Morning at Madison Square.
The square was bustling as usual. A group of elderly women chatted animatedly, shopping bags in hand, sunlight spilling across the pavement. It was full of life—yet no one noticed anything unusual happening.
Lia stood at the edge of the crowd when a notification from the Replay system popped up on her screen:
New Event Triggered
Live ID: #005481
Title: Missing Child Suspected to Be Seen at Madison Square
She tapped the notification. The livestream showed a wide view of the square—only a handful of viewers were watching:
Current viewers: 7
Then the system prompted her:
"Enter the missing child's POV?"
[YES] [NO]
Lia didn't hesitate. She tapped YES.
The view split. While the public stream continued showing the square, Lia's screen opened a second window—a first-person perspective from the child.
The boy was looking down, clutching a faded teddy bear. Sunlight fell on the crown of his head. His footsteps were hurried.
In the bottom left corner of the Replay view, it displayed:
System Viewers: 12
These 12 people were the ones who truly saw this Replay segment—key to making the event valid within the system.
Lia glanced around, trying to spot the boy in the real square.
The boy paused in front of a phone booth, rising on tiptoe to look into the distance—then suddenly fixed his gaze in one direction.
The view zoomed in—a middle-aged man in a gray hoodie leaning against a pillar. His face was grim, eyes constantly shifting. He kept checking his phone, as if on alert.
Suddenly, the Replay feed began to shake and blur. Yellow warnings appeared:
⚠️ This segment has been blurred due to system interference
⚠️ Suspicious behavior detected...
Lia's heart raced. She looked up—the phone booth was just a few steps away.
But the crowd was thick, especially the group of chatty elderly women standing right between her and the booth. Lia tried to push through, but couldn't make it.
Panicked, she scanned for gaps, but every attempt was blocked. In the delay, the boy vanished.
Her heart pounding, she looked around, desperate to spot him—but only saw streams of passersby.
Suddenly, the Replay stream cut to black:
This livestream has ended.
Replay file is being saved...
Lia sat back down on the bench and opened the Replay hidden folder. A new file had appeared:
2025-05-31_0738_REPLAY.brk
But when she tried to play it, an error popped up:
"Insufficient Event Validity. Archive Restricted. Please reconstruct evidence chain during livestream."
It was the first time she'd seen this message.
Insufficient validity.
That's when it hit her: Replay didn't just record reality—it only recorded the reality that was seen.
She glanced at the stream backend. Her viewer count had never exceeded 15. Compared to last night, almost no one even remembered the bridge-jumping livestream. Naturally, no one paid attention to this one either. Reality, without witnesses, was not something Replay acknowledged.
In other words—
A reality with no audience can't leave behind evidence.
Replay wasn't just a tool for observation.
It was a tool that granted existence to what it recorded.
Clutching her phone, she opened her gallery—relieved that she had taken some screenshots during the stream.
The boy. The teddy bear. The phone booth. Even the blurry man in gray.
She stared at the images for a long time. She could almost still hear the boy's panicked breathing, and feel the cold gaze of that unnamed man.
This time, she wouldn't let the system "erase" reality.
She opened social media and uploaded the screenshots with a single line of text:
"Have you seen this child? He disappeared just now at Madison Square. Please share."
She knew:
Only what's seen can leave a trace.
And she—
Would use every livestream to tear open the truth behind the Replay system.
---
Chapter 3 Mini Skit
"The Day the Livestream Flopped"
Lia (staring at her phone, deadpan):"Only 12 viewers? Even my middle school vlogs had more traffic than this."
Replay Assistant (trying to be cute):"Hehe… I actually logged in with two dummy accounts to push it past single digits."
Lia (rolling her eyes):"Wow. I'm so touched, I almost want to factory reset you."
Replay Assistant (quietly):"But I kept those screenshots for you… Even when the system deleted everything. Isn't that sweet?"
Lia (looking at the images):"…Fine. You've earned temporary survival."
Replay Assistant (cheerful):"Then can I comment under your social media post? Like: 'So brave, so cute, such justice!'"
Lia (deadpan):"Absolutely not. The moment you speak, people will think I'm mentally unstable."
Replay Assistant (pouting):"Aww… I just wanted to boost your view count…"