The train station was a cacophony of sounds and smells, a place where lives intersected and diverged in the blink of an eye. Amidst the chaos, Kim Woo-jin stood frozen, his eyes fixed on the departures board as if willing his train to arrive sooner.
He held a pocket watch in the palm of his hand. It looked expensive. He sighed, remembering how he acquired this very watch... Some old man he used to fix clocks for gave it to him. "You'll be remembered," he said."I hope someone will."
As the platform announcement announced the arrival of the train from Busan to Seoul, Kim Woo-jin wore the watch as a pendant around his neck; it was the only piece of jewelry on him. In his three-piece black suit consisting of a long coat, vest, and matching trousers, he looked sophisticated, as if he weren't poorer than the homeless man next to him as he got into the train. He thought to himself. "The Seoul to Busan travel time is 2 hours and 15 minutes, covering 417 km on the Gyeongbu line. This is the fastest option I have right now." "Excuse me, sir." A female voice called out in a hushed whisper."Hm?"
Kim Woo-jin turned to see this sleep-deprived zombie. She appeared tired and worn out, with visible signs of fatigue. She has dark circles under her eyes, a pale complexion, and an air of exhaustion. Her hair is disheveled, and her makeup is minimal or probably worn off. She's wearing wrinkled office attire, and her posture is slouched due to lack of rest. Her eyes are red and puffy, and she's holding on to a coffee to try and stay alert. "Could you please tell me what time it is?" She asked, smiling tiredly. "The time?..."
He remembered he had the pocket watch around his neck, which is why she probably asked the time from him. He's never actually opened it before; it could be broken, but he opened it anyway. Upon opening the watch, a black screen is revealed, displaying various features and functions. The screen is surrounded by a silver bezel, and the watch's interior is designed to be visually appealing. Kim Woo-jin was slightly surprised by the watch's advanced features; even the woman was slightly intrigued.
"It's 11:59pm,"
Kim Woo-jin answered.He was too distracted by the watch to examine it a little more. The watch appears to have several functional features, including- A digital display showing the date (Jul 17) and time (59 minutes past the hour)- A navigation interface, indicated by a series of triangles and a circular progress indicator- A messaging or notification system, as evidenced by a text message or alert on the screen- A keyboard or input interface, allowing the user to type messages or interact with the watch. There was a notification on the screen that read
[Please register new owner.]
He typed "K-i-m_W-o-o-j-i-n," and the watch loaded before he could check the details.
The lights in the cabin went out, people started murmuring about what's going on, and all of a sudden the train came to a stop. "What's going on?" He thought, looking around in the dark, others turned on their phones' flashlights.A middle-aged man said, "It's probably a power outage or electrical failure."Next, the voice of another person "So we're stuck in here?!"
While everyone was bickering, the door opened, drawing everyone's attention.
A guy probably in his twenties excitedly ran towards the opened doors yelling,
"It's probably a rescue team!"
He stood in front of one of the open doors before his face was filled with confusion and horror. Before he could say anything, a wooden mallet struck his head. It had enough force to break his skull, and he died instantly. People started screaming.
"NOOO! Oh my god, he's been hit!"
"What happened?!"
"Get him away from the door! We need to get out of here!"
"Someone call for help! We need an ambulance!"
"That guy just got smashed in the head! Oh my god, the blood!"
"This is insane!"
"What is going on?!"
"Get us out of here; we need to get to safety!"
In came a short, green, pointy-eared-looking creature. It was ugly, short, and wiry, with long arms and sharp fingers. The skin is green, a flat nose, and a wide, toothy grin. Its eyes glow with an otherworldly light, and its eyebrows are thick and unruly. Wearing a tattered animal hide, it was hunched in posture. It laughed.
"Kek kek kek! Hssss!"
Everyone was shocked and frightened.
"What the...?!"
"Oh my god, what is that?!"
"Is that... a kid?" What's wrong with its face?"
"It's not human!"
"What is it?!"
"Everyone stay calm! Don't make any sudden movements!" The middle-aged man from earlier said
"Aaah! It's coming towards us!"
The creature, which was now known as a goblin, instantly jumped towards the nearest person, attacking him. People ran out of the train. Kim Woo-jin bolted out of there as well, but on his way out, he heard the scream of a woman.
"Ahh!!" Please, someone get help for me!"
It was that zombie woman; she was cornered by the goblin, it laughing maniacally.
"Ke ke ke!"
Kim Woo-jin couldn't bring himself to run out and abandon someone even though the door was right there, its bright light promising him salvation, but he chose sacrifice.He ran towards the goblin. He had no idea how to kill this thing, so he just grabbed it. It felt weird holding something with such a foreign structure.
He held it from behind as it squirmed in fury. "Hurry!! RUN!" He yelled, she snapped out of her frozen trance, and she ran out of the train. If his luck couldn't get any worse, the doors slowly closed, and the goblin got free from his restraints. It hit his knee hard enough to dislocate—no, break his joint.
"Uggghhh!!"
GroanThe goblin laughed at Kim Woo-jin. He took out a pen from his pocket. The lucky day he finally had something on him, he stabbed the pen into the goblin's eye. It shrieked in pain, causing a moment of distraction. Kim Woo-jin horridly made his escape; he struggled to keep going.
"huh...huh...just...a... littl…further..."
Through the windows of the train cabin, you could see Kim Woo-jin struggling to walk, limping towards the next cabin. He was clearly tired and wanted to scream, leaving a trail of blood as he walked straight past all the seats that should be filled with people but were empty. He made it to the next cabin, and the train suddenly started moving again, and as it passed the tunnel, he saw it was already dark outside; the stars looked so beautiful.
"..."
And what made this entire moment so heartbreaking was seeing all the fortunate people who made it out of the train as they were running—he didn't know from what, but they as well noticed the train, and from the bridge they saw an injured Kim Woo-jin on his own as the goblin that attacked them finally managed to open the cabin door and leaped towards him, hitting his head with all its might. Instant death. They all gasped. The woman he had saved from earlier was more horrified.
The train continued on its route; it made it to its last stop, Seoul. In the second cabin was Kim Woo-jin's lifeless body, blood splattered near his head as he lay there beautifully, the wind blowing into the train from the open windows. The train kept going.The pocket watch around his neck made a ding! Sound. And it glowed with an ominous blue light in the dark cabin, and a voice spoke out—an AI system voice.
[Death of the divine entity Kim Woo-jin has been detected; regression in progress...]
Kim Woo-jin's body slowly started to disappear, and in a flash he was in a dark blue space just lying there until he regained consciousness.
"Huh?..."
He got up confused, feeling the pain in his leg completely gone, his expression confused as he thought, "Didn't I just die?" ... Is this life after death?"
He looked around before a blue screen popped up in front of him, casting a bright blue light in the dark space.
[Welcome, Divine Entity Kim Woo-jin.]
He was stunned, his eyes wide from the shocking spectacle unfolding in front of him. He tried to touch it, and it felt like a thin glass. He was distracted for a bit before coming back to his senses.
"Where am I?" Is this heaven or hell?"
[You are in the Retro space.]
Everything that transpired today was utter nonsense. What was this thing talking about? He just wanted to lay down and go back to that peace he felt. What's the point of being alive when you're unknown? Before he could give up on life, the system counted.
[You've been registered as a player. Player information will be loaded shortly...]
A rectangular screen popped up with his "player"
information on it. He looked at it curiously.
BASIC INFO:
Name: Kim Woo-jin
Age: 20
Level: 1
Health/HP: 9/10
Mana/MP: 3/100000
STATUS AND ATTRIBUTES:
Strength: 4Intelligence: 700Agility: 3Defense: 2
EQUIPMENT AND INVENTORY:
Equipped Items:1: Ridu Watch (Soulbound)
PROGRESS AND ACHIEVEMENTS:
Achievements: (1) In your last breath you saved a life."
Skills:
Regression: Player will always return to a previous state after death (passive).
Reminiscent: The player will have perfect recall or memory, knowing and recalling the past in great detail (passive).
Debuffs: Echoflux: People will always have ever-fading memories of you (passive).
Kim Woo-jin read all this, his hand on his chin, his expression thoughtful before turning into a clueless expression.
"A game?….?"
He ran his hand through his hair, thinking he'd finally lost it. The system notified him.[Regression will begin soon.]"What? ... Wait, wh---!"