Prologue
Ryu Han-bin woke up around noon as usual, stretching and letting out a long yawn.
"Haahh…."
Lately, his waking hours had always been in the afternoon.
It had been three months since he was discharged from the military, plenty of time for the regimented habits of army life to fade away.
Out of habit, he turned on his computer and surfed the internet, feeling bored.
"What should I do to pass the time today…"
A few months remained before he could return to school.
Even games these days weren't particularly interesting.
When he was in the military, everything in society had seemed dazzling, but now that he was discharged, it all felt unexpectedly dull.
'I shouldn't just waste time like this… I should at least study English…'
Just then, a sudden black smoke rose from beneath his feet.
The rising smoke instantly engulfed his chair, climbed his ankles, traveled up his legs and torso, and reached his neck.
"…Huh?"
Han-bin blinked in daze.
Confusion and fear only arise when one can comprehend reality.
The situation was so absurd and unreal that he didn't even have time to feel anything.
The only thought that crossed his mind was…
'Am I still half asleep?'
A sudden, intense headache hit him.
It felt as if his brain were being squeezed mercilessly.
Han-bin screamed.
"Aaahhh!"
At the same time, darkness completely enveloped him.
Moments later, it subsided and vanished.
At that spot, the young man known as Ryu Han-bin no longer existed.
Only the ownerless chair creaked slowly.
Creak, creak, creak…
And just like that, he disappeared from the planet Earth.
Nothing could be seen.
Not because it was dark, but because it was too bright—so blindingly bright that eyesight became meaningless.
Amidst the radiant light, a voice spoke.
All suitable candidates have been accepted.
It was no ordinary voice.
It was powerful and transcendent, an intimidating tone that could make any mere human kneel and obey.
Han-bin thought unconsciously,
'Am I… dead?'
It would make sense if he were dead and his soul were standing before an omnipotent god.
Another voice soon followed.
Is this all the suitable candidates? I heard the pool is over seven billion.Well, considering it's seven billion, this is still the number of suitable candidates we got. The probability was always extremely low.I suppose that's true.
Han-bin had no idea what they were talking about.
His confusion deepened as the conversation continued.
Implant the guidelines for all.But is it really okay to do it this way? Doesn't it feel too artificial and contrived?It's advantageous for motivation and adaptation. No problem. It has already been confirmed through the cases of previous suitable candidates.Understood.
The more he listened, the more confused Han-bin became.
Despite facing a transcendent being, the conversation sounded remarkably mundane.
Surely a godlike entity wouldn't speak so casually.
Then why did he feel such overwhelming intimidation…?
It was then. Something pierced through him from the light.
"Gah!"
Terrified, Ryu Han-bin screamed.
Once again, unbearable pain struck him.
"Ughhhhh!"
Amidst his screams, the voice spoke.
Ah, a mistake.
A mistake? What mistake? What the hell…?
There was an error in the guidelines…
The tone sounded quite flustered, but it quickly shifted to nonchalance.
Eh, one person won't matter. There are hundreds, so surely it won't be noticed.
It seemed the voice's owner had no intention of worrying further.
They pushed Han-bin to the side and dropped him somewhere!
Plunging endlessly, Han-bin screamed madly, over and over.
"Ughhhhhh!"
From afar, the voice faintly echoed.
Candidate number 398, dimension transfer initiated.
When he regained consciousness, Ryu Han-bin found himself sitting atop a huge rocky mountain.
"…."
The surroundings were filled with jagged rocks.
Here and there, dried weeds and trees could be seen.
'This isn't Korea. No, it doesn't even feel like Earth.'
There was no doubt in his mind.
It was just too obvious.
The rocky terrain aside, the sky was surreal.
There was no sun. No clouds.
But it wasn't night either.
It was bright, yet in a foreboding, twilight-like red haze.
"Ah… I see…"
Han-bin stared dumbly, then understood.
'What a terrible dream.'
This was a nightmare.
He couldn't think otherwise.
He closed his eyes and opened them again.
He pinched his arm and slapped his cheeks.
Sadly, the overwhelming realism overpowered him.
'No! This has to be a dream! It has to!'
Despite his desperate attempts, reality didn't change.
After an unknown amount of time spent losing his grip on sanity, he had to reluctantly accept it.
"…This isn't a dream."
He felt absurd.
How could someone accept such an impossible situation in just a few tens of minutes?
'Normally, wouldn't people go insane?'
Escaping reality was not something anyone could do.
Whether he adapted quickly or slowly didn't matter; Ryu Han-bin finally acknowledged that this world was real.
Simultaneously, he was consumed by extreme rage.
"What the hell is this, you piece of—!"
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