On a stormy night, a teenage boy locked himself inside his room after arguing with his family.
The same words echoed endlessly inside his mind.
I wish everyone would disappear.
Anger.
That was all he felt.
So much anger that tears streamed down his face without him noticing. Anyone who saw him like that might feel pity… or hatred, judging him for such heartless thoughts.
But the world answered.
A violent lightning bolt split the sky outside his window, illuminating the curtains in pure white. The flash was so intense that it made him flinch.
And then—
Silence.
The voices of his family were gone.
Caster slowly opened his bedroom door and walked toward the kitchen.
No one was there.
"Where is everyone?"
He searched the entire house. The living room. The bathroom. Every hallway.
Nothing.
Think, Caster… where could they be?
A strange sensation crawled up his spine. A bad premonition.
Did they abandon me out of nowhere?
I live in a rural area. How did I not hear anything?
He entered his parents' bedroom.
Everything was perfectly in place.
The bed was made.
Nothing was missing.
No signs of a hurried escape.
Caster took a deep breath and forced himself to think logically. In the end, only one explanation made sense to him.
"Did God return… and take all the good people away, leaving the bad ones behind to suffer in the apocalypse?"
Given how absurd the situation was, it was ironically the most reasonable conclusion he could reach.
He rubbed his face.
"I'll go to my aunt's house."
He grabbed a raincoat, then stopped. After a brief pause, he muttered with a bitter laugh:
"What's the point of a raincoat if everyone was taken by God… screw it, it's just a few drops of rain."
Caster left his house and walked toward his aunt's place, only a few kilometers away.
The house was fully lit.
But empty.
No signs of life.
The smartest choice would've been to wait until morning.
But Caster wasn't thinking clearly.
Anxiety and desperation consumed him.
He ran back home, grabbed the car keys, got inside the vehicle, and drove toward the city—despite not knowing how to drive.
"Screw it, I don't know how to drive," he muttered.
"I'll just go slow."
The city was completely deserted.
Empty streets.
Open stores with no one inside.
Only the sound of rain hitting the asphalt.
Caster swallowed hard.
"If everyone was taken… then the prison should still have people. Prisoners wouldn't be chosen."
He knew exactly where the prison was.
His father worked there.
Well… worked.
When he arrived, he went straight to the cell block.
And then he realized.
He was wrong.
Every cell was empty.
Shock hit him like a truck.
His legs gave out, and he collapsed to his knees. Something slipped from his hand and hit the floor.
His phone.
"Right! My phone… how did I not think of this?"
He picked it up and opened a live-streaming app.
What he saw made no sense.
"…Am I dreaming?"
People were live.
Hundreds of them.
And there was an IRL stream happening near the prison.
Without hesitation, Caster rushed toward the location shown on the stream.
When he arrived, his blood turned cold.
He wasn't on the live feed.
"What the hell is going on?"
Think, Caster. Think.
The answer surfaced instantly.
"I'm in another dimension."
The moment those words left his mouth, the air in front of him twisted.
A red portal opened.
He couldn't see what was inside.
Yet, without knowing why, Caster stepped forward.
And entered.
What he saw on the other side made him say only one word:
"…I'm fucked."