I choose to say the direction they're coming.
"The rafters," I muttered. "They're in the rafters."
No one heard me. Not at first.
Then an eerie silence fell over the gym.
You could hear the flicker of the emergency lights. The way they buzzed and hummed — too slow, like the system was stalling, too fragile to fight off the weight of another reality bleeding into it.
Then came the scraping.
Faint. Metallic. Claws on steel.
And then… nothing.
But that kind of nothing is worse than sound. That nothing listens back.
---
The gym was dark.
Emergency lights bathed everything in a weak, yellowish hue. The air was thick — not with smoke, but fear, dense and sour. A few conjured flames hovered in the air, flickering from trembling fingers. The spells had no stability yet. They weren't trained. Every few seconds, one torch fizzled out, replaced by another.
There were thirty-seven of us left.
Out of the original eighty-five.
Some had died in the first rush. Others outside the school. A few hadn't even reappeared after the sky flickered. They might still be falling through the code of this world — corrupted by an unread chapter.
We didn't know.
We didn't ask.
---
I kept to the back. Near the wall. Near the shadows.
Everyone else unconsciously gravitated to Arien Yue. She didn't lead, not yet, but her presence made people hope again.
Hope is dangerous.
She stood at the center of the gym — broken sword in hand, clothes torn and stained, but eyes sharp. Her fingers were bandaged with cloth she'd torn from her own sleeves. Blood seeped through, but she never complained.
She looked like the heroine the story was waiting for.
And I looked like a footnote.
> [System Log] Prologue: Day 1 Complete
Night Phase Activated – Active Threat: Lesser Demon Scout
Objective: Survive Until Dawn
Reward: First Trait Unlock (Shared)
Warning: This is a Death-Confirmed Event.
Minimum sacrifice required: One Named Character.
I clenched my fists.
The system wanted someone to die.
No death, no growth. That was the rule. A rule written long before we ever entered the world.
And the first death…
Was supposed to be her.
---
Min Sera.
Front row student. Glasses. Hair always tied back. Voice too quiet to be noticed, and a presence so soft the story barely remembered she existed.
But I did.
In the original version, she screamed first.
And died second.
The scream triggers the others. It draws the party together. It sets the tone. Fear. Unity. Rage. Growth.
A clean sacrifice.
But if I changed that…
> [Narrative Path Choice Available]
Interfere with Event?
Cost: ???
[Yes] [No]
I hesitated. I remembered how the threads worked.
In Chapter 3, the death of Min Sera unlocked the Warrior class for Jaeho.
If I intervened —
> [Deviation: +2%]
I tapped [Yes].
The air cracked.
No one else noticed.
But the world did.
---
A cold breath ran down my spine.
The shadows behind the stage rippled like water. Too fast. Too wrong.
And then I saw it.
> [Threat Detected: Lesser Demon Scout]
Traits: Shadowstep / Tongue Pierce / Venom Touch
Target Lock: Min Sera
It dropped from the ceiling like spilled ink.
Slick. Fluid. Silent.
Its eyes were hollow — just gaps of absence — and its mouth was too wide, stretching unnaturally as it hissed.
I moved without thinking.
"SERA!"
She looked up.
I slammed into her, knocking her out of the way.
The demon's claws tore through air — and into me.
Agony.
Like being slashed by frost and fire at once. I felt skin tear. Warmth spilled down my side.
> [HP: 90 → 43]
Status Effect: Bleeding
"SOMEONE HELP!" I screamed.
But Arien was already sprinting.
Her cracked sword glowed faintly — a flicker of aura she didn't know she had yet.
She met the demon mid-lunge.
Steel and claw clashed, lighting up the gym with sparks.
Others screamed. Rushed. Threw chairs. Magic flared. A burst of wind. A flash of ice. Nothing stable.
The demon shrieked — a sound like nails in the soul.
And that's when Jaeho Kim joined the fight.
Class president. Soccer captain. Voted "Most Reliable" three years in a row. Everyone liked him.
His blade was glowing — orange, molten, a fire newly born.
"DIE, FREAK!" he yelled.
The demon turned. Fluid. Fast.
One claw. Straight through Jaeho's chest.
---
Everything stopped.
For a moment, the system glitched.
Jaeho staggered. Coughed. Blood sprayed from his lips. His flame flickered out.
He looked at Arien.
Then at me.
And smiled.
"...At least I did something."
He collapsed.
---
> Named Character 'Jaeho Kim' has died.
Death Confirmed.
Prologue Arc progressing…
> Survivors have awakened: [First Trait - Flicker of Flame]
> You have gained: Trait – Null Memory (Passive)
"You are outside the story's original bounds. You remember all versions."
> Deviation: +4%
The world is watching you now.
[Presence Detected: ???]
Warning: You are no longer beneath notice.
---
The demon had vanished into smoke, its mission complete.
Jaeho's body lay still. One hand open. Still warm.
The others just stared.
Min Sera trembled. Her lips moved soundlessly. She was crying. Shaking. Looking not at the body —
But at me.
Like I was the monster.
Like I had taken his place.
Because I had.
She was supposed to die.
She didn't.
Jaeho did.
And that's how it begins.
---
Arien knelt beside the body, her fingers gently brushing his hair back. Her lips were trembling, but no sound came out. There was no time for grief in this world.
Just chapters.
Just consequences.
"His trait…" one boy whispered. "He had the Flicker of Flame... and he still lost."
I said nothing. My hand pressed to my side, blood leaking through my shirt. The pain was dull now. Muted.
Maybe the story didn't like me bleeding too early.
Or maybe it was saving me.
I looked around.
Thirty-six survivors now. Fewer by dawn.
Arien turned toward me.
"You saved her," she said, quietly. "But…"
I nodded.
"I know."
No one else spoke.
They didn't have to.
The gym didn't feel safer anymore.
Just haunted.
And I realized something.
The system didn't just want a death.
It wanted meaning.
And the price for meaning... was always blood.