"That Dokkaebi... I'm going to kill that Dokkaebi. I'll kill that Dokkaebi myself."
The smile Dokyun had shown the adult Shin Yoosung, the time they had spent together.
It all seemed to drive the young Shin Yoosung, who shared every one of those memories, into a fury.
"Wait, Yoosung...!"
As if Kim Dokja didn't hate Paul too.
As if she wasn't grieving too.
She was only forcing herself to endure it because she felt that if she showed her emotions here, she would collapse.
Crackle
Two armored Dokkaebis appeared in the sky and restrained Paul.
.
.
.
This Scenario was over.
There were too many sacrifices to forget, but what cut into me more painfully than anything was my brother, Dokyun's death.
I didn't know exactly how he had been able to appear together with Shin Yoosung.
All I knew was that it had something to do with the [Demon of the Horizon].
The more he spoke, the more his voice changed into something unlike before.
At this rate, Paul would ruin himself even if I did nothing.
'As if that would ever satisfy me.'
I hadn't planned to let it go even if Shin Yoosung had died, and this bastard had all but killed my brother. There was no way I could just let it pass.
"Wait. Hold on."
'Paul, I'll make you wish you were dead.'
"I request a [Dokkaebi Confrontation]."
"Now I qualify, don't I?"
I qualified.
All that remained was to vent my rage.
"No need to catch one."
They already knew which Dokkaebi I wanted.
"I want a confrontation with the mid-grade Dokkaebi 'Paul.'"
The whole area froze at my words.
Paul did. Even the Dokkaebis from the Executive Bureau did.
Kekekekekekekek!
With a revolting smile, they looked back and forth between me and Paul.
"What kind of scheme are you plotting? You just want to provoke me, don't you?"
"Drop the act. I know perfectly well you're completely powerless right now."
"I see. I think I know what vulgar little thought is running through your head. You want revenge for your brother, don't you? Fine, then. Go ahead and try."
Paul sneered at me.
That sneer felt like it was aimed at my brother, and it made me sick.
"I don't know how you found out about [Dokkaebi Confrontation], but this is a place where neither side can take the other's life. No matter how much you struggle—!"
Smash!
Boom!
One blow sent Paul bouncing wildly through the space.
Like a ball.
For a noble Dokkaebi, this had to be a tremendous humiliation.
"Kgh...! Guaaaargh! How dare you...!"
"I may not be able to kill you, but I can beat you. First time you've ever felt pain like this, right? Living as a Dokkaebi, you've never been beaten like this before, have you?"
Even so, the bastard still sneered.
Stupid.
Did he really think I wouldn't know about the penalties?
How did he think I became Platinum?
Did he think I scraped together every last coin I had?
"I have a lot of Coins. Thanks to you—no, thanks to my brother—I made an absurd amount."
I'll pay back this grudge no matter what.
Even if I have to destroy the Dokkaebis.
Even if I have to destroy this world.
"Guhk!"
Every time I heard the Dokkaebi scream, a memory with my brother surfaced one by one.
"Don't worry. This elder brother of yours isn't going anywhere."
'The truth is, I didn't believe you.'
Smash!
"Eek!"
"Oppa!!! What is this?!!!"
"Ah~ It's your birthday today, Dokja. So—!"
"Who asked you to buy me something like this?"
Riiip!
"Take this trash and get lost!!!"
"...."
'Back then, I didn't know that would hurt you. I don't know what grand thing I was expecting in our situation, or why I acted like that.'
Crunch!
"Aaaagh!"
"Why didn't you tell me you were being bullied all this time!!!"
"I didn't want to make you worry, oppa...."
'I didn't know that would chain you down.'
"Do you think your dead brother will come back if you do this?!!"
"Dokja, do we... still have to keep seeing Mom?"
"Why? Are you going to leave me too, oppa?"
"That's not it... It's just that every time you see her, you get hurt."
"It's all the same if she doesn't care about me anyway."
'That wasn't what I really meant.'
Crack
"Doing this won't benefit you at all!"
"You're giving up on college?! Because of tuition?!!"
"Yeah. It's not even some famous university, and I think it'd be better if I just worked too."
"I'll figure out the tuition somehow."
'I shouldn't have said okay back then.'
Crash!
"Say something, damn it!!!"
"Oh, a slice of cake! Where'd you get it? I'll eat it, okay?"
"Hm? Sure, go ahead~"
'That day was your birthday, oppa, and I didn't even know? Kim Dokja, you crazy bitch...'
Drip drip
"Why won't you say anything at all?!!"
"Dokja, dinner—!"
"I'm tired. Talk to me later."
Bang!
"Eat...."
'What was so hard about sharing one meal with the brother who waited until that hour for me?'
"This is... something I have to do with my own hands. Without your help."
"For your sake, I'd even give my life."
'Who knew that would become real.'
"Dokja, for your sake, your oppa is fine."
'It was a pure heart that only wanted me.'
"Dokja, nothing happened today, right?"
'And I never once said that one sentence to you.'
"Dokja, that [Ways of Survival]? You're not talking about it today?"
'Thank you for trying to share what I liked.'
"Dokja."
'I'm sorry.'
"Dokja."
'I'm sorry.'
"Dokja."
'I'm sorry... and I love you.'
Why was it that I could only realize the value of precious things after they were always gone and broken?
I had begged my mother for love like that, so why had I treated the love of the brother who loved me as something so natural?
"Dokja, because I was your brother... I was happier than anyone in the world. My little sister, prettier and kinder than anyone."
Was he really happy?
Why did he love me when I knew nothing about him?
Why did it have to be my brother instead of me?
"Please, please just say something! Save me! No, please spare me!"
"Then answer my question properly. Where is my brother's soul right now?"
"...."
A conversation with my brother from so long ago that I could barely remember it came back to me.
"Oppa! What kind of character do I seem like?"
"Hm? Well... a Dokkaebi?"
"Eeh? Why? Do I look that bad?!!"
"No, that's not it. Dokja, you're like a Dokkaebi—a storyteller—to this oppa. That's why it came to mind."
"Hmm... sounds suspicious. Really?"
Dokkaebis were cunning and cruel.
I hadn't known it then, but now I was like a 'Dokkaebi.'
Now I was cunning enough to use someone like a Dokkaebi, and cruel enough to sacrifice someone.
.
.
.
Flash!
"Yo!"
'This is... no way. Oppa?'
"I thought you'd burst into tears when you saw me, but you're colder than I expected~?"
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything.... It's all, all my fault."
"...."
"Why was saying I loved you so hard...."
What had happened while I was gone?
It didn't feel like that much time had passed, but did time flow differently over there?
"My story isn't over yet. I'm standing here in front of you like this, so there'll still be plenty of time to talk."
"That's right. You can't just make sacrifices and let it end like this. I'll never allow that."
"...When did you get so grown up?"
They say children are forever children in their parents' eyes. Maybe I looked at Dokja as too much of a child too.
I only saw her as a kid who had gone through hard things, but now I had to admit it.
Dokja was an adult now, someone who had to take responsibility for herself and could bear it.
"Go on, then. Try it. Try saving me. You know lobsters side with crabs, right?"
"I'm the lobster?"
"You're the crab, and I'm the lobster."
"Yeah, I guess that's true.... Thank you. For everything. I really, really love you."
"I love you too. And thank you. Just... for everything."
.
.
.
「Listen.」
A new Dokkaebi was being born.
「Pitiful beings who are born with fate thrust upon them, and who have no choice but to live loving 'stories.'」
A new Dokkaebi... carrying my brother's soul.
"...I really hate Dokkaebis, but seeing it like this feels different."
"That's my brother. More precisely, my brother's soul."
"What?"
'So in the end, my brother's soul is still my brother.'
A Dokkaebi that liked me the moment it was born.
'Was I really carved into your soul that deeply?'
"Hey, are you crying?"
Was I crying?
I'm sorry, oppa.
I made you become this.
So hate me for it.
"Seriously? You're going to make me your son?"
"You've teased me all this time, so now it's my turn to tease you."
"Huh? Go ahead and try."
Messages like that didn't matter.
My gaze was fixed on my brother's final moments.
"Good grief, I thought you'd turned into a cold-blooded monster like Yoo Joonghyuk, so why do you keep apologizing?"
"I don't know. It just feels like I have to."
"You're even worse than Yoo Joonghyuk...."
"Now you're cursing at your little sister?"
"If this is the end, let me at least curse you out properly before I go."
So even at the very end, oppa was still oppa.
"Whether I'm here or not, you'll have a lot of hard times ahead. The butterfly effect caused by our existence will go far beyond what you expect."
"You've been the one dealing with those hard things all this time. Now it's just my turn."
"Guess I can't tease you for being young anymore."
"More than that, it'd be unfair if I were the only one who didn't have to suffer."
We laughed for no reason.
Like we had laughed in the world before the apocalypse, a world that was still vivid.
"When I'm born again, I probably won't remember right away. In that case, just smack me in the head a few times and I'll remember, so keep that in mind."
"What helpful advice."
"Go on, then. Suffer through the hell of raising me."
"I'm not changing your diapers."
"Ha! Let's see if someone with your personality can really do that. Come on, let's make an interesting story!"
"What are you going to name the child?"
"Biyun."