Numinous | Yoo Junghyuk x OC!

Secretive Plotter

THIRD PERSON'S POINT OF VIEW

[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. And, after witnessing his comrades die over and over again... After losing the person he loved so much...

[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...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 comrades many more times. He numbed himself and swore to never be attached to anyone anymore... During his third try, he thought that maybe this was a curse.

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

「Just how many more lives like this one am I supposed to go through?」

He realized that, if he were to get to the end of all the scenarios, he needed to kill off his emotions, that he must not live his life. And so, he decided to become not 'Yu Joong-Hyeok', but the 'Regressor', instead. The fourth time, fifth... The timelines that he might've had experienced, but a certain someone's unexpected words stopped him from regressing again.

– Being able to regress at any time is the same as having no meaning in 'dying' anymore. However, there being no meaning in dying is the same thing as the value of living disappearing, too.

– Yu Joong-Hyeok, you need to wake up. What I'm saying here is that, don't mistakenly believe that things will get better by repeating them over and over again.

That was why Yu Joong-Hyeok chose not to regress. He gave up on several new 'lives' where he could've started from a higher vantage point while possessing more useful information than before. But that was then Until that chilling dream happened. It opened a hole in his heart that he never thought could be opened again. She waked the sleeping human in him and chose to stay by his side... Whether it is a mere affection in their eyes, all he wanted was that the feeling to never leave his heart. He finally found his solace...

He instructed the gal to go find Kim Dokja and go with him, "B-but-" Yoo Junghyuk sighed and repeated his words with more indignation in his tone. "Go find him, he still needs to heal... We'll meet each other at the island." Liridona sighed and look at him... "I feel like... No, I know it's going to be a long time before we could see each other again... Take care amare..." She handed him a golden pouch and walk away without any more words. he stared at the thing in his hands with furrowed brows. He slowly opened it and saw a lock of her hair inside, tied with a golden string. He felt a tug in his heart, now he was far more determined to finish this so he could achieve his long-awaited conclusion. 

***

Inside the scattering, falling snow, Yu Joong-Hyeok was staring at the 'Castle of Reincarnators'. Most likely, Kim Dok-Ja had regained consciousness by now after being fully healed by Liridona. Having met the 'Master of the Island' already. '...Yoo Sangah.' A deep frown crept up on Yu Joong-Hyeok's face. He'd never be able to forget the moment when his head rammed into that mysterious wall a few years ago when he tried to kill Kim Dokja. He got to forcibly observe that wall's insides amidst the horrifying storm of Probability sparks. And that was where he bore witness to fragments of a tale he didn't know before.

Some of them were as per his expectations, while some of them were news to him. Some of them even took him completely by surprise, too. It all happened for an instant, but he found the information he'd been searching for from that wall, as well as the answers he wanted to find. And now, he realized that it was time to put into practice the answers he found. "Secretive Plotter," He raised his head to greet the gaze of a certain scheming Constellation. The 'Secretive Plotter', the Constellation made its first appearance in this regression. And, an unidentified existence whose information or evidence couldn't be found in any of the 1863 worlds.

[Constellation, 'Secretive Plotter', is looking at you.]

[Constellation, 'Secretive Plotter', is looking at you.]

"Haven't I played along with your schemes long enough now? I'm sure that I have the right to ask you a single question or two." The 'Secretive Plotter' didn't reply for a brief moment. But then, a portion of the skies suddenly became dyed in darkness, and a ray of black light fell towards Yu Joong-Hyeok. Right now, he's doing this for Liridona's sake. Even how much of a fairytale-like their first meeting was... he couldn't bear the thought he was being played like a fool by this constellation.

Tsu-chuchuchuchut!

As the sparks from Probability crackled all around him, the space-time within the near vicinity began distorting noticeably. He was currently in the world ruled by the 'Master of the Island'; no top-ranked Constellation would be able to exert that much Probability in this place. Yet, the 'Secretive Plotter' was an existence who could do exactly that. "What are you curious about, oh, the puppet of the most ancient dream?" A pitch-black shadow rose within the darkness. "Why did you bring her here?" He gripped his sword tightly in his hands...

The shadow of the 'Secretive Plotter' wavered about as if to mock him, Yu Joong-Hyeok continued with his questioning. "Did you want me to fall into despair? You wanted to take away one thing you never had?" The Secretive Plotter shuddered at that. "Maybe, maybe not." The secretive plotter was one of their enemies, and for him to hear that Liridona was sent into his world through this constellation nicks in his bones. "Why did you plot something like that? Why do you keep putting her in a predicament she knows nothing about?" The secretive plotter move closely, albeit the sparks of probability building around him, he did not budge.

"You think you can understand it after hearing the answer? It is I, who brought her to you..." Its arrogant voice was filled with the confidence of knowing that a lowly being like him would never understand, even after hearing the truth. Yu Joong-Hyeok asked another question. "Why did you send me into her world? Why did you fool her into thinking you're a good someone?" The secretive plotter was silent for a moment. "Let's just say that I need someone from a different world to destroy this world line..." The shadow wavered around as if it was cackling. Yu Joong-Hyeok remained calm and spoke his piece. "All of your schemes were to destroy us. Because you can't accept the fact that a world line you desire the most existed..." 

"Why do you think that? Do you have any reasons to believe that's the case?" Yoo Junghyuk was adamant in his words, he can see how he visibly flinch in his words. That's the reaction he was waiting to coax out of him. "Maybe I do, maybe I do have a pretty good reason... You can't accept the fact that the "me" in this world line achieve that even you can not..." This Constellation, holding a mysterious animosity towards Kim Dok-Ja that turned into their whole nebula, and at the same time, chose to put an unknown variable. Yu Joong-Hyeok had been chasing after this Constellation for a long time, And he had finally reached the answer to his pursuit at this very moment. "Secretive Plotter, Are you me from regression 1863?"