Noah stood tall, the fire of frustration flickering in his eyes.
"Fine then," he muttered, his voice gaining strength with each word.
"I'll kill them. I'll kill every single one of the main characters, and that way the story will be forced to move forward without them."
There was a brief pause after his declaration.
Then Livia, standing a few feet away, suddenly burst into laughter.
It wasn't just a small chuckle or a sly giggle—it was an uncontrollable, uproarious laugh that had her clutching her stomach.
"Y-You?" she managed to say through gasps.
"Killing all the main characters? Oh, Noah, you're killing *me*!"
Noah huffed, crossing his arms.
He was serious, dead serious. And yet, here was Livia, acting like he had just told the funniest joke in the world.
Still giggling, she walked over and, to his surprise, ruffled his hair.
"Oh, Noah. You're too much," she said, rubbing his scalp like he was a little kid.
"The resolve! The courage! I admire it. Seriously, taking on the plot single-handedly, wiping out the heroes? That's a new one. Very bold."
Noah stiffened, feeling his dignity slip away as Livia mussed up his hair even more, her hands tousling it with a bit too much enthusiasm.
But Livia ignored him, her eyes sparkling with amusement.
She looked at him like a kid about to embark on an impossible task with all the naïve confidence in the world.
"Seriously, Noah. You've got guts. And honestly, I've never heard someone suggest such a direct solution.
Just murder your way through the plot!"
She beamed, giving his hair one final scrub before stepping back.
Noah shot her a glare, quickly trying to smooth his hair back into place.
"I wasn't joking," he muttered, slightly annoyed.
But Livia wasn't laughing anymore.
As her hands fell to her sides, the lively mood drained from her face, replaced by something more serious.
Her red eyes narrowed in thought, her mind clearly racing.
"But... maybe you're on to something," she murmured, almost to herself.
Noah froze, catching the sudden shift in her tone.
The playful atmosphere had vanished, and now Livia was watching him with a different kind of intensity.
"What?" he asked, confused.
Livia took a step back, rubbing her chin as if piecing together a puzzle.
"I somehow envy you..." she said, her voice quieter now, more distant.
Noah frowned, his hand still fixing the mess she'd made of his hair.
"Envy me? For what?"
She nodded toward the liquid-like surface below them.
"Unlike me... you'll actually get to return."
"Return?"
Noah's brow furrowed.
He glanced down at his reflection in the water beneath them, catching sight of something strange.
There, on his forehead, was an intricate rune—a design he immediately recognized from the game.
It was the [Mark of Failure], a symbol given to characters who died after failing a crucial event.
The mark branded those who fell to bad endings—an unavoidable part of the game's cruel design.
He hadn't noticed it before, but now, with Livia's words hanging in the air, he felt a chill run through him.
But while he's doing everything by the book, the corrupt nobles and those gaining power illegally surpass him.
In the end, he can't keep up. He becomes desperate and, eventually, he falls. He starts using the same illegal tactics he swore to fight against."
Noah could see it.
Rylan's weakness had always been his rigid morality—his belief that the world could be saved by playing fair.
But in a world like this? That was a recipe for disaster.
"And Amy..." Livia's expression darkened.
"Her weakness is her need for recognition.
She wants to redeem herself to her father, to reclaim her status as heir to the House of Bluerose.
But after being displaced by her younger sister, that desire becomes an obsession.
If she's left alone, she'll stop at nothing to prove herself—burning alliances, breaking bonds, corrupting herself until there's nothing left."
Noah shivered.
Amy was another tragic case. Her drive to prove her worth to her family would lead her down a destructive path, one that ended in blood and betrayal.
Livia hesitated, her voice dropping to a near-whisper.
"And Xander... well, Xander's weakness is time. But let's not go into that just yet."
Noah frowned, but before he could press her further, Livia continued.
"The point is, Noah, each of these characters has a dark path.
And if you kill the others, the last one standing will only spiral further into their weakness. It's inevitable."
He swallowed, feeling the weight of her words.
It was more than he'd bargained for.
He had thought that by eliminating the main characters, he could change the story, reset the world.
But Livia's explanation shattered that illusion.
"Even if you kill them all," she said, her voice soft but firm, "there will be consequences the game hasn't accounted for.
This world is vast—deeper than even the developers know. It's still a mystery."
Noah stared at her, questions swirling in his mind.
Who was she?
How did she know all of this?
Before he could ask, Livia stepped closer, her gaze softening.
"My name's Eun-Ji," she said quietly, her Korean accent slipping through for the first time.
"That's my real name, back on Earth."
Noah's breath hitched.
He hadn't expected that.
For the first time, the reality of the situation hit him hard.
They weren't just players in some twisted game—they were real people, trapped in a world that wasn't supposed to exist.
Before he could respond, the white expanse around them began to shimmer.
He felt himself... dissolving.
His body was crumbling into fragments of light, being pulled away from this place.
Livia—or Eun-Ji—looked at him, her expression sad but accepting.
"You're going back," she said softly, watching him fade.
"But I'm not."
Noah wanted to say something, to protest, but the light was overwhelming now.
His vision blurred, and the last thing he heard before everything went dark was Eun-Ji's final words.
"There will always be more than one main character... and it will always be that way."