Morning came too quietly.
The world hadn't recovered from last night — it had only paused.The streets were half-empty, cars abandoned mid-turn, phones left ringing into silence. The air carried a smell I couldn't describe — part ozone, part dust, part… emptiness.
It was 8:02 a.m. when the next message appeared.
[Scenario 2: The Stranger's Promise — begins now.]
My stomach twisted.Right on schedule.
In Heaven Falls Twice, this scenario introduced the "protagonist," Jin Do-hyun — the only person who figured out how to form an alliance before the second culling.He'd survived by trusting no one, until a stranger offered him something the system couldn't calculate: a promise.
Now, I was in that story.But this time, there was no narrator, no plot armor.Only me — and a system that already knew my name.
The streets trembled with sirens and shouting. Somewhere in the distance, an explosion ripped through the morning air. The messages came again, glowing faintly above the ruins of downtown.
[Survive with one promise.][Breaking your promise will result in erasure.]
That was the rule.In the novel, Do-hyun had survived by making the simplest promise possible:
"I'll stay alive."
Everyone else had tried to be noble — promises to save their loved ones, to protect the weak, to find peace.The system didn't care about intentions. It only cared about outcomes.And anyone who broke their promise — or couldn't prove they kept it — vanished.
I needed to find someone to make that promise with.
Except this time, the novel had changed something else.
[Participants are not required to know each other.][The promise must be mutual.]
Mutual.That wasn't in the original version.Which meant I couldn't just repeat Do-hyun's path word for word.
As I moved through the wreckage of the city, I saw them — people forming groups, holding hands, muttering their promises like desperate prayers. The system glowed faintly around each pair, sealing their words in light.
I kept walking.I couldn't risk pairing with a stranger who might die in an hour.
Then I saw him.
Standing in the middle of the street, staring up at the fractured sky — dark hair, torn coat, blood at the corner of his mouth.He didn't look scared. He looked tired.Like someone who had already lived through this once.
Jin Do-hyun.
The man from the story.The hero who had survived the first collapse.
He turned slightly as I approached, eyes sharp, calculating.The same eyes the novel had described — "calm as if he'd already seen the end."
He looked at me for three seconds, and in that brief silence, I felt it — the sense of being recognized, even though we had never met.
[Potential link detected.][Promise candidate located.]
Our names appeared in light before us.Han Jiho.Jin Do-hyun.
He spoke first. His voice was quiet but steady."Looks like the system wants us together."
I swallowed hard.In the novel, Do-hyun's first partner died thirty minutes later.
He extended a hand toward me. "You know what this is about, right?"
I nodded slowly."I know," I lied.
[Begin promise? Y/N]
The air between us shimmered.For a heartbeat, I saw something flicker in his expression — the faintest trace of recognition, like he'd seen me somewhere before.
I pressed "Yes."
[Promise recorded: We will stay alive.]
The glow sealed around us, a faint ring of light sinking into our skin.
And then — the system spoke again, words I didn't remember from any chapter of the novel.
[An observer has entered the Scenario.][Story divergence: 0.07%.]
Do-hyun frowned. "What was that?"
I didn't answer.Because for the first time since this began, I didn't know either.