Those words had been hard to choke out, feeling like they had been stuck in his throat. They had been freed from their prison and escaped into the world, but that still meant that they had been spoken in the first place. A heavy silence descended over the group and Kim Dokja's shoulders tensed up.
Should he have said anything? Should he have stayed quiet?
[the constellation 'demon-like judge of fire' is vehemently supporting the incarnation 'kim dokja'.]
"You do not get to dictate how I feel," she told him firmly, her tone stabbing into his ears like the knife had stabbed into flesh.
Was she rejecting his statement? Declaring that he didn't know any better?
Even if she thought she loved him, that didn't mean that it was true. Maybe, after so many years, her idea of love had been so irreparably twisted that she no longer knew how to show it.
"Neither do you," Lee Seolhwa replied calmly. "Dokja-ssi has already made his stance clear."
She couldn't change his feelings. He wasn't a child anymore who didn't know any better, and he wasn't about to let her twist his idea of love—no matter how undeveloped it was—until it matched hers.
[the constellation 'queen of the darkest spring' is looking pensively at the current events.]
"Dokja." A panicking voice cuts in as a bloody knife shines against the tile floor. Trembling hands with obvious swelling at the wrists cradle the bruised and bleeding face of a young Dokja. Tears stream down Sookyung's face, bruised from being repeatedly bashed, meeting with the blood from her badly bitten lips. Her hair is messy from where it's been clearly held tightly to keep her from struggling. Behind her, a cold and motionless body lays on the ground in a puddle of blood. "From now on, you're going to read everything 'again'. What your father did was so bad that he deserved to die. This was self-defense, understood?"
The identical room returns to the present, where Dokja stands looking at his mother in the much cleaner environment. As she once again tells Dokja that she loves him more than anything in the world, the scene flashes between their faces and the book she wrote as Dokja clenches his fist tightly.
'Does she really believe…'
Mother…
'... what she just said?'
…Loves…
'Does she really believe that she can be forgiven for the decades worth of suffering I had to face alone with that one sentence?'
…Me.
Kim Dokja sucked in a quick breath the second the flashback began playing again. He knew this scene far too well. Over and over he had read it until it had barely seemed real, and now was just another one of those times. Every time he read it again he'd notice different details, just as she had taught him.
"Fuck," Jung Heewon hissed under her breath, her voice shaking. "What happened was messed up, but that isn't an excuse for doing this now."
[the constellation 'secretive plotter' is agreeing with the incarnation 'jung heewon'.]
Barely processing everything, Kim Dokja stared at the scene on the screen. No matter how many times this scene had been replayed in his own mind, this was a viewpoint he couldn't remember it from.
The bruise looked darker than expected on his unhealthily pale skin, and blood dripped from his nose. Kim Dokja remembered how he had felt clearly. His ears had been ringing, barely able to hear or understand what his mother had been saying. His vision had been blurred and colours blended into each other as his gaze had drifted past her only to land on the corpse on the floor.
In his numb sense of detachment, Kim Dokja had realized that he probably had a concussion back then. Looking at it now, maybe the blood had seeped into the floorboards, after all.
"Sookyung-ssi, I can't blame you for what happened back then," Yoo Sangah said quietly, "but that one time doesn't mean that everything you do is justified either."
[the constellation 'abyssal black flame dragon' is scoffing at the pathetic incarnations in the flashback.]
"You understand nothing," she scoffed. "How could any of you understand a parent's love for their child? It's enough to die for."
Kim Dokja froze. She hadn't really just said that, had she?
Instantly, a dangerous aura seemed to fill the room. Despite the inherent threat of the protagonist, Kim Dokja found himself relaxing. What did it say about him that Yoo Joonghyuk's fury was more comforting than speaking three words to his own mother?
"I understand," Yoo Joonghyuk spat, glaring intently at her. Kim Dokja's hands shook.
In his last round, Yoo Joonghyuk's wife and infant had been murdered. TWSA hadn't gone into detail about what had happened that day, but it had described the utter despair he had felt. He had wanted to regress immediately, but he was forbidden from it. By then, it had already been too late, and he was trapped within Anna Croft's machinations.
That child hadn't even lived to see their first birthday.
"If you're thinking of your last life, then that's not the same," she said, though her voice sounded somewhat less severe. She sounded sympathetic, almost, but Yoo Joonghyuk's expression didn't lighten.
"No," he replied, his voice nearly a growl. "In my last life, I did not have the opportunity to be a father. That's not what I'm talking about."
He glanced down at his sister, and Yoo Mia blinked up at him before her eyes began to water. As Yoo Joonghyuk looked back at her, his grip on his sister tightened. "I raised Mia on my own from the time she was a toddler."
[several constellations are curious about what the incarnation 'yoo mia' was like when she was younger.]
The girl nodded, clutching onto him as she took a deep breath. "He's my oppa, but he's also kind of like my dad. He's the only one I've ever had, so don't say mean things to him!"
For a few seconds, her gaze almost seemed envious, but Kim Dokja had to be mistaking it.
In every life, Yoo Joonghyuk had done his best to save Yoo Mia, even if he ultimately failed in many of them. He had killed for her. He had died for her. He had even ended her suffering as kindly as he could before breaking down the second she wasn't around to see it happen.
In Kim Dokja's opinion, Yoo Joonghyuk knew what that kind of love was much better than she did.
[the constellation 'prisoner of the golden headband' is disliking the awkward atmosphere.]
[the constellation 'guardian of youths and travels' is looking curiously at the incarnation 'yoo joonghyuk'.]
Unfortunately, the attention went back to Kim Dokja after a moment, and he felt sick the instant that that cursed book popped up on the screen.
He couldn't believe what she had said. She couldn't love him—not like that.
"He's right," Han Sooyoung scoffed. "Saying 'I love you' doesn't mean shit when you don't put in the work to back it up."
There was so much venom in her voice that Kim Dokja almost had to wonder if she was projecting. Still, it was the truth—they were empty words, meant to try and lure him into a false sense of security.
They didn't erase any of the suffering he had experienced. If anything, rather than a balm, it was like rubbing an asian poison ivy leaf on a burn. It hurt. It hurt so fucking much.
[several constellations are entertained by the drama.]
I should use [Lie Detection], but what if I use that skill and it tells me that she's telling the truth? Or what if she's lying?
Dokja clenches his teeth before biting out that it's too late for her to say that, which she quietly agrees with, confusing him more. With no emotion, she explains that she doesn't think that she has ever told him that before. The screen flashes back to the two of them separated by the glass of the visitation room, and they're just as silent now. After a moment, Dokja barely manages to force himself to talk again. His voice full of emotion, he begins letting out the grievances he had kept bottled up for so many years—that she never told him she loved him even when he visited her in prison, that she wrote the book, and that it ruined his life.
Dokja knows that he didn't hate or blame his mother for what she did that day, not even for killing his father or going to jail. He didn't even care when their relatives took their assets. Some people might think that the book was a good thing because of the royalties, but Dokja doesn't know if he ever benefited from that. Even after taking him in, his relatives treated him like he wasn't a person.
As he talks about the way the entire world seemed to be talking about him back then, and that nothing changed even when he changed schools, the screen shows a young Dokja—clearly a head or two shorter than the other students—plodding past the other students, who turn into neon sketches of eyes as the book looms ominously over him. In the end, he had just been the son of a murderer.
"That's right, you have [Lie Detection]!" Lee Hyunsung exclaimed as soon as Kim Dokja thought of the idea, but he immediately froze as soon as that thought continued.
Kim Dokja couldn't blame him for thinking the same thing, but those fears were very real. He didn't know which would be worse—that she could be lying to his face about loving him, or that she had decided to show her love through killing him.
Both options were horrible.
Through the buzzing in his head, Kim Dokja could barely hear Lee Gilyoung choke out a sob.
[the constellation 'lily blooming in aquarius' is looking at the incarnation 'kim dokja' with pity.]
Too late was an understatement. It was over a decade overdue, and he didn't even want it anymore. Even back then, when he was nothing more than a child who knew to be quiet and hide when the door opened with a slam and the yelling began, she had never told him anything like that.
"... Never?" Shin Yoosung whispered, grasping onto the fabric of the robe a bit tighter. "Why…?"
Kim Dokja knew why. That wasn't who she had ever been. Even if she had loved him back then, she had never put it into words. He had known—it was woven through actions, through stories, and through the way she would gently put cream on his bruises to help them fade faster. It hadn't been enough.
Months, years of visiting her only to be met with silence… of course it would end up the same now. She had never answered him before, so why would now be any different?
[the constellation 'maritime war god' is frowning at the current events.]
"Well damn," Han Sooyoung muttered as Kim Dokja began letting out his grievances, pointing out time after time that he had been hurt by her actions. He felt conflicted, unsure of what to think.
Maybe it was cathartic for his future self to finally lay it all out in front of her, but right now, Kim Dokja felt nothing but vulnerable. He didn't have the wall protecting him and keeping his head on straight. The nausea began to rise as the memories poured in—all the times that he could remember the second hand ticking by in agony, each instant drawn out into a silent eternity. The reporters, the book, the teasing and taunting and whispers that followed his every move.
Yoo Sangah sighed, shooting Kim Dokja a sad look. "Dokja-ssi…"
He really hadn't been angry at her for what she had done that day. It had been for the best, really. That man had deserved to die—that was one of the few truths she had told him as a child.
Lee Jihye looked around awkwardly with a confused look on her face. "Um… ahjumma? What are royalties?"
"Oh, that? It's the cut of the profit that the author gets from a book," Han Sooyoung replied with a shrug. "Always read those contracts carefully so you don't get stuck with a really shitty one."
The teenager's jaw dropped. "Wait, so authors don't just… get all the money?"
[many constellations are baffled by the words of the incarnation 'lee jihye'.]
That question alone nearly made Kim Dokja forget all of the crap that was happening. She seriously hadn't known that? He was so busy staring at the teenager in bafflement that he didn't see her expression waver for a moment.
As his thoughts moved along, revealing just how his relatives had treated him, Lee Gilyoung sobbed harder, muttering something too quiet for Kim Dokja to hear. Yoo Sangah tried to soothe him, but it was clear that she didn't know just what was going on either. Kim Dokja had a vague idea—how could he not, after seeing the boy's fear—but that didn't mean that he could guess everything just from that.
Jung Heewon, on the other hand, looked enraged once more. "These relatives of yours had better hope that they're already dead or so help them if we ever meet."
Kim Dokja didn't understand why she was so upset.
"They never hit me or anything," he muttered, looking down at the floor. "They just pretended I wasn't there."
"Oi, that doesn't make shit better, you know that right?" Han Sooyoung told him firmly, and for some reason, Kim Dokja almost thought she was empathizing with him. There was a tone of understanding in her voice that he couldn't quite comprehend, but maybe she understood what that experience felt like in her own way.
[the constellation 'demon-like judge of fire' is brimming with righteous fury.]
[the constellation 'prisoner of the golden headband' is spitting on these pathetic people.]
"You have us now, ahjussi," Shin Yoosung whispered, hugging him tighter. "You're not alone anymore."
He held her back, unsure of what he could say.
It was hard listening to this—having all his issues and traumas plastered all over a screen yet again. Unlike the reporters, though, he couldn't simply push past them and hope they'd give up. There had been no reprieve except for burying himself within the pages of novels, wishing he could stay there forever so he wouldn't have to go back.
[the constellation 'abyssal black flame dragon' is declaring that the incarnation 'kim dokja' needs to get less flimsy.]
It hadn't been his fault that he was smaller than everyone else at that age. Kim Dokja had been essentially a ghost barely clinging to life—only sleeping and eating enough to survive, but he hadn't been living. Years of abuse and poverty took its toll, and it was a wonder that he had managed to grow to the point where he was above the national average height for men. However, time alone hadn't fixed everything.
No, as had been proven at the coin farm, those rumours and whispers followed him even a decade later. It was a living hell.
I would have been able to endure it had you just told me to hold on a bit longer and that I'd be able to get through all of it. Even if you had sold my story for money, I would've been okay as long as you told me that you were with me.
Against a black screen, the circular pattern of holes in the glass appear before his mother's form comes into light behind it. The screen then shows a teenage Dokja sitting in the visitation room and looking down before Sookyung just stands and walks away, unable to say a single word to her son.
When Sookyung states that she wanted to tell him the truth, [The Fourth Wall] shakes violently. Scoffing, Dokja asks if the truth she's talking about is that she killed his father, but she shakes her head and states that he knows that's not what she means. As Dokja's expression looks as though he's on the brink of insanity, [Self-Rationalization] kicks in, and Dokja states that he knows exactly what she's talking about because he read his memories countless times over after she left.
Kim Dokja's skin crawled as his thoughts revealed feelings that he had wanted to remain hidden. He hated her now—that was an undeniable fact—but back then, all he had wanted was for his mother to love him. He would have endured anything if only it meant that his mother would be with him and supporting him. Still, he couldn't bring himself to look at her face and see what kind of expression she was making.
He hoped she felt guilty.
[the constellation 'queen of the darkest spring' is feeling great sorrow for the incarnation 'kim dokja'.]
Lee Seolhwa sighed. "Why didn't you say anything to him?"
"There was nothing to say."
Kim Dokja's hands clenched into fists. That was bullshit. There was always something that could be said, even if it was nothing but empty small talk. He would have accepted an endless cycle of 'hello, how are you?' and 'what did you learn at school today?'
At that point, Kim Dokja would have accepted her cursing him for even being born because at least it would have meant that she was acknowledging that he was right there in front of her.
Kim Dokja shook just like [The Fourth Wall] when she said that she wanted to tell him the truth. What was she even talking about? He already knew the truth.
Did she have another dark secret hidden somewhere? Their life was melodramatic enough, how many more secrets did one family need? What, was she going to suddenly reveal that she wasn't actually his mother or something?
[many constellations are frustrated by the vagueness of the words of the incarnation 'lee sookyung'.]
If he already knew it, then why the fuck was she skirting around the issue? What was she trying to avoid saying?
There was nothing else in his mind that had been seared into his memories as much as that day. Every word. Every tear. Every hit and kick and yell. Kim Dokja had replayed it over and over, carving it into his very soul. He still didn't know if he had done it to try and help himself or to try and make his mother proud of him for listening even after she had abandoned him.
That maybe, if he read it again and again just like she told him to, she would finally look at him like he was her son and not just a stranger on the other side of the glass. Maybe, if he read it again and again, he wouldn't forget the sound of her voice as the years went by with nothing but silence in the room.
What more did she want from him?
[the constellation 'maritime war god' is wondering if the incarnation 'kim dokja' is okay.]
The memory that I read hundreds, thousands—no, even tens of thousands of times.
The scene of his father's body lying on the ground replays, this time panning over the corpse as Sookyung's earlier words repeat before finally moving to show the mother and child kneeling nearby.
The memory that I replayed so many times to the point where I couldn't even tell if it was true anymore.
"Honestly, I thought it was a relief that my father died. He was a habitual domestic abuser and a gambling addict. Our family would have become more dangerous as time went on had he continued to stay with us," Dokja states with an almost ironic tone, only for his mother to ask why he's angry in that case.
I tried to ask my mother several times.
A paper full of questions, all asking 'why'—why she didn't run away with him, why she left him alone when he was so young, why she didn't come see him after she was released—appears on the screen before Sookyung speaks once more. Sighing, she states that it may be too late to tell him the story, which Dokja seems less than impressed by, even though the constellations are incredibly invested in his family drama.
But as the questions piled up inside me, I got the answers on my own.
His eyes narrow in anger as [The Fourth Wall] begins to shake less. The paper appears once more, but this time, all the answer sections are harshly scribbled out.
But I erased all the answers in the end.
"Dokja-ssi…" Yoo Sangah muttered sympathetically as his thoughts went on, describing everything that he had done to read that moment again.
Sometimes, if you looked at a word enough times, it would start looking wrong. Warped. Like it wasn't actually a word. Kim Dokja had done that with his memories until it was so far beyond that point. Even if there was a detail or two he was missing, everything else that surrounded them was so vivid that they'd fade into the background. Maybe that was the point. Maybe it was the opposite.
Kim Dokja didn't know anymore.
But Kim Dokja did know.
It was self-defense.
[the constellation 'god of wine and ecstasy' is thinking that he needs another drink.]
Kim Dokja inhaled sharply as his future self began to speak out loud, finally voicing some of those thoughts that had remained locked up inside for so long.
Lee Jihye huffed. "Yeah, you're right, ahjussi. He was evil and it's good that he's gone."
Honestly, Kim Dokja wasn't even sure if he would have survived until 28 if that man hadn't been forcibly taken out of the picture. Things hadn't started that way—no, it had begun with little things and ramped up over time. Kim Dokja had no doubts that the pattern would have continued, even if that had meant that he would have been killed in a single miscalculation of that man's strength in the middle of his blind rage. Even if that would have meant him taking drastic measures just to escape because she wasn't taking him and leaving.
But… to hear her dare to ask why he was angry despite agreeing that his father had to go?
A dry laugh left his mouth and his eyes were wide as he stared at the screen—half in disbelief, and half in disgust.
[many constellations are frowning at the incarnation 'lee sookyung'.]
"You still don't understand," he whispered as his fingernails dug into his palms. "It's never been about what happened that night. It was always about what you did after that."
Kim Dokja didn't even care that his feelings were spilling from his heart and dripping off his tongue like acid. The dam had broken, and he couldn't stop the words from rushing forth now that they had been freed. He couldn't even pay attention to his questions that had gone ignored for so long appearing on the screen in his blind fury.
"You walled me off, you stopped talking to me, no matter how much I tried to communicate with you! I still loved you but you made me feel like you had abandoned me. Stop trying to blame my feelings on him when they didn't even start until later!"
His chest heaved with the force of his emotions and his eyes stung, and still, he couldn't look back at her to see the expression on her face. Maybe those questions had answers, but Kim Dokja didn't think he wanted to know them anymore. It was far too late. When it had mattered, the only answer he had gotten was that he didn't matter enough for her to respond.
She sighed heavily. "Are you done?"
Was he? He didn't know, but he hated that tone with a burning passion. Kim Dokja felt like a child getting scolded for throwing a tantrum even though he was nearly thirty.
[the constellation 'secretive plotter' is frowning deeply.]
[the constellation 'prisoner of the golden headband' is fidgeting awkwardly.]
"No, I'm not done," Kim Dokja decided. "You're right—it is too late. If you were going to ignore me for a decade anyway, why not just keep it up until one of us is gone."
"I'm still your mother, Dokja-yah."
Was she? Biologically, yes, but emotionally? Her actions had guaranteed that he had been alone for years. Kim Dokja had learned to live and survive in spite of everything she had done.
He didn't need his mother anymore.
Without thinking, Kim Dokja muttered, "No, you're not."
He wasn't sure if it was a good or a bad thing that she didn't say anything in response.
Speaking up again, Sookyung asks why Dokja decided to change the original story because the scenarios would have been less difficult if he hadn't messed with the plot and let the characters die like they were supposed to. Dokja replies that he had to change since Joonghyuk wouldn't be able to reach the end in the 3rd turn. Sookyung says that he must be out of his mind to go through all that trouble just for Joonghyuk's sake. Naturally, the constellations get annoyed by the amount of filtering.
"The ending of the story is important to me," Dokja states as a black and white replay shows him opening a door, the light illuminating the phone on the ground. Dokja reaches for it longingly, a large smile on his face as he looks entranced by the story displayed upon its screen. Though he didn't know what the author meant by the title, it was reality because his world had become an apocalypse long ago. He can't give up on the story because reading it every day has kept him alive. "This world protected me while you were gone."
[several constellations are contemplating the point of the incarnation 'lee sookyung'.]
[the constellation 'defense master' is scowling.]
Kim Dokja didn't know what to feel as she declared that just letting characters die would have been a better option. He knew that she wasn't attached to this world the way he was—all these people were nothing more than words come to life in her eyes—but to put it like that…
"That's bullshit," Han Sooyoung blurted out. "I may not think his plans are that great either most of the time but seriously? He's not the only one going around and changing shit."
Naturally, Han Sooyoung was also neglecting to mention that she was also one of the people in question who was 'going around and changing shit'.
Though he trembled, Lee Gilyoung stared at her with wide, brown eyes. "So you're saying that hyung should have just let me die?"
Kim Dokja could almost hear her stiffen up in response. Maybe she hadn't gotten a good look at the kid before—not in that way—and maybe she was finally seeing what Kim Dokja had noticed long ago. In fact, he hoped that she was looking into the boy's eyes and seeing him instead. Maybe, if she was hearing the trembling and scared voice of a young Kim Dokja in Lee Gilyoung's place, then it would finally sink in.
[the constellation 'lily blooming in aquarius' is looking at the incarnation 'lee gilyoung' with sorrowful eyes.]
"I would be dead too," Jung Heewon said in a tense voice as Lee Seolhwa nodded in agreement as well. "Isn't it better that more people live in the end?"
It was, and Kim Dokja knew that that was the kind of ending he wanted for Yoo Joonghyuk, if it was possible. Without these changes, some more carefully plotted out than others, the protagonist would never be able to reach that point.
As his future self explained his reasoning, Kim Dokja could feel Yoo Joonghyuk's intense gaze on him, but he had been expecting it. Though he had expressed his desire to see this story to its end, he had never put it quite like this before.
[the constellation 'demon-like judge of fire' is adamant that this companionship is worth any amount of trouble.]
She was right. Kim Dokja owed Yoo Joonghyuk a debt that he might never be able to fully repay, but if he was able to create a successful turn and prevent the protagonist from having to suffer through another 1800 hellish regressions, then maybe that would be equivalent enough. Every day, he had survived by becoming that which Yoo Joonghyuk hated the most, consuming his story like it was his very lifeblood. Maybe if Kim Dokja's veins were cut open, what would spill from them wouldn't be blood, but rather the sentences that kept him alive.
It was a bit embarrassing to see all of that put onto the screen visually, but it was the truth. It was no exaggeration to say that TWSA was the most important thing in his life. That story had accepted him when no one else had, and it had given him a world that seemed like it would never end. Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes shook, but Kim Dokja didn't know what to say to him.
His life had seemed like the end of the world—an apocalypse in its own right—and TWSA had given him a way to survive that hell, day after day. Every second that he was alive, every breath he still took, only added to his debt.
[the constellation 'secretive plotter' is letting out a shuddering breath.]
Frowning, Sookyung reminds him that this world isn't a novel anymore, and that there isn't a 'happily ever after' in reality. Dokja brushes her off, stating that the ending is for him to decide once he gets to it, and that he never said he wanted a happy ending in the first place. The conversation switches between showing them, and the reflection of the story's text in the younger Dokja's eyes.
Sookyung declares that this world is out of control, and tells him that this isn't a story that he can change just because he knows some things about the future, no matter how much he struggles. Cutting off her words as he materializes an aura around him, Dokja tells her to get to the point.
"Stay here," she declares, making his eyes go wide. "I can't lose my only son again."
As she states that she'll do something about the next scenario, Dokja only frowns and declares that she should be honest and say that she thinks he's a hindrance. In a firm voice, he says that there's clearly no point in asking what she wants because she probably wouldn't tell him even if he asked.
"It's true that real life doesn't usually have perfect endings," Lee Hyunsung admitted, "but I believe that Dokja-ssi will try to get as close as possible anyway."
Kim Dokja wasn't sure. A happy ending was cliché, and maybe that was the kind of ending that most people would want, but Kim Dokja wasn't doing this for most people. The Yoo Joonghyuk that Kim Dokja knew would be happy so long as the people important to him survived and all the stars had been torn down from their places in the night sky. Even if it would be nice for more people to survive, they weren't a requirement for the ending he wanted—the rest of the world could burn for all he cared.
[a few constellations are contemplating the meaning of a happy ending.]
[the constellation 'scribe of heaven' is curious about the ending that the incarnation 'kim dokja' is aiming for.]
"That doesn't mean that ahjussi can't try anyway," Yoo Mia scoffed as she declared that Kim Dokja wouldn't be able to change anything.
Hadn't she just been complaining about how much he had changed? What was the truth—that he could change it, or that he couldn't? Or, was it simply that she believed he could only change things for the worse?
Shin Yoosung huffed. "Yeah, get to the point so ahjussi can come back to us."
God, he wanted to. Kim Dokja would probably sell at least a share of his soul if it meant getting out of this situation any sooner.
His heart froze in his chest when she told him to stay there, however. Why would she say something like that?
[the constellation 'abyssal black flame dragon' is complaining that it will be boring without the incarnation 'kim dokja'.]
So that's how it was, huh? He was just getting in the way of her plans, and that meant that he had to be removed from the situation. It was infuriating and painful and disappointing all at once.
"Kim Dokja is not a hindrance. You may have some information, but he has more than you," Yoo Joonghyuk said in a tone that left no room for arguments, and Kim Dokja felt his stomach do a flip. At the very least, the protagonist thought he was more useful, and that meant more than Yoo Joonghyuk might ever know.
I've put up with enough melodrama.
Her gaze turns down from where she looks at him, her eyes drooping as her brows crease from worry.
That sad look on her face... Sad? What right does she have to feel sad?
Standing, she steels her expression as she states that she has no choice but to do something she doesn't want to do, calling Dokja stubborn. Outside, a loud noise alerts Sooyoung, making her burst in and see the two attacking each other with the storm caused by their mana. In seconds, both Sooyoung and Youngran rush in, standing to support their chosen side. Looking at the woman, Dokja notes that although he knows how to defend against Jeon Woochi's shamanic techniques, his mother has an unknown sponsor. In other words, he has to end the battle before she can reveal her abilities.
With that thought, Dokja activates [Bookmark], using [Way of the Wind] to destroy many of the items in the room before breaking down the walls.
[many constellations are agreeing that they want less drama and more action.]
[several constellations are eager for a fight between mother and son.]
Kim Dokja almost laughed at the expression on her face. Was that an act too? A face carefully crafted to tug on his heartstrings and make him feel sympathy? It wasn't going to work—not now. Maybe it would have, years ago, but he didn't want to care anymore.
"No choice?" Yoo Sangah wondered, narrowing her eyes. "All of this could have been avoided by simply leaving Dokja-ssi alone."
Maybe she didn't even know how to respond to that because she didn't say anything. He didn't doubt that she had theories and thoughts about her own actions—they were unfortunately similar in that regard—but compared to when he had to figure out his future self's thought process, she had far less information to work from.
Lee Seolhwa sighed in relief as Han Sooyoung burst through the door, only to come across the two about to start fighting.
[the constellation 'abyssal black flame dragon' is excited for the party to start.]
[the constellation 'queen of the darkest spring' is humming thoughtfully at the current events.]
"Be careful, ahjussi," Shin Yoosung whispered as his future self mused that he didn't know how to deal with her due to her unknown skills and stigma. In fact, that she was such a big unknown factor might prove to be the most dangerous aspect of this confrontation.
With trembling hands, Kim Dokja ran his fingers through Shin Yoosung's hair, using the soft strands as something to focus on to keep him grounded. This wasn't something he had wanted, but it had been unavoidable. He wouldn't kill her—no, he figured that he'd try to run as soon as he had the chance—but there was always the possibility that she would have something in her arsenal that would force his hand.
At the very least, when it came to getting from one place to another quickly, Kim Dokja had the perfect skill for it.
[the constellation 'prisoner of the golden headband' is tearing out his hair in excitement.]
[many constellations are cheering for their chosen side.]
[the constellation 'founder's mother' is feeling extremely conflicted about the current events.]