Replay Mode Activated

I was strolling lazily down the corridor.

Today’s assembly point was outside the dormitory.

It was daylight, but this damned place was damned freezing.

“Hey.”

[R: DAY 2]

So I really had entered the game after all.

Not that I’d been trying to deny it in the first place.

[R: Quest — Territory War]

“Hey!”

Game background.

Game characters.

Game events.

At this point, denying it would be the real waste of time.

The reason I kept thinking, Ah, this really is inside the game, was because of this.

This thing.

[R: From the second day onward, we realized where we had fallen.]

Until yesterday, the game text only floated vaguely inside my head.

Now it appeared in the air as actual text.

The culprit was obvious.

〈Haha, that expression—are you expecting something, Your Majesty? You look like a rabbit waiting for snacks. Speaking of which, I once had a rabbit in my greenhouse.〉

Despite boldly claiming he’d personally guide me, the Selector immediately shattered my hopes.

〈If you’re expecting me to make you king, I’m afraid I can’t help with that.〉

〈Why!〉

Not even a minute later!

〈Haha, right. I remember now. Rabbits look gentle, but when annoyed, they kick hard with their hind legs. I’m feeling a bit like that right now.〉

If I were actually a rabbit, I’d kick him.

Instead I lacked exercise and dignity.

〈Haha, shaking me like that makes me dizzy.〉

〈Don’t lie!〉

〈Haha, was that fake dizziness too obvious?〉

If he had at least gotten serious, I might have followed suit.

Instead, he remained light as ever.

If I hadn’t played the game, I might’ve believed he had dandelion fluff running in his veins.

〈I’m the Selector.〉

〈Yes, exactly.〉

〈Which means I must choose the king fairly. You know how awful a pre-selected interview feels, don’t you?〉

〈Then let me be the pre-selected one for once.〉

〈Hahaha, Your Majesty.〉

Still smiling, he removed my hand from his collar with effortless ease.

It felt like my grip unraveled like loose thread.

〈Why are you so strong…〉

Are you a bear or something?

Up close, the size difference was overwhelming.

My rebellious instincts quietly packed their bags and returned home.

〈Your Majesty, do we know each other?〉

〈I know you well.〉

〈Haha, that’s what we call one-sided familiarity. Like a celebrity and a living-room fan. So that doesn’t count. No blood relation either. Different worlds, so no shared hometown. I’m afraid you fail the insider interview.〉

He added, “Jokes aside,” and shifted the topic.

I had hoped the earlier refusal was the joke.

It wasn’t.

〈I am the Selector. I am not the current king, nor even a regent.〉

I understood immediately.

〈You’re saying you don’t have the authority.〉

〈I have standards. I choose according to them.〉

The faint hope I’d glimpsed burned to ash.

〈It’s too early to sigh.〉

〈I swallowed it. That’s different.〉

〈They say every path walked has meaning.〉

〈Never heard that.〉

As I answered half-heartedly, a soft ding rang near my ear.

Like a system notification.

〈What is this?!〉

I jumped back in shock.

A translucent window floated in midair.

〈This worldline is different from the one you experienced, but overlaps will occur. You knew about the first test, after all. You don’t have prophecy or regression powers, but you did see part of the future.〉

〈It won’t disappear. What is this? “This is a story you have not experienced. Skipping is not available.”〉

〈If your experienced worldline was edited into a game, then this format should feel familiar.〉

He smiled beneath his hood as I poked uselessly at the air.

〈Let’s call this “Replay.” You can only view stories you already know, but vague memories in your head and clearly displayed text serve very different purposes.〉

And so, things turned out like this.

“This bastard dares ignore me—!”

[R: The weather that day was much the same as the day before. As always, a relentless blizzard.]

For the record, R stands for Replay.

The screen space is limited.

[R: Bran’s climate was always like this. No matter the weather elsewhere—even during scorching heat that bent iron—here, the blizzard never ceased.]

I froze.

It even had built-in glossary support.

『Bran: A southern Russian term referring to blizzards.』

『Blizzard: An American meteorological term referring to strong winds in Antarctica…』

『Ice Cap: Also called glacial cap…』

[R: My Day 2 began with being grabbed by the collar and slammed against the wall.]

“Ah!”

That scream wasn’t mine.

Why would I let myself get hit by a ball I saw coming?

“Dodged?”

“You okay? That sounded loud.”

“You dodged me? You?”

Anger turned into confusion.

Then disbelief.

“…Uh.”

Too late, I realized everyone in the corridor and hall was staring at us.

At me.

And at Jeok-o, who had punched the wall instead.

This was bad.

This place was a minefield for me.

Attracting attention from landmines was never good.

If I wanted the true ending, I couldn’t stay invisible forever.

But I wanted as few entanglements as possible.

“Follow me quietly. You clearly have something to say.”

I dragged Jeok-o to a secluded corner.

He tried to knock my hand away.

“If you don’t, I’ll shout that little brother’s beating up big brother.”

“This bastard—who are you calling little brother?!”

“Right, right. I know. But will others?”

He fell silent.

“What happened?”

“As for yesterday?”

I hadn’t returned to the room.

Too many bad memories there.

I had been beaten there dozens of times.

Killed once.

〈Replay also has another advantage.〉

Caliburn’s voice echoed in memory.

〈Objectification.〉

He explained about immersion.

Pain.

How too much immersion might blur the boundary between this world and the one I considered real.

〈If the script appears visibly, it will remind you this is a game.〉

I returned to the present.

[R: If looks could kill, I would have died dozens of times by now. At the hands of Jeok-o, the man glaring at me.]

Applying changes.

New scripts cannot be skipped.

Previously viewed scripts can be replayed.

Patch complete.

[N/S: If looks could kill, I would have died dozens of times. At the hands of Jeok-o, whom I dragged here.]

N/S meant New Script.

Efficient screen usage.

Jeok-o snarled again.

“Are you ignoring me?”

“That’s not it.”

He raged.

I missed my timing.

“Listen.”

He shouted about equality.

About how we weren’t the same.

About how I dared save him.

I sighed.

“So your pride was hurt because I saved you?”

“Don’t mistake it for a favor!”

“It was a misunderstanding.”

He paused.

“What?”

“It was coincidence. I didn’t intend to save you.”

“…Coincidence?”

“Yes.”

I slipped free.

He was big.

But smaller than Caliburn.

Caliburn felt like a different species entirely.

Which he was.

I barely knew anything about him.

Because he was a non-romanceable NPC.

Which made him safe.

“My safety zone.”

“That’s enough.”

Jeok-o glared.

“Leave Bran immediately.”

“Can’t.”

“I told you to know your place!”

“Physically.”

“What?”

“Physically impossible.”

Because I knew what happened next.

After all—

: )

The second day has dawned.

The dome will now close.