Only One Knew

[10:40 PM | Post-Scenario Buffer Zone – Labyrinth Outskirts]

[Scenario Complete: Rewrite Protocol]

[System Recalibration in Progress. Estimated Time: 00:03:00]

The world was quiet for once.

Jae-hwan stood at the edge of the newly restored corridor, the dust of unmade words drifting like ash behind him.

[Title Equipped: First Author]

[Class Awakened: Storyweaver (Unstable)]

[Trait Registered: Inkblood Memory]

He didn't feel stronger. Not in the traditional sense. But there was something else now.

He remembered.

Not just events. Not just dialogue. But subtext. Emotion. Decisions that were never made but could have been.

Jin-hee was crouched nearby, adjusting his interface. "Unstable Storyweaver class, huh? That's rare."

Jae-hwan didn't answer immediately.

Instead, he whispered, "It was never supposed to be me."

"Exactly why it had to be."

[New Objective: Accept the Burden – Complete the Rewrite]

[Flashback | 9 Years Ago | A Darkened Room in Seoul]

Young Jae-hwan stared at the last chapter on his cracked monitor.

"And in the end, no one remembered his name."

He closed the file.

Alone. Always.

He didn't write fan theories. Didn't comment. Didn't scream into the void like the others.

He memorized it instead.

Every death. Every twist. Every line that made him cry.

He didn't know it then, but the story was watching.

[10:43 PM | Present]

[Scenario Transition Initialized: Connecting Threads]

[Sub-scenario: The Storyweaver's Burden Activated]

[Objective: Survive the burden of authorship. Rewrite the next draft.]

Jin-hee stood. "Ready for the consequences?"

Jae-hwan: "No."

The world cracked.

They were no longer in the corridor.

[Unknown Location | Drafting Space – Unfinished Realities]

A thousand unfinished stories screamed.

Not with voices, but with sentences.

"She never came home." "He died thinking no one would read it." "The world ended on page 72."

These weren't fictions.

These were abortions of narrative. Lost arcs. Deleted endings.

They wrapped around Jae-hwan like chains.

[Warning: Story Collapse Imminent]

[Burden Level: 41% → 68%]

He dropped to one knee.

Jin-hee grabbed his shoulder. "You have to write something! Anything!"

Jae-hwan forced his hand forward.

A quill appeared in his grasp.

[Skill: Inkblood Manifestation – Activated]

He dipped it into his palm.

Wrote one word onto the floor.

"Hope."

The stories recoiled.

[Burden Level: 68% → 59%]

Jin-hee grinned. "Use the pain. Turn it into plot. That's what real writers do."

Jae-hwan stood.

"I'm not a writer."

"You are now."

[Mission Update: Construct a New Draft]

[Time Limit: 30 minutes]

A table formed.

A manuscript appeared. Blank.

Jae-hwan sat.

And began.

"Once, there was a world that ended before the story could begin. But someone remembered. Someone defied. Someone rewrote."

[Trait Activated: Narrative Sync Lv. 2 – Draft Resonance Initiated]

[Manuscript Stability: 13% → 28% → 41%]

Ink poured from his hands.

Scenes unfolded in his mind: people he hadn't met yet, fates he hadn't changed, cities that hadn't fallen.

Jin-hee backed away. "This is it. Your canon. Your version."

[Sub-scenario Complete: The Storyweaver's Burden]

[Reward: 1x Narrative Token | Class Advancement Path Unlocked]

[Level Up! Lv. 13 → Lv. 14 | Stat Points +6 | Class Path: Stabilized Storyweaver Available]

The manuscript closed on its own.

And a single page tore free.

On it, a name.

His.

Kang Jae-hwan.

Remembered.

To be continue...