is teaching the kids bad things, apparently. Yoo Mia had just used a child's greatest weapon against the constellations. And it worked.
Dokja is so proud.
Humming as if in thought, the reader lets a mischievous grin curl on his face. Now time to teach these kids their next greatest lesson. Nothing ever goes exactly as planned.
"No, no. He's right. It would be considered spoilers. You should wait. They'll show it and I'll explain whatever isn't said." The scam smile is back. The kids all groan, complaining about all the work they put into that. He gives them a softer smile as they talk amongst each other.
It was a good try, but they'll need more than one plan in place for things to go right.
Bihyung frowns and quickly closes the channel, reminding Dokja that he hasn't yet agreed to the offer. They'll negotiate the terms of the contract after the successful completion of the hidden scenario. After sarcastically wishing Dokja good luck with the blessing of the story, Bihyung disappears and reopens the channel.
Immediately, Dokja gets to work putting his plan into action. It's 9:41 pm.
'There isn't much time until the stomach acid is secreted.'
He removes his tie from the pocket on his shirt, loosening it until he can pull it over his head. There's no point in keeping it on. He takes some of the mucus from the first bag and rubs it along the length of the first stone hog thorn. Every bit of its surface needs to be covered. As he finishes with his task, a strange hissing noise catches his attention, and Dokja turns to see small holes opening up in the sea commander's stomach lining that will allow the acid to flow.
Liquid comes gushing out, and Dokja takes a deep breath as he grips a thorn tightly in his hand, ready to stab it into the beast's flesh.
There's only one thought on his mind.
'I will make it out of here alive.'
[The Constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' reminds incarnation 'Kim Dokja' of the upcoming scene.]
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' reminisces about the scene.]
Oh. Oh, wait, no. That's...
Dokja knows exactly what they're talking about. They're probably reminding him of this so that he makes sure the kids have their eyes covered. Uriel isn't here to do it after all. This is going to absolutely devastate any image he's built thus far.
A couple of curious eyes turn his way, imploring him to explain what the constellations are talking about. He ignores them best he can, which is pretty easy considering he's in the front seat and has to actually turn to see any of them. Except for Joonghyuk. Who is sitting right nest to him. And sending him a look with narrowed eyes.
"Kim Dokja." His name is said like a demand, giving him the perfect idea of what this bastard is going to say next. He's proven right very quickly. "What did you do."
That, too, is a demand instead of a question. This protagonist bastard really needs to learn how to speak politer. Unwilling to actually explain, Dokja just tells him to wait and see. He does turn to the kids though. "Yeah, we're not doing this. You're all going to be closing your eyes. Cover them or your ears I don't care."
He makes sure his face and stern in a way that tries to convey how serious he is. He would rather not have the kids see any of the debauchery that must be coming up. Han Sooyoung snorts at him.
"It can not be that bad." Her voice borders on being a chortle, her smug face curled up in an amused grin. Feeling the flush crawl up his neck at what he possibly could have looked like, he ignores her. She's about to see exactly just how bad it was.
Honestly, he wants to try and see if he can get everyone to avert their eyes and not just the kids. He eyes them to make sure they're all doing as their told. Dokja has to reprimand the teenager when he finds her peeking through her fingers. "Please, Jihye-yah, listen to me just this once."
He's essentially begging her, his pride will already be in shambles. He doesn't need it to be worse. The sunfish bastard is still just glaring at him, the arm around him squeezing him in what he can only assume is a threat.
Inside the ichthyosaur's stomach, Dokja clings to the wall of the lining in a precarious position. Below him, the corpses and humanoid demons are gradually dissolving along with the concrete rubble that was floating around. Some of the demons are still conscious and he can hear the pained wails as they melt.
Despite escaping the worst of the situation, Dokja isn't left unscathed. His clothes are torn apart, barely hanging onto him, and his shoes have completely dissolved. There are light acid burns across his skin and it's making the areas red and inflamed.
The puffed up skin just makes it easier to see the slightly shiny scars marring the expanse. They're seen relatively easy through the big holes in his deteriorating clothes. There's a lot of them and they would have been harder to see if not for the discoloration caused by the acid burning him. There's a particularly bad scar running up the side of his ribs that ends around his sternum.
Cringing at his almost half naked body, Dokja sticks the tip of his tongue out of his lips in displeasure. He was right, this is unpleasant to see. Snapping his head around, he checks to make sure the kids are heeding his words. They are, but they look unhappy about it, Lee Jihye especially looks upset. She's pouting in her seat.
Lee Seolhwa, who is sat closer to the back of the theater, looks at the screen with concern. She... she doesn't know this man. They have never met. And yet she still looks at his condition on the screen and hurts for him. Those burns are not good, but they're not life threatening like they could be.
What really tugs at her heart strings are the scale of those scars. They have been given more than enough explanation for where those could have come from, but she realizes they were there when she had watched him pull his shirt up to access his ribs.
Kids like that shouldn't know how to check for broken ribs. They shouldn't.
The one along his ribs looks to be the worst, but there could be any number that are hidden by the clothes he has left. It looks old, though it's still thick and ropey. With pursed lips, she reluctantly tries to recall if she's seen anything similar.
Yoo Joonghyuk, who has leaned even further on him, seems to be trying to either crush him to death or trying to hide him from view. Whatever he's trying to do it doesn't matter because he's making it hard for Dokja to breath right. He grunts at the brute, grumbling about the fact that he can't breathe.
Around him, stone hog thorns coated in mucus plug the holes where the stomach acid had previously been flowing free, creating a safe spot. Dokja clings to the horns, pressing himself up against the stomach lining, knowing that this will take a while.
His limbs starts to cramp and get tired a long time ago. His fingers burn in a way that lets him know it's exhaustion and not the acid. Dark circles underline his eyes, Dokja is panting from the exertion of holding on for his life.
'How long has it been? Did I overestimate myself? I'm just an ordinary reader; I'm not the protagonist of this story.'
His thoughts are slow and mulish, dragging through his head as a way to distract himself from his vision going blurry and his muscles screaming at him. He's been here for hours, probably days on end at this point.
'I wonder if mother is fine. She should be, since it's mother of all people.'
Sooyoung looks at him with a slack jaw and mouth wide open. Her face is slightly flushed and she splutters trying to find something to say in the aftermath of that. Eventually, she gets her words. "That can not be you. There's no way."
Her face scrunches up, still red, and she reaches over to pinch his cheek. Sooyoung pulls at it. "Why do you look like that, you rat."
Slapping at her, Dokja is able to make her let go and evade her next move to grab him again. The effort knocks him into the protagonist -who had only recently stopped trying to squish him- and when he looks over Joonghyuk that guy looks like he's had an epiphany.
Her face makes Dokja look away, not willing to try to make sense of that for his own sanity, he looks to the other members of the room. Yoo Sangah catches his eye first. She isn't laughing like some of the others, her eyes are trained on the screen with dangerous eyes. There's a threat there that he doesn't want to know who will be on the other end of that.
He continues to rotate his head, his gaze finding Heewon next. She's melting in her chair with chuckles, genuine mirth painted all across her face. One more funny thing and she might break down in giggles. He's glad she's having fun.
Lee Hyunsung is next, the soldier is colored like a cherry and avoiding his gaze. There isn't much for him to look for when he can't really see his face in the first place. He moves on to the kids but they're still covering their eyes so there isn't much for him to get from them.
He turns back to the screen and cringes all over again.
[Many Constellations are surprised.]
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' compliments incarnation 'Kim Dokja']
Now what is this bastard complimenting him on? That's too broad of a statement. Scowling at the sky is just about all he can do in this situation unfortunately.
There are more constellation notifications that he ignores, looking to his companion instead. It looks like he's gathered his thoughts as Yoo Joonghyuk is now staring at him intensely.
Nope. Back to the screen.
Dokja blinks, but his eyes struggle to open after. He's exhausted.
'This can't be a dream, can it? I hope it is. The world before wasn't all that great, but risking my life in the stomach of this monster is not on the list of dream activities.'
He thinks about it a little harder, his eyes actually opening again. He stares at the flesh of the stomach lining.
'It has been nice to be here though.'
He doesn't know how many hours have passed, but he's somehow still clinging to one of the thorns on the wall. The only change, however, is that it seems drier inside the stomach than before. Dokja can barely move through his exhaustion and screaming muscles, but he turns his head when Bihyung appears behind him.
[Wow. I have to hand it to you.]
[Several constellations are impressed by your survival skills.]
[You have been sponsored 100 coins.]
It's the fourth day of this hell called a hidden scenario and Dokja barely look like he's alive anymore.
"Four days?!" Jihye shouts, dropping her hands from her eyes and getting an eyeful of a half naked Dokja. She doesn't even pay attention to it, snapping her head to look at the current Dokja instead. "How did you do that for four days, pretty ahjussi?"
He hums, a little upset she didn't listen to him, but sighs in acceptance. He wasn't actually expecting her to listen to him anyway. It was a pipe dream. He thinks back to what it actually felt like. "Through coin upgraded stats. And the fluids I was drinking upgraded my stats too."
His answer doesn't seem to satisfy her, Jihye puffs her cheeks up and crosses her arms with a huff. She looks at him expectantly as if she want him to elaborate. The other kids have uncovered their faces and are looking at him with the same eyes. He decides after letting the kids down earlier he can tell her.
"I'm used to staying up for days on end with little sleep." Dokja is reluctant to admit it, reminded about how badly his companions were appalled at his lackluster appetite. He waves away her concern as he continues. "My coin upgraded stamina is the major factor though."
[I had no idea you would use the thorns like that. That was unexpected.] Bihyung mutters, but Dokja can't hold on anymore. He lets his eyes fall closed, his grip slipping as he relaxes his tired arms. The reader falls to the fleshy ground with a squishy thud to the dokkaebi's alarm. The ichthyosaur is dead and the hidden scenario has been announced as over. In total, Dokja gets 10,000 coins.
He lays there breathing heavily and splayed out on the ground, taking a moment to rest while he can. He's exhausted. He's amazed he is even alive. He opens his eyes.
His plan was simple -use the thorns of the stone hog that usually preys on sea creatures by drying them out, and coat them in the mucus of the hammer seahorse that evolved to avoid being dissolved by the ichthyosaurs' stomach acid. The giant sea commander has been entirely dehydrated, and it' now only a lifeless husk. This wasn't a plan that Bihyung had been expecting and he says as much in shock.
[A few constellations smile knowingly.]
[Several constellations now understand your decision.]
[The constellation complain, asking you to day what you'll do out loud so they are made aware of your actions beforehand.]
'As if.' He snorts to himself, reading the pop up windows as he closes them out. There is no way Dokja is going to say his plan out loud before he goes through with it. Plans barely get past first contact anyway, it will only be worse when he has people working against him.
'Before the stone hog's thorn started working, I covered myself in what was left of the hammer seahorse mucus. I drank the bodily fluid of the ichthyosaur that was funneled through the horn to appease my hunger.'
Yoosung sticks her tongue out at that, her face scrunches up in what can be disgust. "What does that even taste like, ahjussi?"
Probably not as bad as she's thinking. It was salty, but that's the worst part about it. It kept him from withering away in that stomach and that's about all that mattered at the time. Dokja tries to really think about the taste but he can't quite remember.
[The exclusive skill 'The Fourth Wall' thickens.]
Maybe he doesn't want to know.
He smiles at her but doesn't answer. There's no real answer to give her, but he knows well that she'll try to push for one anyway. He tells them to close their eyes again instead. Warning them against peaking. The kids obey, but grumble while they do it.
The imagery of this scene is particularly lewd -Dokja is sweaty and trembling while pressed up against the wall of the stomach lining. His bck is arched as he tries to keep his balance while not relying on his arms and legs as much. His mouth is open beneath the leaking horn that he's tightly gripping in order to catch any drops of fluid with his tongue that he can.
His eye are half-lidded and a bead of sweat rolls down the side of his neck and down his chest, which heaves laboriously at the effort he is exerting. This only brings attention to his outfit, or lack thereof. The torn and dissolved clothes barely draped on his body reveals pale skin and a lean figure, reddened by the acid's bite. Overall, the scene looks like one big innuendo.
There it is. That was what he was expecting earlier. From an outside point of view, it's weird seeing what his suffering actually looked like. It was bordering on sexual. Frowning, Dokja eyes his thin arms and visible ribs. At least it's him and not one of the ladies. They don't need anymore fuel for people to sexualize them...
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' is admiring the view.]
[Many Constellations are shocked.]The Constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' says that incarnation 'Kim Dokja' looks weak.]
[The Constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' complains that incarnation 'Kim Dokja' doesn't eat enough.]
[Some Constellations are looking lecherously.]
[The Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire is screaming!]
He wants to curl up somewhere and die in a hole.
[The skill 'The Fourth Wall' thickens.]
It looks like Uriel is back. And at such a moment too. There are many more messages floating around in front of him that he gets rids of. None of the others really matter as much. Though the amount of pop ups is getting annoying. Some of them are confusing. Secretive Plotter needs to get better eye balls.
Joonghyuk watches the screen and is hit with realizations that he would rather not have in the first place. How is man supposed to be sensible in these conditions? He feels like he's ready to scream. He's so close to the reader and there isn't anything he can do about it but sit here and be cozy squished up next to him.
Hindsight is a bitch.
Dokja checks on the kids, ignoring every other adult in the room with as much animosity as he can while not talking to them, to make sure that they still have their eyes covered. It's not hard to see Jihye peaking but the rest are doing as he asked. Damn it. Teenagers.
Han Sooyoung knocks into him, her whole body curling up a she wheezes out cackles breathlessly. This witch. She's practically falling over where she's sitting. She absolutely nudged into him on purpose though. He sneers and pushes on her face to get her away from him. He used her nose to do it. How dare she.
She splutters in her chair, accidentally breathing in her own spit, and starts to choke. She's still sort of laughing while she coughs. There's a flush creeping along her cheeks that is worse than earlier.
[You have absorbed the strength of the ichthyosaur. Your stamina level has increased.]
[Stamina lvl. 11 → Stamina lvl. 12]
'After that, it was a test of sheer willpower.'
Dokja glances over the acid burns that cover his body. The mucus allowed him to survive the stomach acid, but it still hurts like hell.
[Your pain is partially nullified by your exclusive skill, 'The Fourth Wall'.]
Bihyung floats near him. [That was an amazing survival drama, don't you think so, dear constellations?]
Dokja groans a he unsteadily gets to his feet. "Just open the damn dokkaebi bag."
Taking on of the thorns in hand, Dokja slashes through the dried stomach lining to reveal the sea commander's glowing nucleus. Taking it in hand, Dokja turns to Bihyung.
"I'm going to sell this," he states bluntly too tired to elaborate or give the creature anything more than that. "Put it up for trade on the dokkaebi auction house. I won't trade it for anything but
Bihyung can't believe his ears. Seriously, how does a human know all of this?
Well, that's not exactly a mystery anymore, Dokja muses exasperatedly. This entire scenario is screwing with his plans. How is he supposed to do anything right when everyone already knows how he's going to be swinging the scenarios?
Dokja starts figuring out what he wants to buy, but Bihyung cuts him off by triggering another advertisement on his channel with a cheeky grin. Only a second later, the stream contract pops up in front of his face.
Overall, the terms look pretty good. Dokja can't get a constellation until all the scenarios are over or he dies, he can only be active in Bihyung's channel, and the two od them have to share all profits. There is one problem, though...
"The contract is missing the most important part." Dokja tells him, his smarmy smile painting his face. It's not a seal, nor a verbal agreement, despite what Bihyung thinks. It's the ratio at which the profits will be divided.
Bihyung is offering him fifty-fifty and no fee for channel usage. That's barely crumbs. It's not good enough.
"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Dokja asks, offended at this creature who's trying to one up him. It doesn't matter what the 'market rate' is, because he knows better.
'A constellation's incarnation makes an appearance on the dokkaebi's channel, and the constellation shares the coins gifted by the other constellations with the dokkaebi who owns the channel. That's how it usually goes, but-'
Dokja narrows his eyes, letting them drag over the creature with a stern gaze. "I don't have a constellation sponsor, and when constellations gift coins to an incarnation without a constellation sponsor, they have to pay a hefty commission fee to the dokkarbi."
Bihyung can't help but flinch as Dokja continues his accusation. "I'm sure you've already made quite the profit, thanks to me. I'll take all the coins."
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' is surprised at the events]
[The Constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' laughs in astonishment at your actions]
Han Sooyoung chokes beside him, and so does Heewon, turning too point an accusatory finger in his face. One of these times he's just going to bite whatever she's sticking in his face and see how she feels about that. She's laughing while she points at him, stuttering through her words just barely able to get them out.
"You-" The laughing sounds like Sooyoung is loosing her mind at this point. "-really"
Now this is just disappointing. She can do better than this. Be better than this- no wait. Dokja genuinely doesn't think she could be. He snorts at her anyway.
She reduces herself to giggles, finally able to get out what she was wanting to say. "You really used all of that knowledge you have just to rip off the dokkaebi?"
Jung Heewon, who had started to calm down by this point, is now a puddle of loud cackling laughing once more. Jihye has even joined in on clowning on him, her own high pitched giggling filtering in through the adults.
"What else do you want me to do with it?" He scoffs at her, leaning forward a bit to gnash his teeth closer to her finger. Sooyoung jerks her finger away from his snapping teeth but doesn't do anything else. She's still making fun of him. She won't be laughing when she sees just how many coins he was able to gain from this deal of his.
[Many Constellations protest at the unfair advantage of incarnation 'Kim Dokja']
"Dokja-ssi..." Sangah is laughing behind her hand, he can see her shoulders moving up and down. That's a betrayal that stung. She has no trouble speaking though, so it's not as bad as the rest. "I see you still have your... hmmm, special touch? when it comes to deals."
She's smiling, but as much of it is amusement there's also something that could border on nostalgia in her expression. Avoiding that, he turns to his seatmate who has been characteristically silent this entire conversation.
Dokja sees mirthful eyes and decides he doesn't want to know what the protagonist thinks about this situation.
Bihyung's shocked face morphs into a snarl instantly. [What?!]
Dokja smiles like a scammer as he happily informs the dokkaebi that he'll be fine with just the commission, since Dokja won't be giving up a single coin. Of course, Bihyung thinks this is preposterous. He offers different ratios, but Dokja turns them all down. It's all or nothing, and he'll just move on to a dokkaebi who will accept his terms.
When Bihyung tries to keep negotiating, Dokja reminds him that the advertisements will be over soon and that the constellations are complaining again.
After a moment of agonizing, Bihyung sighs and gives in. [Fine. Damn it. So you'll sign the contract under these terms?]
"Oh, and one more thing." Dokja speaks again, his scammy smile turning cheeky as his eyes turn up. "I get a contract fee, too. Give me 5,000 coins."
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' is impressed by the audacity of the incarnation 'Kim Dokja']
[You have been sponsored 666 coins]
Once the contract is signed and sealed, Dokja sits down on the fleshy ground. He has to rest. His eyes are heavy and they are starting to fall close very quickly. He soon falls back, landing on the dried out floor, and looses consciousness as soon as he does. In front of his asleep body, there is a blue window that can't be read.
Suddenly, he finds himself seeing an unexpected sight.
Outside the body of the dead sea monster, meteors streak across the starry sky in a brilliant shower. Though it's beautiful, it isn't a sight that Joonghyuk wants to admire. After all, this is the harbinger of the third main scenario. which is destined to destroy the city of Seoul.
Joonghyuk looks up at the sky before bowing his head and looking at the Han River below. The group of Ichthyosaur had moved downstream not too long ago, and the area was deserted.
'It was too much,' he thinks, knowing it may have been a mistake to ask Dokja to kill one of them this early in the scenarios. It had already been three days since Joonghyuk threw him off the bridge, after all. However, it won't be worth taking the man along with him if he couldn't do even this much. Anything less, and Dokja would just be a hinderance to him.
'A prophet isn't a big deal.'
Joonghyuk closes his eyes in disappointment, knowing that he would once again be fighting through the scenarios without any companions. Once more, he would be alone.
It wasn't a big deal. He had been alone all this time.
'This time I will definitely change it.' He thinks as he turns away from the river, leaving without another word.
But maybe he had turned away too soon.
"Master did... did you wait there for ahjussi all that time?" Jihye asks hesitantly, turning big curious eyes over to Joonghyuk. The protagonist looks over to her before averting his gaze and nodding. His ears are red.
"Wait, you really did?" Kim Dokja speaks up this time, his own curious eyes on the man squished up against him. This time, Joonghyuk doesn't look at him like he did Jihye. He does nod his head again and actually give him an answer this time.
"I did."
[The Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' cheers for the companions.]
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' says he would have waited longer for incarnation 'Kim Dokja']
[The Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' tells constellation 'Secretive Plotter' to but out.]
With that simple confirmation, it feels like Dokja's world had been turned on it's axis. That... he didn't think the protagonist had actually waited for him. And for that bastard to be genuinely disappointed-
[The constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' sticks his finger in his ear']
The great sage needs to learn to have better timing.
"Wait...!" Dokja shouts as he jerks awake, still inside the Ichthyosaur. Everything that he saw just now- was it a dream?
"Is that another one of your skills, pretty ahjussi?" Shin Yoosung pops her head forward so she can be seen around the protagonist. She is pointing to the screen and has her head tilted to the side like a confused puppy. Why does everyone here like pointing so much-?
"Yes, it is, Yoosung-ie" Dokja gives her confirmation, but doesn't expand on his answer. A more in-depth explanation would probably come later anyway. A deep seeded irritation at having everything exposed sweeps over him again.
Still, regardless of whether it was or not, Dokja has more important issues to worry about, like getting out of here.
He decides to go up the way he went down, climbing through the esophagus of the sea monster. When he got to the mouth, it took him considerable effort to open it. The water that immediately invaded the dry cavern almost threw him off balance.
Dokja gathers as big of a breath of air as possible, inhaling deeply despite the absolute horrendous smell of both him and the corpse. He moves against the current of incoming water and dives into the river water. He swims away from the mouth, looking at the corpse when he has completely left. It looks, oddly, intriguing from the outside. He's forced to turn away and swim in what he thinks is the upward direction when his chest starts screaming at him.
He gasps when he reaches the surface of the river, furiously swimming to the edge after escaping the corpse. The air is fresh -or at least, as fresh as it gets in a city that's burning- but at least it doesn't smell like death and decay. It's Dokja's first time breathing fresh air in four days.
'I thought it would only take me two days. Still, four days isn't bad, considering it took Yoo Joonghyuk four days on his fourth round. I also managed to sign a stream contract with a dokkaebi, and made quite a few coins in the process, so it's not a bad start.'
He muses on his life before the scenarios, when he wouldn't have been able to get anyone to sign anything associated with his name. Now, just for having read TWSA, he's become someone extraordinary. Still, no amount of future knowledge will allow him to summon clothes into existence to replace his ruined outfit.
[The exclusive skill 'The Fourth Wall' is still active.]
That skill... he had tried to get Bihyung to fix his broken attributes window earlier, but not even [System Interface] could do anything. His skill had appeared and blocked any and all attempts to disable it. Offhandedly, Dokja considers that he will probably make for a great con man, since no one can see his attributes window.
"That-" Hyunsung's voice behind him knocks Dokja out of his own musing, his past self in the background also doing so. "Dokja-ssi, that skill... it's kind of- scary?"
The soldier sounds unsure of his words, as if he's not quite sure it's the one that accurately describes the situation. He seems to decide it isn't, shaking his head and correcting himself. "Maybe not scary, but it is oddly powerful. I thought it was just a mental barrier but it seems like so much more than that..."
Now that he thinks about it, the [Fourth Wall] is sort of weird. Dokja can't think of a skill in TWSA that was anything like it. It's sort of like the skill has a mind of it's own. With a shiver, he looks over to Sooyoung to see what she thinks.
Her face is scrunched up, and not in the good way like when she smiles mischievously or is laughing. Sooyoung's face is a map of concern as she is thinking, her mouth opening and closing a few times before remaining closed with pursed lips. She doesn't say anything.
Dokja doesn't have anything to say about it either.
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' is intrigued.]
[The Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is concerned.]
He steps through the barrier that separates him from the next main scenario area, and he's instantly affected by the poisonous fog in the city.
[The scenario is highly contaminated.]
[Hold your breath and quickly get underground.]
Dokja's skin starts to get mottled with purple spots as he breathes in the poison, and a pop up confirms that he's been exposed.
[The Constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' smiles insidiously.]
As he looks down at the abandoned street, Dokja knows something for sure. 'The real game begins now!'
As dawn breaks over the nearly deserted ruins of Seoul, the silence is shattered by a gigantic rhino-like monster charging down the street to attack a massive praying mantis. Their cries and screeches echo through the early morning air as they fight, providing an unpleasant soundscape for Dokja, who is in a nearby abandoned convenience store.
He swipes food and supplies off the shelves haphazardly into plastic bags, grabbing whatever he can. Bottles, packets, and cans gradually fill the plastic bags until he can't carry anymore. Somewhere, he's also found a new set of clothes to wear that could replace his ruined ones.
When he had been looking, he had purposefully passed over the section that had socks and shoes. Dokja doesn't have to conform to societal norms now that the apocalypse hasn't started. Fuck you, society. You've done nothing for him since the day he was born except for crash and burn.
"Is that why you haven't had shoes, ahjussi?" Yoo Mia is judging him, and she's judging him hard. Dokja refuses to look at the eleven year old. It's absolutely not because he's being petty.
"I noticed that, actually." Jihye mutters, raising her voice to actually speak to him with a question. "Aren't you worried about your feet getting hurt ahjussi?"
Eyeing the teenager, Dokja hums as he thinks of an answer that would satisfy her. It, admittedly, takes him a bit to actually think of one. "Not really. my stats are too high for me to worry about that.
Mia is no longer looking at him with judgy eyes, she's looking back at the screen instead.
The protagonist is looking at him, though. Dokja shifts a little, nervous about what the man might have to say. It takes a long awkward moment, but Joonghyuk does eventually deign to grace him with his voice.
"Shoes are protectants. Wear shoes."
And that was it. The bastard also turned back to the screen, not even bothering to let Dokja rebuke him.
[The Constellation 'Secretive Plotter' regrets to agree with incarnation 'Yoo Joonghyuk' but he says that incarnation 'Kim Dokja' should wear shoes.]
Well it's not going to happen so fuck off.
[The surrounding land area for the scenario is heavily polluted.]
[Hold your breath and get underground as quickly as possible.]
Dokja stands and hoists the bags up, preparing himself for going outside into the contaminated atmosphere.
'These should be enough, I should head to the basement now since the item's effect is almost gone... I spent too much time putting on the clothes.'
The item in quesition in
"-elp..."
Dokja startles at the voice, and he instantly realizes that there's someone else in the store. He pauses for a moment, genuinely debating just leaving whoever it is where they are, but turns away from the door and follows the sound of the woman's voice.
"Help-" There's a couples moments before the voice continues. "Help me..."