The rooftop garden had become very quiet.
Too quiet.
Kim Dokja stood between Yoo Joonghyuk and Persephone like an unwilling referee in a duel that neither side had fully decided to start yet.
The wind rustled through the strange flowers growing across the cracked concrete.
Neither of them looked away.
Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes were sharp and calculating, studying Persephone as if she were a puzzle that needed solving immediately.
Persephone, on the other hand, simply observed him with open curiosity.
Like someone encountering a fascinating creature for the first time.
Dokja rubbed his forehead.
This is exhausting already.
Yoo Joonghyuk finally spoke.
"You said you solved a scenario."
His voice was calm, but the tension behind it was obvious.
Persephone nodded.
"Yes."
"How?"
Dokja answered before she could.
"She buried the monster under a forest."
Yoo Joonghyuk frowned slightly.
"…A forest."
"Technically vines," Dokja corrected. "But the result was the same."
Yoo Joonghyuk looked at the garden around them again.
His instincts told him the plants here weren't ordinary manifestations of a stigma.
They felt older.
Stranger.
Like something from outside the system itself.
That thought alone made him uneasy.
Persephone noticed the way his gaze lingered on the vines.
"You're trying to understand my power."
"I am."
"Why?"
"Because if you are a threat," Yoo Joonghyuk replied calmly, "I will eliminate you."
Dokja sighed loudly.
"Could we not start with murder as the first option?"
Neither of them acknowledged him.
Persephone stepped slightly closer to Yoo Joonghyuk.
The distance between them was now only a few meters.
Yet she showed no sign of fear.
"You are the kind of man who solves every problem with a blade," she observed.
Yoo Joonghyuk didn't deny it.
"If necessary."
Persephone tilted her head slightly.
"And has that worked well for you?"
Dokja coughed awkwardly.
Oh this is going to trigger him.
Yoo Joonghyuk's expression hardened.
"I'm still alive."
"Yes," Persephone replied calmly.
"But you look very tired."
Silence fell across the rooftop.
Dokja winced.
Yoo Joonghyuk didn't react outwardly.
But something in his gaze darkened.
Persephone had struck a truth he rarely allowed anyone to acknowledge.
A regressor carried the weight of countless failures.
Countless endings.
Countless deaths.
And sometimes that exhaustion showed through the cracks.
Dokja quickly stepped forward.
"Okay! Maybe we avoid psychoanalyzing the regressor tonight."
Persephone blinked.
"Regressor?"
Dokja froze.
Yoo Joonghyuk's sword instantly rose again.
"…Kim Dokja."
His voice had become dangerously quiet.
Dokja forced a smile.
"Oops."
Persephone looked between them.
"Did I miss something important?"
"Yes," Yoo Joonghyuk said coldly.
He looked directly at Dokja.
"You talk too much."
Dokja raised his hands again.
"In my defense, secrets are hard to maintain around literal gods."
Persephone watched this exchange with growing amusement.
"So you return through time," she said to Yoo Joonghyuk.
His gaze snapped toward her.
"You understand that concept?"
"I am the Queen of the Underworld."
Her voice remained calm.
"I am very familiar with people who refuse to stay dead."
Dokja snorted.
"Fair point."
Yoo Joonghyuk studied her again.
If she truly understood the concept of regression so easily…
Then she might not be bound by time the same way the Star Stream was.
That thought was deeply unsettling.
Persephone stepped past Dokja slightly, walking slowly through the garden again.
The flowers opened as she passed.
"You two are interesting."
Dokja sighed.
"That's rarely a compliment."
"You shape the story in different ways," she continued.
Her eyes drifted between them.
"One bends the narrative through knowledge."
She looked at Dokja.
"The other breaks it through force."
Her gaze shifted to Yoo Joonghyuk.
"Together…"
She smiled faintly.
"You must cause endless problems for your watchers."
Dokja chuckled.
"You have no idea."
High above them, the constellations were indeed reacting.
System messages flickered again.
[Several constellations are discussing the foreign entity intensely.]
[A constellation suspects an 'Outer Narrative Intrusion'.]
[Constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is extremely excited.]
Dokja glanced at the notifications.
"Uriel is probably writing fanfiction already."
Yoo Joonghyuk ignored the messages.
His attention remained fixed on Persephone.
"You still haven't answered my question."
"Which one?"
"Why you are here."
Persephone stopped walking.
For a moment, she seemed to consider the ruined city beyond the rooftop.
Then she spoke quietly.
"In my world, stories have grown stagnant."
Dokja blinked.
"That's… unexpected."
"Gods repeat the same myths endlessly," she continued.
"The same tragedies. The same endings."
Her gaze returned to them.
"But your world…"
A faint smile appeared.
"Your world refuses to repeat itself properly."
Dokja laughed softly.
"That's because Yoo Joonghyuk keeps breaking it."
Yoo Joonghyuk did not appreciate that comment.
Persephone seemed intrigued.
"Exactly."
She stepped closer again.
"That unpredictability fascinates me."
Dokja tilted his head.
"So you crossed worlds because our apocalypse looked entertaining?"
"Yes."
Dokja nodded slowly.
"…Honestly that tracks."
Yoo Joonghyuk's voice cut through the moment.
"If you interfere with the scenarios again, the system will respond."
Persephone looked up at the sky.
The invisible domain of the Star Stream.
"I would like to see it try."
Dokja laughed nervously.
"Let's maybe not challenge the cosmic storytelling machine directly."
But the moment he said that—
A new message appeared.
This one far more ominous.
[Warning: Probability distortion detected.]
[An unknown entity has altered scenario balance.]
Dokja's smile vanished.
"…Ah."
Yoo Joonghyuk immediately noticed.
"What is it?"
Dokja stared at the message.
"The Star Stream finally noticed."
Persephone looked mildly curious.
"Noticed what?"
Before Dokja could answer—
Another message appeared.
[A higher constellation has requested observation authority.]
Dokja's stomach dropped.
"Yeah… that's not good."
Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes narrowed.
"Who?"
Dokja looked slowly toward the sky.
"…Someone powerful enough to enforce the rules."
The garden rustled softly around them.
Persephone watched the notifications with quiet interest.
Then she smiled.
"Good."
Dokja groaned.
"Why do you sound happy about that?"
Her dark eyes gleamed slightly.
"Because I'm curious what kind of god thinks they can control a story."
High above them—
Something vast had begun to turn its attention toward Earth.
And the Star Stream was preparing to intervene. 🌑📖⚔️🌸