The Chronicle of the Beginning and Climax

Chapter 13 – The Choice That Shouldn't Exist

A faint glow flickered within the confined space, the dying embers of the system's presence lingering in the air. Jihwan stood motionless, his thoughts racing as the words on the floating system screen slowly faded.

> [Quest Cleared.]

[You have completed: "Escape the Unwritten Arena."]

[Reward: 1 Free Selection.]

His fingers curled slightly. Free Selection.

It was an unfamiliar term. The system was designed to give structured choices—quests, skills, paths—all leading to a predetermined result. But this? A selection with no predefined outcomes?

Jihwan's gaze darkened.

"Is this another illusion?" he muttered, reaching toward the words.

The moment his fingertips touched the text, reality twisted.

The entire space around him collapsed inwards, folding like a crumpled page of a book. The walls of the death game vanished. The other players, the enemies, the trial itself—all of it faded, as if it had never existed in the first place.

And in its place…

A single chair sat in an infinite void.

Jihwan took a step forward, his instincts screaming that something was terribly wrong. But his body moved on its own, drawn forward, until he stood before it.

On the chair's armrest, something was carved. A question.

> "Who writes your fate?"

Jihwan exhaled sharply.

This wasn't just a test. This was something far beyond the system's rules.

This was a choice that shouldn't exist.

For the first time since entering the book worlds, a realization dawned on him.

He had spent his entire life reading stories, following their predictable paths. Even after falling into this reality, he had assumed there were rules—things that could and couldn't happen.

But this moment…

This moment was not written anywhere.

It was his alone.

> [Select Your Path:]

1 – Follow the system and continue the journey as intended.

2 – Break free from the system and step into the unknown.

His heart pounded.

The first option was logical. Safe. If he continued down the path given to him, he would grow stronger, unlock secrets, and reach the climax as every reader before him had.

But the second option…

Jihwan's fingers hovered over it.

It was an anomaly. A road that no one had taken before. A decision that even the system itself hesitated to offer.

"The Variable..." he whispered.

He knew it. This was what it wanted.

The unseen force that had been watching him since the beginning. The thing that had broken the structure of the first death game. The presence that lurked beyond the written narrative.

And now, it was giving him a way out.

A way to change everything.

Jihwan slowly clenched his fist.

If he chose the first path, he would be safe. Predictable. A piece moving toward an inevitable end.

If he chose the second…

His story would become something that had never been written before.

His lips curled into a faint smile.

"You really think I'll follow your script?"

And then—he pressed the second option.

The system shattered.

---

End of Chapter 13