Chapter Text
Chapter text:
Read Chapters 1–18 here
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Chapter 19 (continuation)
“I’m delighted to see you, my child,” the Queen of the Underworld greeted the Demon King with a smile.
It was Kim Dokja’s first visit to Persephone’s residence in the Industrial Complex. Though it paled in comparison to the Underworld’s palace, the room glowed with the presence of the esteemed Constellation. Unlike Kim Dokja’s clumsy and stiff family interactions, Biyoo was an excellent junior, often visiting her grandmother. Today, she had relayed Persephone’s request to meet.
“I’m happy to see you too, dear Queen,” Kim Dokja replied sincerely.
The Demon King of Salvation was genuinely grateful for this meeting—it gave him a perfect excuse to escape their villa. Under his companions’ strange gazes, he couldn’t stay a second longer.
A servant from the Underworld brought tea, standing by attentively. Persephone, with a pleased smile, hinted, “I’ve heard some things…”
“Nothing happened,” Kim Dokja answered immediately.
From the moment he woke up in bed that morning, he’d been bombarded with questions. A single morning was enough for the rumor to spiral out of control. Familiar Constellation friends had already sent congratulatory messages to their nebula, asking about his and Yoo Joonghyuk’s wedding date.
This made the Demon King suspect he was still dreaming—how else could he face such absurd questions? It was as if, overnight, Uriel’s novel had become reality.
Until last night, Kim Dokja had been confident everything was under control, but this development was entirely unexpected. It might not be as awkward as the earlier misunderstanding about a child, but Jang Hayoung had so many Constellation friends—enough to make the Demon King socially die.
After tracing the rumor’s origins, he made a last-ditch effort to explain to his companions, “…It’s not what you think…”
The college student, cupping her cheeks, gazed at him with a dreamy smile eerily similar to Uriel’s, until the Demon King shut his mouth. Speaking of Uriel, the Archangel hadn’t sent a single message—Kim Dokja suspected she’d fainted from excitement.
Kind-hearted Yoo Sangah thought for a moment, then asked, “Okay, I’ll listen. What’s really going on?”
Kim Dokja: “…”
He suddenly realized that if he didn’t want to publicize his embarrassing mental stress issues, he couldn’t explain why Yoo Joonghyuk was in his room that night. It was a dead end. He glanced at the other rumored party—Yoo Joonghyuk looked away. Was his silence out of consideration for this?
No, he wasn’t grateful. At its core, if Yoo Joonghyuk hadn’t insisted on staying over, hadn’t snuck back through the balcony, and hadn’t run into Jang Hayoung, none of this would’ve happened.
Kim Dokja’s pleading gaze instinctively turned to the company’s sharpest mind, but Han Sooyoung only shot him a look of amusement.
Well, of course—who didn’t enjoy seeing the Demon King squirm? The author bit into her lemon candy, smirking. These two weren’t together yet, but Kim Dokja’s reactions were hilarious. She was sure the nebula’s companions could see it…
“So, they’re really getting married, right?” Lee Hyunsung whispered to Jung Heewon.
…Well, there were always idiots in the company. Han Sooyoung rubbed her forehead, sighing. Though the two hadn’t actually slept together, something had definitely happened last night—a subtle shift in their relationship that didn’t escape her notice.
Kim Dokja finally grasped the awkwardness of living with everyone. It’d be a while before he could escape this mess.
“It’s obviously a rumor,” he couldn’t help saying to Persephone. “Have you all been brainwashed by Uriel? We’re companions, sure, but not a couple. He doesn’t like me—not like that.”
“Is that what you think?” The Darkest Spring Queen blinked, gazing at her immature son. “Perhaps because we see more than you do.”
She waved her hand, and a holographic image appeared between them, playing fragments of his and Yoo Joonghyuk’s history—reminding Kim Dokja of the unreliable Olympus matchmaking system’s candidate clips. Could this be the unaired portion? Was Yoo Joonghyuk the third candidate?
The video showed moments: Yoo Joonghyuk strangling him and tossing him into a Sea Dragon’s mouth; spoon-feeding medicine to a gravely injured Yoo Joonghyuk; in front of 41st-round Shin Yoosung, Yoo Joonghyuk calling him “companion” for the first time…
These were parts of his story, familiar to him. Kim Dokja couldn’t help saying, “Do we need to play this?”
“Patience, Prince,” the Queen replied. “I quite agree with your mother—you need to keep revisiting.”
Kim Dokja could only watch with her. It was the end of the tenth scenario, where he became the Demon King, and his companions had to fight to kill him. In the end, Yoo Joonghyuk’s sword pierced his heart, and he died in his arms, fulfilling the fate of being killed by the one he love the most.
“Let’s meet again, Yoo Joonghyuk,” the dying Demon King in the video said with a smile. Present Kim Dokja felt satisfied with his composure back then. In the footage, he turned to stardust in the protagonist’s arms, about to be erased from the scenario.
“No, Kim Dokja, no!” The video’s Yoo Joonghyuk tried to grab him, but it was futile. Stardust slipped through his fingers, and Kim Dokja vanished. Yoo Joonghyuk stared at his empty hands, his face pale.
…Was that his reaction back then? Kim Dokja couldn’t tear his eyes from the video. Revisiting did reveal key details—the raw pain in Yoo Joonghyuk’s expression and voice startled him.
His distraught companions surrounded the protagonist, hoping for explanation or guidance, but Yoo Joonghyuk was as powerless as they were.
The protagonist’s face held confusion and pain. He looked up at the Constellations, then down at his hands, contemplating regression—yes, Kim Dokja knew that look too well; every time this sunfish made that face, he was thinking of regression.
But soon, a flicker of weakness appeared—he was afraid. That fear made Yoo Joonghyuk abandon regression, standing up again.
“What’s he thinking?” the reader murmured, struggling to decipher Yoo Joonghyuk’s thoughts in the video. Why consider regression now? Why did it scare him?
Then, like a revelation, a fragment from the first revised edition of Ways of Survival flashed in Kim Dokja’s mind:
“Yoo Joonghyuk had an idea. In this round, that person doesn’t exist.”
In the first revised Ways of Survival, Yoo Joonghyuk entered his fourth regression, where Kim Dokja didn’t exist.
In that moment, the reader understood: Yoo Joonghyuk wanted to save him through regression but feared that in the next round, Kim Dokja wouldn’t exist. The protagonist, who survived a doomed world through regression, was terrified of a regression without Kim Dokja.
Perhaps from that moment, Yoo Joonghyuk was no longer just a “Regressor.”
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Author's Note:
Demon King of Salvation reaction: “Look closely at how much this person loves you—”
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Translator's Note:
I’m seriously really honored to have received permission from the original author (reedzzz) to translate this fic! 💕 If you notice any grammar mistakes or typos, please feel free to let me know.
And if you love this story as much as I do!!!! please show your support by giving kudos to the original author on AO3 through the link below:
🔗 AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39089526/chapters/97785714
(original work in Chinese by reedzzz. English translation up to Chapter 18 by lvhejin)