Yoo Joonghyuk/Synopsis/Regressions

Throughout the novel Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World, Yoo Joonghyuk goes through a series of 1863 regressions. This page is a synopsis covering all regressions up to the 1863rd round.

## 0th round

### Predicted version

The 0th round was never defined in the original text of Ways of Survival, so for the majority of Kim Dokja's life, the only version of this round he knew of was created by his own imagination. He guessed that in his first life, Yoo Joonghyuk would have tried to get through the scenarios without a constellation sponsor, but along the way would have suffered the loss of his party members, including Lee Seolhwa and Lee Jihye. Unable to get revenge and struggling to survive, Yoo Joonghyuk would have finally reached a scenario he couldn't surpass as a lonely incarnation, and as a result he would have been close to death. At that point, the Oldest Dream would have approached him, offering to sponsor him and allow him to redo the timeline. In his despair, Yoo Joonghyuk would have accepted, setting off the cycle of regressions that formed the body of Ways of Survival.

### Reality

At approximately 6:55 pm on the day the scenarios are due to begin, Yoo Joonghyuk boards the 3434 Train to Bulgwang. He notices the person next to him reading an article on a portal site which hypothesizes about his own return to the professional gaming scene, and spends a few minutes recalling the issues among his team and the mystery behind his parents' disappearance. A few minutes after the train departs, he is snapped out of his thoughts by the appearance of Choi Han-Gyu, a large man carrying a homemade bomb. Stunned and afraid, Yoo Joonghyuk barely registers the man before Bihyung appears in the air above them all. The dokkaebi is amused by the chaos already underway in the subway carriage, and enables Main Scenario 1 before disappearing.

As Choi Han-Gyu and other members of the carriage begin to kill people, Yoo Joonghyuk is conflicted by the situation he has been trapped in. Eventually, he decides to pick up the spanner that Choi Han-Gyu tossed out, then runs forward and directly attacks Choi Han-Gyu himself. Though the terrorist is better armed than him, Yoo Joonghyuk's attribute [Pro Gamer] awakens at that moment, giving him an extra boost. All the same, Choi Han-Gyu manages to avoid the attack through investing coins in his stamina stat. He seizes Yoo Joonghyuk by the neck; out of options, Yoo Joonghyuk instead hurls the spanner at the bomb that Choi Han-Gyu discarded. The resulting explosion kills the terrorist and would have killed Yoo Joonghyuk as well, had Kim Dokja (present as the Oldest Dream) not intercepted the shrapnel before it hit him.

Yoo Joonghyuk senses the presence before him, but before he can follow through with the thought, the scenario ends and the Sponsor Selection begins. Yoo Joonghyuk is presented with four options, including the God of Wine and Ecstasy, the Nail-Eating Rat, the Abyssal Black Flame Dragon, and the Demon King of Salvation. Yoo Joonghyuk decides to get through the Sponsor Selection quickly so that he can start tracking down Yoo Mia. He dismisses the first two sponsor candidates for sounding too messy and weak respectively, considers the Abyssal Black Flame Dragon because his name seems strong, then dismisses the Demon King of Salvation for sounding too arrogant. Right before he can select a name, Kim Dokja, worried about the divergence of the timeline from what he knows, hits Yoo Joonghyuk in the back of the head and knocks him out.

Two months into the scenarios, Yoo Joonghyuk still has yet to choose a sponsor, despite two more Sponsor Selections having taken place. This is partly due to him being wary of the constellations, since he realized that it was one of them who knocked him out during the first Sponsor Selection. To cater to the constellations hungry to sponsor this powerful incarnation, Bihyung allows them opportunities to offer Yoo Joonghyuk special items in an attempt to bribe him into allying with them. However, Yoo Joonghyuk is less interested in their powerful items and more invested in the information about the future that the Demon King of Salvation continues to give him. His secondhand knowledge of the future makes him even more interesting to the viewing constellations, resulting in a continuing cycle.

Yoo Joonghyuk rebuffs them, continuing through the scenarios with his party, which consists of the usual— Lee Seolhwa, Lee Jihye, Kim Namwoon, Lee Hyunsung, Shin Yoosung, and Yoo Mia— in addition to Jung Heewon, who was saved from death due to a tip by the Demon King of Salvation. Additional messages sent by the Demon King of Salvation have allowed Yoo Joonghyuk to become increasingly powerful, because of which Yoo Joonghyuk gains more and more trust in said constellation, despite not knowing his true identity. Yoo Joonghyuk is increasingly successful, managing to clear the Theatre Dungeon, securing Gong Pildu's alliance, escaping the trap of the Absolute Throne, and more. The resulting probability storms are handled by the Demon King of Salvation, and Yoo Joonghyuk safely acquires the Stories that Kim Dokja himself collected over the course of his own round.

After an unknown amount of time, Yoo Joonghyuk reaches Main Scenario 99. He is accompanied by his own core party, in addition to the rest of Pacheonmaeng, the coalition of incarnations that he leads. They make their way through the scenario, destroying the Ark, and reach the Dokkaebi King. The King claims that the one who oversees the world lines will not want a story where he is dead, but Yoo Joonghyuk manages to kill him safely, and thus, the scenarios end.

Over the next five years, the incarnations set about rebuilding their world. Han Donghoon helps restore the government; Lee Hyunsung and Jung Heewon assist in keeping the peace, while Lee Jihye works on defending the border and helping with international peace agreements. Lee Seolhwa and Shin Yoosung create the Star Counting Night facility to rescue and care for orphans; Yoo Joonghyuk occasionally comes in to the orphanage to give talks, and generally remains close with his party.

Seven years after the scenarios end, Yoo Joonghyuk and Lee Seolhwa get married, with everyone attending the wedding. They do not intend on having children, instead focusing on the orphans at the facility they established. As time passes, Yoo Joonghyuk grows old at an accelerated rate, due to the attribute [Life Lived to the Fullest]— an attribute that unleashes the full capability of an individual but damns them to a limited lifespan. Thus, despite the possibility of Yoo Joonghyuk achieving immortality through constellationhood, he remains mortal. 25 years after the scenarios end, when Yoo Joonghyuk is in his early 60s, he leaves the main city and secludes himself in a rural area. As his family leaves him for the last time, he speaks to the Demon King of Salvation, who continues to watch over him even decades later. He mentions that, though he is happy with the life he has lived, he remains curious about the path he would have taken had he not been guided through the scenarios, and how he has become curious about the Demon King of Salvation himself.

As his body weakens, close to death, Yoo Joonghyuk asks if he could meet the Demon King of Salvation by choosing him as his sponsor. Upon being rejected, he asks about the Demon King of Salvation's existence, pointing out that he must exist beyond the Last Wall. Yoo Joonghyuk then begins to explain how he has always been curious about the truth of his own existence, the world he lives in, and the world beyond the Wall. Recalling that the Demon King of Salvation had once offered him one wish in exchange for the acceptance of his sponsorship offer, Yoo Joonghyuk declares that he will accept his request on the condition that the Demon King offer explanations to satisfy his curiosity. Although the easiest way to complete this wish would be for Yoo Joonghyuk to obtain the Fourth Wall and use it to cross the Last Wall, the Fourth Wall refuses to be transferred over. The Demon King of Salvation thus explains that the only remaining way is to regress for 1864 rounds, which would be an extremely difficult and nigh torturous path, perhaps not even ending in success. Undeterred, Yoo Joonghyuk agrees to this deal, becoming the Demon King of Salvation's incarnation.

A distressed Kim Dokja realizes that there's no way Yoo Joonghyuk will actually succeed, since the Yoo Joonghyuk he knew in his own round did not remember knowing him. Upon being advised by the Fourth Wall, he decides to scatter Yoo Joonghyuk's memories when he regresses, so that the two timelines will match up. He explains this to Yoo Joonghyuk, in addition to the fact that the Demon King of Salvation will no longer be able to advise him in future rounds. Yoo Joonghyuk does not mind this, knowing that the world he leaves behind will continue on safely. He accepts the [Regression] stigma from his sponsor, and the duo agree to its activation. As Yoo Joonghyuk's body begins to scatter in preparation for his regression, he asks the Demon King of Salvation if they will meet after he regresses, and tells him that he will continue hoping his sponsor continues to exist somewhere. With this farewell, Yoo Joonghyuk regresses, losing his memories and setting out on the path of 1864 lives, aiming to one day find the sponsor he can no longer remember.

## 1st round

Yoo Joonghyuk manages to gain Lee Seolhwa's allegiance, possibly freeing her from Antinus' control in the meantime. She acts as his comrade henceforth.

## 2nd round

During the early scenarios, Yoo Joonghyuk encounters and kills the Dark Keeper, causing the Demon King Asmodeus to lay a curse on him. In further rounds, he encounters and frees Lee Seolhwa from Antinus' control. She becomes his ally, and eventually, his lover. She and Yoo Joonghyuk have a child together. The prophet Anna Croft also allies with Yoo Joonghyuk in this round. Additionally, Yoo Joonghyuk trains under Namgung Minyoung, learning Breaking the Sky Swordsmanship from her. He spends enough time training under her to break through to the second stage of transcendence, after which he spends 100 years in the Dark Fault, using that time to break through to stage three. However, he is unclear how exactly he was able to achieve stage three, as he was spiritually exhausted at the time.

In the fifth main scenario, the Disaster of Floods comes from the 41st round and provides Yoo Joonghyuk with information about the scenarios, allowing him to reach the 46th main scenario without much issue. Unfortunately, Anna Croft betrays him in this scenario, defeating Yoo Joonghyuk and using the scenario star's reward to exert control over him, effectively turning him into her slave. Yoo Joonghyuk is unable to effectively look after his own party, as Anna Croft has full control over his actions. Thus, he is unable to save Lee Seolhwa and their unnamed child, who die early. He also loses Namgung Minyoung, who dies fighting alone against the returnee alliance, having been forsaken by the Blood Demon and Heavenly Demon Schools. The loss of his loved ones drives Yoo Joonghyuk out of his mind, and he manages to overcome a startling amount of enemies.

However, Yoo Joonghyuk eventually succumbs to the curse laid upon him by Asmodeus, which culminates in him dying at the hands of the Demon King himself. The exact situation in which he dies is not described in detail, but it leaves the normally unshakeable Yoo Joonghyuk traumatized enough that he trembles upon meeting Asmodeus once again.

## 8th round

Yoo Joonghyuk dies in the Theatre Dungeon. It is strongly implied that he committed suicide.

## 11th round

Yoo Joonghyuk dies once again in the Theatre Dungeon.

## 14th round

Yoo Joonghyuk realizes that ascending to the Absolute Throne prevents him from ever reaching the end of the scenarios.

## 18th round

Yoo Joonghyuk is killed by Namgung Minyoung, presumably because she is suspicious at his knowing the techniques of the Breaking the Sky Sword School despite never having studied under her.

## 41st round (before disaster of floods)

By the 41st round, Yoo Joonghyuk becomes increasingly jaded and ruthlessly pragmatic. He does not often become agitated, keeping a tight lid on his emotions. He also distances himself from his party members, no longer acknowledging them as companions or comrades. All the same, his party— Lee Hyunsung, Lee Jihye, Lee Seolhwa, and Shin Yoosung— all work hard to support him, looking up to his leadership. However, this round does not end well; Lee Jihye is chased down by Japanese incarnations, who kill her out of hatred for her sponsor, Yi Sunsin. She dies fighting at sea, and upon her death, Yoo Joonghyuk simply remarks that future sea battles will be difficult. Similarly, Lee Hyunsung was an incredibly sturdy shield for the party, but eventually succumbed when hit by an iron blood dragon's breath attack; Yoo Joonghyuk commented that he had lost a bad shield.

Though Yoo Joonghyuk remains somewhat callous, he softens at times, particularly when dealing with his party, such as when he promised Shin Yoosung that they'd go on a trip together after the scenarios ended. Unfortunately, as the party members die one by one, the failure of this regression becomes more clear. Yoo Joonghyuk uses the final moments of the regression to send Shin Yoosung outside the world line, hoping that she will be able to carry information about the scenarios to his past self, averting the timeline that he lived through and ending the regressions early.

## 48th Round

It was mentioned that Yoo Joonghyuk had consulted with the incarnation of the constellation 'Discoverer of the Subconscious Mind' on the 'regression depression'.[*citation needed*]

## 71st round

Yama, the King of Hell, reads Yoo Joonghyuk's fate, forcing him into a certain future. The specifics of the fate are not described.

## 81st round

Yoo Joonghyuk spends a large amount of time learning cooking techniques, becoming an extremely talented cook, although this is at the expense of his swordsmanship.

## 111th round

At some point, Yoo Joonghyuk is cast outside of the scenarios and sent to the Demon Realms. He finds himself in a "garbage dump" in the 73rd Demon Realm, where there are numerous discarded story fragments. Using these story fragments, he patches up his incarnation body, which was falling apart due to the penalty of being outside the scenarios. Once he is more stable, he goes to the Syswitz Industrial Complex and becomes the Revolutionary there, taking Syswitz's place as Duke. He then presumably takes part in the Demon King Selection and becomes the 73rd Demon King.

## 211th round

Yoo Joonghyuk fights against <Olympus> and succeeds in killing one of the 12 gods.

## 325th round

Yoo Joonghyuk fights against <Olympus> and succeeds in killing two of the 12 gods.

## 438th round

Yoo Joonghyuk fights against <Olympus> and succeeds in killing four of the 12 gods.

## 999th round

By the 999th turn, Yoo Joonghyuk has become weary of seeing the people around him die over and over. He also knows that even if he dies, he will get another chance at survival, but his party members will get no such second chances. Thus, he dedicates this round to living only for the sake of his comrades, so that they may reach the Conclusion with or without him. He is accompanied in this round by Lee Hyunsung, Lee Jihye, Kim Namwoon, Shin Yoosung, and Archangel Uriel, the latter of whom allied with him due to his pure desire to keep his comrades safe. The Maritime War God also allies himself with the party, although he dies somewhere along the way protecting Lee Jihye.

In the early scenarios, Yoo Joonghyuk becomes the dominant King of Seoul and ascends the Absolute Throne. The Throne, which binds its owner to an outer god, is taken advantage of by Yoo Joonghyuk so that he can create an Outer World Covenant with aforementioned outer god, who is revealed to have been the Secretive Plotter. Through repeatedly drawing on the Covenant and sacrificing his own well-being for the sake of his party, he manages to help his companions progress safely through the scenarios, with not a single one of his core party members dying. He loses his left arm saving Lee Jihye in Main Scenario 38, his right leg saving Lee Hyunsung in Main Scenario 55, and both his eyes saving Shin Yoosung in Main Scenario 77.

Through all these sacrifices, he manages to get his party closer to the Conclusion than any regression before. Unfortunately, at the cusp of the end of the scenarios, Seoul itself is attacked to the point of sinking under the sea. In order to save everyone, Yoo Joonghyuk makes one final trade through the Covenant, and the price he pays for it ends up being too harsh a toll on his tattered soul, finally killing him.

## Past the 999th round

Yoo Joonghyuk continues to grow in power as he regresses further and further. Shortly after the 1000th round, he manages to learn the Shooting Star Slash, a technique that allows him to destroy even a myth-grade constellation. However, as he goes on, he begins to harbor a deep hatred towards his sponsor, whose stigma has cursed him to live an endless life where he must watch his loved ones die over and over. He also finds out that his sponsor is the reason that the <Star Stream> and the scenarios exist in the first place. The knowledge that they are behind every aspect of his suffering causes him to become furious at them, and he vows to end their existence.

As they progress further into the rounds, the prophet Anna Croft sends each regression's memories on to the next round's version of herself. However, after the 1000th turn, she comes to Yoo Joonghyuk to tell him that she can no longer carry the burden of all the failed rounds before her, and she will no longer be passing on her memories to the next round.

## 1863rd round

### Original version

*Main article: Secretive Plotter*
In the 1863rd round, Yoo Joonghyuk burns through the scenarios with hard-won skill, killing countless constellations (including all of <Olympus>). His overwhelming power causes even some of his enemies to become less hostile to him as it becomes evident he might succeed in overcoming the scenarios. Nonetheless, he faces major losses during the scenarios, losing all his party members: Lee Jihye, Shin Yoosung, Lee Hyunsung, Lee Seolhwa, Kim Namwoon, Han Donghoon, Namgung Minyoung, and Yoo Mia. A handful of constellations fight alongside him (including the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal, Archangel Uriel, and the Abyssal Black Flame Dragon). However, in the final battle, even these constellations fall one by one, with the Great Sage sacrificing himself so that Yoo Joonghyuk can make it the final stretch. The lone survivor of the battle, Yoo Joonghyuk makes his way to the Last Wall, where he encounters the Dokkaebi King. His Breaking the Sky Swordsmanship fails to destroy the Wall, and the King confirms that Yoo Joonghyuk still doesn't have what is needed to cross it. Devastated by this failure, Yoo Joonghyuk grows determined to find a way to cross the Wall. To fulfill this desire, he becomes an Outer God and begins traveling across world lines, taking on the moniker of "Secretive Plotter".

### Altered version

Yoo Joonghyuk's 1863rd regression is disrupted at the beginning by the appearance of a woman who calls herself Han Sooyoung. She comes to Yoo Joonghyuk, explaining that she has knowledge of the scenarios (through her own novel, SSSSS-grade Infinite Regressor, and her predictive abilities) and can guide this timeline to a successful end. Yoo Joonghyuk, despairing at the eternity he has already lived and that he might yet have to live, agrees to assist her on the condition that she find a way to kill him permanently, perhaps afraid that even a happy ending will not stop him from regressing at the end of his life. He supplies her with a record of his experiences throughout his previous regressions and agrees to follow her lead to end the scenarios.

Han Sooyoung makes her way through the scenarios and is extraordinarily successful, similar to Yoo Joonghyuk's 0th round. However, as she progresses through the scenarios, there are occasions where she has to prioritize things other than saving Yoo Joonghyuk's loved ones. In this manner, Yoo Joonghyuk loses Yoo Mia, Namgung Minyoung, and the Breaking the Sky Master. Additionally, knowing that it is easier to unite people when they have a common enemy, Han Sooyoung has Yoo Joonghyuk pose as a threat to all those who she has united under her banner, resulting in Yoo Joonghyuk's former family bearing hatred towards him. This causes him to plunge even further into despair.

At some point, Han Sooyoung attempts to kill him by first breaking the connection he has to his sponsor, using the Four Yin Demonic Beheading Sword and backing it with the power of an unnamed nebula. However, this attempt fails, and they resolve to go through with a more drastic method. This new method involved the core of Main Scenario 95, the Apocalypse Dragon. Han Sooyoung intended to strike at the Dragon's seal with five swords; these swords were meant to all be associated with dragon-slaying stories. However, Han Sooyoung intended to replace one sword with a false dragon-slaying sword, which would cause the seal of the Apocalypse Dragon to expand instead of breaking. The seal would cover the Earth, cutting off the constellations and dokkaebis in the process, and send everyone on Earth into an eternal sleep. This would stop the incarnations of Earth from having to participate in the scenarios, essentially ending their struggles. In this cut-off state, Yoo Joonghyuk would finally be able to rest either through eternal sleep or death, fulfilling Han Sooyoung's end of the deal.

Han Sooyoung and Yoo Joonghyuk's planning is further disrupted by the appearance of Kim Dokja, who arrives from the 1864th round and lands in the 1863rd round mid-battle. When he first encounters Yoo Joonghyuk, Kim Dokja is able to talk the murderous regressor down, sending him into regression depression and causing him to enter a docile state where he follows Kim Dokja around obediently (so obedient, in fact, that Kim Dokja is able to make him eat dirt with a single command). During his subdued state, he is able to once again see his former party members without having them attack him, which rouses faint happiness inside him.

Gradually, Yoo Joonghyuk recovers from his regression depression and returns to full alertness. When Kim Dokja sleeps, Yoo Joonghyuk moves to attack him, since he is disturbed by how the man neutralized him. However, he is blocked by the Fourth Wall, who narrates to him all the existing records of the 1864th round that Kim Dokja comes from. By the next morning, Yoo Joonghyuk appears to have once again sunk into regression depression. That day, he moves along with Kim Dokja and follows his orders, assisting him in forcing open the Apocalypse Dragon's Seal and averting Han Sooyoung's plan. At that moment, he reveals to Kim Dokja that he is in fact fully conscious, and asks him if the world he came from truly exists.

As the Fourth Wall laughs, Kim Dokja realizes that Yoo Joonghyuk has learned of his own round. Yoo Joonghyuk, whose faintly-roused emotions had been brought to the surface by the story he heard, realizes that Kim Dokja can only return to see his own round to completion if the 1863rd Yoo Joonghyuk is dead. However, his story has brought Yoo Joonghyuk hope that a successful round is possible without the regressor having to abandon his own party, and part of him no longer wants to die. He decides to take control of his own life once again; this decisiveness earns him the attribute [Author], and with its supplementary skill [Avatar] he splits himself in perfect halves: one half wearing his own ragged black coat, filled with the despair, suicidal ideation, and dark memories from his former rounds, and the other donning Kim Dokja's discarded white coat, bearing Yoo Joonghyuk's positive memories and hope for a better future. The two Avatars clash, managing to run each other through in the same instant. The black coat-wearing half dies, fulfilling Han Sooyoung and Kim Dokja's Outer World Covenants. Meanwhile, the other half starts to regress. In the moments before he regresses, the white coat-wearing Yoo Joonghyuk passes on the Story [Hell of Eternity] to Kim Dokja. As he looks forward to the next round, he finally succumbs to his injuries, regressing to the 1864th round.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 266
2. ↑ Chapter 517
3. ↑ Chapter 518
4. ↑ Chapter 519
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Chapter 523
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Chapter 524
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Chapter 525
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Chapter 82
9. ↑ Chapter 23
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Chapter 41
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Chapter 310
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Chapter 233
13. ↑ Chapter 235
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Chapter 102
15. ↑ Chapter 53
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Chapter 222
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Chapter 36
18. ↑ Chapter 72
19. ↑ Chapter 232
20. ↑ Chapter 103
21. ↑ Chapter 104
22. ↑ Chapter 550
23. ↑ Chapter 163
24. ↑ Chapter 420
25. ↑ Chapter 192
26. ↑ Chapter 194
27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 Chapter 324
28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 Chapter 444
29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 Chapter 452
30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Chapter 471
31. ↑ Chapter 392
32. ↑ Chapter 391
33. ↑ Chapter 438
34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 Chapter 297
35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Chapter 293
36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Chapter 295
37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Chapter 296
38. ↑ Chapter 285
39. ↑ Chapter 286
40. ↑ Chapter 287
41. ↑ Chapter 288
42. ↑ Chapter 291
43. ↑ Chapter 294