My name is Julian Cross.
To be fair with you people, I'm not a good person. Sure, I'm good-looking—(author: lowkey average)—and smart, but all that doesn't add up to being a saint. Nope.
If there's a beggar on the street, sure, I'll toss them a few coins. If a kid's lost, I'll point them home. Small acts of kindness cost me nothing, so why not? But risking my life for complete strangers? Sacrificing myself like some shining hero? Who the hell do you think I am?
I'm Julian. Not the hero. Not the savior. Just Julian, plain and simple.
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As usual, I woke up late. The clock read 8:00 a.m. School starts at 8:30. Just great. I really shouldn't have stayed up all night gaming… again. But whatever.
I grabbed my bag, skipped breakfast (like always), and bolted out the door—running like a track star who just realized the medal is "not getting expelled."
I reached school at 8:29. Barely. Victory.
Dragging my half-dead body into the classroom, I stumbled to my desk, dropped into the chair, and promptly fell asleep. That's my routine. My teachers ignore me. My classmates ignore me. Honestly, I'm like a piece of furniture in this place.
No friends. Not because I'm some creepy loner, but because I don't care. I sleep, I eat, I go home. End of story.
During lunch, I grabbed food from the cafeteria, dumped it into my container, and slipped away to my usual hideout—the dusty old storeroom.
That's where my real life began.
I pulled out my phone, turned it sideways, and booted up my obsession: Trails of Kronos.
Not one of those shiny VR epics or flashy gacha games that drain your wallet. Nope. This one's a simple 2D pixel game. And I loved it.
Most people hated Trails of Kronos. On reddat (some trashy forum), it was infamous. They called it "rage-bait gaming," because the only "powers" you had were a rusty sword… and the savepoint. Ten levels. Ten bosses. And the final boss? None other than Kronos, the god of time.
I'd spent countless hours, countless nights, trying to beat this nightmare. Nine bosses down. One to go.
And then it hit me. The loophole. The key.
Kronos wasn't unbeatable because of strength. His power was time. Future attacks missed. Past damage erased. He played with cause and effect like it was a toy.
But I noticed something. A tiny flaw.
Awareness.
If you could anticipate his manipulation—see the threads of time just a fraction ahead—you could land a hit that stuck.
Realizing it was that simple, I couldn't help but giggle.
"Hehehehehehehe… You're screwed now, Kronos."
With a grin, I pressed the attack. Over and over, one hundred times. And finally—finally—the titan fell.
Kronos collapsed. The screen froze.
And in that moment, I didn't know my real game was about to begin.