Only One Knew

[09:20 PM | Seoul Metro Line 2 | Approaching Gangbyeon Station]

[Main Scenario #1: Progress – 97.5%]

[Special Condition Triggered: Dead Zone Access – Priority Path]

The train's rumble quieted.

It was like the machine itself had grown afraid of its destination.

Even before the brakes screeched or the station lights flickered into view, everyone onboard felt the shift. Something had gone terribly wrong. Not just in the system, not just in the scenario, but in the fabric of the world they were in.

Han So-yeon sat on the floor of Subway Car 6, her eyes shut, arms folded tightly around herself.

She had seen monsters. She had heard things speak in her voice. She had watched people die. But the silence after the Whispering Observer vanished was somehow worse.

It was like the story was holding its breath.

Jae-hwan leaned on the shattered wall between cars, arms bleeding, lungs rattling. His HUD flickered as the system updated again.

[Status: HP 8/120 | Skill Cooldowns: Ghost Step (Ready), Edge of the Author (41:38 remaining)] [Active Traits: Storybreaker, Chaos Seed - Origin Fragment]

[Threat Level: Catastrophic]

"Hey."

Jin-hee stood beside him, adjusting his gloves like they mattered in this dying narrative.

"What?" Jae-hwan muttered.

"You did better than I expected," Jin-hee said. "You survived a Reader Fusion event on your first attempt. Most editors burn out from that."

Jae-hwan stared forward. "I'm not an editor."

"No," Jin-hee said, "you're something worse."

Jae-hwan's fingers twitched.

"So what's at Gangbyeon Station?"

Jin-hee exhaled slowly. "You've read the first ten chapters. You remember what they said about zones, right?"

[Author's Note: Dead Zones]

Dead Zones are narrative pits—areas where the plot has failed or been overwritten. Abandoned arcs, corrupted timelines, deleted scenarios. Entering a Dead Zone means choosing to walk into a space the story has already tried to erase.

"Why would the train go there?" Jae-hwan asked.

Jin-hee didn't answer.

Because the answer was obvious.

[System Route Locked: Gangbyeon Station Arrival – Imminent]

The train screeched to a stop.

Jae-hwan braced against the doorway. The survivors—only eight left now—cowered in the back of the car. So-yeon crawled to his side.

"There's no light outside," she said quietly.

Jae-hwan looked.

And she was right.

Outside the train, Gangbyeon Station was pitch black. Not dark in the way of power loss—but dark like someone had removed light itself.

It wasn't absence. It was erasure.

[Dead Zone Entry Detected. Main Scenario Paused. Sub Scenario Activated: Descent into Silence]

[Goal: Survive for 15 Minutes.]

[Reward: ??? | Failure: Full System Wipe]

Jin-hee stepped forward. "The rules here are different."

Jae-hwan's system chimed again.

[Sub Scenario Begins in: 00:05]

[Sub Scenario: Descent into Silence – Active.]

The doors opened.

And the sound vanished.

[09:21 PM | Gangbyeon Station – Platform 1, Dead Zone]

There was no air.

Not in the literal sense—Jae-hwan could still breathe—but in the feeling of things. The world lacked oxygen in its essence. The kind of vacuum that pulled thought from your lungs and ideas from your spine.

The moment he stepped out of the train, he felt it.

[Narrative Compression in Effect.] [Skills unusable until Anchor established.]

Great.

So-yeon followed behind him.

The child clutched her mother's leg. The old man in the suit gripped a broken umbrella like a sword. None of them had any idea what was waiting.

A whisper scraped across the void.

Not from the system.

Not from Jin-hee.

But from beneath the station.

"Why are you still alive, Jae-hwan?"

He spun.

A shadow stood between two collapsed vending machines.

He recognized it.

It was his own face.

[Dead Zone Guardian: Echo of Kang Jae-hwan]

[Level: Unknown]

[Description: A copy born from the version that gave up.]

The shadow-Jae-hwan smirked. "You should have died in Car 2. Instead, you broke the script. So now..."

It raised a hand.

"…you get to fight me."

[Combat Initiated: Mirror Conflict Protocol – Chaos Event]

Jin-hee cursed behind him. "It's too early for this! This boss doesn't spawn until the end of Act 1!"

Jae-hwan stepped forward.

"Then I'll beat it early."

He clenched his fists.

[Ghost Step – Blocked]

[Skill Lock Active: Anchor Required]

He snarled.

"Then I'll beat it the old way."

The Echo laughed.

"You're not a hero, Jae-hwan. You're just another version of me that hasn't failed yet."

The first punch came faster than a thought.

Jae-hwan ducked it, barely, and drove his knee up into the Echo's ribs.

Nothing.

It didn't even flinch.

[Your damage is reflected.]

[HP -3]

The Echo countered.

A straight jab.

Jae-hwan flew back. Crashed into a ruined bench.

[HP 5/120]

So-yeon screamed.

Jin-hee stepped forward.

"Hold on," he said. "I've got one edit left."

He raised his hand.

A pen formed between his fingers.

[Editor Skill: Scene Patch Lv.1 – Target: Jae-hwan]

[Effect: Reinstates lost stat allocation temporarily]

Jae-hwan's bones snapped.

But then they stitched.

His eyes flared.

[Strength +10 | Speed +15 | Endurance +12]

[Anchor Stabilized: Chaos Seed Compatible. Skills Unlocked.]

[Ghost Step – Ready]

[Edge of the Author – 00:41:12 remaining]

The Echo raised its arms.

"Now that is more like me."

Jae-hwan whispered:

"Let's find out who the real one is."

And then he vanished.

To be continue...