The fire came, just as
was meant to
“Fire! Everyone, run!”
“Help me! Don’t take the elevator”
The sounds of panicked footsteps, screams, and crashing furniture filled the air. Thick smoke billowed through the room, making it impossible
to breathe.
I summoned the system. I want to go home.
09:37
Chapter 2
[Acknowledged. Commencing transfer protocol. Countdown one minute]
[Due to physical harm sustained during your mission, a compensation of 3 million dollars has been approved. The funds will be deposited into your original world bank account.]
I let out a slow breath, already planning what I’d do with the money.
Just then, my phone began to vibrate violently. It was Peter.
“I’m on my way back to the restaurant,” he gasped. “Seraphina wasn’t in an accident. She said it was just a prank….
Seraphina’s voice screamed in the background. “Peter! I forbid you to go back!”
“Get out of my way,” Peter said coldly.
“Wait for me,” he said to me, his voice strained. “I’m running. I’ll be there soon.”
I didn’t say anything. All I could hear was his ragged, desperate breathing, the sound of wind rushing past, and the blare of car horns.
And sirens. And the groan of collapsing beams.
“That sound…” Peter paused. “What is that sound? Why is it so loud? Are those sirens? Who’s screaming for help? What’s happening!”
His voice climbed, cracking with a terror I had never heard before. “Where are you! Tell me! Are you still in the restaurant! What’s going on
there!”
“Say something! Are you safe! Answer me!”
I held the phone, listening to the belated, useless panic from another world, and felt only a deep, profound sense of irony.
[Countdown: ten seconds.]
“Ten… nine…”
“Peter.”
The other end of the line went completely silent, save for his ragged, terrified breaths.
I smiled. I could almost see his face through the smoke, his expression frozen in horror, the blood draining from his face.
“Congratulations,” I whispered, my voice as light as a feather, about to dissipate into the wind.
“You’re finally free.”
“What do you mean! You-”
[Countdown complete. Transfer initiated.]
A warm, white light enveloped me. I hung up the phone and stepped into it, on my way home.
11
Back in my own world, I looked at the string of numbers in my bank account and quit my job without a second thought I bought a small books tore with a little courtyard at the end of a quiet, tree–lined street. I designed the interior myself, with huge floor–to–ceiling windows that let the sunlight stream in.
Life was peaceful. Every month, I donated thirty percent of my profits to the orphanage where I grew up. Once a month, I went back to volunt-
eer.
On one of those days, as I was chatting with the director, the system’s voice suddenly echoed in my mind.
[HOST! THE NARRATIVE HAS COLLAPSEDI THE WORLD IS NEARING DESTRUCTION! CAN YOU PLEASE COME BACK AND SAVE IT?)
What? What happened to Seraphina and Peter?
The system’s usually cold voice was frantic. [The timeline in the book moves faster than yours. Seven years have passed. The male lead, Adri- an, left. The second male lead, Peter, went completely dark. He bankrupted Seraphina’s family, sent them all to prison, and now he’s trying to kill himself.]
09:37
Chapter 2
It showed me a recording.
I saw Peter, like a wild animal, charging heedlessly into the fire. He was tackled by Adrian, who kicked his knee with a sickening crack Pater collapsed, tried to get up, but his leg wouldn’t support him. Choking on the smoke, he began to crawl, his fingerds tharing as he clawed at the ground, leaving bloody trails on the pavement. Adrian just kept dragging him back.
The firefighters arrived and put out the fire. I was the only casualty. A much better outcome than the original story
Afterward, Peter locked himself away. Adrian dragged him out and told him the truth. That their world was a book, that his original late was tragic, and that I wasn’t dead–I had just gone home. He told him the only way to see me again was to destroy the world of the book
…And Peter believed him. He went dark.
After getting his revenge, Peter returned to the rundown apartment where I used to live. He sat on the sofa, a ghostly figure, clutching the ted- dy bear I had rejected. There was a gruesome, self–inflicted wound on his wrist. He was just waiting to die.
[Host, if you go back now, you can still save him…]
“I refuse,” I cut it off.
Why would I give up this beautiful life to save someone who had hurt me so badly? The first time, I had no choice. This time, I did
“I am never going back,” I said, my voice firm. “Get lost.”
12
“Chloe? Are you okay?”
The director’s concerned voice brought me back. “You’ve been staring into space for a while now.”
The system had gone silent.
The sound of a car pulling up outside drew my attention. I glanced toward the gate.
My breath caught in my throat. The book I was holding fell to the floor.
It was Adrian.
The original male lead from the book.
No, not exactly. The Adrian in the book was eighteen, his face still holding the softness of youth. The man standing before me was tall and composed, the boyishness replaced by a quiet, steady strength.
He picked up the book I had dropped and smiled. “I told you we’d meet again.”
13
“Chloe, you don’t remember me, do you?”
“You’re the male lead from the book.”
He chuckled. “And in this world?”
Nothing. I had no memory of him. He saw the confusion in my eyes and sighed. “I figured as much.”
“I was in this orphanage, too. I’m two years younger than you. When I first got here, I was small and skinny. A group of older, bigger kids used to steal my food.”
As he spoke, a vague memory surfaced. A group of bullies who picked on the new kids.
“I remember it clearly,” he said. “It was the Mid Autumn Festival, and we all got a mooncake with our dinner. They comered me again. And you saw them. You walked right up and dumped your entire tray of food on the leader’s head”
I blinked. I did do that. I thought the kid was going to fight me, but he just stared, stunned, and then walked away. He avoided me after that. I never thought the quiet, teary–eyed little boy he’d been bullying was Adrian.
“Not long after that, I was adopted,” he continued. “I never got a chance to thank you properly…”
7/8
09:37
Chapter 2
“I remember now.” I interrupted. “But why were you in the book?”
He looked at me, his gaze intense. “Because I couldn’t find you.”
*After I left the orphanage, I kept track of you from a distance. I knew which university you went to, which company you worked for Then on day, you just… disappeared. Everyone who knew you forgot you ever existed.”
“They all told me I was crazy, that I had imagined you. Then a thing calling itself a ‘system‘ found me. It asked if I was willing to play me part of a male lead in a book. It said you were there, too. So I agreed. The next thing I knew, I was eighteen again, and Seraphina was confering he
love to me.”
I was speechless. “What was your mission?”
*To play the part of the male lead. To follow the script.”
“But the book goes on until they’re thirty. Why did the system let you come back?”
“You came back,” he said softly. “There was no reason for me to stay.”
I stared at him. “The system just… let you
He paused, then nodded.
leave?”
Of course, it wasn’t that simple. The system had insisted he finish the story. So he’d killed himself. The system, forced to expend energy to revive him, brought him back. So he killed himself again. And again. The system, drained of the energy it needed to both revive him and maint- ain the world, finally had no choice but to send him home.
But he didn’t need to tell her that part.
