I'm Ren Nishimiya. A full-time programmer at a company so corrupt, you'd wonder how I even survived this long. My ideas get stolen every time, the deadlines crush me every day, and the bosses treat me more like a machine than a human. And yet… here I am, still typing, chained by unending debts, contracts, and—worst of all—the extra workload from all those seniors who dump their tasks on me at the end of my shift.
I shouldn't have joined this company in the first place. Ugh. What does it even matter now? Even if I go "home," it's the same boring day where my life and actions don't matter.
No matter how hard I try to gain recognition, I'm still an abandoned dog, licking boots in false hope. Even if I resist or raise my voice, I'm silenced—by my seniors, by the company, by the system itself. I still remember how many times I've been beaten down, to the point of death, but no one ever heard those screams…
Most of my days, months, even Sundays, I spent at the office, perched on the same worn-out chair that somehow feels like the only place I can breathe. And when night finally falls, everything quiets down—the hum of the computers, the silence around me. It's the only time I feel the world isn't pressing down on me, the only time I can code in peace.
"…"
I'm overthinking again,
Ugh, whatever it became a daily habit of mine
I don't know when I'll escape this hell
But, for now— ill just focus on my codes, this is the only thing I love.
Just after the barrage of thoughts ended, I started typing furiously. The code scrolled across the screen like a stream of asynchronous function calls, each thread executed in perfect chaos. (Asynchronous function calls - multiple tasks running at once, each dependent on the other, all executing in real time)
After some hours I backed a little from my desk, stretching my arms and drank some coffee from a can, I stopped a little to check—
Wait! What time is it now?
I moved my head to the clock around my table
[4:00AM]
Oh shi. it's already this late
I hopped back onto my desk and started typing again but after a minute I suddenly felt a sharp throbbing pain in my heart. I clenched my chest tightly but by then my vision had already started to blur. My body felt heavy, my eyes burned like ashes, and my throat felt choked as if someone was gripping it, piercing through my neck.
W-What's happening…?
Ughhhhhah
The pain was unbearable. I forced myself to stay awake and tried to reach my phone, but I fell, hitting the floor. Everything around me was spinning, my eyes were hazy, before they began to close and slowly the darkness took me in.
I was throbbing in pain until the last minute.
But what can I do?
Maybe this was the last time—the last time I will see my world.
W-Why did everything ended like this~
***
"…—#@…can't…leave…"
"…hey…?"
["…Wake up…!"]
Echoes vanished
My consciousness flooded my mind, still shocked and scared of what had happened. Huffing and gasping, my breath jerked awake. It felt like someone was burning my body alive. I still felt that throbbing pain in my heart, my veins screaming like needles as I clenched my chest, the stabbing sensation refusing to leave.
My head was spinning, throbbing like I was hungover, threatening to make me throw up any second. My stomach felt strange until I felt something warm on my hands. I moved them and looked down—just to see crimson blood lashing from my body. Time seemed to stop. Fear surged through me as I screamed.
The sudden pain I hadn't felt until then kicked in, and I screamed until my throat burned. I forced myself to stand, trembling and staggering forward. I tried to find something for support and quickly grabbed a wooden slab, but the second I touched it, it shattered. I crashed to the ground, lacing my hands on the dirt, my eyes sore, vision blurry, breath ragged.
Just for a moment, a thought pierced my panic: Why… why is this happening to me? Blood gushed from my mouth, the piercing pain coursing through every inch of my body. I gasped for breath, begging God, just this one time, please…
Then, suddenly, two blue strings etched with neon light and glowing 0s and 1s erupted from my body. They stretched to my stomach, and within a minute, the wound vanished as if nothing had happened.
I dragged myself toward a wall to catch my breath and try to grasp what had just occurred. As my vision returned to normal, I looked around. This was not my office. Where am I?
Completely confused, I moved my hand to my head and leaned back a little more against the wall.
I took a deep breath and tried to think.
How did I end up in this place?
The surroundings—the buildings, the layout—everything looked different.
Am I in some kind of village? It seems so…
And why does my body feel different?
"…"
I forced enough strength into my arms to push myself up, then staggered toward a puddle of water. I bent my knees and crouched, peering at the reflection rippling on the surface.
W–wait. That's… not my face. What's happening?!
My hands shot up to my face in panic. I stumbled back and landed on my hips.
I can't be—am I… in another world?
Just the thought lit a spark inside me. Shock and excitement warred in my chest. But one thing I couldn't figure out—why did my face look completely different?
The only answer I could come up with was that I was in someone else's body… someone who had died before I came here.
I lowered my head for a moment, feeling guilty for taking another person's body. Out of respect for the original owner, I forced myself to stand.
So… what should I do now?
Wait—there was a bigger question. Why was this body bleeding?
I glanced around the area again. The injuries weren't random. It looked like this body had been beaten, maybe even attacked by someone who had tried to kill the owner.
I could recognize the pattern; I'd been through something similar myself.
I was still piecing it together when a voice jolted me.
A glowing blue window popped up in front of me like something straight out of a game.
I jumped back, heart hammering.
"W–who…?"
[Hello there. This is me, The System.]
"Huh? Who are you?"
[I will be your guide in this world.]
[Please name me, sir.]
I blinked at the translucent screen, startled. A "System" calling itself my guide? But clamping down on my panic, I did as it instructed.
A text box appeared.
[Please enter a name.]
[ENTER]
After a moment of thinking, I typed in the name "ARC" and pressed enter.
The voice returned immediately.
[Hello, sir. I'm ARC.]
[Please click 'Next' to gain the basic info of this world.]
With no other way to learn anything, I pressed Next.
The blue screen shifted, displaying a massive map. The continent I was on was far larger than my home country.
Then, like a slideshow, the screen began to move, explaining…
After a minute of ramming my head against all this information, I let out a long sigh.
So… I'm in a country divided by hierarchy, and magic actually exists here.
"Woah… that's cool but…"
"Why… why am I in such an early era?"
I slumped into a corner with a disappointed expression, whining under my breath. I can't even code here… why did I spend years learning programming in the first place?
Just then, like a glimmer of hope, the system window popped up again—but its tone was different.
[All accessories have been loaded.]
[Loading User Assisting Module…]
The voice that followed had a sharper edge, a new attitude entirely.
[Hey. Stop whining. I'm here to assist. Listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you—because I won't repeat it. For that, I'll need some currency.]
I blinked at the glowing screen, my jaw slightly open. Did… did the System just mock me?
Its explanation started, throwing out terms and explanations like mana, nodes, circuits, and channels—rules of magic, or so it claimed. Most of it was flying over my head at first. Then something clicked.
Wait… why do these mechanics look eerily similar to JavaScript?
Mana functions were being called like methods. Spells looked like nested loops. It wasn't just magic—it was some kind of compiled Arcane Scripting Language (ASL).
I was just in my own world until the system called me again.
[Hey hey, you listening?]
Just hearing those words, I snapped back and asked:
"Hey… how can I perform magic?"
[Figure out yourself. My work is only to give you info and guide you. More info than that? Requires some points.]
I froze, dumbfounded.
"So… what's the currency?" I asked.
[It's the experience points of this world. Every being has to fulfill certain experience point requirements just to access even small things. Think of it like a one-time accumulation of points — when you reach a certain threshold, your boundaries will lift. I, Arc, take those experience points as currency for exchange.]
I thought for a moment and asked again:
"So… how can I earn experience points?"
[It's simple. The amount of mastery you achieve determines the amount of experience points you gain. Also, before I vanish, one more thing — you can check your stats by calling 'stats'. To call me, just say my name and I'll appear. So… ba-bye.]
Just after saying this, the window disappeared, leaving me confused. But I gathered up my courage and decided to move on in this new world.
With determination in mind — to be able to do coding in this world, or so-called magic — I took a vow. I'd never let anyone control me in this world again. This was my new beginning, the start of my new life.
And with that, I moved on.
***