...Silence.
Darkness.
Absolute emptiness.
I feel nothing.
I see nothing.
I hear nothing.
Just...The distant sound.Of screaming.People in panic.Fire. So much fire.The smell of burning flesh.My flesh.
And then... the plane.Falling.Spinning.On fire.The whole world collapsing with me.
And that was it.The end.It was over.
...Right?
......Wasn't it?
WRONG.
When I open my eyes...There's no sky.No fire.No plane.
There's a fist.
A fist coming straight for my face.Big. Strong.Crackling with electricity, lightning dancing from its fingertips.
Instinct.Pure instinct.
My body freezes.My hands shoot forward, like they're trying to... grab time itself?
And then...EVERYTHING STOPS.
Absolute silence.No sound.No movement.
The colors... vanish.Everything turns black and white, like the world just lost its saturation.
And then...I notice it.Smoke.Thick, dark, strange smoke starts pouring out of me.It flows from my arms, rises from my shoulders, dances at my fingertips.It looks... alive.
I turn around.Look around, in shock.
It's a museum.Massive halls, full of glass cases, ancient statues, paintings, armor.
And then I see...Him.
The guy who was about to punch me.Frozen.Suspended in time.
Long blond hair, floating midair, like the wind had frozen with him.Sharp face, perfect features.Strong jawline, stern expression.And those eyes... blue. Piercing. Sharp.
My chest tightens.Who the hell is this guy?
And then I realize—he's not alone.
I turn my head, my eyes dart to the side.And there they are... scattered.
Hooded men.Black outfits, combat boots, weapons—frozen mid-action.
Further ahead...Other figures.Different.Students. I can tell by the uniforms.
First...A boy.Brown hair, but with golden tips?His face... mature, handsome, serious.His eyes... cold. Calculated.
Wait.I know that face.
My eyes shoot to his side.
A girl.Straight black hair with bangs.Wearing kind of a punk-rock outfit—delicate, pretty... but with a rebellious energy. A "don't mess with me" vibe.
And on the other side...Another girl.Blonde—almost white. Blue eyes.Doll-like face, flawless features, but that gaze...Sharp. Deadly. Intense.
My chest locks.My breath vanishes.My brain shorts out.
My eyes dart back to the boy with the golden tips.Then to the blond guy throwing the punch.Then to the girls.Then to the henchmen.
And then...The pieces start falling into place.One after another.
—...No.My voice comes out hoarse.I barely recognize myself.
—...No, no, no... it can't be...
I look again at the blond punching guy.My brain connects the dots.
Long hair... blue eyes... arrogant posture...The guy I wrote to be a living legend.
Ikaris...?
I look at the boy with the golden tips.The hair, the stare, the presence... The protagonist...?
Stefan...?
And the girls.The bangs, the glare...Evelyn.And the blonde... the one I described as beautiful, deadly, flawless.Elizabeth.
My eyes go wide—so wide it feels like they're going to pop out of my skull.
My chest rises and falls, faster and faster.My heart's ticking like a time bomb about to go off.
—...I'm...—...I'm inside my own webnovel...?
—...I'M INSIDE MY OWN WEBNOVEL?!
But before I can even process that idea...
CRACK.
A sharp, snapping sound.Like glass breaking.
Cracks... in the air.
I see them—clear as day.Lines forming in the empty space around me.As if the very fabric of reality is breaking.
My body...Freezes.The shadows coming out of me start to pull, to get sucked in.
The blond guy's fist...Twitches.Moves... barely.
Time wants to come back.
—N-no... wait... WAIT!
My legs grow heavy.My arms feel like stone.My chest feels like it's going to implode.
I see the lightning in the blond guy's hand start to spark again.The fist... advancing.Millimeter by millimeter.
—SHIT.
And only one thought flashes through my mind:
If that punch hits me... it's GAME OVER before the tutorial even starts.