> [Narrative System Announcement]
You are now in the Prologue Arc: City of Beginnings.
Objective: Survive for 7 days.
The story will proceed based on your choices.
Active Threats:
Goblin Horde (Est. 100+)
Lesser Demon Scout (Unconfirmed, estimated appearance: Nightfall)
Rewards for Survival:
Unlock: Story Traits
Gain: Character Growth
Unlock: First Plot Thread
---
The air smelled like rust and ash.
That wasn't right.
Our school was supposed to smell like cheap floor cleaner and cafeteria food — not blood, not burning plastic, not smoke curling up from the remains of the science lab where the first fire had started.
And the sky…
The sky wasn't even trying to be normal anymore.
It flickered again — not like lightning, but like a broken screen. You could almost see the seams of the world. Clouds jittered at odd angles, some frames out of place, like the texture of the sky was peeling back.
Something was wrong with the story.
No — not just wrong.
Unstable.
> [Narrative Instability: 0.3%]
Warning: Events may deviate further based on unknown variables.
I tightened my grip on my schoolbag. Still no weapon. Still no combat stats. Still just… me.
The goblins moved through the ruins like shadows. Fast. Fluid. Calculating.
They didn't act like monsters. They acted like tacticians.
They flanked the athletic students first — the ones who tried to play hero. A baseball bat and good intentions didn't mean anything against sharp claws and coordinated strikes. Screams echoed. Someone was begging. Someone else was already silent.
> [Special Trait Activated: Foreshadowing Trigger]
Cooldown: 23:59:45
The vision still lingered in my mind: Arien Yue, shaking, alone, surrounded by corpses. The line she whispered —
"Why didn't anyone warn me?"
I knew the answer.
Because this world wasn't made to be saved. It was made to be read.
---
A blur of motion slammed into me from the side.
"MOVE!" the boy shouted, clutching his bloodied shoulder. A steel pipe in one hand. System screen blinking red. "Anyone who can fight — help me hold the line!"
He was already sprinting before I could say anything. A few followed. They were shouting, calling names, forming groups — but I knew how this part of the story went.
I remembered Chapter 4: False Heroes.
They would last another hour.
Maybe two.
The goblins weren't attacking at random. They were testing. Herding. Like a dungeon AI learning from our reactions.
And the real threat wasn't even here yet.
> [Active Thread: Arrival of the Scout]
Estimated Time: 3 hours, 12 minutes
---
I slipped between collapsed beams and overturned desks, weaving through debris that used to be classrooms.
The school had fallen apart in a matter of minutes. Some buildings were half-merged with the city outside. Others glitched — stairs that led nowhere, a hallway repeating in a loop. The "City of Beginnings" was still forming.
But one place remained solid — for now.
The gym.
In the novel, the gym becomes the first stronghold.
A place of hope.
Then a slaughterhouse.
I found a few others on the way: a girl crying behind a water cooler, holding her dead phone like a talisman; a guy trying to "log out" by yelling "Exit Game" to the sky. One poor soul stared into his system window muttering, "I didn't even like fantasy novels…"
And then I saw her.
Arien Yue.
She stood in the courtyard's center like the world hadn't already collapsed around her. Silver hair glowing faintly, dirt streaked across her school uniform. Her eyes locked on a goblin charging at her and in one smooth motion — she moved.
Steel met flesh.
The goblin dropped.
Her blade cracked from the impact.
> [Narrative Trait: Loved by Fate] – Active
Passive Bonus: Allies within 10 meters gain +10 Morale
Passive Effect: Hostiles hesitate (0.2 sec) before first attack
She knelt, helped a sobbing girl to her feet, and gently pushed her toward safety.
Hope, personified.
That was the role Arien was born into.
And me?
I was still trying to figure that out.
---
"Hey!" she called out, spotting me. "You okay?!"
I blinked.
She wasn't supposed to notice me.
Not yet.
Not this early.
The deviation was growing.
> [Deviation Detected: +1.2%]
The story is no longer on rails.
I forced a nod. "Yeah. I'm fine."
She smiled — small, tired, but real. "Good. Come with us. We're regrouping at the gym."
I hesitated.
Because in the novel, the gym is where the massacre happens. Where half the named cast dies. Where Arien's resolve is born — at the cost of everyone else.
But I also knew something else.
The massacre happens because the Reader doesn't appear.
I followed her.
---
Inside the gym, things felt… fragile.
Makeshift barricades were being built out of bleachers and tables. People cried in corners. Some began to argue. A tall guy screamed at someone to "man up." Another counted heads, trying to keep track of who'd survived.
The system windows flickered in the air like ghostly blue screens — floating reminders that this wasn't home.
> [System Notice]
Countdown to Nightfall: 03:07:22
I kept scanning the group.
There they were.
The Minor Cast.
Characters who were never meant to last more than a few chapters.
Sumiya Kento, Class 2-B, [Role: Lancer]
Ito Mari, Class 3-C, [Role: Support Priestess]
Takeda Sho, [Role: Deadweight]
And more.
All here.
All breathing.
All fated to die.
But maybe not this time.
---
> [Hidden Path Triggered]
The Reader Has Entered the Scene
[Deviation: 2.6%]
The story is no longer on rails.
> You are now being watched.
By what?
… [ERROR: ENTITY UNKNOWN]
I froze.
That line wasn't in the novel.
Not even in the hidden ending.
And somehow — I felt it.
A presence.
Something beyond the System.
Beyond the Author.
Watching not from above, but from within.
> You have been marked by an Unwritten Force.
Awaiting interaction…
---
Arien approached me, dragging a blanket over a wounded girl. "You're calm," she said. "Most people are breaking down. You… aren't."
I didn't answer.
Because what was I supposed to say?
That I read her death five years ago?
She continued, voice softer, "Have we met before?"
I looked at her.
In a way, we had.
You cried in Chapter 46.
You bled in Chapter 113.
You confessed your love in Chapter 321 and buried him in Chapter 322.
You died in Chapter 379.
"No," I said. "We've never met."
She gave me a look I couldn't name.
Then the doors rattled. A low growl echoed.
> [System Alert]
Threat: Lesser Demon Scout – Confirmed
Location: East Wall
Warning: Narrative Tier Enemy Detected
Arien turned to the group. "Get ready!"
People screamed. Others raised whatever weapons they had — bats, pipes, chairs. Some cowered.
I didn't move.
Because I knew who the first to die would be.
Unless I said something.
Unless I interfered.
Unless…
---
> [Reader Decision Point Triggered]
Your words now have weight.
You may choose to reveal one piece of future knowledge.
Choose carefully.
[A] Warn them about the demon scout's attack route.
[B] Reveal Arien Yue's true importance.
[C] Tell them this gym becomes a slaughterhouse.
[D] Say nothing.
Let the story flow.
I stared at the blinking choices.
This wasn't part of the original System.
This wasn't part of anything I read.
The story was bleeding — shifting — evolving.
And something, somewhere, was writing it with me.