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A man in yellow and black wandered out of his dream for a moment. He stepped onto the familiar surface of a train..
‘Where am I?’ He wondered.
Out the window, he saw stars, glowing brightly and glowing dimly.
The low hum of a train rumbling on train travels filled the empty space, along with the man’s soft footsteps.
⸢H el lo⸥
The man flinched.
“Who are you?”
⸢Qu i e t p le a se⸥
“You-”
⸢Sh us h⸥
The man closed his mouth.
⸢N a me pl e a s e an d wh y y ou a r e he re. N o ly i ng p le a s e⸥
“Zhou Mingrui.” The man suddenly clamped his mouth shut. Why did he answer?
⸢W h y he re⸥
“I don’t know. I was dreaming.” Once again, he answered truthfully without meaning to.
The voice stayed silent, before the train cart’s door before him opened.
⸢10 m in u t es⸥
He hesitated, before walking forward. In the next train cart, he saw a man in white and black.
He approached the other man, before sitting down slowly across from him.
The man was slumped in his seat, with empty dreamy eyes.
And so the man in yellow and black waited.
The man in white and black finally moved his eyes and opened his mouth.
“Who are you? Is this another dream?”
“No, I don’t know why I’m here.”
The man in white and black sighed, before sitting up. He ruffled his hair and reached an arm out.
“Kim Dokja.”
The man in yellow and black looked at his outstretched hands.
“You shouldn’t be so trusting.”
“I’m not. But I trust the Fourth Wall.”
The man in yellow and black looked at his hand, before reaching out to shake the empty hand.
“Mr. Fool.”
“As in the tarot card?”
“Yes.”
And the men smiled.
“So Kim Dokja, what are you?”
Kim Dokja leaned back.
“A reader. But now I’m also a dreamer. How about you? What were you doing before coming here?”
“Slumbering. I was dreaming about how my life may have gone before I was transmigrated.”
“Should you really be exposing such information?”
“My intuition as a Seer tells me I can.”
“A Seer?”
“Yes. In my new world, there are Beyonders and different Pathways to gain different powers.”
“How interesting.”
“Then how about you? What is your world like?”
“Well, on the day that a webnovel that I read ended, the story came to life. Everyone lived like game characters, and there were dokkaebi, who are like youtube streamers, and constellations who were like viewers. Our lives became a game and form of entertainment.”
“How inhumane.”
“But some constellations were good. Like Uriel, Sun Wukong, Mass Production Maker, maybe Secretive Plotter, and Persephone, and…Hades.” Kim Dokja closed his eyes.
“I miss them.” He mumbled.
“I suppose there is good in bad times.”
“Have you gone through so?”
“Well, I suppose. The life of a Beyonder is dangerous, and even thinking the wrong things can corrupt you.”
“Isn’t that terrifying?”
“Yes. After my first death, I left my new family to protect them.”
“Do you miss them?”
Mr. Fool closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“I miss my companions too.”
“Then why did you leave?”
“To protect their existence.”
Silence.
Kim Dokja closed his eyes.
“Are you tired, Kim Dokja?”
“Yes. I want to go back. I want to be with them. And I imagine you are tired too, right?”
“Yes. I’m tired. Haha, I’ve never said this much to anyone before. But I’m tired.”
“Then will you keep dreaming?”
“I will until it’s safe to wake up again.”
“Then what?”
“I’ll solve all that I can. No, I’ll make sure that the world doesn’t end. And then, I’ll go back to the home in that world.”
“Lucky.”
“Then what about you?”
“Me? I’ll stay here. And keep dreaming. Until I lose my memories and get picked up by the Outer Gods. I’m stuck in a loop after all.”
“Then do you believe your companions will save you from this loop?”
“I don’t know. But it’s better for them not to. I want them to be happy.”
⸢Ti m es up⸥
Klein Moretti got up. And this time, he stretched his hand out first.
“It was nice speaking to you.”
“You too.” Kim Dokja stretched his hand out and shook Klein Moretti’s.
And then they parted ways.
The man in white and black dreamed in the rumbles of the train in space.
The man in yellow and black dreamed in the castle above the gray fog.