Morning never truly came in the Scorching City.
The sun existed behind layers of smoke and ash, casting a sickly amber glow over the ruins. Every breath still carried soot. My mouth was dry. My stomach ached from hunger. The crackers I had found the night before were gone, and I hadn't seen clean water since arriving.
But I was alive.
> \[Side Quest Progress: 3%]
Three percent.
I didn't know if I should laugh or cry.
I peeked out from the window of the ruined convenience store I'd taken shelter in. The streets were quiet. No monsters in sight. Just the eerie groan of wind pushing through metal.
I needed to move. Scavenge more food. Avoid detection.
But fate, it seemed, had other plans.
---
I was crouched near the old tram tunnel, digging through a collapsed vending machine, when I heard footsteps.
I froze.
They were too controlled, too confident, to be a monster.
Someone was approaching.
I ducked into the tunnel's shadows and held my breath. The footsteps grew louder. Closer.
And then a voice.
"...You can come out. I already know you're there."
Shit.
I recognized that voice.
Baek Seojoon.
The protagonist.
The Sword Saint who ended the world.
My hands tightened around the broken pipe I kept tucked in my belt. Not that it would help.
A figure stepped into view, his long coat slightly singed at the edges. His sword was sheathed, but I could feel the weight of it like a sun pressed against my chest. He wasn't just powerful. He *was* the script.
"You're not from our group," he said calmly.
I didn't reply.
He tilted his head, studying me. "You don't have a class emblem. No constellation seal either."
He saw everything.
"You're not a monster. And you're not a native." His gaze narrowed. "So what *are* you?"
I stepped into the light slowly, hands raised.
"I'm just trying to survive."
He didn't draw his sword, but his fingers hovered near the hilt.
"There shouldn't be anyone else here. This Ruin is sealed for the scenario."
"I… I fell here. I don't know how. I woke up near the edge of the city. I haven't hurt anyone. I swear."
It wasn't exactly a lie.
He stared at me for a long moment.
Then, unexpectedly, he sighed.
"You remind me of someone."
He walked past me.
I blinked.
"Wait, you're not going to attack me?"
"You're not a threat," he said over his shoulder. "Yet."
I stood there stunned.
He stopped at the tunnel exit and looked back.
"There's a supply cache three blocks west. An old library. We cleared it earlier, but there might be scraps left."
Why?
Why was he helping me?
"Why are you telling me this?"
Baek Seojoon looked at me, eyes unreadable.
"Because something about this Ruin feels wrong. And something tells me… you're part of the reason."
He left me with that.
No threats. No explanations.
Just a warning wrapped in mercy.
---
I followed his directions.
The library was mostly rubble, but I found a half-crushed emergency box under a broken statue. Inside were a few packets of dried food and a cracked water purifier flask. My hands trembled as I unscrewed it and took a sip.
Not perfect. But not poison.
> \[You have consumed Safe Water.]
> \[Minor Health restored. Hydration Level stabilized.]
I sat there a while, chewing on dried rice and seaweed, trying to make sense of what had just happened.
Baek Seojoon *knew* I wasn't from here. But he didn't kill me. He didn't report me to the system either.
> \[Fate Thread: Anomaly Detected]
> \[Baek Seojoon has acknowledged the Irregular.]
> \[Ripple Effect in Progress...]
The story was unraveling.
And I was the loose thread.
I looked up through the cracked dome of the library ceiling. Smoke trailed past a ruined statue of a winged knight.
I didn't have power.
I didn't have a name in this world.
But maybe—just maybe—I had a chance to matter.
The timeline was already bending.
And I was still alive.
Somehow, that felt like the beginning of something new.
Even if the world around me had already ended.