As the two smiled at each other—awkward but genuine—the silence between them was suddenly broken by the soft ding of a notification.
No, not just one.
Two.
Ding. Ding.
Both of them blinked, glancing down at their phones simultaneously.
"I'm gonna take this—ah."
They froze.
They'd said it at the same time.
Their eyes met.
And then both immediately looked away, cheeks flushing as they turned to opposite sides like two magnets repelling after too much contact.
Tom rubbed the back of his neck, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Weird timing," he mumbled to no one in particular.
Kim Dokja coughed lightly into his hand, pretending to read something on the ceiling.
Tom was the first to recover, quickly pulling up the new message that had appeared on his screen.
[ You have one notification ]
[ From: J ]
[ Attachment: "scenario_notes_1.zip" ]
[ Message: "Get ready. It's starting soon. 7PM. Don't trust what smiles." ]
Tom's brow furrowed. He raised an eyebrow at the phrasing, mentally underlining the timestamp.
7PM.Huh
And that last line? "Don't trust what smiles"?
His fingers curled slightly around his phone.
"Cryptic bastard," he muttered, eyes scanning the station's clock.
Meanwhile, Kim Dokja was staring at his own screen in quiet disbelief.
[ You have one notification ]
[ From: author tls123 ]
[ Message: "Reader-nim, my novel will become paid at 7PM. This will be helpful. Good luck!" ]
[ Attachment: (1 item) ]
His grip tightened.
"...What?"
His heart began to race. Slowly, carefully, he tapped the message.
An attachment opened—familiar, yet horribly out of place.
Not a chapter.
Not a fan update.
A gift.
The author said they would give him a gift, what was the gift?
His eyes flicked up to the digital clock above the subway doors.
6:55 PM.
The seconds were ticking down.
And for a brief moment—while trains rattled and people moved as if the world were still normal—Tom Révain and Kim Dokja both sat in silence, gripping their phones, facing opposite directions...
Completely unaware that in just five minutes, the world they knew would never exist again.
Tom's POV
I sighed, straightening my back and steeling myself.
Whatever was coming—scenario, system, apocalypse, chaos—I'd faced worse.
...Maybe.
I glanced to my side.
Kim Dokja was still there, hunched slightly, brow furrowed with laser focus as he stared down at his phone like it held the meaning of life. His thumbs were dead still now, but his eyes—sharp and unblinking—were reading something at a frightening speed.
Something about that expression. That focus. That tiny line between his brows.
It was... revoltingly cute.
I blinked, surprised by my own thought.
Nope. Nope. Not now. Apocalypse first, flirt later.
Still, I couldn't help myself. I reached out and gently tapped his shoulder.
He jumped slightly, like I'd yanked him out of another dimension. Wide eyes turned to me, startled, borderline defensive.
I chuckled, holding my hands up in surrender.
"Hey, calm down. It's just me," I said, smiling softly.
His eyes flicked over my face, the tension in his shoulders slowly easing.
Right before the end of the world, I was trying not to find this man adorable.
Great timing, Tom.
"Are you good?" I asked, leaning a little closer with a teasing grin. "You've been staring at that phone of yours quite a bit. Is it from a girl?"
His reaction was instant.
His eyes went wide, like I'd accused him of murder, and a soft blush crept up his cheeks—right there, blooming pink on his ears too. Adorable. Unreasonably adorable. Like watching a cat get caught stealing snacks off a counter.
My grin softened without me meaning it to. Of course he'd look this cute. Of course.
But then... I felt my eye twitch. Just a little.
My lips thinned.
...Wait. What if it was from a girl?
Why the hell did that suddenly bother me?
Oh fucking god. Why do I always fall in love right away...
"No! No, no, it's not—!" he stammered, waving his hands a little too fast. "I-I don't—That's not even possible—I'm bad with girls!"
He scratched his cheek awkwardly, eyes darting anywhere but my face. I couldn't help it—I laughed. Like, an actual chuckle, low and easy.
"Don't worry, man," I said, patting his shoulder lightly, "I'm just teasing you."
He still looked flustered.
I still found it stupidly charming.
And, unfortunately for me, it only made me want to tease him more.
What the hell kind of messed up romcom starts right before the apocalypse?
Apparently this one.
I'm so hopeless... I sighed internally, still half-smiling like an idiot as Kim Dokja bashfully rubbed at his cheek.
Then again, can you really blame me? I glanced at him again.
This Kim Dokja... was exactly my type.
Quiet, awkward, ridiculously attractive in that tired literary protagonist way. That soft hair. That serious expression. That voice. Honestly, it was unfair. Universe-rigged unfair.
...Does he even like guys? I wondered. Then shrugged to myself. Eh, the universe will work that out for me.
I kept glancing at him—stealing little peeks between stops. At first I thought it was just curiosity, maybe infatuation, but then something weird clicked.
Wait a minute.
Kim Dokja's face.
I could see it. Clearly.
My eyes widened.
In Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, wasn't there a thing where other characters couldn't remember what Kim Dokja looked like? That his appearance blurred in people's memories because of the Fourth Wall?
That should apply to me too... unless—
"Wait..." I whispered under my breath, heart starting to race.
Is it because I'm not supposed to be in the novel...?
I stared at him again. Still Kim Dokja. Still absurdly handsome. Still—visible.
"That's why the Fourth Wall effect isn't working on me..."
I leaned back in my seat slowly, mind spinning.
Because I'm an outsider. Because I'm not one of this world's characters.
A foreigner—literally and narratively.
So the world's defenses didn't recognize me.
And maybe... wouldn't protect me either.
Great.
Amazing.
I fall in love and break narrative reality all in one day.
Nice job, Tom.
I let out a soft sigh and, without really thinking, closed my eyes. My head felt heavy—maybe from everything, or maybe just from him—and I gently leaned it to the side...
Right onto Kim Dokja's shoulder.
For a second, nothing happened.
Then I felt it—the way he tensed up beside me like a statue mid-error message. His whole body went stiff as if someone had just handed him an unsolvable equation written in affection and poor impulse control.
I peeked one eye open.
Yep.
There it was.
The wide-eyed, panicked expression of a man who had no idea what to do with another man's head on his shoulder.
He didn't move away though.
Didn't shove me off.
Didn't scream or flee or glitch into a puddle of awkwardness.
He just sat there, blinking rapidly, face slowly turning a shade redder with every passing second.
"...You're warm," I muttered drowsily, half-lidded. That did not help his situation.
He opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. Then gave up and looked straight ahead like a hostage to destiny.
I smiled softly, eyes closing again.
"Don't worry," I whispered, just loud enough for him to hear. "I don't bite. Much."
His ear turned pink.
Somewhere deep inside, I cackled.
God, he's adorable.
And still—
He didn't move away.
Kim Dokja's POV
It happened so fast, I almost thought I imagined it.
One moment, I was still recovering from the sheer audacity of receiving a message from the author of Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse—the very same author who hadn't posted in years, who never replied to comments, who was supposedly a myth, a ghost, a concept—
And then the next?
A weight pressed down on my shoulder.
Soft.
Warm.
Real.
My entire body froze.
I turned my eyes slowly, the way a horror movie protagonist checks behind them when they know they shouldn't.
And there he was.
Tom Révain.
Foreign. Tall. Charming. Maybe too charming. And currently...
Resting his head on my shoulder.
Voluntarily.
He even closed his eyes like this was the most natural thing in the world. Like we hadn't just met. Like this wasn't completely unhinged.
My ears ignited. I could feel the heat traveling from my neck to my face like a timer counting down to total combustion.
What... what was I supposed to do?
What could I do?
This was the kind of thing that only happened in dramas. Or in the occasional fanfic I stumbled across at 3AM and refused to admit I read.
[Kim Dokja.exe has stopped responding.]
I sat still, tense as a steel rod, arms glued to my sides, staring at the subway wall like it contained the secrets of the universe.
And then, just to completely annihilate me—
"You're warm," he murmured.
I blinked.
HUH?
What kind of final boss line was that?!
My hands twitched in my lap, unsure if I should gently push him away or scream or just allow the train to take me into the void.
And then came the coup de grâce.
"Don't worry," he added, voice low and amused. "I don't bite. Much."
I transcended.
I left my body.
I was now a spirit lingering above the Seoul Metro.
Who says things like that?
What kind of person delivers lines straight out of a B-list romance drama with his face still on your shoulder?!
I swallowed hard.
Okay. Breathe, Dokja. Maybe this is just a French thing. Maybe they do this. Maybe he's just tired. Foreigners are touchy, right? Yeah. Yeah. Cultural differences. Nothing to see here.
But then... why wasn't I moving?
Why wasn't I leaning away?
I should've. I really should've. That would've been normal. Rational. Safe.
But I didn't move.
Because maybe—
Just maybe—
I didn't want to.
...God.
I'm so doomed.
Tom's POV
I smirked.
No pushback.
No awkward shuffle. No "uhh, what are you doing?" Just stunned silence and that faint but unmistakable heat radiating from Kim Dokja's ears. He was blushing so hard it made me want to laugh.
So I did.
Softly.
I closed my eyes again, satisfied.
He didn't move. He let me stay.
That was dangerous information. Dangerous, because it made me want to try again. Stay closer. Say more. Because—god—he was so endearingly awkward and weirdly brave and I—
No. Not now. Focus.
I took a slow breath, forcing myself to relax, but—
I hesitated.
Because the last time I tried to take a nap...
My phone buzzed.
The warning from J flickered in my head like a rerun:
[Get ready. It's starting soon. 7PM. Don't trust what smiles.]
My eyes cracked open, just barely.
And then—
Click.
The subway lights snapped off.
In an instant, the train was swallowed in darkness.
Pitch-black.
Someone gasped across the cabin. A child whimpered. A phone screen lit up in the far corner, then blinked out again.
Then—
Kiiiiiik—!
The train shuddered violently, metal screeching against metal. I instinctively reached out to steady myself, arm brushing against Dokja's.
My pulse jumped.
Not from him this time.
From the train.
From the timing.
6:59 PM.
My throat felt dry. The air suddenly tasted like copper.
"Dokja," I murmured under my breath, voice lower than I intended. "Stay close. Something's wrong."
I couldn't see his face in the dark.
But I felt him shift.
Something deep in my gut twisted.
The countdown had begun.
And neither of us was ready for what came next.
To be continue
.
.
.
[The constellation "Laughter Is Chaos" is pouting.]
['Why aren't you like that with me?'」
Tom:
sighs, rolls eyes
"Just because."
[The constellation "Laughter Is Chaos" sparkles indignantly, like a disco ball offended at being ignored.]
「'You smiled at him. You touched his shoulder. You blushed. Blushed! When was the last time you blushed at me?'」
Tom:
"Maybe when you weren't threatening to 'casually rearrange the laws of physics' for fun."
[The constellation "Laughter Is Chaos" high-pitched, offended sparkle.]
['That was ONE time. And the moon got better.']
Tom:
"...You cracked the moon like a crème brûlée."
[The constellation "Laughter Is Chaos" huffs.]
「'Whatever. I wouldn't have to act out if you paid attention to me more. I gave you warnings. Gifts. That sexy cloak. And did you wear it? No. You left it in your inventory like some kind of cosmic fashion failure.'」
Tom:
"You gave me a cloak made out of screaming shadows. It bites people."
「'It's couture.'」
[Tom groans, rubbing his temples.]
Tom:
"Can we not do this now? I'm in the middle of something. The apocalypse? Cute boy? Ringing a bell?"
「'Ugh. Fine. But if he breaks your heart, I'm turning him into stardust.' 」
Tom:
"Touch him and I uninstall you."
[A pause. Then the constellation "Laughter Is Chaos" laughs—bright, delighted, unhinged.]
「'Ohoho~ So protective. I KNEW you liked him. This is better than drama universes 47–83 combined.'」
Tom:
"...Why are you like this."
「'Because you made me this way, darling.'」
[Tom lets out a long-suffering sigh as time begins to move again. The subway lights flicker. Chaos is coming.]