The evening light had already disappeared over the horizon, now giving way to florescent lights, spreading a cold glow over the Cube campus.
The streetlamps illuminated the sidewalks with a pale, distant hue, casting elongated shadows on the ground.
The wind blew lightly, carrying with it a silent chill that perfectly matched the anguish inside Kim Hajin.
He was sitting on a bench at a distance, his head down, his elbows resting on his knees.
His interlaced fingers were stiff, the knuckles whitish from the force with which he squeezed his own hands. His shoulders, slightly bent, showed the weight he was carrying. His breathing was slow and irregular, as if he was trying to find stability in the midst of the storm that was his mind.
The night took its normal course around him. Students passed by chatting animatedly, some leaving the training buildings, others heading for the dormitories.
Laughter echoed around the campus, mingling with the rustling of leaves in the nearby trees. But for Hajin, it all seemed distant, muffled, as if he were separated from the world by an invisible barrier.
His thoughts were chaotic, piling up and crashing like violent waves against a rock.
At first, he thought it would be simple.
He believed that all he had to do was watch from afar, occasionally intervening here and there to ensure that history took its course.
But that was a mistake.
A naive mistake.
Things didn't turn out that way.
A bastard showed up to ruin everything.
A sadistic wretch who didn't like the way history had been written.
The memory of his words still burned in her mind, like a wound that would never heal.
[His world has no danger. There are no real challenges for Kim Suho and the others. Improvised solution. Even if things become a mess, increase the power of the antagonists.]
Hajin closed his eyes tightly, as if that could silence the voice in his head.
His world... the one he had built with his own hands, was being distorted. Every character, every plot line, every detail he had planned so carefully... Now they were just toys in the hands of someone who thought they had the right to interfere.
Events began to drift. Small changes, almost imperceptible at first. But soon... soon everything got out of hand.
He realized this last Saturday.
At first, he tried to ignore it, tried to convince himself that he was paranoid. But no...
The Djinn that Suho and Nayun should have defeated with ease...
He was much stronger than Hajin had anticipated.
The clash, which was supposed to be just a small challenge, turned into a real risk. If something had gone slightly wrong, they could have been killed.
But that wasn't the worst of it.
The worst came later.
Chae Jinyoon was taken out of the equation. Just like that.
He found out about it while talking to Suho after the Djinn incident at the National Weapons Museum.
And the Co-author's response?
[Kim Suho has too many allies. That makes things too easy...]
Hajin felt a bitter taste rise in his throat as he remembered this. He had spent hours staring into nothingness, trying to find some logic. But there wasn't. It was just the Co-author playing with his world, erasing pieces from the board because he didn't like the balance of the story.
And just when you thought you'd accepted it...
On Sunday evening, while browsing on his laptop, an unpleasant surprise appeared on the screen.
[Plot changes had been detected... Story taking unintended path. Entering investigation period...]
That night a shiver ran up his spine along with a strange unease that took over his body, and a feeling of emptiness overwhelmed him.
It was as if something was being torn out of him.
He remembers, he remembers feeling his world spin for a moment, his vision blurred. A cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck, and his fingers trembled slightly as he tried to open his status window.
And then...
Almost all of his abilities were gone.
Yes, that's right. He had lost almost everything.
The only things that remained were his Eyes of a Thousand Miles, Master Sniper and his Perseverance and Luck attributes. Even his Observation and Research talent has disappeared.
Not even his Scenario Intervention Authority remained.
It was as if he had been reduced to a mere spectator.
For long minutes, he just stood in front of his laptop, staring at the screen, trying to understand. No, he's still trying to understand.
But there was no explanation. Just one brutal, undeniable fact: this way, he could never even dream of going home.
His muscles were tense and his breathing was heavy.
What could he do?
He wasn't the protagonist.
He wasn't the absolute author.
He was just... an extra in his own story.
An empty laugh escaped his lips, but it was humorless, lifeless.
The wind grew stronger, shaking his hair, bringing the chill of the night.
Her eyes wandered to the dark sky above. The moon shone lonely in the firmament, surrounded by pale, distant stars. Hajin briefly wondered if there was anyone out there, beyond this world, who understood what he was going through.
His fingers instinctively gripped the edge of the bench. His heart beat slowly, filled with a mixture of frustration and impotence.
After all... If things continue like this, who knows what will happen to this world and to him?
His chest was heavy.
Suffocated by a feeling he couldn't name.
Maybe... maybe he'd never had any control.
Maybe... he had never been anything more than another piece on the Co-author's board.
"Oh! You're still here..."
"Hmm?"
The sound of footsteps reached Kim Hajin's ears...
Hajin raised his head slowly, blinking a few times before focusing on the source of the voice.
Theo Sagan was standing there, a few meters away, with his hands in his trouser pockets. His gaze scanned Hajin with a mixture of curiosity and something that looked like... pity?
His steps were steady as he approached, the lights of the campus reflecting in his sharp eyes.
"You're finished, man."
Theo's voice carried a light tone, but there was a subtle weight to his words, as if he knew exactly what Hajin was going through.
Hajin frowned, straightening up in his seat.
"...And you had something to do with it?"
His voice came out harsher than he had intended, the remnants of frustration still throbbing inside him.
Theo raised an eyebrow, as if considering the accusation for a moment. Then, with a dramatic sigh, he shook his head.
"Me? Nah. It's nothing, just a small matter."
"Then why the hell are you here?"
Hajin growled, wiping his hand across his face.
Theo shrugged before sitting down next to him, keeping a certain distance.
"Maybe because I understand what it means to lose control, to be powerless, to be frustrated... I understand all that."
His voice lost some of its carefree tone, becoming lower, almost as if he were talking to himself.
"Or maybe I just thought you needed a distraction before drowning in this sea of shit."
Hajin looked at him, trying to decipher his intentions. But Theo, as always, was still a mystery. From the moment he met him, from the first time he interacted with him, nothing about this guy made sense.
And now, when he was in the middle of a total mess... This guy appeared.
Hajin was silent for a moment, watching Theo out of the corner of his eye. The guy was relaxed, leaning back on the bench with his arms folded behind his head, looking up at the night sky as if nothing in the world could shake him.
"You talk as if you know exactly what I'm feeling,"
Hajin said, his voice still laced with suspicion.
Theo let out a short, almost humorless laugh.
"I may not know completely, but I have an idea..."
Hajin narrowed his eyes.
"What does that mean?"
Theo didn't answer right away. Instead, he looked at Hajin.
"I'm from Earth too."
Theo said, his voice almost lost in the wind as it entered Hajin's ears.
Hajin, the one who heard those words, froze.
His mind wavered, and he felt his breath catch in his throat.
"...What?"
...