Chapter 343 — A Road That Isn’t a Road (3)

It was an hour later that Yoo Jonghyuk and his colleagues returned to Earth. Yoo Jonghyuk, Han Sooyoung, Lee Jihye, Jung Heewon, Lee Hyunsung, Shin Yoosung, Lee Gilyoung and Lee Seolhwa.

The first thing they discovered after safely passing through the portal was the flashing sparks around the centre of the industrial complex. The sparks of probability were striking down on the centre of the Factory like lightning bolts.

Lee Jihye wondered, “...What the hell is going on?”

She asked but no one could answer properly. They got on the chimera dragon and soon arrived at the Factory. The party members jumped over the walls and ran straight to the hospital room.

Flying Fox waved when he saw the people rushing in. “Huh, you came back already?”

Jung Heewon asked, “Dokja-ssi... no, where is Yoo Sangah-ssi?”

“He is over there, though I think you need to be treated as well...”

“We’re fine. Just treat Hyunsung-ssi.”

“W-Wait a minute! My skin is just a bit―”

“Shut up and lie down.”

After throwing the burnt Lee Hyunsung onto a hospital bed, Jung Heewon and the others headed to Yoo Sangah’s hospital room. Obviously, they thought Kim Dokja would first head there.

“Dokja-ssi! Sangah-ssi!”

“Hey, everyone! If you just come in...!”

Then the party members faced an unexpected sight after arriving. Han Sooyoung muttered. “What is this situation?”

There was no one in Yoo Sangah’s hospital room apart from the minimum number of medical staff. Yoo Sangah’s soul was still broken. Kim Dokja couldn’t be seen at all.

A black aura was released from Han Sooyoung’s body. “I’m asking you. What is this situation?”

The medical staff were daunted and spat out everything that happened, from the Returnees War to Kim Dokja’s return.

“...So, Lee Sookyung went to receive treatment first. Maybe by now, the last step―”

Before the words finished, Han Sooyoung had already moved. It was so fast that no one could stop her. Han Sooyoung jumped over a nearby chair and grabbed the collar of a man taller than herself. “You son of a bitch. You knew everything?”

“...”

“Why didn’t you talk properly? If you knew this―”

“If I said it, could you change anything?”

Yoo Jonghyuk’s cold voice rang through the room. Han Sooyoung’s mouth trembled. Could she change it if she knew? She didn’t know. Han Sooyoung couldn’t answer the question.

Yoo Jonghyuk asked again, “I asked if you could change anything?”

“You bastard...!”

This time, Yoo Jonghyuk didn’t yield. The moment when the pressure around the two people was going to devastate the surroundings, Jung Heewon stopped them. “Stop, both of you! Can’t you see that Yoo Sangah-ssi is present?”

[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ is furious!]

Yoo Jonghyuk shook off Han Sooyoung’s hand and spoke to the medical staff. “Where is Kim Dokja?”

Han Sooyoung also turned to the staff at the question. Rather than answering, the medical staff glanced in one direction in unison. It was a hospital room where Lee Sookyung’s surgery was underway.

Han Sooyoung asked, “Kim Dokja is in that room?”

“That’s right. Aileen said he is needed...”

The party members approached the operating room door quietly enough not to interfere with the operation. Through the transparent glass, Aileen and Kim Dokja could be seen conducting the operation in the room. Thanks to the lighting, Kim Dokja’s expression couldn’t be seen but he definitely didn’t look good.

Kim Dokja’s hand was trembling and his gaze was slightly lowered. It was Shin Yoosung who opened her mouth first. “...Ahjussi’s state is a bit weird.”

***

Once the operation started, the first thing Aileen said was, “You must come with me.”

“...Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Yes.”

The moment I ended the room, I saw the fragments of my broken mother. My mother, who defeated the returnees by summoning Pungbaek, was in a state where all her stories were broken.

「 ...Dokja. 」

Somewhere, I felt I heard these words. Maybe it was my mother’s stories. I thought in a reassuring manner to her. ‘Don’t worry. I didn’t choose anyone.’

My mother’s soul must be restored as quickly as possible. That way, I had the time to save Yoo Sangah. From now on, it was the time of Aileen.

“Staff, begin to supply the magic power.”

Aileen pulled out a small brush and started to collect the floating pieces of stories one by one.

The surgery itself was simple. Collect the fragments of the scattered stories and put them together in context.

It was to recover the meaning of the lost sentences. It was easy to say but the number of people in Ways of Survival who could perform this type of major surgery could only be counted on one hand.

The most remarkable one among them was Aileen Makerfield, the Story Expert next to me.

[The story ‘Person Who Repairs the Story’ has started!]

「 Every word that reaches your fingertips restores itself. 」

The end of the story was ultimately a share of the story. Every time Aileen’s brush moved, the broken stories started to follow one by one. The star fluids I gained were the adhesive holding the stories together.

[The item ‘Soma’ is working!]

[The item ‘Nectar’ is working!]

By the time 40 minutes passed in the surgery, Aileen’s forehead was covered with beads of sweat. The scene of Aileen’s surgery also appeared in Ways of Survival but this was my first time actually seeing it and I was slightly impressed.

Once the overall story was repaired, Aileen took a sip of water. I asked Aileen, “Is it okay if the fragments aren’t in context?”

I was anxious when I saw that the story fragments Aileen put together weren’t perfectly neat.

AIleen lightly wiped her lips. “It’s fine. This is what humans are like.”

Certainly, her words might be true. In general, humans weren’t tidy existences.

By the way, Aileen’s words weren’t over. “However, there are some sentences that can be serious if they aren’t put together properly. For example, these parts.”

Aileen pointed to my mother’s soul. Unlike the other restored areas, her half-collapsed heart hadn’t been operated on. “In fact, Sookyung-ssi’s surgery was a bit late. Her thema is already damaged.”

“Thema?”

The contents of Ways of Survival flowed through my head.

“Do you know that everyone’s soul is made up of stories?”

“I’ve heard it before.”

It was a story Persephone told me. Aileen continued speaking. “In every soul, there is a core theme that penetrates it. The most important story that forms the essence of the soul.”

I belatedly recalled a mention of it in Ways of Survival.

「 Every story has a thema. Even a story without a thema, the thema is ‘there is no thema.’ 」

“Only the person who best understands this soul can touch the thema.”

I hesitated for a moment. “Then the reason you said I should go in with you...”

“That’s right.” Aileen nodded and continued, “The thema can only be restored by the person who best knows the soul. You have to do this part yourself. I’ll share the story...”

I didn’t hear the end of Aileen’s words.

[The story ‘Person Who Repairs the Story’ temporarily dwells at the end of your hand.]

I had to do it myself?

“There isn’t much time left. You need to start now. Medical staff, be ready to supply magic power!”

I stared at my mother’s soul while holding the brush. My mother lay there quietly with her eyes closed, like a person covered in a shroud. There were wrinkles and wounds I didn’t know about. She had stiff eyebrows and dry cheeks.

Aileen said, “Think of it as a book. Imagine all the stories in front of you becoming a book.”

I looked at the difficult sentences floating in front of me and tried to show my imagination. Just like I was rereading the book I read as a child, I closed my eyes and stretched out my hand.

「 “Yes, do you want to read that book?” 」

I cleared the cover of the dust and opened it to see the first page that was broken and worn out. I opened my eyes again and saw the floating stories gathered at the end of my hand.

「 “Dokja.” 」

Sentence by sentence, the fragments started talking to me. I slowly moved the brush. I thought of my mother. I remembered my mother. There was a stale smell as words were lifted from the well of old memories.

「 “Dokja, what type of character do you like best?” 」

I remembered. The books I read with my mother for the first time. I unconsciously moved the brush. The overflowing sentences were linked through my brush.

「 “You don’t seem to like the ending. However, not all stories can have happy endings.” 」

The person who gave me reasons to like books. For the sins I committed, she went to jail. The person who wrote a book about our story. The person I wanted to see. The person I resented. She was my mother but also the person furthest from me.

「 “Dokja.” 」

Blood in the living room and the feeling of the falling knife. My mother’s following words.

「 “Read it again.” 」

The moment I finished, the brush stopped. Still, my mother’s thema was incomplete.

“Demon King of Salvation?”

My mother’s story that I knew was up to here.

「 “...Sin. If it is a sin, it’s a sin.” 」

「 “Do all prisoners think this way?” 」

「 “It is funny, the justice of this world.” 」

There were still numerous story fragments floating around me but they didn’t talk to me anymore.

The fragments had a context I didn’t know. I couldn’t hear them and they were unknown sentences.

I was suddenly confused, as if thrown into the middle of the first book I read. The only thing I knew about Lee Sookyung was Lee Sookyung as my mother.

The hand holding the brush trembled. The trembling was speaking on my behalf. I couldn’t do it. This wasn’t something I could do.

Belated regret flooded me like waves. I should’ve talked to her more. I should’ve told her more.

I should’ve shared more with her.

The height of the hand holding the brush gradually lowered. My mother’s stories were crumbling again. My mother’s unknown stories drifted like they mocked me.

「 Maybe I’m not the only one. 」

The moment I had this thought, I felt something behind my back. Someone, who wasn’t me or Aileen, was holding a brush and staring into the air.

“This is what you said to me.”

There was a middle-aged woman wearing a nice suit over a blue prison uniform. It was Cho Youngran, who had the First Spiritualist of Joseon as a sponsor. Another woman was holding a brush beside her.

“I can’t believe I miss the days when we lined up for bread.” Lee Boksoon, who went with me to Peace Land, laughed.

There were several other wanderers in the room. They each held a brush, applied the star fluid and started to attach the sentences. The stories that were difficult for me flowed freely from them. The puzzles they filled up were obvious.

All the wanderers were talking about Lee Sookyung.

My vision was blurred and I couldn’t speak for a while. My mother’s life was drawn in front of my eyes. There were several things I should’ve known but didn’t. Even so, the wanderers didn’t complete all the thema.

Some fragments still remained, searching for the owner. Then somebody grabbed my hand. My hand holding the brush moved freely and attached a sentence I didn’t know. The moment I was about to express my confusion, the owner of the hand cut off my words.

“Kim Dokja, you know you aren’t a godlike person.”

I smelt lemon candy from the grumbling voice. Han Sooyoung took the brush from my hand in a frustrated manner.

“There are some things in the world you don’t know about, you idiot.”