There's a solemn look to Hyunsung's face, like he's looking at something that has disappointed him. Dokja doesn't receive an answer from him, or from Yoo Joonghyuk for that matter. It made him nervous.
And slightly nauseous.
It takes him a minute to gather his thoughts, uncurling a little bit to be closer to Heewon who hasn't moved back yet, he decides to leave it there. It can't get any worse from here. It's better if he doesn't make it worse by babbling.
It's Han Sooyoung who speaks up from his right, scoffing and absolutely murdering the tense atmosphere. "Yeah, that's enough of that. Why should he have to apologize for reading a book?"
"I read 99 chapters of that shitty book." She dared to glare at everyone she could in the room, which only excluded Sangah who was sat behind her. Even at Yoo Joonghyuk. Sending a prayer to literally anyone who was listening, Kim Dokja hoped this would not end in a bloodbath.
"This rat wouldn't have even been able to tell any of you, if that's what you're really upset about." Sooyoung exhaled an aggressive huff, smacking one of her hands in his face. Dokja, affronted, smacks he own and pushes. It doesn't do much.
"It's not like any of his plans would have worked had, say, any constellations had been listening in." She grumbles, complimenting Dokja felt like pulling her own teeth. Her next words sounded slightly frazzled. "And you wouldn't have believed him in the first place."
At that, the room felt like a different kind of tense. And he hated not knowing the reason why it was different. The witch hadn't said anything new that everyone hadn't already known, but it felt like her putting actual words to it shifted it somehow. Kim Dokja hated it.
Unfortunately for him, warmth filled his chest. He didn't expect anyone- least of all her -to defend him. And to this extent?
'I'm jealous of the writer that had you as a reader.'
[The Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is distressed]
Kim Dokja then remembers tls123's message about giving him a gift before. He checks his email and, to his surprise, the file has [ThreeWaysToSurviveTheApocalypse.txt] as it's title.
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' is alarmed]
"You lucky bitch." Han Sooyoung curses, squishing his face with her hand that she just left there, pulling his face to her face. Joonghyuk glares at her disapprovingly, but she obviously just bulldozes past that. "I can't believe you have a cheat sheet."
Kim Dokja tries to struggle away from her, grabbing her wrist and trying to pull her off. Han Sooyoung snorts a him and lets him go while mumbling about a 'wet cat.' He subtly flips her the bird, hiding it away from the kids. Gilyoung tugs at the sleeve of the robe so he, after finally pushing Sooyoung off of him, looks to the kid on his lap.
"I think it's okay that hyung uses the novel. Other people might not think so, but you use it to help us. Like the weapons from before, right?" The kid looks up at him with such innocent eyes he kind of wants to pull away from him just to preserve that innocence. "I don't think you're a bad person."
'How scary of you, Gilyoung-ah.' Kim Dokja pats his head. The kid has too much faith in him sometimes, but he also had a tendency to be extremely pragmatic. He's the one tha mentioned he viewed school as a place to practice pest management. With the pests obviously being the humans. Of course such a smart kid would hone in on the weapons from back then.
As he opens the file, a few system windows pop up to inform him that he has recieved an exclusive attribute and that a skill slot has been unlocked.
Curious, Kim Dokja tries to pull up his attributes by thinking 'Attributes Window'. Contrary to what he had expected, his attributes window does not pop up. In place of it, all that shows is an error window.
[Attribute window cannot be opened.]
Excuse me?
[Several Constellation are dumbfounded]
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' is wondering what Incarnation 'Kim Dokja' has for attributes.]
"Wait, what?" Jung Heewon asks, stunned from where she's leaning over him. Is she planning on sitting back anytime soon? That can't be comfortable. "You can't even access your attribute window? How does that work?"
"I don't know. I tried getting it fixed, but nothing did anything to change it." Dokja admits. "I have an idea of what some of my attributes could be, but I'm not sure about anything. I can't even see my stats. I have to rely on my memory for every time I use an ability or when I increase my stats using coins."
"That sounds like such a hassle, ahjussi." Lee Jihye pipes up, a grimace on her face. It looks like she's doing better now. That's good.
He tries over and over again, getting the same result each and every time. If he can't access his attribute window, he won't be able to learn what his attribute and skill are. He's doomed. He gives up and opens the text file instead. But then a screen pops in front of him. [Your attribute has been activated. You are now able to read at a faster speed.] Dokja's eyes widen as the words seem to fly past his eyes at a dizzying speed. All the information flew into his head effortlessly.
'Wha- Huh? That was my attribute? It just took me less than a minute to read the opening chapter of TWSA, but thanks to that... Bingo!'
Another white background shows up. This time, most of the black lettering is blurred but a single set of numbers is clear. The number 3707 is highlighted. The screen turns back to Kim Dokja sitting there reading. He looks up to the identification number for the subway cabin, realizing that he and Yoo Sangah are in cabin 3807. That's why the events taking pace around him are different from what he remembers reading. The protagonist of TWSA's prologue is actually in the subway cabin behind theirs.
'Then it's the people in 3807 that...'
"Dokja, shouldn't we try to stop them?" Sangah asked fearfully. Now knowing that the actual novel only talks about what happened in the next cabin, Kim Dokja realizes that this was the prologue of the canon prologue. 'Only two people are meant to live in this cabin. Lee Hyunsung, and...'
In the middle of the subway cabin, where most of the commotion has started, stands a white-haired teenager. He stands above an old woman who has been knocked to the floor, a wild smile on his face. 'Kim Namwoon,' Kim Dokja identifies the aggressive teen with a downright frosty look.
"Him?" Lee Hyunsung looked frozen in his chair. "Just me and that teenager? You really changed that much, Dokja-ssi?"
[The Constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' is upset about the missed opportunity in Incarnation 'Kim Namwoon']
Dokja zones in just in time to hear Han Myungoh berate the teenager's disrespect. 'If that man ever had a clever thought, it died alone and afraid,' Dokja watches with disinterest. 'That's one group of people you just don't demand respect from.'
Predictably, Kim Namwoon glares at him and asks if Han Myungoh wants to die too. With a remorseless voice, he says, "We have to pick the ones to die, might as well choose the old bag who'd die anyway." He continues to punch the grandmother into the ground, looking like he had never been born as an innocent human child but rather some evil deity had spawned him into existence to ruin lives. Like a centipede, a smile crawled across Kim Namwoon's face. "We have new rules to follow in this new world."
"Sitting here and watching it again, it's just as brutal as the first time." Yoo Sangah's face pales, her hands shaking where she has them cradled in her lap.
Yoo Sangah cries out as more people join in to kick the grandmother. "They're going to kill her!" Observing the people, Kim Dokja notes none of them went for her throat. It was especially cruel to kill her like this.
Before she could move forward, Dokja stops her from rushing to help. Yoo Sangah looks back at him in shock, "Dokja-ssi!"
"You rush in recklessly and they'll just kill you too," Dokja explains to her, seeming almost indifferent and aloof. 'Some people really are destined to shine regardless of the genre they're in. But Yoo Sangah won't be able to change. Kindness means nothing and won't change anything here. Not Kim Namwoon. Not anyone as desperate as they are. There is no one here strong enough to be able to be kind.'
"That... I guess that was true." Yoo Sangah admits hesitantly, shifting her gaze to her hands in her lap. She clenches them and raises her head to look Dokja in his eyes. "However, Dokja-ssi, you've changed so much."
She raises one of her hands, no longer shaking, pointing to herself and then Gilyoung. " I survived. Gilyoung-ie too. He didn't. Does that not mean you are kind?"
"No." Her words were so jarring that he couldn't help but be brutally honest. He did not offer anything else, breaking eye contact with her to resolutely face the screen instead. It would be the thing to answer her question anyway.
Kim Dokja looks at the floating countdown. 08:11... 'I didn't get to die today and suddenly I'm in TWSA. In a cabin which story was never told in the novel. The novel that ended today, but never truly reached the end of the story.'
|If you're reading this, you will survive.|
'I want to read,' Kim Dokja thinks feverishly. He closes his eyes, ignoring the current happenings and Yoo Sangah straining against the grip he has on her. 'I want to read the end.'
'And to read the end, I'm going to have to survive.' Kim Dokja thinks with finality, opening his eyes once more.
And then?
And then Yoo Joonghyuk stood quickly, moving Yoo Mia to her own seat in the process. He turns and storms up to stand right in front of Kim Dokja. He is yanked up by his collar to look Joonghyuk in his face, the kids in his lap tumbled to the floor. They both let out noises of protest, but it made no difference to the protagonist.
"Be honest." Yoo Joonghyuk looks upset, every angle in his face contoured by shadows as the only real light is the one behind him. Joonghyuk lowers him to let his feet touch the floor, but he keeps a grip on the collar of the robe.
"What were you planning to do after reading the last chapter?" The intense gaze locked on him made Dokja want to shrivel up where he stands. When he tries to curl up to avoid Joonghyuk's gaze, he is shook a bit and made to straighten up by the protagonists other hand. "The way you said you're going to continue to survive because you're reading me."
Kim Dokja now really really didn't want to be here. He squirms some more where he stands, trying to get away while still keeping the robe on. He really wasn't interested in being half naked right now. Yoo Joonghyuk just looks at him with a stern face and shakes him.
"Answer me." He demands, looking down his perfect nose at the progressively melting Dokja. He grumbles and opens his mouth to do so, even if only to bullshit something, when the screen just continues to set the scene.
07:38...
"Yoo Sangah." Kim Dokja calls out sternly, avoiding her hurt gaze. "Stay here."
When Yoo Sangah tries to protest, Kim Dokja does what he can to reassure her. "Please, just do as I say for now. If you listen to me this once, I promise I won't ever bother you again."
A promise he wasn't able to keep.
Kim Dokja takes a deep, deep breath. He focuses on the feeling of his ribs expanding as he breathes in. He's nervous and this wasn't apart of his barebones plan. It's still too early for him to interfere, but...
The reason he hadn't interfered sooner wasn't because he was afraid of Namwoon or the others, stars forbid he condoned their savage ways. He was just waiting for the right moment to step in. He doesn't have to wait long.
Dokja avoids looking at him, just standing there. The protagonist eventually gets irritated enough that he just forces him to sit in his previous chair. Yoo Joomghyuk huffs and it oddly reminds Dokja of a toddler. He avoids thinking about it. He got away with his secrets(is it even a secret anymore?) this time.
A loud explosion from cabin 3707 rocks the entire subway cabin, deafening the constellations' messages that they've been ignoring. Kim Dokja rushes forward past terrified passengers toward the group trying to kill the old woman.
There is only seven minutes and thirty-two seconds left on the timer.
"...is that what you were waiting for?" Yoo Joonghyuk asked, breaking the tense silence left after his outburst earlier. "That's smart."
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' reluctantly agrees with Incarnation 'Yoo Joonghyuk' that Incarnation 'Kim Dokja' had a smart plan.]
That's... That's two different compliments. For the same half-assed plan. Kim Dokja stared in confusion first at the protagonist and then incredulously at the notification from the constellation. The hell is going on?
Confused, and slightly trying to convince himself he imagined it, Dokja focused back on the screen.
Mid-dash, Dokja shoulder checks Nimwoon and sends him flying using all of his body weight and momentum. The teenager crashes into the ground and starts yelling angrily, demanding to know what his problem is.
'It may have seemed like I had pushed Kim Namwoon to save the old lady, but that wasn't the only thing I had been aiming for.'
Admist the jeers of the people still trying to kill the old lady, Dokja glances around frantically while trying to catch his breath. 'Where is it? It must be around here somewhere.'
With a glint out of the corner of his eye, he catches sight of the young boy with the bug cage again. 'There we go. Found him.'
Dokja hurries over, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, and crouches down to speak with him face-to-face.
"Excuse me," Dokja pardons as he takes the cage from the boy who still hasn't said anything. He would guess the kid is in shock, but those eyes were remarkably sharp for that to be true. He continues with the task he set out to do anyway. Reaching into the cage and grabbing onto the first bug to brush his hand, Dokja places it in the kids hand, using his other hand to make the kid enclose his own hand around the insect. "Hold onto this, kid."Stamina lvl.3, Strength lvl.4,
|Agility lvl.6, ManaThank you, hyung." Lee Gilyoung spoke with a smile, his eyes curving up as he speaks. The kid presses himself into Kim Dokja's side. "It means a lot to me that you thought I deserved to live."
Looking at the kid, Dokja could barely muster up a smile in return, placing one of his hands on his head and ignores how heavy it feels to do so. Patting the kids head, he tries to shift the reverence somewhere else. He really shouldn't have such trusting eyes locked onto him. "It was your bugs that saved us. Of course you deserve one. It was your choice to kill it in the first place after all."
If the kid hadn't been on the subway, if there has been no other alternative, then Kim Dokja would have had to kill someone to live. He would never have gotten the 'King of No Killing' and would have died that day with the dragon. It also left his hands clean for much longer.
He felt Shin Yoosung cling tighter to him, her eyes turned to him with a similar reverence that Gilyoung had. He really has to nip that in the bud. He can't have two of the rascals running around idolizing him. That would be a disaster.
He stands straight, turning to the crowd but shifting so he's standing in front of Gilyoung to shield him from their greedy eyes. "Stop what you're doing! Killing the old lady doesn't mean you're all going to live!"
And suddenly there are all kinds of eye on him, zoned in on his every move and every breath. It makes it harder and harder to breath. And then, it's okay.
He completely misses the window that pops up behind him. ['The Fourth Wall' activates]
He reminds them that even if the old lady dies, that will only buy everyone else some time. Everyone who wants to survive has to kill someone, so who will they kill next?
At that, Namwoon laughs. "Isn't it obvious? We'll kill losers like you next! No need to worry about your turn beforehand. The chances are fifty-fifty anyways."
'Just as I knew you would say.' Dokja smirks, cold eyes curved upward. "Why gamble with our lives when there's a way to survive without becoming a murderer?"
Naturally, he has everyones curiosity. None of them really want to have blood on their hands, not many of them could live with that after all.
"Have you forgotten?" Kim Dokja asks, glancing around at the other. "The scenario didn't say we have to kill a human being. It said we have to kill one or more living organism."
In one of Dokja's hands is a grasshopper, and he's carrying the cage with the rest of the insects in his other. When they realize that he holds the solution, people rush towards him, clamoring to be given one of the few bugs left in the cage. The madness that had driven them to almost kill the old lady now came hurtling towards him instead.
'But why? Why is it that my heart beats with such joy while being in this precarious situation? Why am I smiling? Was... Have I always been this kind of person?'
[The Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is surprised at the thought that Incarnation 'Kim Dokja' is having]
It was still an uncomfortable thought, sitting here in this theater with his entire person on display. He knew that he had definitely changed in the time that the apocalypse had taken place, but this felt wildly unnerving.
It's Yoo Joonghyuk that breaks through the feeling, glancing over at Kim Dokja with an oddly serious face. "It's the adrenaline."
He sound firm, convinced enough of the answer that Dokja himself started to feel convinced. Cursing the protagonists good looks, he nods, reverting his gaze from those stern eyes. Dokja really needs to get a grip on himself.
Reflecting on the moment, so far removed from that time, he lets the relief of Joonghyuk's statement wash over him. If it really was just the adrenaline, then he was still safe from turning into the very kind of person he despises. He hasn't turned into the type to rejoice in the suffering of others.
It takes a minute for another realization to hit him and he genuinely stalled at it. 'Maybe it was just something familiar. Hatred-filled eyes and the overwhelming pressure of being backed into a corner...'
The only that seemed to be missing to make it a perfect rendition was heavy hands and the faces that haunted his nightmares. The screen just continues.
Dokja wastes no time in crushing the bug in his fist as nearly feral passengers hurried to him. Immediately after, he throws the cage, setting the remaining grasshoppers free. He denies to himself the fact that he threw the cage towards Yoo Sangah in an effort to keep her alive. He wasn't the kind of person to be magnanimous like that.
['The First Kill' mission has been accomplished.]
[You will receive 100 coins as a bonus.]
Everyone rushes to find grasshoppers, on their hands and knees and getting blood all over their clothes. There are only three minutes left.
"Hey you, why did you do that?" Namwoon asks as he stretches and cracks his neck. "You could have just handed over the bugs."
No, he couldn't have. He needed a distraction to prevent them from figuring out too quickly that... "There were only three left in the box."
After a moment of shock, Namwoon laughs. "So you threw them since not all of us can live?"
That's not exactly the reason, Dokja muses, looking at the eccentric teen. Its important to him that he wins here and a swarm of upset people is not the effect he wants. But, he lets the kid think what he wants. "Yes."
"Don't be ridiculous," Namwoon laugh turns into a smirk. "No one in their right mind would pull a sunt like this for that kind of stupid reason."
Namwoon's face darkens, twisting into a terrifying expression, grinning hysterically. "Be honest, You just wanted to watch them fight for their lives, didn't you?"
That wasn't what he was going for when he threw the cage. It had more been about not being the hand that decided who got to live and who got to die. It's not by his hand that someone should live or die. It is only by their own determination and strength.
Kim Dokja's face twists up in a grimace, thinking of the chaos that had broken out at the time. It's not like he started it for just that sake of it. It was calculated, as little as it seems it had been.
He grumbles to himself that he should have ignored the teenager all together.
Behind him, Lee Hyunsung and Jung Heewon have started a conversation he can't quite hear. Heewon had sat back in her chair, no longer leaning over him. He thinks he misses the warmth. He says nothing about it.
Kim Namwoon is that kind of guy. He's cruel and rampant and enjoys situations like this.
[The exclusive skill 'Character Profile' has activated.]
The screen bleeds white as black lettering gets actively typed up on screen.
|Name :Kim Namwoon
|Age:19
|Constellation sponsor: None (Two constellations
|are insterested in this individual)
|Personal attribute: Edgelord (generic)
|Exclusive skills: Exceptional Adaptibility
|lvl.3, Knife Fighting lvl.1, Grimdark Awakening
|lvl.1
|Overall stats: Stamina lvl.3, Strength lvl.4,
|Agility lvl.6, Mana lvl.4
|General evaluation: A teenage edgelord whose
|dark side has awakened due to an extraneous
|event. It's best to not get involved with him.
The black on white text fades to a blue pop up window.
'Huh?' Dokja thinks in confusion, as he reads over the stats that appeared in front of him. 'I see... I think I know what my attributes are.'
'Most teen edgelords in TWSA couldn't handle the nightmare that became reality and commited suicide, but Kim Namwoon was different. This boy, who would later be bestowed with the fitting nickname of 'Delusional Demon' was no ordinary edgelord. He had been waiting for the apocalypse for a long time, and he adapted to this world at an unusual speed. And right now, that delusional demon...'
"Team up with me." Namwoon demands, a grin curling at the corners of his mouth. "What do you say?"
['Kim Namwoon' has expressed interest in you.]
[Your understanding of 'Kim Namwoon' has increased.]
'...wants to join forces with me.'
"What?! That's not fair!" Han Sooyoung splutters, jerking her head around to glower at Kim Dokja. "Is that how you knew who I was?"
Dokja avoids looking at her, a smug grin teasing at the edges of his lips. Like a self-satisfied cat, he preens at his own good planning. The mood of the room lightens further. "You were just really obvious."
"Like hell was! No wonder avatars had no effect on you!" She yells, leaning back a bit to point at him with narrowed eyes.
Snorting, he rolls his eyes at herand grumbles out, "That's not even how it works."
Scoffing, she turns her head away petulantly.
[Constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' is curious about the skill 'Character Profile'.]
"It seems to be similar to the skill 'Eye of the Sage'." Joonghyuk notes, taking a close look at the character profile on screen. Dokja guesses he isn't wrong, but 'Character Profile' has more constraints than 'Eye of the Sage' does...
His thoughts ae interrupted when another tug at his robe catches his attention. It's Shin Yoosung this time, looking up at him with sad little eyes. "You didn't team up with him right? He looks so mean."
"There's no need to worry, Yoosung-ah. I wouldn't team up with someone like that." Kim Dokja soothes, smiling at her while he nudges his head towards the screen. "Just watch."
"Right. You just teamed up with that asshole instead." Sooyoung scoffs, smirking as she jerks her head in the direction of the protagonist. He just glares at her. Han Sooyoung has some balls, it seems.
It seems things will turn out to be just fine.
Notes: