Reality Quest: Questism

The Seonlim Memorial building.

I stood before the building, fidgeting with the hems of my black suit, looking up at the marble stairs leading to inside.

It was finally becoming spring, the sun was shining, I would've liked it on any other day except this.

I finally walked into the building, walking into the room I now knew off my heart, having been here multiple times before this, or not. Just remembering something doesn't mean I actually did it. This body wasn't mine after all.

The framed photo on the shelf was one that recalled memories. My first day of middle school. My mother had her hands around me and my father was ruffling my hair, smiling. A faint smile appeared on my face as I gazed into the image.

That full toothed grin, that v-sign… Dowan was so happy. 

He was so happy.

I closed my eyes, and suddenly, I wasn't here anymore. I was back in that cold, sterile hospital room, the beeping machines drowned out by my mother's sobs. The scent of antiseptic burned my nose. I remembered the white sheet covering his body. The weight of it.

He had died saving another. Even at the end, he did what was right.

A bitter chuckle slipped out before I even realized it. My fingers brushed against the edge of the frame as I whispered,

"If you knew me… would you have loved me too?"

It was a stupid question.

I had Dowan's memories. His childhood, his joys, his regrets. But I wasn't him. I hadn't lived his life, hadn't made his choices. I wasn't his son.

I was just a visitor trying to repay the family that had hosted him.

"He was a good man."

The voice broke me out of my thoughts.

I turned.

Han Eunsung stood a few feet away, hands in his pockets, eyes unreadable. His usual disinterest was absent, his face was solemn, respectful. He wasn't here for show.

I hesitated. "You knew him?"

His gaze didn't leave the photograph. "He was so kind that he chose to die saving someone else instead of himself." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a white flower, placing it gently before the frame.

The movement was careful. Thoughtful.

"Is he why you agreed to be my ally?" I asked.

Eunsung didn't answer immediately. He stood still, staring at the picture. Then, finally, he nodded.

I frowned, about to ask another question, but he beat me to it.

"I heard what you said earlier." His voice was quiet. "Do you think your father wouldn't have loved you because you joined the Bully Council?"

I blinked. "No, that's not—"

But…

Would he?

This body belonged to the son of the man who fought against corruption, who stood against people like Seokyoung and the Bully council. And now, here I was, standing in his place, wearing his son's face, aligning myself with the very thing he opposed. Even though I knew Dowan would have done it originally... the question still scared me.

Had I tainted his legacy?

Eunsung studied me. "You joined for a reason. A good one." His fingers tapped against his wrist, as if considering something, before he continued. "I didn't know him well, but… I think he would have been proud of you."

I froze.

I wasn't expecting comfort from Han Eunsung of all people.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I muttered, "Thanks."

Then, I turned to leave.

I was already halfway to the door when his voice stopped me again.

"Why did you go to Seokyoung?"

I didn't turn back.

"He's going to get something I need."

Silence.

Eunsung didn't press further, and I didn't offer anything more.

With that, I walked out of the room, leaving the past behind.

***

There wasn't a single night I didn't train.

My body was constantly breaking and healing, my muscles tightening, my speed sharpening. I spent hours smashing my fists into steel posts until my knuckles bled, then healed, then bled again. I did incline presses until my arms gave out and ran until my legs felt like lead.

And through it all, I never stopped talking to Jihan.

At first, he was reluctant. He wasn't the type to entertain my nonsense, and he made that very clear. But the thing about Jihan was that he cared…even when he tried to act like he didn't. I caught him sticking around more, watching my training with something between curiosity and exasperation.

"You're insane," he muttered one evening, watching as I wiped sweat off my forehead after throwing my hundredth punch against a steel plate. "You don't even need to train this hard. What are you trying to prove?"

I grit my teeth, stretching my arms. "That I'm strong."

He gave me a look. "...You already are."

"Not enough."

"Enough for what?"

I didn't answer. Instead, I changed the subject.

"You should train with me."

Jihan snorted. "Pass."

I laughed. "C'mon. We'll get Sehun too. Make it a whole thing."

At the mention of Sehun, his expression twisted slightly. "Why do you even hang out with him?"

I shrugged. "Dunno. He's not bad company once you get past the whole I-was-a-massive-dick-in-middle-school thing."

Jihan gave me a flat look. "That's a pretty big thing to get past."

"Yeah, well, people can change."

He didn't argue with that, just exhaled and leaned against the fence, watching the sky. I let the silence settle, giving him space. We weren't the kind of friends who needed to talk all the time… sometimes, just being there was enough.

On the other hand, Sehun and I trained together almost every night.

At first, it was awkward. Our two fights had always been bitter, full of grudges and history. But something shifted after our last fight. I beat him too easily, too quickly. I wasn't the weak guy that had to trick him to beat him anymore, and we both knew it.

But instead of resenting it, Sehun just… showed up.

It started with him watching from the side, arms crossed, throwing out insults like, "Your form is shit," and "That's a kick?!"

Then, he got involved.

Sparring.

In other words, I'd constantly beat him into the ground while he tried to stop me.

"You're not human," he grunted after I swept his legs for the fifth time in a row, leaving him gasping for air on the sandy floor of the abandoned children's playground.

My mouth quirked up into a smile. "Healing water."

"Bullshit," he muttered, rubbing his jaw.

After training, we'd sit on the swings, drinking canned coffee from a nearby vending machine. Sometimes we talked. Sometimes we just sat in silence, staring at the city lights.

It was... nice.

Sehun wasn't good at words. He wasn't someone who'd ever apologize or say outright that things had changed between us. But he was still here. 

And Jihan?

Jihan finally caved.

Not because I convinced him. Not because of some dramatic moment.

But because, one night, after sparring with Sehun and collapsing onto the bench next to him, I sighed and said, "You know my crew is just what I call my friends, right?"

Jihan, mid-drink, paused.

I kept going.

"I mean, yeah, it started as a gang thing, but honestly? I don't care about that stuff. I just like having people around. So, y'know. No pressure. You can think about it."

Jihan stared at his can for a long moment. Then, he sighed.

"...Fine."

[3/3 Members Recruited.]

You have received 5 moderate Level Up cards!

I smiled. "Knew you'd come around."

***

It wasn't just training.

I'd lived a life.

Between the endless workouts, the bruised callused knuckles, and the nights spent pushing my body to its limits, I had carved out something real... something that wasn't just about fighting, revenge, or proving myself.

Ahrin had quickly become a friend.

It was almost accidental, really. She had this way of worming herself into my life without me even realizing it. One moment, she was just the weird girl who gave me a whole live octopus out of nowhere. The next, she was someone I found myself talking to more and more.

Eventually, I confessed… I had never actually eaten the octopus she gave me.

The look on her face… the absolute devastation in her eyes…

I regretted everything.

"You what?" she whispered, looking as if I had personally ruined her entire worldview.

"I... uh..."

"I chose you." Her voice wavered. "I entrusted you with that octopus."

"I know, I know, I—"

"And you just threw it away?"

"Okay, first of all, that's not what happened. It's more like I…" I hesitated, trying to think of a way to phrase it without making myself look worse. "...gave it away?"

"To who?"

"To the ocean?"

She gasped. "You just freed it?!"

"Isn't that better?"

"No!"

I was doomed.

Jihan, standing off to the side, looked at me with mild disappointment. "This is entirely your fault."

I sighed, rubbing my temples. "Look, I'll make it up to you, alright?"

That was how I found myself at the PC café that her father owned, sitting between Ahrin and Jihan as she thoroughly tried to destroy us in every game we played.

It turned out that "recompense" meant suffering… but just for her

For me, this was justice. For her, it was hell trying to defeat two Demon Lords.

Jihan took it all in stride, of course. Even when he got dragged into things completely against his will, he never made too much of a fuss. He just sighed, went along with it, and somehow managed to make me feel worse for involving him in the first place.

Good man, that Jihan.

Sehee on the other hand… was another problem entirely.

I'd helped him out at his part-time job once, which, looking back, was a terrible idea. The sheer amount of energy he had was exhausting. His personality was one thing, but combined with the fact that his entire existence seemed to revolve around making things as chaotic as possible… yeah.

Mistakes were made.

He had me running around the entire store like a madman, stacking shelves, restocking drinks, handling customers… things I had absolutely no experience in. He, on the other hand, handled everything with ease.

Well. Almost everything.

When an old lady asked why a high schooler had a full beard, he ended up stammering for a solid minute before eventually blurting out, "I'm just built different, ma'am."

And somehow, that worked.

His grandmother, on the other hand, was a whole different kind of terrifying.

I made the mistake of trying her tteokbokki.

Big mistake.

Huge mistake.

A mistake so massive that, for a brief moment, I genuinely thought I was about to meet whatever gods existed in this world.

Sehee had warned me.

He had laughed and said, "You sure? My grandma doesn't do 'mild.'"

And yet, in my infinite wisdom, I waved him off and took a bite anyway.

My throat caught fire.

My soul caught ice.

Every regret I had ever felt in my life hit me all at once.

Even Jihan, ever the calm and composed one, took one bite and silently placed his chopsticks down, staring at the table like he was contemplating every decision that led him here.

Ahrin, however, ate the whole thing without even flinching.

Monster.

I refused to suffer alone.

That was how the plan for revenge was formed.

Sehee had to go through what I had gone through. It was only fair.

So, a few days later, I took him and Ahrin to her favourite restaurant and presented him with his own personal nightmare… mint chocolate tteokbokki.

The moment he saw it, his entire face lost its usual grin.

"Bro." He turned to me, voice hollow. "Bro. No."

I gestured at the plate. "Go ahead. It's good."

Ahrin nodded along. "Yeah it's amazing!"

Sehee didn't look convinced. In fact, he looked like he was actively resisting the urge to throw up just from the sight of it.

"I can't do this, man." He shook his head. "I have respect for food."

I crossed my arms. "Oh? So my suffering meant nothing?"

"It's not the same! My grandma's food is soul food. This? This is just… this is an abomination."

Jihan, sitting beside him, leaned in. "Just take one bite."

"I'm not strong enough."

"Do it for the crew."

Sehee closed his eyes, breathed in, and then… against all odds, actually picked up his chopsticks.

He stared down at the cursed dish before him. He was pale. He was shaking.

Then, in a single act of sheer bravery, he took a bite.

Silence.

We watched. We waited.

Then, his face contorted. His entire body shuddered.

"I want to die," he whispered.

I grinned. "That's how I felt eating it too."

"You're sick," he muttered, grabbing his drink and downing it like it could wash away the horror he had just tasted. "You're actually sick."

Ahrin just laughed. "You guys are idiots."

We were.

But maybe that was the fun part.

These were the fun days. I just laughed.

***

Six weeks later my phone buzzed.

Seokyoung.

I answered immediately. "Talk to me."

His voice came through, calm. Too calm. "I have it."

A beat of silence.

"The video."

The world around me shrank. Everything else, the faint chatter of students leaving cram school, the distant hum of traffic, the cool night air against my skin… became irrelevant.

"Where?" I asked, already moving.

"Construction site. Near Sangdo Station."

Something about his tone felt off. It wasn't just unreadable… it was deliberate. Measured. Like he was weighing every word before saying it.

And that wasn't right.

Seokyoung wasn't the kind of person to hesitate.

I exhaled slowly. "I'm on my way."

The call ended.

I stayed still for a moment, staring down at my phone.

This was late. Too late. The video should've been in my hands weeks ago. And Seokyoung… he wasn't normal, either.

I scrolled through my contacts, my thumb hovering over a name before pressing down. The phone rang once.

Then twice.

Then…

"Hey, Deputy," I said when the call connected. "You free?"

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As usual, stones please. POWER STONE MEEEEEEE