4 July, 2025--------Evening 5:00 PM


    "When... you ask?"


    I don’t really remember when, but I think it was a week after summer break. As usual, I sat in the second-to-last seat by the window, watching the sun sink lower in the sky.


    "Trong, trong, trong."


    The bell rang.


    "Oh, is it already over?"


    I muttered under my breath, quickly stuffing my notebooks into my bag as the classroom erupted into noise. It was better to leave before it got too loud.


    Sometimes, random thoughts popped into my head.


    People make friends, talk about nothing, laugh at stupid jokes, make fun of each other—forgetting what really matters. Is that what friendship is? It''s annoying. But, I guess it’s easier to just ignore everything and go along with it. Being with them? I''d rather be alone...


    ‘But they still matter.’


    I mumbled the words quietly to myself. It wasn’t a happy thought—more like a sad realization I couldn’t shake.


    I glanced to the left. From my seat, I could see the whole class, but my gaze stayed on one person—a girl sitting beside me.


    Her black hair Glistened as it fell to her waist, and her face had a calm kind of brightness to it. But what really caught my attention were her grayish-black eyes—sharp, like they could see right through me. She was a first-year student, here for the club meeting, like me.


    She was reading a book I didn’t expect a girl to be reading.


    "Sapiens..." I muttered to myself. "Isn''t this the book by Yuval Noah Harari? Do girls really read stuff like this?"


    I shook my head, my mind still scattered. Without much thought, I turned back to my bag and shoved the last of my notebooks inside. I couldn’t even remember how I felt at that moment.


    ---


    "About... me?"


    I don’t have a tragic backstory. No dead parents or painful losses. Just a stubborn father, obsessed with the past, and a powerless, foolish child—me—living under his rules without question or purpose.


    The Kurose clan had been the emperor’s most loyal family for generations. But that was before the empire crumbled. Now, the clan had split into branches, each struggling to survive in a world with no emperor to serve.


    But my father never adapted. He couldn’t let go of the past, as if clinging to it was the only thing that kept him going. He wanted to be remembered, to stand out among the others. So when a chance came to rise above the rest, he took it.


    But I was the cost.


    He pushed me beyond my limits—pushed me to be perfect in everything.


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Literature, politics, martial arts, mathematics... even the most efficient ways to kill someone," he’d say. I was eight when he first taught me those things—not like a father, but like a drill sergeant. Every day was about precision, obedience, and earning his praise. But it never came. He was incapable of praise—only mockery.


    I kept trying, though. I thought maybe the things I''m doing will be useful to me,


    It wasn’t until I was broken and exhausted that I realized: I had never been free.


    ---


    No matter what I do, I’ll always be a puppet. Now, just an abandoned marionette.


    I sighed heavily and walked toward the door.


    -------------------------------------------------


    "Huh!?"


    No one could’ve imagined this, right?


    The moment my foot crossed the door’s threshold...


    "Ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnggggggg!"


    The sound directly ringed in my head—sharp, almost like it was slicing through my brain. Before I could even think, I was pulled into a suffocating, endless void.


    The darkness surrounded me, thick and cold, yet somehow warm, like the embrace of something old. My strength drained away, like the void itself was sucking the life out of me.


    “Is this... an ocean?” I gasped, but deep down, I knew it wasn’t water.


    It felt like I was drowning.


    “I... I’m losing consciousness.”


    The words barely left my lips. My body felt heavy, my vision blurred, and my mind slipped away into the darkness.


    Ziiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnngggggg.


    That sound again. That awful ringing.


    It filled the emptiness, growing louder, like it was drilling into my skull. Strange mechanical hums followed, whispering through the dark.


    “Adapting subject’s body ? Successful.”


    “Physical Enhancement ? Successful.”


    “Magions compatibility ? Enhanced.”


    “Obtained @&€￥ Skill ? [World''s Truth].”


    "World’s Truth?"


    I said the words slowly, my mind racing. A strange screen appeared in my mind, flashing words I didn’t understand.


    ◣WORLD''S TRUTH◢


    [Tells Every Basic Detail About World]


    "Tell every... basic detail about the world?" I repeated, not fully understanding what I was seeing. Was this real? Or was I just losing my mind? Had I crossed over into something completely different?


    “Ugh!”


    I gasped as if my eyes had been forced open. A sharp, jarring impact hit me, making my whole body tremble.


    “It’s strange...” I whispered. At least I was standing on solid ground again. I looked around, trying to make sense of it all. But... I wasn’t alone.


    “So, they’re all here…”


    Every student who had been in the classroom was now with me. But why?


    "But why just my class? Was it because we stayed behind? No... there has to be another reason."


    My mind raced as I tried to figure it out. We’d been having a club meeting, and there were first-years and third-years with us, too.


    The room was dim, and I could barely make out the faces of the others, but the weight of something heavy pressed down on us all. The stone walls seemed to close in, jagged and cold. The air felt thick with something ancient.


    "Oi, where are we?"


    "How would I know?"


    "I’m scared!"


    "Don’t tell me we’re kidnapped!"


    "No, how? We were just in class a second ago!"


    "Help me. No! Where is this? Does anyone have a torch? Oi! Anyone?"


    Panic spread quickly. Voices were frantic and loud.


    "Everyone, please stay calm. Panicking will only make things worse."


    A voice cut through the chaos—Hirata, our class representative. He was calm and collected, as always. But even his words couldn’t erase the unease settling over the group.


    “Mmmmmmm…”


    A low, mechanical hum echoed around the room. Crystals in the walls flickered on, their glow hesitant at first, but soon it steadied, brightening, pushing back the darkness.


    And with the light came something else.


    The walls were cold and sharp, closing in, as if the room was alive and pressing against us. The crystals hummed, their vibrations faint but somehow alive, like they were listening to every breath we took.


    And then, in the distance, I saw it. An altar, bathed in an eerie glow.


    “Sun?” I muttered, confusion thick in my voice. I looked to the figures around it—knights in shining armor, their spears held tight, tips gleaming with an unnatural light.


    "[Hero Candidates]."


    The voice came from somewhere to my left. My heart skipped a beat, and I turned toward it.


    What I saw nearly froze me.


    ---


    A figure sat on a golden throne, high above us. The throne gleamed like it was made of pure gold, and the air around it twisted, heavy with power. The figure didn’t move. Didn’t speak. But the silence was so thick, it almost felt like it was suffocating us.


    Every breath felt harder to take, as if the very air was pushing against me. The weight of judgment—of authority—hung in the air. It was impossible to look away.


    “Hah... So that’s what this is…”


    I couldn’t stop the bitter laugh that escaped me. But it wasn’t funny at all.