"–Dokja! Kim Dokja! Wake up! Kim Dokja!"

Kim Dokja cracked open his eyes, head pounding. The probability storm had rattled him, that was for sure, but… he had expected to revive in the place he had died in. Where the hell was he? When his vision stopped spinning, or at least slowed down, he could make out the figures of a few people above him. Upon closer inspection, they appeared to be Yoo Sangah and Han Sooyoung. Sangah knelt to the ground next to him, face etched with concern. "Are you okay, Dokja-ssi?"

Dokja pushed himself up onto his feet groggily. "Yeah, I-I'm fine. Where… are we?" Looking around, he could see the usual group, along with Yoo Joonghyuk's little sister, for some reason, and… was that Shin Yoosung? She wouldn't come into play for a little longer into the scenarios, so Dokja figured himself lucky to find her this early. Maybe he could get to know her and get her on his side so that she would be more willing to trust him; he needed her later. He also saw a familiar head of brown hair and a trench coat.

Taking his mind off the dilemma, Dokja surveyed his surroundings. He was in what seemed to be a large white box, luckily not so white that it was blinding. A soft warm glow was emitting from the corners, illuminating the room without lights. Well, it was a scenario, it didn't have to make sense anyway. He let his gaze wander to the protagonist, who was inspecting the room like he was waiting for a trap to spring out. Kim Dokja felt his lips getting dry, so he licked them. He averted his eyes.

There was also a large couch in the center of the room, facing one wall with somewhat of a large screen attached to it. A smaller couch sat off to the side, with refreshments on a small table between the two and a vending machine against the wall. The rest of the company was seated on the cushions, idly chatting and not doing much of anything. Not like there was much of anything to do in the first place. Dokja was about to head over to them when a scenario window popped up with a chime.

One… million coins?! Kim Dokja's eyes widened. How difficult could this scenario possibly be?! His scammer eyes lit up as he stared at the reward, mouth practically watering as he thought of all the ways he could scam people now. His companions were making a fuss in the background, so he ventured over to them, holding back a chuckle as Lee Gilyoung asked how many bugs he could buy with that many coins.

There weren't many seats left on the couch, and while he was busy fawning over the coins that he could use to the best of his scammer ability, Yoo Joonghyuk had already sat down. Kim Dokja squeezed in next to the protagonist, crossing his legs and pushing himself into the side of the couch to make room. He ignored the biting edge of the armrest to focus on Yoo Joonghyuk's glare boring holes into the side of his head. He pretended he didn't notice; why was Joonghyuk glaring at him anyway? He had given the guy space…

Dokja's thoughts were sidetracked when the screen booted up with a whir, casting a light sheen over the company's faces. It cycled through a number of colors before settling on a light yellow as text appeared in white.

Kim Dokja paused. Wasn't that..?

His thoughts were cut off when a familiar intro began playing. No. No, it… couldn't be. He could feel his heartbeat accelerating, eyes darting around to gauge the reactions of his friends company. Sangah was the only one who showed anything other than confusion, frowning as if she was on the cusp of discovering something important. The first lyrics poured through the invisible speakers and showed onscreen in a simple box, and Kim Dokja froze.

That… that was his song. Albeit one he had written a long time ago, when he had finally graduated high school after what seemed like decades of bullying and–he's not going to think about that.

Heewon frowned, and turned to him. "Hey Dokja, that sounds a lot like you, except younger. Do you have something to do with this?" Palms sweaty, Dokja, forced a chuckle and relaxed. "No way. This scenario seems pretty easy so far, so let's not jinx this, okay?" Sangah perked up. "From what I remember of my Latin classes in high school–" of course she took Latin. "–the words 'Carmen Lectoris' mean something along the lines of 'the reader's song' or 'the song of the reader.' Strange." Dokja pretended he didn't hear that.

Lee Gilyoung turned to look at Dokja, eyes sparkling. "Ahjussi, this song, it's really good! I think it's the best song in the whole world!" Jihye crossed her arms. "Kid, that's definitely not true. Though it is pretty catchy…"

As Gilyoung argued with the girl to 'defend his honor,' Kim Dokja could again feel the piercing stare of Yoo Joonghyuk on him. He reluctantly turned around to face the protagonist. "What do you want, Joonghyuk-ah?"

The tsundere narrowed his eyes. "You know this song." A pause. "...Did you write it?" Chatter slid to a stop. The squid shrunk back against the armrest before confirming with a sigh. "...Yes." Sangah looked at him, hurt in her gaze. "Why would you lie to us, Dokja-ssi?" He looked away, a half-smile present on his face. "My songs… they're embarrassing." That was the best explanation for it. If this scenario continued as he expected it to, there would be far worse topics than this.

Speaking of this scenario… it had never appeared in TWSA before. Perhaps it was sponsored by the constellations; he wouldn't put it past them to do this. Where were the constellations? He unmuted his messages to a flood of notifications, mostly from Uriel about… him sitting next to Joonghyuk? Whatever. He muted them again.

In the corner of the large room, a singular chair sat. A woman in a trench coat with long brown hair stared wordlessly at the screen. No one was paying attention to her; if they had, they would have asked who she was. They didn't.

On the couch, Lee Hyunsung raised a finger. "Who are you talking about here, Dokja-ssi?" Dokja gulped inaudibly. "Um… it wasn't really supposed to be about anyone. Just me and myself, I guess." An easy lie. But how was he supposed to tell everyone that it was about the novel protagonist that happened to be sitting in the room with them right now? It was better that they didn't know, even as Han Sooyoung sent him a catlike, knowing grin.

The instruments came in without warning, making Dokja flinch. He never had enough money to go to a recording studio and actually make his songs, but… this was exactly how he had wanted it to sound. How did the scenario figure that out?

And it was onto the next verse. Yoosung timidly spoke up, drawing Dokja's attention. "...Why am I here? Who are all you people, anyway? And what does that mean?" Dokja chuckled. "You're Shin Yoosung, right?" Both Han Sooyung and Yoo Joonghyuk snapped their heads towards him. The girl nodded shakily. "Y-yes." Dokja smiled at her and ruffled her hair. "Then you must be here for a reason." Yes, he was going to go the pacifist route. He needed her to trust him, or the 5th scenario would be a whole lot harder. The song continued. Dokja ignored her last question.

Han Sooyoung pulled the lemon sucker out of her mouth (where had she gotten that?) and scoffed. "Okay, this is clearly about someone. Whether they're real or fictional." She put extra emphasis on the fictional, not even trying to hide it. Jihye slowly turned her head to the side, eyes sparkling with mischief. "Ahjussi…" He could already tell this wasn't going to end well.

"...you had a fictional crush?" Sooyoung laughed. "You could say that." Dokja was puzzled; Sooyung had read TWSA too, or at least written that trashy copy, so what gave her the idea that he had a crush on someone from it? He nodded his head, feigning embarrassment; it was easier to say that than to say he had imagined calling and laughing with a webnovel protagonist that was actually real now. It had been comforting back then, okay?!

Dokja worried at his bottom lip, not noticing the way Yoo Joonghyuk trained his eyes on the act. He was trying to remember whether this song had anything in it that would… tip anyone off, so to speak. About certain things.

He internally heaved a sigh when the bridge finished, glad that it didn't feature any… heavier topics. Dokja couldn't remember every song he'd ever written, after all.

Hyunsung nodded along with the beat as Heewon tapped her foot. Dokja smiled softly. This was one of his more wholesome songs. His first one, better than he remembered it being.

Kim Dokja mouthed the rest of the lyrics as the song petered out, screen dimming theatrically. The usual chatter started up again as everyone went to grab snacks from the table and vending machine. Like him, they were expecting this scenario to last a good while. The screen blinked once, twice, and displayed some more text.