Three Minutes

I pulled up the quest window.

"......?"

The shock of a quest appearing out of nowhere lasted only a moment before the contents of it froze my mind solid. Prevent Hyeon Si-woo's injury — did that mean something was going to happen to him?

When I opened the details, the exact date, time, and location of when Si-woo would get hurt were listed there.

"Wait. That's today. And... about three minutes from now...?"

The instant I realized that, my frozen mind unlocked and my body moved on its own. I was already bursting through the door Si-woo had left through, racing down the hallway.

Three minutes isn't much time at all.

This was the worst. No — this was a situation where I shouldn't have been trusting the System in the first place. I'd decided not to trust it, and yet the moment I heard Si-woo might get hurt, I reacted on reflex.

Isn't this exactly what I shouldn't be doing?

But from where I stood, I had no choice but to run. The quests I'd received from the previous System had never been lies. It might have tried to trap me with a quest, but it had never ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fed me false information to deceive me.

Maybe I was just thinking whatever was convenient for me. The previous System and this one could be entirely different entities, which made this situation impossible to predict.

But...

What if I ignored the quest because I couldn't trust the System, and he actually got hurt? So I had no choice. I kicked off and ran.

How much time has passed...

There wasn't much left until the incident. The location was the stairs. If I had to guess, it was probably the kind of injury you get from tumbling down a staircase...

"Si-woo hyung!"

The moment I cleared the hallway and hit the stairwell entrance, I shouted.

"Si-woo hyung! Hold on a second!"

I didn't know which floor he was on, but I shouted with everything I had so my voice could reach him. It was quiet. Apparently it wasn't reaching him at all. In the end, I took the stairs as fast as I could to find him myself.

Any second now...

The closer the time got, the more I felt like I was going to lose my mind. It was maybe even worse than during the survival show.

What's going on. I yelled that loud and he still can't hear me.

A chilling thought suddenly crossed my mind. Maybe the accident had already happened. Maybe he'd been hurt so badly he couldn't hear me or respond...

No.

Anything but that. Hyeon Si-woo had been dropped from his previous debut team after a car accident right before debut, so his trauma around injuries ran deep. If he got hurt again this time, even he wouldn't be able to endure it. He might completely fall apart.

I have to stop this.

Calling his name with desperate urgency, I tore down the stairs. Then, in the middle of descending like a madman, the sight that entered my eyes brought me to a halt. I could see Hyeon Si-woo's back as he sat on the stairs.

"Hm?"

Si-woo had been listening to music with his earphones in, which was apparently why he hadn't heard my voice. Sensing my presence, he finally pulled them out and turned around.

"...What?"

No words came out. All that escaped me was ragged breathing.

"Were you looking for me?"

That was how anxious I'd been — cold sweat had already beaded on my forehead. Unlike me, Si-woo just looked at me with a face that knew nothing.

Ha... why do I resent him?

I knew it wasn't his fault, but seeing him like this made me resent him anyway. Putting someone through all that only to be perfectly fine in the end.

"Did you have something to say to me? Don't tell me you ran all the way down these stairs just to find me?"

Beyond the quest window that popped up a beat late, Si-woo was still looking at me with that clueless expression. Only then could I let my heart settle. He wasn't going to get hurt again.

"Won-woo. What's going on with you? You've been looking really off lately. Did you have something urgent to tell me?"

Si-woo clearly couldn't make sense of me — my face pale from racing down the stairs, now wearing a look of relief. Fair enough. Even I would think I looked weird right now.

"Just, well..."

I let the sentence trail off. The truth was, I had nothing to say. What was I supposed to answer when asked why I'd come running after someone I'd already said goodbye to? I couldn't exactly tell him I'd received a damn quest and chased him down to prevent an injury.

"By ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the way, hyung, why'd you take the stairs? What about the elevator?"

I decided to just change the subject in a hurry.

"Ah, the elevator's under repair right now, so I took the stairs. More importantly — why did you chase after me?"

But for all my hasty deflection, the conversation circled right back. The truth was, I'd been in such a rush that I hadn't even thought about what to say once I found him.

"Uh... well."

Even I thought it was weird. The reason I'd come chasing after someone I'd just parted with, gasping for breath like a lunatic. If this were a romance, I'd look like a man about to confess his love. If it were a crime thriller, a cop chasing a suspect. If it were a horror movie, a psycho killer. That was about the range of how I looked right now.

"Um... so..."

I was rummaging through my pockets, desperately trying to come up with some excuse, when—

"...Ah."

The talisman the shaman had given me earlier was in my pocket.

"This."

I held out the talisman without preamble, and Si-woo's expression went strange.

"...?"

A look that said, why are you giving this to me.

"It looked like you needed it, hyung."

To have come chasing someone, half out of focus and gasping for breath, only to hand over a talisman. Si-woo seemed to find the situation both bizarre and comical, wearing an expression that couldn't decide whether to laugh or be scared.

"Won-woo. Are you okay?"

"......"

He was looking at me like he was genuinely worried about my mental state. Honestly, I was starting to worry about myself too. In the past I would have come up with some natural-sounding excuse, but these days I wasn't in my right mind, so this was the best I could do.

"You're giving me a talisman? Out of nowhere?"

Si-woo just blinked at a situation that had not a shred of logical coherence.

"I don't believe in this kind of thing, so I just wanted to give it to you, hyung. Take it."

"I... I don't believe in this stuff either?"

Why, of all things, did it have to be a talisman in my pocket and not candy or chocolate. I was resentful, but I forced the talisman into Si-woo's hand anyway, desperate to get out of this mortifying situation.

"So you're saying you ran all the way down here just to give me this?"

Si-woo looked down at the talisman in his hand, clearly not knowing how to take this.

"You sure about this? This is the talisman they wrote for you because you couldn't dance. If I take it... doesn't that mean I'll be the only one dancing like I'm possessed?"

I quietly gave him a thumbs-up.

"Now that would truly be something worth celebrating."

At this point, Si-woo looked like he was seriously concerned about my sanity.

"I was kidding."

"Yes, I was kidding too."

We'd both made jokes at each other, and nobody was laughing. A tragically unfunny situation.

"...Right."

"Yes."

"Yeah, thanks."

Si-woo quietly slipped the talisman I'd given him into his own pocket.

"Anyway, I'll see you at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dorm later."

"What?"

Leaving Si-woo behind as he tried to say something, I hurriedly went back up the stairs.

"Do Won-woo!"

I heard Si-woo calling my name from behind, but I didn't turn around. I just kept walking up the stairs.

On the way to the practice room, I stopped mid-hallway, changed direction, and went into the bathroom. The moment I stepped inside, I was met with my own face in the mirror.

"...What a goddamn crazy world."

I muttered that and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠splashed water on my face at the sink without thinking. After washing with cold water, I lifted my head — and in the mirror, someone was standing behind me. It was the System, appearing in human form once again.

"Congratulations! You've completed the quest I gave you!"

The System clapped lightly and pulled something from its pocket. A talisman.

"It seemed like you used up a talisman because of me, so I copied the original and made you another identical one! What do you think?"

The moment I received the talisman the System held out, I tore it to shreds right then and there.

"H-huh?!"

The System clapped a hand over its mouth and shrieked.

"My gift, filled with love and sincerity! What do you think you're doing?"

Unbearable rage rose up in me, but as always, saying I couldn't hold it in was one thing — in practice, I could endure most anger. When I was standing in front of someone stronger than me.

There's nothing I can do to this thing right now.

So I stepped toward the System.

"What are you playing at."

"Pardon?"

"Didn't you say you were leaving, on the condition that you took all my abilities?"

The System beamed.

I genuinely wanted to stop holding in the rage I was capable of holding in.

"Are you actually here to help me? Or do you just want to mess with me?"

The instant I finished speaking, the System's eyes went round with a look of sheer injustice, and it held out its hands.

"Of course not! I came here to help you, I truly did."

Wearing a genuinely aggrieved expression, the System picked up the torn pieces of the talisman one by one, pieced them back together, and held it out to me again.

"There are people in this world who ruin other people's lives for fun, but there are also people who help others for fun, you know?"

I seriously had to wonder if people like that even existed.

"Then why does it feel like there aren't any around me?"

"I'm right here!"

In a world where there wasn't a single person you could trust, a lunatic claiming to help people for fun was standing right in front of me. How was I supposed to take this.

"Si-woo getting hurt — that wasn't false information? That was real?"

"Yes!"

Confusion washed over me. How was I supposed to believe any of this...

"He was just sitting there perfectly fine."

"If you hadn't shown up and stalled for time, he was fated to get injured."

As it said that, the System looked at my face and its expression turned slightly pitying.

"You've been through a lot, it seems. You look like you've lost about ten pounds. But that's actually good news for an idol. The thinner you get, the higher your idol power, after all."

I couldn't tell if that was meant as comfort or mockery as the System continued.

"Since you've been working so hard, I'll forgive you as a special exception."

"Forgive me?"

The System answered with a bright smile.