Chapter 104
All chapters of the “scenario” were almost completed. Even the “memory of the Dogok 2-dong Gate” that I had never saved was simply recalling a memory Yu Dohyun had already completed. It seemed that Yu Dohyun had somehow become the administrator of the system and lived his entire life completing the chapters of this “scenario” until his death. Memories I had never seen before were played out from Yu Dohyun’s perspective, and sometimes situations overlapped with my past. For example, when father gave me the Mana amplifier to take.
There wasn’t enough time to review the entire vast scenario, so I just skimmed through the complete list one last time. That’s when I noticed small letters saying “(Unachieved)” next to Stage 2. I remembered Yu Dohyun skipping Stage 2 in frustration in a dream I had before. Stage 2 was relatively short, consisting of only 10 chapters, and there were a total of 2 unachieved chapters.
[Unachieved chapters will only load the scenario up to the achieved part. If you forcibly move past a chapter without achieving it, the scenario will change slightly, and it will be difficult to go back unless you reset. Do you wish to confirm?]
I nodded slowly. This time, a more detailed scene was implemented. In an instant, I was dropped from my home onto the middle of a road. The road was in shambles, and there wasn’t a sign of any human presence. It felt like a controlled area just before a Gate occurrence.
“Yu Dohyun!”
I was startled by the high-pitched scream and looked toward the source of the sound. A blood-covered man and woman in their mid-30s were standing with guns, surrounding someone in the middle. And in the center…
“Stop shouting. My ears hurt.”
Yu Dohyun was standing there. I realized this was the first time I was seeing the intact Yu Dohyun through a third-person perspective. He had my “pre-possession” face exactly as it was, and apart from slightly torn clothes, he looked excessively neat compared to the man and woman surrounding him.
“Have you decided to die obediently?”
“Die obediently? Me?”
“You’re still insufferably arrogant.”
“If you kill me, will you two officially inherit Hansung?”
“That’s none of your business. You won’t be around by then anyway.”
Yu Dohyun laughed as if it was ridiculous, making a “pahah” sound. The couple, that is, Han Jaemin’s parents, gripped their guns tightly with tense expressions.
“I won’t be around?”
“Do you find this situation funny? Still can’t grasp the situation? There’s no one coming to support you anymore. Your Mana is bound.”
“Shoot.”
Yu Dohyun said simply. The man’s eyebrows furrowed in a strange way. For someone facing death, his face was excessively arrogant and complacent. As if some trick had been set up. Of course, I already knew why Yu Dohyun was like that.
“You’re going to die anyway.”
“What?”
“Whether I die or not.”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
“If I don’t die, you’ll die as punishment for that.”
“…”
“Even if I die, you’ll die without being able to take Hansung anyway.”
“Yu Dohyun, in the end, before death, you’re just a human spouting nonsense.”
“Just a human?”
Yu Dohyun laughed.
“The ones who are just humans would be you two, with barely enough Mana left for one last shot.”
“Insolent till the end.”
“This is my fifth time. Looking down the barrel of your guns.”
“What…”
“Should I live this time, or should I pretend to die and satisfy your pathetic pride for a few seconds? I just need to choose.”
That’s when it happened. Sniffling sounds began to come from an alley that was thought to be empty. Han Jaemin’s parents looked bewildered. Yu Dohyun was completely calm. As if he knew. With a face of utter weariness, like someone who had watched countless reruns of a drama they’d already seen.
“Hyung…”
He looked at me and Yu Hyunjae. That is, at the seven-year-old versions of us. I came out of the alley, whimpering and struggling to drag Yu Hyunjae. Yu Hyunjae seemed to have been deeply injured somewhere and was half-unconscious. He might have been hurt when a building or something collapsed.
“Hyung, Hyunjae is…”
“I told you not to come out.”
“But Hyung, what if Hyunjae… dies?”
The young Yu Chanhee fearlessly approached Yu Dohyun while crying. Han Jaemin’s parents continued to watch them, unable to shoot rashly. This is where Yu Dohyun dies protecting me, and the story begins. That was usually how my life began. Han Jaemin’s parents also aimed their guns at Yu Chanhee while keeping Yu Dohyun in check. He would definitely protect his younger brother. Probably with that calculation in mind.
“Stay still.”
“Hyung, Hyung…”
“I told you to stay still.”
A slight quarrel continued. It was hard to believe that guns were pointed at them. That’s when it happened. Suddenly, Yu Dohyun looked at Han Jaemin’s mother, who was holding the gun, and took something out of his pocket. The woman reflexively pulled the trigger. “Wait!” The man tried to stop her, but the bullet, which had already drawn in the last of the Mana, had already been fired.
“This can’t be…”
I covered my mouth. Because I was about to vomit. Without any change in expression, Yu Dohyun threw away Yu Chanhee, who had been shot. He also kicked away Yu Hyunjae, who was barely breathing with his eyes slightly open.
“This crazy bastard… using his own brother as a shield.”
“Is it not crazy for a couple to cause a disturbance just to kill one person?”
“You crazy son of a bitch. You’re completely insane. You’ve lost your mind.”
“Let’s continue this conversation later.”
The woman had already exhausted all her Mana, and the man was also in a state where Yu Dohyun could easily subdue him with the strength he had left. Yu Dohyun slowly raised his hand. And lightly, as if grasping an egg, he curled his fingers. Despite being far away, the eyes of the couple widened as if someone was strangling them. And then they went limp.
[You have failed to achieve the chapter’s objective.]
[Chapter Objective: Save Yu Hyunjae and Yu Chanhee and meet an honorable death]
[The ultimate goal conflicts with the chapter objective!]
[Would you like to modify the objective?]
[Your current goal is ‘Ultimate Happiness’]
“Shut up. You bastard. I’m going to skip it.”
[…Skipping Chapter 45. Moving to Chapter 46.]
And I returned to my home, back on the sofa. I stood still, still unable to believe the scene I had witnessed. Yu Dohyun, who not only failed to save Yu Chanhee but used him as a shield to preserve his own life. And the face that didn’t shed a single tear. The foot that kicked away the dying Yu Hyunjae.
“This can’t be.”
And yet, why did Yu Dohyun eventually die and the system pass to me? With such a strong desire to live. I recalled the words that Yu Hyunjae with dead eyes kept repeating beyond the Gate when I used necromancy.
‘Because I hate it.’
‘What?’
‘Because I hate your happiness.’
‘If I can’t have happiness, you shouldn’t either, Chanhee.’
‘You’re my brother, after all.’
‘I hate that you two are happy together.’
‘I hated that you were in love.’
‘You and Yu Hyunjae.’
I slowly checked the prompter to see if there were any other unachieved chapters. At the very end of the scroll, Stage 10. I didn’t notice at first because the colors were the same, but Stage 10 was entirely marked as unachieved. That means, in the end, Yu Hyunjae failed at the final stage of his goal and died without achieving the ultimate happiness he wanted. After that, for some reason, the system was passed on to me, and that reason was,
“Because he hates my happiness.”
Because he hated the ending where Yu Hyunjae and I would be remembered as living happily ever after because of his sacrifice. For such a cowardly and childish reason, us.
