something... anything. I walked and walked, taking heavy steps in the deep snow.
"Footprint!"
I came across a footprint, going straight forward. I followed that footprint for a long time,
Puff, puff, puff.
I was slowly but surely getting exhausted from the long walk.
"Dammit, when is it going end?"
The footsteps suddenly disappeared onwards, were all those walking pointless? I thought in disappointment. Well, it doesn't matter since it's just a dream.
"It does."
I reflexively raised my head at the faint voice,
"Everything that you thought had meaning, every hope, dream, or moment of happiness. None of it matters as you lie bleeding out on the battlefield, none of it matters when it will eventually end right?"
A figure was standing in the distance, a white coat dancing in the wind with his black hair.
"So, this is a dream about that guy after all..."
He threw a confused glance at me before chuckling, "About me? have you seen me before?"
"Could he be able to read my mind?" He didn't respond this time.
"Think about it, if none of it really matters because it's not permanent. Does that mean that there's no point in being born? Would you say that to your dead friends, families, would you say that to those who have sacrificed for you?" a soft comforting voice was talking to me.
I was left speechless... why is he asking me these questions?
"Think about it." he said softly.
"I don't know... I've never had someone to sacrifice for me, I don't have friends nor family."
"Imagine. Were their lives meaningless? No matter how many dreams and hopes you have, no matter how happy your life may be, it's all the same when it ends right? Because nothing ever last forever. Our lives, whether it was good or bad it's all the same thing, right? "
Caden Aeon felt an emotion he hasn't felt in a while, he felt like crying, he felt strong emotions overtaking him.
"Well, I think it's what gives life, our journey a value. It has value because it's not permanent, it's valuable because its thing that will only exist once." He was standing far enough for his face to not be seen, but how can I hear his voice so clearly?
And come to think of it, the man I've been seeing previously wore a hat, right? Yes. That man was wearing a black top hat. Was he taller than him? I couldn't recall those dreams were like a shattered fragment.
A memory fragment triggered as Caden Aeon turned his head to look at the sky, streaks of warm amber and fiery orange blend seamlessly into soft hues of lavender and rose. Golden rays fan out like celestial fingers, brushing against scattered clouds painted in shades of coral and crimson.
With Cade Aeon's situation, seeing such beautiful sight while reading his favorite webnovel was his salvation. He had always been alone, from the moment he was born. His mysterious father figure, his mother who had mysteriously disappeared without a trace, Caden Aeon who had been taken care by foster care, who once craved love, parents. During all those times he had been saved, comforted by people from fiction.
He regressed 1865 times with Yoo Joonghyuk just for that fool's sake.
"Tell me you fool, if I continue to regress, will I ever get to meet you again?"
"Is it because there are too many stars, that I cannot see you?"
"Haven't you ever thought how strange it was. Why didn't that fool ever dream of his own happiness."
"...That guy. He is my companion."
He wrote a novel just for that one boy's sake with Han Sooyoung.
"There are three ways to survive in a ruined world. I've forgotten a few by now. However, one thing's for certain, that is you who are reading these words will surely survive."
"If this story can really save you, if you regained just a little of memories and remember us just one more time... Then, I'll keep writing the epilogue for you for eternity, until the end of time."
"I am going to find him and bring him back one way or another. I am sick of playing this game of numbers, whether it's 49% or 51%, I need 100% or nothing."
He had always followed that man blindly into trouble with Lee Hyunsung.
|||||To Lee Hyunsung, Kim Dokja was too difficult. |||||
The act of understanding someone started off with admitting that you didn't know anything about that person.
He had always protected that man alongside Lee Jihye.
"Ahjussi..."
"Answer me! If we're really characters in a fictional novel, why did you die for us over and over?"
He had always been that man's sword alongside Jung Heewon.
"That man is the world I wish to save."
He had challenged fate alongside Shin Yoosung for that man's sake.
"He is Dokja ahjussi trust me!"
[Ahjussi. I looked around and saw Shin Yoosung holding onto me. She looked up at me like she wanted to be picked up. I lightly patted Shin Yoosung's back. "Was it hard? Well done. You did well."]
He had always followed that man alongside Lee Gilyoung.
[As the boy spoke incoherently, I placed my hands on his head. "You did well." The boy's eyes grew wider, so I spoke with more conviction in my voice "You did well. Without you, we'd have all died back then."
He had kept that man human, been his only friend before the apocalypse alongside Yoo Sangah.
"Yoo Sangah-ssi, it is dangerous, so stay here."
Yoo Sangah's gaze was fixed on the LCD screen of my smartphone. "Is it a novel?"
He had always treated that man's wound no matter how many times he was wonded, alongside Lee Seolhwa.
"Everyone, I have plenty of "Life and Death" Pills left, so tell me if you have the slightest pain!"
He had always admired their companionship alongside Uriel.
"I wanted to help you until the end."
[In hindsight, I realized Uriel's intentions.]
"It is amazing. A majestic archangel making such a great sacrifice for you...
Finally, he had observed countless worldlines, sacrificed himself over and over again for his companions alongside that man.
"This wasn't the Ways of Survival I knew, it was a story far more wonderful, My story."
"It was really a great story, isn't that right? Let's meet again Yoo Joonghyuk."
"We are life and death companions."
I couldn't help laughing. Now we would really live together or die together.
If I was really a god then I would be the most incompetent god in the world. The most helpless god in the world who knew everything but couldn't explain anything.
||||| 2%. |||||
That number was the proof - and the lie -that I remembered my companions far better than my Avatar. Even if no one knew of this version of me existing here, even if the companions' stories had come to an end like that... But, at the very least, I swore to myself that I'd never forget about them.
Caden Aeon felt a sharp pain in his chest, indescribable emotions taking over him, his heart getting heavier and heavier.
That's right, the man standing in the distance is the same man that saved me, the same man I love with all my heart. Kim Dokja.
"Why are you crying?" the man asked softly.
"I'm not as strong as you, my life just keeps getting miserable... just what the hell am I supposed to do?" I spoke without even thinking.
"I'm not that strong you know, I just kept walking." I couldn't see his face, but I could feel him smiling.
In the distance, the footsteps that had disappeared could be seen, but this time there were two pathways. One going straight while the other going diagonally.
"You said you've always been alone, right? In truth, you've never been alone. You were always with us."
I reflexively raised my head.
I could see multiple figures standing in the distance. A tall man's black coat dancing in the wind, next to him another man's white coat dancing alongside it. A huge bear like man standing awkwardly, five females standing beside each other, two kids running around, a middle-aged man wearing a hat standing in the rear looking grumpy, blonde hair reflecting the warm sunlight.
Amidst the cold embrace of falling snow, their bloodstained smiles speak of unbroken bonds and a warmth that defies even fate itself.
The whole Kim Dokja's Company members had gathered.
"It is time for you to go back, just keep walking no matter what, Goodluck." Kim Dokja said with a soft voice.