Only One Knew

[Scenario #2: The Locked City]

[Participants: 100]

[Location: Seoul – Fifth Ward, Quarantined Zone]

[Time Limit: 3 Hours]

[Main Objective: Escape the Ward]

[Sub-objective: Locate the Forgotten Sword]

[Penalty for Failure: Immediate Termination]

The sky above was dull, stained orange with artificial sunset. It felt like time had been painted over with a brush that never dried. Jae-hwan stood in the center of an abandoned intersection surrounded by buildings half-eaten by rust, their windows boarded with bent steel and planks covered in dried blood. Surveillance drones buzzed faintly above like curious insects.

He had arrived.

And someone was already here.

"You're slower than I thought," the girl said.

Jae-hwan turned.

She was shorter than he remembered from the original story—but her presence was unmistakable. Pale silver hair tied into a short tail, a leather coat patched with scars, a belt that carried three broken sword hilts and one intact blade.

[You have encountered: Han Yura – Timeline Divergence Status: Unknown]

[Original Death Point: Chapter 13]

[Current Timeline Threat Level: Moderate–High]

"Han Yura," he said, the name unfamiliar on his tongue yet familiar to his heart.

She narrowed her eyes. "That's right. And you are?"

"…Kang Jae-hwan."

The silence between them stretched for a few seconds too long.

Then she turned away and started walking. "I don't remember you."

[You have entered an altered narrative chain – Memory Disconnect Present]

[Your prior interactions with this character have been erased in this timeline]

That was expected.

In this version of the story, she had survived differently. Perhaps earlier. Perhaps stronger. The system had granted her a chance to rewrite herself.

"Are you alone?" he asked.

She stopped in front of a flickering kiosk. The screen buzzed to life.

[Scenario Progress: 3%]

[Quarantine Barrier Lockdown – 2 hours, 47 minutes remaining]

"There were six others," she said. "Three already dead. Two missing. One I had to kill myself."

"…Because they turned?"

"No," she replied. "Because they couldn't handle what they remembered."

Jae-hwan blinked. That wasn't a metaphor. The second scenario was called the Locked City, but the lock was internal. It forced players to confront the memories they tried to forget.

[Sub-Objective Clue Unlocked: Sword of Misremembering – Location Bound to Deepest Regret]

He scanned the map projected from the kiosk. It showed only static and a blinking red dot. No paths. No directions. Nothing useful.

Han Yura stared at it with dead eyes. "The sword's supposed to help us escape. If we can find it."

Jae-hwan nodded. "Do you remember what you forgot?"

"That's the problem. I can't remember what I forgot. Only that I did."

[You have entered: Layered Scenario Zone – Mental Resonance State Active]

The ground rumbled.

From the alley behind them, a tall figure emerged.

No footsteps. No sound. Just presence.

It looked like a man—but wrong. Its limbs were uneven. Its skin was pale and thin like rice paper, veins pulsing underneath with inky residue.

And where its face should have been, there was only a mirror.

[You are being watched by: The Regretful Reflector Lv. 15]

[Boss-Type Monster – Cannot be harmed by direct physical attack]

[Special Condition: Requires personal memory activation to engage]

Han Yura immediately stepped in front of Jae-hwan, blade unsheathed.

"Get behind me."

"No," he said calmly. "It's my memory it's looking for."

He walked past her.

[Passive Trait: Inkblood Memory – Activating suppressed narrative thread]

[Memory Fragment Detected: May 12th, 2022 – Exit 4, Sinchon Station – One Forgotten Event]

The air folded around him. The figure twitched. The mirror on its face began to show an image:

A bookstore.

And himself, younger, holding a book.

Another reader had asked, "Is it worth finishing?"

And Jae-hwan, who had already known the ending, had said: "No."

The mirror flashed red.

[Mental Strike Initiated – Guilt Overload 12%]

[Skill Activation: Canon Thread Bind Lv. 1]

He gritted his teeth.

"No," he whispered. "That's not how I remember it."

He raised his pen.

"He said yes. Because someone had to believe the story mattered."

Light cracked the mirror. The figure screamed. Reality bled around it.

Han Yura leapt.

[Skill: Mirror Reversal Slash – Applied with Canon Thread Assistance]

She brought her blade down.

The figure split in two.

[Boss Defeated – 100 Coins Earned]

[Memory Reconciled – 1st Lock Removed]

[Sub-Objective Progress: 47%]

The area brightened. Somewhere distant, a chime echoed.

And before them, impaled in the asphalt, was a sword.

The blade shimmered.

It wasn't metal. It was text—paragraphs wrapped around a hilt.

[You have discovered: The Sword of Misremembering (Grade: Unique)]

Jae-hwan reached out.

The text shifted. A line etched into the blade read:

"The regret you deny becomes the power to move forward."

He gripped the sword.

And the entire ward trembled.

[Scenario Update: Final Barrier Unlocked – Time Remaining: 2 hours, 01 minutes]

[Escape Condition: Confront the Forgotten Author Within the Core Zone]

Han Yura stepped beside him.

"You knew what it wanted," she said quietly.

Jae-hwan nodded.

"I remembered what mattered."

To be continue...