I immediately activated [Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint].There had to be someone out there thinking of me right now.If even one person was thinking of me, I should be able to see what was happening.[The skill cannot be used at this time.]A sharp pounding filled my head.Was it that no one was thinking of me—or just the aftereffect of keeping the skill running too long?A flickering light wavered in the distance, then swept across my face.“Author?”A woman stood in the dark. She was dressed in an old-fashioned royal hanbok, her head crowned with a tiara.Someone like that had just called me author. My mind blanked for a moment.“Who are you?”The woman looked at me with disappointment, her voice like glass beads rolling across the floor.“You don’t recognize me?”I already knew, of course. There was only one person in this world who would ever call me “author.”Still, I had to verify it.“When was the first publication date of Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint?”“January second. My second year at the company.”“What does 1,863 mean?”“You never think about things like that when you write.”“What regression is this worldline?”“The forty-first.”Tears nearly came to my eyes.It was her. Without a doubt.The person standing before me was my one and only editor.“Editor.”“Author.”We clasped hands and stood there, eyes brimming.***When Omniscient Reader first began serialization, one reader had asked me a question.—If you were to be transmigrated into Omniscient Reader, which character would you want to become?Looking back, maybe that comment came from “Representative Kim Dokja.”—Hmm, a character I’d want to be… Well, there are definitely a few I wouldn’t want to be. For instance…I wrote a reply, but never hit “send.”I didn’t want to impose my author’s opinion and disrupt the readers’ experience. I simply answered, I’ll think about it until the ending.After reading that comment, Ji Eunyeu had said:—Well, I definitely wouldn’t pick Kim Dokja.—Because he keeps dying?—Yeah.—Then what about… Jeong Heewon, or Lee Hyunsung…—They almost die, too. Doesn’t Hyunsung die once?She wasn’t wrong.Come to think of it, not a single character in Omniscient Reader survives unscathed.—The best character is the one who stays quiet, barely noticeable, and survives till the end.It was such a veteran web-fiction editor’s answer.Maybe that’s exactly why she ended up becoming this character.Was Ji Eunyeu satisfied now?“Still… Min Ji-won, really…?”Probably not.The person Ji Eunyeu had possessed was “Queen Min Ji-won.”In the original, she was the incarnate of the last Silla monarch, the True Sovereign.Among all of The Way of Destruction, she was one of the most beautiful—and for a brief time, even showed affection toward Kim Dokja.“In terms of staying quiet and surviving unnoticed, it fits what you said you wanted.”“No. Who knew I’d actually end up in the story? You didn’t cause this, did you, Author?”I protested under her suspicious gaze.“If I’d caused all this, do you think I would’ve possessed Cheon Inho?”“Fair.”Nodding thoughtfully, she added,“Still, Cheon Inho didn’t look that good before. You sure you didn’t get some appearance buffs?”“I never said he was ugly.”We glared at each other for a moment. Then, suddenly, I remembered exactly what kind of person Ji Eunyeu was—The one who would argue with me for thirty minutes over a single sentence.Who wouldn’t tolerate a line that didn’t match the rhythm or context.Who supported my stories more than anyone else, yet ruthlessly pointed out when the plot wavered.“I’m just glad you’re alive, Author.”She always said what I should’ve said first.“Editor.”“I have a lot of questions, but… this probably isn’t the time for catching up, right?”I nodded.Still, I couldn’t sort my thoughts.Thankfully, Ji Eunyeu always knew what I needed to do next.[Incarnate ‘Min Ji-won’ activates ‘Canned Factory Lv.3.’]The scenery rippled like a filter, shifting into a familiar space.“This place—”“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”I never thought I’d see this room again.An eight-pyeong space packed with cubicles, each containing a desktop computer. A central table piled with coffee mix packets and biscuits.It was Ji Eunyeu’s office—the “Writing Room” of the management agency.“Maybe because I’m an editor, I got this kind of skill.”The infamous Canned Factory.A place to lock in authors who missed deadlines or ran away mid-serialization.I’d been trapped here myself more than once while planning new projects.“Time flows slowly here. One second outside equals about ten minutes inside.”That time ratio was absurd.“But the cooldown’s long, and the duration short. Ten minutes at most—one second in reality.”Ten minutes.A short time, but exactly what I needed.I thanked her silently and began organizing my thoughts.“Then, can I ask a few questions?”“Go ahead.”“What happened to the people who were with me?”Before I met her, I’d been with Killer King’s party—but now they were nowhere to be seen.“You mean the Apostles.”So she did know about them.“They went to join the ‘Final Qualification of Kings.’ They said to tell you they’d stop the end of the world.”I didn’t have to ask who said that.I opened my message log again.[The final master of the Absolute Throne is Incarnate ‘Yoo Joonghyuk.’]Even though the Apostles joined the Throne Contest, that message still appeared.The meaning was clear.Killer King and the Apostles were defeated.None of them had been able to stop Yoo Joonghyuk.My mind went blank.What happened to them? Killer King, Cha Yerin, Uncle Dansu, Ye Hyunwoo…What if Yoo Joonghyuk killed them?What happens next?The Absolute Throne is linked to a divine being of another world. Then Seoul—“Author. You don’t like this development, do you?”“…What?”Even now, she spoke like an editor. Maybe that was why I began thinking like a writer again.“You don’t like it. Yoo Joonghyuk took the Absolute Throne.”“And that’s a problem?”“If he does, the world ends. You know that.”“But that’s the original plot.”I fell silent.She was right.This was how the forty-first regression was written to end.Yoo Joonghyuk seizes the Absolute Throne.The world heads for destruction.Shin Yooseung becomes a wanderer of worldlines.“You pity the characters, don’t you? You want to change the story to save them?”“…”“Are you sure that’s the right choice? Maybe this is how it’s supposed to be. The forty-first regression ends, Shin Yooseung goes back, and Omniscient Reader begins the way we know it.”“…”“You, of all people, know what happens when an author changes a story out of greed.”At least when it came to manuscripts, she was always right.Some stories collapse if you change even one line. Protect one worldline, and you might destroy the entire cosmos.But this time, I had a reason.If this were just a novel, I’d accept her argument. But this world wasn’t just a novel.“There are readers here. Readers who were transmigrated.”“I know. I’m one of them.”Even with death looming, her voice stayed calm.“But you didn’t start this, Author. You didn’t bring the readers here, did you?”“No.”“Then it’s not your responsibility.”Had she always been this cold?“Let me put it this way. Now that we know this world isn’t fiction, its tragedies aren’t your fault.”Responsibility.“You always joked that Han Sooyoung wrote this story. Maybe she really did. Which means returning us to our places—or ending the story—isn’t our job.”She was saying it clearly:The responsibility for a story lies with the one who began it.Then who began this one?Han Sooyoung? Kim Dokja?I stared blankly at the empty computers in the writing room.No one sat before them.I reached toward a chair, but Ji Eunyeu added softly,“If you change the story, it truly becomes yours.”My story.“If someone dies or suffers in the altered version, that’s on you. Can you handle that? You couldn’t even handle a single hate comment. This is on a whole other scale.”“But the readers who were pulled in—”“People die, whether they’re transmigrated or not.”She pushed the half-pulled chair back under the desk.“Maybe it’s awful to say, but if we’ve been thrown into this world, we might as well live as we are. For all ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ we know, living long here as Min Ji-won could be happier than my old life as Ji Eunyeu.”I looked at her.“There’s no guarantee your rewritten story would be better.”She was telling me not to start.That some endings could be seen from the beginning.I remembered all the stories we’d made together—those bold beginnings that never reached an ending.“This time you can’t just drop it mid-serialization because it’s unpopular.”Even so, I kept being drawn to such stories.Even when they made me miserable, I couldn’t stop writing the next line.Spending my life telling of others’ lives and deaths.“You’re saying I shouldn’t write this story?”“Yes.”“Then why do you still call me ‘Author’?”Her eyes trembled.I went on.“I’ve already written it.”At Geumho Station, at Chungmuro, at Seoul Station—everywhere, I wrote.“Because of me, people have lived and died.”There was no excuse for that.“So I have to write to the end. Even if it’s boring, even if no one likes it. Even if only one person reads it.”“…”“So please, help me, Editor.”She looked at me with that familiar gaze—The same look she gave whenever I handed her a reckless new draft.She would always check:Was the concept fresh?Was the plot tight?Did it match the trend?Then, after a short review, she’d ask in her steady tone,“You really want to write this, don’t you?”“Yes.”I don’t want this world to end.I want to save the people here.I’ll send the readers back home.And give this unfinished story a proper ending.She sighed lightly.“The ruler’s already been chosen, but maybe it’s not too late.”Not too late.“Remember the episode ‘King of a World Without Kings’?”Fragments of memory surfaced.“Before Kim Dokja sat on the throne, the Absolute Throne didn’t activate.”Her words brought the scene vividly to mind—Kim Dokja, who had proved his final qualification and become Seoul’s sole king.But because he refused to sit on the throne, the Absolute Throne never triggered.Meaning—If Yoo Joonghyuk can be stopped from sitting down…If I could halt the coronation itself.If I can sever the constellation of the Absolute Throne before he takes his seat…Two things had to be done.First, escape this dungeon.Second—Obtain the Four Calamity Execution Sword to destroy the Throne.[Exclusive skill, ‘Canned Factory,’ has been released.]I looked down at the final Star Gem rolling across the labyrinth floor.I now had six in total.Gather all seven, and the Execution Sword can be summoned.But to summon it, I had to endure Madness Level 7.[Madness Level 6 is consuming you.][An unknown power is suppressing your Madness.]I looked at Ji Eunyeu.A dull ache tightened around my skull, and from her entire body came a faint, dizzying aura.All the things she hadn’t said, and I hadn’t asked, fell neatly into place in my mind.When I picked up the fallen gem, Ji Eunyeu spoke.“Show me when it’s done.”I nodded.Whether our rewritten story would succeed—I didn’t know.[Incarnate ‘Cheon Inho’ has collected all seven Star Gems!]But I would write, and—[Madness Level 7 is consuming you!]—she would edit this story.As Ji Eunyeu’s chant filled the air, something seized my mind in an iron grip.[The ability of ‘Gingoa’ restrains your Madness.]I reached toward the glowing words suspended in the air.A hilt slid smoothly into my palm.The sentence I had rewritten countless times had at last taken form in reality.[Incarnate ‘Cheon Inho’ has summoned the Four Calamity Execution Sword!]Now—it was time to face the King of Seoul.

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