Episode 1 Reincarnation
Episode 1 Reincarnation
A noisy subway during the evening rush hour.
The subway was filled with people whose destinations and workplaces were completely unknown to me. However, I could read a common emotion in all of their eyes.
Exhaustion.
'Those people must be office workers too. Everyone's life is probably the same.'
With such silly thoughts, I looked down at my phone. A long novel I had been reading for over ten years finally came to an end today.
[Ways to Survive in a Ruined World]
In short, 'Ways of Survival.'
I had read it for over ten years. It wasn't a great novel worthy of being included in a complete collection of world literature, nor was it a masterpiece that left a major mark on Korean genre fiction, but to me, it was different.
Even when I was targeted by bullies and ostracized.
Even when I messed up my college entrance exams and enrolled in a third-rate local university.
Even when the damn random assignment went wrong and I got stationed at a frontline military unit.
Even now, as I repeatedly switch jobs and work as a contract employee for an affiliate of a major corporation...
"Haa..."
'What on earth am I thinking...'
Well, whatever.
That novel had reached its conclusion.
To me, Ways of Survival was a world. I had never considered it a simple escape from reality. Because it was more than that. Whether in hard times or happy moments, Ways of Survival was always there with me.
Whether from friends or online communities, I had been recommended famous web novels hailed as masterpieces many times. I actually read them, and they were enjoyable. But the place I always returned to in the end was Ways of Survival.
'Looking at it like this, I sound like a regressor.'
As that silly thought crossed my mind, a silly chuckle leaked out.
A sense of emptiness from the end of a world I had shared for over ten years, mixed with a bit of bitterness. Anticipation for what kind of ending it would be, and the excitement of finally witnessing it, were jumbled together inside me.
"You're going to burn a hole through your phone at this rate."
Reflexively, I raised my head. Turning my head in the direction of the gaze, a pair of eyes filled with curiosity was staring straight at me.
It was an employee from the HR department, Yoo Sangah.
"Ah, Sangah-ssi. Hello."
"Are you heading home from work?"
"Yes. You too, Yoo Sangah-ssi?"
"I got lucky. The department manager went on a business trip today."
Just then, the subway doors opened and the person next to me stood up. Yoo Sangah let out a sigh and flopped down into that seat.
A faint fragrance wafted from her shoulder pressed close to mine, making me tense up unconsciously.
"Sangah-ssi, but do you usually take the subway?"
"Ah, well, that's..."
Yoo Sangah's expression darkened. Now that I thought about it, this was the first time I had met Yoo Sangah on the subway home. From the HR department to the finance department, anyone who had worked at the company for even a little while knew that men lined up to give Yoo Sangah a ride every day after work.
However, the words that came out of Yoo Sangah's mouth were unexpected.
"Someone stole my bicycle."
A bicycle?
"You ride a bicycle?"
"Yes! Since I've been working overtime lately, I felt like I wasn't getting enough exercise. Plus, there were some annoying things, so two birds with one stone?"
Annoying things. Could it be that she disliked the people trying to give her a ride? Well, it wasn't that I didn't understand those men, but it was a story that had nothing to do with me.
"Ah, I see. I really need to get some exercise too..."
Hearing those words, Yoo Sangah let out a small, soundless laugh. I responded by giving her a silly smile in return.
After the awkward moment passed, we looked back into our respective phones. I opened Ways of Survival, which I had been reading earlier, and Yoo Sangah...
"I'm really exhausted."
"Eh?"
A dumb sound leaked out of my mouth without me realizing. It sounded like Japanese...
"It's Japanese."
"Ah, I see. What does it mean?"
"It means 'I'm really tired.'"
Yoo Sangah answered proudly. Studying even on the subway home from work... that didn't seem like an easy choice.
"You live so diligently."
"By the way, Dokja-ssi, what have you been looking at so intently since earlier?"
"Ah, I..."
Before I knew it, Yoo Sangah's eyes turned toward my phone screen.
"Is it a novel?"
"Yes, well... you could say studying literature."
"Wow, really? I like novels too. Not so much lately, but I used to read quite a bit back in the day."
It was unexpected. Yoo Sangah likes web novels?"
"Like Dazai Osamu, Albert Camus, or domestically... Author Yang Gwija-nim?"
Ah, so it wasn't web novels.
Figures, I thought.
At times like this, having reading web novels as a hobby is truly embarrassing.
I glanced at the title of the novel that popped up on the app. It was a novel that was on the real-time rankings.
[Infinite Regression Cultivation Chronicles]
Author: Gwaengjanghan
Even so, I couldn't bring myself to embarrassed to say, "I am reading Infinite Regression Cultivation Chronicles by Author Gwaengjanghan."
"It's just a general fantasy novel."
Yoo Sangah's eyes widened.
"Aha. A fantasy novel? Something like Tolkien?"
'It's by author Gwaengjanghan though.'
I thought that, but the words couldn't possibly come out of my mouth. How on earth could I say it?
Dazai Osamu, famous for <No Longer Human>; Camus, who wrote the legendary opening line, "Today, mother died. Or maybe yesterday."; Yang Gwija, whose works appear countless times in Korean literature textbooks; and even Tolkien, the author of the work that needs no introduction, <The Lord of the Rings>.
"Yes. Well, something like Tolkien."
A brief silence followed. Yoo Sangah was still looking at me, as if waiting for me to say something.
Feeling uncomfortable, I decided to pretend to change the subject.
Just as I was thinking about what topic to bring up, my eyes were drawn like a spell toward a child in front of me.
"Huh?"
"Dokja-ssi, what's wrong?"
"No, Sangah-ssi. Over there..."
I blankly pointed toward the seats across from us. Sitting there was a girl who looked to be about ten years old.
"Yes? What is... Wait, what is that?"
There was nothing wrong with her appearance as a ten-year-old. She had the common look of a child who would be playing happily with friends her age wherever she went. However, aside from that, many things were abnormal.
A child dressed in black clothes with bare feet.
"Why doesn't she have shoes?"
"I know... Don't her feet hurt?"
Leaning her small body back, the child was laughing to herself while swinging her bare feet—not even wearing socks—high enough that they didn't touch the floor. Sensing our gazes, the girl slowly turned her eyes toward Yoo Sangah and me.
"Ahaha."
The child laughed. Pondering how on earth I should react to that, I smiled awkwardly and waved my hand. Yoo Sangah looked at her with worried eyes, appearing ready to stand up from her seat as if deciding she had to say something. Whether she intended to ask why she was barefoot, or where her parents were, was impossible to tell.
Kkiiiiiik!
The subway shook violently, vomiting out a tearing screech.
Flicker—
As the lights flickered once, only then did people realize that something major had happened. Murmurs could be heard. Yoo Sangah grabbed my shoulder so hard that my attention was focused more on the pain in my shoulder than on the subway's sudden braking.
"What the! Why is it suddenly doing this!"
"Did an accident happen?"
When the subway came to a complete stop, the lights went out as well. Was it a power outage?
It was a subway train on the commute home. The sun was disappearing beyond the long Han River, and accordingly, the sunset coloring the Seoul sky red was gradually fading away. A time when office workers and students alike were heading home or moving for other plans. Naturally, a subway without lighting had no choice but to be submerged in darkness.
In the darkness, the lights of smartphones began to turn on one by one.
"W-What do you think is going on, Dokja-ssi?"
I was flustered as well, but I spoke while pretending to be calm.
"Don't worry. It's probably nothing big."
"Is... that so?"
"Yes, even if it's a big deal, it's just a power outage at most. Won't the train conductor make an announcement soon?"
No sooner had my mouth closed than the train conductor's voice flowed out of the speakers.
―An announcement for all passengers.
As the conductor's calm voice echoed out, people quieted down one after another. Yoo Sangah also let out a small sigh.
"It's nothing serious, right? Soon the power will also..."
―Due to a sudden power outage... Huh? W-Wait a minute... Everyone, run...!
Kwajik!
...What?
The voice uttered by the conductor in horror, followed by a sound I didn't even want to imagine, was far too vivid to be a sound coming through a speaker. I wasn't the only one who felt it; the inside of the train quickly turned into pandemonium.
"D-Dokja-ssi? What on earth is..."
"Sangah-ssi, just a moment..."
In that moment, I couldn't tell why I looked at my watch either. Perhaps it was just a coincidence.
PM 7:00
With a tick sound, it felt as though the world had stopped. And then, a voice resounded.
[The free service of Planetary System 8612 has ended.]
[The main scenario has started.]
Something had gone wrong.
And right then.
A laughter that didn't fit this situation at all rang out.
"Ahaha."