The glitched scenario window solidified. The chaotic, overlapping code of [Scenario], [Quest], and [Setting] artifacts resolved into a single, sterile, and unyielding block of text.
[Scenario #??? – Compulsory Exposition]
[Task: Share your true background with the other participants.]
[Failure: Annihilation of 'Self'.]
Annihilation of 'Self'.
Kim Dokja's mind, which was already running hot, felt like it was about to short-circuit. 'That's not 'Death'. That's 'Existence Erasure'. It means the 'Story' of 'Kim Dokja' would cease, my Fables would unravel, and I would be deleted from the narrative of the universe.'
It was, in every sense, the worst possible threat.
Kim Hajin's hand twitched towards his Desert Eagle, before he realized that a gun was probably useless against a 'system' that dictated reality. 'A forced quest? No reward, just a penalty? This is a slave contract, not a scenario. And 'Annihilation of Self'? Does it mean my 'settings' get erased? My body? My soul?'
His anxiety began to manifest as a low, uncomfortable hum in his Stigma, as he placed the Orb of Regeneration and Desert Eagle into its inventory.
Klein, ever the calmest in the face of the apocalypse, was already analyzing.
'This is a sealed world, and these are its rules. It's like a ritual, or a 'grazing' by an unseen entity. The price for refusal is to have my 'Self'—my spirit, my memories, my very concept—annihilated.' He thought of the True Creator's ravings. This was, perhaps, not so different.
A heavy, awkward silence fell.
"So..." Kim Dokja said, his voice echoing slightly in the void. He was still the only translator. "Who wants to go first in our little 'Forced Trauma-Sharing' session?"
Hajin and Klein just stared at him.
He cleared his throat.
"Fine. I'll... wait. No. You." He pointed at Kim Hajin.
"Me?" Hajin said, outraged. "Why me?"
"Because you're also Korean, so it's easiest. And frankly, you seem the most... straightforward."
'Straightforward,' Hajin thought bitterly. ' I wouldn't ever call myself that.'
He looked at the penalty. 'Annihilation of Self'. He couldn't risk it. He let out a breath.
"Fine," he gritted out. "I... I'll go first."
He paused, trying to find the words. How did you explain this?
"My name is Kim Hajin. And I... I woke up in a world I wrote."
Kim Dokja's brain stalled.
'What… did he just say?'
He stared at Kim Hajin. The man looked anxious, annoyed, and profoundly tired. He didn't look like a liar.
"I woke up in a world I wrote."
The [Star Stream]'s translation was clear.
'He... wrote? Like, a novel? He's an... Author?'
The implications hit Kim Dokja like a freight train. His [Character List] had failed. His [Observation] was blocked. This man wasn't a 'Character' from a 'Story' he'd read. This man was...
Is this man tls123?
No, impossible, but the same class of being. A Creator. A 'God' of their world? But according to what he said he is no near to the title 'God'. But he is still an Author.
'No wonder his power was so 'pure'. It's not magic. It's the 'Setting' itself! He's not using the rules of the world; his skill is the rules!'
Hajin continued, his voice low. "Well, I 'co-wrote' it. There's this... entity. The Co-author. One time I received an email with the offer of helping me write 'The Returnee Hero'. I accepted it and I guess when Co-author received my consent… Bruh, it's... complicated."
Kim Dokja's mind was racing. An Author. He was standing next to an Author. The entire 'genre' of Kim Hajin's existence was different. Dokja was a 'Reader' surviving a 'Story'. Hajin was an 'Author' trapped in his own 'Draft'.
Klein listened intently as Kim Dokja translated Hajin's story.
'An 'Author'? He 'wrote' his world?'
The concept was alien, yet... familiar. In the 'Visionary' pathway, a Sequence 1 'Author' could turn what they wrote into reality. This... Kim Hajin. He was like a walking, high-Sequence 'Visionary' ability, but one who was trapped by his own creation.
'This explains his 'artificial' power source,' Klein analyzed, his Spirit Vision observing Hajin's tense aura. 'The 'Stigma' is not a power he gained. It is a fundamental law of his 'story', bound to his soul granted by that…Co-author? And they are indeed from the Modern Era. But from other country, South Korea?'
This made Hajin incredibly dangerous. Or incredibly useful. A being who could manipulate the 'settings' of reality was a terrifying variable.
Now it was Kim Dokja's turn.
"Well," Dokja said, scratching his cheek. "My turn, I guess."
He paused, a familiar, unreadable smile playing on his lips. It was the smile of a scammer who was about to tell the absolute truth.
"My name is Kim Dokja. And my world... it's a novel I finished. A webnovel, 'Ways of Survival'. 3,149 chapters. And I was the only person on Earth who read it to the end."
Kim Hajin just stared.
'What.'
His brain, which was already over-taxed, simply refused to process this. He used his [Observation and Reading] to accelerate his thinking process
'A Reader? He's a 'Reader'? Is that a joke? His name literally says it… Of a novel? What kind of protagonist 'setting' is that? How is that a special power? Well, his story seems interesting enough, unlike the one I had written.'
It felt... convenient. Far too convenient. A fellow Korean, also from a 'novel' world, but he's the 'Reader' and Hajin is the 'Author'? This reeked of the Co-author's convoluted, trope-filled plotting.
"So... you know the future?" Hajin asked, his voice laced with suspicion.
"I knew the future," Dokja corrected, his smile fading. "But now... I'm here. With you two. In a 'story' I've never read."
Klein, listening to the translation, felt a jolt. 'A 'Reader'.' He remembered the man's aura. The paradoxical life-and-death storm, surrounded by a 'wall of stories'. It made a horrible, perfect sense. He wasn't just in a story; he was protected by one or more. He was a 'Reader' who had stepped into the book.
This was a level of conceptual manipulation that Klein had only ever associated with... divination. This Kim Dokja was, in essence, a man who had divined the entire future of his world.
Now, all eyes turned to Klein.
Klein Moretti felt the weight of their gazes. One was an 'Author' who was trapped in his own story. The other was a 'Reader' who knew an entire world's script.
There was one thing in common.
They knew exactly what will happen.
And he? He was a transmigrator who had stumbled into a cosmic conspiracy, clawing his way up a ladder of madness while pretending to be a god he wasn't... yet.
He couldn't tell them the truth. To speak of 'Sefirah Castle' or 'The Fool' was to invite disaster. He had to give them a half-truth, one that was true enough to satisfy the 'Scenario'.
"My name is Klein Moretti," he said, his voice calm. "I am... a transmigrator. I'm from original Earth, a world much like yours." He glanced at Hajin's clothing and Dokja's phone. "And I woke up in a different body. In a different world."
He paused, choosing his words. "It is a world of cosmic gods, of hidden organizations, and a power system based on... 'potions'. We call them 'Beyonders'."
Both Kims processed this.
'A transmigrator?' Hajin thought. 'So, like me. But... 'potions'? 'Cosmic gods'? His 'setting' sounds like a high-fantasy, high-difficulty nightmare.' He suddenly felt a sliver of pity. His world had monsters, but at least he wrote the damn things and knew everything about them. He thought that his sufferings were nowhere near of Klein's who transmigrated to an unknown setting without any information!
Kim Dokja's mind was, for once, in perfect agreement. 'A transmigrator.' He almost scoffed. 'So we have an Author, a Reader, and a Transmigrator. It's like the setup for a B-list webnovel.'
But then he registered the rest.
That... was not a B-list trope. That was an SSS-grade, end-of-the-world Fable about apocalypse. This man, Klein, was from a 'World-Story' that was likely on the verge of collapse. 'This 'Beyonder' system... it sounds dangerously complex. And that gray fog that blocked my skill... he's hiding the most important part.'
As the last word was translated, the white window in front of them pinged.
[Scenario #??? has been cleared.]
[You have avoided 'Annihilation of Self'.]
The three of them let out a collective breath they didn't know they were holding. The oppressive, lethal pressure vanished.
And in that precise moment of relief...
Ping.
It was a different sound. Not the sterile 'ping' of the scenario. It was a familiar, electronic chime.
Kim Hajin's head snapped down to his wrist.
His smartwatch, which had been a dead, black brick, was on. The screen was lit.
"It... it works?" he whispered, stunned.
A single message was waiting for him. A message from his one and only 'system administrator'.
[Co-author]
From: Co-author
Subject: Emergency Resource Re-allocation
Hajin,
Apologies for the sudden 'setting change'. I've run into a resource issue for my next work. A critical shortage of 'Conceptual Resources'.
To resolve this, I had to loan out your 'Soul' and 'Story' for a short-term collaboration. The buyer, [■■], paid handsomely.
It won't be long. Just pass the 'trial' they've prepared. If you happen to meet [■■], do thank him for me. The payment was very generous.
Try not to die.
Kim Hajin read the message.
He read it again.
And a third time.
His internal monologue, usually a stream of anxious calculation, just... stopped. It was replaced by a pure, cold, white-hot rage.
'Resource... re-allocation?'
'LOANED OUT?!'
'PAID HANDSOMELY?!'
First, his world was a "novel." Then, he was an "extra" called Kim Chundong. Then he was a "variable." And now... now he was collateral. He was a piece of property. A 'Soul' and 'Story' that his bastard of a Co-author had pawned to the highest bidder for 'Conceptual Resources'.
"THANK HIM FOR ME?!"
He wanted to scream. He wanted to take his gun and empty a clip of Aether-infused bullet into the white void. All his struggles, all his pain, all his near-deaths... they were just 'Conceptual Resources' for some... thing... to buy.
"WHO THE HELL IS ■■"
As soon as he shouted that name everyone's heads almost exploded.
It felt like corruption from Cosmos and censorship from [Start Stream] at the same time.
"Hey," Kim Dokja said, noticing Hajin's entire body was shaking. "What happened."
"That bastard..." Hajin hissed, his voice trembling. "That fucking Co-author... HE SOLD ME!"
"He what?" Dokja said.
"He... he loaned me out! To some... some thing... named..." Hajin looked at his watch again, his voice dripping with venom. "■■"
They grabbed their heads in pain.
The name hung in the air.
Klein didn't recognize it. It meant nothing to him.
But Kim Dokja froze. His blood, which had just returned to normal, turned to absolute ice.
'The Co-author... of Hajin's world... sold Kim Hajin... to the ■■... of my world?'
The "collaboration" was real.
As if summoned by the name, a new entity appeared in the white void.
It didn't walk in. It just... was.
It was a small creature, with long ears and soft, white fur. It looked like a rabbit, but it was dressed in a bizarre, regal-looking waistcoat. It was a Dokkaebi.
Dokja felt a sense of Déjà vu from almost five years ago.
But this was not Bihyung. This was not any Dokkaebi he knew. This one's aura was... immense.
He activated
It was a 'King'.
[The exclusive skill 'Character List' is activated.]
[The 'King of Stories']
"No..." Kim Dokja whispered, taking an involuntary step back. "You... You shouldn't be here. It's too early."
Klein and Hajin immediately tensed. This new arrival, this... cartoon rabbit... felt more dangerous than anything they had yet encountered. The 'Story' and 'Setting' of the room were bending around it.
The King of Stories ignored them all, focusing on Kim Dokja. His voice was not high and squeaky, but deep and resonant, like a disapproving CEO.
[Incarnation 'Kim Dokja'. Your presence here is an anomaly. But, so is everything else.]
Only from his real voice they felt their insides twist.
The amount of Status it held was indescribable.
[Constellation, 'Demon King of Salvation', is revealing his Status.]
[Constellation, 'Watcher of Light and Darkness', is revealing his Status.]
A similar feeling to Audrey's placating surrounded Klein and Hajin, protecting them from the influence of the real voice.
Even then, King of Stories' status, which surpassed even of Myth-grade constellations', was immense.
[What is this?] Dokja demanded. [What have you done?]
The King of Stories sighed, as if dealing with a tiresome child. He turned to address all three of them.
[It is not what I have done. It is a 'Forced Collaboration'.]
He gestured to each of them.
[Your 'Co-author' and World Will... Your 'Original Creator'... And our 'Star Stream' and ■■... They have agreed on a merger. Your Stories are the capital. Your Settings are the foundation. Your Worlds are the new stage.]
He looked at them, his tiny, beady eyes unimpressed.
[Congratulations, Incarnations. You are the first 'Error' of this new reality.]
[Try to survive.]
The King of Stories raised a small, white-furred paw.
And snapped his fingers.
CRACK.
The sound was deafening. The infinite white void, the 'room' that had held them... shattered like a pane of glass.
Darkness rushed in, and with it, the undeniable, terrifying sensation of falling.