The darkness within the old monitor screen flickered, displaying rows of scrolling code amidst a gripping silence. A cold, mechanical voice—let's call it The System—began to dissect the data of a teenager who had just shattered his own reality.
"Subject detected: MacDwid Robert," murmured a mysterious voice that sounded like a whisper from behind the walls. "Seventeen years old. Messy sandy-blonde hair, blue eyes as deep as the ocean. He looks like a good kid, doesn't he?"
The System replied in an emotionless tone, [Data verified. Personality: Calm, quiet, polite, yet possesses extreme violent tendencies under pressure. Subject is not the naive type who will cry in a corner. He is a predator who has been hiding behind a mask of civility.]
In a frozen corner of the city, MacDwid stood before a dark shop window. He stared at his own reflection. "I just wanted peace," he whispered to his shadow. "I thought by making them go quiet, everything would be over."
"But look where you are now, MacDwid," the mysterious voice replied, though MacDwid could not hear it directly. "You are in the Mirror City. A perfect but dead replica of the world. Look at those cars; they stopped right in the middle of the road as if the drivers evaporated into smoke. Look at the food on that café table; the steam is still rising, the temperature never drops, but there isn't a single human left to eat it. Here, time has stopped for inanimate objects, but your biological clock keeps ticking."
MacDwid touched the shop glass, feeling a piercing cold. "Why is my reflection... a second late when I blink?" he asked the emptiness.
The System immediately provided a technical note, [Warning: The laws of physics in this world are unstable. This world reacts to the subject's emotions. If MacDwid grows angry, the sky will turn blood-red—a phenomenon known as The Crimson Atmosphere. If he feels threatened, buildings will shift, creating a labyrinth with no escape.]
"And don't forget about The Others," the voice whispered again with a hint of delight. "MacDwid feels he is alone because there are no humans or animals. But he forgets that darkness is a comfortable home for something born from his own rage. The moans of the friends he slaughtered at school will begin to emerge as Echoes. They aren't real, but they can tear his flesh apart."
MacDwid clenched his hands—hands that were now clean of blood—yet inside his head, he could still feel the sensation of bone snapping beneath his fists. "I don't care if I have to be alone forever. This world is empty, which means this world is mine. No rules, no teachers, no bullies."
[Estimated Survival Phase: 20 Chapters,] The System continued its report. [The subject will pass through a stage of denial, then begin to enjoy his power as the sole ruler of this dead city, until finally, he must face the bitter truth in the final phase. Is this the real world, or just a manifestation of the madness he reached in Class 11-B? The answer is locked behind the purple fog that blankets the city when night falls.]
"Enjoy your world, MacDwid Robert," the mysterious voice concluded. "Remember one thing: In an empty city, the only monster that is truly real is yourself. Don't let your reflection in the mirror move faster than you do, or you will lose your seat in this world."
MacDwid turned away, leaving his reflection still grinning slightly in the shop window, and walked into the darkness of the city that waited to be torn apart.