The first thing Leo felt was cold.
The second was the ache in his spine.
He opened his eyes slowly, blinking against the dim light filtering down from somewhere far above. For a moment, he couldn't remember where he was — and then it all came rushing back.
The gate.
The chaos.
The fight.
And he… somehow ended up here.
Leo groaned and pushed himself upright. The ground beneath him was damp, the air thick with the stench of earth and something… metallic. His palms came away grimy when he wiped them on his jeans.
Leo: "…Well. This is just perfect."
His voice sounded small in the vast emptiness around him. The cavern stretched far in every direction, its jagged walls glistening faintly with moisture. Somewhere in the distance, he heard water dripping in slow, steady beats.
He hugged himself without realizing it.
No phone. No weapon. No idea how far underground he was.
Leo: "I should've run. I should've run."
His voice felt strange here. Like the dungeon was listening.
He looked up, hoping — stupidly — for some sign of the outside. But the faint light was already fading. The gate must have closed.
Which meant… he was trapped.
He laughed once. A short, humorless sound.
Leo: "Nice job, genius. First week in a new life and you're already speedrunning your death."
He tried to think logically. The guild — Baek Yoonho's team — they'd gone deeper, toward the boss room. Maybe they'd come back for him once the dungeon was cleared.
…Right?
He rubbed at his temples. His head was pounding, his thoughts slow. Hunger and exhaustion gnawed at him. His legs still ached from running earlier. And yet, the silence here was worse than any physical pain.
Leo: "Okay. Don't panic. Just… stay put. Don't wander off. Don't do—"
Something flickered in front of him.
He froze.
The air itself seemed to ripple, like heat rising off asphalt. A point of light appeared, faint at first, then growing brighter — and brighter — until it was painful to look at.
Leo raised a hand to shield his eyes.
Leo: "…What the hell—?"
The light shaped itself into a rectangle, suspended in the air at eye level. Symbols he didn't recognize shimmered briefly across it before dissolving into glowing gold text in clean, sharp letters.
[Greetings, Player.]
Leo's stomach dropped.
Leo: "…Player? Player for what?"
The golden letters shifted.
[Player Registration Detected.]
[Do not be alarmed. This is not a hostile engagement.]
Leo: "Yeah, because that doesn't sound creepy at all."
The glow softened, enough for him to look directly at it. The "window" — for lack of a better word — hovered silently, casting long golden reflections across the cavern walls. It wasn't like the blue game‑like interfaces he'd read about in manhwa. This was… cleaner. Sharper. Alive.
[You are in possession of a unique compatibility. Access to the System has been granted.]
[Do you wish to begin your tutorial?]
[ Yes ] [ No ]
Leo stared at the two glowing options. His mouth went dry.
Leo: "…This is a dream. It has to be. I hit my head, I'm hallucinating, and any second now I'm gonna wake up."
The golden text pulsed faintly.
Waiting.
Leo: "Nope. No, no, no. This is how horror movies start. Idiot picks 'Yes' without thinking and then gets dragged into some nightmare."
He took a step back. The window followed.
[Declining will permanently forfeit your registration as a Player.]
Leo: "…You're really pushing this, huh?"
He paced a few steps, running a hand through his hair.
Every survival instinct screamed at him not to mess with something he didn't understand. But another part of him — the part that remembered the Ruler's golden wings in the void—whispered that this was it. The thing he'd been waiting for since the moment he opened his eyes in this world.
A chance.
He looked at the glowing "Yes."
His pulse was a hammer in his ears.
Leo: "…Screw it."
He reached out and tapped it.
The moment his fingers brushed the light, the world changed.
The cavern vanished.
In its place was a swirling expanse of gold, like he was standing in the heart of a sun that didn't burn. Runes hung in the air like constellations, shifting and reforming in slow, deliberate motions.
The same voice from the void — calm, ageless — spoke.
System Voice: "Leo Hayashi. Registration complete. You are now a Player."
A golden seal burned itself into his vision. Not painful — but final.
[System Authorization: Complete]
[Initializing Interface…]
[Welcome, Player.]
Leo swallowed.
This wasn't a dream.
And there was no going back.