Starting the Paid Service

**Starting the Paid Service**, alternatively known as **The Beginning of the Paywall**, is the first story arc of the webnovel. It includes chapters two through six.

## Summary

The world as people know it changes overnight, with a dokkaebi suddenly appearing and starting the first main scenario of the series. In the subway, people must kill to survive, and the train car erupts into chaos. Dokja succeeds by killing insects, as do a number of people in the same car.

## Features

### Characters

* Kim Dokja\*
* tls123\*
* Yoo Sangah\*
* Lee Gilyoung\*
* Bihyung\*
* Han Myungoh\*
* Lee Hyunsung\*
* Lee Jihye\*
* Na Bori\*\* †
* Kim Namwoon\*
* Yoo Joonghyuk\*\*

An \* symbol indicates that this is the first arc a character has appeared in.
Two \*\* symbols indicate the appearance was mention only.

### Objects

* Kim Dokja's Phone
* Lee Gilyoung's Insect Net
* Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World
* Kim Namwoon's Knife

### Locations

* 3434 Train to Bulgwang
	+ Carriage 3807
	+ Carriage 3907 (mentioned)
* Daepong Girls' High School, Year 2 Class B classroom

## Synopsis

### Starting the Paid Service (1)

    The chapter opens with Kim Dokja, in narration, explaining his name and his hobby of reading webnovels. He is reading a webnovel on his smartphone while on the subway, when he notices that Yoo Sangah from the HR team is also on the subway. She sits down as they converse; Yoo Sangah tells Kim Dokja that she is going home early due to her manager going on a business trip. Kim Dokja asks why she is riding the subway, as he has heard rumors that Yoo Sangah has men from the company driving her home everyday. However, she responds that the bicycle she usually rides home was stolen.

    Kim Dokja acknowledges in his thoughts that Yoo Sangah is indeed very pretty and that he can understand why men are so favorable towards her; he then comments that it's none of his business, though, as her life is of a "different genre" to his own. This assumption is further proved when Yoo Sangah begins to study Spanish. She asks what Kim Dokja is doing; they have a conversation about their preferred reading material, with Yoo Sangah revealing that she likes novels, particularly those by Murakami Haruki, Raymond Carver, and Han Kang. Kim Dokja is hesitant to tell her that he reads webnovels rather than officially published books, and gives vague answers to her questions, saying that he is reading fantasy novels similar to Lord of the Rings.

He changes the topic soon after, talking about how time has flown since the two of them joined the company; it is revealed that although Kim Dokja's contract will soon end, Yoo Sangah has been signed on as a full-time employee. Kim Dokja congratulates her and jokes that he should also have studied languages. He ruminates for a short while, staring at a child sitting across from him on the subway, wondering if his life would have been different had the "genre" of his life been different. When Yoo Sangah offers to give him the app she uses, he refuses, telling her that he is to live the life of "Dokja", meaning that he will continue on his own path as he has so far. Yoo Sangah responds that she too will live Sangah's life.

Their conversation dies, and they go back to their respective pastimes. Kim Dokja receives a mail from tls123, informing him that Ways of Survival will be monetized at 7 p.m; with the mail comes an attached file. In excitement at the end of Ways of Survival, he goes to the webnovel app in order to leave a congratulatory comment to the author on the novel page; to his confusion, however, the novel has been removed entirely from the app.

Just then, the subway car's lights turn off and the train shakes wildly. The passengers erupt in confusion, with Yoo Sangah panicking slightly. Kim Dokja reassures her, telling her that there must have been an accident or suicide on the tracks, and that the train will resume shortly. However, the subway engineer's announcement begs all passengers to run instead of offering an apology, and is cut off shortly after. Drumming noises indicate the approach of an unknown creature. Kim Dokja sees the clock, realizing it is 7 p.m.; immediately after, a disembodied voice states that the free service of planetary system 8612 has been terminated, and that the main scenario has started.

### Starting the Paid Service (2)

A line from Ways of Survival comes to Kim Dokja's mind, describing the appearance of the dokkaebi. He realizes that the stopped subway reminds him eerily of the original scene in Ways of Survival, but dismisses the similarities as being impossible.

The subway car's door opens and the lights come back on, revealing a creature wearing a straw mat in the doorway. Yoo Sangah calls it a dokkaebi, recreating the scene from Ways of Survival that Kim Dokja remembered. The dokkaebi attempts to speak, but its speech is garbled, in a pattern that is exactly as was written in Ways of Survival. Kim Dokja realizes that Ways of Survival's setting has begun to appear in his world. Meanwhile, the dokkaebi's distorted words resemble Spanish to Yoo Sangah's ears, and she wonders if she should speak to it, before being dissuaded by Kim Dokja.

The dokkaebi's speech clears, and it checks that the subway passengers can hear it. An unnamed actor steps up and asks it what is happening, saying that he is late to an audition; in response, the dokkaebi laughs, simply instructing the passengers to listen to it. They begin to clamor in response, but Kim Dokja cautions Yoo Sangah to stay back and keep quiet. In irritation at the noise, the dokkaebi uses its powers and blows holes in the heads of those making noise, instantly killing them. It once again orders the passengers to stay quiet and listen to it. The dokkaebi informs everyone that they have been enjoying life for free for too long, and that it is time to start paying the price.

In response to this statement, a passenger raises his hand and offers money to the dokkaebi. Kim Dokja and Yoo Sangah recognize him as a coworker, Department Head Han Myungoh from the finance team. Han Myungoh offers large amounts of money to the dokkaebi; however, it burns the money, saying that "that paper" is worthless in the macrocosm world. The dokkaebi opens up its channel and initates the first main scenario, which requires individuals to kill another living creature in order to survive. The dokkaebi then wishes everyone good luck and disappears.

### Starting the Paid Service (3)

The subway passengers are in a panic after the exit of the dokkaebi. Many of them, including Yoo Sangah, attempt to contact the police and are frightened at the lack of response. Kim Dokja calms Yoo Sangah by telling her that the scenario is just like the survival games created by their company. He then tells her to do as he says, and asks her to stay still.

Kim Dokja looks around the subway car and thinks back to the descriptions of the first scenario in Ways of Survival; he realizes that, as per his suspicions, Ways of Survival has indeed become reality.

At that moment, a man steps forward, asking everyone to stay calm and declaring that he will control the situation. At the passengers' distrust, he reveals himself to be an army lieutenant, and informs everyone that he has received a message from his unit declaring the situation a national disaster. Kim Dokja recognizes the man as Steel Sword Lee Hyunsung from Ways of Survival, one of the main supporting characters.

The passengers clamor for Lee Hyunsung's attention, asking him what the situation is and what the Blue House is doing about the situation. As he responds to the questions, Kim Dokja realizes a problem with the situation, recalling that in the novel Lee Hyunsung appeared after the end of the first scenario, rather than during it. He wishes he could read Ways of Survival in order to check, but at that moment, someone cries out that the Prime Minister is making a speech.

At this statement, everyone views the video of the speech on their phones; Yoo Sangah shows Kim Dokja the speech on her own phone. The video proceeds exactly as Kim Dokja remembers it doing in Ways of Survival, with the Prime Minister declaring that "terrorists" were active in many areas including Seoul, the government was mobilizing to fight said terrorists, and that citizens could continue with their normal lives. The passengers discuss why the Prime Minister is giving the speech instead of the President; one person says it is because the President is already dead, which Kim Dokja knows to be true.

Just then, a gunshot sound shocks everyone watching the video, and the Prime Minister's head explodes. Several others are killed off-screen, before a dokkaebi appears and tells the viewers that what is happening is not a game or simple terrorism. Due to the people of South Korea being good at games, the dokkaebi increases the difficulty. A timer appears in the air, the scenario time limit decreases by 10 minutes, and a message informs everyone that if there is no death in the subway car in the next 5 minutes, everyone in the car will be killed.

Lee Hyunsung attempts in vain to calm the increasingly panicked passengers, as Kim Dokja watches from the sidelines, wondering why "he" has not emerged if other novel characters had already appeared. When someone is killed in car 3907, passengers attempt to block the door so that the killer cannot come into their own car, but are thrown back upon the sealing of all exits by the scenario.

The dokkaebi running the scenario is amused at the progression of the scenario, saying that some places have been "fun" while others have not. It offers to show everyone what will happen should there be no killing in the next five minutes. A screen appears, showing a classroom from what a boy on the train identifies as Daepong Girls' High School. Upon the time limit being reached, a message declares that "paid settlement" will begin, and the girls in the classroom begin to scream as their heads explode. They attempt to escape the classroom to no avail, all dying one by one. Eventually, one of the girls strangles her friend, and is the only one left alive in the classroom. A message declares her to be Lee Jihye, the only survivor of Year 2 Class B.

At the end of the video, people in the subway car begin to shift away from each other in wariness, with Yoo Sangah releasing Kim Dokja's arm. With his hands freed, Kim Dokja checks his smartphone, trying to find a way to reread Ways of Survival in order to check the initial events. Upon seeing the notification of tls123's email and its lone attachment, he realizes in shock what it must be, and opens the email to find the attachment: a single file, named *Three\_Ways\_to\_Survive\_in\_a\_Ruined\_World.txt*.

### Starting the Paid Service (4)

Laughing in shock, Kim Dokja realizes that the TXT file he has received from tls123 is almost certainly a copy of Ways of Survival. He gains a personal attribute and skill, although neither's names are specified; in order to know what his attribute is, he attempts to open the Attributes Window. However, the system informs him he cannot activate his Attributes Window.

After being confused over this error for a few moments, he decides to reread Ways of Survival in the hopes of gaining insight into his situation. His unidentified attribute increases his reading speed, and he finds an important passage near the beginning of the first act, from which he learns that the novel's original protagonist was in subway car 3707. Kim Dokja then realizes that he is riding in carriage 3807, directly behind the protagonist's carriage. The passage also says that there were only two survivors of carriage 3807, whose identities Kim Dokja is already aware of. He wonders whether he and Yoo Sangah will survive, since they were not originally in the novel.

At that moment, Yoo Sangah redirects his attention to a commotion in the car: an old lady is being harassed by a young man that Kim Dokja recognizes as Kim Namwoon, one of the survivors of carriage 3807 alongside Lee Hyunsung. Kim Namwoon is agitated by the grandmother and begins to hit her; though passengers seem disturbed by his actions, no one steps forward to protest except for Han Myungoh. Kim Namwoon quickly challenges him, reminding him that the scenario requires someone to die and showing him the still-running live feed of areas all over Korea as evidence. He claims that the situation is beyond humans' control, so no one will blame them for murdering someone. Everyone in the carriage, including Lee Hyunsung, is shaken. The passengers slowly realize that they will really die if they do not kill someone, and a number of passengers join Kim Namwoon in attacking the old lady.

Kim Dokja watches silently, but Yoo Sangah stands, ready to interrupt them. Kim Dokja stops her and makes her sit down, before getting ready to interfere himself. He waits until a sudden explosion shakes the carriage and knocks people over, before moving through the carriage and taking an insect-collecting net from the child who was on the train. He gives the child one of the grasshoppers from the net, then moves to the front of the carriage.

There, he tells everyone that killing the old lady is not the way out, for they will all need a kill to their own name, and so they will have to keep killing more and more people. Kim Namwoon tries to reassure the now-frightened passengers by telling them that killing more is alright; Kim Dokja cuts him off, saying that there is another way to clear the scenario. He reminds everyone that the clear condition was to kill a living creature, not a person; the passengers realize that killing bugs will also count, and beg Kim Dokja to give them one of the insects from the net. He takes out one of the grasshoppers and crushes it himself, earning the "First Kill" achievement. Then he throws the net towards the opposite end of the carriage, where the grasshoppers escape from the net.

### Starting the Paid Service (5)

Carriage 3807's passengers panic at the escape of the insects; some curse Kim Dokja, and he tells them that they should focus on catching the bugs, for there are only 3 minutes left. Mayhem ensues as passengers go after the insects and are attacked by others who want the insects for themselves. As this happens, Kim Namwoon asks Kim Dokja why he did not give the others the bugs directly, and Kim Dokja explains that there were only 3 insects and 12 people.

Kim Namwoon laughs and says he knows that that wasn't the only reason, and that Kim Dokja drew the crowd away from the two of them because he wanted to speak with him. Kim Dokja uses Character List on Kim Namwoon and identifies his usefulness and adaptivity, calling him the Delusion Demon. Kim Namwoon feels favourably towards Kim Dokja for his quick thinking, and asks him to team up with him; however, knowing about Kim Namwoon's personality from Ways of Survival, Kim Dokja rejects.

Kim Namwoon accepts his refusal and asks him to move aside, so that he can get to the injured old lady. When Kim Dokja tries to redirect him to the insects, Kim Namwoon points out that he's already got someone he can easily kill right in front of him. Kim Dokja refuses to move, and Kim Namwoon realizes that he intended to save the old lady from the beginning. He grows to hate Kim Dokja and attacks him with punches, using the skill Blackening; however, Kim Dokja dodges through the use of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, which lets him read Kim Namwoon's movements. In frustration as the time decreases, Kim Namwoon pulls out a MacGyver knife, stabbing Kim Dokja in the shoulder.

Kim Dokja addresses Kim Namwoon and asks him if insect eggs are living things; with that, he pulls out the grasshopper he killed and crushes its egg sac, earning hundreds of coins as the eggs inside die. Kim Namwoon attacks him again, but Kim Dokja invests his newly earned coins into his Constitution stat, raising his durability enough that Kim Namwoon's knife cannot penetrate his skin. As the time decreases further, Kim Namwoon grows more desperate, leaving a shallow cut on Kim Dokja's throat and scratches over his body. At 30 seconds, Kim Namwoon stops attacking and drops to his knees, begging Kim Dokja to save him; he declines, and in desperation Kim Namwoon launches one last attack. The time runs out before he can stab Kim Dokja, and his head explodes as paid settlement begins.

Kim Dokja watches as many of the people in the carriage die. The system informs him he has killed 1 grasshopper and 123 eggs, and totals his coins for him. For his excessive kill count, he gains the "Mass Murderer" achievement.

## Trivia

* Yoo Sangah's skill for languages is first mentioned here.
* Though not named, Lee Gilyoung appears in this chapter. He is described as holding an insect collecting net, which foreshadows his later abilities. He is also described as "[sitting] next to his mother, laughing happily." It is likely he was talking to a stranger, and Kim Dokja assumed the stranger was his mother. It was a period of sadness for Lee Gilyoung, so he also was unlikely to be laughing. Perhaps the two authors behind Sing-Shong weren't entirely sure of his backstory when they wrote that.
* Chapter 3 marks the first mention of the constellations.
* Chapter 3 marks the first appearance of the dokkaebis.
* Chapter 4 marks the first appearance of characters from the original Ways of Survival.
* Lee Gilyoung's "grasshoppers" can also be translated as "locusts", as they use the same Hangul (메뚜기).
* Chapter 6 marks the first skills used, including Kim Dokja's Character List, the titular Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, and Kim Namwoon's Blackening.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 ORV Novel Chapter 2 (read original)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 ORV Novel Chapter 3 (read original)
3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 ORV Novel Chapter 4 (read original)
4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 ORV Novel Chapter 5 (read original)
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 ORV Novel Chapter 6 (read original)