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There was a part of him that wished he never read Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World. Maybe then he wouldn’t be staring at the lone pocket watch lying in the midst of rumpled sheets on the empty bed.
[Kim Dokja, I’ll kill you.]
The feeling of cold metal on his neck, was that really from his dream? Or was that Yoo Jonghyuk changing his mind and leaving him instead?
It had been a week since Yoo Jonghyuk had left. He finally picked up the pocket watch he gave to Yoo Jonghyuk.
[Where do you plan to die alone?]
Not too long ago, he had wanted the right over his life and death. He’ll probably regret it now, losing an easy way to kill him.
Over ten years of his life had been devoted to this one story. At times when he wanted to let go, his phone would vibrate with a new notification telling him a new chapter had been released. Kim Dokja would grab his phone desperately, as if he could escape reality and the loneliness that surrounded him by immersing himself in those words.
[“Kim Dokja! No! Kim Dokja!”]
He remembered being confused from the expression on his face when he was expelled from the scenarios. Why was he feeling so much despair? They were just using each other to reach the end of scenarios, so why?
[“… That person is my companion.”]
He had thought that they were finally starting to understand each other. What should he do now when the being that became his salvation abandoned him?
[Time remaining until the Great War of Saints and Demons: 19 days]
They would meet on the battlefield and maybe then his salvation who once saved him would end him. Kim Dokja slipped the pocket watch into his pocket and left the empty room.