Chapter Text
The story started on a train.
Kim Dokja didn't have much to say about his day. He had woken up stressed because his favorite story was to end that day after falling asleep under the same pressure. His significant other Yu Junghyeok hadn't been in a much better state, though it was unrelated to a novel. He needed to go outside of the city to follow a clue about his missing parents, and Kim Dokja had reluctantly needed to go to work instead. Their morning had moved quick and started earlier than usual, resulting in a grumpy Yu Mia who was used to a schedule, and rushed goodbyes.
It was only later—much later while struggling to survive in the stomach of a horrific monster—that Kim Dokja would come to regret not holding Yu Junghyeok and Yu Mia just a while longer to delay their inevitable parting. He would grit his teeth over not kissing Yu Junghyeok one last time, of not feeling his touch or sleeping with him one more time. He would lament not giving Yu Mia a tighter hug as they said their goodbyes before he left for work and for making promises to her he wouldn't be able to keep.
He had thought he would see them both again that evening just like every other day. That didn't happen. It was possible they would never meet again as the world ended around them.
But that would be later. Kim Dokja's story first starts on the train home from work, talking with his friendly co-worker Yu Sangah about little things and reading messages on his phone from Yu Junghyeok.
He had learned that Yu Junghyeok's search had been futile. He had found no trace of his parents, and nothing but an empty house at the address he had been given. Kim Dokja had been quick to tell him to get on the detective agency's ass for the false information, but Yu Junghyeok had already been ahead of him on that. They had truly given him all that they could find.
It was baffling. How could two people simply disappear without a trace? This agency had even tracked down the secret love child of a big name politician. There was no way that they couldn't find more, especially not with the funds Yu Junghyeok had provided them.
There had been a long stretch between responses from Yu Junghyeok when Kim Dokja had questioned this, and he felt like he could understand what Yu Junghyeok was thinking. He had known the man for quite some time now, and he had confided in him more than once. The strangeness of his own mysterious past, his origins and why he had been left where he was still haunted him. Even Yu Mia appearing one day at random in front of his residence was strange.
Kim Dokja had once joked that perhaps the Yu Junghyeok from his favorite web novel 『Three Ways to Survive an Apocalypse』 was a prediction for his future, meaning Yu Junghyeok never had a past to begin with. Yu Junghyeok hadn't found that to be particularly funny, but not all of Kim Dokja's humor hit with him anyway. It wouldn't be the first time that Kim Dokja's lame jokes had flatlined.
But with this new information, along with all of the other scarily accurate parallels between both Yu Junghyeoks, he began to wonder if…
No, that's stupid. Things like that don't happen.
Eventually, the topic moved on. They could discuss it in person. And that's how they discovered they were most likely on the same train right now. He was just about to ask Yu Junghyeok what car he was in when a friendly voice had interrupted.
It was Yu Sangah, his co-worker who worked in HR. She was someone he didn't dislike, but still felt awkward communicating with. He never really talked with her, but she had such a friendly and gentle personality that it was hard not to like her and get caught up in her pacing. Even if that resulted in some awkward dead-ends to their conversation. It was easy enough to be distracted from his phone, except when there was a moment between topics.
Where are you?
A message from Yu Junghyeok. He was about to respond when he noticed the time. Nearly 7PM. The epilogue to TWSA was supposed to release soon. Between that and Yu Sangah reengaging him in conversation, he never did respond to Yu Junghyeok's message.
Then, the world ended. Reality and fiction combined with a sound like curtains tearing, and people began to die after the subway ground to a stop.
He could be forgiven if he didn't immediately think of Yu Junghyeok while he got his bearings. But after seeing Lee Hyeonseong and Kim Namwoon—two fictional characters from TWSA—come to life, he couldn't tell which Yu Junghyeok was the one who popped into his head. Perhaps it was both. Perhaps his joke had been on the mark all along. Puzzle pieces clicked together to form an image that made his blood run cold as he looked at the number in his train car.
3807. The car number that TWSA's Yu Junghyeok was in was 3707.
The one right in front of his own.
He reflexively looked through the windows, but he couldn't see much other than the bustle of bodies. Between the chaos of his current car and the one over, he couldn't spot a familiar head.
Can it be?
Is it possible?
…Does that mean this is the 0th turn?
TWSA's Yu Junghyeok's story started in his 3rd turn. But if the Yu Junghyeok he had known all along was over there now, this must be before that story started—the turn when he would become a regressor, kicking off the tragedy that was TWSA. It was unwritten, so he had no clue how it went. All he knew was that Yu Junghyeok would survive.
But did the scenarios just simply start? Or had TWSA started? He couldn't tell if Lee Hyeonseong and Kim Namwoon had always been in this car and he hadn't noticed, or if they had appeared. Did the novel become reality? Did the two overlap? Were they transported into the novel?
He didn't know. But he knew one way to find out. Until then, he had to watch the scene in front of him play out as he expected it to, feeling strangely disconnected from his own fear and panic even while witnessing an old woman be beaten to death.
If it wasn't for Yu Sangah next to him, he might not have acted fast enough. The timing just happened to work out.
An explosion rang out in the next car over, scaring everyone in his own. He kicked into action, pushing down his thoughts of his own Yu Junghyeok.
That was how the 3rd turn started.
He couldn't think of that now. He couldn't think much of anything right now when he had to focus on saving his own life. Yu Junghyeok—whoever he was—would be fine. He was the protagonist of this story. Kim Dokja needed to survive in order to find out the truth of the reality he was now apart of.
Everything moved quickly after that. Five people survived in his car—including him—when only two should have…and he had killed one of those two. Three people were those from reality like him, and one was Yu Junghyeok's loyal party member and shield, Lee Hyeonseong. There was the <Sponsor Selection> and the understanding that they needed to get out of the train quickly before the bridge collapsed.
Yu Junghyeok began pounding in the metal door of the subway. Such strength shouldn't be possible from the man that he knew…but it was possible for the 3rd Turn that he understood. The knowledge alone that Yu Junghyeok was alive was all he could do right now. If he was wrong about which Yu Junghyeok that was, it could result in all of them dying. He simply couldn't risk those who had survived with him.
Yu Junghyeok would be fine. Them? Maybe not so much.
So, he had fled. And through the help of constellations and the trickery of humans, he was left alone on one side of the giant broken bridge.
Which, admittedly, was part of his plan. Well, his Plan B. He had to meet Yu Junghyeok at some point, and two people were needed to cross the magical bridge in front of them. He just really wished he hadn't had to fend off the hoard of Corrupted Humans on his own, even if the constellations were enjoying his struggles.
(He had been hoping to leave Han Myeongoh on this side and let Yu Junghyeok take it from there. Oh well.)
Right on cue, sounds that were more reminiscent of a mace to meat rather than fists to bodies crackled and crunched through the air. Every hair on Kim Dokja's body raised with fear and anticipation. The protagonist was coming, but he didn't know how to feel about it. He had never actually seen that Yu Junghyeok and only had a few vague descriptions of him. And yet, he knew precisely what he looked like.
What came through those hoards of battered corpses was the same man he had been with for the past few years wearing the same exact clothes he had last seen him in. And Kim Dokja…
"Junghyeok-ah…" he breathed, stunned.
[The exclusive skill "The Fourth Wall" is shaking!]
Their eyes met, and he didn't think he imagined the way Yu Junghyeok also froze, eyes widening. Kim Dokja didn't understand that reaction. Did Yu Junghyeok think he had died on the train? Did he even try to look for him? Did he actually recognize him?
"You…" Yu Junghyeok spoke then, approaching quickly.
His eyes were filled with tentative wonder, and for a moment, Kim Dokja thought he was about to embrace him. But then, Yu Junghyeok's face tightened a bit, containing his reaction, and his eye began to glow gold. Kim Dokja recognized that skill, but he was baffled on how Yu Junghyeok had such a thing already—
[The exclusive skill "The Fourth Wall" has been activated!]
["The Fourth Wall" has identified the detection skill "Sage's Eye"!]
Sparks flew and Yu Junghyeok flinched, clutching his right eye as he stared at Kim Dokja in disbelief. Kim Dokja was just as shocked.
What the hell was that?
"Yu—"
He tried to speak to check and see if Yu Junghyeok was alright, but he didn't get a chance. In a single instance, the wonder in Yu Junghyeok's eyes went cold with anger, and his hand grabbed Kim Dokja by the throat. His feet left concrete to dangle over open air as he grasped and clutched at the arm suspending him.
"Who the hell are you, bastard?" Yu Junghyeok growled.
Never mind. No way this is my Yu Junghyeok.
He didn't know the exact circumstances behind why or how both of his Yu Junghyeoks looked the same. Maybe they were always the same, or maybe his Yu Junghyeok was taken over by another. There was no possible way the Yu Junghyeok of the 0th turn could have this much strength or have [Sage's Eye]. For his own safety, he had to assume this Yu Junghyeok didn't know him, or else he might actually be killed right here.
And if this truly was TWSA's Yu Junghyeok, that meant he had to be able to read him. No matter how he looked, the protagonist was still just another fictional character.
He honestly couldn't be sure if his [Character List] skill would activate. In fact, it struggled for a moment to do so.
[The exclusive skill "The Fourth Wall" has stopped shaking.]
But soon, it did. And with it, his understanding of the man in front of him was enough to trigger a new aspect to his [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint] skill. Though the skill itself struggled to stay active, glitching out like a telephone with a bad connection as Kim Dokja attempted to read Yu Junghyeok's thoughts to keep this man from killing him.
Both skills confirmed the worst. This wasn't his Yu Junghyeok. This was, in fact, the 3rd Turn. This Yu Junghyeok was the one from TWSA who had lived through this apocalypse three times prior. He was a character, but not the character Kim Dokja had lived with. He was the man who had been by his side for longer than any other person, and whose story he had beloved.
But then, where is my…
He didn't have time to think of these things. One Yu Junghyeok at a time.
There was a strange level of despair and fury to Yu Junghyeok's thoughts as he interrogated Kim Dokja regardless of the timer counting down until their deaths. His hand tensed when Kim Dokja told him his name, and longing briefly tinted his voice when he responded to Kim Dokja calling himself a fan of his from when Yu Junghyeok had been on the gaming scene. He even ended up punching Kim Dokja in the stomach for insolence (Yeah, definitely not my Junghyeok. He's a jerk, but he wouldn't do this to me).
His suspicions were sky-high, and talking with Kim Dokja longer only caused his emotions to worsen. Even as his thoughts (what little Kim Dokja could hear) made sense, the sensations in his heart were full of pain. Kim Dokja simply didn't understand, but assumed these were the responses to him lying and calling himself a [Prophet]. Yu Junghyeok was probably still pissed coming off of the betrayal of the last Prophet he knew in his previous turn.
But, nobody in this world knew Yu Junghyeok like he did. And he knew how to talk his way around this man to pique his curiosity as well as appeal to his practicality. He could prove himself to be useful.
Yu Junghyeok ended up contemplating everything Kim Dokja said as Kim Dokja anxiously eyed the countdown timer. He caught brief snippets of the character's thoughts, but couldn't rely on them. The clearest insight he could get were the emotions that filled his chest alongside those thoughts.
Then, one final thought reached him before his skill spluttered out with Kim Dokja's mental exhaustion.
「Is it possible he's」
Whatever the end was, Kim Dokja wouldn't find out. Yu Junghyeok had come to his conclusion and agreed to take him on as a companion. Which, well, that was awesome. Getting the protagonist on his side was an absolute necessity if Kim Dokja was going to survive in this world. He would need to be by Yu Junghyeok's side one way or another, so the fact he had managed this much was a huge weight off his shoulders.
But the protagonist was a protagonist for a reason. Maybe Kim Dokja had expected him to be too much like his Yu Junghyeok, who could be cute and naïve at times. He regretted thinking for even a moment the two could be one in the same as he was held out once more over the edge of the bridge as one final test was thrown at him to truly test his "prophetic" powers.
"Will I open this hand, or won't I?"
Frankly, he was glad this wasn't his Yu Junghyeok. The stab of hurt he briefly felt was quickly soothed with the knowledge that this bastard in front of him could never be him. He had to think of the psychopath whose story he had loved, and tuck away the haunting visage of his lover overlaying the one in front of him. No matter if they had the same face, the same clothes and the same eyes, his Yu Junghyeok had never been so blood splattered and with such a cold gaze directed at him. He would've thought that, as his lover, his Yu Junghyeok would at least hesitate.
Maybe that man was somewhere in him. Or maybe he had been replaced entirely. He couldn't know. Right now, he couldn't bear to think of such things as death awaited him.
He grinned as Yu Junghyeok agreed to his terms as companions. He understood the test before him, and what this Yu Junghyeok wanted from him. He would prove he could survive, come back and smack this bastard so hard on the back of the head next time he saw him.
"Let go of me and screw off, you fucking jerk."
Yu Junghyeok dropped him then and didn't look away as Kim Dokja plummeted toward the mouth of the gigantic ichthyosaur ready to swallow him. His face was lit up with a radiant smile, like a man finally seeing the sun after being locked in the darkness for so long.
"I believe you. You really are a [Prophet], Dokja."
Crazy asshole, Kim Dokja thought he hit the icy waters of the Han River inside of the ichthyosaur's mouth, and pain took him away.