[ Joonghyuk... Doesn't want to be near glass, but it's hard to avoid the ones that are broken onto the floor. He also has to account his Daemon, too. So to say, Nero will be close when this vision comes.
Your name is Yoo Joonghyuk. You are twenty-eight, a professional Esports player, and you're on your way to pick up your younger sister, Yoo Mia. It is busy on the subway, as it always is in Seoul. You're used to it and keep your eyes on your smartphone... Looking up the report the private investigator you hired has finally sent you. It is then the subway abruptly stops. It's then when the world changes. A white fluffy goblin shows up and tells you the stage is ready for the upcoming apocalypse.
A blue system message pops up to every person on the train.
< Main Scenario #1 – Proof of Value > Category: Main Difficulty: F Clear Conditions: Kill one or more creatures. Time Limit: 30 minutes Reward: 300 coins Failure: Death
Of course, people protest. They try to ward off the goblin with yells and screams in their panic, but it makes an example of them. Pop pop pop, three heads explode. Participate in the scenario of die the exact same way. Blood splatters onto people and the window panes... You're scared. There's... Only people here. In less than a minute, fights start breaking out around you. No one was spared and eventually everyone chose to kill to survive—elderly, men, women, and children. You, too, choose to take another's life.
More system messages flood.
[ Great Sage, Heaven's Equal has donated 200 coins for your first kill! ] [ Maritime War God has donated 100 coins for your perseverance! ] [ Abyssal Black Flame Dragon demands more carnage! ]
You don't want to die. Mia... Will she be okay? You have to return to her. You have to find her.
But you don't last long. By the time you and the other survivors could get out of your train cart, the dead start rising and snarl. The only thing they know is hunger now, so they swarm their prey: you and the others. Screams ring again in your ears, but they taper out. You can't tell if it's because they've been caught or your senses are fading.
You've taken someone's life to live for how long? Ten more minutes? On the floor, you can feel your blood pool beneath you as human teeth snag onto your neck, eating away at your flesh. You die from blood loss.
Then you wake up again, on that train, and repeat. Again, you must take a life. Again, you have to survive. This time hopefully longer than the last.
Ah, this time you hesitated. You couldn't take the life of a small girl... She reminded you of Mia and you hesitated, so her mother took that chance to kill you instead.
You wake up again, on that train, and repeat. Again you must take a life. Again, you have to survive. This time hopefully longer than the last.
The man that helped you against those that attacked you ended up strangling you when you let your guard down. Those messages keep popping up. You're getting the sense that your life is like a drama to these... Constellations—gods—who tuned into the livestream. White hot disdain swelled inside of you, mixing in with the smell of bile and blood before your eyesight goes.
You wake up again, on that train, and repeat. Again you must take a life. Again, you have to survive. This time...
[That's also deeply disorienting. He died? He lived? How many times did he think he just died. It's not his memory, but when it's broadcast like this, for a moment it's hard to tell where he ends and who it belongs to begins.
Constellations? Gods? Was that what "Great Sage, Heaven's Equal" and the rest of them were?]
[It's the Oz vibes. It's almost all Oz vibes, despite the fact he has barely even spoken to him.]
's nothin'.
[Is what he says, but he takes a slight step back and a memory begins to play.
You fall into a chair next to the bed this man is resting in, affection, exasperation and an exasperation that hits you to your core. Why is he always like this? He’s half dead and barely breathing it takes everything in you not to throttle him for his recklessness.
He says something and with every word, your frustration grows. "What do you fucking mean you’re fine?!" You continue, angrily, desperately trying to convince him to see reason. You want him to be safe, you want him to be alive and to stop risking his life. You don’t think it’s that much to ask.
The North is dangerous, and you both know that. How is it that you’re the only one that seems to care about this man’s safety!? You're so tired, you don't want to see him dead. You want him alive and well and-
He reaches up, gently caressing your cheek, ignoring the pain he should obviously be in. Your heart hammers away at your chest. His voice is warm, "Don’t make that face… I’m counting on you, partner."]
[ THEY ONLY PRIVATELY TALKED ONCE AND NERO IS LIKE sweats a bit. Hm. Joonghyuk goes quiet as the memory plays. It's sweet, despite the worry. It's a type of memory that reminds him such moments exist and he had shared similar ones in the past. Sometimes, it's hard to remember.
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w2 tuesday
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Constellations? Gods? Was that what "Great Sage, Heaven's Equal" and the rest of them were?]
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[ Hopefully his voice can snap Nero out of it. ]
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Y-Yes?
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[ Why getting nervous and staring?? ]
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's nothin'.
[Is what he says, but he takes a slight step back and a memory begins to play.
You fall into a chair next to the bed this man is resting in, affection, exasperation and an exasperation that hits you to your core. Why is he always like this? He’s half dead and barely breathing it takes everything in you not to throttle him for his recklessness.
He says something and with every word, your frustration grows. "What do you fucking mean you’re fine?!" You continue, angrily, desperately trying to convince him to see reason. You want him to be safe, you want him to be alive and to stop risking his life. You don’t think it’s that much to ask.
The North is dangerous, and you both know that. How is it that you’re the only one that seems to care about this man’s safety!? You're so tired, you don't want to see him dead. You want him alive and well and-
He reaches up, gently caressing your cheek, ignoring the pain he should obviously be in. Your heart hammers away at your chest. His voice is warm, "Don’t make that face… I’m counting on you, partner."]
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It takes him a moment. ]
Some people are too careless.
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It takes Nero a bit before he says anything.]
He's still like that.
[That much is probably fine to share.]
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[ Sorry that you are in love with him. Joonghyuk just talks like this about every reckless idiot. ]
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He'd say he's too stubborn for it or somethin'.
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[ He would know. He's stubborn himself. ]
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"is that why I watched you die??" is not something he wants to ask.]
It'd be nice if he could be a little more careful. He's only got the one life.
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Are you still with him?
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[Nero, please. Why are you so bad at this?]
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Right. You are not. You should find someone else.
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Why like a man like him, anyway?
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... If he cared for you, then he wouldn't be so reckless with his life.
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[There's so much exasperation there, but underneath it, maybe just the faintest trace of affection.]
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... Will he be waiting for you at home?
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[Bradley really shouldn't be waiting anymore, right? It's been a century.]
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[ Joonghyuk doesn't mean that with any romantic connotation. ]
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[Yeah, that's more or less true.]
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[ He is just thinking it's silly to hide it. ]
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