Chapter Text
The Magic Tower, with its rich history and prestigious status, was the one place all sorcerers strove towards and where even the Royal State could not exert its influence. It was not only the focal point where the most elite of sorcerers gathered and congregated, but also an extensive library of countless ancient tomes and forbidden spells.
Along the violet runes-inscribed carpeted path, Kim Dokja, cloaked in white, drifted through the halls as if a specter. He was intercepted as he turned the corner by a friend and fellow student, whose surprise at seeing him was evident in her greeting.
“Kim Dokja? What a coincidence.”
Kim Dokja, having come to a stop, greeted back, “Good afternoon, Sooyoung.”
There was no shortage of eccentric sorcerers at the Magic Tower, but even amongst them, Kim Dokja and Han Sooyoung stuck out. There were many who questioned how these two oddballs had become friends so quickly, but no matter how they wracked their brains, no one could come up with an answer. But just who could’ve guessed that these two had inherited both their memories and names from their past lives in a different universe, and that they were well acquainted even back then?
“It’s not often that I see you running around in this area,” Han Sooyoung said casually. She peered towards the direction Kim Dokja had come from. “Are you shopping for experiment supplies? I know which shops are having clearance sales.”
“No, I was just mailing a letter to my parents,” Kim Dokja explained, “I was so busy up until now that I forgot to stay in contact. I normally write them quite regularly.”
Han Sooyoung nodded and the topic naturally dropped.
There were few who knew that Kim Dokja was the prince of the Underworld and Han Sooyoung was one of them. But to this day, she didn’t know how this friend of hers, who was clearly alive, had made his way into the Land of the Dead or how he was adopted by its rulers. But seeing as Kim Dokja was on pretty good terms with his adopted parents, she never felt the need to work out the details.
“So you’re finally through your pile of assignments?” Han Sooyoung teased.
Though he was finally liberated from said assignments, the mere thought of the heavy amount of homework and lessons Kyrgios, his advisor, tended to assign was enough to give Kim Dokja a headache. “Yeah, it’s finished, it’s finished. I already handed it in; hopefully he won’t have too many revisions for me to make.”
At this, Han Sooyoung couldn’t hide a schadenfreude-filled smile. It took a glare from Kim Dokja before she showed some restraint. She recomposed herself and with a tone deprived of her earlier frivolity, she remarked, “Speaking of your advisor, there’s a new rumour spreading in the Tower.”
“What rumour?” Kim Dokja asked in response.
“The rumour that your advisor will soon be recommending you for membership into the Supreme Council of the Magic Tower.” Han Sooyoung answered.
“What?!” Kim Dokja was startled. He quickly followed with a line of astonished questioning, “How’d this rumour start? The Supreme Council? How?”
“A lot of people actually believe this rumour to be true. After all, the moment Kyrgios made an exception and took you under as his student, people had high hopes for your future.” As Han Sooyoung explained, she was also watching for changes in Kim Dokja’s expression. “Has he never brought this up with you?”
“We have discussed my career path before, but as for entering the Supreme Council… anyways, we had reached an understanding.” Kim Dokja’s brows were furrowed in thought. “But even then, it shouldn’t be this soon. With my qualifications and amount of experience, I should still have a few more years to go.”
“If you ask me, your level of strength and knowledge is more than enough to meet the qualification standards,” Han Sooyoung said. “If you could pull off something major to prove your capabilities, then, along with Kyrgios’ recommendation, it isn’t out of the question for you to skip a few steps and be promoted.”
Kim Dokja shook his head. “That something ‘major’ has to be very, very considerable. And even sticking to my current speed of progress, I would be entering the Council just the same, only at a later date.”
“At a ‘later’ date?” Han Sooyoung scoffed. “Would that be a few decades later? A few centuries later?”
“To us who are of the Magic Tower, decades or even centuries could pass in just a blink of an eye,” Kim Dokja remained unmoved. “I value this second life of mine; there’s no point in taking unnecessary risks.”
He knew Han Sooyoung was coming from a place of kindness— awkward at expressing it as she is, but he also knew that she, of all people, would understand his reasoning and respect his decision.
Looking at the now-silent Han Sooyoung, Kim Dokja smiled. To this friend who he’d reunited with in a foreign world, he followed, “I don’t know if my advisor even knows about this rumour, but if it proves to be true, then right about now, he should be looking for me to carry out a ‘major’—”
Before he could finish his sentence, the magical communication device at Kim Dokja’s hips sprung to life, its clear bell-like tone ringing in the magic-rich air. The two friends looked at each other and Kim Dokja hurriedly grabbed his communicator from his side. After confirming the identity of the caller, Kim Dokja’s hands began trembling.
After taking a deep breath, Kim Dokja answered the call, “Yes, yes it’s me, is there something you need me for, advisor?”
The call had brought Kim Dokja two pieces of news: one good, one bad. The good news was that Kyrgios did not mention any revisions needed for his assignment; the bad news was that Kim Dokja was to take on a highly-classified mission, alone, which forcibly ended his comfortable shut-in days at the Magic Tower.
On his journey away from the Magic Tower, Kim Dokja endlessly cursed his stupid, flag-raising mouth. To ensure the covertness of his mission, he had not only kept the news of his outing from most of his colleagues, but also changed out of his sorcerer’s robes and disguised his face. He even replaced his wand and dagger with a heavily enchanted sword which he wore at his side.
The specifics of the mission was for Kim Dokja to covertly enter a large dungeon. The dungeon traps all those who enter it from leaving, until it is able to select its owner— the one who is able to sit upon its [Throne]. The participants, whether they entered the dungeon on purpose or by mistake, are put through trial after trial, all filled with hidden rules, until seven [Kings] are selected. These seven [Kings] are then to compete for the ownership of the [Absolute Throne].
Kim Dokja had shamelessly won this contest but contrary to all expectations, he chose to destroy the [Throne]. And thus, he was crowned the title of the [King of a Kingless World]. Once the [Throne], the core of the dungeon, was destroyed, the dungeon itself dissipated into nothing and as expected, its participants found themselves returned to the real world.
It was quite a daunting mission, but Kim Dokja got through it easily without mishap. The biggest threat he had even faced was a brat who, upon their first meeting, tossed him into the river as fish bait.
Fortunately, he was able to vent his anger by one upping the other. Kim Dokja snickered to himself as he recalled the final round and how he sent the young man flying with a single punch mustered with all his strength.
Although the two of them had fought against one another, they had also worked together for their common goal. Kim Dokja felt a sudden sliver of regret— in their short acquaintance, they hadn’t ever even exchanged names. Kim Dokja had prioritized the secrecy of his identity— though, still, he should have asked for the other’s name at least. A young swordsman that talented, Kim Dokja should’ve tried to dig into his background.
Ah, but, it’s not like they’ll meet again, Kim Dokja thought to himself. He, too, wouldn’t easily allow his own identity to be exposed and pave the path for the man to come knocking at his doorsteps for revenge.
KIm Dokja snickered to himself once more.
Having finally brought the matter to a close, Kim Dokja returned to the Magic Tower with the fastest speed imaginable. After finishing his report to Kyrgios, Kim Dokja didn’t have the energy to deal with the overt or hidden intentions of the other high-level executives and only wanted to laze away cooped up in his dorm room.
But right as Kim Dokja was enjoying a currently popular novel, savouring his hard to come by vacation, Han Sooyoung showed up on his doorsteps with a solemn face, attacking his doorbell with furiosity until Kim Dokja was forced out of his bed to welcome his guest inside.
As soon as the door closed behind her, Han Sooyoung got straight to the point. “I suspect that this world we've reincarnated into is that of a novel.”
Kim Dokja stared speechlessly at his awful friend who had interrupted his vacation. He looked back down at the novel in his hand, and asked, “Telling me this all of a sudden, do you have any basis for your suspicions?”
Novel transmigration was a genre they'd both seen so much of in their past life that it had become a bore. In that lifetime, one of them was a famous author and the other was an avid reader of webnovels, so of course they were well acquainted with the subject.
“Of course I do,” answered Han Sooyoung. “For some reason, I kept thinking that the title you acquired on your little excursion, [King of a Kingless World], felt familiar. I’ve only just realized that it’s because it’s exactly the same as in that one specific novel. And upon further consideration, I realized that, just like in our current world, that novel had within it a Magic Tower, dragons, and the undead.”
“I’ve never heard of it,” said Kim Dokja in response.
“Of course you haven’t,” Han Sooyoung replied. “It was a new, ongoing novel targeted at an audience of young teenage girls. It’s centered around a girl named… Biyoo, I think? Or was it Piyoo? Anyways, it’s a coming of age adventure. It was actually quite popular, though I’m afraid it wouldn’t have popped up on your radar.”
Kim Dokja really didn't think too much of it. But after tilting his head in thought, he asked, “Alright then, what role does [King of a Kingless World] play in this novel?”
“This is exactly what I’ve come here to discuss with you.” Han Sooyoung replied, tone grave. “In the novel, the [King of a Kingless World] is a noble-born sorcerer, who holds a seat in the Supreme Council of the Magic Tower, which, as you can see, matches up perfectly with your circumstances.”
Kim Dokja wanted to retort that he hasn’t even entered the Supreme Council yet and that his birth couldn’t exactly be considered noble, but there was little point in arguing about details so he kept his mouth shut. However, after hearing her finish, he too turned serious. “I assume this isn’t the end of it?”
“That’s right,” Han Sooyoung replied. “The most important part is that, in the story, this sorcerer is the heroine’s biological father, who abandoned her and her mother when she was an infant and remained absent from her childhood.”
Han Sooyoung’s words spiraled in Kim Dokja’s thoughts, like voices in an echo chamber. Even when he received the letter of approval for his membership into the Supreme Council, he was still ruminating on this topic.
In the novel Han Sooyoung had introduced, Kim Dokja— presuming that he indeed was this nameless sorcerer character, would in the future be injured in some sort of an accident. He would not only be at a great distance from the Magic Tower, but also lose most of his memories. And in that period of being an amnesiac, he would meet the heroine’s birth mother, fall madly in love, marry, and establish a loving family.
However, upon recovering his memories and identity, that wonderful life would instantly take a turn. The proud and arrogant sorcerer would no doubt be indignant at everything that had transpired when he had no memories. Ignoring the pleas of his pregnant wife, he would heartlessly leave her and to be never heard from again.
His jilted wife would deliver their child on her own, and perhaps suffering from too great an anguish, leave the mortal realm a mere few years after. At her mother’s deathbed, the heroine finally learned the identity of her father: an elite sorcerer of the Magic Tower. After grieving her mother’s death, the heroine stepped onto the path of her predestined hero’s journey, filled with daunting tasks and risk-filled adventures.
The above is all the information Kim Dokja and Han Sooyoung held.
Even if he had lost his memories, Kim Dokja insisted that there was no way he’d become a cold-blooded monster of a deadbeat father who would abandon his wife and daughter. Yet in the darkest corners of his thoughts, Kim Dokja could not help the formation of doubts. What if he really was the sorcerer in the story? What if the future would still inexplicably develop according to the plot of the original novel? And if he no longer had his memories, could Kim Dokja really be sure that he would still be and act as himself?
Haunted by these uncertainties, Kim Dokja’s mood fell lower and lower each day, to the point that the gloomy air around him scared off the classmates who’d come to offer their congratulations. Even his advisor, awful at offering comfort as he was, noticed and began showering Kim Dokja with carefully selected gifts along with sincere and earnest words of reassurance.
Even Han Sooyoung could no longer withstand his misery and volunteered words of support. “Stop overthinking it. Aren’t you someone who has faith in his own integrity? Not to mention you have me keeping an eye on you, and your teacher and your parents whom you can fall back on.”
“Thanks,” said Kim Dokja.
At this point in time, there really wasn’t much that they could do other than to meticulous plan precautionary measures. And at the sincere concern of his close friend, Kim Dokja was finally able to relax a bit and have the spare capacity of mind to offer an appropriate smile in response.
As someone who, despite his youth, rose rapidly into a position in the Supreme Council of the Magic Tower and as its shining new ‘star of tomorrow’, Kim Dokja had a plethora of duties waiting for him to bury himself in. Not to mention, he still had his classes and lessons, since after all, he hasn't technically graduated from Kyrgios’ tutelage… even if Kim Dokja would much rather forget about those matters of business.