MTLNOVEL Chapter 6: Chapter 5: The Man Who Read the End
Chapter 5: The Man Who Read the End
The world shattered.
Jihwan fell.
There was no ground beneath him. No up, no down—only a vast, infinite void swallowing everything.
But he wasn't alone.
The other Yoo Jihwan stood above him, untouched by gravity, his expression unreadable. Cold, detached—like a god looking down at a mortal.
> [You already know, don't you?]
His voice wasn't a question. It was a statement.
Jihwan's mind reeled.
> Who is he? Why does he look like me? What the hell is going on?
But before he could ask, something snapped.
And suddenly—
He saw.
A flood of visions tore through his skull, ripping his consciousness apart.
He saw himself standing at the end of all things.
A lone figure, staring at an empty world, where no story remained.
He saw himself grasping a book with no title.
A final volume with no words, waiting for its last page to be written.
He saw the wall.
A boundary dividing the Beginning from the Climax.
A place where time did not move.
And then—
He saw himself beyond that wall.
Alone. Forgotten. A shadow of the past.
Jihwan screamed.
The visions burned. They weren't just images—they were memories.
His memories.
Or rather… the memories of the one who had read the end.
> [Do you understand now?]
Jihwan gasped for breath, his body trembling.
> [This isn't a story about survival.]
[This is a story about succession.]
The truth slammed into him like a hammer.
This wasn't a test. It wasn't a game.
This was a cycle. A curse.
Every Reader of the Beginning… was destined to become the Reader of the Climax.
Jihwan looked up at the man who shared his face.
> "You… you're me, aren't you?"
The other Jihwan smiled.
But there was no warmth in it. Only inevitability.
> [I was you once. And one day, you will be me.]
> [You cannot stop it.]
[You can only delay the final page.]
The space around them cracked.
The Library Without End, the floating books, the darkness itself—all of it shattered like fragile glass.
And then—
Jihwan woke up.
---
The Return to Reality
His lungs screamed for air.
Jihwan sat up, his body drenched in sweat.
The library was gone. The bookshelves, the void, the other him—all gone.
Instead, he was back in the stone hall with the other survivors.
But something had changed.
The cloaked figure still floated above them, watching. But this time, it was looking directly at him.
Jihwan's heart pounded.
> [The Reader of the Beginning has seen beyond the veil.]
[A fragment of the Climax has been glimpsed.]
[The path cannot be turned back.]
The other survivors whispered among themselves, oblivious to what had just happened.
They thought this was just another trial. Another step forward.
But Jihwan knew better.
This wasn't a test anymore.
This was his fate.
And now…
He had to find a way to break it.
---
End of Chapter 5