READ THIS ONLY AFTER FINISHING THE FANFIC!!!
(CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!)
When I first clicked "New Document" for this project nearly half a year ago, I didn't realize I was signing a contract with the Devil—or more accurately, a contract with three different cosmic entities who all refused to follow the same script. It just started as a minute, a moment of inspiration and possibility, and right now I cannot believe that I'm writing the afterword.
Now that we've reached Chapter 100, I can finally say it: I am never, ever doing a crossover of this magnitude again. But I'm also proud of myself at the same time. That I didn't drop it, no matter how busy I was. Big shout out for the readers who wrote comments and reviews, I often read them when I lacked motivation to keep the updates regular. <3
Bruh, the difficulty level was insane. It's one thing to write a fanfic; it's another to try and balance the high-level conceptual "Logic" of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, the strict "Laws" and "Symbolism" of Lord of Mysteries, and the "Settings" of The Novel's Extra. I spent more time checking "Probability" and "Sequence" requirements than I did actually sleeping. I nearly went bald trying to figure out how a characters from different universes would interact with each other, the power-scaling and so much more, which I can't describe in words!
My mental limits weren't just pushed; they were shattered and reconstructed more times than Yoo Joonghyuk regressed.
Looking back at this 100-chapter marathon, a few moments still stick in my mind, I often go back to them to reread, thinking I may have added or changed something:
Chapter 16: Where Hajin shattered the Demon Realm borders—a moment that set the tone for the entire convergence.
Chapter 49: The Recorded Past Arc Ending, where the weight of history started to catch up with our trio.
Chapter 79: The Oz Arc, witnessing the Secretive Plotter descend to accommodate the Supernova's Sefirah and finally meet with the 999th party.
Chapter 97: The Funeral.
I'll be honest: I tried to keep the body count manageable, but with a cast this big, sacrifices were inevitable. I spent a long time ensuring the major side characters received a proper place under the Sun.
Along with the Finale, probably, the most memorable was Chapter 97. To get into that headspace, I actually spent hours listening to sad songs—specifically "Stay a Little Longer" by ROSÉ from BLACKPINK. I highly recommend listening to it while reading that chapter; it made the writing process (and the tragedy) feel so much more visceral.
By the time I reached the actual ending, my eyes were genuinely watery. I had so many interactions between the three of them playing in my head, but I chose to keep the dialogue sparse. I wanted to shift the focus toward the Sixth Pillar to make the mechanics of the ending as clear as possible.
Some might ask why I didn't write 100 more chapters to explore the new converged universe. Honestly? I'm too lazy to drag these fully developed characters through another hundred chapters of suffering that would just repeat the events of their original novels.
Inheriting such a massive stratum of characters meant I had to keep the plot action-packed with very few moments to breathe, because obviously what can be new in already famous and well-know stories which are reread one or two times annualy, all the twists are already known and clear if you read the three of the works. Explaining the convergence in too much detail would have entangled too many threads, exhausting the stories that were already "finished".
Originally, I planned a much more tragic ending with even greater sacrifices to reflect the harshness of their worlds. ORV, in particular, left me with a lot of "reader trauma" from its original conclusion. But because this was a farewell to all three universes, I chose to just return everything to where it was in the very beginning. I guess, you will find this ending boring and disappointing. :(
Even though everyone dies eventually, this is a happy ending for now. Based on "battle simulations" and the logical reasoning of their current power levels, a permanent victory over the Outer Deities and alliance of Nebulas was impossible(even if I made it seem that they were winning). They didn't have the resources to solve every cosmic problem forever. Through extreme mobilization and the division of forces, forcing a temporary truce and a separation was the most achievable—and logically sound—outcome.
They get to go home. And for these three, that's the greatest miracle of all.
I know what some of you might be thinking. There are plenty of talented Author-nims out there who might argue that it's much easier to write a story when the foundation is already built for you. You have the characters, the power systems, and the world-building handed to you on a silver platter, right?
I agree.
To an extent.
Having a foundation definitely gives you a floor to stand on, but it also gives you a very low ceiling if you aren't careful. To write in worlds as complex as Lord of Mysteries or Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint or The Novel's Extra without "spoiling" that foundation requires a level of diligence that is a hundred—no, a thousand times more taxing than starting from scratch.
Anyone can throw a bunch of characters into a room and call it a crossover. But to make that crossover work logically? That was the real challenge.
So, enough of my bickering(bear with me a little more, lol).
AND RIGHT NOW I'LL TALK ABOUT THE ENDING OF THE FANFIC, SO PLEASE IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT TILL THE END, COMEBACK LATER AFTER FINISHING CHAPTER 100: KEY OF LIGHT[2]!!!!!
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Okay, I know that the warnings never stop anyone, I'm actually the same ;3
So let's just proceed with my explanation, if someone didn't understand the Finale.
Let me lay out the "Blueprints" of this finale.
The Convergence you read throughout 100 chapters wasn't the first attempt. It was the successful attempt. In countless previous turns, Kim Dokja, Kim Hajin, and Klein Moretti were pulled together, but the universes always collapsed because they lacked a "Pillar of Choice." The "Conceptual Resources" weren't enough to sustain the reality, and the Oldest Dream would always reboot the story back to its miserable, convergence defaults the beginning point of the Chapter 1.
During one of these "failed" turns, the Fourth Wall (who regained his ego as the original Dokkaebi King) cannot do anything with it. They plotted against the Oldest Dream who went crazy as the result of Convergence.
The Dokkaebi King spent his entire existence's worth of "Probability" to travel back to the starting point of the Convergence.
The Original Creator, meanwhile, as he couldn't reverse the state of three Universes, contacted his own past conscious of the Universe(still not converged with TNE and ORV), and out of his own corpse he made the remenant of the Sixth Pillar, which was actually ME!!! As, the time passed by, I recovered throughout the Epochs until successfuly regained consciousness.
I "awakened" in the story at the three most critical divergence points:
When Hajin was dealing with Orden in Africa.
When Dokja was fighting the War of Saints and Demons on Reincarnation Island.
When Klein was trapped in the Forsaken Land of God fighting Amon.
This created the loop where success was finally possible.(If you still didn't get it write a comment I'll explain more :3)
But the Dokkaebi King was too weak to act directly this time.
All he could do was warn Shakyamuni and Wenny King, and plant an anchor.
Yes, the [Holy Garlic and Onion] from Chapter 18 was the item that Dokkaebi King transformed into and allowed the Fourth Wall to eventually remember the plan and guide Dokja to the Final Wall. From where he had followed Oldest Dream inside who was taking Sefirots away in attempt to regress the Universe once again.
I'm so glad the original authors left so many loopholes. It allowed me to expand on things like the Demon Realm of TNE, which was barely mentioned, and connect the world-building with Dark Stratum of ORV.
Now talking about Pillars.
Based on the loopholes left by Cuttlefish, here is the official mapping of the Pillars in this fanfic:
The Trinity of "What Is" (Manifested):
Physical World → Existence: (Represented by the Mother Goddess of Depravity)
Spirit World → Information / Connection: (Represented by the Lord of Mysteries - Klein)
Astral World → Concept / Meaning: (Represented by God Almighty - Adam)
The Trinity of "What Is Not" (Hidden):
Fourth Pillar → Termination: (The End / The Finality of the River of Time, HELLO LUMIAN AND COI)
Fifth Pillar → Fate: (Key of Light+Sefirah Castle/Flow of River of Time and Fate)
Sixth Pillar → Possibility: (The Divergence / The Choice / The Author), so yeah, basically, any Author is the Sixth Pillar, since they give this pure "Possibility" for the story to diverge, to have interesting twists and development.
That being said, it explains why you didn't see all the attempts and other turns of Klein, Dokja and Hajin, since the residual symbolism of the Sixth Pillar(Me) dispersed through the timeline of the new Universe to the point of when the constant regression did not offer any Possibility or Divergence/Choice to the plot of "Viewpoint of Mysterious Extra",creating an eternal loop of suffering which eventually led Oldest Dream to the brink of loosing control (not because I'm lazy, but because there were just enough power of the Sixth Pillar to record the story in the very first turn ;D).
I know the last few chapters felt like a high-speed fever dream. The pacing was faster than a bullet from Black Lotus, and there might be some inconsistencies with original sources. But honestly? I'm the Sixth Pillar now. Anything that can diverge, I can make possible. If I wanted them to hug it out in a white room while smoking a cigarette that shouldn't exist, I made it happen! Lmao.
This story was a labor of love (and pain) that lasted half a year. I'm actually not disappointed with how it ended. Seeing the Author, the Reader, and the Fool choose "Separation" as an act of love for their own worlds felt like the only "True Ending" for characters who have spent their lives being slaves to their scripts.
As this story reaches its conclusion, I hope more people get to find and read it. I've really enjoyed working on it, even when I was cursing the word count. If you liked this viewpoint of some mysterious extra called Alov, please share it with others—I'd be eternally grateful.
Thank you for being my "Constellations" and "Readers" through this journey. Your gazes were the probability that kept me writing. Don't forget to leave a review, I'd really appreciate reading your comments on what you think.
But wait! It's not quite over. EPILOGUE is coming your way to show you where they ended up.
The end is just another divergence.
See you in the EPILOGUE!!! :3
— Alov (The Sixth Pillar / Your Overworked Author)