Lee Jihye turns around in her chair to gape at Kim Dokja, still sitting up on her knees and holding on to the back of the recliner. She stutters in outrage, trying to talk a little too quickly. "Unnie would never!"
Well, he knows that now...
[The Constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' tears his hair out.]
Looking away from the fuming teenager, that has continued to yammer on at him angrily, Dokja huffs. How is the him now to blame for his past thoughts? It's just not fair for them to constantly be doing this.
"I'm not- I wouldn't-" Heewon has leaned forward to make Dokja look her in the eyes, spluttering out at least four different starts to a sentence she doesn't look sure she's wording right. Deigning to have mercy on her, the reader just reaches a hand up to pat her head and nod along.
[The Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' stands with incarnation 'Jung Heewon'.]
"I know. You don't have to explain it to me." It's not quite empty platitude, he does genuinely mean it. She has no reason to explain. He understands the kind of person she is. Dokja knows he's good at that at the very least.
Jihye is still talking at him, nearly yelling at this point. Sighing, he turns back to her again and finds a bright red face and downturned lips. That's... That's probably not good. He should answer her at the very least.
"Jihye-ie." It's- His voice was stern enough, right? Dokja tries to catch the girls attention best he can while she looks like she's working herself up into a tizzy. She stops suddenly, looking at him with big eyes and a red face. "It's okay. We're watching the past, remember?"
"I wouldn't have gotten so upset about something like that." Gilyoung puffs his chest out, bragging to the kids he's sharing his chair with. He's whispering. "Hyung is always right about these things."
Yoo Mia scoffs at him, pinching his arm and whispering back at him. "That's not how it works. Pretty ahjussi is just good at people."
Gilyoung grumbles at her, cursing a little even with the absolute withering glare he is sent by Joonghyuk.
She's considerably quieter, pursing her lips and nodding along. Jihye sits properly on the chair and brings her feet up to curl them against her chest. When she talks next it's in a mumble completely contrasting her aggression from earlier. "Yeah, I know ahjussi."
And that's that, it seems. Dokja smiles at her softly before turning back to the screen. He would rather get this over with. It shouldn't be too much longer since they're almost to the road of the king scenario.
Just a little longer.
"Heewon. The root of the problem here is the food, isn't it?" Dokja asks her carefully, watching as her aggressive stance slowly turns confused. Her face that was twisted up in fury relaxes a little as he talks.
She's hesitant when she answers him, furrowing her eyebrows. He can almost see a question mark situated over her head. "I- I guess it is?"
Humming at her statement that sounds more like a question, Dokja shoves both of his hands in his pocket as she looks at him still curious and stunned. He answers Heewon's questioning tone with a question of his own. "Then what if we were to get rid of the root of the problem?"
"What? What do you..." Dokja honestly isn't really listening to her anymore, pulling one of his hands out of his pocket. In his hand is his phone that he turns on quickly. He glances at the time.
'He should be here any minute now.' He analyzes the time, thinking over what he remembers of this point in the novel off the top of his head. The air around them crackles and sparks in yellow lightning, filling the atmosphere with tension.
Some people in the station scream and others yell about the dokkaebi. Dokja raises his head and finds himself looking at a fluffy creature that he doesn't recognize.
Huh. That's not Bihyung.
"What happened to the other guy?" Yoosung leans up again Mia, pointing at the new dokkaebi floating in air on screen.
Dokja chuckles, reaching forward to place his hand on her head, and pats her. "Why don't you keep watching and you'll see, hm?"
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' appreciates the lack of spoilers.]
The little girl grumbles at him, complaining about he's no fun at all. The other kids look just about ready to pipe up to ask as well, but the screen continues playing.
[H-hello. How- How have you all been doing?] Electric sparks fly across the room and through the crowd. Many of the people shuffle around nervously, Dokja can see the heads of Hyunsung and Sangah. He can't see Gilyoung from here because of the people, but he hopes they have him.
[Y-You see, the dokkaebi who was in charge of this channel...] Heewon stands wearily beside him, braced for anything that could happen. Dokja himself is relaxedly standing there, his phone held in a fist at his side. Maybe he should put that away- [...is currently being disciplined s-so I will be in charge of the current scenario.]
'Disciplined?!' Dokja purses his lips as he looks at the new dokkaebi who keeps stuttering. The creature has black fur and ram horns curling at the side of it's head, they're small. The cloth covering it's lower half has a print similar to a tiger. The dokkaebi looks like it's sweating.
'Is... is this a nervous dokkaebi? A nervous one?!' It's such an outrageous thought that Dokja never thought it would be possible.
Sangah hums in the chair beside Heewon, tapping her chin with her pointer finger. "I didn't know they could be nervous..."
[The Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' says she was surprised too.]
Dokja... He does not want to know what she plans to do with that information. He's actually very nervous considering her tone. That's the very same tone she had when she plotted her previous plans.
Shivering, the reader decides he doesn't wan to know what plan she is making this time. It can't be worse than salt in coffee. He doesn't think she would survive making a dokkaebi upset.
That's his job. Making those storytelling fuckers angry so he can get his way. Dokja will also be slightly willing to admit that it's also to keep any attention off of his companions. They're important to him now.
Oh fuck. They're important to him now. This is so not going to go well.
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' wonders what you're thinking.]
As if Dokja would expose himself.
[B-but everyone. How is it that you all look so peaceful?] The dokkaebi's softer face twists up and their eyes are turned down. Probably upset. The next thing they say is mumbled, but Dokja is just barely able to hear it. [Damn- Damn it, Bihyung. What has he done with the scenario...?]
The fuzzy little things hand raises into the air, uncurling from it's chest and snapping in the air. The lightning from earlier when it had popped up fizzles in the air as notification windows show up in front of the incarnations.
[An additional penalty has been added to the scenario.]
[Foods may no longer be stockpiled.]
[All foods will be removed.]
That's about what Dokja had been expecting, he muses, watching as the food everyone has been holding onto raises into the air covered in yellow light. The crowd under start calling out.
"Wha- What...?"
"What's going on? The food!"
The food keeps raising, no matter how many people try to reach for it or hold on to what they have. It's useless for them to resist the penalty that has been given to them. Dokja sighs as people keep yelling. All it's doing is giving him a headache.
[H-hehe, you should- should have worked harder to completed the scenario.] The scrunched up face of the dokkaebi softens a little as they laugh. Curling it's outstretched hand back to their chest, they continue rambling. [Stuff- Stuffing your face isn't going to get you anywhere, right?]
The sclera of the creature turns a bright red, their face scrunching up aggressively again in an ugly expression. They uncurl and bring their other hand up, this time closer to their head. They snap, eliciting more yellow sparks, chattering on more. [You worth- worthless earthlings...]
[Scum.] The last word is spit with no lack of venom, not a stutter in sight. The food floating up near the ceiling disappears in black mist and a quick burst of air that should not be possible down here. Dokja rolls his eyes at the added dramatics, they really are just putting on a show.
Sooyoung splutters, snapping her head over to the rat sitting right next to her. She reaches over and curls her hand into the collar of his robe on the side that Joonghyuk isn't hold. Shaking her hand, she shakes him with it. What is it with people and grabbing the collar of the only thing keeping him decent right now?!
"Did you just roll your eyes? Right in front of a Dokkaebi?! AT THE DOKKAEBI?!" She slowly raises her voice, incredulous and getting more upset. The angrier she gets, the more aggressive she is with shaking him. "Do you understand how dangerous that is?!"
[The Constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' encourages you to do it again.]
[The Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' demands you be more careful.]
He lets go of Joonghyuk's wrist and reaches over to smack at her face. Pushing against her, he tries to unfurl her fist with his other free hand. "Let go of me!"
She just keeps shaking him, grabbing onto him again when he succeeds in peeling her fingers off of his robe. He's about to shove her as hard as possible with the hand he has squished up against her face, but he's interrupted.
Yoo Joonghyuk, who is very obviously getting very tired very quickly of Dokja knocking into him as he's getting shook, sends a withering glare their way. It's downright murderous and the reader fears for his life once again.
They just sort of sit there, both frozen and looking at the protagonist to try and guess what he's going to do next.
He doesn't stop trying to make Sooyoung let go.
Nor does he remove his hand from her face.
Dokja is forced to do so soon enough when the protagonist reaches around him and makes them let go of each other. The reader was shuffled around in the process.
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' encourages you to push incarnation 'Yoo Joonghyuk' out of the chair.]
Oddly enough, he suddenly feels a little taller than he was a bit ago.
Sooyoung send that bastard a glare, knowing damn well what that smug look on his face means. Yoo Joonghyuk looks away from her, reveling in his victory. He's getting to his goal, slowly but surely.
The plagiarist just sighs and ignores the sunfish bastard. He's not worth the stress, especially not when it comes to that rat.
The crowd stills very quickly, astonished that all of the food is gone like that. There are a couple of devastated whispers about the food.The screen zeros in on Inho momentarily before turning back to the floating creature. The dokkaebi curls it's arm back to it's chest and talks once more. [N-now, everyone. Let's get the party started.]
Dokja stands calmly in the outraged crowd, watching as several more windows show up in from of him, a dinging sound invading his ears as rapidly as the pop ups cover his eyes. His calm face twists up into a smirk, tilting his head to the side a little as he reads.
'Now this is more like the TWSA I know.'
[An additional penalty has been added to the scenario.]
[The category 'Survival Fee' has been added.]
[100 coins will be withdrawn daily at midnight as a 'Survival Fee'
-You will die if you have insufficient
funds to pay the 'Survival Fee']
[The 'Survival Fee' will be collected until the Second Main Scenario is cleared.]
[You have entered the Second Scenario area.
-Find and move to the location where the
scenario will be activated.]
Inho calls for everyone to gather in front of the closed off area that had been set up earlier. The Major group lines up next to Inho up against the blockade, standing across from the Minor group who are all just gathered haphazardly in a crowd.
"Gather around, everyone." Inho walks forward from where he was standing with his group. His arms sweep out as he talks to the people in front of him. Dokja watches the man with a critical eyes. The crowd is muttering to each other. "I have an emergency announcement to make."
Dokja just looks on with a blank face as the Minor group quiets down. He tilts his head as he carefully analyzes the situation. Inho continues talking loudly. "Given our current situation, it looks like we'll need more people for the search party
"From this point on, we won't be sharing any food with people who refuse to join the search party." An expected outcome considering the circumstances. It's interesting that no one has spoken up against the man yet, but Dokja imagines he has them wrapped around his slimy finger.
Dokja's voice comes through wherever the audio has been playing through. No one on screen reacts, so it's something that is being said in his own head.
Damn it. I didn't expect there to be an additional penalty.
The screen shows an unsettled Inho with his jaw clenched and eyes narrowed into slits. Behind him are the two pop ups that had shown up when the dokkaebi had first put the penalty in action.
[Foods may no longer be stockpiled.]
[All foods will be removed.]
Could he have known this would happen?
"My biscuit..." Heewon and Dokja are back on the screen, the woman holder her hands out with a disappointed look on her face. She mopes quietly. The reader looks over at her with a chortle. He peers down at her empty hands as well. "That's why I told you to eat them."
There's a snort behind Dokja, but he can't quite place who did it just by hearing it. He can guess who it is though. Heewon wouldn't laugh at herself after all.
It's nice to know that Sangah is laughing about this instead of being worried and concerned. It's going to be fine.
If anything this is the perfect break away from the threat of death that usually comes with the scenarios.
It does suck that they've been shoved into a reaction fic situation though. Dokja curses whoever started this excessively in his mind.
Heewon admonishes Sangah in a whiney voice, they whisper to each other as the screen continues to play the next scene.
No, that's not possible.
'That's probably what Inho is thinking right now.' Dokja slide his eyes over to look at Inho out of the corner of his eyes, predicting what that bastard would be thinking right about now based off of what he knows about him.
[You have successfully read the mind of Inho Cheon.]
[Your understanding of the character 'Inho Cheon' has increased.]
'He may be suspicious about me, but he can't be certain that I knew about the food penalty beforehand.' Checking the pop up windows in front of him. Heewon turns to him as he thinks. There isn't much Inho can do to him anyway. 'I didn't know something like this would increase my understanding of him.'
"How do you do that, Dokja-ssi?" Hyunsung asks him, watching with wide eyes as he predicts what that bastard is thinking. The soldier turns those wide eyes his way. "You must be so good at reading people..."
It feels nothing like it did earlier. No longer does it make him want to curl up and hide away. Which is weird because it's no different from earlier. There is no change in how the soldier is looking at him. It's still those wide eyes and he can almost see the-
"Hyung is just the best!" Gilyoung answers when Dokja takes too long, puffing his chest out and smiling big and bright. The kids eyes squint up enough that they seem closed. Dokja smiles softly along with the kid.
Chuckling a little, he reaches past Joognhyuk to put his hand on the kids head and runs his fingers through his hair. Had it always been this easy to reach him? "People are always telling you things. You just have to look close enough to understand them."
"Can you do that for anyone ahjussi?" Yoosung interrupts whatever Gilyoung was going to say next, pushing the kid out of the way to press her own head up into his hand.
The reader snorts and runs his fingers through her hair all the same. He smiles at her in the same soft smile and his tone is just as kind as earlier when he answers her. "Not everyone, and sometimes it's more difficult to do it then other times."
The kids nod along even as they start pushing and fighting with each other. Yoo Mia gets involved when she gets hit during a particularly harsh shove.
It takes him a minute to break them up because they're so focused on themselves and on nothing around them. He has to ask Mia to sit in between them so they don't keep bickering while he's trying to rest.
There won't be such a peaceful scenario like this for a good long while. It's best to make the most of it while He can, Dokja muses.
"Did you know something like this would happen, Dokja-ssi?" Heewon asks him nervously, watching him read the air.