Chapter 444: Dream
The three of us were having a meeting, working hard.
Manual was saying something with a serious face, my younger sister was listening and thinking about it, and I, on the contrary, was passionately arguing something as if I were opposing Manual.
To be precise, it looked like we were fighting.
I looked at the card labeled <Hope>.
How is this hope? Isn't it discord?
Well, the word 'hope' itself is a pleasant one. But since it leads to a scene like this, it doesn't feel very good.
"..."
So, the situation before my eyes...
Is that the end?
Me, arguing with my younger sister and Manual.
With that feeling, I looked at the woman, and she smiled softly.
"Stories are something you create as you go along."
Create as you go along?
"This is a Keycard."
Before my thoughts could even finish, the woman waved her hand and continued speaking.
"As I mentioned before, this is your past, and also a branching point."
"A branching point?"
"That's right. We always believe the story should have a happy ending."
"..."
I stared intently at the woman, but she continued speaking as if she didn't care at all.
"And through the cards given out randomly from now on, you must proceed towards that happy ending."
"What if the card is malicious?"
"Transcending malice and reaching a happy conclusion is also a happy ending. Isn't life originally full of twists and turns?"
It was a statement I secretly agreed with, so I couldn't say anything in response.
As I kept my mouth shut, the woman handed a card to Yu Daon.
"How will the story progress with the next card?"
"..."
Yu Daon took the card and began to read it.
"Not long after, Yu Daon escaped."
Saying this, Yu Daon placed down the card labeled <Escape>.
Then, Yu Daon, who had been trapped in the hospital, looked around somewhere and charged towards a window.
With a crash, the sound of the window breaking, and Yu Daon falling to the ground.
She fell straight to the ground, her neck snapping.
Her neck broken, she twitched for a moment, then got up.
Not long after, her broken neck reattached itself, and Yu Daon began to walk again.
Staggering, heading aimlessly towards an unknown place.
"...It did hurt, though."
Yu Daon muttered in a calm voice.
Hearing her words, the woman smiled softly and then looked at Jang Chae-yeon.
"I'll give you the next card."
"..."
Jang Chae-yeon received the card.
Holding the card, Jang Chae-yeon looked silently at the woman, who continued to look back at her with a soft smile.
"Jang Chae-yeon..."
Jang Chae-yeon, holding the card, pursed her lips.
As if thinking of something, she kept pursing her lips, then slowly placed the card down.
"...Couldn't overcome it."
Jang Chae-yeon offered the card labeled <Overcome>. At the same time, the young Jang Chae-yeon simply lay down on the bed and closed her eyes.
Even though she said nothing, that alone made it clear what the young Jang Chae-yeon was going through.
Next was Song A-rin.
The woman handed the card to Song A-rin, who looked at it and scoffed.
"Not even difficult."
Saying that, Song A-rin placed the card down.
"Song A-rin suffered from various slanders."
As soon as she said that, people around began to point fingers at the young Song A-rin.
But as if that pointing was no problem at all, the young Song A-rin scoffed and endured the finger-pointing with her eyes closed.
Song A-rin, who had been quietly watching her younger self, folded her arms, closed her eyes, and then the woman handed the card to me.
"Well, then you're the last one for this card."
The woman held out the card, and I reached out my hand to take it.
"..."
The word written on it was <Acceptance>.
Acceptance?
"...Can I use this?"
"Who knows?"
In response to my question, the woman tilted her head and answered.
"Whether you can use it or not is entirely up to you, Player Kim Jae-heon."
"..."
I stared intently at the card labeled 'Acceptance.'
No, so what am I supposed to accept?
Me? Or my younger sister? If not, then Manual?
What, in the first place?
As I pondered this, the woman spoke again.
"You must have an answer that you think is right. Just choose that."
An answer that I think is right...
What is the answer that I think is right?
The fact that the three of us are arguing like that in the first place...
I recalled what Manual had said to me and what my younger sister had said to me.
My younger sister said she was sorry. Manual said she wished for my happiness.
In other words, someone had to make a sacrifice? Or someone ultimately couldn't bear it and had to shift their burden onto others?
My head is spinning.
Me, my younger sister, and Manual. At the very least, we are not the kind of people who would easily run away from such responsibility.
Because we are people who have a sense of minimum responsibility.
Then-
-Thud!
Just as my thoughts were about to conclude, Manual fell to the ground.
And Manual lay open.
[Manual for Office Workers]
[CHC - Choice]
1. No matter what happens, you are you.
2. No matter what choice you make, there is definitely at least one person who supports you.
This sounds familiar.
But that thought was brief; my mouth had already thrown out an answer on its own.
"Everyone accepted my opinion."
"Understood."
The woman nodded.
Then, my younger self said something vehemently, and eventually, the two others nodded as if they had no choice.
Manual, biting her lip, and my younger sister, tightly closing her eyes.
I know myself.
To be precise, I know Manual and my younger sister better than I know myself.
I know that they are not the kind of people who would run away in fear from the responsibility placed before them.
So I must have had to persuade those two.
Then, as someone who has lived a few more years, and as someone who imprisoned someone in a book and made them live that life, I must have thought I needed to take on a certain amount of responsibility.
Isn't that right? Honestly, I don't know.
Thinking that, I raised my head and looked forward. The woman smiled and continued.
"Anyway, so everyone has sorted out their cards again?"
"How much longer do we have to do this?"
"Hey, it won't be long?"
The woman said that, and even though no card was drawn, the story began to progress.
Is this the past?
Yu Daon wandered around, got a job at the Management Bureau, met me, solved the Butterfly's Dream incident with me, met Jang Chae-yeon during the Cube incident and progressed the story, and finally met Song A-rin, and the three of us joined forces.
"What the, why is the story progressing even when we're not doing anything?"
"Because it's a story that's already ended, of course?"
In response to Song A-rin's muttering, the woman answered with an expression that asked 'what are you talking about?', and our story continued.
We caught Kim Wan-woo, resolved the moon issue, met the Branch Chief, caught Aestheticism... Anyway, as all the stories progressed, we were left standing there, dazedly looking at each other.
"And next is... the epilogue."
"No, what happened to the Keycard? Did you sell it off somewhere?"
"That is merely your Keycard. You can't ruin the future by being bound to the past, can you?"
"Why is this game so inconsistent?"
"Please cut me some slack. Seeing a person's past and future isn't an easy task, you know?"
"Should I pull out her tongue?"
"I don't want to fight Santa."
I stopped Song A-rin, who was raising her hand, and looked at the woman.
"Then what do we do now?"
"You just need to draw a card?"
The woman smiled.
"As I said before, you have the Keycard. And this is your epilogue now, right?"
What even is an epilogue in the first place?
As if reading my expression, the woman continued her explanation.
"Let's say it's good that you achieved a happy ending. Of course, that's under the premise that you did achieve a happy ending... But people should always think positively."
Saying that, the woman handed over a card.
Yu Daon narrowed her eyes at the woman, then accepted the card.
"...!"
As soon as she read the card, Yu Daon's eyes widened.
Why, what did she see? I'm getting anxious.
With that mindset, I looked at Yu Daon, who then confidently displayed the card.
"I marry Mr. Kim Jae-heon!"
Suddenly, a picture appeared of me in a tuxedo and Yu Daon in a wedding dress, linking arms with me.
"Hey, why does only she get a good card!"
"Guess you're just unlucky?"
In response to Song A-rin's angry remark, Yu Daon answered with a laugh. While Song A-rin was fuming, Jang Chae-yeon held out her hand.
"Give it to me."
"Okay."
The woman drew a card and handed it to Jang Chae-yeon, who took it and began to read it.
"...But soon, she remarries me."
"Whaat?!"
Ignoring Yu Daon's shout, now there was a picture of Jang Chae-yeon in a wedding dress and me, again in a tuxedo.
"Stop cheating!"
"You draw a good one too."
"..."
Song A-rin shouted, but at Jang Chae-yeon's words, she widened her eyes and held out her hand to draw a card.
The woman drew a card and handed it to Song A-rin, who looked at it and clenched her fist tightly.
A gaze that declared victory.
She slapped the card down with a thud! and also placed down the card she had been holding all along.
"I have an affair with him and get pregnant!"
"Have you lost your mind?!"
I usually don't shout, but this has really crossed a line.
The Pregnancy card and the Affair card, both crumpled and clenched.
Is this a game?
"Hey, where did my free will go?"
"Who said you could go around causing trouble?"
"When did I ever cause trouble?"
Anyone seeing this would think I married Yu Daon, then remarried Jang Chae-yeon, and had an affair with Song A-rin.
I couldn't bear to look at that image, so I kept my eyes on the floor and held out my hand.
"Well, then... the last card is..."
The woman smiled meaningfully and handed over the card.
I slowly drew the card.
The card I drew was...