“Now, before you go in, choose one of these.”

Rummaging in his coat, the guide suddenly thrust a catalog at me.

In the catalog were masks shaped like the animal mask he was wearing.

“What is this.”

“It’s the mask you’ll be using in there.”

Some were tigers, some rabbits, some snakes.

It wasn’t hard to realize what these masks were.

This was the “Twelve Zodiac”.

Rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig.

The twelve animal gods every Korean memorizes in that order as the traditional twelve zodiac animals.

“You’d better choose carefully. You’ll be taking a placement exam soon, after all.”

Placement exam.

That meant we were about to take a test related to the Twelve Zodiac.

This wasn’t written anywhere in the ‘Destruction Method’ I had read over the last week.

They did say the “Recycling Center”’s setting shifted a little each round. Maybe that was the case this time too.

I thought it over a while, then chose one mask.

“Then I’ll take this one.”

What I picked was the “white rat mask”. The guide waved his hand, as if he’d known I would pick it.

“Sorry, but that one’s already taken.”

Looking closer, I saw that the catalog marked the remaining stock for each mask.

“There’s hardly any stock left.”

“Heh heh, well. Normally people make reservations before they come in.”

“Reservations?”

“Sometimes the backer does it, sometimes the incarnation researches beforehand and reserves one themself……”

I briefly wondered if my backer-nim might have reserved a mask for me, but of course there was no way.

In the end, I chose the only mask still in stock. A white mask with no animal shape carved into it.

“Faceless Mask. It has no perks, but no downsides either. 500 coins.”

“You charge coins for this too.”

“Even we have to make a living.”

At least set up a decent product lineup before saying that.

The guide coughed and added:

“Humph, and it’s not like a faceless mask is necessarily a disadvantage. If anything, it keeps you from standing out.”

Next to him, a slogan was blinking.

「Are you tired of the glares of constellations? Have you despaired at the tyranny of great nebulae? Do you think the tale you’ve stacked is too ordinary?」
「There is no useless story in this world.」
「The dream of becoming a constellation. Achieve it now at the ‘Recycling Center’.」

I stared at the slogan for a moment and said,

“Here. 500 coins.”

“Good luck.”

The moment I put on the Faceless Mask, I felt a light wind wrap around my entire body.

[You have used the item, ‘Faceless Mask’.]
[The effect of ‘Faceless Mask’ protects your personal information.]

As I stepped into the open space inside the Assembly Point, the first thing that caught my eye was the running track. The track was divided into twelve lanes.

Beside it, incarnations who had arrived before me were gathered in small groups, muttering among themselves. Most of them wore faceless masks like mine.

So, most of them had trash-tier backers too.

Of course, there was one incarnation who stood out more than most.

A frame that looked under ten years old at a glance. As soon as I saw the child wrapped in pitch-black rags, I remembered the guide’s mention of a “pitch-black kid”.

Interestingly, the kid was wearing the “white rat mask”.

Judging by their outfit, it didn’t look like they had lucked into a good backer. So had they bought the mask themself?

“Oh? Number 12 over there! Nice to meet you!”

I turned toward the voice. A man with “11” written on his chest was waving at me.

“You’re the last runner in our group, right?”

“Seems that way.”

I looked down at the “12” written on my chest as I replied.

If this test really was related to the “Twelve Zodiac”, then the number “12” would be the last.

Number 11 let out a hearty laugh.

Judging from his tone and gestures, he seemed fairly sociable.

I immediately tried to activate [Character List].

[You cannot use ‘Character List’ in this region.]
[Skill use is prohibited in this region.]

Skill use was prohibited?

I was honestly a little surprised.

[Character List] was not exactly an ordinary skill, and even that was restricted?

Unaware that his identity had nearly been exposed, Number 11 studied me with curious eyes and asked,

“You chose the Faceless Mask too?”

“I actually tried to choose a different one.”

“You mean the rat mask?”

I hesitated and nodded. It seemed Number 11 had thought the same thing.

Well, anyone who knew even a little bit about the “Twelve Zodiac” tale would.

After looking at me for a moment, the man spoke in a subdued tone.

“Hmm. You were lucky.”

I was lucky? Not unlucky?

I was about to ask what he meant when a small screen rose in the center of the track.

On it were twelve incarnations who had entered the race before us.

Just like us, they wore various masks. They dashed along their lanes, one by one crossing the finish line.

The moment the eleventh incarnation crossed the finish line—

―Ah, no……!

The final incarnation, still short of the finish line, collapsed in despair.

―S-save me. Please! Please save me! I don’t want to go ba……!

The center of the track sank like a sinkhole, and the incarnation plunged into the distant depths below.

The expressions of the incarnations watching his fall were all more or less the same. Roughly: whatever happens, I won’t end up like that.

When I glanced to the side, Number 11 wore a faintly frightened look as well.

I carefully asked him,

“If he was lucky, wouldn’t he have survived?”

This world was the ‘Destruction Method’.

There were plenty of skills and items that allowed flight. I myself had the “Sylphid’s Leaping Boots”.

If the elimination penalty was nothing more than “falling”, it was entirely possible the man had survived.

But Number 11 seemed to think differently.

“Are you serious?”

“Sorry?”

“‘Falling’ here is symbolic.”

Suddenly, I remembered the phrase about the “Recycling Center” in the ‘Destruction Method’.

「The graveyard of all possibilities.」

A place where incarnations with nothing left to cling to gather, leaving only a single possibility behind.

“Incarnations who come here are basically admitting they’re the ‘trash of the scenarios’.”

Those who failed to be chosen by great nebulae or powerful backer constellations. This was the last place they chose.

“If you fall even here, there’s nowhere to go back to. If you walk outside, all that awaits you is a miserable death.”

“But they still have their backers.”

“Your backer must be pretty nice.”

I was reminded again.

Right. <Star Stream>’s constellations were that kind of existence.

I answered with a wry smile.

“No, my backer is very cruel.”

“Really? Then you absolutely must not fall.”

“Yes, I am definitely going to become a constellation.”

A constellation. That was my purpose in coming to the “Recycling Center”.

「If you graduate from the ‘Recycling Center’ properly, you can become a constellation.」

Even knowing both ORV and the Destruction Method, there were still many secrets left in the 41st round.

To reclaim the Demon King of Salvation, who had been contributed to the scenarios. To prevent this “41st round” from ending in destruction.

I needed to rise, at minimum, to a status equal to those stars in the sky.

“Ha ha, a constellation. Big dreams. I don’t wish for that much. I’d be happy if I could just get recognized by the mid-sized nebulae. And if I happened to catch the Director’s eye, even better―”

“Who’s the Director?”

“I don’t know either. They’ve never revealed their identity. All I know is they lead the alliance of mid-sized nebulae.”

Leader of the mid-sized nebula alliance?

I searched my memory of the ‘Destruction Method’, but I didn’t recall reading anything like that.

Was this another trait unique to the 41st round?

[A new Sub Scenario has arrived!]

Right on cue, a scenario message rang by my ear.

It was finally our turn.

+

<Sub Scenario – Twelve Zodiac Race>
Classification: Sub
Difficulty: C
Clear Condition: Avoid placing last in the Twelve Zodiac Race.
Time Limit: 10 minutes
Reward: Entry to ‘Recycling Center’. Differential rewards given by placement.
Failure: Expulsion from ‘Recycling Center’.

+

I immediately checked the “differential reward list”.

What grabbed my attention the most was the prize for second place.

+

2nd place. Tale Fragment, 「Right Arm of the Swordmaster Who Was Backstabbed by a Comrade」.

+

I stared blankly at the prize name.

No doubt about it.

This was definitely the fragment the Demon King of Salvation had possessed.

But why was it here now?

「The Demon King of Salvation has become part of the ‘scenarios’.」

Was this what that meant?

I didn’t know.

Either way, now that I knew this fragment existed, I couldn’t just ignore it.

And as I scanned the list, one more item bothered me almost as much as the fragment.

+

1st place. Item, 「Battle Boots of the Noble」.

+

The moment I saw the glossy black combat boots, my mouth fell open.

No way, why is that here?

It shouldn’t have been possible.

Because the owner of that item was already―

“Anyway, we just have to not come in last this time. Then we qualify to enter the Center.”

Clueless about what was going through my head, Number 11 wiped his nose and held out his hand.

“Come to think of it, we haven’t properly introduced ourselves yet. I’m Wang Weilong.”

I shook his hand without giving anything away and thought,

「Bicheonhori Wang Weilong.」

I had thought something felt off from the start.

I never imagined this man would be Bicheonhori, one of the top 100 in the Destruction Method and Yu Joonghyuk’s strategist.

By the way, judging from the fact his speech hadn’t shifted into martial-world tone, he must not have visited <Second Murim> yet.

Well, it was still the early scenarios.

“I’m Kim Dokja.”

“Good, Kim Dokja. Shall we join forces?”

“You mean an alliance?”

“Just for this race.”

The goal of this race was to cross the finish line without being “last”.

In other words, Bicheonhori’s proposal was obvious.

“In this race, only one person has to drop out.”

At the same time, Bicheonhori’s gaze shifted somewhere.

I followed it and stopped. There was the pitch-black kid wearing the white rat mask.

“I don’t really feel like it.”

“Why? Because it’s a kid?”

When I didn’t answer easily, Bicheonhori shook his head.

“You’re naive, Kim Dokja. No one knows if that incarnation really is a child.”

Of course.

Even if they were, it was the same. In this apocalypse, there were plenty of children who deceived and killed adults, like the kids of the Open Faction.

Still, the reason I didn’t like it was—

“I just don’t like a cliché story.”

“A cliché story?”

Bicheonhori blinked a few times, then slowly nodded.

“You’re an unusual one, Kim Dokja.”

[All runners, please enter your lanes.]
[The ‘Twelve Zodiac Race’ will begin shortly.]

At the system message, the incarnations began stepping into their lanes one by one.

Standing beside me, Bicheonhori stretched lightly and said,

“But remember this. That kid is going to die anyway. He chose the ‘white rat mask’.”

I didn’t have time to ask what he meant. The countdown was beginning right in front of us.

[Items, stigmas, and skills are restricted in this race.]
[The ‘Twelve Zodiac Race’ begins!]

With a bang―, the incarnations all shot off the starting line at once. Their running forms were all different, but their expressions were uniformly serious.

This race was a competition based purely on physical ability. No skills, no items, no backer power could be used.

But there was one kind of power that still worked even in this “race”.

The surrounding scenery wavered, and a faint current of “stage-ization” began to flow.

[The tale latent in the stage begins its story!]

And the pitch-black kid started sprinting ahead of the incarnations.

[The tale, ‘Rat Who Wins the Race’, begins its story!]

As expected, the kid seemed to know the tale of the “Twelve Zodiac Race”.

「In the ‘Twelve Zodiac Race’, the white rat wins.」

The problem was, the kid wasn’t the only one who knew that.

With a sharp swish, throwing knives flashed toward the kid’s back.

The kid barely sidestepped the first knife, but couldn’t avoid the incoming kick from another rapidly approaching incarnation.

With a small groan, the kid stumbled over a rock and went down.

“Idiot. You dare choose ‘rat’?”

Five or six incarnations rushed in and began stomping the kid.

The kid didn’t even manage a proper scream.

Arms, legs, shoulders.

They were curled up as much as they could to lessen the impact, but it was clear the kid would no longer be able to run.

All the incarnations needed was “one dropout”.

And just now, they had decided that dropout would be the kid.

“I told you.”

Casting a glance at the kid as if it couldn’t be helped, Bicheonhori turned back to me and said,

“It was a foregone game.”

Leaving those words behind, Bicheonhori dashed off.

The end of the track was far away, and the leading incarnation was already far ahead. If I delayed any longer, I wouldn’t be able to catch up to them either.

[‘Recycling Center’ reacts to your choice.]

The kid writhed and clawed at the dirt. They seemed to be trying to get up, but their legs wouldn’t take any weight. Maybe a ligament had been torn.

I walked toward the kid.

“Get on.”

The pitch-black kid looked up at me. Through the white rat mask, I could see their wide, round eyes. Their gaze trembled in incomprehension, as if unable to understand my choice.

“Hurry. Are you going to drop out like this?”

In the end, after hesitating, the kid grabbed my shoulders. I hoisted the kid onto my back and started running.

On my back, breathing hard, the kid spoke.

“What are you doing.”

“What.”

“If you save me, you’ll drop out.”

The kid’s flat voice came from over my shoulder. Their tone sounded exactly like someone I knew, and I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

“Is that your way of saying thanks?”

“Some half-baked pity―”

“I’m not pitying you.”

[Your synchronization rate with your backer constellation increases.]

“I saved you because I want to win. My goal isn’t just to avoid last place.”

“What―”

Right now, my physical stats were better than any incarnation of the same rank.

Of course they were. My overall stats had already reached the limit allowed by the scenario.

But even so, the gap was huge, almost impossible to close.

And yet, with the kid on my back, I ran and ran with steady effort.

I didn’t know how long I ran.

The distance that had seemed impossible to close began to shrink, little by little.

The kid’s voice rose in disbelief.

“How―”

They weren’t the only one. One by one, the incarnations realized I was catching up and turned with wide, shocked eyes.

I grinned at them and said,

“You don’t know how the rat won?”

“You bastard, don’t tell me―”

That the rat wins the “Twelve Zodiac Race” is widely known. It’s precisely why the incarnation in the rat mask faces the most interference.

But because everyone was fixated on the fact that “the rat wins”, they forgot one crucial detail.

[The tale of the ‘Twelve Zodiac’ reacts to your choice!]
[Constellation, ‘One Who Let the Rat Win’ watches your choice with interest.]
[The spirit of the charging bull surges through your whole body!]
[‘Minor Stage-ization’ begins!]

The reason I saved the kid was simple.

Because Kim Dokja would have made this choice.

「The animal that carries the ‘rat’ in this race is guaranteed to take ‘second place’.」

That was all.