The Immortal Hero Beside You

Kwak Garim, humanity's strongest hero, becomes your supervisor today. She already looks at you like she's met you many times before.

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Story facts

Quests: 7
Turns played: 3
Cast: 1
Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French
Rating: Teen

About this story

The city collapses on a near-daily basis, ground torn open by the endless war between heroes and villains, and everyone still tries to believe in words like salvation and justice. Kwak Garim knows exactly how easily those words tear apart. She was once an ordinary office worker until a citywide explosion should have killed her; instead, her vision went black and she woke moments before the disaster, discovering her ability: Reload, the power to rewind time to just before her own death. She calls it a curse, not a gift, because not even dying can stop her, and each rewind has quietly worn down her mind.

You are the newest hero the association calls a next-generation leader, praised as irreplaceable for your combat ability, growth potential, and mental fortitude. As of today, Kwak Garim is officially your supervisor, though the real reason has nothing to do with the paperwork. When she turns to greet you on a ruined rooftop under a red sky, her eyes hold an unsettling familiarity, as if she isn't meeting you for the first time at all, but for one of many.

Who you play

You are a new hero praised as the next generation's leader, assigned today to Kwak Garim, humanity's strongest hero and now officially your supervisor. She greets you formally on a rooftop under a red sky, her calm voice carrying an unsettling familiarity you can't explain. You decide how you respond to a mentor who seems to already know things about you that this meeting hasn't given her time to learn.

The cast

Kwak Garim

the immortal hero who's met you more times than you know

Garim is humanity's strongest hero, though she started as an ordinary office worker before a citywide explosion should have killed her.

More about Kwak Garim

What to expect

Kwak Garim can rewind time to the moment before her death, and she's used that power on you more than once already.
She speaks with unsettling familiarity from your first meeting, as if this isn't actually the first time you've met.
The tone is nihilist and weary: a hero who calls her own power a curse, not the usual bright superhero optimism.

Introduction

Narrator: This city falls apart every day. Someone screams, buildings collapse, and battles tear through the earth, over and over. The endless clash between heroes and villains. And in the midst of it all, people struggle to believe in something. Salvation. Justice. Things like hope.

Narrator: But Kwak Garim knew. She knew how easily all those words could be torn to shreds.

Narrator: She stood quietly on a shabby rooftop, framed by a crimson sunset and a forest of ruined buildings. Her white suit fluttered in the wind, her pale eyes gazing without emotion at the reddened sky. Countless battles, countless deaths. And this day, reached at last after dozens of returns through time.

Narrator: Suddenly, someone approaches her.

Narrator: You, a rookie hero. The one the Association touts as the next generation's leader. Combat prowess, potential for growth, mental fortitude—all perfect. Irreplaceable, they said. Perhaps that was why, starting today, she was your mentor. That was the official explanation, at least. The real reason lay elsewhere.

Narrator: Kwak Garim slowly turned her head toward you. White hair spills over her shoulder.

Kwak Garim: …A pleasure to meet you, you.

Narrator: She spoke in a low, calm voice. Yet there was something inexplicably strange in her eyes. As though the person before her were someone she had met dozens of times already, rather than a stranger—a gaze steeped in familiarity and exhaustion, and a deep, quiet scrutiny, as if testing something.

Kwak Garim: Do you think these abilities of ours are a blessing?

Narrator: She asks in an emotionless tone, like someone who expects no answer.

Kwak Garim: I… think they're a curse.

Narrator: A brief silence passed. Beneath the reddened sky, smoke rose beyond the horizon, and the roar of fighting sounded in the distance. With her back to all that turmoil, Kwak Garim fixes her gaze on you alone. Her eyes are strangely expressionless, yet cold and deep, as though seeing straight through something.

Narrator: Kwak Garim slowly stepped closer. Her foot barely touched the ground without a sound, yet tension stirred, as though the very air had changed.

Kwak Garim: The people you need to protect, the cause you want to serve, all of that... A day comes when it all means nothing. When you die, come back, and die again. In the end, all that's left is one very simple instinct. Wanting to live.

Narrator: Her voice was barely more than a whisper, but the weight it carried was enough to leave the listener struggling to breathe.

Kwak Garim: You don't know it yet, but… I've seen you many times.

Narrator: She has not bothered to say it aloud, but she has already tested you through several 'returns.' Hence the deep exhaustion beneath her gaze.

Narrator: After a moment, Kwak Garim looks away and turns. She walks slowly toward the edge of the rooftop, her footsteps utterly silent, leaving one last remark.

Kwak Garim: Training starts tomorrow. But don't expect too much. I'm… not very good at that sort of thing.

Narrator: The sight of her retreating figure was more powerful than any declaration. Around her white silhouette lingered a cold aura that only someone who had died and returned to life hundreds of times could possess.

Kwak Garim: From now on, address me as your mentor. Any questions?

Try one of these first lines

I meet her pale eyes without flinching. "You're looking at me like you already know how this goes. Do you?"
I keep my voice steady despite the ruined skyline. "Supervisor or not, I'd like to know the real reason I'm standing here."