Seven Days, Five Days In — The Moment the Door Opens
pThe air in my room had completely changed the instant the door opened. Not whether reality was real or whether it was a dream — the moment the door opened, my room's atmosphere shifted entirely.
p“Jitae.” Minjae's voice. Exactly the same tone I'd heard in reality. A little lower, somewhere dry, yet carrying an oddly trustworthy weight.
pI felt my breath catch for a split second.
p“……This is too real.”
pMy room. My desk. My chair. My window. All of it was exactly as in reality. Even the view outside the window was identical to the road I'd seen returning from the café the previous day.
p“You really were home, huh.”
pMinjae stepped in without even taking off his shoes. Action that felt far too natural for a dream, and far too perfectly timed for reality.
pI unconsciously turned my head back.
pSoo-bin. She stood on one side of the room. Just like the succubus I'd always seen. Minjae and Soo-bin were together in this same space right now.
pThe instant their combination formed, the very boundary between ‘reality’ and ‘dream’ inside me cracked for the very first time.
p“……So this is really the fifth day of the test.”
pSoo-bin said quietly.
p“From now on, the excuse of ‘I'm confused’ won't work anymore.”
pMinjae, completely unaware, studied my face and spoke.
p“Why are you looking so dazed?”
p“Just a bit tired.”
pI barely managed to answer. It wasn't tiredness — it was simply that my world had been triple-layered for some time now.
pMinjae sat in my chair as if he'd done so many times before.
p“You're the guy I saw in front of the school earlier, right?”
pMy heart dropped.
p“…You saw me?”
p“Yeah. I almost called out to you.”
pThat single line actually felt more real than anything else.
p“Why not?”
p“Your face looked… like it might not be worth the effort.”
pMinjae was straightforward.
p“You're not a person anymore. You're more like a situation.”
p“A situation?”
p“Yeah. A situation that feels like it would collapse if I talked to you.”
pI laughed awkwardly. I knew how unnatural it sounded even to myself.
pSoo-bin had never once intruded between Minjae and me. She leaned quietly against the wall and simply observed the situation, as if she were the supervisor of the test rather than the room's owner.
p“What have you been up to lately, Jitae.”
pMinjae looked straight at me.
p“You told me you weren't going to job hunt, and you haven't been picking up my calls or checking social media.”
p“……Just taking a break.”
p“Until when.”
pThat question flew at me like a blade.
pI couldn't answer.
pMinjae sighed and kept going.
p“I'm not living cleanly either. Even if I got a job, it wasn't because I was thrilled.”
p“But you did go.”
p“That’s the problem.”
pMinjae gave a bitter smile. p“People who don't pick anything at all are sometimes less miserable than those who deliberately choose what they hate.”
pI had no reply. Because right now I was standing precisely between reality's ‘choice I hate’ and the dream's ‘choice that’s too easy’.
p— Job hunting.
p— Soo-bin.
pThese two words were swinging with equal weight inside my head.
p“Jitae.”
pMinjae called my name.
p“Are you leaning on someone too much lately?”
pSoo-bin's gaze turned to me.
pMinjae was asking only the accurate question without knowing anything else.
p“Person, situation, or whatever.”
pI opened my mouth. It was strangely difficult to start speaking.
p“……I don't know exactly who, but.”
p“But?”
p“I think I'm holding onto something.”
pThe moment those words left my lips, Soo-bin's pupils trembled ever so slightly.
pMinjae looked at me directly and asked.
p“Is that helping in reality?”
pThat question felt like the core of today's fifth-day test.
pHelping in reality.
pInstead of answering, I secretly checked the back of my hand.
p‘This is a dream.’
pNormally I'd have said it the instant.
pBut I didn't.
pBecause every sense in this room felt far too real.
p“……If it helps.”
pI said slowly.
p“Reality feels a little less scary.”
pMinjae frowned slightly.
p“That is the most dangerous excuse.”
pAt those words, Soo-bin finally spoke for the first time. p“Why do you think that?”
pMinjae looked at her in surprise.
p“……Who are you?”
p“Ah, he's—”
pI hesitated for a moment.
p“Friend.”
pMinjae scanned Soo-bin. Pink hair, manner of speech, atmosphere. She was clearly an ‘alien type’ in reality.
p“Friend?”
pThat question sharpened the test further.
p“Yeah.”
pI nodded.
p“Recently met friend.”
p“Recently?”
pMinjae wore a more suspicious expression.
p“You haven't been meeting many people lately.”
p“So I remember it more clearly.”
pI said quietly.
p“People who enter during non-meeting time feel clearer.”
pThose words struck both Soo-bin and Minjae at once.
pSoo-bin inhaled very slightly. Minjae stopped asking further.
pInstead he asked one sentence.
p“Then between the two of you in this room right now, which one feels more real?”
pThe air froze.
pThis was the final question of today.
pI looked at Soo-bin, then at Minjae. Minjae was the real person. Soo-bin was the dream existence. This fact never changed.
pYet — the sense of stability felt in this room was strangely stronger from Soo-bin's side. I knew too well that this stability was dangerous.
p“……Both of you.”
pI took a deep breath.
p“Both feel real, so it's a problem.”
pMinjae laughed as if shaking his head. p“That’s avoidance.”
p“Avoidance is the most commonly used survival method in reality.”
pSoo-bin said quietly.
pMinjae looked at me again.
p“Jitae, you're running away right now.”
pThe bluntness made me laugh.
p“I'm good at running away.”
p“True.”
pMinjae admitted.
p“But lately you're running in a different direction than before.”
p“Where?”
p“This side.”
pMinjae nodded toward Soo-bin.
p“And that escape sinks deeper than running from reality.”
pThe moment the words ended, a window rose quietly in the empty air. p[Strong Reality Avoidance Tendency]
p[Fixed Succubus Connection]
p[Emotional Record Contamination: Critical Threshold Approaching]
pSoo-bin's eyes turned to the window. Playfulness vanished from her expression.
p“Jitae.”
pShe called my name.
p“Now you must make a real choice.”
pI lifted my head.
p“What?”
p“Whether you will accept this room as ‘like reality’, or push it all the way through as ‘dream’.”
pMinjae didn't understand Soo-bin's words, but he felt the atmosphere had turned serious.
p“What's happening to you right now?”
pI closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them.
pAnd decided.
p“……This room is—”
pI said slowly.
p“A dream.”
pThe moment those words fell, Soo-bin's expression trembled ever so slightly.
pMinjae looked at me in confusion.
p“What?”
p“A dream.”
pI looked at Minjae and said. p“You're the real Minjae, I'm the real Jitae, and this room looks real on the surface.”
pI shifted my gaze to Soo-bin.
p“Since the moment this structure was created, this place has been a dream.”
pSoo-bin said nothing.
p“A space that's too comfortable with me and you isn't reality.”
pThose words were aimed at Soo-bin and at myself.
p“Reality always requires a slightly uncomfortable, slightly heavy, slightly hated choice.”
pI continued after catching my breath.
p“But right now it's too easy to breathe.”
pSoo-bin accepted my words quietly.
pMinjae looked at me straight.
p“Then what do you think is real right now?”
pI looked at the window.
p“The road outside. Passing cars. The distant sign lights.”
p“Over there.”
pI said.
p“That keeps rolling whether I choose it or not.”
p“And this room stays if I choose it.”
pI nodded.
p“So this side is the dream.”
pThe instant passed, the windows in the void reacted simultaneously. p[Reality / Dream Distinction Judgment: Success]
p[Emotional Record Contamination: Temporarily Suppressed]
p[High-Risk Grade: Stable / Slight Recovery in Stability]
pSoo-bin looked at the window and let out a long breath.
pMinjae still wore an uncomprehending face, but he stood up as if the conversation had ended.
p“I don't know what you're saying.”
pHe looked at me last and said.
p“But I do know what you're genuinely afraid of right now.”
pThose were the last words.
pMinjae's figure began to fade slowly. As if nothing had happened in reality.
pAnd only Soo-bin and I remained in the room.
pThe background was still maintained. But the atmosphere was completely different.
p“……He cut it.”
pSoo-bin said quietly.
p“He cut the side that's easiest to breathe.”
p“I have to breathe and come back.”
pI said quietly. p“If I keep breathing here, it feels like I'd really suffocate in reality.”
pSoo-bin lowered her head for a moment.
pThen spoke in a very low voice.
p“Still, the way you pushed me out today was…”
p“How?”
p“Not as painful as I thought.”
pAt those words, my chest hurt a little more.
p“Sorry.”
p“I wasn't asking for an apology.”
pSoo-bin lifted her head.
p“Today's test passed.”
pA small window appeared in the air. p[5th Day Test: Passed]
p[Reality Emotion Contamination: Suppression Successful]
p[Succubus Dependence: Temporary Drop]
pThe moment I saw that final phrase, I felt oddly relieved.
p“You didn't fall.”
p“Yeah.”
pSoo-bin nodded.
p“Not yet.”
p“Not yet, huh.”
p“There's still two days left.”
pSoo-bin's pupils lit up again like the succubus she was. p“Day six and day seven will be even more blatant than today.”
p“Reality side or dream side?”
p“Entirely mixing the two.”
pI gave a bitter smile.
p“Very succubus-like method.”
p“Because it's the succubus company.”
pSoo-bin approached me in front of the room. The lighting in the room began to fade slowly.
p“Today's business ends here.”
p“Huh?”
p“You're the one holding on right now.”
pAt those words I nodded.
pHonestly, shaking more now would be dangerous.
pSoo-bin came as close as if her hand might touch mine, then stopped.
p“Jitae.”
p“Hmm.”
p“Today's choice.”
pShe whispered almost.
p“I liked it quite a bit.”
pThe moment the words ended, the room began to collapse completely.
pWhen I opened my eyes, I was looking at the ceiling of reality. Fluorescent lights. Narrow room. Damp air.
pI lay there for a long time without moving, then slowly sat up.
pAnd stared at the wall memo. p[7-Day Limit Plan]
pI added a new line with a trembling hand.
p[5th Day — Reality Penetration Test. Minjae appears. This room is a dream. Passed.]
pUnderneath, I wrote another very small line. p[The day I sent the escape route to a dream so I wouldn't run away.]
pI put the pen down and stared at the sentence for a long time.
pMy breathing finally felt a little proper.
p“……Two days left.”
pI muttered and slowly climbed off the bed.
pDay six and day seven. The remaining time would be the direct collision between ‘choosing to protect Soo-bin’ and ‘choosing to protect myself’.
pAnd I already knew.
p— In the next test, I'd have to choose more painfully than today.
pEven knowing that, I once again slowly stepped my foot toward reality to live through another day.