[SAS] stands for Special Admission Student.
It's a program created by Atlas Academy for students who have talent but zero money.
In short?
It's for the broke kids.
As an SAS student, you do get the essentials—like a dorm, a uniform, and maybe a desk that doesn't fall apart if you breathe on it too hard—but everything is downgraded to rock bottom.
No fancy meals. No personal assistants. No spell-tech showers that sing to you while you bathe.
You either want it… or you Want it.
There's no second option.
◇◇◇
Taking out my clothes from the suitcase, I couldn't help but frown at the pathetic collection inside. A couple of graphic T-shirts with weird designs, a hoodie, a cardigan that looked like it belonged to someone's grandpa, and a pair of pants that had clearly been stitched up more times than Frankenstein's face.
"Seriously, is this guy that broke?" I muttered under my breath.
After unpacking everything into the available wardrobe, I stashed the rest of my stuff under the bed—just like I used to do back in high school. Some habits die hard.
With that done, only one last thing remained.
I turned around and faced my new roommate.
"Hello. You probably already know, but the name's Kylen Noor. I'm just a normal, ridiculously handsome guy—so don't fall in love with me, okay?"
Seo Ji-Hyun gave me a look so disgusted I thought I'd just asked him to eat a raw frog.
"I'm not stupid enough to fall in love with a guy like you," he said flatly.
I rubbed the back of my neck and laughed. "LOL, very true. But still—" I held out my hand for a handshake. "Why don't we try being friends?"
He let out a sigh like the world had already disappointed him enough for one lifetime, but he grabbed my hand anyway and gave it a weak shake.
"Seo Ji-Hyun," he said. "I know I'm a bit... delicate, but please don't bully me because of that."
"I'm not the type of guy who bullies people," I said, puffing out my chest trying to hold back my laugh. "But with your face..."
He made a face like the devil himself just told him to smile.
Speaking of faces—wait, what did mine even look like?
"I know how my face looks, okay? No need to rub it in. For your information, I'm usually the one getting bullied. So yeah, I'm hoping we can keep the peace."
"Hahahaha... You know what? You're right. Just look at your face. Pfft—hahahaha..."
Maybe my garbage-tier humor really was the universal cure for awkward roommate tension.
"You can call me Kylen."
"I will call you Kylen then, so you must address me as Ji-Hyun."
"Sure!"
We ended up chatting about all sorts of random stuff until an instructor slammed our door open like a SWAT team breaching a drug den, and we dove into bed without another word.
◇◇◇
I opened my eyes and glanced at the drawer beside my bed. An old-fashioned digital clock blinked back at me:
[00:13]
Past midnight.
I sat up slowly, dragging a hand down my face. My head was still buzzing with leftover haze. My gaze drifted to the window beside Ji-Hyun's bed.
Through the glass, I saw it—the glittering skyline of Seoul, Korea.
But not the one I knew.
Towers of reinforced glass pulsed faintly with arcane light. Strange runes etched into buildings shimmered in sync with traffic lights. Drones buzzed lazily across the night sky. Every corner of the city looked like Earth—but layered with magic, monsters, and neon.
For the first time since arriving, I had a moment to breathe.
This world was unbelievable.
Oh yeah I forgot to check my stat.
"System."
A chime rang in my head, and a holographic panel unfolded in front of me.
[Status Window – Cadet: Kylen Noor]
____
Name: Kylen Noor
Age: 17
Affiliation: Atlas Academy – SAS Division
Class: Commander
Rank: ???
Talent: [Endless Adaptation] — expand to see more.
Level: 1
Stats:
Strength: 7
Dexterity: 5.2
Endurance: 5.3
Vitality: 6.1
Intelligence: 15.6
Willpower: 10.2
Perception: 10.6
Luck: 57 (Karma – Immutable)
[Total Base Stat Allocation: 60]
____
I stared at the numbers, and for the first time, I understood just how different I was from a normal human in this world.
Here, an ordinary person could only push their body so far—three points in any stat was the natural limit. Anything beyond that was considered extraordinary. Even Albert Einstein, the greatest genius of Earth, would barely reach 4 Intelligence on this scale.
Compared to that, my Intelligence alone was 15.6. My physical stats were equally absurd. Even the weakest of them, Dexterity, still put me leagues above anything a "normal" human could achieve.
And then there was Luck.
57.
Not something that could be trained or bought. That number was karma made manifest—an imprint of the deeds of the original Kylen Noor.
◆
I closed the panel with a swipe, the window folding back into nothing.
"…Guess this body's stronger than I thought."
Leaning back, I let my eyes wander once more to the city skyline—a world that looked alive, glowing, and undeniably real.
What am I supposed to do now…?
I'll admit it. There's a ton of stuff I don't even recognize in AO. Storylines I never followed, monsters I never fought, items I never bothered to learn.
For someone like me, just a regular player who happened to get a little famous because of streaming, "following the main story" is easier said than done. Half the time, I barely knew what was going on even when I was behind the keyboard.
So why the hell am I here, living it?
"Why in the world did I even enter this place in the first place?" I muttered under my breath.
…Was it because of that new ending I unlocked?
Maybe.
"Whatever the reason is… I'm still hoping I can find a way home."
A tear slid down my cheek. I wiped it away quickly.
"Damn it… it doesn't want to stop, does it," I muttered.
I'd been acting like I had accepted this whole situation, like slipping into another world was something I could just laugh off. But the truth? I was terrified.
What if I'm stuck here?
What if I die here?
What if the real world forgets about me?
I don't even know what happened to my real body after I hit the back of my head. For all I know, I could be lying in a hospital bed—or worse.
"Hick… hicks…" My voice broke in the empty dorm room. "Why does my life always turn down the bad path?"
The only word I could use to describe my childhood was… tragic.
I lost my parents because some random man decided to pull a trigger on an ordinary day. Just like that, they were gone.
At the orphanage, I was bullied until they finally kicked me out.
By pure coincidence, I stumbled across someone who took me in, dressed me up, gave me a job. That job carried me all the way to streaming, to fame, to being known.
And even then—
it only happened because someone caught me on video.
I let out a long, shaky sigh.
"…I really hoped I could be freed from all of this."
To Be Continued...