The Protagonist Chooses To…
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As the driver leaves, the carriage falls silent with its occupants staring at each other, tense and alert. Even if they’re all similarly victims of whoever opened this instance, but that does not mean they will happily treat each other as companions.
In fact, they’re especially on guard against Ying Sheng and Du Yixin, who obviously know each other are clearly teaming up already.
And even though killing each other isn’t exactly the theme underlying these Instances, but in this world, the setting of ‘Protagonist’ and ‘Extras’ will certainly make them unable to establish a basic level of trust.
Du Yixin touches his neck, still feeling a bit stuffy. He looks up to see everyone staring at each other with suspicion, save for the guy sitting next to him who is looking more like a predator sizing up prey instead——
Killable.
Killable.
Killable.
“…” Du Yixin quietly looks away.
In any case, given the nature of shooting a movie, it’s likely they’ll be forced to stay together. Or at least, the Extras won’t be able to leave the Protagonist’s side unless he orders them to via choices. And those who separate from the Protagonist in typical horror movies… Oh boy.
He decides to open up first, and says out loud, “let’s not tense up the atmosphere so much first. At least, we should all want the same thing in the end. So maybe we can at least introduce ourselves first? Or we won’t even be able to call each other.”
Strictly speaking, he is probably speaking entirely ‘out-of-character,’ but it seems this isn’t limited in this Instance, or he would have seen repercussions when speaking to Ying Sheng earlier.
This is a good thing too, since he, and most certainly Ying Sheng, do not make for good actors. If they had to move forward while also considering their performance, it would be way too stressful.
And forcing Ying Sheng to act would probably result in him blowing the bus to smithereens even if he tries to stop him.
Du Yixin briefly introduces himself then looks towards the rest of them.
The man with curly hair is looking on curiously, but clearly not open to talks. Xiao Rou is hesitant seeing that. In the end, only the short, young-looking girl responds, saying, “I’m Ruri,” she says, giving what is presumably her English name. She has short hair and large round eyes. She looks like she’s still a minor, but her demeanour and tone suggests she isn’t.
Then Xiao Rou also follows up and introduces herself.
After that, the thin man also introduces himself, “hello, I’m Luo Jing,” he speaks about as gently as his appearance suggests.
Du Yixin sighs in relief. Other than the man with curly hair, the others don’t seem to be hostile.
Ying Sheng furrows his brows and says, “Ying Sheng,” but then he complains to Du Yixin out loud, “I’m not here to make friends.”
Right, there’s also the most troublesome individual on his side.
Ignoring his complaints, Du Yixin shows his camera and says, “let’s talk about the mission. We have to make videos for streaming in the hospital. Although I’m not too sure about how to actually win, we can probably assume the video would be part of it. Or, at least, it might be more dangerous if we do not shoot a video and contradict directions.”
The others do not raise any objections. Either they agree, or they’re keeping their own opinions to themselves.
Du Yixin then continues, “but then, what kind of video do we need? Is it related to length? Or must it capture certain objects? Did any of you get any clues about that in the darkness earlier?”
“Before we answer, shouldn’t you talk about your own clues first?” The curly man says.
Du Yixin nods and tells his side of the experience. Nothing he has to hide, really, as it’ll probably be similar for everyone. He’s asking just in case anyone got anything out of the man.
As he expected, everyone says they were told the same. Assuming they didn’t hide anything, the only difference in their experience is that instead of a man, they had all sorts of people introducing the Instance, from boys to old grannies.
“I don’t think the completion of the video would relate to length,” Xiao Rou then answers Du You’s original question. She shows her camera, which is the same as Du Yixin’s, also with a rather conspicuous progress bar on the bottom of the screen. She continues, “I’ve left it open since light returned, but the progress bar didn’t move at all.”
“But what if it’s because it has to be a certain length within the hospital?” The thin man, Luo Jing, raises his voice to question.
Xiao Rou’s face reddens a little, and answers, “that is possible, but…”
“I also doubt it relates to length. If it would do to just film the hospital for a while, we could just stand at the door the whole time,” Du Yixin helps her out, “I don’t suppose we have other clues. Then let’s wait until we’re at the hospital.”
Xiao Rou gives him a thankful smile.
The tense mood is also lifted slightly. They can at least talk normally now.
The curly-hair man then asks with a smile, “yeah, let’s cut the BS. I want to ask something.”
“?”
His words really do not fit his smile, as he asks, “who is the ‘Protagonist’?”
And the carriage falls completely silent again. Well, save for the occasional clank coming from under the car, presumably from the driver working.
Shortly thereafter, Ying Sheng chuckles and says, “I call bullshit on you too. Who would admit they got the ‘Protagonist’ card.”
The curly-hair man turns towards him, his smile unchanged, and says, “there is a way to know even if the person wouldn’t admit it.”
“How?” Luo Jing asks.
“The card’s pattern,” the man says.
Du Yixin gets it. Since there’s only one ‘Protagonist’ card, then it would be unique from the rest of the cards. If everyone present has to draw their cards from memory, then the only person to draw a different card would be the one.
“Well? Let’s all draw our cards,” the man sweeps his gaze over everyone, “since we would all claim to be Extras, wouldn’t we.”
This is entirely risk-free for Extras. In fact, it would be advantageous to know who the Protagonist is. No ‘Extra’s in their right mind would refuse.
“I’m fine with that,” answers Luo Jing.
“Agreed,” says Ruri.
Xiao Rou also nods.
Then the curly-hair man turns towards Du Yixin and Ying Sheng.
“Even though you’re really annoying,” Ying Sheng gives him a thumbs-down gesture, “but it doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”
The man gives him an innocent smile, and asks Du Yixin, “what about you?”
“…” Of course, it’s a good method, but just like Ying Sheng, he is really annoyed as well. He built a good mood for them all and because of this, it fell apart, and now he has to do as he says?
Of course he wants to know who the ‘Protagonist’ is, but only to make sure they don’t make any retarded choices.
He cannot say the same for the others, however. It is entirely possible someone else will want their lives immediately. If they succeed and the Protagonist role randomly lands on someone else, then they would have no way of telling anymore.
He is not sure whether it is a good or a bad thing to expose the ‘Protagonist’s identity at this early stage.
Not that he can refuse, either. If he did, he would just be seen as the Protagonist, in spite of his ‘Extra’ card.
After everyone has come to an agreement, “good, a unanimous vote. Has everyone got pen and paper?”
Only the two other men here have got pens. People should carry those around at all times, really, but in practise, almost no one does unless their profession demands it, or they’re good students.
And Du Yixin is the prime example of a bad student. The kind that only shows up to classes. Don’t expect to see him taking notes unless it’s for his major.
The curly-hair man shrugs and says, “then we have no choice but to do it in turns. We’ll draw it on our palms,” then he tells them with another disquieting smile, as he gets back to his seat, “try not to peek.”
Ying Sheng just blurts out, “fuck off.”
That is when a flashlight shines into the car. It’s the driver. The sounds from under the car have stopped some time ago, though nobody has noticed, and it seems his work is done.
Or not, as he says, with his clothes dirtied with what seems like dirt and patches of oil, “it wouldn’t start. There’s something wrong with the car. You guys will have to walk.”
“We’ve something important right now,” the plot progressing before he has singled out the protagonist makes the curly-hair man irritated, “could you wait a bit longer?”
Luo Jing asks, though, “walk? It would take half an hour by car, wouldn’t the sun rise already by the time we’re there?”
“Well, there’s a shortcut, but it’s only a man wide and this bus will never make it there. You can go and make that whatever video, and I’ll fix the bus in the meantime.”
“How long would it take?”
“Luo Jing,” the curly-hair man suddenly calls out to the man, and asks with narrowed eyes, “are you trying to buy time?”
“Of course not. And it’s not like we can’t do it later. I just want to get as much information as possible first,” Luo Jing explains calmly, then gestures towards the driver, saying, “tell me how lo-“
His last syllable is stuck in his throat. In fact, not just him, but everything around the world has stopped. Time has stopped. Everything is entirely frozen.
Du Yixin can still see everything clearly, and it’s like his brain is still functioning, even though he can’t move or control his body. Then something fades in in the air. It’s several rows of words.
[The Protagonist chooses to:]
[A. Walk to the Hospital]
[B. Ride the bus to the Hospital after the bus is fixed]
It’s here. The protagonist’s choice. They will choose how the plot goes.
Given the nature of the Instance, they will definitely reach the hospital regardless. But this choice will definitely affect the plot. Taking the bus and going the long way may be the safer choice, but it will take time. Choose to ‘walk’ and who knows what they might run into on the way.
Well then, what will the ‘Protagonist’ choose to do?
TL’s notes: Time for a recommendation! Well, it might be weird to recommend anything other than a horror given the story, so here goes. 《恭喜您成功逃生》(Congratulations on Successfully Escaping) (Chinese) (Well, you can find full access somewhere, perhaps, not that I’m encouraging you to, of course).
It’s a horror story that has an… interesting romance plot, but I think the horror is done really well. If you found the horror in this lacking, both from its lack in raws and my inability to translate horror into English well, then I hope you will find this a much more thrilling read. The plot is a bit convoluted by the end but otherwise gripping through most of it. The characters are well-written and surprisingly touching as well. It’s on NU as Congratulations on Your Successful Escape, so you can check it out if you’re interested!
Oriental Rabbit 