Stories (1)

In cabin 3807, Xin Jian looked around the train cabin. She reappeared there each time they rewound time.

After Cale left the orphanage, she had left after him and took the same subway as him.

Separated by only one cabin, Xin Jian had been even closer to Cale than he had expected.

In the lord of mysteries' blind spot, she observed Klein then smiled.

She reached out her hand and the tip of her fingers lightly brushed against Klein's clothes.

Feeling something, Zhou Mingrui turned to the side but saw nobody there.

In the subway train full of strangers, he soon began the scenarios.

***

In the middle of a conversation with someone called 'Miss Justice', Cale opened his eyes and found himself back to the subway train.

Cale: ?

Understanding dawned on him as he covered his face and sighed.

Why did Yoo Jonghyuk die this time? They weren't even in the middle of a scenario!

With a headache, Cale mentally cursed and mourned because his rest while the members of the Tarot Club did everything had been forcibly ended.

As Cale sighed for the nth time, a message appeared in front of him.

[The constellation 'The World Needs Justice' greets you.]

Cale: ?

[Your constellation is looking at you.]

What was his constellation doing?

Was changing her modifier possible?

Xin Jian made a mischievous smile, pleased. When entering her modifier into the Star Stream this time, she had asked the Oldest Dream to use 'The World Needs Justice' instead of 'Believer in Mysteries'.

Meanwhile, the Oldest Dream continued to judge her.

Cale shook his head and ignored it.

The scenario was starting, now he should probably move away from his spot-

"…"

Cale met Yoo Jonghyuk's gaze. The regressor seemed to have already subdued the terrorist.

Then, something unexpected happened. Yoo Jonghyuk was heading to him.

Had the regressor hit his head? Hadn't he already decided to let Cale die from now on? Or was he going to kill him himself? Cale couldn't guess what was going through that man's head. However, he was sure that Yoo Jonghyuk shouldn't know that he was alive in the next round.

"Kid, I'll help you go through this scenario, you just need to follow what I say."

Cale looked at the regressor.

Why was he insisting?

He finally decided to voice out his doubts.

"Why?"

Yoo Jonghyuk faced the calm teenager. Was Cale not scared because he had been less brutal with the terrorist this time?

The regressor didn't really know the answer to Cale's question. Did he have a change of heart because of his last thoughts before dying?

Maybe he could also save the teenager in front of him instead of letting him die.

"I want to save as many people as possible." He replied.

Cale gazed back at him.

"And what if I don't want to be saved?"

Yoo Jonghyuk's eyes widened slightly.

Cale continued so that the regressor would not misunderstand.

"More of these so-called 'scenarios' may be waiting ahead. Now, we have to kill one person to survive, but what about after that? We'll surely have to kill even more people. If I am not even able to kill someone by myself here, then I won't be able to survive the next scenarios either."

Yoo Jonghyuk listened to the mature words of the teenager and Cale concluded his explanation.

"Moreover, if we have to do this much for only the 'first' scenario, we may go through things that are even worse later, and it might be better to give up now than to continue."

It may be better to die now than to go through hell while trying to survive afterward.

"And it isn't your responsibility to save everyone. Some people may not want to be saved."

Cale turned his gaze away and glanced at the timer while Yoo Jonghyuk stood still, pondering over Cale's words.

"…I understand."

If Cale did not want to be saved, then he should respect his choice.

Yoo Jonghyuk killed the terrorist he had knocked unconscious and completed the scenario.

As he felt that the regressor had stopped paying attention to him, Cale breathed out a sighed of relief. Yoo Jonghyuk had bought his lies.

Cale moved away to scam someone like the last round, survived by demagogy killing and hid.

Yoo Jonghyuk broke the door and glanced at the people in the next cabin, checking if Kim Dokja was there. However, as usual, the latter was nowhere to be found.

The regressor then coldly ignored Zhou Mingrui and exited the train. He didn't need to ask him any questions since he already knew that the man was suspicious.

Soon after the two left, Cale came out of the cabin and also crossed the bridge.

He had decided to tail Yoo Jonghyuk this time to make sure that the man didn't suddenly die for no reason.

***

"Guuh…!"

Lee Jihye tried to get out of the man's hold.

The man's nails pierced her skin as he strangled her and the sound of laughter came to her ears.

She held back the tears forming in her eyes as she desperately tried to make the man release her, out of breath.

At this rate, she was about to die.

Lee Jihye gritted her teeth.

She remembered her friend's expression as she told Lee Jihye to kill her.

How she had to kill her in the first scenario…

Lee Jihye repressed the surging nausea.

If she died here, would she join her friend in the afterlife? Then, she would have to apologize because she wasn't able to survive.

Tears came out of her eyes and she struggled to get the man's hand off her neck, but it was in vain, the other person's stats were much higher than hers.

Lee Jihye couldn't die. After all she had done to arrive here, even after her friend's sacrifice, how useless would she be if this was her end?

She had to live.

Lee Jihye swung her leg to the man's lower parts but missed. Enraged by her attempt, the man punched her in the stomach and she coughed blood.

"Ugh!"

She felt her consciousness fade. At this rate, she was about to die.

'I don't want to die…'

Tears ran down her cheeks in frustration.

Then.

Pang!

Through her blurry vision, a man dressed in black swung his sword and cut off the heads of her attackers one by one.

In a daze, Lee Jihye thought she was dreaming.

Then, the grip around her neck was released as the arm of the person struggling was cut off. Blood splashed on her cheek.

"Cough! Cough!"

Lee Jihye choked as air finally entered her lungs. She fell to her knees and desperately breathed in and out.

After she calmed down, she raised her head and gazed at the man staring down at her. Not a single drop of blood was on his clothes as he sheathed back his sword.

The man in a black coat standing under the moonlight, with an incredibly beautiful face, was the most handsome and strongest person she had ever seen.

At that moment, her savior looked extremely cool.

She was convinced that nobody was as strong as that man.

Lee Jihye wanted to be as strong as him. She needed to be strong to be able to survive.

Full of determination, she asked him.

"Can I become your student?"

She would insist until that person accepted.

That's how Lee Jihye was saved by Yoo Jonghyuk.

***

Cale followed Yoo Jonghyuk from a certain distance to make sure he wasn't noticed.

He tailed him to Chungmuro Station and hid among the crowd there. As Yoo Jonghyuk and Lee Jihye occupied green zones, Cale went through that scenario for the first time.

He found an empty zone in an inconspicuous corner and waited there. Then, the scenario began and the people who hadn't found a green zone yet started to be killed by monsters.

Cale frowned at the massacre.

When 8 hours passed, he bypassed the dead corpses on the ground and went in the direction Yoo Jonghyuk had disappeared to a while ago. Then, he found a hidden scenario.

He went through the different floors of the Theater Dungeon, sometimes forced to complete the movies Yoo Jonghyuk had left aside, and went up.

As he received coins as a scenario reward for ending another film, Cale saw something out of the corner of his eye.

He checked the item and smiled. Maybe it was worth it to follow Yoo Jonghyuk in the end.

+

Name: Dolus's earring

Grade: B

Description: This earring can make you turn into anyone.

+

Cale took off his hood and put on the earring, testing the item's effect. He searched for a mirror and looked at his reflection.

Satisfied, he nodded and stole some clothes from the movie before exiting, disguising himself as a holy-looking priest wearing a robe that had nothing to do with his previous self.