Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Flying fuck.

Thousands of feet above ground, a certain red headed man could be seen falling and flailing around with his arms in the air, cursing loudly as he made a mental note to fuck the God of Death or whoever was responsible for his current predicament up, his face turning red from either the pressure as he continues to fall from the sky or because he was currently furious as fuck. 

He could feel the corner of his eyes heat up as tears prickle them.

A tangy taste of rust fell onto his tongue as he bit his lip in contempt.

Cale Henituse, the savior and hero of both the Western and Eastern continent was currently falling from the sky.

The reason why? He does not know. 

He barely even remembers how he got, well, here. His memories were fuzzy, and his head starts hurting like shit whenever he tries to recall what happened after his confrontation with the White Shi- Star.

He wanted to cry, so he did. He let his tears fall as he was yet again thrown into a situation he sure as hell didn't agree to.

He just wanted everything to end and to finally have time to rest. 

He was tired. 

***

Cale knew something was wrong the moment he felt the comforting mattress underneath him.

It also didn't help that all of his senses were working but he couldn't move at all, at least not at his will.

His gazed locked shockingly onto small pale hands clapping at nothing in the air.

Is that mine?

He swore he felt a vein burst. 

He so clearly remembers feeling the air against his back as he fell from the sky earlier, vividly remembering each and every whip of wind against his skin, so what the actual fuck was happening. 

A ruffling noise made him snap out of his daze, his gaze shifting towards a woman assumably in her 40s wearing a nun outfit.

Both heaven and hell must hate him tremendously.

He gritted his nonexistent teeth.

It didn't take him long to realize that he was in an orphanage.

"Aww, look at this little child trying to greet us with a smile." the nun cooed along with the orphanage staff, smiling as she assaults the poor redhead's cheeks.

Cale furrowed his brows.

'I'm trying to grind my nonexistent teeth together. Please, let me seethe in anger peacefully.'

"He's not from this country, correct?" the nun asked, her touchy hands still annoyingly toying with Cale's face, "I mean, look at his hair. It's not everyday that we see someone with natural red hair." 

The staff nodded, her hand motioning Cale's hair, "It seems that the father is, um, I think he said something about being European? He didn't say anything other than that, we tried contacting him using the information he provided but it turned out everything was fake." she sighed sympathetically, "He left his child with us, poor kid. The father has white hair."

"Aigoo. How could someone abandon such a handsome child." the nun caressed his hair.

"Yes... Oh! The father left us a note, by the way. Written there was the child's name. Hm, Cayyle? Ca-le? Cale? Cale Henitush? Cale Henituse, was it?"

Cale tried to understand everything the people around him said for future purposes. He really did. But how the fuck would he be able to focus when his mind was currently going haywire? 

White hair.

They said something about someone having white hair, didn't they?

The God of Death.

Of course, who would be so meddlesome as to throw him into another dimension if not him?

Cale was stressed.

He has already lived two lives. Three if you count the time where the White Star possessed his body back in Roan Kingdom resulting in him being transmigrated to Earth 1 as Kim Rok Soo. 

He was already contented living as Cale Henituse, he had already found the people he could call family, so why?

It also didn't help that he doesn't know why he was thrown here, he does know that he was in Korea, but even that wasn't enough information for Cale to plan for the future.

All he knows and was sure of was that he killed the White Star, and he survived.

There was no reason for him to be moved dimensions, unless this was some kind of sick game of the Gods. 

Nothing would be able to explain Cale's urge to kill all of them, he was done playing games.

Was making him the center of a war not enough? Hasn't he given enough?

First, they take Lee Soo Hyuk and Choi Jung Soo from him. Now, they take him away from his newfound family. 

Cale Henituse was tired... Very tired.

'What did I do to deserve this.'

It wasn't a question, but he wanted answers.

It wasn't a question, because he knew he wasn't at fault.

It wasn't a question, because he knew he did nothing.

It wasn't a question, but if he knew that doing nothing would cause all of this, then he would've killed all those Gods a long time ago. 

They were having too much fun with him.

It was time for Cale to have his. 

And with all of those emotion swirling inside of him, Cale did what every months old children do.

He cried, he wailed, he sobbed. 

He couldn't help it, he hated everything, he hated everyone, he hated the Gods who were responsible for his misery. 

It didn't help that his body was currently of a child's who's twelve months old at best.

Cale tried to stop it, forcing his sobs back as he fists on the mattress underneath him. He tried his best to stop himself, but with too many raw emotions swirling inside such a tiny body, there was little to nothing that Cale could do, so he just sat there, crying his frustrations out. 

His mind was a mess, he was a mess.

"My, my. Why is our dear Cale crying?" the orphanage staff carried him, swaying him as she hums a lullaby.

He wouldn't admit it himself, but he was starting to feel sleepy, his mind finally relaxing. 

As he was lulled to sleep with his eyes fluttering close, Cale was sure he saw something blue suddenly pop up infront of him.

Curious, he tried to force his eyes and himself to stay awake, but was too overwhelmed and overcome with fatigue to do so.

I'll just... just check it when I wake up. 

And so he slept. Reveling and basking in the peaceful environment of his dreams... Only to be awaken with a nightmare later on.

•

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Fuck.

Cale didn't like what he was seeing, he just woke up for fuck's sake. 

Infront of him was a blue... hologram?

[WINDOW]

[Character Information]

Name: Cale Henituse (??)

Age: 12 months old

Constellation Sponsor: N/A

Personal Attributes: Young Master Silver Shield (Rare), Supreme Commander of the Allied Armies (Legendary), Transmigrator (Myth), Roan Kingdom's Northeast Commander (Legendary), Strategist (Rare), Ability User (Legendary), Innkeeper (Legendary), Chosen by Nature (Myth), Loved by the Gods (Myth)

Exclusive Skills: Indestructible Shield Lv.??, Vitality of the Heart Lv.??, Sound of the Wind Lv.??, Dominating Aura Lv.??, Fire of Destruction Lv.??, Super Rock Lv.??, Sky Eating Water Lv.??, Blood - Drenched Rock Lv.??, Annual Rings of Life Lv.??, Record Lv.??, Embrace Lv.??, Instant Lv.?? 

Overall Stats: Stamina Lv. -10, Strength Lv. -10, Agility Lv. -10, Magic Power Lv. -10

System: Character 'Cale Henituse' is given seventeen years to prepare for the future. The system wishes you good luck. 

...

What the fuck. What kind of a 12 month old kid has that much overpowered skills and attributes... And no, please don't wish me luck, I don't even want this.

He just woke up but with what he's learned in a short span of time was making him want to sleep again and never wake up. 

He was nervous, something was watching him but he couldn't do anything. He couldn't do shit with his body. 

Worst life ever. 

Chapter Text

"Miss! Cale is scaring me!"

Cale scoffed, he was currently four years old, and he was glad he was. His first three years living in this hellhole was a nightmare, he couldn't do anything but eat, shit, and sleep.

Now, don't get him wrong. He likes doing nothing but slacking off, sure, but not in a fucking child's body. 

He was a fucking 40 year old man living in such a young body, even he wouldn't wish that on his greatest enemy... or maybe he would.

Enough of that now, as much as how hellish his first three years trying to adjust was, he couldn't deny that reliving his childhood was quite fun. Well, he wouldn't call it reliving since he didn't have any childhood memory in the first place. His childhood as Kim Rok Soo was too fucked up as he was too busy trying to survive and to not die. His life in 'The Birth of a Hero' as Cale Henituse wasn't worth mentioning either as he was already eighteen when they exchanged bodies, and it also didn't help that the original Cale Henituse's childhood wasn't that great either. 

Cale shrugged, 'Well, I'm having fun now.'

He stared at the black haired child glaring at him.

"Now, now, don't fight." the daycare worker approached them, crouching as she looks at them fondly, "Jihye, care to tell unnie how Cale was scaring you?"

The child, Jihye, sniffed, pointing a finger at Cale's direction without even looking at him, "He, he's creepy! I just asked him to play with me and he told me to go away! He, he said that there was a ghost attached to me, waah!" the poor child wailed, hugging an ugly squid stuffed toy. 

The lady turned to Cale, "Is that true, Cale?" 

Cale nodded, bobbing his little head up and down fervently, his bangs swaying with every move he makes, "Yes, but it's true though. Look, the ghost is waving at me right now."

"Wa-Waah!!" the poor child, Jihye, wailed harder, her small hands fisting on the clearly stressed daycare worker's shirt while the said worker could only look at Cale in exasperation. She's gotten used to the ever so scheming Cale but getting used to it doesn't mean that she has it any easier.

She focused on the crying child in her arms, "Shh, it's alright Jihye, I'm sure Cale doesn't mean it-"

"I do mean it though."

"Sigh, it's alright, Jihye. Cale was just teasing you-"

"No, I wasn't." 

She felt her left eye twitch. She knew that taking care of children was hard but no one told her that it would be this hard. It also didn't help that one of the children that she was asked to take care of was sly and smarter than most children. 

"Cale..." she gave Cale a forced smile, almost pleading before shifting her gaze back to the crying Jihye, "There, there. Come on, Jihye, you're a strong girl, right?" she wiped the child's tears with her thumb, "Don't cry."

"Jihye's a girl?"

"H-huugh, waaah!!" the little girl cried harder. 

The poor lady felt crying. Lord, have mercy on her soul. 

***

It was currently 3 PM and Cale was still out in the park.

No, he wasn't there to play. Having been scolded by the daycare worker earlier, Cale didn't have the courage to go back to the orphanage and face the nuns incase they heard about his misbehavior.

He was shameless, but not that shameless.

3:26 PM, the clock attached to one of the pillars in the park read. He was sure that the orphanage staff must be looking for him by now.

"Hey, you!" an annoyingly squeaky voice called.

There stands, menacingly? a young kid who's probably six years at best with... white hair?

White hair.

White hair.

Cale went mad, his hand automatically picking up a rock about a size of his head as he ran towards the white haired child, while the latter, who's probably confused as fuck, ran fast as he screams colorful profanities that even Cale didn't know existed.

"Stop chasing me with a rock! Are you a creep?!"

Glaring, Cale only grew angrier, "Don't fuck with me!" his pace quickened, "No ordinary korean child has white hair, just let me hit you once, you motherfucking God of Death!"

If the poor child was confused earlier, then he was much more confused now. He just wanted to talk to the redhead because he seemed lonely, "I-I'm Namwoon! I'm not Gog ofh Det!" he screamed, his pronunciation slightly off as he wasn't familiar with the word nor language used. 

"Don't toy with me, bitch!" Cale continued chasing him.

The child, Namwoon, already had tears streaming down his face. Now he knows why stranger danger is a thing, he wished that he didn't learn of it the hard way though. 

Their incessant game of 'tag' did somehow come an end, much to Namwoon's relief.

'Huh' Cale raised a brow.

In the midst of his killing spree, if you could even call it that, a sudden burst of blue suddenly clouded his vision, making him stop abruptly.

There he saw the same blue hologram that would pop up everytime he muttered the word 'window'. The same one he saw the first time he was transmigrated into this dimension.

The only problem was he didn't even mutter the word 'window'. And unlike his previous encounters with this game-like holographic system, in lieu of showing informations of himself, it instead presented him the information of the child infront of him who he stopped chasing, only for a while though.

He still believes that the child was that bitch God of Death pretending to be an innocent child.

He shifted his focus on the window infront of him.

[Character List]

Name: Kim Namwoon

Age: 6 years old 

Constellation: N/A

Personal Attributes: Chuunibyou

Exclusive Skills: Unusual Adaptability, Kn ife Fighting, Bla ckening: The Chuunibyou attribute's exclusive skill, which lets him manifest a dark aura and enhances his hits.

Overall Stats: Constitution Lv. -3,  Strength Lv. -3, Agility Lv. -3, Magic Power Lv. -10

Yeah, remember Cale saying that he was sure that this child was the God of Death? Well, now maybe not. 

Cale blinks once, or twice, maybe even three times.

I almost went to jail.

He couldn't believe it. In his defense, he'd never seen a child with white hair before so his reaction was normal... kind of. 

"Ah, hehe." he started, getting the opposite reaction from the white haired child than what he intended.

It's either Cale doesn't know what he's doing or he's doing it on purpose because the poor child he was trying to coax almost pissed himself as Cale continues to advance towards him with his hand still holding the rock. 

He dropped the rock he didn't know that he was still holding, "I'm sorry."

"Hmph!" Kim Namwoon crossed his arms against his chest after he recovered, his head turned away from Cale, "It's okay, you didn't scare me at all!!"

He peeked at Cale, "Y-Your hair's very pretty though!" light pink colored his chubby cheeks, " Tsk. Bye!" and before Cale knew it, the child was already out of sight.

He could only watch as the retreating figure of the child slowly disappears in the distance. 

Cale pursed his lips, "That little dumb child is too forgiving. He shouldn't forgive someone who almost, ahem, accidentally murdered him, ahem." he shrugged his shoulders, "Works for me though."

He glanced at the clock on his right.

"4:02 PM, I better get going." 

Chapter Text

"Cale! Oh, my dear, where have you been?" the head sister of the orphanage that Cale was in couldn't help but fret. They've been looking for him for at least two hours now, imagine the relief they felt when they saw the redhead barge in through the front door. He was a bit dirty and his clothes were a mess but at least he was finally home unscathed. 

Cale could only smile sheepishly.

"Good evening, sister." 

Delicate hands attached themselves onto Cale's shoulder, the owner looking at him in worry, "Great heavens, what were you doing so late?"

Concern was evident on the sister's face, Cale couldn't help but feel guilty. They've done nothing but care for him yet here he was making them worry.

And although Cale might deny it, he also couldn't help as the side of his mouth rose to form a slight smile. He swears he's not a sadist or whatever but he does miss the feeling of someone worrying about him and his well-being.

He held the hand resting on his shoulder, "I promise, I'm fine. I was just out with a friend at the playground."

Shocked eyes stare at him, "You... have friends?"

A frown made its way onto Cale's face.

He wasn't offended, he really wasn't.

"Of course, I do." he yawns, "I'm really tired now. Can I please go to bed?" 

The sister sighed. She doesn't know how Cale could be so smart for his age but also so dumb in taking care of himself. She just hopes that nothing bad befalls her son. 

"Alright, sleep tight, Cale."

Cale looked at her one last time before making his way up to his room. Basking in the peaceful environment he now has for himself, oh how bad he wants to keep everything as it is now.

***

"Jihye, don't poke your head through the window-"

"Haneul, get back to your seat-"

"Chinhwa, Chanyeol! Stop fighting!"

It was noisy, very noisy. And Cale hated every second of it.

They were currently on their way to the amusement park for a school trip, much to the redhead's dismay.

He may still be in the body of a child but that still doesn't change the fact that he's a grown ass 40 year old man. He had no use nor desire in riding coasters, he'd rather sleep in bed and relax all day.

"Hmph." he grumbled, watching the ruckus infront of him unfold.

He was bored, very bored. It also didn't help that he was so mature for his age that even his playmates stopped talking to him, only Jihye remained, which he constantly talks to everyday.

A frown etched its way onto his face. They've been on the road for two hours now, and even though that was an opportunity for Cale to finally take a rest and sleep, how the fuck could he when he's surrounded by chaotic children? what's worse was, everytime Cale tried to close his eyes, a bump on the road would always wake him up from his very very short slumber.

Sighing, Cale opted to just pass time by looking out the window, counting every tree he sees to cure his boredom, which surprisingly worked.

"12"

"16"

"25"

"32"

"39"

"41"

"54"

"56-"

"Hello." the redhead felt someone take the seat beside him, which he didn't mind. Instead, he just continued counting, too preoccupied to give a fuck. He didn't wanna lose count.

He heard the child beside him grumble under his breath, "Hey, you!"

Cale sighed, people have been calling him 'you' these days and he's grown very tired if it. Hello, he has a name? You can call him Cale, thank you.

Rolling his eyes, Cale turns to look at the one who's been calling him for some time now, and he wished he didn't.

Infront of him was the white haired child that he had mistaken as the God of Death. Yes, the same kid he chased around the park.

Cale hums, it wasn't visible before but now that he got to see the child's features up close, he could tell that his hair was dyed... messily.

He looks at the mini God of Death look alike staring at him, "What do you want?"

...

An awkward silence passed before the kid opened his mouth, "What's your name?"

Cale blinked.

My name?

The redhead smiled, "My name's Cale Henituse. You?"

Crosses arms, "Hmph. I already told you my name, I'm Kim Namwoon but you can call me Namwoon." he introduces enthusiastically.

Cale could only sigh. Children are very annoying, especially when they're all enthusiastic and smiley and grinning and happy and snickering and chuckling and everything in the dictionary that defines happiness.

He clicked his tongue. He definitely wasn't bitter nor was he jealous, really, he isn't. He just hates and dislikes the fact that everyone around him can laugh and be happy freely without fear of what the future may bring and what might be beyond the present. 

Jealousy wasn't in his vocabulary. But fuck, how bad he wished to just sleep and wake up to the news that this was all a dream. He missed the warmth that the Roan Kingdom provided, he sought his family's affection. He wanted home.

Yes, he really wasn't jealous. At all. 

"Hey?? Are you still there? Hello?" the redhead sighed as the mini God of Death, Kim Namwoon, started waving his hand infront of his face.

"Haa. Look here, kid, I'm kinda busy right now so-"

"You're staring out the window counting trees."

Cale felt his left eye twitch, whether it's from irritation or frustration, he does not know, maybe both. 

"Yes, exactly. I'm busy doing nothing, so if you-"

"How are you busy if you're doing nothing?"

Now, Cale didn't believe in genies but if he was given the opportunity to meet one and be granted three wishes, he'd wish for time to go back when Cale hadn't met Kim Namwoon back at the playground three times.

Cale hates to admit it but it seems like Kim Namwoon was far more worse than Lee Jihye.

The redhead let out a sigh of surrender, "Okay, what do you want?" 

The kid smiled, "You're the one that chased me around the park holding a rock yesterday!"

"Okay... and?" Cale couldn't believe how someone could still be smiling while recalling such a traumatic experience, this was a child he's talking about for fuck's sake.

"Nothing!" the child, Kim Namwoon, continued smiling, his dyed hair swaying across his face messily everytime he utters a word with such enthusiasm.

He fiddles with his tiny fingers, "Um, can we be friends?" he asks, looking at Cale with sparkling eyes, his cheeks tinted red.

Cale dislikes children, he really does. But what can he do when the child looks so cute and squishable looking at him like that?

The redhead fell prey to Kim Namwoon's puppy eyes and nodded, holding back a sigh.

"Okay!! Well then, from now on we're best friends!"

Sighing, Cale couldn't do anything about it now, he's rude, strict, and disrespectful, sure, but he's not some kind of monster who'll ruin a child's joy. He's better than that... at least.

He nodded towards Namwoon's direction, much to the kid's delight.

"No, you can't be Cale's best friend!!!" the redhead hears from the side, making him more stressed than he currently was.

He could see Lee Jihye marching her way to their seat on the bus, ignoring the daycare worker who was shouting at her to remain sitting on her seat.

The young girl latches onto Cale as soon as she reached them, "Only I, the great Jihye, can be Cale's best friend!" she said sneeringly.

"Heh!" Kim Namwoon scoffed, crossing his arms across his chest as he looks at Jihye mockingly, "Someone with ugly hair can't possibly be Cale's best friend! You must be delusional!"

Cale could only sit still at the two fought over him, he could feel his limbs become sore.

"I-I don't have ugly hair!" Jihye retorted, "You're the one who has ugly hair, you look like a coconut!" 

Damn.

The redhead couldn't help but chuckle, resulting in Kim Namwoon looking at him as if he was offended and Lee Jihye looking at him with a grin.

"See? Even Cale agrees!"

"No, he doesn't! You're just so ugly that he had to laugh!"

"Gasp, take that back, you coconut head!"

"No, you take that back, ugly!"

"No, you!"

"No, you first!"

Cale sighed, he had a feeling that they'll be inseparable in the future. At least that's what he wishes to happen, he really can't stand noisy people. He'd rather they be close and inseparable than to listen to them bicker everyday.

Poor, poor me.

Chapter Text

"Cale-nim!" he could see a young looking black haired man running towards him, his whole body all clad in black clothes and accessories with what seems to be a scabbard hanging on his hips. 

Cale's lips trembled in fear, dragging himself as he desperately tries to move his feet to back away. 

The man continues to approach him, his arms stretched out in attempt to reach Cale, in which the redhead only stares at in fear.

He stops, "Cale... Cale-nim?"

***

GASP

Cale rose from his bed with a gasp as he dreamt about Choi Han and the others for the umpteenth time.

Why, you ask? He does not know, the only thing he was sure of was that he was scared as fuck.

Not of his dreams' contents, no. He's afraid of the possibility of his dreams being a sign that the 'apocalypse' is now quickly approaching.

Although the system said that it'll be 17 years from when he was first thrown here, he can't really trust a system whose origin he did not know. 

"Sigh."

"Hello, ma'am! Is Cale awake? We're here to pick him up!" the redhead hears from his bedroom window.

'Here comes more stress.' he groaned. 

He stands up on both feet and makes his way to the window, peeking his head out as he glares irritatingly at the two intruders' back.

"Oh, I don't know, dear. Let me go wake him up." he hears the head of the orphanage say.

"I'm awake! I'm coming down, give me a minute!" he shouts, making the three look up at him.

"You woke him up, ugly!" he catches Kim Namwoon, whose hair already returned to its original color which is black, say as he gets away from the window to his closet to get dressed. 

Cale was already thirteen now. Yes, even he himself couldn't believe how much time has gone by. Twelve years have already passed since he was first thrown into this world, and in the span of those twelve years, not even a centimeter of his anger towards those damned gods died down.

He wished for solitude, nothing else. And if those motherfuckers can't even give that much then why should he.

The redhead let out a sigh as he closes his bedroom door behind him after he finished doing his business.

"Open Window." he murmured quietly as he slowly descends down the stairs, his eyes flickering up and down the hologram infront of him. 

[WINDOW]

[Character Information]

Name: Cale Henituse (??)

Age: 13 years old

Constellation Sponsor: N/A

Personal Attributes: Young Master Silver Shield (Rare), Supreme Commander of the Allied Armies (Legendary), Transmigrator (Myth), Roan Kingdom's Northeast Commander (Legendary), Strategist (Legendary), Ability User (Legendary), Innkeeper (Rare), Chosen by Nature (Myth), Loved by the Gods (Myth)

Exclusive Skills: Indestructible Shield Lv.??, Vitality of the Heart Lv.??, Sound of the Wind Lv.??, Dominating Aura Lv.??, Fire of Destruction Lv.??, Super Rock Lv.??, Sky Eating Water Lv.??, Blood - Drenched Rock Lv.??, Annual Rings of Life Lv.??, Record Lv.??, Embrace Lv.??, Instant Lv.?? 

Overall Stats: Stamina Lv. -10, Strength Lv. -10, Agility Lv. -10, Magic Power Lv. -10

He sighed for the millionth time, more than a decade have already passed yet his overall stats still hasn't changed, not even a bit.

What utter bullshit.

"You're going to trip if you keep that up."

The redhead looks up infront of him where Kim Namwoon currently stands, the God of Death look-alike now taller than him. 

He makes a face, purposely provoking Namwoon, not that he stands a chance against Cale anyway.

"Get out of my face." he spat.

"Wha-! This brat!"

"Ugh, guys, get moving!-" they hear Jihye shout, "Cale! What are you wearing?!" 

The said redhead looks up at her in confusion, "Hmm?" he checks himself out.

What's wrong with my clothes...

"This! This!" Jihye points at him from head to toe, ouch, "You look like you're just going on a walk, get changed!"

"Why? Aren't we just going out on a walk?" he examines their clothes and they do seem up and ready for an occasion... but what occasion?

"This kid, it's awarding day!" 

...

"A what day?"

***

"Congratulations, Cale! Oh, my son, I'm so so proud of you." the head of the orphanage coos as she hugs the redhead tightly.

"Tsk, what's there to be proud about..." despite saying this, the light blush on Cale's cheeks couldn't be denied. Ahem, who knows, maybe he just has a fever. 

"Oh, my dear, you got highest honor! We should celebrate. Oh, here!" she rummages through her purse then pulls out hefty amount of bills. "Spend these wisely with your friends, okay? You did so well in school, I'm so proud of you." she gives him a kiss on his forehead.

Cale looked at the money he was currently holding.

Money... This is the first time I've held this much money ever since I came here.

He clenched his teeth, "As much as I appreciate it, please use this money on the orphanage's funds instead. I can do well without this money, I've already taken so much from you." he starts, pushing the money back onto the old nun's palm, only to be answered with a single grin and a pat on the head.

"Sometimes, I wish that you were not this mature... We're fine, dear. You need not worry about the orphanage, enjoy being young." and she left, the sound of her shoes clicking against the tiled floor drowned by Cale's thoughts.

Enjoy... he smiles sadly to himself.

"Can I really do that?"

Who am I kidding—

"Cale!" he lifts his head up and looks at the two figures approaching him. Their pace clumsy as they try to outrun each other.

The two of them looked like a mess. With Jihye's previously tied hair now drenched in sweat as her hair sticks out all over her face. And Namwoon wasn't any better, he looked like a drenched rat with his now black hair sticking to his neck.

...nasty

And it didn't help that their medals were clunking so loudly.

"...Don't run-" he was cut off by a pair of sweaty arms clinging onto him.

"People might think you're Albert Einstein with all those medals around your neck!" Namwoon teases, putting Cale in a headlock.

"Urgh- Get off me!" the redhead tried struggling, keyword being 'tried' as he wasn't any more stronger than an eight year old kid, let alone a delusional freak who's got the strength of a fucking monkey. And he's used this excuse countless of times but it also didn't help that he was in the body of a child.

The heavy weight was then off of him.

'Thank God- nevermind.' he almost thanked the bastards who were responsible for his current predicament.

He heard a load slapping sound then turned to see Kim Namwoon on his knees and holding his stomach.

"What..."

"Didn't you see that you were suffocating Cale with your smelly armpits?! Do you want to kill him?!" he hears Jihye shout, her shoe in her hand as she points them threateningly at Namwoon's direction. 

Sigh, when are these two gonna get along.

Namwoon groaned, his gaze fixated on Jihye as he rolls on the ground, "You didn't have to hit me with your shoe!"

"Slightly tapping you in the stomach is different from actually hitting you!"

"I'm literally bent over right now, the least you could do is apologize!"

"Ha! I'm not apologizing for something I didn't do!"

"I will shave your hair while you sleep!"

"Why not do it now, huh? Coward."

"Just you wait!"

"Walk the talk, I know you won't do it!"

"I will if you don't shut up, ugly!"

"Oh yeah?!"

"Come at me, ugly!"

"Why don't you come? huh?!"

"This-!"

"You're no match for me, coconut hair!" 

Cale just smiles exasperatedly to himself.

Enjoy myself huh... Yeah, that's too good to be true.

"Gasp?! Cale, she called me crazy!"

"Are you not?"

"See, even Cale agrees!"

"Haa, stop it, both of you. Come with me, I'll treat you both as congrats." Cale beckons them, the corner of his lips slight curved upwards.

That seemed to get both their attention as they were now hogging Cale.

"What do you mean?! We should be the one treating you! Ahem, as your noona I should do this much."

"Stop spouting shit-"

"Hush, grandpas shouldn't butt in into other people's conversation."

"Wha- Take that back!" Namwoon grumbled.

"I said stop it... I'll treat you guys whether the both of you like it or not."

"Aish. Noona will give in just once." Jihye smiled, clinging onto Cale's arm, "So, where are we eating, dongsaeng?" she smiled.

Cale looked at his feet.

Lord, give me strength... 

"..."

"Won't you take your medals off? They look heavy..."

"...Thank you, Namwoon."

***

"The food was so good! The strawberry milkshake was my favorite." says Namwoon with gleaming eyes.

"You have the taste buds of a child... I liked the strawberry milkshake too." Jihye whispers, the last part almost incomprehensible.

Two pairs of eyes find their way onto Cale's face and back as if they were memorizing his every being.

"..."

Cale peeks discreetly.

"Why..." 

The now black haired not so God of Death look alike nudges him, "I didn't know you had a nice bone in ya."

Jihye joins in, laughing as she wiggles her eyebrows at the now confused redhead, "Who would ever guess that you cared for us that much that you'd treat us!"

The ex commander, now 'average' kid, just looks at them with confusion evident on his face.

"What do you mean... You guys are my best friends..." his head tilts slightly to the side.

"GASP!" the two morons gasped audibly in unison, looking at each other from time to time as if Cale just did or said something wrong.

"D-D-Did you-" Jihye points at Namwoon, not finishing her sentence.

Namwoon nods as if he understood her, "Y-Yeah, I heard that, too."

They looked at each other once more before rushing to check Cale's temperature.

"A- What's wrong with the both of you?!" Cale exclaims, flinging both of their invasive hands away. 

"We're only checking if you're sick!" Namwoon argues, attempting to get a feel of Cale's temple as if once wasn't enough.

"Wha- Why?!" the redhead shouts.

He knew that bringing them out was a bad idea, but he didn't know that they would get like- like whatever this is!

They really should've just had food delivered than gone out for a bite, this was a disaster-

"Ugh, stop touching me!"

"Well, it's not everyday that you call us your best friends! Be real with me..." Jihye trailed off, holding his shoulders firmly, "Are you ill?"

Namwoon screamed, "Is it terminal?!"

"I- what?! No! I just-" the redhead took a deep breath, "I mean, the both of you are my best friends, aren't you? Don't overreact!" he was probably redder than his hair right now.

At age 40, he never knew he would be referring to kids not even half his age as 'best friends.'

"I'm gonna go home..." he grumbled, leaving the two behind.

"Cale! Wait!"

"Ugh, this is your fault!"

"What?!"

"You were all up on him!"

"So were you!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yes-uh!"

He sighs for the billionth time as he hears the two behind him argue.

'I think I'm aging backwards...'

"Wait for us, Cale!" 

Chapter Text

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday to you!"

"Ugh, this is so embarrassing." the young red head mused, his expression sour but his cheeks were tinted pink.

Yes, that is correct. Five years have already passed and Cale was having none of it.

Five years and still no word from the Gods that did this to him. A little more and he swears that he'll be out of it.

Cale sighed, his brows furrowed and his cake left ignored on the dining table.

He looked around himself and started thinking.

'So far I have Jihye and Namwoon with me, surely that wouldn't mess with the novel much.'

Today was the day.

No matter how many times Cale denies it, he had always been waiting for this day to come. Don't get him wrong, he does not await the apocalypse, no, he just wants everything to be dealt with so he can go back to Roan Kingdom.

'The sooner I finish, the sooner I go home.'

"Make a wish, Cale!" the redhead pretended to not hear anything and instead leaned so he could blow the candles already and go back to sleep, but to his dismay, Lee Jihye covered his mouth with her nasty and sweaty palm, hitting the other's arm in the process.

Aigoo, how disgusting.

"You can't blow it yet! You have to make a wish first." Jihye mused, removing her hand from Cale's face and placing them on her hips, scolding the poor poor redhead as if he had done something severely wrong.

Cale made sure to show his dissatisfaction. 

"My birthday and I can't even do what I want." he whispered, barely audible.

Jihye squints her eyes at him, "Were you saying something?" 

"No, Ajumma." 

"Yah! This brat, be thankful it's your birthday or else..." 

Or else what...

"Hahahaha! Ajumma!" Namwoon laughed as he came back from the living room with a paper bag with the word 'HBD' all over it in his hand.

"If I'm Ajumma then what are you? You're literally older than us, you fossil." Jihye bit back, then her eyes turned to the paper bag that the other was holding, immediately frowning as she puts a hand to her temple, "And what is that, you dumbass?! Couldn't you have picked a more better design? Seriously? HBD? Not even Happy Birthday?" 

Cale sighs to himself, 'Why are you fighting in front of me..' 

He leans back on his chair.

Never a peaceful day.

"Yah!" Namwoon starts, "First off, you talk as if I'm an old man. I'm only older by a year, not a decade! Call me oppa! Oppa! Not fossil, you heartless Ajumma!" he paused, raising his hand in which he held the paper bag to Jihye's face as if he was proving a point, "And this paper bag was really hard to find! Rare!"

"Get that out of my face." Jihye looked at the white haired weirdo in front of her then rolled her eyes. 

'Really no use arguing with a moron,' she thought.

She then turned to face Cale who was looking at them with an expression that says 'Are you guys finished or?'

"And you! Just make a wish so you can open your gift."

Cale grumbled, slumping and slouching all over his chair.

I just want to sleep already.

Cale missed being 3 years old and only caring about what to eat for dinner, yes, even he himself didn't know that he would wish to be a 3 year old kid again.

It's only 3 PM. 3 PM! 

That's his Cale (sleep) time!

He sits up straight then clasps his hands together, pretending to pray. Not that he would actually wish and pray since you know, ehem, G*ds were the reason why he was thrown into this place with no explanation at all. And yes, that censorship was necessary.

He counts. 

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Then backwards.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

"I'm done wishing. Can I sleep?" he looks at his two unwanted visitors- ah, he meant friends, as he fights off a yawn.

The two crowd him, Namwoon handing him the paper bag he was holding.

"Open it!" they both exclaimed excitedly, "We really thought about what to give you, and we made sure to get something that you would like." Namwoon speaks as Jihye nods along beside him, "It's nothing too extravagant but we hope you like it." 

Receiving gifts from Namwoon and Jihye wasn't new since they made sure to never forget a single birthday and to always pamper Cale with gifts whenever the date November 8 is marked and crossed on the calendar, but still...

Cale couldn't help but be emotional... and he, too, doesn't know why.

He fights back the tears threatening to escape.

Why am I like this.

He looks at the paper bag in his hands, trying to mentally calculate just how many birthdays he had spent in this godforsaken world, which is now more bearable to live in because he had Jihye and Namwoon by his side, but of course he will never admit that to the two.

Fifteen birthdays here...

He smiled bitterly.

Not even one in the other.

But of course he doesn't take it to heart. Cale Henituse doesn't take things to heart.

'And what even gives him the right to sulk?' his hold on the gift tightens, and his stare intensifies, 'They don't even know my birthday... well, except Choi Han.' 

He takes a deep breath to gather himself, finally opening the paper bag.

Inside was a... box? and a note.

He decides to open the note first.

TO: CALE >3<

FROM: NAMWOON HYUNG o_O AND JIHYE ^o^

          HBD!! MBTC!! ILY!!

...

Wow.

Cale looked at them blankly.

"Yah!" Jihye hits Namwoon with her clenched fist, "You said you would take care of it! What the hell is HBD, MBTC, ILY?! Does ink cost that much that you can't even spell it all out?!" 

Namwoon massages the spot where Jihye hit him, "What's wrong with it?! I even put ILY!! That means I Love You! I wasn't really going to add that but I wanted to be sweet!" 

Jihye just looks at him as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. She knew that her friend was a moron but she didn't know that he couldn't even be trusted with such a simple task. She made a mental note to not hand over important tasks to Namwoon from now on.

The redhead just shakes his head at them, his hand reaching inside the bag to take out the box which seems to be their gift to him.

He studies the black box.

'A ring perhaps?' he thinks.

He looked at the love-and-hate duo he'd come to tolerate before finally opening the box.

And oh.

Oh.

"You have a habit of looking at the time whenever you think of something deeply," Jihye starts, "So we bought you a watch. Oh, a bangle watch! When we first saw it, we immediately thought of you. Pretty isn't it?" she smiled with Namwoon grinning beside her.

Cale didn't know what to say.

He did look at the time a lot.

Ever since he came to this world, he noticed that he would always stare at the clock inside his room, the clock in the living room, the clock in the kitchen, and every other place that has a clock... waiting for time to pass by.

Waiting for this very moment. Awaiting the apocalypse. Waiting for the chance to finally see his family again.

He tears up, and this time he lets it be, doesn't try to stop it as the tears trickled down in rivulets down his face.

He felt guilty.

He looks at both Jihye and Namwoon as the two of them quickly go to Cale's side, frantically asking if he was alright since this was a new sight to them.

"Hey, why are ya crying!" Namwoon didn't know where to put his hands so he lets it settle on Cale's back, "You'll make me cry, too!" 

Cale felt like shit, he didn't deserve them, really.

While they were too busy showering him with love, there he was moping around, his mind too occupied with his family back in Roan Kingdom... that he forgot that he also had a family here.

The sister in the orphanage.

His bed (yes, he treats it as family.)

Lee Jihye.

Kim Namwoon.

His family.

He looked at the box containing the bangle watch in his hands.

It was rose gold in color, and engraved on it was 'J+K+C' 

J+K+C

Their names.

He smiled.

"Get off me for a minute," he pushed the two (gently) who were hoarding him.

He takes the watch out of the box and proceeds to put it on his left wrist.

Once done, he admires how the piece of jewelry looked good against his pale skin.

"..." he stares at his wrist for a few seconds before returning his gaze to the two idiots who still looked concerned and worried.

Jihye opens her mouth first, "D-Did you not like it? Is that why you cried?" she asked and Cale chuckled.

She looks like she's about to cry too.

"No." Cale smiles, "I loved it so much that it moved me to tears." 

"Aigoo! You almost made us worry for noting!" Namwoon pointed to his face, "Look! Look at my unshed tears! If you like something then you should smile, not cry!" he complained, stomping his feet like a four year old.

Cale laughed, beckoning them to move closer with his hand.

It wasn't a Cale thing to do.

Not even something Kim Rok Soo did.

But he laughed aloud as he stood up from where he was sitting to hug them both. Tightly.

Aigoo. I wish it wasn't my birthday, yet. I wish I didn't wish for this day to come.

He smiled with regret, making sure that the two doesn't see.

I want to bask in this peace and happiness a little longer.

He hugs them tighter, whispering 'thank yous' as he buries himself in the warmth.

...hug them a bit longer.

He shakes his head.

Really not a Cale Henituse thing to do but...

"I'm thankful that I met you guys." he whispers amidst their embrace.

"Don't just say stuff like that, Cale! You're making Noona blush!" 

"Tsk. Noona, noona. Cale's older than you, dumbass!"

"So what huh?! So what!"

"Dumbass!"

"Fossil!"

"Wha- Take that back!"

"Fossil, fossil, fossil!"

"Aish, this brat. Yah! Stop that!"

"No!"

Okay maybe Cale wasn't that thankful that he met them. Just a little bit.

Chapter Text

"Are you trying to pick a fight, Ahjussi?" 

The black haired ahjussi frowned at him, clearly showing his distaste with the term 'Ahjussi.' 

He took a step towards Cale, his eyes not leaving the other.

He shrugs, "I don't know. Am I?" 

Cale rolled his eyes.

Some people are so weird, so creepy, so distasteful. I hate people.

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

"Cale! Cale, try this!" Jihye shouted, banging on the wooden door of the fitting room as she hands Cale a black button up polo to try on. 

They were currently strolling out and about in a nearby mall, and having been persuaded (against his will) by the two to celebrate his birthday by buying all kinds of things with the money that the sister in the orphanage gave them, he didn't have any choice but to go.

I really shouldn't be so laidback.. the apocalypse could start any time now.

"Cale, are you done changing? Can I see?" Jihye knocked.

Cale hadn't even put the clothes on.

"Wait a minute. I'll come out in a minute." 

"Okay, okay! Take your time, Namwoon and I will wait for you outside." 

Cale nods at nothing as he takes in his appearance, standing in front of the mirror as he buttons everything that needs to be buttoned.

He looks good.

Cale really likes his handsome face, it makes anything naturally look good on him.

He takes one last look before fixing himself and opening the door, holding a hand to his chest as he comes face to face with a smiling Namwoon with Jihye behind him holding what seems to be five or six more pieces of garments for him to try on.

"Aigoo, why are the both of you standing there? Almost gave me a heart attack." Cale complains, a hand still held to his chest. His poor poor heart.

Jihye clicks her tongue at him, "You're acting like an old man again," she pushed Namwoon out of Cale's way, "And come out! We can't see if the clothes suit you."

Cale hums. Even a piece of rag would suit him.

He blinks. Then nods.

Maybe he should take a break from Kim Namwoon... He's afraid he's becoming just as boastful as the mini G*d of Death.

"Yah, this kid. Why do you look so good?!" Namwoon shouts, his index finger pointed at Cale as if the latter did something so horrendous, "And you didn't even do anything special! You just look good in anything." he adds, "Ugh, this is so unfair."

"Nothing's unfair, you're just ugly." Jihye clasps her hands together, making a loud clapping sound, "You look really good, Cale!"

She hands the clothes in her hands to Cale, "Here try these on, too! Yes, we know anything looks good on you but we wanna see. Now, off you go!" 

Cale was pushed back inside the fitting room.

It's my birthday but why does it seem like Jihye is having more fun than me.

He thinks. Then his focus shifts onto the clothes he was holding.

Really, what's with Jihye and her obsession with black.

Every piece of clothing that he was handed was black. It vaguely reminds him of the time where he would only wear black uniforms during his time as the commander in Roan Kingdom.

He remembered it being such a huge deal for everyone, he doesn't know why though.

Ah, but that's a story for another time. He should really focus on trying these damn clothes that the always-bickering duo keeps on giving him.

The faster he satiates their curiosity, the faster they will go home and FINALLY rest. Yay!

Almost an hour goes by with him going back and forth the fitting room because Namwoon and Jihye decided that he would be their human Barbie for today.

Cale didn't know that such an activity could be this tiresome.

"That is the last one... right?" Cale looks at the two pleadingly, he really wants to go home and just lie on his bed.

"Aww, so cute! Yes, it's the last one, dongsaeng. Wait here while noona pays for the clothes we bought!" Jihye says giddily. 

'I'm older than you...' Cale thinks but didn't bother voicing it out. He was really, really, really tired.

He sits beside Namwoon and closes his eyes, trying to get some rest from all the straining activity that he had done. 

"Are you okay?" Kim Namwoon asks beside him. 

Cale opens one eye before nodding, "..m fine." came out a mumble.

Kim Namwoon nods then sits up, moving Cale's head to rest on his shoulder, "We're going home soon, you can finally be reunited with your bed that you love even more than us." 

He joked as he tapped the other's arm lightly, beckoning him to close his eyes and get some rest, even just for a few minutes.

Cale hid a smile.

Kim Namwoon can be pretty sweet sometimes. He may look intimidating at first glance because of his messily dyed hair and sharp looks but he's actually a pretty nice lad.

*Click*

*Click*

*Click*

Cale groaned then opened his eyes, only to be greeted by Kim Namwoon's smiling face as he takes pictures of the red head.

I take it back.

Cale cursed in his head.

Kim Namwoon is and will forever be a devil.

They sat there bickering for a few minutes, if you could even call it bickering since all that was happening was Cale showering Namwoon with profanities that the latter didn't even know existed, before Jihye comes back, her arms full of shopping bags with all their clothes inside.

"Give it to me, I'll carry it." Namwoon stood up and went to Lee Jihye's side as soon as he saw the other walking towards them with the shopping bags in her arms.

Namwoon took all the bags in his hands, not even a grumble under his breath. 

"Okay, are we ready to go home?" Jihye asked to which Cale only answered with a nod.

I've been ready to go home since like six hours ago.

He was just thankful that he can meet his bed again after so long. 

They all went out of the store together, chattering as they head towards the exit. 

Jihye turns to Cale, "Are we taking the subway?" she asks which was answered with a light bob of Cale's head.

"Okay, let's go!" Jihye exclaimed.

"Aye, aye!" Namwoon shouted, holding his fist up in the air as if he was some kind of pirate.

What a kid.

He chuckles lightly. 

The walk to the subway station seemed so short with Jihye and Namwoon's never-ending bickering. He sighs, he's really gotten accustomed to them always at each other's throats. 

He fished out a hair tie from his pocket, then gathers his now shoulder length hair in one hand before tying it up in a low pony tail, something he always did even when he was still back in Roan Kingdom.

He then comes to a stop.

'So that was why my surroundings felt so peaceful.' he thought as he looked around, trying to spot Namwoon's eye catching white hair and Jihye's familiar high pony tail.

The two were nowhere to be found, he must have lost them when he was busy tying his hair.

He scanned the subway station more than two times before his eyes finally lands on a familiar white hair.

The other spots him too, gesturing that he don't move from where he was so the other could come and get him.

But Cale just shook his head and waves his hand, motioning for Kim Namwoon to get inside the carriage since they were already close to it. They could just meet at home. 

Kim Namwoon raised his hand then puts his thumb up, asking if the red head was sure of his decision.

Cale smiles before also raising his hand up in the air, putting his thumbs up to reassure the other that he would be fine.

"Go." Cale mouths, which Namwoon seemed to have understood since he nodded and went inside the carriage with Lee Jihye afterwards.

Cale then turns to look at the carriage in front of him before getting on, immediately securing his spot once he saw the vacant seats.

He yawned.

I can finally take a short nap.

He rejoices internally. 

He then sits up and took his phone out of his pocket. He almost forgot to ask Jihye and Namwoon what carriage they were in so they could meet later. 

9+ messages from their group chat greeted him as he opens his chat box. 

-Coconut: Cale? Where are you?

-Ajumma: Where are you, Cale? 

-Ajumma: Are you safe?

-Ajumma: And why is my name 'Ajumma'!!!

-Ajumma: @Lazyass

-Ajumma: @Cale Henituse

-Ajumma: Hey @Cale answer!!!

-Coconut: @Cale

-Coconut: Plz answer asap.. She won't stop shakin my arm and I swear it's about to fall off!!

-Ajumma: @Cale Henituse

-Ajumma: @Cale

-Coconut: @Cale

-Ajumma: @Cale REPLY!!!!!!!!!!!

They are never quiet, are they. 

typing...

typing... 

-Coconut: TYPING!!! 

-Coconut: HE'S TYPING! @Lee Jihye

-Ajumma: Cale!!

-Lazyass: I'm fine. Let's just meet at home.

-Ajumma: How did you even get separated from us? So dumb. 

-Coconut: Uh-huh, I look behind me and ur not there. Scared me! 

-Lazyass: You're overreacting... And I got lost because I got distracted while tying my hair.

-Ajumma: Aishh!!!!

Cale rubs his eyes as they threaten to close.

typing...

typing...

-Lazyass: Anyway, what carriage are you on?

-Coconut: Carriage 3807. You?

-Lazyass: Wait, I'll check.

He turns to look up at his carriage number. 

typing...

typing...

-Lazyass: Carriage 3707. 

'User 'Lazyass' changed his name to 'Cale Henituse"

Chapter Text

"Aigoo, that brat." Jihye clicked her tongue as she sees the green dot on Cale's profile disappear, indicating that he already went offline.

They almost ransacked the whole subway station when they noticed that the red head was gone. Good thing that Namwoon spotted him before they actually flipped the whole place over.

Call them over-the-top but can you really blame them given Cale's frail stature?

Jihye lets out a sigh as she recalls the time where an elementary student gave her seat up for Cale on the bus since quote, unquote, he looked like he would faint at any given moment. This was just four hours ago, by the way.

She looks over to Namwoon who was now dozing off, fighting the urge to sleep.

Aish, this idiot.

She pinched him with force, making sure that it would leave a bruise.

Kim Namwoon jolted awake, a hand caressing the tender spot where Jihye pinched him.

He grimaced in pain, his earlier drowsiness now gone, then he turns to Lee Jihye.

"What was that for?!" he asked, even bending over, acting as if he was shot by a gun when in reality all Jihye did was pinch him. 

Jihye smacks his shoulder, "You!" 

Namwoon let out a pained noise, "What is it again?! And stop abusing me!" 

"You!" Jihye starts, "How can you sleep while Cale's life is in danger?!" she raises her hand to smack Namwoon's shoulder but the latter put his arm up in defense, making Jihye's hand stop mid-air. 

"Hayy." Namwoon sighs.

He ruffles in messily dyed hair, "Cale's fine! He's probably sleeping now," he closes his eyes, "So let me get some well deserved sleep, I'm tired." he mumbles.

Then he started nodding off, almost asleep if not for Jihye's ever-so hurtful hands.

"Yah!" he screams as he turns to face the owner of the hand that landed on his face.

He was met with Jihye's raised eyebrow, "What? Got something to say?" she provoked, crossing her arms on her chest, daring Kim Namwoon to say something.

Kim Namwoon could only grumble under his breath, "Okay, okay! I'll check on him." he relents, yawning before getting up from his seat.

"Good," Jihye smiles, "Make sure my dongsaeng is safe!" she reminds him, making Namwoon frown more.

"Sure, sure. Just stay put, I'll be back." 

Kim Namwoon fixed his appearance, but before he could even take a step and begin walking towards Cale's carriage, the train started to shake loudly and let out a metallic sound.

"What?" he whispers under his breath as the train continues to shake, "An earthquake?" he wonders before stopping in his tracks, making sure to support Jihye in case she falls.

"I'll stay here first," he says, his feet planted firmly on the ground, "I'll go look for Cale when this earthquake stops." he uttered, to which Jihye responded with a nod.

"Aish, I have work! When will this earthquake end?!" 

"Wh-What is happening?!" 

"Why now of all days?!" 

The people inside the train started to get stirred up.

Some started to stand up while some held on for dear life.

It took about a dozen seconds before the train finally stops. Then came confusion from the passengers.

Frantic shouts and loud booming voices erupted in the carriage.

"What..." Jihye mumbled, getting nervous as time went by.

-Telling all passengers on the train. Telling all passengers on the train.

The commotion immediately stopped and the surroundings became calm.

Namwoon sighed in relief, "It's probably nothing," he looks at Jihye, "Let's sit back down, Jihy-"

-E-Everyone run away... Run...!

Both Jihye and Namwoon looked at each other with alert.

There was a beeping sound, and the broadcast turned off. The inside of the train immediately became a mess with people screaming and running around.

"Wha-" Jihye stopped then turned to Namwoon beside her, worry etched on her face, "Cale!"

'Shit.' Kim Namwoon cursed mentally, but he can't just leave Jihye here all alone.

He pursed his lips, "He'll be fine," he says through gritted teeth, "Cale may lack strength but luck is always on his side, he'll be alright." at least he hopes.

He bites his bottom lip, uneasy.

A bright light flashed from the front of the subway train. There was a loud drumming sound followed by a pop.

Something was moving in the darkness.

Then came a voice.

[The free service of planetary system 8612 has been terminated.]

[The main scenario has started.]

***

Cale jolted awake from the commotion around him.

He held a hand to his head, he could already feel a headache coming.

He looked around and took his surroundings in, he was greeted by the sight of multiple people running around and some even trampling over each other.

What...?

"Hey," he turned to the shaking old woman beside him, "Excuse me... Do you know what's happening?" 

The old woman looked at him with fright, "Th-The-" she didn't get to finish what she was saying, her eyes darted to a spot in the carriage.

Cale looked at where she was staring and... What is that?

With two small horns and wearing a small straw mat, the strange and fluffy creature was floating in the air.

It looked too strange to call it a fairy, too evil to call it an angel, and too tranquil to call it a demon.

[&아#@!&아#@!]

[&아#@!&아#@!]

To say that Cale was freaked out was an understatement. In front of him was a creature that was often only mentioned in legends... Just what is happening.

The people around him stopped running around and stared at the floating creature in front of them.

"What is this?"

"Some kind of prank?"

As they were busy trying to understand what was currently happening, the creature started to speak. Korean.

[Ah. Ah. Does this sound good? Ah, I had a hard time because the Korean patch didn't work. Everyone, can you hear my words?]

As the familiar language was being spoken, the people started to relax and sigh in relief.

[Now, now. All of you, relax in your seats and listen to me. From now on, I will tell you something very important!]

Murmurs started to erupt.

Cale didn't take his eyes off the creature, not even once.

[This isn't a dream. This isn't a novel either.] 

[Everyone, your lives have been nice so far. Isn't that right?] 

Cale scoffed. His life was anything but nice.

What bullshit.

[You have been living your life too long for free. Isn't life too generous? You were born and paid no price for breathing, eating, pooping, and breeding! Ha! You really live in a good world!] 

Cale couldn't believe what he was hearing, if he could then he would make the goddamned floating creature experience the life he's lived. The lives that he had lived.

[But now the good days are over. How long can you continue living for free? If you want to enjoy happiness, it is common sense to pay a price. Isn't that right?]

The carriage went quiet. You could hear a pin drop with how quiet it was. 

Everyone took a step back as the creature's horns rose like they were antennas, and its body floated to the ceiling of the train.

A few seconds lates, a message rang out.

[#BI-7623 channel is open.]

[The constellations have entered.]

A small hologram-like window appeared in front of everyone's eyes. Something that Cale was all too familiar with.

Then it hit him.

The apocalypse.

[The main scenario has arrived!]

+

[Main Scenario #1 - Proof of Value]

Category: Main

Difficulty: F

Clear Conditions: Kill one or more creatures.

Time Limit: 30 minutes

Compensation: 300 coins

Failure: Death

+

The creature smiled faintly as it became transparent and disappeared into the next space.

[Then, good luck everyone. Please show me an interesting story.]

The passengers started to go on a rampage.

Some were full on offense, rationality out the window, scanning the carriage to find a potential victim to kill within the set 30 minute time limit.

Some were busy hiding or just defending themselves from attackers, crouching as they make themselves look smaller.

While the rest were hysterical, banging on the train door as if it would magically open and let them out.

But what caught his eye was none of those.

On the opposite seat from him, a couple of steps away, sat a person all clad in black. Cale couldn't believe how calm he seemed, the guy wasn't even moving, he was just watching as people scramble for their lives. One would even think that he looked bored.

The man must have felt him staring since he turned to where Cale was currently seated and met his eyes.

"Whoa." 

What a face card.

Cale thought. With a face like that, the man might even be on par with Eruhaben-nim in terms of handsomeness. 

He broke eye contact then stared at the window in front of him.

As much as possible, he didn't want to kill anyone. But that seemed impossible considering the situation.

Cale just sat there thinking.

Then his eyes widened.

He forgot about Namwoon and Jihye.

He really had no time to waste.

He stood up from his seat and started walking to the door that separated his carriage 3707 from 3807, but no matter how he looked at it, he just couldn't think of anything to make it open.

He sighed in frustration.

Why does everything have to be so-

He didn't get to finish what he was thinking.

"He-Help." he heard from behind him, then came the sound of flesh meeting something sharp. A sound that he would always hear whenever he was near Choi Han.

What? A sword?

Then came the same noise.

Then again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

The sound continued for about thirty more seconds as the owner of the sword came closer to him. His footsteps becoming louder and louder.

Who was it? Cale didn't know. But Cale was sure of one thing. 

On the same train as him was a psychopath, and he was 100% sure that he just massacred all the people inside the carriage.

Cale smiled nervously. 

Am I next?

He then turned around as the footsteps stopped right behind him, only to be greeted by the same empty eyes he was staring at earlier. 

Cale knew that the man he was staring at earlier was weird but he didn't know he was weird as in psychopath kind of weird. Cale made a mental note to stop staring at people he doesn't know, no matter how odd they look.

The two of them continue staring at each other, not breaking eye contact.

Their staring contest continued for about five minutes until the psychopath opened his mouth but didn't say anything, only to close it again.

Yoo Joonghyuk's mind was in shambles. He hadn't seen someone with red hair in his previous regressions. And if such a person really existed before then he was sure that he would remember it.

Was it another game by the Constellations? He wasn't sure anymore.

He stared at the red head who didn't seem to be afraid of him.

'Is he brave or just dumb?'' Yoo Joonghyuk genuinely didn't know. Anyone in their right minds would go off running as soon as they saw someone all bloodied up with a sword in their hand walking towards them.

But the person in front of him just stared back.

Let's see your bravery then.

Yoo Joonghyuk whips his sword, getting rid of all the blood before pointing it towards Cale.

Cale takes a step back.

'What a fucking psycho!' he shouts in his head.

The red head took a deep breath before readying his ancient powers in case the nutcase decided to get on with it and murder him. 

He wasn't afraid. He knew he could take him down, he'd be injured, yes, but he knew that if the fucking bastard did try to kill him then he would win. He was sure of it. He was just nervous because he's worried about Jihye and Namwoon.

The man moves closer to Cale, his sword still pointed at the other.

"Who are you?" 

"No," Cale Henituse held out a gun that he picked up from all the commotion earlier, effectively shooting the sword that was previously pointed at him away to the furthest corner of the train, "Who are you?"

He was just thankful that FINALLY those goddamn G*ds were on his side for once and that he was able to pick up a gun that he didn't know that he would actually end up using.

He just didn't think that he would use it this way, he picked it up thinking it would help fend off monsters... But, oh well.

The man in front of him just stared at his own bare hands, then to his sword that was now on the furthest corner of the train.

"Hey, what's your name?" the man spoke, his eyes boring holes onto Cale's face.

"What...?" Cale muttered.

He's asking for my name after all that? Is he sane?

"Your name." the man advances towards him, not caring if Cale's gun was still pointed at him.

"Why would I tell you my name? You tried to kill me." Cale reasoned. 

"My name is Yoo Joonghyuk." 

Cale was sure that something must be seriously wrong with this Joonghyuk guy.

"Are you trying to pick a fight, Ahjussi?" 

The black haired ahjussi, Yoo Joonghyuk, frowned at him, clearly showing his distaste with the term 'Ahjussi.' 

He took a step towards Cale, his eyes not leaving the other.

He shrugs, "I don't know. Am I?" 

Cale rolled his eyes.

Some people are so weird, so creepy, so distasteful. I hate people.

The man, Yoo Joonghyuk, then took his hand and squeezed.

'What is he doing-'

[You have killed a living thing.]

[100 coins have been earned as additional compensation.]

He shook the other's grasp off then opened his hand.

Ah-

Inside was a squashed cockroach.

Cale completely forgot about the scenario.

The red head put on a smile that would make Raon ask if they were going to loot bad guys then offered his clean hand to Yoo Joonghyuk.

"My name's Cale Henituse," he shook the other's hand with a grin, as if they weren't at each other's throats just a few minutes ago.

He looked at Yoo Joonghyuk straight in the eye, noticing the subtle glint it hid.

"Nice to meet you." 

10 seconds.

5 seconds.

[The given time has run out.]

[Paid settlement will begin.]

"Haa!" Cale let out a laugh as he saw the psychopath's lips turn up into a smirk.

Cale couldn't believe this.

He was saved by this psychopath.

Chapter Text

"Ahjussi... How long are you going to keep staring at me?" 

Ahjussi.

That damn 'ahjussi' again.

Yoo Joonghyuk, too, doesn't know why he's staring at the red head. It's like his eyes has got a mind of its own - always finding its way to land and focus on Cale's face.

The swordsman tsk'd then looks at somewhere else.

Cale hums, resting his arms on his folded knees.

"Can I ask you some questions?" Cale tilted his head, looking at Yoo Joonghyuk as he rocks and forth in anticipation.

The latter just stares at him... again.

Does he like my face that much?

Cale couldn't help but wonder. The swordsman has been staring at him ever since he introduced himself, but when he tries to strike a conversation, the other just clicks his tongue and looks someplace else.

This must be what they mean when they say don't lump introverts together (this saying has never been uttered before.)

Cale sighs for the nth time and stands up, dusting his pants off in the process.

The silence was killing him.

But before he could start walking, a hand gripped his wrist, forcing him to stay in place.

He looked at Yoo Joonghyuk.

"Um... do you need something?" Cale felt his left eye twitch.

First, he doesn't talk to me, then now that I've decided to walk around to take my mind off things, he stops me?! Just how much more confusing is he gonna be?

Joonghyuk just stares.

"Sigh." Cale tries to pull his arm, but the other just won't let him go.

It's not like he's got separation anxiety... does he?

"Look, Ahjussi-"

"Where are you from? How old are you? Do you always take this train?" Joonghyuk cuts him off... whoa.

"Um," Cale doesn't know what to answer first.

He clears his throat before sitting back down, "I'm from... here? Uh, I just turned eighteen today and no, I don't always take this train." 

He stares for a couple of seconds before opening his mouth to speak, "You're pretty awkward." 

Yoo Joonghyuk scowled before turning around to look at someplace else... again, completely ignoring Cale which he had been doing for the past ten minutes that they've decided to sit on the floor and talk to each other. Cale being 'each other' as he's been the only one doing the talking.

Cale groans then rubs a palm over his face. There's no use talking to a psychopath, he should really just give up.

The red head stares at the swordsman's back.

Then stares.

Then stares a little bit more.

Then a bit more.

Finally, he mumbles, "Window." making it so the swordsman doesn't hear, but of course the universe figured that he was asking for too much.

Yoo Joonghyuk stood up then faced him, a hand on his scabbard as he readies himself to draw his sword.

Cale, of course, also stood up, confused by the sudden turn of events.

What's wrong with him now?!

Really, just being in the same space as this psychopath exhausts him so much. He should've just let himself be slashed to death - he thought.

Joonghyuk looks at him with furrowed brows, "Did you just try to open my window?" he asks, his hold on his scabbard tightening.

Cale just scoffs at him, "What are you even saying? No?" he lies.

[Character 'Yoo Joonghyuk' has activated the skill 'Lie Detection'.]

[Lie Detection has confirmed that your words are false.]

Cale stills, then immediately takes back what he previously answered, "Um, I meant yes?" 

[The character ‘Yoo Joonghyuk’ is on guard against you.] 

If Yoo Joonghyuk wasn't angry before then he definitely is now.

He frees his sword from his scabbard then proceeds to point it towards Cale... for the second time.

Cale wants to cry. He's so tired. Let. Him. Rest!

"Ah, I don't care anymore!" he shouts, then sits down before closing his eyes, "Just kill me if you're gonna act like this every time. You tire me, old man!"

Of course, he doesn't really want to die. He has his ancient powers on stand by in case the nutcase actually strikes him.

Speaking of ancient powers - he wasn't able to use them when he first came into this world, he just felt the random surge of power enter him as soon as the first scenario began.

Ah, but the ancient powers still won't speak. Cale wonders if he needs to reach a certain level to get them to talk, just like in video games.

He hears the soft 'clunk' of a sword being put back into its scabbard.

Phew.

He peeks open one eye, only to be surprised to see Yoo Joonghyuk's tall frame still looming over him.

And Cale has gotten enough of the scares.

"Hey, Ahjussi." he starts then sucks in a deep breath, "Why do you keep frightening people huh?! Is that your hobby? Well, it's a bad one!" he points his index finger at Yoo Joonghyuk.

He then uses his hands to fan himself, inhaling in and out as he tries to regain his composure.

It took him a few seconds before he looks at Yoo Joonghyuk once again, anticipating an answer.

Then came one.

"I'm 28. Call me hyung." 

To say that Cale was in disbelief is a lie. He was flabbergasted by the audacity this man seemed to have.

He had come to a conclusion that Yoo Joonghyuk was simply insufferable.

Cale just nods against his will, reminding himself to be nice.

He fakes a smile, "Okay, hyung-"

His response was cut off as a blue window appeared suddenly before his eyes.

[Main Scenario #1 – Proof of Value has ended.]

[300 coins have been acquired as a basic clearance reward.]

[100 coins have been reduced for the channel usage fee.]

[Additional compensation settlement will begin.]

Cale used this opportunity to see the other's attribute window, muttering as quiet as possible so that Yoo Joonghyuk doesn't hear.

[The exclusive skill, Character List is activated.]

[There is too much information about this person. Character List is converted to Summary List.]

[Character Summary]

Name: Yoo Joonghyuk.

Age: 28 (??)

Constellation: &아#@!

Personal Attributes: Regressor (3rd turn) (Myth), Pro Gamer (Rare)

Exclusive Skills: Sage’s Eyes Lv. 8, Hand to Hand Combat Lv. 8, Weapons Training Lv. 8, Mental Barrier Lv. 5, Crowd Control Lv. 5, Reasoning Lv. 5, Lie Detection Lv. 4...

Now, Cale really wished he hadn't been stubborn and looked into this psychopath's attribute window.

He dreads as he feels all the trouble coming towards him.

He paused.

Is he the protagonist?

Yeah, this is bad.

***
 "Hey, what are you doing right now?" Kim Namwoon's eyes followed the big man in a suit.

[...Huh?]

"Are you filming? I have to go because I have to quickly get to an audition." 

"Aish, why won't that old geezer just shut up." Jihye mumbles under her breath, watching the ridiculous scene unfold before her.

The man seemed to be an obscure actor since his face was unfamiliar. Unfortunately, the presence before him right now wasn’t a director.

[Ah, auditions. That’s right. This is also an audition. Haha, there was a shortage of data. I just entered when it was monetized at 7 p.m.]

The floating creature says.

The people present wouldn’t listen to the small and cute-looking creature as they started shouting, demanding answers.

"What? Quickly get off the train!"

"Somebody call the captain!"

"What are they doing without the cooperation of the citizens?"

"Mother, what is that? A cartoon?"

[Haha, you are really loud.]

There was a presence with a stronger persuasive power than anyone else right now.

[I told you to be quiet.]

The creature’s eyes turned red. Something burst, and the subway became silent.

"Uh, uh. Uh..." there was a big hole in the forehead of the unknown actor who had to go to the audition. The man who had spoken several times collapsed on the spot.

[This isn’t a movie shoot.]

There was a cracking sound once again. This time, it was the person talking about the captain.

[It isn’t a dream. It isn’t a novel either.]

One, two... Blood sprayed into the air as the heads of some people started to burst.

They were all the people who had protested against the floating creature, as well as the ones who screamed or went wild. Those who caused the slightest fuss had a hole in their heads. Suddenly, the subway became a bloodbath.

[This isn’t the ‘reality’ that you know. Do you understand? So everyone shut up and listen to me.]

More than half the people present died. Blood and body pieces filled the subway. Now, the people didn’t scream. Like primitive apes in front of a powerful predator, everyone just watched the with terror.

Kim Namwoon held onto Lee Jihye's shaking shoulder as he tries to console the younger.

He tightens his hold.

This was real.

[Everyone, your lives have been nice so far. Isn’t that right?]

By the special needs seating, an elderly grandmother met the eyes of the creature.

[But now the good days are over. How long can you continue living for free? If you want to enjoy happiness, it is common sense to pay a price. Isn’t that right?]

The gasping people couldn’t answer. Then at that time, someone carefully raised their hand, "D-Do you want money?"

Namwoon stared at the man in disbelief. He couldn't believe how someone could be so dumb even in the face of danger.

"I will give you money. Take it. Please note that I am a person like this." the man continued to which Namwoon scoffs, earning a stare from a rather average-looking man with a woman beside him.

Money won't do you shit when you're dead.

The man pulled out his business card as people cheered him on. It was the atmosphere of a savior fighting against terrorists.

"How much do you want? A big one? Or two?"

Namwoon groaned. CAN'T THIS FUCKING GUY READ THE ROOM.

The white head would've pounced on him already if only Jihye wasn't holding onto him so much as she trembles like a leaf - trying to look at anything but the dead bodies scattered all around the carriage. 

[Hrmm, you are giving me money?]

"T-That’s right! The cash I have right now isn’t much but... I can give you anything if you let me out of here."

[Money, good. A plant fibre that many humans mutually agree on.]

The man’s expression brightened. It was an ‘Indeed, money is everything’ expression. How pitiful.

“Now, this is all I have―” 

[It only applies in your time and space.]

"Huh?"

At the next moment, flames appeared in the air, and the cheques in the wealthy man’s hands burned up. He let out a scream.

[That paper has no value in the macrocosm world. If you do this one more time, I will blow away your head.]

"U-Uhhh..." Fear once again spread on the faces of the people present.

[Phew, the debt is piling up during the time when you are noisy. Well, yes. Rather than explain it a hundred times, isn’t it quicker for you to make money yourself?]

A few seconds passed then a message rang out.

[#BI-7623 channel is open.]

[The constellations have entered.]

A small window emerged in front of everyone’s blank eyes.

[The main scenario has arrived!]

+

[Main Scenario #1 – Proof of Value]

Category: Main

Difficulty: F

Clear Conditions: Kill one or more living things.

Time Limit: 30 minutes

Compensation: 300 coins

Failure: Death

Both Namwoon and Jihye had to close their eyes for a solid minute before opening them again. Only for the blue hologram not disappear from their eyes.

Jihye clasped her hands together as she quote, unquote, prayed wholeheartedly to all the Gods that exists.

This is fucking crazy.

Namwoon sighed then ran a hand through his white hair that now had little specks of blood.

He then glanced at the door separating them from Cale.

"I will stop pestering and annoying you, Cale. Just please... be safe." he takes a deep breath as he once again reads what the hologram in front of him says.

Kill one or more living things.

Failure: Death

His hands that were resting on Jihye's shoulder began to shake.

'It's kill or be killed.' he speaks inside his head.

He took a couple more deep breaths before finally raising his eyes as he looks over to Lee Jihye with a smile.

"I'll keep you safe, Jihye-ah."

I gotta do this much as the oldest.

He's going to make sure that the three of them goes home together.

Chapter Text

The train car was in chaos. Panic spread like wildfire as passengers reacted in different ways—some banged on the train doors, desperate to escape, while others clutched their phones, trying in vain to contact the authorities.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kim Namwoon noticed a woman fanning herself with trembling hands, her phone pressed tightly against her ear. Her voice cracked with fear.

“Police, the police aren’t answering! What, what should I…”

But Namwoon’s attention wasn’t on her. His gaze shifted to the man standing beside her.

“Calm down, Yoo Sangah-ssi,” the man said, his voice composed despite the surrounding hysteria. He turned to the woman—Yoo Sangah, apparently—offering reassurance before continuing, “Yoo Sangah-ssi. Have you ever played the game that the development team made? A game where the world is destroyed and only a few people survive.”

Namwoon’s eyebrows twitched upward. What the hell is he talking about? His instincts flared—this man knew something.

He leaned in slightly, trying to catch more of their conversation, but the only word that stood out was game.

Game?

That single word gnawed at him. What the hell did it mean?

Eavesdropping wasn’t getting him anywhere. After a moment of contemplation, he clicked his tongue and made a decision.

Rather than waste time listening from afar, he decided to just approach them directly.

"Excuse me?" he started, the words slicing through the ambient noise the moment he stepped into their space. "I heard you talking about a game and I couldn't help but be curious," he said, pausing just long enough for tension to coil in the air. "Would it be possible to ask if you know anything about what's happening right now?" he asked.

The man in front of him stilled—visibly, palpably, like a puppet whose strings had been abruptly cut.

Kim Dokja blinked, uncertain if his mind had finally short-circuited.

Because what he had just witnessed… was nothing short of surreal.

Kim Namwoon was standing there, talking. Like a normal person. No snarling, no threats, no gleeful anticipation of violence dripping from his words.

Not even a flicker of bloodlust.

Had the apocalypse scrambled his brain? Had Kim Namwoon taken a blow to the head and awakened as a pacifist? Or—more terrifyingly—was this not Ways of Survival at all?

Kim Dokja's thoughts spiraled, a storm of disbelief and creeping suspicion.

But no matter how he turned it over in his mind, there was one irrefutable truth:

This wasn’t the Kim Namwoon he knew from the novel.

"Ah, I'm not suspicious. I'm with my friends and I swear I don't mean any harm." The white-haired teen spoke again, pulling Dokja back into the present like a sharp tug on a leash.

Kim Dokja furrowed his brows, trying to decipher the bizarre puzzle unraveling before him.

What had changed? What catalyst had shifted the path of such a volatile character?

Whatever the answer, one thing was clear—this development wasn’t just unexpected.

It was unnatural.

Kim Dokja decided to push the swirling chaos of his thoughts to the farthest corners of his mind. One thing at a time. He opened his mouth, voice calm but eyes scanning for any hint of deception.

"Do I know you?"

To say that Kim Namwoon was irritated would be an understatement. The teen’s expression twisted like someone who’d bitten into a lemon expecting it to be sweet. He’d stood there—five whole minutes!—offering what he believed to be civilized conversation, only for the man in front of him to slap it away with… that?

Rude. So, so rude.

Sure, he needed help. Sure, he was the one who approached. But come on! He was being polite! That had to count for something, right?

The white-haired teen visibly fought the urge to let his eye twitch betray his irritation. His pride gnawed at him, but he swallowed it down, forcing a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Kim Namwoon." He paused, then turned around stiffly, raising his hand to point at the far end of the carriage.

His finger extended toward a girl pacing back and forth, the nervous energy practically radiating off her in waves. Her face was obscured by her constant movement, but the agitation in her steps was unmistakable.

"And that's my friend—" Namwoon turned his gaze back to Kim Dokja, voice steady, "Her name's Lee Jihye."

What.

Kim Dokja's breath caught. His thoughts slammed into an invisible wall.

Lee Jihye…?

The name echoed in his head like a dropped coin in a silent cavern.

"I have one more friend but he's in another carriage so I'll introduce him later," Namwoon added, seemingly unaware of the mental breakdown he’d just triggered.

But Kim Dokja didn’t hear a word of it.

His ears rang. The world around him dimmed. None of it mattered anymore.

Lee Jihye? Here?

First was Kim Namwoon acting like he hadn’t stepped out of a murder simulator, and now Lee Jihye—Lee Jihye!—was pacing around in the same carriage?

Kim Dokja's thoughts unraveled like a ball of yarn being untangled. The seams of the story were coming undone right before his eyes.

What happened to the plot?

What happened to the flow of the story?

What was this?

He didn’t know the answer.

But one thing was certain—the script had been tossed out, and whatever was happening now… it wasn’t part of the original narrative.

For now, Kim Dokja had only one priority.

Keeping them close.

He turned to Kim Namwoon with an easy smile, one that masked the storm of thoughts brewing beneath.

"Nice meeting you, I'm Kim Dokja. Would you and your friend like to accompany us? Ah, don't worry, I'll make sure to provide you with the information I know," he said, voice calm, practiced.

Namwoon hesitated for a beat before replying.

"Ah," he said, "We can't make any decisions until we've reunited with our friend."

Friend?

That single word struck a dissonant chord.

Kim Dokja blinked. Friend? That detail didn’t exist in Ways of Survival. He’d read every line, every chapter—Kim Namwoon had no such connection. He was a violent, bloodthirsty lunatic, not someone who waited on a companion.

Another deviation.

The timeline was beginning to fray.

Was this another shift in the storyline? If so, what caused these changes?

Ways of Survival had leapt off the page, morphed into reality, but even reality was beginning to twist.

Was this still Ways of Survival? The events unfolding weren’t in the novel. Not this, not here, not now.

Kim Namwoon wasn’t supposed to be this composed. He was supposed to crave chaos.

Lee Jihye was meant to be at school—meant to murder the person who she once called her 'best friend.'

So what had changed?

Could it be... him?

Did his knowledge, his mere awareness of how things should go, start to unravel the threads of the story?

Was the system—or whatever force at play—rewriting the script to throw him off?

And if it was… what else was about to change?

"Come on, everybody! Everyone calm down. Start breathing calmly." Someone stepped forward exactly five minutes after the dokkaebi vanished.

He was a solid, imposing figure with a short military cut, towering a full head above the average commuter.

"Are you calm now? Please, stop what you’re doing and listen to me for just a moment."

The weeping stopped. Calls were cut short. Eyes turned toward the man. Once he had their attention, he spoke again, voice steady.

"As you all know, in times of national disaster, even the smallest panic can lead to massive casualties. That’s why, from this moment on, I will take charge of the situation."

"What? Who are you?"

"A national disaster? What the hell are you talking about?"

The word "control" didn’t sit well with some, and they pushed back—but the man calmly reached into his wallet and pulled out an ID card.

"I'm a lieutenant in the 6502 unit. Currently on active duty."

Some faces softened with relief. "A soldier. He’s a soldier."

Kim Dokja felt a flicker of recognition.

There was only one soldier in Ways of Survival who fit that description.

Lee Hyunsung.

The unshakable shield of Yoo Joonghyuk.

"Wow, look at that build." Kim Namwoon muttered, nudging Lee Jihye to come stand beside him.

"Jihye, this is Dokja-ahjussi. He’s a good guy."

Ahjussi?

Kim Dokja couldn't decide whether to be pleased by the compliment or offended by the word 'ahjussi.'

He smiled at her. "Hello."

"Ah!" Lee Jihye snapped to attention, her voice polite. "Hello, ahjussi… My name's Lee Jihye. Nice to meet you."

Their exchange was interrupted by a sudden uproar from the rest of the car.

"The Prime Minister is making a speech! It’s really a level one disaster!"

Phones lit up. No one needed to search. Every portal site had the same headline.

'Prime Minister’s Speech.'

–To all my fellow citizens, unidentified terrorists are currently active in an unspecified number of areas, including Seoul.

The message was direct. No negotiations, total mobilization, carry on with your lives.

"But where’s the president? Why’s the prime minister the one talking?"

"They say the president’s already been hit."

"What? Are you serious?"

"I'm not sure. It was in a Naver comment―"

"Then it’s probably fake!"

"Uwaaaaack! What now?!"

Phones crashed to the ground as gunshots erupted from the phones themselves.

Chiiiik.

A horrible screech, followed by a wash of red. The screen filled with blood. People stared in silence, disbelief freezing them in place.

"P-Prime Minister…"

His head had exploded. Live. On camera. More shots rang out. Then silence.

And then another dokkaebi appeared.

[Everyone, I've told you already. This isn’t a game like 'terrorism.']

The dokkaebi's voice was light, even playful, but the effect was anything but.

[Do you still not understand? This won’t do. Do you still feel like this is a game?]

His casual tone was laced with something much darker.

[Haha, according to the data, the people of this country are very good at games. So, why don't I try raising the difficulty?]

Beeep.

A massive countdown timer appeared in the air, ticking down rapidly.

[The remaining time has been decreased by 10 minutes.]

[There are 10 minutes remaining.]

[If the first killing doesn't occur within the next five minutes, all lives in that carriage will be wiped out.]

"W-What is this? A prank?"

"Didn’t you hear it just now? Hey! Didn’t you hear?!"

"Soldier-nim! What should we do?! Where are the police?!"

"Everyone, calm down and listen to me―"

But Lee Hyunsung’s voice was swallowed up by panic. The dokkaebi’s threat had tipped the balance, and chaos reigned.

Kim Dokja's brows furrowed.

Lee Hyunsung had appeared, just like in the novel. But he hadn't shown up yet.

According to the timeline, that man should’ve already entered the scene.

"T-There’s a murder back there!"

Through the aisle window, they saw the bloodied interior of train carriage 3907. 

"Hey! Let us through!"

Kim Dokja watched Kim Namwoon and Lee Jihye forcing their way forward.

"Fuck! I said move!" Namwoon yelled.

"Argh." Namwoon grunted in pain as Kim Dokja grabbed him by the collar.

"What the hell, ahjussi?" he growled.

Dokja released him, his voice calm. "Do you know what's on the other side of that door?"

He looked at both of them, expression hard.

"There’s a monster in there. Can’t you see the blood—"

"Behind that door is our friend!" Namwoon shouted.

Friend...?

Lee Jihye stepped forward, eyes unwavering. "You probably won't understand, ahjussi… but we'll charge in there to save our friend, even if we have to face a monster."

"…dead."

"What did you just say?" Namwoon moved to lunge again, but Jihye held him back.

Kim Dokja met their eyes. "Have you considered the possibility that he might already be dead?"

"You—!"

"Or worse—what if he's the one who did all that?" Dokja pointed to the splattered blood.

"We don’t—" Jihye began, “We don’t care. Not until we see his body with our own eyes.”

She turned away, pulling Namwoon with her. "And if he really did do all that… so what?"

She paused. Breathed. Then continued.

"If that's what he had to do to survive, then we don't care. Being alive is the best."

...Wow.

Kim Dokja was stunned.

Who was this friend of theirs? What kind of person could inspire such absolute loyalty?

"We have to block it! Don’t let anyone through!"

People clung to the iron door. But they didn’t need to.

[All types of access to the carriage will be restricted until the scenario is complete.]

The message came just as a barrier flung people backward, away from the door.

"W-What is this now?"

And again, the dokkaebi's voice filled the air.

[Haha, there are some places that are quite fun while other places haven't started yet. Okay, this is a special service. I will show you what will happen if nothing occurs in the next five minutes.]

A massive screen flickered into existence.

A classroom. Girls in navy blue uniforms trembled in fear.

A boy nearby whispered, biting his nails, "…Is that the school uniform of Daepong?"

Beep beep beep beep

A cold, mechanical warning tone echoed.

Then came the screams.

[The given time has run out.]

[Paid settlement will begin.]

One by one, heads exploded. The girls in the front row dropped like flies.

The survivors screamed and ran toward the doors and windows.

"Ahh, uh, how—"

They threw desks, clawed at hinges, broke whatever they could but the doors didn't open.

Peong. Peeong.

More heads burst open. Then, a girl strangled the friend next to her. The friend slumped over, dead.

By the end, only one girl remained, looking around the blood-stained classroom.

[#Bay23515 channel. Daepong Girls' High School, Year 2 Class B survivor: Na Bori.]

Her image disappeared.

And then the dokkaebi asked, smiling, [How is it? Interesting?]

But no one answered. No one even looked at the screen. Their eyes were on each other now. Suspicious. Fearful.

"Shit! What is this?!"

Kim Dokja didn’t disagree.

What the hell was going on?

Why were the dead now alive?

And more importantly…

Why hadn’t that guy shown up yet?

***

"What's all that ruckus..." Cale muttered, eyes flicking toward the door separating their carriage from the rest. "Why are they so noisy...?"

Not that it concerned him much.

With a calm, almost lazy turn of his head, he looked back at the emotionally constipated man sitting before him.

"Your turn," he said.

"When's your birthday?"

An innocent question.

They were getting to know each other. Slowly, cautiously.

Because, well, you know how the saying goes.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Especially when your 'conversation partner' had the temperament of a ticking time bomb.

Cale gave himself a silent nod, satisfied with the strategy.

Yeah. Better safe than sorry.

Chapter Text

[You have obtained an exclusive attribute.]

[The exclusive skill slot has been activated.]

He blinked. Once. Twice. The world remained unchanged, yet everything was undeniably different. There was no sudden flash of light, no cinematic cue to announce the new reality. Just a shift—subtle, but irreversible. The rules of existence had changed.

It wasn’t surprising, not really, that the world had transformed into Ways of Survival. For anyone else, it might have been incomprehensible. But for Kim Dokja, the sole reader who had endured all 3,149 chapters of that maddening, endless novel, it was simply… expected.

This was the beginning of the end. Or perhaps the end of the beginning.

All survivors in Ways of Survival possessed exclusive attributes and skills. It was part of the system.

He stared into space for a moment, lost in the jagged hum of the train, the metallic scent of tension already in the air. The lights overhead flickered faintly, as if disturbed by something no one could yet see.

Then, steeling himself, he lowered his eyes to the text glowing faintly on his screen, the novel, his only guide. The copy of Ways of Survival the author had sent him in a final, cryptic gesture.

[Your reading speed has increased due to the effect of the exclusive attribute.]

As if on cue, the words came to life before him. Sentences etched themselves into his mind, and paragraphs flowed into understanding. In less than a minute, he had finished the first act.

Then he found it.

His eyes widened as his finger involuntarily stopped on a particular line. A breath of fiction, pressing into the real world. It was the very beginning, the infamous train scene that marked the start of it all. The moment when everything began.

His eyes moved with a kind of horrified reverence over the passage.

[He saw people gathered at the back door of the 3707 carriage. The wheel of the tightly held lighter was cold.

In this life, he absolutely couldn’t make a mistake. He would use any means for his purpose.

The expression of fear on the people’s faces. He didn’t feel any guilt.

Everything was fleeting.

He looked at the people with merciless eyes. After a while, his fingertips moved and fire rose. Then it all started.]

A chill swept over him like an invisible tide. He reread the paragraph. Once. Twice. The cold lingered, burrowed into his bones.

There was something wrong. Something terribly wrong.

"...3707."

The number clanged in his mind like a funeral bell. Panic began to unfurl in his chest as he slowly turned his head.

[3807]

His carriage. The one he was sitting in right now. It was just behind the carriage where he—the protagonist, the relentless, cruel main character of the story—was enacting the first domino in the world's fall.

Kim Dokja’s hands faintly shook.

The air in 3807 suddenly felt heavier. The people around him, unaware, continued their chatter and scrolling phones trying to look for news sources about their current predicament as if they hadn’t already been marked by the hand of fate.

…Wait a minute.

He flipped back through the text, heart pounding, searching for the outcome.

[He looked through the blurred window at the 3807 carriage. It was already too late. It was inevitable. Anyway, only two people survived in that carriage.]

Only two. Just two.

It meant everyone else perished. Kim Dokja already knew who those two people were. And yet, now that he was here—actually here—his body refused to accept it.

He raised his head and turned to look blankly at Yoo Sangah, seated nearby. Elegant, composed Yoo Sangah, a woman he’d only known by proximity at the office but who might very well share this twisted fate.

Maybe she would die. Him as well.

The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth, like metal and regret.

“Dokja-ssi, shouldn’t we stop this?”

Her voice broke the silence.

Something was happening.

He followed her gaze. 

He heard groaning. A low, strained sound. A young man was crouching down in front of an elderly woman, his face twisted with disdain.

"Shit, I’m in a bad mood and this old lady keeps whining and groaning! Won’t you shut up?"

The cruelty, the indifference. It was beginning.

The first tremor of chaos had arrived.

Except it wasn't Kim Namwoon who caused it, unlike what had been written in the novel.

Kim Dokja’s gaze drifted toward the white-haired teen and the girl beside him—two figures who, by all accounts, shouldn’t have been anywhere near this train carriage.

They were anomalies.

He didn’t understand what was happening—or more disturbingly, what wasn’t.

Kim Namwoon was meant to be the one harassing the old lady, cursing and kicking in that way only he could. But that moment never arrived.

And Lee Jihye… she should have been at Daepong Girls’ High School, soaked in guilt and regret, the sole survivor of her class after killing her best friend. But that future had also quietly slipped away. 

And Kim Dokja—the one man who had seen the ending when no one else had even glimpsed the prologue, the one who was supposed to know—suddenly found himself lost in the dark. A reader stripped of his certainty.

His eyes left the teenagers, unsettled, and returned to the growing unrest ahead of him.

The passengers, once passive and confused, now surged forward like a tide drawn by blood. The moment they sensed the rules had changed—that survival required sacrifice—they turned on the old woman.

Kim Dokja remembered a line from a novel he read way back, its weight suddenly far heavier than fiction.

"Executioners pull the lever of the electric chair at the same time."

He watched, rigid, as fists and feet struck down in unison. The woman crumpled under the weight of collective fear masquerading as justice.

"They do so in order to conceal who really killed the prisoner."

His jaw tightened. The train had become a stage, and he a silent observer in an unfolding tragedy. He knew this wasn’t the world he had known. 

And yet, all he could do was stand there.

A bystander in a story he thought he understood.

At that moment, Yoo Sangah stepped forward. She really was a brave woman.

Kim Dokja’s hand shot out, wrapping around her wrist with urgency.

"I told you not to move."

Yoo Sangah’s fingers clenched into tight fists, as if squeezing down her fear. She trembled, not just from fear, but something deeper. Anger. Helplessness.

"I know, I know...!" she said, her voice cracking under the pressure.

"Yoo Sangah-ssi will die if you go now."

Her eyes, wide and shimmering, quivered. Fear lived there, yes. But just beneath it was something resilient. Something like bravery refusing to break.

"Yoo Sangah-ssi. Sit down." Kim Dokja said firmly.

But she wasn’t the one meant to change the world. Yoo Sangah wasn’t the protagonist here. She was someone who didn’t even appear in the original story. An extra. Just like him—just like Kim Dokja.

"Huh? But―" she tried to argue, voice laced with disbelief.

"Do as I say, just this once. I won’t interfere after that."

He didn’t give her room to protest. With gentle force, he guided her back into her seat, feeling the fight in her body as she resisted but then gave in. He took a long breath, then turned his back to her, straightening himself, shaking as he exhaled.

He flexed his wrists. Rolled his ankles. Quietly steeling himself.

"...Dokja-ssi?"

She called out to him, uncertain and afraid.

He didn’t respond.

His eyes were locked on the scene before him. The passengers, swarming like a pack, focused on the elderly woman like scavengers who had finally decided on their first meal.

He was waiting. Waiting for the exact moment he’d need to act—

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

A voice boomed from the far end of the carriage.

Kim Dokja’s head snapped toward the source.

There, standing between the chaos and the girl beside him, was a familiar figure—Kim Namwoon. Glaring with fire in his eyes as he shielded Lee Jihye from the crowd.

Kim Dokja blinked.

Right. He still found it hard to believe. He was starting to think that what if this was part of the scenario—to mess with his head?

This also didn't happen in the novel.

But before he could dwell on it, he heard a quiet sound.

At the farthest corner of the train, a boy was crying. A small child clutching an insect collecting net in both hands.

Kim Dokja moved.

"Excuse me a moment."

He knelt beside the child and gently took the net from his hands. Slipping his fingers inside, he felt the cool, chitinous brush of a grasshopper. He caught it, carefully, and placed it into the boy’s tiny hands.

Then he rose, turned, and faced the passengers.

"Everybody stop. You can’t live even if you kill the grandmother."

His voice was calm but it cut through the noise like a blade.

One by one, faces turned toward him. Confused. Angry. Desperate.

Perfect.

"Let’s say you kill the grandmother. What next?"

Their shocked expressions were almost satisfying. He had their attention now.

Time to teach them something the novel never explained outright.

"The grandmother’s death will be recognized for what the dokkaebi calls the ‘first murder’ and some time will be bought. Then what next?"

A few gasps. A murmur.

"Ah..."

Realization began to bloom.

"If what the dokkaebi says is true, you each have to kill one thing. So who will you kill after the grandmother? Will you kill the person next to you?"

A beat of silence. Then shuffling.

People backed away from each other. Eyes darted left and right. Suspicion bloomed. Horror rooted.

Because deep down, they already knew.

The grandmother was just the beginning.

"There is no need to gamble like that. There is a way for you to survive, even if you don’t become a killer." he continued.

"What?"

People started encircling him like moths to flame. Their eyes were wide, desperate. Hope flickered in their gazes, along with fear and anticipation for a chance of salvation .

"W-What is it?"

The people became greatly agitated. The tension inside the carriage rose like a suffocating fog. Fear twisted into curiosity.

"Have you forgotten? The scenario clear condition wasn't to 'kill a person.' "

His words settled over the crowd like a slow, unraveling thread. Some blinked in confusion. Others tilted their heads, brows furrowed. 

Most people were still puzzled but a few people noticed something.

[Kill one or more living things.]

That’s right. From the beginning, the word 'person' was never specified in the contents of the scenario.

Kill one or more living things. In other words, any life was possible. Any soul. Any fragile heartbeat. Even something as small as—

A quick-witted person shouted at the collection net in his hand.

"Insect! Insects!"

The grasshoppers were jumping in the collection net. The moment that word left someone’s lips, the change in the crowd was electric. People’s eyes were shining. A spark of madness. Of salvation.

"That’s right, the insects."

Kim Dokja put his hand into the net and took out a grasshopper. Its tiny legs flailed. Fragile. Innocent. 

"G-Give that to me! Quickly!"

"One only! I just need one!"

The panic in their voices cracked like glass. People began shouting as they desperately scurry for the grasshoppers in Kim Dokja's hand as it was now their only chance of survival. A crowd of once-docile passengers had turned into frenzied scavengers.

"Would you like it?" he smiled.

His smile was sharp, cold. The kind of smile that didn’t reach the eyes. He waved the net like a trainer provoking an animal, taunting a cage full of starved predators. Several impatient people leapt towards him.

"Then catch them!"

He then smashed the grasshopper in his hand. The sound was soft. Barely a crunch. His own survival mattered than anyone else's.

[You have achieved the 'First Kill' achievement!]

[100 coins have been earned as additional compensation.]

At the same time, he threw the net in his other hand as hard as possible. It was towards the opposite side of the area where the grandmother and the crowd was gathered.

A flash of green and wings filled the air. The insects scattered like leaves inside the carriage.

"This is crazy!"

The insects were released and jumped as hard as they could for freedom.

Chaos exploded in the train.

The passengers who had once huddled together now dove, crawled, shoved, and clawed at the air in pursuit of something—anything—to kill. The brief illusion of humanity was gone. Torn away by desperation.

And Kim Dokja? He stood among them all, chest rising and falling, watching what he once just read come to life.

He then turned to the duo—Kim Namwoon and Lee Jihye.

Even though he wanted to help them, he also was a huge believer of fairness.

Fairness in this world was a fragile thing—less like a principle and more like a personal superstition. Still, Kim Dokja clung to it with everything he had. In a world where gods were voyeurs and fate was twisted entertainment, fairness was one of the few concepts that still felt human.

He just hopes that they somehow survive this scenario.

Because despite everything—despite their unpredictability and the countless unreadable choices ahead—he still remembered how valuable they had been in Ways of Survival.

Based on what he read in the novel and being Yoo Joonghyuk's comrades and all—it would be a waste for the two to die.

A waste of characters who hadn’t yet had a chance to grow. A waste of strength and loyalty.

People panicked as they saw the insects running around the carriage.

The carefully balanced atmosphere of confusion and fear had completely shattered. What remained now was only raw instinct as their mind became addled with desperation. The kind that stripped civilization down to using only teeth and nails for survival.

The train carriage had become a jungle. A cage. And Kim Dokja had just thrown in the last scraps of meat.

"H-Hey! Why would you do such a thi―"

"You son of a bitch."

Kim Dokja simply hummed, his voice a slow and eerie contrast to the panic erupting around him.

"...You better find them soon. There are only three minutes left."

His words struck like a gong, reverberating through the confined space. And just like that, all remaining sense broke down.

These words were a signal as people started to look everywhere among the subway seats like beasts who had lost their minds.

It was like watching a pack of starving wolves chase after invisible prey. They shoved and clawed and scrambled. One man toppled over the armrest, head-first into the aisle. Another woman screamed as someone yanked at her purse, convinced it might be hiding something alive. Eyes burned with desperation. With purpose. With fear.

"I got it! Aaack!"

One person’s triumphant scream quickly turned into a scream of pain as they were tackled by two others. A fist flew. Something cracked. No one cared who threw the first punch as they were all trying to live.

The joy of those fortunate enough to obtain an insect, as well as the malicious attacks on them, caused the carriage to become chaotic.

Violence bloomed. Two men tore at the same grasshopper, splitting it apart like it was a lottery ticket.

"Hey, why did you do that? Couldn’t you have just given them the insects?"

Looking back, he saw Kim Namwoon and Lee Jihye walking towards him.

He responded cautiously to Kim Namwoon, who was stretching his neck, "Why not?"

"...Are you crazy, ahjussi?" it was Lee Jihye who came forward and asked. Her mouth really didn't have any filter.

Her tone was blunt, edged like a knife that didn’t care who it cut—especially not an adult she didn’t respect yet.

Kim Dokja pretended to not hear anything as he just continues to ask them, "What about the two of you? Did you catch any grasshopper?"

Kim Namwoon smiled smugly, like a kid who just beat a game on hard mode, "Yeah, heh. I caught them mid-air right after you threw them. I am quite agile."

He even bounced lightly on the balls of his feet, like he was itching for someone to challenge his words.

Kim Dokja just stared at him. Talking to this version of Kim Namwoon was still too foreign to him.

There was something eerie about watching this boy grin as if this world—this hell—was a playground he’d been waiting for.

He recalled the Kim Namwoon that he knew from Ways of Survival.

That Kim Namwoon had been a mad dog. A violent hurricane barely leashed. A name that later became associated with blood and betrayal. And yet...

And yet this version of Kim Namwoon seemed composed. At least by his own twisted standards.

He wasn’t running wild. Not yet.

He recalled how, in the novel, this boy had slaughtered without hesitation, laughed at others' screams, carved his delusions into reality.

Now? Kim Dokja doesn't even know what to think.

At this moment, he heard a message in his ears.

[Exclusive skill, 'Character List' is activated.]

Next, a window opened in front of his eyes.

[Character Information]

[Name: Kim Namwoon.

Age: 19.

Constellation Support: None (A powerful constellation is currently showing interest in this person).

Personal Attributes: Chuunibyou (General)

Exclusive Skills: Unusual Adaptability Lv. 3, Knife Fighting Lv. 1, Blackening Lv. 1: The Chuunibyou attribute's exclusive skill, which lets him manifest a dark aura and enhances his hits.

Overall Stats: Stamina Lv. 3, Strength Lv. 4, Agility Lv. 6, Magic Power Lv. 4

Hoh...

Most of the chuunibyou that appeared in Ways of Survival committed suicide because they couldn’t endure the nightmare that had become real. However, the chuunibyou before him, Kim Namwoon, was different.

He was the Delusion Demon, Kim Namwoon. The young man, who later became known by this nickname, wasn't an ordinary chuuni.

This young man had been waiting for the destruction of the world for a long time and adapted to this world at an 'unusual speed.'

Well, at least that's how it was in the novel.

Too many things have changed. Kim Dokja doesn't even know if the people in front of him really were the same Kim Namwoon and Lee Jihye from the novel he read.

The train shook slightly, jostling everyone, but Kim Dokja's thoughts were still.

This wasn't the same story anymore. These weren't the same characters.

Or maybe they were. Just rewritten.

Kim Dokja had a lot to think about.

***

"How old are you?"

"I'm 56." Yoo Joonghyuk looked at him as if he was crazy.

The silence that followed was deafening, thick with disbelief. The way Yoo Joonghyuk’s brow twitched—just a little—was already enough of a statement. His sharp gaze, as usual, resembled the kind one might use when inspecting something suspicious.

"What?" Cale raised his brows in defense, hands gesturing vaguely like they could physically deflect judgment. "You can use your skill. I'm not lying."

He really wasn’t. At least, not in the way most people would think. Numbers were flexible when lives were messy. After all, he had lived for 36 years as Kim Rok Soo, then spent two chaotic years getting used to being Cale Henituse, the noble young master, and now? Eighteen long, dreadful, apocalyptic years fighting for survival as that same Cale in a world that refused to stay quiet.

[Character 'Yoo Joonghyuk' has activated the skill 'Lie Detection'.]

[Lie Detection has confirmed that your words are false.]

"..."

The silence stretched again, this time heavier, almost mocking.

It took the redhead a whole minute before answering, "I'm 36...?"

His voice rose at the end, unsure and tentative like someone guessing the answer to a trick question.

Yoo Joonghyuk just looked at him weirdly, one eyebrow arched in quiet horror. "How are you unsure of your own age?"

Cale rolled his eyes with all the dramatic flair one could muster, “Just check if I’m lying, hyung.”

[Character 'Yoo Joonghyuk' has activated the skill 'Lie Detection'.]

[Lie Detection has confirmed that your words are false.]

"Okay, you got me. Hahahaha." Cale laughed dryly... fakely. It was the kind of laugh that didn’t reach the eyes, more of a grim wheeze than actual amusement.

"I'm 18." he nodded to himself, as if speaking it aloud might make it make more sense.

[Character 'Yoo Joonghyuk' has activated the skill 'Lie Detection'.]

[Lie Detection has confirmed that your words are true.]

Yoo Joonghyuk in front of him just scoffs.

"Ridiculous," he murmured, voice coated in disdain.

A sigh left Cale’s lips, long and weary, like it had been building since the first time Yoo Joonghyuk opened his mouth. He really needed a new carriage-mate. This one seemed to lack even the most basic etiquette when it comes to conversing with people.

He wouldn't even look anyone in the eye unless he was threatening them. And even then, it was less ‘eye contact’ and more ‘glare of imminent doom.’

Sigh.

Chapter Text

"Get up, hyung."

Yoo Joonghyuk looks at him as if he's grown two more heads. The silence stretches between them like a taut wire, vibrating with disbelief.

"Why should I?" he says flatly, voice low with that familiar edge that makes most people reconsider speaking to him in the first place.

But Cale isn't most people. He just folds his arms and stares down at the man, his expression somewhere between pity and irritation.

Cale just looks at him exasperatedly, "Don't your butt hurt from sitting?"

There’s a beat. Then Yoo Joonghyuk exhales like he’s trying very hard not to lunge at someone. Slowly, very slowly, he pushes himself up with the weariness of someone who’s lived too many lives, dusting his pants off with the mechanical precision of a man restraining murder.

Cale smiles at him, the kind of smile that would make Roan say, 'Are we looting bad guys?'

It’s cheeky. It’s infuriating. It’s pure Cale.

Joonghyuk frowns, sharp and immediate, "What?"

The redhead just answers and moves closer to Yoo Joonghyuk, his eyes gleaming with something that looks too much like mischief for comfort, "Being cooped up in here with no one but you is boring, hyung." His tone is casual, but there’s a tension under the surface, the kind that only comes from prolonged exposure to an impossible man.

He looks directly at the now frowning man in front of him, unbothered by the chill of that gaze.

"How about we—you and I—break this door separating us from the other carriage?"

There’s a pause.

So I can finally see my friends and get away from you.

He doesn’t say it aloud, but it hums like static between them, unspoken yet tangible.

Cale really hopes the other would comply.

It’s not that Yoo Joonghyuk was bad company—no, far from it. Yoo Joonghyuk was the kind of company that could kill silence by sheer aura alone. It’s just that the company that Yoo Joonghyuk gives is bad. If that even makes sense.

It's like trying to share a tent with a thunderstorm.

The man was a walking monsoon of brooding silence and sudden threats. Cale half-expected dramatic lightning strikes every time the other man scowled. Which, unfortunately, was often.

Still, he wasn’t in the mood to keep pacing in this cramped metal box like a rat waiting for fate to roll its dice. Not when he had friends on the other side. Not when his instincts told him things were gonna go haywire again.

He glances at the sealed door. Metal. Reinforced. But nothing Yoo Joonghyuk couldn’t break if he really wanted to.

Cale casts him a sidelong look.

"Unless you're afraid you can’t break it?" he adds, sweet as honey.

That gets Yoo Joonghyuk's attention. His frown deepens, which Cale interprets as success.

Challenge accepted, then.

He steps back slightly, arms crossed, leaning casually against the wall as if to say, All right, tough guy. Impress me.

Because if he was going to be stuck here with this battle-driven psychopath, he may as well make use of him.

Preferably before he loses his mind.

Now, normally, Yoo Joonghyuk wouldn't fall for such an obvious provocation.

Truly, he was a man carved from cold calculation, someone who had resisted temptations far greater than the smirk of an annoying redhead with too much time and too few brain cells. Normally, he'd scoff, walk away, maybe throw a glare sharp enough to kill a man.

But ah—the smug look on Cale's face.

That infuriating, insufferable smirk—like he’d already won before the match had even begun.

It made something ancient and irrational in Yoo Joonghyuk snap.

Without a word, he turned sharply on his heel, stepping back from the thick metal door that separated them from the next carriage. The metal loomed before him like a wall of stubborn defiance. He cracked his knuckles, squared his shoulders, and crouched slightly, as if preparing to strike down a beast rather than a door.

Cale raised an eyebrow, amused.

Then Yoo Joonghyuk swung.

The entire train shuddered as his foot collided with the door. With a sound like thunder snapping in half, the hinges gave way. Screws popped, metal groaned, and with a final echoing clang, the door collapsed inward—landing like a defeated enemy between their carriage and the next.

A gaping entryway now connected the two.

Cale whistled low, a grin playing at his lips. "Damn," he muttered to himself, impressed despite having predicted this exact outcome. He looked at his carriage-mate—now, by the laws of shared crime and chaos, best friend for life.

'Ha! He really did it.' The thought danced in his mind as he took a leisurely step over the ruined metal.

On the other side, every single head turned in their direction with synchronized disbelief. Dozens of passengers stared, frozen mid-breath, as if someone had just detonated a bomb in the train.

Which—well, breaking down a reinforced steel door with nothing but your foot was close enough.

It wasn't every day that two strangers just barged into your carriage like it was some kind of grand entrance in an action movie. And it certainly wasn't every day those two strangers looked like they either walked out of a fashion ad or war.

Someone in the back whispered, "What the hell—?"

Cale threw them a two-fingered wave like they'd just walked into a pub, "Hi."

Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to. His expression said enough. Namely: I regret everything that led me to this exact moment.

Beside him, Cale's grin widened. It was the grin of a man who had just gotten away with the world's dumbest idea—and was already planning the next one.

The redhead looked sideways at his scowling companion. Yoo Joonghyuk’s eye twitched, the barest tremble of restrained fury.

He couldn’t believe he’d let himself get swayed that easily. He couldn't believe that he was fooled by a spark of mockery and a damn smile.

Cale, of course, looked absolutely thrilled.

And Yoo Joonghyuk… was seriously considering kicking another door.

Preferably with Cale behind it.

As if on cue, multiple heads started exploding, coating the entirety of the train with blood and guts.

It was like a grotesque symphony of chaos. Skulls burst like overripe fruit, bone shards flew through the air like shrapnel, and the walls groaned under the sudden weight of crimson.

The metallic scent of blood was so thick it could’ve been bottled. Viscera and everything that is flesh splattered across the windows like a modern art piece gone terribly wrong. Silence fell in the wake of the explosions, save for the squelch of dripping remains and the trembling gasps of those who survived.

And then—

[Main Scenario #1 – Proof of Value has ended.]

[300 coins have been acquired as a basic clearance reward.]

[100 coins have been reduced for the channel usage fee.]

[Additional compensation settlement will begin.]

Hm?

Cale tilted his head, eyes narrowing at the hovering blue text. Confusion stirred in his chest like a whirlwind in a teacup.

That… that was strange.

He distinctly remembered that this exact announcement had appeared minutes ago—before the door had been broken down, before he and Yoo Joonghyuk crossed over.

He glanced at the now ruined carriage door, twisted at the hinges like paper, courtesy of Yoo Joonghyuk's brute strength.

Wait.

Realization began to creep in on silent feet. Does this mean…

That each carriage was operating in its own separate channel?

The scenarios were the same—at least on the surface—but the timelines, the calculations, the exact population… all different. Like shards of a broken mirror, they looked similar but reflected different pieces of reality.

If that was true, then the moment they crossed through that door, they hadn’t just entered another space—they’d entered a new narrative branch entirely. A different stage. Different cameras. Different rules.

How many other 'channels' are running scenarios like this? All across the world?

It was dizzying to consider. Cale’s brows furrowed deeper.

And then, like thunder crashing into his musings, a voice exploded from behind.

A loud war cry tore through the carriage.

"Caaaaale!"

He had exactly one second to process it before a human torpedo crashed into him.

He hit the ground with a dull thud, the air knocked out of his lungs as a pair of arms wrapped tightly around his torso.

"Waah, Cale!" Kim Namwoon practically sobbed into the crook of Cale’s neck, clinging to him like a lifeline. His grip trembled with unspoken terror, his fingers fisting Cale’s shirt as if letting go meant being lost forever.

Lee Jihye wasn’t far behind—eyes red, nose running, fists pounding softly on Cale’s chest as her lips trembled with the effort not to cry harder. She pressed her forehead into his shoulder and clung like she would drown without him.

Aigoo…

Cale sighed, soft and fond, even as he lay sprawled beneath them like a human mattress. He brought his arms around them both and held them tightly, like someone afraid of losing a dream he’d only just regained.

He had missed them.

God, had he missed them.

He’d told himself he wasn’t that worried, but that had been a lie—a massive one. The kind that digs its claws into your chest and doesn’t let go until you’re choking on it. From the moment that eerie blue screen had popped up demanding a kill to survive, his heart had been a storm of dread and desperation.

He’d wondered if they were okay. If they were smart enough—lucky enough—to find a loophole like he had. If they were crying. If they were alone.

Now, feeling their weight on top of him, hearing their shaky breathing, that knot inside him finally loosened.

"I'm fine," he murmured, voice unsteady from relief. "And I'm so glad that the two of you are fine."

He reached up and gently ruffled Kim Namwoon’s wild white hair, now flattened and greasy from panic. Then he adjusted Jihye’s messy ponytail, tilting her chin up slightly like she was a younger sibling.

"I was so sure that you'd die without me by your side."

"Cale…" Namwoon groaned, somewhere between exasperation and reluctant fondness.

Lee Jihye responded with a loud huff and an even louder sniffle. She didn’t let go.

"You scared us," she mumbled, tears threatening to fall again. "Don’t ever go off on your own like that."

Her voice cracked at the end, fragile and vulnerable.

Cale nodded solemnly. "I’ll try."

It wasn’t a promise. But it was the closest thing he could offer.

The duo glared at him anyway, clearly unconvinced. But they let him be. For now.

They stayed like that for a long moment. Long enough for the attention of the entire carriage to weigh heavy on them—dozens of eyes watching them like a scene in a drama they didn’t want to interrupt.

Finally, Cale cleared his throat and gently urged the two to stand up, smoothing down their clothes and brushing blood-smeared dust from their shoulders.

He turned slowly, facing the rest of the carriage. All the onlookers. And most especially—the man who had been watching them since they’d entered.

Yoo Joonghyuk hadn’t moved. Not even once.

His arms were still folded, expression unreadable, but his gaze was sharp—like a hawk’s, dissecting every inch of the scene with ruthless precision. The kind of look that judged people down to their soul.

Cale met his eyes and forced a smile.

"Hyung—" he started, tone light, "These are my friends, Kim Namwoon and Lee Jihye."

He glanced to his sides, where Namwoon and Jihye now stood just behind him, still sniffling but standing proud.

"Guys, this is Yoo Joonghyuk hyung. We met while we were fighting for our lives on the other carriage."

There was a beat of silence.

More like I was fighting for my life against him.

Cale very nearly said it out loud. He bit the inside of his cheek instead and swallowed the scoff down.

They didn’t need to know that.

Namwoon blinked slowly at Yoo Joonghyuk, then leaned toward Cale and whispered with complete seriousness, "Is he always that serious-looking?"

"Yup." Cale said, immediately.

Lee Jihye squinted. "He looks like he hasn’t smiled since birth."

Cale nodded, "Probably hasn’t."

Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t react. His arms stayed folded, his eyes steady.

But Cale thought he saw a flicker of recognition—curiosity, maybe even wariness—glint behind that blank expression.

And maybe, just maybe, the faintest twitch of amusement.

Though of course, it could’ve just been a trick of the light.

But really, Yoo Joonghyuk was confused as fuck.

And that wasn’t a common occurrence.

Yoo Joonghyuk prided himself on three things—his battle instinct, his encyclopedic knowledge of scenario progression, and his unshakable mental fortitude. But this? This had him internally reeling.

He kept his face impassive—expression carved from stone—but behind the curtain of calm, his mind was working overtime like a battlefield strategist trying to figure out why the enemy was already in his base before the war had even begun.

Why was Kim Namwoon acting like that?

The Kim Namwoon he knew—or rather, the one he had memorized through countless regressions—was an unstable, violence-obsessed delinquent with a penchant for stabbing people in the kidneys when they least expected it. A loose cannon. A psycho. Someone to kill early, before his unpredictability could grow into real danger.

And yet... the Kim Namwoon currently hugging that red-haired weirdo looked more like a clingy younger sibling than a bloodthirsty maniac. He was crying. Crying. And Yoo Joonghyuk was almost sure he saw him sniffle, too.

What the hell?

And Lee Jihye—don’t even get him started.

Lee Jihye shouldn’t even be here.

She was supposed to be at  Daepong Girls' High School, experiencing a completely separate scenario. One that involved a much more isolated beginning, with only a few students and limited resources. He was supposed to pick her up later, after surviving the cenario. She was part of his long-term plan, his carefully calculated plan.

But here she was. In this carriage. Crying into the shoulder of a man she should have never met. Holding onto him like he was her anchor in a sea of chaos and co nfusion.

And most baffling of all...

Why do they know this red haired imbecile?

Yoo Joonghyuk narrowed his eyes at him—this Cale. This strange anomaly with flaming hair and a laid-back attitude that absolutely did not fit the apocalyptic nightmare they were currently living in.

There was something about him. Something off. It wasn’t just the confident smile or the way he had addressed Joonghyuk so casually from the start, as if they were longtime comrades. It was more than that. The familiarity in his gaze. The easy way he comforted Namwoon and Jihye. The effortless charisma that seemed to bend the people around him into gravitating toward him like stars caught in a planet’s orbit.

It was like… he knew them.

Knew them too well.

Yoo Joonghyuk's thoughts spiraled for a moment—grabbing at scraps of half-finished theories and abandoned timelines.

Was this round… another failure before it even started?

The idea hit him like a hammer to the chest.

Each regression was a reset. A new chance to set things right. To do better. To avoid the deaths, the betrayals, the pain. But if this was how things were going from the get-go—if pieces were showing up in the wrong places, forming bonds they shouldn't even have, aligning themselves with unpredictable outsiders—

His jaw tightened, fingers twitching just slightly at his side.

He hated this. This uncertainty. This lack of control.

He glanced at Cale again, eyes sharpening like the edge of a blade.

Who was this man?

More importantly—

What the hell did he know?

Because if this redhead thought for one second that he could derail Yoo Joonghyuk’s plans, steal his allies, and waltz through scenarios like some self-insert protagonist—

He had another thing coming.

***

Kim Dokja was fucked.

Royally fucked.

Like, universe-just-punched-him-in-the-gut-and-kicked-his-shins kind of fucked.

He stood there, frozen, looking like someone had just handed him a live grenade wrapped in birthday paper. His brain, usually quick on the uptake, was buffering like a 2011 NOKIA model, the one without the camera. The words flashing in his mind were incoherent, scrambled together like puzzle pieces.

He had to blink twice—no, scratch that—he had to blink a total of FIFTEEN times before reality had the courtesy of hitting him over the head with a steel bat and screaming, "You’re not hallucinating."

Because standing right there, in flesh, blood, and unholy protagonist energy, was Yoo Joonghyuk.

The Yoo Joonghyuk.

The man who had died more times than Jesus and refused to stay dead. The man who had survived hell, rewound time, and killed literal demigods with his bare hands. The one Kim Dokja had followed—page by agonizing page—for over a decade like some deranged fanboy.

But seeing Yoo Joonghyuk in real life?

That was like finding out your favorite character just climbed out of your screen, looked you dead in the eye, and said, "Nice analysis, loser."

It was terrifying.

And, as if that wasn't enough to send his blood pressure to critical levels, Yoo Joonghyuk wasn’t alone.

Oh no, that would’ve been too merciful.

He was accompanied by a teenager—no, a walking contradiction of everything Kim Dokja knew. A boy with bright red hair, unreadable eyes, and a face that could probably start a fan club just by breathing too loudly in public.

Kim Dokja narrowed his eyes, searching his mental archive of Ways of Survival hoping to find answers.

Nothing.

No entries. No footnotes. It was as if this person had parachuted into the story from a completely different novel.

And that made Kim Dokja feel a kind of panic that had nothing to do with monsters or scenarios. Because if there was someone this important-looking who had never appeared in over 3,000 chapters… then what else didn’t he know?

He should’ve remembered. If someone like that had so much as breathed in a background panel of the webnovel, Kim Dokja would've written an analysis thread on it.

But nope. 

And then came the final boss of confusion.

Yoo Joonghyuk’s demeanor.

He was calm.

No—docile.

Yoo Joonghyuk. The man who treated human interaction like a battle strategy. The man who saw people as walking side quests or threats to be neutralized.

Docile.

Kim Dokja almost felt insulted.

Was this even the same Yoo Joonghyuk that he read about?

He studied them, the redhead chatting comfortably beside the regressor, and felt the first crack of dread crawl up his spine.

Was this a different timeline? Had he messed up so badly that characters were making friends they weren’t supposed to? Had Yoo Joonghyuk—stoic, ruthless, emotionally constipated Yoo Joonghyuk—gained a companion before the fourth scenario?

Kim Dokja’s whole worldview wobbled.

This was too much for the poor, overworked office worker to handle.

He’d faced demons, paid rent on time, and once read through 200+ comments flaming Yoo Joonghyuk’s arc without losing his cool.

But this?

This was a crisis.

He needed answers. A manual. Possibly a therapist. Or maybe just a nap and some Wi-Fi so he could read the next chapter and see what the hell was going on.

But even as his mind spiraled into overdrive, one thing became painfully clear.

He was no longer the most well-informed person in the room.

And that realization?

It scared the hell out of him.

Chapter Text

"How did you manage to survive?" Kim Namwoon asked, his voice laced with concern and worry that he made no effort to hide.

It was subtle—barely there—but it was genuine. A tension in his jaw, a slight narrowing of his brows, the way his eyes didn’t leave Cale’s face for even a second. Concern, tightly bound with disbelief.

No matter how he thought about it—there was no way that Cale survived by killing insects—the same way they did. It was just too impossible! They were lucky, blessed even, that they had insects in the train and that Dokja-ahjussi was smart enough to think of killing one instead of a person. But Cale's carriage?

Kim Namwoon’s eyes flicked to the now-broken metal door. That space beyond it had looked like a battlefield—and not one that insects could've solved.

There was little to no possibility that they could've survived by killing insects like they did. No panic-driven scramble for grasshoppers. Just Cale and the Yoo Joonghyuk person, stepping out of a massacre like it was just another Tuesday.

So how?

How the hell did Cale survive something like that?

Cale, for his part, looked completely unfazed. He flicked his eyes lazily to the white-haired teen, expression unreadable, like he hadn’t just walked out of a blood-slicked scene straight from a horror film. Then he spoke, simple and calm, "I killed a cockroach," he says truthfully.

Kim Namwoon blinked.

A beat of silence passed between them. The disbelief on Namwoon’s face was almost comical—like someone had just told him the apocalypse was delayed because it got stuck in traffic.

"A... cockroach?" he echoed slowly, as if the word itself was foreign on his tongue.

Cale nodded, completely deadpan. Not a twitch of guilt, not even a hint of irony. He said it like he was stating the weather.

Kim Namwoon stared at him with wide, confused eyes, trying to process that information. But the more he thought about it, the more his brain refused to compute.

His thoughts immediately drifted back to the pile of dead bodies—limbs bent at wrong angles, blood sprayed across the seats like red paint splattered on canvas, and the thick, almost suffocating air of death that lingered in the wake of Cale and Joonghyuk’s dramatic entrance.

"Then what about the pile of dead bodies?" he asked, voice barely above a whisper, like he was scared of the answer.

His mind wandered to the... spectacle he’d seen in the carriage Cale and Joonghyuk came out from.

It wasn’t just killing. It was slaughter.

The redhead hummed, soft and nonchalant, like he was being asked about spilled coffee rather than corpses. He tilted his head, his eyes darting back to the train carriage with the now broken door, eyes distant as if replaying a memory already starting to fade.

"Joonghyuk hyung did that."

The answer came with such casual finality that it almost knocked the wind out of Namwoon.

Like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Like, duh, of course the man who'd just broken a steel door into submission was responsible for a small massacre.

Kim Namwoon turned to look at Yoo Joonghyuk, who stood nearby like an ominous statue, arms crossed and eyes boring into the distance. His posture relaxed—no tension, no guilt. As if he hadn't just painted the walls red with someone's spleen.

Lee Jihye glanced between the three of them, eyes narrowed slightly, as if she too were trying to piece together what in the actual hell had happened in that other carriage.

Namwoon swallowed thickly. The image of those bodies burned in his mind.

Cale? Cale had killed a cockroach.

But Yoo Joonghyuk?

Yoo Joonghyuk had turned survival into a hunt.

And suddenly, Kim Namwoon wasn’t sure if he was safe being in close proximity with the black haired swordsman.

The silence that followed Cale’s nonchalant declaration stretched longer than it should have. 

Kim Namwoon stared, eyes flicking toward Yoo Joonghyuk with something caught between awe and terror. The older man hadn’t moved. He stood like a jagged stone in the middle of a battlefield, shoulders squared, expression unreadable, gaze cutting through the air like a blade. 

Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t even blink. He didn’t need to confirm it. His silence was its own confession.

And really, Kim Namwoon didn’t need confirmation. The bodies spoke loudly enough.

Namwoon’s lips parted as if to speak again, but no words came out. What could he possibly say? What would be the right response to learning your red-haired friend killed a cockroach while his hyung re-enacted a war crime?

"Wait, hold on," Lee Jihye finally spoke, her voice sharp with that familiar brand of disbelief only she could deliver. She pointed an accusatory finger toward Cale, "So you survived by killing a cockroach, and he—" she jerked her thumb toward Joonghyuk without looking "—went on a killing spree?!"

Cale looked thoughtful for a moment. "I wouldn’t call it a spree."

Joonghyuk's eye twitched.

Cale blinked. "More like... he killed everything on his way."

"THAT MAKES IT WORSE!" Lee Jihye shrieked, throwing her hands in the air. Her ponytail bounced violently behind her. "What kind of team-up did you two have?! Were you the emotional support pet while he committed murder?"

"Technically, the scenario did require us to kill something," Cale replied, as calm as a monk. "I just chose something small. He chose... volume." Lies. He did not choose shit. He almost died if not for Yoo Joonghyuk killing a cockroach in his hand.

Yoo Joonghyuk finally turned to look at him—slowly, like the movement alone was straining to do.

"Do you want to die?" he asked in a tone so flat it could’ve cut marble.

Cale just offered him a cheeky smile, the same kind that would have driven the crown prince to both like and smite him in the same breath.

"Later," Cale said. "I'm busy."

Kim Namwoon, who had up until now been silently re-evaluating all his life choices, finally found his voice again. It came out quieter than he expected.

"...How did you end up with him?" he asked, gesturing toward Yoo Joonghyuk as if afraid saying his name might summon another execution.

Cale shrugged. "Funny story. He tried to kill me."

The white haired teen looked at him as if he had grown two heads, "And you still chose to stay with him?!" 

Yoo Joonghyuk muttered something that might have been a death threat. Or a prayer. Or both.

"And you just... teamed up?" Lee Jihye asked, eyes narrowing.

"Not exactly," Cale said, smile twitching wider. "I annoyed him into cooperation."

Yoo Joonghyuk’s jaw clenched hard enough to crack a tooth.

"You're still doing it."

"And you're still not killing me," Cale shot back.

Kim Namwoon gave up and sat down on the nearest intact bench, dragging an arm across his forehead like a soldier returning from war. "I don’t understand anything anymore."

"You never did," Lee Jihye muttered.

Cale stepped back, surveying the ruined train car. Blood still dripped from ceiling panels, smeared across the windows in strange shapes. The corpses were quiet now, unmoving, already starting to cool.

The silence was the kind that only followed screaming.

He folded his arms and tilted his head. "Well," he said brightly, "At least we’re all alive."

"For now," Joonghyuk replied ominously.

Kim Namwoon groaned and let his head fall back. "This is going to be a long apocalypse."

"You have no idea," Cale muttered, eyes flicking toward the blue text still lingering in his peripheral vision.

[Main Scenario #1 – Proof of Value has ended.]

[Additional compensation settlement will begin.]

His stomach twisted. It was only the beginning.

And with Joonghyuk looming at his side, Namwoon clinging to him like an abandoned puppy, and Jihye practically vibrating with questions and unspoken threats, Cale knew one thing for sure—

This was going to be hell.

But at least, for now, it was a hell they could survive. Together.

Their conversation came to an abrupt halt when the train gave a final screech and shudder, grinding to a stop. Finally.

The subway had stopped halfway past Dongho Bridge.

"Oh my god..."

Several survivors staggered to their feet, their eyes widening at the spectacle waiting outside. The once-familiar skyline of Seoul had become an apocalyptic ruin. Collapsed buildings littered the cityscape, and grotesque monsters—reminiscent of giant snakes—slithered through the wreckage. One was currently gnawing on the mangled remains of a fighter jet that had crash-landed into the Han River.

"W-What the hell...!"

As the train halted, Kim Dokja, silent until now, stepped forward toward the glass. He peered out, his eyes narrowing, calmly absorbing the nightmare outside.

An ichthyosaur.

Kim Dokja immediately recognized it. A creature straight out of Ways of Survival. A sea serpent-like monster, later classified as a Grade 7 threat in the novel.

One of the ichthyosaurs suddenly turned its grotesque head, locking eyes with the train car.

"U-Uwaaah! It is coming!"

A wave of panic washed over the survivors. Screams rang out, people scrambling away from the windows.

But Kim Dokja remained still. Detached. Unflinching.

The ichthyosaur made a slow circle under Dongho Bridge before retreating back beneath the surface, disappearing into a great, bubbling swell of water.

[Compensation settlement is delayed due to an unexpected scenario check. Please wait.]

The familiar blue text blinked in the air.

That’s odd. The reward distribution should’ve already begun. Yet instead of coins or congratulatory system messages, only an error screen hovered in front of him.

Kim Dokja’s gaze turned thoughtful.

'It was probably due to that Cale person.'

In the original flow of Ways of Survival, Kim Namwoon should have butchered nearly everyone in this carriage. That was how things were supposed to go. The bloodbath, the shift to the next scenario—it was all written.

But it didn’t happen.

Somehow, Cale had changed everything. Whether by charm or chaos, he had halted the slaughter. Even Yoo Joonghyuk was behaving differently, like a half-tamed beast standing beside a circus performer.

[ A handful of constellations admire your scenario.]

[ The constellations have sponsored you 500 coins.]

Kim Dokja smiled faintly as the glowing system messages rolled into view.

Then he turned toward where Lee Hyunsung and the rest of the survivors were huddled, their faces dazed, confused, but alive. More people had survived than he’d anticipated.

[ Wow, amazing.]

A familiar voice broke the silence. Floating in midair was the dokkaebi, its expression lit with mingled astonishment and curiosity. Sparkling stars hovered above its head like glowing fireflies.

Kim Dokja instinctively counted. One, two… twenty, twenty-one.

Twenty-one in total. A small number, but significant for a low-level dokkaebi just beginning their channel.

[For 21 people to be connected to my channel… Haha, isn’t this quite good? Gosh, thank you for your sponsorship, Constellations. Haha, everyone! Did you properly show off your value?]

The number of stars represented constellations—spectators watching from afar. Twenty-one wasn’t a massive count, but for a scenario this early, it was... unusual.

[The  number of survivors is quite high? The two fellows in the next carriage was a nutter as well… It seems that things are quite interesting today.]

The dokkaebi moved its hands, manipulating translucent screens only it could see. Moments later, a list of names shimmered into the air.

[Survivors  from the 3434 Train to Bulgwang, Carriage 3807: Kim Dokja, Lee Hyunsung, Yoo Sangah, Han Myungoh, Lee Gilyoung, Yoo Joonghyuk, and Cale Henituse. A total of seven survivors.]

The dokkaebi blinked, its voice rising with an edge of surprise.

[Oh!  It seems like the fellows from the next carriage are here as well… Oh well, not that I care.]

Seven people.

Dokja quietly scanned the figures around him, mentally matching each name to a face.

Lee Hyunsung—muscular, strong-willed, a solid survival candidate.

And Lee Gilyoung... a small boy, trembling beside a corpse. Still stained with the greenish-black fluid of a crushed grasshopper.

His hands were shaking, his eyes locked on the lifeless body of his mother, whose head had been lost in the chaos. She had abandoned him. Had sided with the mob to kill the old grandmother.

And the boy had witnessed all of it.

Dokja hesitated before placing a hand gently on the child's shoulder. Not out of empathy. Not quite. It wasn't compassion. No, it was something simpler.

It was hypocrisy.

"Kid."

The boy turned slowly. His eyes were wide, glassy. Not with grief, but with terror.

It wasn't his mother's death that haunted him.

It was the sudden understanding of mortality. The realization that he could die.

"Do you want to live?"

The question hung heavy in the air.

The boy's lips trembled. His body quivered.

And then, ever so slowly, he nodded.

"Then let's go together." Kim Dokja gave a small, measured smile.

Watching the exchange from a few steps away, Cale couldn't help the sigh that escaped him. His gaze flicked between the boy and the man who had just made a promise far larger than he realized.

He pitied the child who had just lost everything. But he also pitied Kim Dokja—this man who so casually picked up a responsibility that could crush him.

Cale's eyes narrowed, the corners of his mouth twitching downward.

He tsk'ed quietly.

'He's too reckless,' he thought.

"W-Will you release us now? Didn’t you get what you wanted?"

Han Myungoh, his designer shirt in tatters and face streaked with snot, shouted from several steps away, his voice quivering. Department Head Han Myungoh—an annoyingly lucky man. Kim Dokja couldn't help but wonder why the hell someone like Han Myungoh was even on the subway.

This was the man who proudly flashed an S-class Mercedes-Benz just last week, parading it around like a peacock. Yet here he was, crammed in a subway car with the rest of them.

The dokkaebi floated lazily in the air, eyes twinkling with amusement.

[Hrmm, released? Haven’t you seen outside? Do you really want to go out there?]

The chuckle that followed was dark and whimsical, like a jester amused by the desperation of ants trapped in a jar.

[It is somehow admirable. In fact, I didn’t expect much from this carriage but you managed to pass the first scenario. This proves that bugs deserve to survive.]

The dokkaebi's words dropped like a stone in the pit of everyone's stomachs.

Bugs. That was how it saw them.

The survivors, who had briefly dared to hope, fell silent once more, their fragile optimism shattering under the weight of those words.

[Now now, shouldn’t there be a reward for overcoming the hardships? As a reward for the first scenario, you are entitled to the sponsorship of the 'constellations.' Waahhh! How about it? Aren’t you looking forward to it? Hmm, you are all unenthusiastic. This is really a big deal.]

Silence. Blank stares. Confused frowns.

The reaction was, of course, natural.

Kim Dokja was the only one who understood what the dokkaebi was talking about. The only one who knew what 'constellations' and 'sponsorships' truly meant. 

The great event.

Sponsor Selection. 

A crucial turning point in Ways of Survival was about to begin.

[Hmm, everybody has confused expressions. I can easily tell you. Right now, you are incredibly weak. If you are thrown into the scenarios that will take place, you will be killed when you meet a weak ground rat, let alone a 'kruk.' But kindly, there are some great people in the universe who pity you and would like to sponsor you. Do you understand what I am saying?]

At last, someone couldn’t take it anymore.

Lee Hyunsung stepped forward, voice firm but perplexed.

"What are you saying? Who is sponsoring whom..."

[Hmm, my words are just entering dirty ears. Isn’t there an old saying in South Korea? It is better to see it once than listen a hundred times. So experience it directly. Well, the less fortunate ones might not get the chance. Hahahat!]

Dokja’s breath caught for a moment. This was the moment. 

A single choice now could determine life or death later.

"Dokja-ssi? Two strange choices suddenly appeared in front of me..."

"I don’t know even if you ask me."

He answered with a shrug, casual and practiced. A lie, of course—but a necessary one. Better to feign ignorance than risk suspicion.

Still, he was surprised.

'Two options already? Yoo Sangah… you're luckier than I thought.'

"Do it comfortably. Think of it as an aptitude test."

"Aptitude test..."

"Nobody knows what the situation is anyway. Why not do it comfortably?"

"Ah... I understand."

Yoo Sangah fell silent, her eyes growing distant as she stared into space. Her brows furrowed, as if seeing something far away and deeply mysterious.

Then, one by one, the rest began to quiet down. Their expressions grew still, their gazes fixed forward. They were reading the options—just as he was.

[Sponsor Selection]

-Please select your sponsor

-Your chosen sponsor will be your strong supporter.

Abyssal Black Flame Dragon

Demon-like Judge of Fire

Secretive Plotter

Prisoner of the Golden Headband.

Four sponsors.

Not bad—considering that even Yoo Joonghyuk, the protagonist of Ways of Survival, only had five options his first time. The constellations, ever so cryptic, never used real names. Instead, they cloaked their identities in grandiose titles.

But Kim Dokja... he knew the game. He was the sole reader of the original novel. He could crack the code.

Abyssal Black Flame Dragon.

A terrifying name, and a powerful one. This constellation led the infamous Black Cloud, a group of constellstions. It gave its contractor explosive offensive power—great for early survival when brute strength mattered most.

But that power came at a price.

The more it was used, the more the mind decayed. Sanity would fray like worn rope. In time, its incarnations became bloodthirsty lunatics.

Kim Dokja shuddered. This constellation had a thing for dramatic loners with 'chuuni' delusions. He couldn’t fathom why it chose him.

No thanks.

Demon-like Judge of Fire.

The name sounded sinister, but it was an intentional mislead. The 'demon-like' meant not actually a demon. Combined with 'judge' and 'fire'... it painted a very specific picture.

An angel.

Specifically, Archangel Uriel.

Dokja was stunned. Uriel was no lightweight. Her power was enormous—but came with many restrictions. A being of absolute good always demanded a steep price for her assistance.

Still, this was a solid choice.

Pending.

Secretive Plotter. 

Now this one puzzled him.

He’d never seen it before.

It might have been mentioned in passing in Ways of Survival, but it left no impression. No lore.

Just a name—Secretive Plotter.

Too vague. Too quiet. That didn’t mean it was weak, but it left him unsettled.

Still, it was on the table.

Also pending.

Prisoner of the Golden Headband.

And then there was this.

Kim Dokja almost dropped to his knees.

He blinked again and again, but the name didn’t vanish. It was real. The Prisoner of the Golden Headband.

A title full of layered meaning.

Yes, the word ‘prisoner’ gave it a negative ring, but ‘golden headband’? That was unmistakable.

The smallest prison in the world.

He knew immediately who it was.

The Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal.

The Handsome Monkey King.

Sun Wukong.

A being shackled by a golden band.

This was a being of overwhelming might—described in Ways of Survival as someone capable of slaughtering hundreds with a single strike of his staff. And now, for some reason, that same legend was offering Kim Dokja his sponsorship.

Why?

He didn’t know.

But if he accepted...

He might just survive everything. Maybe even more.

Then his eyes flicked to the black-haired swordsman—Yoo Joonghyuk. Even now, the man emanated raw danger, like a blade kept half-drawn from its sheath.

'If I chose the Great Sage the Equal of Heaven... Could I win against him?' Kim Dokja wondered.

And then his gaze wandered once more.

To the redhead beside the swordsman.

Cale.

A boy who lounged as if this apocalypse were merely background noise. Unconcerned. Unmoved. He wasn’t just unusual—he was entirely out of sync with this world.

'There’s something wrong about this Cale...' Kim Dokja thought. 'Something that doesn’t belong here.'

He gritted his teeth.

'I’ll figure it out. No matter what.'

The novel had already gone off track.

But he would make sure it didn't derail completely.

Kim Dokja clenched his fists, then relaxed them with effort. His eyes returned to the floating names.

The clock was ticking.

Soon, his moment to choose would end.

No matter who he picked, the consequences would be massive. For him. For Yoo Joonghyuk. For the others in the carriage. For the future of this crumbling world.

And possibly... for the narrative itself.

The story he had loved. The story he had memorized. The story he had wanted to follow—

It’s already changing.

And all because of a single variable.

Cale.