# Chapter 2:
I opened my eyes to a sharp pain shooting through my body. The smell of dust and smoke filled my nostrils, and a faint moaning sound echoed through the space. It took me a moment to realize the moaning was coming from me.
"Are you alright?"
I slowly raised my head to see Su-ah leaning over me, her beautiful face covered with a thin layer of dust, her flowing black hair touching my face. Her eyes held a look of concern I had never seen before.
"Where... where are we?" I asked in a hoarse voice.
"In an underground parking garage, about two blocks from the building." She helped me sit up. "We dragged you here after the building collapsed."
I looked around to see we were in a dimly lit parking garage, illuminated by flickering red emergency lights. There were about ten people scattered around, some sitting on the ground, others moving nervously. I recognized Kang standing near the entrance, cautiously watching outside.
I tried to stand up but felt a severe dizziness.
"Take your time," Su-ah placed her hand on my shoulder. "You got a head wound when a piece of the ceiling fell."
I touched my forehead to find a temporary bandage stained with blood. "How long has it been?"
"About two hours." She looked at her watch. "It's eleven-thirty now."
I suddenly remembered what had happened. The red sky, the giant words, the building collapsing... and the strange window that had appeared in the corner of my vision. I looked quickly, but it wasn't there.
"Did you see...?" I stopped, unsure what to ask about. "Did you see the words in the sky?"
She nodded slowly. "Everyone saw them. 'Welcome to Parallel Worlds. Survival of the fittest.' What's happening, Ji-woo?"
There was something in her tone, as if she suspected I knew more than I was saying. And she was right.
"I..." I began, but another voice interrupted me.
"Oh, the sleeper finally wakes." Kang was approaching us, his arms folded across his chest. "Will you now tell us how you knew the building would collapse before it happened?"
I felt everyone's eyes turn toward me. Manager Park was sitting in the corner, bandaging a wound on his arm, but he stopped to look at me. Even strangers I had never seen before were waiting for my answer.
"I..." I stammered, unable to form a logical answer. How could I tell them I had read a novel that had now become our reality? That I knew what would happen next?
"Leave him alone, Kang," Su-ah intervened. "If it weren't for him, none of us would have survived."
"That's exactly what makes me curious," Kang moved closer, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. "How did he know? Is he involved in this madness?"
Suddenly, the transparent window appeared again in the corner of my vision:
[Reader Level: 1]
[Available Skills: Reader's Eye (Level 1)]
[Current Scenario: Scenario One - "The Beginning of the End"]
[New Task: Form a survival group]
[Reward: Experience points + System information]
I looked at Kang, and for the second time, text appeared above his head:
[Kang Do-hyun]
[Level: 2]
[Special Ability: Unknown]
[Probable Fate: Death in Scenario Two]
Then I looked at Su-ah:
[Yoon Su-ah]
[Level: 3]
[Special Ability: Unknown]
[Probable Fate: ???]
"Ji-woo?" Su-ah gently shook my shoulder. "Are you alright? You seem distracted."
I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to comprehend what was happening. The "Reader's Eye" ability allowed me to see information about people around me, including their probable fate. And I knew that Kang would die in Scenario Two if I didn't do something to change that.
"I'm fine." I opened my eyes and tried to stand again, this time with more success. "Just... a headache."
"Don't dodge the question," Kang insisted. "How did you know?"
I looked around, realizing I needed an answer that sounded logical. "I... I felt something strange. A different kind of vibration than a normal earthquake. I heard my grandmother talk about it before, how some people can sense disasters before they happen."
Kang didn't seem convinced, but Manager Park intervened. "Now is not the time for accusations. We need to figure out what's happening and how to survive."
"That's right," Su-ah nodded. "I tried calling emergency services, but the phone networks are down. The internet too."
"What about radio?" asked one of the strangers, a man in his fifties with thick glasses.
"Tried that too," Manager Park pointed to a small portable radio beside him. "Just static. But I heard some broken words about 'safe zones' and 'evacuation centers.'"
"Then we need to get out and find these centers," Kang said.
"It's not that simple," Su-ah shook her head. "I looked outside. The streets... aren't safe."
"What do you mean?" I asked her.
She hesitated for a moment. "There are... things. Creatures. They don't look human."
I felt a chill run down my spine. In the novel, after the announcement appeared in the sky, strange creatures began appearing in cities, attacking humans and turning them into similar creatures.
"Has anyone else seen these creatures?" I asked, trying to hide my tension.
Several people nodded. "I saw something that looked like a dog, but it was... different," said the man with glasses. "It had multiple eyes and skin that looked like metal."
"And I saw someone transform," a young woman said in a trembling voice. "He was running in the street, then suddenly stopped and began to convulse. Then... then his skin started changing, becoming gray, and his eyes..."
"Enough!" Kang interrupted her. "This is madness. There must be a logical explanation. Maybe it's a biological attack, or a government experiment gone wrong."
"Or maybe it's exactly what it seems to be," I said quietly. "A new world. New rules."
Everyone looked at me in astonishment.
"What do you suggest then, wise one?" Kang asked sarcastically.
"We need to stay together," I looked at everyone. "We need to form a group, find a safe place, and gather information. Then we decide our next move."
"I agree with Ji-woo," Su-ah said. "Staying together gives us a better chance."
"What about food and water?" Manager Park asked. "We can't stay here forever."
"There's a small store on the upper level of the garage," one of the strangers said. "We can check if there's anything useful."
"Alright," I nodded. "Let's divide ourselves into groups. One group to search for food and supplies, and one group to stay here and secure the place."
People began organizing themselves. I felt something strange, as if they were naturally following my leadership, even though I had always been the person who followed others.
"I'll go look for supplies," Kang said.
"Me too," Su-ah added.
"I'll go with you," I said, knowing I needed to stay close to Kang if I wanted to change his fate.
Kang looked at me suspiciously but didn't object. We took a flashlight from one of the parked cars and headed toward the stairs leading to the upper level.
The garage was eerily silent except for the echo of our footsteps and the sound of our nervous breathing. We reached the door leading to the upper level and paused for a moment.
"Are you both ready?" I asked.
Su-ah nodded, while Kang shook his head impatiently. "Let's get this over with."
I opened the door slowly, expecting the worst. But the corridor was empty, dimly lit by faint emergency lights. We advanced cautiously, heading toward the small store at the end of the corridor.
"Do you think this is real?" Su-ah whispered beside me. "All of this... the red sky, the creatures..."
"Yes," I answered without hesitation. "I think this is our new reality."
"How can you be so sure?" Kang asked, lagging slightly behind us.
I hesitated for a moment. "Because I... feel it. Like I felt the building collapse."
We reached the store, its glass door already shattered. We entered cautiously, shining the flashlight on the scattered shelves.
"Looks like someone beat us here," Kang said, pointing to the mess.
"Let's take what we can," Su-ah said, and began collecting water bottles and canned goods in a bag she found behind the counter.
While we were busy gathering supplies, I heard a faint sound from outside. Footsteps... but they weren't human footsteps. They were heavy, irregular, as if something large was dragging itself across the ground.
"Did you hear that?" I whispered.
Kang and Su-ah stopped moving, listening. The sound grew closer, becoming more distinct.
"Turn off the flashlight," Su-ah whispered.
I turned off the flashlight, and we were plunged into near-total darkness, except for the dim light coming from the emergency lights in the corridor.
The sound stopped for a moment, then continued, this time closer to the store entrance. I felt my heart pounding heavily, and my hands began to shake.
Then we saw it. A massive shape blocking the store entrance, much taller than a normal human. It had a somewhat human body, but its arms were unnaturally long, reaching to the ground. Its face... it had no face, just a smooth surface with a horizontal slit that looked like a mouth.
"Don't move," I whispered in a barely audible voice.
The creature turned its "face" left and right, as if sensing something. Then, with a sudden movement, it opened the slit in its face, revealing rows of sharp teeth, and let out a high-pitched scream that made the remaining glass in the store vibrate.
"Run!" I shouted, pushing Su-ah and Kang toward the back door of the store.
We rushed through the door to find ourselves in a narrow back corridor. We heard the creature smashing shelves behind us, trying to catch up.
"To the left!" Su-ah shouted, pointing to an emergency door at the end of the corridor.
We ran as fast as we could, with the creature gaining on us. We reached the door and pushed it hard, finding ourselves in an emergency stairwell.
"Down!" I said, knowing that returning to the garage was safer than going out to the street.
We started descending rapidly, with the creature smashing through the door behind us. The stairwell was narrow, which slowed the creature down a bit, but it was still following us.
"We can't go back to the others!" Kang shouted. "We'll lead this thing right to them!"
He was right. I stopped at a platform between floors. "Here!" I pointed to another door. "This should lead to another level of the garage."
We opened the door and entered, finding ourselves in a dark level of the garage filled with parked cars. We closed the door behind us and looked for something to block it.
"There!" Su-ah pointed to an abandoned shopping cart. We quickly pulled it over and placed it in front of the door, then added some heavy boxes we found nearby.
We heard the creature reach the door, trying to open it. The door shook violently, but the barrier we created held.
"It won't hold for long," Kang said, panting. "We need to hide."
"Between the cars," Su-ah suggested. "We can crawl under them if necessary."
We moved quickly between rows of cars, trying to get as far from the door as possible. We found a dark corner between two large cars and hid there.
"What was that thing?" Kang whispered, his voice trembling slightly despite his attempt to hide his fear.
"I don't know," I lied. In the novel, they were called "The Distorted" – humans transformed by the influence of overlapping worlds.
We heard a loud crashing sound. The creature had finally broken through the door.
"Don't move. Don't make any sound," I whispered.
We sat in complete silence, huddled together in the darkness. We could hear the creature moving between the cars, making a low growling sound. It was searching for us.
I felt Su-ah's hand grip mine tightly. I looked at her in the darkness and saw the fear in her eyes. Even Kang, who had always been arrogant and confident, now seemed fragile.
The creature approached our hiding place. I could hear its heavy breathing and smell its foul odor – a mixture of mold and burning metal. I closed my eyes, expecting the worst.
Then, suddenly, we heard another sound from the far side of the garage. A metallic sound, as if something had fallen. The creature paused, then moved toward the source of the sound, away from us.
We waited for minutes that felt like hours until we could no longer hear the creature. I breathed in relief.
"Do you think it's gone?" Su-ah whispered.
"I don't know," I answered honestly. "But we can't stay here."
"What about the others?" Kang asked. "We need to go back and warn them."
"Yes, but we need to make sure the path is clear first," I said.
We moved slowly and cautiously from our hiding place, peering between the cars. We didn't see or hear the creature.
"I think it's really gone," Kang whispered.
At that moment, the transparent window appeared again:
[Warning: Imminent danger]
[Suggestion: Use "Reader's Eye" to detect the creature's location]
"Reader's Eye?" I thought. How do I use it?
As if the system read my thoughts, a new message appeared:
[Focus on seeing what is hidden. Imagine seeing through obstacles.]
I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to focus as the message suggested. When I opened them, my vision had changed. Everything was covered with a faint blue aura, and I could see the shapes of things through cars and walls.
And there, several meters away, I saw a glowing red shape. The creature. It was standing still, as if listening.
"It's still here," I whispered. "About three cars away in that direction."
Kang and Su-ah looked at me in amazement.
"How do you know that?" Kang asked.
"I just... sense it," I couldn't explain my new ability. "We need to move in the opposite direction, toward that exit." I pointed to a door on the other side of the garage, which I could see clearly despite the cars separating us from it.
We began moving slowly and cautiously, avoiding the creature. I kept watching its glowing red shape, guiding Su-ah and Kang with silent gestures.
We finally reached the door and opened it quietly. It led to another stairwell.
"This should take us back to the lower level," Su-ah whispered.
We began descending carefully, closing the door behind us. When we reached the lower level, we found ourselves on the opposite side of the garage where the others were waiting.
"You're back!" Manager Park exclaimed when he saw us. "We were worried about you."
"Keep your voices down," I warned. "There's... something up there. A dangerous creature."
We quickly explained what had happened, with people listening in horror.
"So we can't stay here," said the man with glasses. "If we're found, we're trapped."
"But outside is more dangerous," the young woman said.
"Not necessarily," Su-ah interjected. "I saw a map of the area near the store. There's a subway station two blocks from here. The underground subway might be safer than staying here or going out into the open streets."
"Good idea," I nodded. "The tunnels might provide a safe path to travel, and we might find more survivors there."
We began gathering what supplies we could, preparing to leave. I was helping organize the group when I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I turned to see a familiar face.
"Hai-in!"
It was Choi Hai-in, the pharmacist I had spoken to earlier in the day, standing before me. She was wearing the same clothes, but she seemed different somehow. More confident, more... knowing.
"Hello, Ji-woo," she smiled a calm smile. "I see you've started using your abilities."
I stared at her in astonishment. "How...?"
"Let's talk somewhere private," she gestured toward a distant corner of the garage.
I followed her, filled with questions. When we were away from the others, I looked at her directly.
"You know what's happening, don't you? You warned me in the café."
She nodded. "Yes, I knew this would happen. As did you, Reader, didn't you?"
I felt a chill run down my spine. "How did you know I...?"
"That you read the novel?" she completed my sentence. "Because I read it too. But there's a difference between us. You finished it, I didn't."
"What does that mean?"
"It means you're the Total Reader – the only person who knows the ending. I'm just a Partial Reader."
I looked above her head to see the text:
[Choi Hai-in]
[Level: 5]
[Special Ability: Partial knowledge of the novel]
[Probable Fate: Ally]
"Can you see the text above my head?" I asked her.
She shook her head. "No, I can't. That's your special ability, 'Reader's Eye.' My ability is different."
"What is your ability?"
"I can navigate between parallel worlds, but in a limited way. I've been watching this world for a while, knowing it would transform into the 'Parallel Worlds' novel."
"Why didn't you warn me more clearly?"
She sighed. "There are rules, Ji-woo. I can't directly interfere with the course of events. I can only guide you, help you understand your abilities."
"And what exactly are my abilities?"
"'Reader's Eye' allows you to see information about people and things around you, including their probable fate. As your level develops, you'll be able to see more, and perhaps even change some events."
"Like Kang's fate?" I asked, remembering the text I saw above his head.
She nodded. "Yes. In the novel, Kang dies in Scenario Two. But you can change that, if you choose to."
"And how do I do that?"
"With your knowledge of future events. With your ability to make different decisions than what happened in the novel."
I looked at the group that was preparing to leave. "What about the others? Su-ah, Manager Park..."
"Each has a role in this story. Some will survive, others won't. But you can influence that, to some extent."
"And what is your role?"
She smiled a mysterious smile. "I'm here to help you, Ji-woo. But I can't stay with you all the time. There are rules, as I said."
"Rules from whom? Who controls all this?"
Before she could answer, we heard Manager Park calling: "We're ready to leave!"
"You need to go now," said Hai-in. "We'll meet again soon. Until then, trust your instincts, and use your abilities wisely."
"Wait!" I grabbed her arm. "Tell me more. What is Scenario Two? When will it begin?"
"Very soon," she looked at me seriously. "Be careful, Ji-woo. Not everyone you trust is trustworthy."
Then she walked away, heading toward the group. I followed her, my head spinning with questions.
We returned to the group, which was waiting impatiently. Kang was looking at me and Hai-in suspiciously.
"Are you done with your secret chat?" he asked sarcastically.
I ignored his tone. "Yes, we're ready."
Manager Park led the group toward the garage exit that led to the back street. Darkness had fallen outside, though the red sky still cast a strange light on everything.
"Stay close," Manager Park whispered. "And keep quiet."
We exited into the back street, which was deserted except for some abandoned cars. The buildings around us were silent, some damaged from the earthquake.
We advanced slowly, heading toward the subway station Su-ah had pointed out. I was walking beside Kang, knowing I needed to stay close to him if I wanted to change his fate.
"Why are you sticking to me?" he whispered in annoyance.
"I'm not sticking to you," I replied calmly. "I'm just trying to stay alive, just like you."
He looked at me suspiciously but didn't say anything else.
We reached an intersection and stopped to make sure the path was safe. The main street ahead was filled with debris and abandoned cars, but it seemed empty of any creatures.
"The path is clear," Manager Park whispered. "The subway station is one block away in that direction."
We began crossing the street, moving quickly but quietly. I was in the middle of the group, with Kang and Su-ah beside me, and Hai-in directly behind us.
Suddenly, I heard a strange sound – a low whistle coming from above us. I looked up to see something moving on the roof of one of the buildings.
"Watch out!" I shouted, pointing upward.
At that moment, something jumped from the roof, landing in the middle of our group. It resembled a human, but its skin was metallic gray, and it had win