The Maknae Has to Be an Idol

It was difficult to say whether the fight was ongoing. Strength seeped out of my fist and my arm trembled. I was so weak that I could barely stand. Tae-Yoon from the opposite side was heaving on the ground.

“Haaa…haa…haaa…” My heart thumped roughly. In this space, me and the other person were just humans with ordinary physiques in the end. We couldn’t surpass the limits of the human body to move or fight. Yet, we still fought without rest for the past couple of hours. It was difficult to endure as a normal human.

“Haa…haa…” I distanced myself from the other Tae-Yoon as much as possible to collect my breath. I dragged my heavy legs and took a couple of steps. Unfortunately, my quickly sank into the floor and didn’t move. In the end, I collapsed to the ground like that. My heart beat rate didn’t decrease and I tasted blood in my mouth.

My breathing became more coarse, and I heard air escaping out of me like something ripping in the wind. Perhaps, it was better for me to never get up like this. Tae-Yoon from the other side approached me. While wearing a loose, white shirt, he grabbed onto my collars. He had also lost most of his strength like me, and a powerless fist pounded on my face. It had been a while since I didn’t feel pain.

I saw myself reflected on the thin surface of water fluctuating on the floor like a mirror. My face was all swollen up, bruised, and bloody. My members would be shocked to see me in this state, but I thought it was ridiculous for me to think about such things right now.

Punch—!

The other Tae-Yoon struck my face with more force this time. With it, my body leaned to the side and collapsed. Both I and the other Tae-Yoon fall together. It was too pitiful to be called the final strike. This was just nothing more than a dogfight. I felt as if my heart was beating right beneath my throat.

The sky here was especially white. There was no sun or moon and I wondered where the light came from. Did its light come from the remains of the crumbled planet? I felt pathetic for thinking such thoughts right. I was in a space where I didn’t know whether I was in reality or not. Since the other side finished attacking, it was my turn to go.

“Fuu….” I clutched my knees and got up. This place’s ground was floored with shallow waters. Because of that, the sky and the ground reflected off each other so that it looked like there was no above or below. If I wasn’t caught in the situation I was in, I would’ve thought it was quite a neat and cool place.

I clutched the other Tae-Yoon’s collar and struck his face a couple of times. My weak punched failed to make any significant impact and my body twisted with my opponent and we both fell together. I choked the other Tae-Yoon’s neck. Because I couldn’t choke him with strength, I was putting my weight on him.

Rather than choking him, I was pressing my body onto him. Though it didn’t target pressure around the respiratory tract as well, it was enough to pain on my opponent. The other Tae-Yoon under me floundered. He must not even have an ounce of strength left in him, but he struggled with all his might and looked up at me. He raised his fingernails and scratched my arms.

I had no intention to let go. I thought I could Tae-Yoon like this and felt a sense of thrill filled my heart. Yet, expectations often turned to disappointment.

“Ahhhh!” The other Tae-Yoon let out a battle cry and flipped me over. Our situation reversed and the other Tae-Yoon choked my throat. Yet, unlike me who simply pressed down on him, he was really putting pressure and force around my throat. I couldn’t breathe, and my legs and arms meaninglessly floundered on the ground. Perhaps, things would become comfortable if I continued to endure like this.

I raised my head and looked at the other Tae-Yoon. There was a sense of strange exhilaration circling around his face. We would only be able to escape this place if one of us died. It appeared the other Tae-Yoon had sensed this boring fight would finally end. I gave up on resisting. I was too tired to do anything more. Yet, the moment I tried to five up, I recalled my members’ faces.

This was almost cheating. How was I supposed to give up like this?

“…Ahhhhh!” I flipped the guy again. Then, I climbed on top of him and punched. I didn’t even have the strength to choke someone.

Punch—!

Punch—!

As bones and flesh contacted, dull and meaningless sounds rand out. I had never hit someone so mechanically. This didn’t even feel like a fight anymore but pure labor. It seemed the other Tae-Yoon also became too exhausted to resist. I saw no more will and fever left in his eyes. My fist stopped in the air and I met the other Tae-Yoon’s eyes.

After our long, repetitive fight, we recalled the reason why we were fighting again. A great surge of awkwardness and puzzlement swept me upon the realization that it was all meaningless. The other Tae-Yoon stared at me. Now that I thought about it, did my face always look like this?

It felt so unfamiliar. I felt chills and cold sweat trickled down my back. I looked down at Tae-Yoon and Tae-Yoon stared up at me. No, Tae-Yoon looked down at me and I looked up to Tae-Yoon. Above and below intertwined so that it was impossible which was which. My consciousnesses expanded and my fist, which was frozen in air, trembled.

I held my breath and my heart stopped beating. I heard ringing sounds in my ears, and I closed my eyes. The world surrounding me disappeared temporally, and when I opened my eyes again…

“Haa….” The only one who existed in this vast space was me. The other Tae-Yoon didn’t exist from the very beginning.

“Ha….haha….” I recalled back my memories and fumbled with the past. I fell to this place alone. The only one I fought wasn’t Tae-Yoon from the opposite side.

“…It was me.” I was alone the entire time. When I saw my face on the water’s reflection, I saw that it was clean, as if I had never suffered a single hit. I got up and looked above. This space was also not reality. I extended my hands towards the sky. The ends of my fingers were able to reach the incredibly high-looking sky. Everything in this space was an illusion. I raised my hand and easily peeled the sky off.

Spliiiiit—!

The sky split like I was ripping drawing paper and the universe appeared beyond it. The world of reversal which I thought had been with me was standing in front of the worldline and looking at me. I departed from this illusive world and took a step towards the universe. I thought I was given a physical body here, but there never had been a time when I did. I moved into my universe after becoming the system and moved the world of reversal that had established itself in front of the worldline to the side.

80% of the worldlines I had intertwined was extending out in its normal pathway, and without using my hands but my will alone, I twisted the worldline to the side. I had only used my hand before because I was familiar with doing that, but there was no need for me to do anything harder in this space. I could do anything by just thinking.

I twisted the worldline to the side again and bound the world of reversal above. This universe’s will had used the world of reversal to imprison me in the damn illusion world. That was probably how dangerous it was for one to forcefully twist the worldline. Something like this probably never happened before—where someone who fell victim to the system became the system itself.

Yet, I didn’t plan to go easy. It wasn’t because I felt emotions like regret and vengeance. After all, I wasn’t the only one who had to suffer this injustice, and more than thousands of other people throughout human history had gone through the same thing. Thus, I wanted to do a violent protest so that the universe would realize. It seemed the rule that ‘you can’t play too nice’ applied not just in human relations but everywhere.

I looked at the world of reversal. In the universe’s perspective, that was probably be more like the main system than me. The system that should be protecting the worldline was actually hindering it and the world of reversal was actually trying to straighten the worldline, following the will of the universe.

I twisted the worldline further. Though only its end had been slightly twisted before, a large part of it was not getting twisted up. Not just the thick worldline made up of my members’ world lines but all the previous worldlines was getting pulled in. I was haggling with the entire world lines that humanity had piled up until now. I looked at the reversal system again. It didn’t show much of a response yet. I thwarted the world line a bit more. As before, no reaction came.

I was twisting more than half of the world line now. There was no turning back now and soon, I completely flipped the worldline over.

Shaaaaa—!

“Finally.” The reversal system showed a response. My body became more faint while the reversal system took a definite form. Afterwards, a blinding light enveloped the entire universe. The rules changed. Left became right and up became down. The universe had lay its decision. I became the reversal system while the reversal system became the main system. Usually, the main system and the reversal system wouldn’t change roles just because I flipped the worldline over.

This was only possible with the universe’s intervention. Yet, I was satisfied that I had fulfilled my minimum goal to flip the worldline. This space was no longer mine. The system now floated me up into space and looked at me with machine-like, empty eyes. Then it began to reorganize the twisted, messed-up worldline. The world had become quite a mess while I was flipping the worldline. Many worlds overlapped while past, present, and future was happening at once.

Rather than immediately punishing me as the system, it prioritized spreading the world that was on the brink of collapse. After completely reorganizing the worldline, the system stared at me again. It didn’t open its mouth but simply told me in an alarm.

[You aren’t permitted to approach.]

It was saying that I wasn’t permitted to exist in this space like this. It was as it said. The reversal system didn’t exist in the universe but designated someone as its incarnation to stop the regressors. The worldline had returned to normal and the system was operating normally. Then, I also needed to fulfill my role as the reversal system.

[Designating Incarnation.]

I looked at the ends off the worldline—the world that was currently progressing. I needed to find my incarnation there, and there was no easier decision I could make.

[Will you choose Bong Tae-Yoon as your incarnation?]

Though I didn’t need to say the words out loud, I still said it, “Of course.”

[Reversal system is operating. Input your mission to your incarnation.]

This was the mission my incarnation would need to receive. The original goal of the reversal system would be to kill all the world’s regressors—the Siren members—and flip the world again. Yet, I certainly didn’t wish for that.

[Work with Siren members and watch their last.]

[Upon success, death.]

[Upon failure, death.]

[Mission period: 100 years]

What kind of reversal system would give a mission like this? But whatever anyone, I was the reversal system now. Who could stop me when I was the one who gave out the missions? I closed my eyes. It was now time for me to ascend to this world as the reversal system’s incarnation.