[Song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyBcwWUP030]
Surprisingly, there wasn't a lot of immediate conflict. No... there was more apprehension and fear. Unless they came out together, people were keeping distance from each other.
(Makes sense.)
Although... for some reason, they were staring at me and the homeless guy. It made me uncomfortable, but I thought about it, and it makes sense.
(We were already outside when they came out.)
Being the focus of their attention made me bristle. It felt hard to commit to action while being witnessed. I felt like a quantum particle under observation, constantly changing. My discomfort grew.
The homeless guy looked at me one more time and began to walk away. When he did, I realized something.
(The wards!! They fell down!)
Now he could go anywhere. He was going to get away!
(I won't be able to kill him then, and who knows, he might survive far into the scenarios. He can go anywhere now that the wards fell...)
Wait a minute, but if the wards fell, then it means the Dokkaebi expanded the stage.
The scenario... it's about to be taken in another direction.
The homeless guy casts a glance at me as he walked away. He was always the creepy one, muttering about one thing or the other, but now... his face grew wary.
I had a massive grin, I could feel the rictus expression contort my face, showing the sharp canines of my teeth. I was happy for a reason.
(Go on then, walk away. Let's see how far you go.)
The cylinders within my brain began to fire with pleasure, knowing that he'd probably die thanks to the Dokkaebis' antics. What's better than killing someone you dislike? Making someone else do the dirty work for you.
I turned my attention to the remaining survivors of my neighborhood street.
(There's no need to interact. I'm going to avoid them.)
I turned to walk back onto my front porch and wait for the Dokkaebi to come back and make their announcement, but I saw my mother standing there.
(On second thought, I'll stay here.)
In the end, all I was doing was standing and waiting.
(What a waste of my time...)
Although, I could use this time to think. My heart's going crazy right now from the adrenaline, so I need to calm down and ween myself off of it, or at least get it under control.
Everyone began to huddle up and talk with each other. Many remained silent. That homeless guy doubled back; he probably realized that he could rob his dead mother's place for supplies. Smart, but I hated seeing him act pragmatic.
My mind entered a lull, wondering what it should do. I felt stuck watching everyone. My mother off to the side, these people conversing with each other. I began counting people out of boredom. There were fifteen people in total.
(Oh...)
I just realized something.
I look behind me to stare at my house and the neighboring units. No one else aside from me and my mom came out of them.
(The old Vietnamese man is dead...)
Something inside of me... just broke. He was such a nice neighbor. Sometimes he would be there when I was training with my wooden sword, and I would wave "Hi," and he'd wave back. Now he was gone.
(He probably didn't even wake up from the scenario messages.)
Which means he passed peacefully in his sleep. Or at least, I hoped he did. Now...
(Now all that's left are these people.)
I stared at everyone, but they were hard to see in the dark light. It was still around 3 AM in the morning, and I could only see because of the distant fires in the distance.
An idea suddenly struck me. It was an old memory... a devious trick I devised when I was reading TWSA and ACSS; something I could only imagine but never enact. Until now.
My heart grew shaky. Would I do it?
I look down on myself. My hands were sweaty and clammy. I was trembling. My heart felt like a grenade blowing up in my chest, only to reconstruct itself and blow up again.
(My plan... they deserve it.)
People who were willing to kill their own families shouldn't live.
(But...)
Who was I to decide?
"Yo, you okay?"
I look to my left. It was one of my neighbors. A young black family who lived a house away from mine.
"Hey! Are you okay?!"
"Yeah. My family made it out all right."
I saw my next-door-neighbor's sister, brother, and his mom. His dad wasn't here because he was in rehab or something. Like I said, East Side families.
"How did you do it?" I asked.
I don't know why I asked that. I think a person asking such a question deserves to get cuffed against the jaw, but I was too curious, and it got the best of me.
"Oh, we had to kill our pets. Some of them."
(What?)
"Which ones?" I dumbly asked.
"Well, I had to kill our first dog. Like, if it was anyone, it was going to be me, y'know? My sister had to kill one of her small pets, and so did my bro. Oh, and my mom won't stop crying..."
I was shocked by his calm explanation.
"How are you so calm about it?"
"Bro, I told you, I watched gore videos on the internet. Like, I was ready for this."
"Haha."
The zaniness. This is what people are. An absolute, separate, zany experience that somehow exists. Humans are so outlandish, you can't help but laugh.
Although, it's a really bad joke.
"How about you? What did you ki-"
I stepped forward. I ignored my old neighborhood, my old friend.
"Everyone!" I tried to grab everyone's attention. No one listened to me. For some reason, something dark curdled inside of me.
They looked in my direction, but moved away, ignoring me.
"Wait!" I shouted. "Everyone, if you invest in coi-"
"Shut the fuck up!!"
One of my neighbors shouted at me, a look of rage on her face. It looked like she was about to charge at me and make me shut up. That was my breaking point.
I paused for a moment. I walked away for a bit where no one could see me. I brought a hand to my mouth, quietly laughing to myself. Alright, if that's how they want to play it. I realized something. Anyone living in the East Side was here for a reason. You think people ended up here because they made good decisions?
They deserve to reap what they sow.
"Everyone!!" I shouted much louder. "I'm trying to tell you something!"
Everyone began to look at me, and some were angry, but others were indifferent. It was time to put on a new face.
"I- I don't know what's happening-" A lie. That's a bold-faced lie. "But I do know one thing. This is like a game!!"
Everyone looked at each other, trying to gauge each other's reactions in the dark. Group affirmation. I don't know the psychological term, but it's using other people to cement your viewpoint.
"This is the type of shit I see on my smartphone," an older person muttered to themselves.
"Yeah, it's exactly like that!" I said. "This is like a game, so there are achievements, right?! I got my own! The 'First Kill!' It was bugs, by the way," I don't know why I mentioned that, "and I got extra rewards for it."
"That did happen for me..."
Everyone else was looking at each other and nodding. Yes, good, good. A lie becomes truth when agreed upon by multiple people.
The key to good lying is not to construct a completely false narrative, but to mix it with truth. Everyone says that, but what you should do is this: create a bisected reality. Do not alter, do not mix, do not create a bunch of offshoots that could lead to misunderstandings and different conclusions.
Create a narrative and stick to that narrative.
Twist the truth in such a way that the falsehood you utter makes the person believe something else, veering their perception into the other direction.
It's like changing the direction of a sign to lead someone else down the wrong path. Instead of removing the sign, or covering up the paths, you misdirect. A much better way. People walking down the path is an inevitable conclusion, but if you misdirect well, you can choose which path they walk down.
And people trust themselves in big groups, right?
How... ironic.
"It's automatic at first, but everyone, please look at the coins you've gathered from the First Scenario. Do you see a window?"
"Yeah, I see it."
"Woah."
"What the hell is this?"
People began exclaiming. I also received such a holographic window, but I denied it since I already knew it's contents. People began analyzing the floating windows only they could see, and when it looked like they were done, I said my final piece.
"Everyone, there's an achievement list too! Depending on what you did in the scenario, you have to call out the achievement in order to earn it!"
[Many Constellations are interested in what you are saying.]
[Many Constellations are stating that is false.]
[Many Constellations are stating that achievements are automa-]
[The chat has been moderated by the overseeing Dokkaebi.]
[Constellation "Secretive Plotter" is interested in what you are doing.]
[Constellation "Secretive Plotter" is grinning.]
[Constellation "Secretive Plotter" has sponsored 200 coins.]
"For everyone who killed first in order to clear the scenario, please yell out 'Attack Achievement!'"
I waited a moment. Perspiration ran down my spine. I wondered if this would work. I feared it wouldn't. Then people began to call out.
"Attack achievement!"
One person.
"Attack achievement!"
A second person.
"Attack achievement!"
Then another.
"Attack achievement!"
The fourth call.
"Attack achievement!"
The fifth. I couldn't help but laugh in my head.
"Attack achievement!"
Then the sixth. So many of these bastards?
"Attack achievement!"
Finally, the seventh out of fifteen. There was a silence now. I counted everyone.
(No one else is going to call out?)
"Okay, everyone, next, if you fought in self-defense, please shout 'Defend Achiev-'"
Before I could even finish my sentence, something happened.
"Nothing happened! We didn't get extra coins!"
One person shouted that.
"Yeah, I didn't get anything."
"Same."
"Yeah, what happened?"
"It was instant for those other times?"
Doubt began to spread. The other eight people were silent. There might be more attackers in that pool, but they didn't fall for the bait, so I'd have to make due. Seven people, ranging from multiple ethnic groups.
African Americans, Caucasians, Hispanics, Southeast Asians; these were the people living in my neighborhood. A wide range of people. Sadly, these select few were also idiots.
"Hey, kid, it didn't work- gaAagghh!!"
[Investing 540 coins in Strength.]
[Strength Lv. 3 - Strength Lv. 5]
[Investing 270 coins in Agility.]
[Agility Lv. 2 - Agility Lv. 3]
Before this man could finish his sentence, I brought my wooden stick to his forehead, smashing it with Lv. 5 strength.
He grunted out in a split second, but in another split second, I dove to his side, bringing my left hand to his stomach.
"Urgh!!"
No one else could see from their perspective, but my black knife was driven deep into his gut.
"Aaagghhh!!"
The women screamed. Some of the men backed away. Others looked ready for a fight, but I knew the majority couldn't even see clearly in the dark morning.
"What are you doing?!!" My mother screamed out.
"Killing the people who've killed people. It's only fair."
"Wait-!!"
"Fucking bastard!!"
A loud black woman began to charge at me. She was the one who told me to shut up earlier. There was a look of rage on her face as she raised her fist.
With the power of coins, I dodged the woman's crazy attacks and jumped high in the air. Everyone looked at me as if I was a circus freak. I did jump ten feet into the air... only to crash down onto the woman that charged me.
She crumbled like a bag of fucking potatoes, and I heard the cracking of bones. Landing on her snapped the bones in her rib cage, and if the bone splinters didn't pierce her organs, her deflated lungs from the pressure of my 128 pound body would.
I wouldn't let her die slowly, though. I wanted coins now.
I raised my foot and crushed her pathetic head until it burst forth. Her skull was shattered and her eyeballs were crushed like a fruit. Everyone looked at me as if I was a monster.
(You goddamn hypocrites. You are monsters if you survived the First Main Scenario.)
I made my decision. It was a little self-promise spoken through action. I must kill everyone here. My hands are forced. Literally.
"Face me!!"
I chased after the people who yelled "Attack Achievement."
"Get away from me!"
[Constellation "Chained God of Trickery with the Poisoned Face" admires your duplicity!]
It was a lie. There is no "Attack Achievement." I made it up. I thought about it a few times. I didn't want to be a senseless killer, but in the world of TWSA, everything is cruel, so how to discern who to kill?
Make people out themselves. They'll tell you who they are in due time. My trick was to do that quickly. By making certain people yell "Attack Achievement," I'd know who initiated the kill and murdered someone else to save themselves.
I moved with fluidity. This was a little massacre now. I chased after the people who ran all over the block - they tried to dodge and hide behind cars, but I was faster. I ran up to the men, sidestepped their slow punches, and aimed for their legs, bashing and kicking in their knees. They crumbled on the ground, and I would either stomp their heads and stab their necks.
A group of four men and three woman who yelled "Attack Achievement." Seven murderers that I know precisely. Their ages, their race, their gender, it didn't matter anymore. They were all equal in my eyes.
Each and every one of them was a problem. I hate problems.
I saw a dark shape flutter behind an old Honda Civic, and I charged after, my bokken raised high.
"Agh!!"
A shrill shriek. It was a woman and a man huddled together. I was about to strike, but paused right before I did.
(I almost killed the wrong people.)
Holy shit, fog of war. The people I lost track of were now hiding amongst the others. Dammit.
I need to find them. I ran all around and in a few short moments, despite the screams of mercy, and the shouts from the other group, I kept on going until all seven people were dead and on the ground.
(Wow. I chased them all over the block.)
The last person I killed was a Caucasian female in her late forties to early fifties.
(Height: 5'4 or 152 centimeters. Weight: 166 pounds or 75 kilos.)
The victim prior to this was an African American man, an older gentleman in his sixties. He actually knew how to fight, so he was a challenge.
(I just... committed a small massacre.)
The realization beat down on me, and guilt and second-guessing began to claw at me, but as suddenly as these doubts grew, they were washed away.
Then I remembered something.
(Oh. I almost forgot.)
I looked around and saw the homeless guy. He was on his mother's porch, wary. He was stuffing food into his shopping cart; rice, vegetables, and all that other good shit.
Another rictus grin. Another smile of mine that stretched ear to ear. I began to laugh.
"I've been waiting a long time for this," I quoted.
***
In total, I killed eight people. I walked away from Homeless Fucker's body. It was broken and battered, just as I wanted. Shattered arms that exposed the bone, caved in skull that showed the brain matter, and cricked legs that would never run again. I was satisfied with how he died.
With how I killed him.
"Hahaha. I finally did it!!"
The other people including my mother backed away from me.
[A member of the Nebula "Black Cloud" is impressed with your ferocity!]
[A Constellation named "Chancellor of Anti-Semitism" compliments your virile youth.]
[You have earned 500 coins for your brutality!]
[A Constellation named "Brutal Betrayer of Stabs" has entered the chat!]
[A Constellation named "Generalslayer" has entered the chat.]
I looked at all the coins I had.
[3600 coins.]
The people I killed had earned their scenario rewards, and on top of that, earned some interest from the Constellations, so killing them altogether not only netted me the coins, but the attention too.
[Many Constellations are shocked by your sudden brutality!]
[Many Constellations of Absolute Evil are expressing interest.]
[Many Constellations of Absolute Good are appalled.]
[Some Constellations of Absolute Good are interested in your thought process.]
[Constellation "Chained God of Trickery with the Poisoned Face" is impressed with your decisiveness!]
-Tsutsutsuchuchut!!-
There was a crackle of lightning, and someone - or more apt to say something - appeared.
[Hello, everyone! It's me, Dokkaebi Herald! You do not know who I am since I take an off-hands approach and- wait.]
The Dokkaebi - a furry being in a well-kept suit - looked down at the current "scenario" I made.
[What is this? Why did you start killing each other?]
"It was him!!" A random woman shouted while pointing at me. "He just started doing it!!"
[Oh? An opportunist? Someone prompted without a scenario?]
I grew sweaty again. Actually, I felt soaked and probably smelled rank. It was a Dokkaebi. The orchestrators of tragedy for these innumerable scenarios.
[Hmph. That is what we like to see! I've said it once, but I'll say it again! People like you, who live in such a strict system, are the first ones to reject it so strongly! Only the greatest, the smartest, the craziest, and the most interesting will survive!]
I was not rebuked. I was encouraged. I could see the expectation fall from the faces of the other survivors. They wanted something to happen, but nothing would.
I just got away with it.
(Wow... it's just like I thought.)
No police. No consequences. A sense of elation erupted in my head and blossomed in my chest, but soon enough, it was gone. Like an ember splashed with cold water.
(Remember. What you do to others, they can do to you.)
I must never let my guard down.
[Well, since there are less of you, some Constellations have lost interest, or they'll reassess who they'll pick from a smaller pool-]
I ran. I just started gunning it.
[Hey! Stop running!]
Windows began to appear in my vision.
===
[Sponsor Selection]
[Select a Constellation Sponsor]
[By choosing a Constellation Sponsor, you will be able to gain unimaginable power to conquer the scenarios.]
I didn't pay attention. I didn't care about a Constellation Sponsor right now.
"-n!!"
Through my haggard breath, I heard my mother shout my name and turned back to see the surviving group and the floating Dokkaebi. He was pointing his finger at me and I stopped.
(Balloon Burst?!)
I looked at his expression. There was a displeased grimace on his face. I smiled.
(No. I passed the initial test. I'm not a Incarnation, but I'm still a "selectable product.")
He wouldn't kill me now. Not when Sponsor Selection just begun. Or... at least, I hope.
(The wards fell. I can go anywhere.)
Just as I thought that, I heard howling in the far distance.
(Wolves and wild dogs. They're a motif of the Washington State scenarios.)
I needed to get out of here.
Turning my back on everything, I began running once again despite the cries of the people who're behind me and the messages from the Constellations.
[Many Constellations of Absolute Good are appalled by your selfishness!]
[Many Constellations of familial values are shocked that you left your mother!]
[Many Constellations of Absolute Evil are cackling!]
I turned my back on everything I knew and ran into the dark night.