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"―Ignoring the warning Hades gave him, Orpheus turned around to check if Eurydice was still behind him. And she was whisked back into the Underworld, never to be seen again," narrated Kim Dokja. He paused. "Are you paying attention, Yoo Joonghyuk?"
Yoo Joonghyuk was staring out the window of the hut they were in, his hand on the hilt of the sword. "No."
"Don't say that so confidently."
A few days ago, some incarnations brought back news of a newly discovered hidden scenario. Kim Dokja remembered it from Ways of Survival: in the 57th regression, Yoo Joonghyuk had decided the reward wasn't worth the hassle and ignored it. But then again, Yoo Joonghyuk lacked the ability to appreciate the finer things in life.
[Hidden Scenario – 'Til Death Do Us Part]
Category: Hidden
Difficulty: D
Clear Conditions: Relive the tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Time Limit: ???
Compensation: Exclusive skill 'Melodic Fingers Lv. 1' (Allows the incarnation to master all stringed instruments.)
Failure: ―
Kim Dokja wouldn't normally attempt a hidden scenario he wasn't completely confident about, but as a newly minted constellation, he could afford to take a few risks here and there. Besides, he always thought it would be nice to learn how to play the violin.
"We need to decide on our roles before we begin. I'll be Orpheus since I've been to the Underworld before and I'm more familiar with the legend," There was a golden lyre on the wooden table beside them. Kim Dokja walked over to it and picked it up, "and you'll be Eurydice. I was the one who dragged you here, so it's only fair that I take the plot-intensive role of the protagonist. No need to thank me.”
['Orpheus (Demon King of Salvation)' has picked up his lyre.]
Yoo Joonghyuk's expression darkened. "I'm not going to be a woman," he growled.
"Why does it matter?" Kim Dokja cradled the lyre in his arms protectively as Yoo Joonghyuk stalked towards him. "It's not like you have to crossdress."
That was clearly the wrong thing to say.
['Orpheus (Yoo Joonghyuk)' has picked up his lyre.]
"What the hell are you doing, you bastard? Let go!"
['Orpheus (Demon King of Salvation)' has picked up his lyre.]
['Orpheus (Yoo Joong―]
['Orpheus (Demon―]
['Orpheus (Yoo Joonghyuk)' has picked up his lyre.]
"Fine," Kim Dokja bit out. "Don't say I didn't warn you." He pushed open the door of the hut and walked into the sunshine.
['Eurydice (Demon King of Salvation)' has entered the stage.]
As if on cue, the narration began.
(The day after their wedding, Orpheus’ beloved bride Eurydice was walking through the grass, when suddenly she was bitten by a serpent and killed.)
"There should be a snake around here," said Kim Dokja. "As long as we follow the major plot points of the myth, we shouldn't run into problems―"
There was a loud crunch beneath his foot. He looked down. A green snake twitched once before going limp.
['Snake that bit Eurydice (Cannon Fodder Snake)' has died.]
"Am I too strong, or is this scenario too weak?" Kim Dokja asked the sky in dismay. Letting out a sigh, he glanced around for other serpents to replace their fallen comrade.
"Well?" asked Yoo Joonghyuk, raising an eyebrow.
"Be quiet, schadenfreude doesn't suit you," said Kim Dokja, resisting the urge to thwack him over his head with the snake corpse. "I'll just find another snake to bite me, I'm sure there are plenty roaming around here."
Except there wasn't. Kim Dokja wasn't sure how long he searched for snakes in the grass since the position of the sun in the sky never changed, but it was much longer than what was considered competent. Yoo Joonghyuk had stopped acting annoyed sometime around the third hour and was now looking unbearably smug, which only made him more furious. Han Sooyoung and the others would never let him live it down if he got trapped forever in a hidden scenario with Yoo Joonghyuk of all people.
Kim Dokja stopped in his tracks, deep in thought. This was the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, not Eurydice and the Snake. Accidently killing the snake hadn't even warranted a mention by the omnipresent narration. Maybe he had more leeway than he thought? After all, this was only a D-rated scenario.
"Giving up already?" Yoo Joonghyuk said coolly.
"Of course not, I was thinking about how to break the stalemate we're in." Kim Dokja unsheathed Unbreakable Faith and noted with satisfaction the way Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes narrowed at the sight of the gleaming blade. Twirling it in his hand, he said lightly, "As I said before, as long as we advance the plot, we should be fine."
Yoo Joonghyuk didn't look convinced.
"Eurydice just has to die for the story to continue, right?" mused Kim Dokja, adjusting his grip on his sword. "How the character dies shouldn't matter.”
The field fell into an unnatural silence, like the wind itself was holding its breath. The heat of the sun washed out the colours of the grass until everything looked like the warped beginnings of a fever dream.
"Kim―"
In one swift motion, Kim Dokja stabbed himself in the chest. The last thing he saw before his vision went black was the startled look on Yoo Joonghyuk's face as he reached towards him.
When he opened his eyes again, Persephone was smiling at him.
"Welcome back, my child. You're just in time for dinner."
---
[You have moved 99/100 nymphs with your music.]
Yoo Joonghyuk gave the lyre in his hands another angry strum.
[You have moved 100/100 nymphs with your music.]
(Orpheus struck the lyre and sang: "O Gods! Ever since my dear Eurydice was taken from me, I have wasted away~")
Yoo Joonghyuk's mouth remained shut as he glared at the sky.
(Orpheus struck the lyre and played a beautiful song.)
He plucked a string with more force than necessary, and the lyre let out a tremulous note.
[The gods are extremely moved by your song! You have summoned 'Apollo (Biyong)'!]
A dokkaebi with a golden laurel wreath on its head and plastic wings strapped to its back appeared in mid air with a pop. "Really, now," he said in a disapproving voice. "You have to play it with more emotion ― eek!" He trailed off into a scream. "Aren't you―what's someone like you doing in this garbage scenario?"
An angry vein bulged on Yoo Joonghyuk's forehead. Kim Dokja had sacrificed himself again, all for a scenario even the dokkaebis claimed was useless.
"Open the path to the Underworld," he ordered.
The dokkaebi, who had been watching him with a mix of fear and admiration in his eyes, didn't need to be told twice. An ominous black whirlpool appeared in front of him, and Yoo Joonghyuk dove inside without a second glance.
(With the blessing of Apollo, Orpheus dove through the gates of Tartarus to retrieve his beloved from the shadows.)
---
"What's wrong?" asked Persephone.
Kim Dokja tried to open Midday Tryst again, only to be met with the same error message.
[The message has been returned.]
[Midday Tryst is not in service at this location.]
A seed of doubt began to grow in his chest. "Am I in the Underworld right now?" he asked. "I thought this place was a recreation specifically made for this scenario."
"That’s correct,” said Persephone, smiling.
"If so, then shouldn't I be able to contact Yoo Joonghyuk? Star Stream has never censored communication between party members in a scenario before."
"It's because this scenario is special," Hades replied in a calm voice. "The fate of the story weighs more than your individual fates, including death itself. Like how you seek the ■■ in Star Stream, you’re seeking this story's ■■ in this scenario, and thus must obey its rules."
"If we have to ‘relive’ the myth, shouldn’t we have failed the scenario the moment I killed the snake?"
Hades raised his glass to his lips. "Then you have to be careful you don't make more changes to the story."
Realization dawned on Kim Dokja, and his hand tightened around his silver fork. "If we deviate too much from the ‘script’..."
"Then the story will never see its rightful conclusion."
---
Yoo Joonghyuk was at the end of his patience. Even though he knew Kim Dokja's disappearance was only temporary, seeing him crumble into dust in his arms again had torn open something in his chest and left him deeply unsettled.
Luckily, Kim Dokja was right about the scenario being easy, and he was able to make his way through the Underworld without even needing to draw his sword. Ignoring the complaints of the residents of the Underworld who were less than impressed by his mediocre songs, he finally reached the gleaming banquet hall of Hades' palace.
(At the end of his journey, Orpheus came to the ruler of the joyless kingdom and begged him to return his beloved to him.)
Kim Dokja looked up as the doors of the banquet hall slammed open, and met Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes across the room. "You're here," he said, something akin to relief flashing through his eyes. “What took you so long, sunfish?”
“Shut up,” snapped Yoo Joonghyuk. He strode over and grabbed Kim Dokja’s collar, hauling him out of his seat and towards the ornate doors. As he neared the exit, he felt a warm hand close around his wrist and the hot puff of Kim Dokja’s voice in his ear:
“Don’t look back.”
The doors swung shut, and Yoo Joonghyuk stepped into the darkness. He could see the light of the living realm straight ahead, and he knew all he had to do was walk towards it, then everything would be over. Kim Dokja’s fingers burned on his wrist, and he took another step forward.
The shadows closed in on him, their cold fingers trailing over his exposed skin like gray ash strewn across the altar. The voices of the dead came to him one by one until a thousand people were whispering in his head at once. Small hands―Yoo Mia’s hands, holding his own as she died in his arms, still heartbreakingly young―covered his eyes, and he couldn’t see the light anymore.
There was water in his lungs and fire in his throat as the darkness around him morphed into shadows of the people he had loved and forsaken, the ones who would never be able to forgive him.
“Kim Dokja,” he forced out through gritted teeth. “Which direction do I go?”
There was no response. Yoo Joonghyuk stopped in his tracks.
The hand on his wrist was gone.
He was alone again, with nothing and no one beside him as he wandered through the regressions, waiting for his ending. The weight of all the years he had lived came crashing down at once.
They were supposed to ‘relive the myth’, but Kim Dokja had died by his own sword. What if they had already failed the scenario then? Had Kim Dokja even left Hades’ palace with him, or had everything been his own imagination?
In the original myth, Eurydice never left the Underworld. Orpheus’, no, his journey was doomed before it even started.
The whispers reached a crescendo as the voices raged and cried out to him, but they weren’t nearly as loud as his heartbeat in his chest. All that mattered right now was that Kim Dokja was gone ―
Yoo Joonghyuk turned around and met Kim Dokja's startled eyes. The screams of the shades melted away, and he was left with nothing but a ringing silence in his ears.
(At that moment, the gift was rendered void, and Eurydice was whisked back into the Underworld, never to be seen again.)
Kim Dokja smiled. "I guess I was worried about nothing in the end," he said cheerfully.
The darkness swallowed him gently, and everything faded to black.
[Hidden Scenario – 'Til Death Do Us Part has ended.]
['Melodic Fingers Lv. 1' has been acquired as a basic clearance reward.]
...He was going to kill Kim Dokja.