The long hissing sound of hydraulics was the first thing that pierced my eardrums.
My eyes slowly opened, but the glare of the laboratory lights forced me to squint again. It felt like a needle was piercing right behind my retina.
The world seemed to spin.
The chaotic sounds of people immediately assaulted my hearing. There were sounds of vomiting, hysterical sobbing, and shouts for the medical team.
"Ugh..."
I tried to get up from my lying position, but my body refused. It felt heavy, as if Earth's gravity had increased.
The side effects hit me instantly, like a tidal wave.
My head throbbed violently. This was a state where the brain had difficulty distinguishing between real nerve signals and digital signals that had just been forcibly cut off. I had experienced this during training at The Numbers. Even though I had only been lying in the capsule for six hours, my brain was convinced that I had just spent 36 days running through the forest.
My stomach churned. A sharp nausea rose in my throat. My balance system was in chaos. The floor beneath my feet felt slanted and swaying.
"Breathe, Leon..." I whispered to myself. My hands were shaking violently—not from fear, but from the adrenaline left over from the fight.
I forced myself to get out. My feet touched the cold floor.
My knees were shaky, but I managed to stand up straight.
I tried to look around. The hall, which had been neat and tidy, now resembled an emergency hospital ward.
From the flashing data screen on the wall, I saw the latest statistics.
Total Participants Passed: 211 / 478.
More than half of the participants had failed. Those who failed were being carried out by medical golems, some unconscious, some babbling fearfully about something in the simulation world. Although 211 people passing still seemed like a lot, this decline was very significant for the entrance exam standards.
I wiped my face, which was wet with cold sweat. I wanted to leave immediately. I needed fresh air. I needed real water.
However, as I took a step, I noticed something strange.
Silence slowly spread around me, contrasting with the chaos on the other side of the room.
I looked up and found several pairs of eyes staring at me. Not the empty stares of fellow exhausted participants. I don't know, it's hard to explain.
People whispered as I passed by. Some even took a step back and gave me space.
"What's going on?" I wondered, confused.
Was it because I looked so messy?
Ah, never mind. I didn't care.
My head hurt too much to think about public opinion. My vision began to narrow, surrounded by black spots that were getting bigger.
I tried to take a few more steps away from the capsule area.
One step. The floor felt like mud. Two steps. My ears began to ring loudly.
The third step never happened.
The world suddenly tilted. The connection between my brain and my legs was severed. My consciousness was forcibly pulled into a darkness far denser than sleep.
My body collapsed forward.
However, before my face hit the hard floor, I felt something holding me back. Or perhaps, a group of people screaming in panic.
"Hey! He's fainted!"
"Call medical! Quickly!"
The voices sounded distant, as if they were underwater.
However, amid the commotion, there was one voice that sounded clear. The scent of ice lilies wafted into my nose, overpowering the smell of sweat and oil.
"Leon, Leon...!"
I couldn't see her face. My eyes were too heavy. But I knew that voice.
Just as I thought.
Seraphina Vox Winters. She was the Villainess from the game I wrote and created. And she was the person I had to protect at the academy based on the mission from The Numbers.
And the last thing I felt before my consciousness faded completely was the touch of a cold hand on my cheek and a soft whisper.
"I hope you get well soon. The one destined only for me."
Then, everything went dark.
My consciousness was forcibly pulled into a sea of pitch blackness.
The bone-chilling cold made me realize that this was not just a nightmare caused by exhaustion.
In front of me, the darkness tore open.
A giant eyeball appeared and slowly opened. Its iris was red with vertical pupils that emitted a dazzling light. The pressure it emitted was so strong, it was as if my soul was being squeezed by the creature.
"I didn't expect to meet you here," the voice echoed. Not through my ears, but directly into my head.
I tried to move. "Who-Who are you?"
The eyeball twitched slightly, as if staring at an interesting insect.
"Perhaps if humans like you saw me, you would call me a god."
I fell silent upon hearing those words. My writer's brain worked quickly, scanning every line of script I had ever written.
"Impossible," I argued. "I never created a god in this story. I only focused on creating a story where the protagonist would fight enemies at every turn alongside the Saintess. You're not in that story!"
"You must have a lot of questions, right?" the figure interrupted casually. His voice sounded ancient and tired. "I'll answer them briefly. Basically, this is the real world. It's not a game world like you know it."
"What?"
"You wrote this based on dreams, didn't you?" he asked. "Those dreams weren't your imagination, O Writer. They were visions. Memories that crossed dimensions. Because this is the real world. Maybe you could call it a parallel world?"
My breath caught in my throat. That explanation... made sense.
It explained everything. Why the Fire Dragon I hadn't written about appeared in the simulation world. Why these characters had emotional depth I had never designed. I wasn't the creator of this world. I was just an unconscious prophet, writing the history of another world and treating it as fiction.
"Wait, I don't understand," I said, trying to digest this crazy fact. "Then why did I wake up in this world? Why did I become Leon?"
"It's simple. The end of this world has many branches leading to the brink of destruction—"
I snorted rudely. "Hah! Don't tell me that you brought me to this world and told me to save it from destruction like in some cheap fantasy story I know, right?"
The eyeball narrowed.
"Gosh, let me speak first, you impatient human," he scolded. "I don't care what you do in this world. Whether you want to save it or let it be destroyed is your business."
He paused for a moment, his pupils dilating.
"But one thing is certain. You are the center of this world. That's why I gave your new body a special condition where the Mana inside you feels endless."
"A special condition?"
"Consider it a parting gift. My time is up. This connection is unstable."
"Wait! I still have a lot—"
The giant eyeball closed immediately. The red light went out.
The sensation of falling hit me again. This time it was harder, more real.
"Hah!"
My eyes opened wide. The first thing I felt was cold. The second was the pungent smell of antiseptic. The third was the softness of the bed sheets.
I blinked, adjusting my eyes to the light of the crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The walls were elegantly cream-colored, there was a vase of fresh flowers on the table, and a large window displayed the view of the academy garden in the afternoon.
"Are you awake?"
That voice.
I slowly turned my head to the side of the bed.
There, sitting on a red velvet chair with her legs crossed gracefully, was Seraphina Vox Winters, her silver hair blowing in the breeze from outside.
She was reading a thick book, but as soon as I moved, she closed it. Her red eyes stared at me straight and sharply.
"La-Lady Seraphina?" my voice was hoarse, my throat felt dry. "Where is this?"
"The Academy Hospital," she replied casually. She poured water from a teapot into a glass, then handed it to me. "Drink. You're severely dehydrated. The doctor said you expended the equivalent energy of running a marathon for three days straight."
I took the glass with trembling hands and drank it all in one gulp. "Thank you. But why are you here, Lady?"
"Why?"
Seraphina smiled faintly. She leaned forward, propping her chin on her hand.
"Because you're causing a commotion, Leon. You're the star of the hall. Don't you know you're ranked first in the new student enrollment for the Pure Magic department?"
My heart was pounding. "What do you mean, Lady? I just... lucked out surviving."
"You've even caught the attention of several professors. Well, there's a rumor that the Chancellor of the academy currently on the Eastern Continent wants to return immediately to meet you."
"Wait..." I replied softly.
"Stop acting," she cut in coldly. Her smile widened, revealing her charming yet terrifying villainess side. "I saw it. Everyone saw it. How you defeated the Dragon. Even how you stared at the camera and destroyed it."
I fell silent. My days as an ordinary student were over.
"Don't you know? That the Mist Forest has the highest difficulty level? Only eleven people have ever made it out of there, including you," Seraphina continued with an intimidating smile.
Seraphina rose from her chair. She walked over to the edge of the bed, then sat down on my side without hesitation, closing the personal distance between us.
"You know, Leon? I'm bored," she whispered. Her hand reached out, her slender index finger touching my chest, "This world is full of boring people who only care about status and power. But you... you're different."
"I'm just an ordinary person, Lady," I said weakly.
"Ordinary people don't kill dragons with their bare hands," she replied quickly. Her eyes flashed. "I don't care who you really are. Although later I will ask my father for help in finding out your identity. All I know is that you are strong. And I like strong things."
She withdrew her hand, then stood up straight, smoothing her dress.
"Three days," she said suddenly.
"What?"
"The New Student Welcome Party," explained Seraphina. She looked at me with a gaze that brooked no refusal. "All new students must attend. And traditionally, everyone must bring a partner."
My gut feeling worsened. "Then?"
"Be my partner."
It wasn't a question. It was an order.
"But Lady—"
"I don't care," she cut me off again. She turned around and walked towards the exit. Before grabbing the doorknob, she glanced over her shoulder.
"You've caught my attention, Leon. By the way, the rooms for each student have been assigned. I already know where yours is. I'll have a suit sent to your room in two days."
"Wait, I haven't agreed—"
"Rest, my partner," she said with a triumphant smile.
The door closed. Leaving me alone in that cold room with my heart still racing.
I dropped my head onto the pillow and stared blankly at the ceiling.
"I've met the God... and now the Villainess is approaching me," I muttered in frustration. "Damn it, what about my mission that was supposed to be behind Seraphina's shadow? I'm sure mymastervwill be disappointed after hearing this."
*****
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