The City Where Mirrors Lie

[Scenario #3: The Choice of Masks – Phase 1 Begins]

[Location: Mirror City – Zone 7]

[Class: Observer – Actions Limited to 1 per Phase]

[Time Remaining: 5h 59m 59s]

Jae-hwan stepped onto a street that had no sky.

Above him, buildings stretched forever upward—not toward the clouds, but toward themselves, folding like paper in a child's hand. Reflections hung mid-air. Some showed people walking by. Some showed things that had never happened.

A man walked past with his face reversed.

A woman screamed from inside a mirror.

A child handed something invisible to an old man. The old man wept and disappeared.

[Warning: Zone 7 Distortion Level – 61%]

[Truth-to-Falsehood Ratio: 2:5]

[Your Perception May Be Altered]

Jae-hwan narrowed his eyes.

It was like someone had shattered the world and reassembled it without caring if the pieces fit.

[Trait Activated: Observer's Eye – Hidden Narrative Revealed]

The building to his left shifted.

In its reflection, a girl with silver hair staggered through smoke. But in reality, the building was empty.

"Han Yura?" he muttered.

He turned to follow.

"Don't trust what you see."

The voice came from behind him.

He spun.

No one was there.

"Not everything reflected was ever real."

He caught a glimpse of something scrawled on the wall. A sentence.

"The Observer may see all truths—but cannot change them freely."

A ripple passed through him.

[Your remaining action for this phase: 1]

He kept walking.

The city pulsed like a living thing. Roads folded. Lampposts hung upside down. Street signs lied.

One read "Exit" and pointed into a pit of knives.

Another read "Salvation" and led back in a loop.

He heard footsteps.

A figure approached.

A tall man, muscular, with a military haircut and a rifle slung across his back. His mask was painted crimson.

[Mask Type: Villain]

They locked eyes.

Jae-hwan said nothing.

The man laughed. "Let me guess. Observer?"

"…Yes."

"Thought so. Only Observers look that miserable."

He spat. "Useless class. You see everything, can't change anything. Why bother?"

Jae-hwan replied calmly. "Knowing something is the first step to changing it."

The Villain chuckled. "Then enjoy your view. I've got a city to burn."

He walked past.

A mirror near Jae-hwan lit up.

In its surface, the Villain was shown stabbing someone from behind—a child.

[Future Possibility – 87% Match]

Jae-hwan reached for his pen.

[Warning: You may act once. Do you wish to intervene now?]

He hesitated.

Was it the right time?

He let the Villain pass.

[Action Reserved]

Deeper into the district, the reflections grew stranger.

In one, he saw himself—standing over a battlefield, blood dripping from his hands.

Another showed him kneeling, surrounded by books, crying.

A child approached him.

No, not a child. A masked figure.

[Mask Type: Savior]

"Are you the Observer?" the voice asked.

"I am."

The figure held up a card.

A memory played:

Jae-hwan on a train. A monster. His hand holding a pen.

"You saved me," the child said. "In Scenario 1."

He remembered. Briefly. A face in the crowd.

"I just acted," he replied.

The child nodded. "That's why I came. There's someone you need to see."

They turned a corner.

In the mirror ahead—Han Yura.

Trapped. Beaten. Surrounded by twisted versions of herself. A dozen Han Yuras with different scars, different stories.

Each one crying.

Each one screaming at the real one:

"You abandoned us!"

"You survived alone!"

"You rewrote your role!"

[Truth Confrontation Detected: Subject – Han Yura]

[Memory Fragment: Heroine Rewritten, Guilt Loop Active]

Jae-hwan clenched his fists.

The Observer could see.

But could only act once.

He found her at the base of a mirrored tree.

She didn't see him.

She sat, bleeding, whispering to herself.

"I didn't want to forget them…"

He stepped forward.

She didn't look up.

"I thought if I changed my path, they'd all live…"

He raised the pen.

[Do you wish to use your Observer Action for this Phase?]

"Yes."

He wrote:

"She is not the sum of her regrets. She is the one who endured them."

Light shot from the page.

The mirror around her shattered.

Han Yura gasped.

Jae-hwan knelt beside her.

She looked up. Eyes clearing.

"You…?"

"You're not alone," he said.

[Observer Phase Action Used – 0 Remaining]

[Scenario Influence: Han Yura's Role Stabilized – Rank Up Pending]

Elsewhere, someone watched.

A figure in a cloak made of screens.

[Scenario Overseer: Vaelith Host – Architect Tier]

"He used his action... wisely."

Another figure appeared beside them, laughing.

A woman, face veiled by shifting narrative lines.

"Wisely? Or sentimentally?"

"The true story begins now," Vaelith whispered. "Let's see if he's still an Observer… when the lines blur."

To be continue...