Kim Dokja should probably try to explain himself, maybe send some assurance to anyone who might need it that he had everything under control. But here? Reliving what he thought was the last time he would have access to the same story he's read his entire life? There were no reassurances that came to mind. No quick quip to subvert attention.
Nothing at all indeed.
The panic from before hits him again seeing the blank website. The error makes him cringe harder. Turning to Gilyoung, he makes a valiant attempt to avoid his problems. The kid isn't looking at him, though, solely focused on the screen. There goes that.
[Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' admits she's concerned about Incarnation 'Kim Dokja']
"Wow. That's... Dokja-ssi really loves that book." Lee Hyunsung asks in a quiet voice, hesitant and even a little wary. He seems to want to say something more, his mouth left open for a little bit, but nothing comes out and he just turns back to the screen resolutely. He mumbles something about a cartridge that Dokja couldn't quite catch.
"You're obsessed! No wonder you read all of it, you rat." Han Sooyoung snaps her head over to him, a disbelieving grin on her face that rapidly turns smug. "A five minute timer and you immediately go to reread over 3,000 chapters?"
"Is this what an addiction is like?" He can hear Lee Jihye in the background, talking to someone else. It's hard to hear them with Sooyoung yelling his ears, but he thinks Jung Heewon is he one to answer her. He can't make out the rest of what is said.
Purely for his own pride, Kim Dokja snarks back at her. "Are you pretending to be unfamiliar with bookmarking? Maybe it's because no body liked your trash novel enough."
Han Sooyoung doesn't deign him with an answer.
Grumbling, Dokja sits further back in his chair and pops up the recliners foot rest. He was about to curl his legs up, but Gilyoung and Yoosung invade is space more instead. Sure. They've been good kids.
The lights on in the cabin flicker a couple of times before going out. Restless muttering starts up as people start turning on phone flashlights and phone screen lights make it easier to see again. Yoo Sangah grabs onto Dokja's upper arm, squeezing tightly. "What- What is this? What's going on?"
'It's the usual story, probably.' Kim Dokja dismissed, actively staving off his imminent break down over the fact he no longer has access to his favorite story. "No need to worry. It isn't a big deal."
Many eyes are now on his, most of them scowling. Avoiding their eyes, Dokja taps his finger on his thigh. No one speaks for a good bit, a tense atmosphere that threatens to choke him.
['The Fourth Wall' stabilizes]
The room become infinitely more bearable, this quiet no longer bothering him and the eyes on him lessen to an easy to deal with feeling. There's no reason to be so uptight. It really is no big deal. It happens all of the time.
'What is going on with the Fourth Wall?? It's usually better than this.' Scrunching his face up, upset, Kim Dokja glares at the delayed messages coming in. The screens pop up late and it seems like the fourth wall isn't actually doing anything.
[K im Do kja is a n id iot]
Staring at the newest pop up, bewildered, Dokja pays little attention to what his companions are trying to say. Did.... Did it just talk?
"It is a big deal," The sharp tone Sangah took up could cut through anything like a knife. A freshly sharpened one. "It's tragic."
"A common tragedy." Kim Dokja immediately shoots back in a tone that is hard and bone-chillingly cold. She looks like she's about to say something again, upset as she looks, but she is interrupted before she can get another word in.
"So it's nothing else?" Yoo Sangah looks to him for reassurance, unsure and weary. Kim Dokja's vision fuzzes at the edge as a memory tries to resurface. He ignores it and snaps his head away from her hopeful eyes.
"Yes. It's probably just a disturbance from a suicide on the tracks. Someone will be on the intercom to make an announcement." The hopeful look in Sangah's eyes dies and something more somber takes its place.
It was then that he just so happened to check the time. He watched the clock tick from 6:59 to 7:00.
Red sparks flash in the air, looking similar to lightning, menacing and bright in the dark cabin. Dokja uses his empty left hand to shade his eyes from the light, squinting in the general direction. A loud message crackles to life, generating a fuzzy in both the air, and oddly, direction in his head as well. Flinching at the feeling, a wild look overtakes his eyes before it is chilled into a weary curiosity.
|"The free service of the 1612th planetary system has come to an end. The main scenario will begin now."|
Dokja watches as it starts, listening to everyone clamber about. They mumbled to each other, hemming and hawing about the first scenario in a way that sounds suspiciously like nostalgia, but everyone is too nervous for that.
[Many constellations are excited for the start of the scenarios]
[Constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' is excited for the action that's going to happen]
Raising an eyebrow, Dokja blows air out of his nose as his face betrays him with a smile. Yeah, yeah, you assholes are all ready to rewatch the first scenario. Bastards.
Only to himself, Kim Dokja admits he is also excited to be witnessing the first scenario as well.
Yoo Joonghyuk would kill him this time for sure. Kim Dokja was everything Joonghyuk hated. For all intents and purposes, he was just like the constellations currently watching his miserable self finally find his calling. Or whatever.
-Two small horns. A downy creature wearing a straw garment was floating midair. It was too peculiar to be called a fairy, too malicious to be called an angel, and too innocent looking to be called a devil. So we called it a "dokkaebi."-
More black letter on a white screen, this time though, it fades into the real thing floating in the air of the subway cabin. His novel had just disappeared, but Kim Dokja sees a creature exactly as described in TWSA appear in front of the passengers.
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' is watching with curiosity]
"Did you just? Have that memorized?" Han Sooyoung looks at him baffled, poking a finger into his ribs. Pouting, Dokja grabs her hand and reaches around Yoosung to shove it back at her. "How many times have you actually re-read it??"
"Well-"
"Is this where all of your knowledge comes from? This book?" Yoo Joonghyuk barks out the question, sounding more like a demand then a question at all. He still looks cute curled up with his sister, even with his scary face.
"Yes. It is." There is no point in denying it. It's not like this situation is going to get any better the more he lies about it. He dreads the reaction he will have when he finds out what TWSA is really about. When he looks down to pick at his hands, Dokja finds that most of the blood has flaked off by now. They're mostly clean, or well, as clean as they'll get in the situation they're in. It's important to him that he only touches the kids with clean hands.
"Is that why you're always calling yourself a reader? Was it not you making a joke about your name this entire time?" Jung Heewon asks in the process of dragging Lee Hyunsung to sit with her behind everyone instead of so far away. Dokja swears he can fell their body heat against his back. Which he is going to ignore. Just like he's going to ignore that question.
"You can tell me about your story, hyung. It must be good if you like it so much." Gilyoung slides off of the armrest to sit halfway on his lap, leaning up against Kim Dokja. He seems to look for something else to say, but fails to do so.
[Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is squealing at the cute interaction.]
"Is it like some sort of survival guide? With it's name, it sounds like one. Could more people have survived if they read it?" Lee Hyunsung asks innocently from behind him, his expression brightening slightly.
"That boringly long novel? No one else would read it except this rat." Sooyoung sends a scathing look to Kim Dokja, who just deadpans at her like she's stupid. Which she is. He thinks so over and over again as he makes eye contact, trying to sear the thought into her head. It doesn't work, but Sooyoung does glare back at him.
"It's- It's not that kind of book. The name is misleading in this context." Kim Dokja admits, grimacing.
Lee Hyunsung wilts in his chair, nodding along with a solemn look on his face.
The Dokkaebi goes to speak, it's mouth moving as it floats there, but the sound is delayed. When it does come, everything that it says is a garbled mess of gibberish. The people on the subway cabin look around to each other in confusion. The creature did something in the air, motioning and fiddling with something.
[Testing. Testing. Is it working now? Gosh, the language patch seemed to have malfunctioned there. Can everyone understand me now?] As the dokkaebi tries to get everyone's attention, the crowd of passengers starts up yelling over each other. Yoo Sangah frets about beside him, worrying as Dokja looks around. He knows what will happen next. 'Words on a page would never properly convey the real sounds of screaming and the putrid smell of blood. But, I am far from a stranger to either of them.'
Both of the kids leaned further on him, Shin Yoosung hesitantly taking up the space in his lap that Gilyoung had left. Grunting at the extra weight, Dokja stabilizes her when she nearly tips forward in her endeavors. He pinches Han Sooyoung's side when she snorts at him. While he was distracted, The kids made eye with each other, having a silent conversation.
The people who had stepped up, yelling and loud as they were, were separated from the others in his mind. As expected the dokkaebi when snapped it's fingers blood started to trickly out of their noses and eyes, panic filling their expressions before their heads imploded. One, two, three, four. The bursting heads were like fireworks announcing a new era. Blood sprayed on the onlookers, it was warm when it splashed on Kim Dokja. He just flung it off with a motion of his hand. He watches the scene with a bit of joy, a bit of guilt, and a mysterious feeling he couldn't place.
'This is new.' Dokja thinks to himself, watching on with a blank expression and empty eyes. There's a bad taste in his mouth. Why? Why was he so calm at the sight in front of him?
[All of you have had quite a cushy life until now, haven't you?] The dokkaebi cackles, presenting the level of an asylum patient ready to rampage. Thin, needle like teeth peak through the malicious smile splitting across the creatures face. [You were able to breathe, eat, excrete, and reproduce without paying the costs! Ha! You've all been enjoying privileged lives! But it's all over now. Nothing is free in life, isn't that right?]
"For a while there, I forgot about why I hated that ugly little thing." Jung Heewon growled in a similarly malicious tone, leaning forward to hunch over Kim Dokja, eyes on the screen. "Privileged lives? What bullshit."
[Many Constellations cheer at the bloodshed happening.]
The kids jumped, huddling in more towards him. He looked over and found Yoo Mia in her brothers lap doing the same. It seems the children are probably taking this the hardest. Bringing his arms around Gilyoung and Yoosung, he leans the recliner seat back, making more space for the kids to take up.
'Maybe I should kill them in such a way to make it excruciating. Torture those constellations to death.' Kim Dokja plots, humming as he watches everyone. In the process of leaning back, the top of his head hits Heewon's sternum and he mumbles an apology.
Unbeknownst to Dokja, many people are staring in incredulity at the face of pure feral murder that's overlaying his face.
'It's a practiced dialogue. Something they're given to memorize,' Dokja muses with a hint of mirth, 'but the genuine malice definitely sold it.'
The patrons left in the subway cabin were horrified, many cowering away in terror. A middle-aged man, Kim Dokja vaguely recognizes him as Han Myungoh, offers the dokkaebi money. The creature simply burns the money to ashes. It doesn't bother with any proper explanation and simply pops an announcement, declaring that Channel #BI-7623 has opened and that the constellations are now making an entrance.
Kim Dokja looks down at the main scenario requirements telling him to prove his value by killing one or more living organisms within 30 minutes. The reward was set as 300 coins. The penalty will be paid with his life.
The dokkaebi vanishes with a cackle that crackles like lightning. Kim Dokja is left to stew in his thoughts. In his new reality. 'Is this how I'm supposed to die instead? By his hands?'
[Constellation-...]
[Constellation-...]
[Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is astonished.]
[Constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' is baffled.]
There is a lull of conversation around him. Where there were previously whispered conversations between the little group he's made, it has now been replaced with tense silence as his thoughts finally put a solid confirmation of what was going to happen that day. Nervously, Kim Dokja closes his eyes so he doesn't have to face the consequences of his actions. To himself, in his mind that he's not so comfortable in anymore, he makes a joke. 'At least I'm still alive and kicking.'
The two of his companions situated behind him stare on with horror as they remember a situation with a dragon. They look to each other. They are ignored.
On screen, the silhouette of a man in a long black coat appears, overlayed with ashes and fire. Despite being shrouded in the darkness provided by the backdrop of blinding light, it's obvious the man is attractive to anyone with eye balls.
'Yoo Joonghyuk.' Kim Dokja calls in his mind, sat still in his chair looking exhausted and already halfdead. He looks more relaxed than he has the entire time on the subway, a small smile on his face that looks minutely joyful. It mostly is drenched in nostalgia.
"It's oppa!" Yoo Mia calls. When Dokja looks over, he finds she has uncurled from her protection position from earlier. She's sat properly on her brother lap, pointing forward. Her exclamation inadvertently hides Yoo Joonghyuk's own sharp inhale at the sight of his own silhouette.
It takes a minute before the protagonist speaks up, unusually looking visibly upset. "I wasn't there with you."
And-... What was Dokja supposed to say to that? That he knew if the protagonist had been there, he would be dead as soon as the scenario had been issued?
"Dokja- Dokja-ssi? Dokja-ssi, should we call the police? Oh no!"
Slowly, Kim Dokja registers Yoo Sangah's presence. Who is still standing there. The latest model of a cellphone she holds in her hand laughs in her face, showing there was no service in the area. "Sangah-ssi, try to keep your head cool," he tells her, seeing the fear in her eyes as she nervously chews at her fingernails.
Internally, he wonders just how long until their heads are lopped off. He thinks back to the novel and frowns. 'Does he usually take this long?'
"Dokja-ssi," Yoo Sangah starts, frowning with a confused look scrunching her face. "What... what did you mean by that?"
"Nothing big. It's just that this bastard would usually be killing everyone in his cabin before the dokkaebi even finishes the scenario announcement. It just it turns out-"
"We were in separate cabins." Yoo Joonghyuks interrupts, somewhat slowly, an indication that he was confused about something. His eyes find Dokja's own, sharing intense eye contact. It soon becomes obvious what. "I was only able to see bits of the chaos from your cabin through the window. I am curious to see what actually went down."
Avoiding the mans eyes, Dokja looks back to the screen. "Your curiosity will disappoint you, then."
A mans voice cuts through the confused panic of the dwindled crowd. "Okay, everyone! Calm down. Take a deep breath, and stop what you're doing."
A tall, strong-looking man is trying to take control of the situation, drawing the attention of everyone in the subway cabin. He reminds everyone that they need to stay calm, and that it's easy to end up with heavy casualties in a national emergency situation like this. Not everyone is happy to hear that, and they question his credentials with claims like that. In response, he shows his ID.
'Lieutenant Lee Hyunsung,' Dokja identifies in his head, the genuine shock filling his face.
Lee Hyunsung lit up, his smile as wide as it would go and a sparkle in his eyes. It made Kim Dokja grimace and flinch away, bracing for what's to come. Hyunsung paid him no mind, rambling on.
"-I was never stationed on the front lines like the screen said you were, so I had no idea you knew of me! Know-" He just kept at it, digging Dokja's grave of guilt deeper and deeper the more he spoke.
'Maybe I really should have just died on that subway.' Dokja sulked, still not ready for everyone to know. He flips Han Sooyoung the bird as she snickers beside him. He's taking her down with him when they find out. If he's going down, he's going to drag her ass through the mud too.
'one of the supporting characters in TWSA,' Kim Dokja finishes his thought. 'But this wasn't how he was introduced in the original novel. What place in the time line am I in?'
Kim Dokja flinches hard at the sudden stop to Hyunsung's rambling. The quiet is so much worse.
[Many constellations are confused.]
[Several constellations are alarmed.]
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' is narrowing his eyes.]
[The constellation...]
[The constellation...]
[The constellation...]
The silence continues for much longer than he hoped it would. Curled up in the recliner chair with limited visual access to his companions, Kim Dokja is forced to stew in his anxieties. The notification windows keep popping up, the constellations expressing their confusion and alarm all one by one.
"Oh."
It was the only thing anyone said. Lee Hyunsung had spoken in the weakest voice Dokja thinks he has ever heard from him. And it was like he was being burned alive again. Hyunsung sounded so... disappointed. Kim Dokja never wanted to hear that from him ever again.
'Everything that's going on right now...' Lee Hyunsung attempting to calm the passengers to no avail. The national broadcast. The prime minister dying on the livestream. The dokkaebi who had reappeared ended up reducing the time limit to 10 minutes. The sheer pandemonium that is happening in this cabin. '...is exactly as I have always read it.' Kim Dokja thinks, strangely calm amongst the other passengers looking around anxiously. His palms feel cold. 'Except for one thing. Lee Hyunsung, one of the major supporting characters has already appeared... but why hasn't he killed everyone yet?'
The dokkaebi laughs, commenting on the state of several train cabins before deciding to show them the proof of what would happen to them if thy don't receive the first kill in their cabin in the next five minutes.
A large blue screen pops up, taking up a good bit of the cabin. At the top of the pop up window it reads 'Taepung Girls High School'. It depicts a classroom filled with chaos, several students on the floor without their heads and others running around. Front and center stands a girl with her hands around another girls throat. A menacing timer counting down from 00:03...
00:02...
00:01...
The rest of the people around the girl suddenly stop, blood dribbling out of the orifices on their face and running down. Their heads soon explode. Everyone in Kim Dokja's cabin can only watch, a single teenager left standing.
The scene of Jihye in the classroom overlaps with something from his memories, grainy and frayed at the edges. Instead of Lee Jihye by the window with her dead classmate, there stands a younger Kim Dokja looking out of an open classroom window. Only his back is visible, a ragged school brown school uniform and mussed up hair. Outside has the dwindling light of the setting sun. There are bruises visible on his neck and any other space left uncovered by his terribly fitting uniform.
Abruptly, there is nothing but a torn up looking backpack sitting in a neat classroom. Jihye fades back into view on the screen, her dead eyes looking right at whatever camera the dokkaebi had on her. The classroom is no longer empty. The older Kim Dokja looks away and ignores the implications.
What a familiar scene.
Kim Dokja launches over Yoo Joonghyuk, pushing off of his chest with his hand, and leans over Lee Jihye in an attempt to cover her eyes. He knows what they're showing on the screen. He tries his best to keep from bumping into Yoo Mia, but he's not sure he succeeded in his endeavor. His heart leaps in his ribcage, his chest burning with fear as Jihye's greatest regret plays out in front of them.
When the teenager realizes what kind of scene is being put on display, she reacts violently, jerking forward and trying to throw him off. He settles his body weight on her as he tries to comfort her. "BORI-"
Her anguished cries melt into sobs as Kim Dokja sits there, covering her eyes. He shushes her as he keeps an eye on the screen. When his younger self pops up, he turns his head so he doesn't have to look at it. Sangah gasps from somewhere nearby with a choked noise that can not be healthy. Looking over to her, she looks horrified.
"Dokja-ssi..." He avoids her gaze. Instead, he soothingly rubs Jihye's back as he covers her eyes. He looks to the kids to make sure he hasn't hurt any of them in his rush. Mia looks only slightly disturbed from her spot, probably moved by Joonghyuk. Gilyoung and Yoosung look to have been jostled, but he hadn't ended up throwing either of them to the floor, so it should be fine.
"Sorry about that." He mumbles an apology, slowly removing his hands from Lee Jihye. He gets up and backs away. He has no right offering comfort. She probably wouldn't even want it from someone like him. He stands in front of her, blocking her view of the screen with his body as he looks to see if she will continue to panic.
"...it's okay ahjussi." Jihye sniffles from where she is, curling in on herself. Yoo Mia extracts herself from Yoo Joonghyuk, crawling over the seats to sit by her, patting her arm soothingly. Deciding she's got that, Dokja moves back to his seat while avoiding anyone else's gazes. He picked up the kids, sitting where he was previously, and melting into the recliner. This is already exhausting. Yoo Joonghyuk beside him looked like he had something to say, browspulled together and lips held terse, but the next scene pays out.
The blue screen changes to just display the words. [The survivor of channel #BAY-23515 is Incarnation 'Lee Jihye', a second year student from class B at 'Taepung Girls High School'.] The dokkaebi grins, his eyes rolling over the restless public. [What do you think? Fun, right?]
'This wasn't in the novel,' Kim Dokja notes. 'Lee Jihye is another major supporting character that was supposed to be introduced later. One of the strongest swordswoman is having her trauma broadcasted... It's just cruelty. And it never happened. This is definitely TWSA, but why is it so different? I can't even find the protagonist.'
"Explain, Kim Dokja." Dokja flits his eyes over to the protagonist, the hard lines on his face and ticked jaw a perfect representation of how upset he is. And even with proof of a reason not to, Kim Dokja runs his mouth.
"What is there to explain, Joonghyuk-ah?" And honestly, he really does need to get that under control before his tongue gets him into anymore trouble. Yoo Joonghyuk's face doesn't change as he continues to stare, he just sort of sits there irritated as if to let Dokja get his bullshit out of his system. He immediately goes for teasing to avoid his problems. "You can see for yourself that you're from a novel, can't you? Have your eyes stopped working?"
Behind him, Jung Heewon whispers under her breath "I wish mine had." Kim Dokja ignores her.
"You see us as fictional." Yoo Joonghyuk doesn't leave any room for misunderstanding, being firm in his statement. And that's what it was. A statement, not a question. Dokja tries to dance around the feelings attached to the topic anyway.
"I do- well, I did." Kim Dokja flinches, avoiding the look both Joonghyuk and Han Sooyoung are giving him. He squirms in his seat, shifting around as much as he can with the kids squished up on him.
Kim Dokja turns on his phone again, looking back to the page where TWSA used to be. It is still removed, reminding him of the current predicament he is in. 'Damn it. If only I could read the first chapter again to check...'
"Even now?" Jung Heewon asks, leaning forward to look down from right over him. He curls further into himself, not deserving how comfortable the heat coming off of her is.
"That's... complicated. I see you as people, but my abilites distinguish who was apart of the novel and who was not. Not all of us here were apart of it." Dokja frowns, looking over to Lee Hyunsung who had been quiet since his revelation earlier. "I really do see you as people, but I have been reading about some of you for thirteen year..." He trails off, mumbling that last little bit to himself. They had to have heard. Some of them are just so close.