After breaking the Absolute Throne, Kim Dokja struggled with the aftershocks of probability that still sparked over his skin. Breathing heavily, he looked up at the dokkaebi whose snarl gradually turned into a sly smirk. Shouts and jeers rose up from the furious crowd, annoyed that they had been denied their chance to claim the throne for themselves, but Kim Dokja didn't care. This was all in service of the story he wanted.
[The scenarios that have already ended can't be changed by anyone. Anything that happens to you from now on is the fault of that human,] the dokkaebi said as he snapped his fingers with a cold expression on his face. [A kingless world? Great, let's try it once. I will see how many of you manage to survive.]
Kim Dokja's grin slipped from his face as people in the square began vanishing one by one. Even Yoo Sangah, Jung Heewon, and Lee Gilyoung disappeared. Fewer and fewer people remained in the square until Kim Dokja was the only one left.
The dokkaebi turned to him and grinned. [Please keep this in mind. If this world is destroyed, it is all because of you.]
As he opened up his mouth to speak—maybe even to yell—a light surrounded Kim Dokja and he, too, disappeared from the square. His head throbbed, his stomach roiled, and he wanted nothing more than to throw up as he was thrown through space and time until he couldn't handle it anymore and lost consciousness.
ERROR. C̶̺̔͝O̸͓͙͆̋̽R̶͔͇̋̌Ṟ̶̞̈́̂̓U̸͓͝P̶̡̜̟̕T̷̙̠̥̆̀Ḛ̸̥̍̚D̴̜̺̊̒͑ ̴̦̔̊D̶͔̏͘Ả̴̜̓T̶̙̆Ă̷̻͙. T̶̯̈́R̷̦̄̀̉Ä̷͎́͋̍N̷̹͌͋█F̸̙̟̈́̐E̷̘̗̓̓Ṙ̴̮̳͜ ̵̻͕̟̈́́͠Ȁ̵̞̤̗̿͠B̶̹̈́̆̏██T̴̝́̐E̵̞͒̃͊D̷̲͍̭͊͐̍.̷̟̘̀
Hidden Scenario
[Dramatis Personae]
Discover the '█████' of this world.
Category: Hidden
Difficulty: D
Time limit: --
Reward: 5000 coins, a̸̫̾́ ̵̭̜̘̇r̵̭͗e̵̢̨͍̚v̵̢̟̑e̴͈̍l̷͉̓̋a̷̬̍̀̾t̷͎͉̀̎͌ȋ̷͙̓o̴̰͊͒n̷͉͉͂́ ̵̻̀̍ȍ̸̡͖̽͆f̸̤̎̇͝ ̴̱͐͑t̶̢͋̈́̃͜h̸̭̕ë̶̪́̔̊ ̸͎͐'██████'
Penalty for failure: Death
Kim Dokja woke up in a weirdly blurry room that he couldn't recognize, only to see a strange system window floating in front of his eyes. It wasn't a scenario he recalled from TWSA, and the weird glitchiness of the text felt beyond off-putting. Something was definitely wrong, but it didn't look like he had a choice in accepting this hidden scenario.
He sighed and glanced around, noticing that after the scenario window disappeared, his surroundings were gradually becoming more visible. Around him, several Korean incarnations were groaning and holding their heads, glancing around anxiously. It didn't seem like anyone else had any clue of what was happening either.
"Dokja-ssi!"
Kim Dokja's head snapped over to where Yoo Sangah's voice came from and he saw her waving at him from the corner of the room, even as she still seemed somewhat nauseous. He hurried over to her and noticed that Jung Heewon was nearby, slowly getting up with a groan.
Lee Gilyoung's head was on Yoo Sangah's lap, and she gently ran her fingers through the young boy's hair as he scrunched his eyes shut tightly and moaned in pain from the headache.
Kim Dokja allowed a smile to cross his lips as he felt the tinge of worry start to dissipate. "You're all okay, I'm glad. Does anyone know where Hyunsung-ssi is?"
Yoo Sangah glanced around quickly before shaking her head. "He might not have woken up yet…"
Anxious murmuring filled the air as more incarnations woke up, and Kim Dokja looked over them curiously, trying to see if he could identify anyone by appearance alone. Some were incarnations he recognized, and others were a surprise.
On the other side of the room, a woman with long white hair was doing what she could to ease the pain of a few groaning incarnations, and Kim Dokja's eyes widened when he realized that she was Lee Seolhwa. He hadn't expected to see her yet, but at the very least, she seemed to still be on track to become the Immortal Doctor so far in this round. That was good.
Lee Jihye and Lee Hyunsung shakily got to their feet on the other side of the room, and Kim Dokja swore he saw sparkles coming from Hyunsung the moment the two of them noticed Sangah waving at them.
"Dokja-ssi! You're okay!" Lee Hyunsung cried, rushing over to them in a way that probably shouldn't have been possible with the amount of nausea and head pain everyone was experiencing.
Lee Jihye waved excitedly even as her skin still seemed a tinge green. "Ahjussi! Have you seen Master anywhere?"
Ah. Right.
Kim Dokja shivered, not really wanting to see if Yoo Joonghyuk was awake and aware or not. After that punch… well, Kim Dokja just hoped that he would make it out of this scenario alive. There was no way the 'Supreme King' wouldn't pay him back for it tenfold.
He laughed awkwardly in response. "I haven't found him yet, but he's probably here somewhere…"
Suddenly, a series of pings distracted them.
[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is confused by the new Hidden Scenario.]
[The constellation 'Nail-eating Rat' is looking appraisingly at the many nails in the room.]
[The constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' sticks his finger in his ear.]
[The constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' is wondering why there's no bloodshed.]
Kim Dokja frowned. From Uriel's indirect message, it seemed that the constellations weren't even sure what was going on. Something was definitely off with this scenario.
[The Hidden Scenario 'Dramatis Personae' will begin in 5 minutes.]
A sudden paralyzing aura washed over the room, and Kim Dokja felt his stomach flip as soon as he recognized it. Yoo Joonghyuk was somewhere here, he was awake, and he was pissed.
Maybe he should start writing his will.
He shuddered as the ominous presence got closer and closer, and he glanced up with a shaky smile to see the protagonist glaring down at him.
"Master!" Lee Jihye cheered, successfully drawing his attention for a moment. Thank goodness for Jihye.
The moment didn't last.
Yoo Joonghyuk's attention snapped back to Kim Dokja. "What is this?"
"What do you mean? Why do you think I would know?"
Yoo Joonghyuk's frown deepened in a way that really shouldn't have been attractive, but somehow just worked with his handsome features. The world really was unfair. "You're a prophet, and everything going wrong has something to do with you."
"Hey now," Kim Dokja said defensively, holding his hands up in front of him, "that doesn't mean I know everything, you know? I'm just as confused as you are. The glitching in the scenario window is kind of freaking me out."
The protagonist was silent for a moment, then narrowed his eyes. "If you are lying to me, then I will kill you, Kim Dokja."
Yeah, that was basically what Kim Dokja had expected—with the exception that he was surprised Yoo Joonghyuk hadn't stabbed first, and asked questions later. Maybe this strange hidden scenario was a bigger priority for him?
Light footsteps to his right drew his attention, and Kim Dokja glanced over to see a young blonde girl anxiously grabbing onto the end of her sweater.
"Um, sorry to interrupt, ahjussi…" she said quietly, glancing nervously between him and Yoo Joonghyuk, who crossed his arms and leaned back. "Could I sit here with your group? I don't really know anyone here, and you feel safe…"
"Of course!" Jung Heewon cut in, seemingly thankful that she could do anything to banish the awkward tension between Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk. "What's your name?"
The girl smiled. "Thank you, unnie. My name is Shin Yoosung."
Shin Yoosung? Kim Dokja's eyes widened as he looked at the girl who would become the Disaster of Floods. To think she would appear already…
Yoo Joonghyuk looked apprehensive, but turned his attention back to Kim Dokja. "Stay here."
With that, he turned and strode off without another word. Kim Dokja just furrowed his brows in confusion. Of course he would stay here? Where else was he going to go?
A few moments later, Yoo Joonghyuk returned with Yoo Mia trailing behind him. She recognized him immediately and frowned.
"Oh, it's the ugly ahjussi."
Hey now, that wasn't nice. Lee Jihye immediately trying to conceal her laugh as a cough also wasn't so great, but Kim Dokja sighed. They were just kids. Ignore it.
At the very least, now that Mia was here, Kim Dokja felt reassured that the risk of stabbing had been reduced significantly. Yoo Joonghyuk might be brutal, but he wouldn't just stab a man out of nowhere in front of his beloved sister.
[The Hidden Scenario 'Dramatis Personae' will now begin.]
In what Kim Dokja presumed was the front of the room, a large system window opened up, instantly drawing everyone's attention. Written upon it were a few all-too familiar words that made his heart stop.
[There are three ways to survive the apocalypse. Everything is fading and becoming unclear now. But one thing is certain. If you're reading this, you will survive.]
-The End-
What? Kim Dokja felt sweat gather in his palms as he stared at the screen. Why was TWSA's epilogue displayed on the screen for all to see? Something was very, very wrong.
"What kind of bullshit is this!?" A woman yelled from the other side of the room. Barely managing to draw his attention away from the words, Kim Dokja realized that the woman who had yelled was the 'Fake King', Han Sooyoung.
[Many constellations are curious about the words on the screen.]
She stood up, pointing at the screen with fury in her eyes. "Why is everyone getting to see this?"
A crackling noise cut through the room in response as probability sparked at the appearance of a new system message. But it was… strange.
[Be cause ███ is stu pid.]
Kim Dokja's eyes narrowed. There weren't any records of any beings in TWSA who could message directly like that, and the probability sparks that happened as a result were not a good sign. Whatever was going on, he had the eerie feeling that they were playing with something far beyond the scope of regular constellations or dokkaebi.
[Many constellations are alarmed.]
[The constellation 'Secretive Plotter' is frowning at the message.]
[The constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' is baring his teeth at the message.]
By those messages, Kim Dokja could be at least half-sure that the constellations couldn't identify the sender either. It would be best to tread with caution.
Han Sooyoung, on the other hand, just yelled again. "So what? What does that have to do with me and everyone else here?"
[Stu pid.]
[You ask ed for th is.]
[Han Sooyoung thought, 'If only we could have known everything then… maybe things would have gone differently.']
Han Sooyoung was speechless, her accusatory pointing finger slowly lowering. "But I never… what? I don't understand."
[Han Sooyoung thought, 'Maybe they can use this information to make sure our ■■ is different. To get to the 'epilogue' we want to see.']
For a moment, there was silence.
[Several constellations are alarmed by the mention of ■■.]
"So," Kim Dokja said, cutting into the tense atmosphere and drawing attention to himself for the first time, "what are we supposed to do here?"
[Lo ok thro ugh a new per spec ti ve a nd fin d the █████ of thi s w orld.]
The probability sparks died out, and Kim Dokja watched apprehensively as the words on the screen were replaced. Whatever that being had meant, this definitely couldn't be anything good.
Prologue - Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse