Chapter Text
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In this abruptly changing world where cute but cruel Dokkaebis suddenly appeared and turned life and death scenarios into nothing but a gameshow, a floating popped up message should still be a surprise for any ordinary person, even if it may be less concerning than the blown up heads around them.
But Dokja was no ordinary person, and as someone who was aware of how the story would unfold, he knew that such messages would be a norm very soon. Constellations, beings who watched the Dokkaebi’s channels, were in essence the spectators of these scenarios, and just like typical audiences of a live-streamed show, they could comment and donate currencies to their person of interest in real time. It was why Dokja wasn’t surprised by the messages expressing the Constellations’ admiration on how he had resolved the first Scenario, nor by the hostilities from the Constellations interested in Kim Namwoon. He had expected all that.
And yet, one caught his attention.
[A Constellation is impressed with your cunning mind.]
Not even these mysterious beings were able to read minds. Judging by the positive reactions and the coins gifted to him, most were moved by his supposed good deeds. He had figured out the way to survive without killing a human being, had attempted to save the grandmother Kim Namwoon had first targeted, and had, in a way, delivered justice. In the Constellations’ eyes, he should have looked like a do-gooder, a righteous person, or at least someone with a sharp eye.
Dokja wondered which part of his actions had caused this particular Constellation to think of him as ‘cunning.’ Not that he would deny that. As surprising as it was to find himself this deceitful, Dokja knew what he had really done in order to make sure his enemy failed to survive.
After all, he, too, wished to live.
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The Dokkaebi sure seemed delighted.
Dokja roughly counted the number of twinkling stars revolving around the little monster. Thirty-five in total, and it was still increasing. The channel had more than forty viewers, which was quite a lot for a newbie Dokkaebi. No wonder the Dokkaebi was glowing, both literally and figuratively.
“Oh my! Thank you for the sponsorship, dear Constellations,” the Dokkaebi danced in the air, giggling at the wary humans in front of him. “Isn’t it an interesting twist? So many survivors in this cabin! Who would’ve thought that even bugs deserve to survive?”
Dokja glanced around. There were five survivors, which was more than what he’d thought there would be. Lee Hyunsung was as expected, as he was not only a known side character of Ways of Survival, but also an athletic soldier. Yoo Sangah and the young boy were as well, as Dokja had done his best to ensure their survival. Han Myungoh was an unexpected one.
Oh, well. The more survivors there were, the more interest this channel would gather. And Dokja knew very well that the Constellations’ interest could be a boon for him.
“Anyways, I am impressed,” the Dokkaebi beamed as more stars continued to appear around him. “You all have proven your worth. Of course, every hardship deserves a reward! And for the first Scenario, the reward is the qualification to be sponsored by Constellations! Exciting, right?”
Indeed, it was exciting. The rest may not realize the significance of this reward, but Dokja was the only one who knew about the Constellation’s sponsorship. He had no plan of choosing any sponsor at the moment, but it would be good to see who and how many were interested in him.
The Dokkaebi, tired of explaining the concept of Constellation and sponsorship to these confused humans, snapped his fingers, prompting a new message to appear in front of each survivor.
His eyes bulged out at the long list.
‘Ten?! Ten sponsors?!’ Dokja almost blurted out. Then, he noticed the familiar vertical bar on the right side of the message, and shakily raised his finger to scroll down the list. ‘Holy shit! T-twenty-three in total?!’
Dokja glanced up and gulped. Not at the grinning but clueless Dokkaebi, but at the stars that continued to pop out around him. Yes, the Constellations’ interest was good, but this may be too much even for him. Even the protagonist of Ways of Survival only got five!
Hoping that he’d managed to sufficiently hide his nervousness, Dokja began to go through the list.
The first one was ‘the Abyssal Black Flame Dragon.’ It was a familiar name from Ways of Survival . He was a powerful being that led the Constellation group called Black Cloud. Dokja couldn’t remember his long name, but he recalled the additional boost to the incarnation’s power level as well as the extreme drawbacks from receiving this Constellation’s sponsorship. Why was Kim Namwoon’s original sponsor interested in him, Dokja had no idea.
The next one was ‘Demonic Judge of Fire’. Dokja was honestly surprised to see Uriel on the list, but perhaps he should’ve seen it coming. His actions during the First Scenario must’ve enticed this Constellation of absolute good.
The third one was even more shocking. ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’, that was, Sun Wukong. He was such a powerful and famous legend that even the author of Ways of Survival emphasized his and his original incarnation’s strength so strongly. Dokja was honestly tempted to choose this Constellation as he wondered if he could, probably, maybe, beat Yoo Joonghyuk with his backing.
Things started to turn weird from the fourth one.
‘Secretive Plotter.’ Dokja had never heard of them. It could be one of those Constellations that were briefly mentioned in Ways of Survival. Maybe some barely renowned individual such as a conspirator or something.
And then, there was ‘Rich Slacker.’
Forget suspicious, this Constellation’s nickname was downright funny. At least, the ‘rich’ part sounded good. A rich Constellation could mean a generous amount of coins gifted to their incarnation. But a ‘slacker’...
Dokja shook his head and ignored the Constellation, before moving on to the next one.
‘The Great and Mighty Raon Miru.’
Then, ‘Innocent Man.’
‘Cat Ninjas.’
‘Lemonade Assassin.’
‘Torture Chef.’
‘Goldie Gramps.’
‘The Benevolent Sun and Star of Roan.’
And so on.
For some reason, Dokja felt as if he was scammed.
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