The sound of rain enveloped the silent night, countless droplets softly tapping against the window as i stared at the glowing monitor in front of me. Somehow, the sound always made the room feel a little lonelier.

But somehow, it felt completely natural for an introvert like me to live this way.

My name was Baek Woojin, a shut-in introvert who spent most of my time alone in this dark room, playing games until sunrise.

The digital clock on the corner of my desk read 2:54 AM.

At some point, i had completely stopped caring about getting enough sleep.

''...Ugh... I've completely turned into a night owl now...."

Empty instant noodle cups and beer cans were scattered around my desk, mixed together with the notes i took while playing the game, Hero Academy. 

The faint light from the monitor is the only thing keeping dark room visible.

Click.

Click.

I pressed the next dialogue option without hesitation, already knowing that no matter what choice i made, the result would always be the same.

After repeating the same routes countless time, i already know that the story of each playable character can't be changed.

The character would struggle to survive.

But.

They would die anyway.

It was the same for every playable character in this game.

A bright flash erupted across the screen as countless spells collided in the middle of a ruined battlefield.

Right now, i was trying to fight the final boss using the only playable character who had survived long enough to reach the moment the final boss appeared.

Kang Jinhyuk, the light mage.

Every player called him the failed hero because he could never stop the demon invasion.

His white robe was stained with blood as he stood alone beneath the red sky, golden magic circles spinning around him. Thousand of corpses covered the battlefield behind him, both human and demon alike.

Like always, the moment the character about to die, player could no longer control them, and the battle would turn into a cutscene. As if the developer want all the character to die.

In the cutscene, Kang Jinhyuk slowly raised his wand and cast a Divine level spell against the Demon King.

The demon king slowly walk forward, his overwhelming presence alone make Kang Jinhyuk's hand tremble.

Yet he quietly raised his wand.

A massive magic circle appeared in the sky, glowing with blinding light.

"...Divine art... Judgment of heaven..."

Thousands of light spears formed across the sky and rained down like a storm, piercing through the Demon King's army and turning the ground into a sea of blood and flesh.

As the army of demons fell, Kang Jinhyuk shifted his target to the Demon King. But the Demon King didn't even bother to dodge the spells, as if they couldn't injure him at all.

After a few minutes of raining spears, Kang Jinhyuk's mana was almost depleted, so he decided to stop the spell.

A cloud of dust covered the battlefield, making it hard to see what had happened to the Demon King.

Suddenly, a magic arrow made of red mana shot toward Kang Jinhyuk. He didn't have enough time to react, and it pierced his heart.

"...You are strong human.. But i am stronger..."

The Demon King's voice echoed through the battlefield as he stepped out of the dust, completely unharmed.

Slowly, he walked toward Kang Jinhyuk, formed another magic arrow, and fired it once more.

The battle ended with Kang Jinhyuk's humiliating defeat.

Another bad ending.

Just like the other playable character.

I leaned back in my chair, staring at the frozen "GAME OVER" screen without really reacting.

At this point i wasn't surprised anymore.

People used to call this game trash.

Not because the game quality was bad, but because no matter what you did, the characters' tragic endings could never be changed.

No matter how perfect your character skills and stats, the outcome will be always the same.

And yet, unlike other games where everything was automated or simplified, this one forced you to do everything yourself.

Every exam.

Every action.

That was probably why almost everyone quit.

Maybe I was the only idiot still playing it.

I stared at the darkened screen reflection of myself.

"…Why am I even still playing this?"

I muttered under my breath.

There was no achievement.

No reward.

No satisfaction.

Just endless routes ending the same way.

I should've stopped a long time ago.

Right?

My hand hovered over the mouse.

For a moment, I thought about closing the game.

Uninstalling it.

But before I could move, a sound echoed from my speakers.

Ding.

I froze.

That wasn't a game sound.

A small window appeared on my screen.

[To the player who has completed all available routes.]

My eyes narrowed slightly.

All routes?

How is that clear when, in the end, the character I used dies?

Another line appeared beneath the first one.

[The developer wishes to offer you a reward.]

stared at it for a moment.

A reward?

From this game?

Then the next line appeared.

Reward: A travel ticket.

Will you accept? (YES / NO)

A travel ticket…?

To where?

I let out a small, breathless laugh.

Is the game system bugging or what.

Yeah, that must be it.

Still.

I move my cursor to the YES choice.

i didn't know why.

Maybe i was just too bored.

Or curiosity.

And then.

I clicked.

The moment i did, the computer screen flash white.

Too bright.

And every sound around me making my head hurt.

My vision blanked out completely.

As soon I pressed accept on the travel ticket, my vision begin to crumble.

The room twisted violently before my eyes as if reality itself was being torn apart. A sharp pain took my head, followed by countless scream echoing endlessly in my ears.

Men, woman and children.

Desperate cries overlapped with one another until I could no longer what were they saying.

My breathing is getting tight.

The glowing monitor in front of me flickered violently, bathing the dark room into flash of white and crimson light.

"..W-What the hell is this....?"

I grab my messy hair as dizziness overwhelmed me. 

"I shouldn't have accepted the ticket on the first place..."

A nauseating sensation rose from my stomach. The floor beneath me felt unstable, almost as if the entire room spinning a and sinking into endless darkness.

"..Ugh..."

My vision blurred.

Before i completely passed out, i caught one final glimpse of the computer screen.

The game window was glitching uncontrollably.

The monitor screen distorted while the reward notification remained frozen at the center of the screen.

[Rewards Successfully Claimed]

My body suddenly felt unbearable heavy.

Then...

A whisper echoed inside my head.

Faint.

Distant.

Yet strangely clear.

"I hope you can change the future that cannot be changed... Chosen one."

The moment those words faded, the last bit of strength left my body.

My knees gave out.

Darkness swallowed my vision completely as i collapsed onto the cold floor of my room and lost consciousness.

....

After i opened my eyes again, the first sensation that greeted me is cold.

A chilling cold that seeped into my bones.

"..Ugh.. So cold..."

My head was still spinning, making it difficult to think clearly.

At first, I didn't pay much attention to my surroundings.

Only when the dizziness began to fade did I finally realize something was terribly wrong.

I was falling.

Free-falling through the sky.

The blood red sky stretched endless above me.

A sea of crimson clouds dyed the world in ominous hue, as though the sky itself has been painted with blood.

Countless screams echoed across the battlefield.

Not human screams.

But demon.

My eyes widened.

Far below, the land was covered in corpses.

Human corpses.

Demon corpses.

The dead lay piled upon one another without end, forming mountains of flesh.

The stench of blood hung heavily in the air.

It was so overwhelming that nausea immediately rose within my stomach.

I nearly vomited.

Not a single living human remained.

At least, that's what I thought.

BOOM!!

Explosion erupted in the distance.

Instinctively, I turned toward the source.

"...No. I was wrong."

There was one.

Standing amidst an endless sea of demons was a lone man.

A black mask covered his face.

A single crack ran across one of its eyes.

In his hand rested a pitch-black sword.

Alone.

He stood alone before thousands of demons.

My eyes immediately drifted toward the figures behind the demonic army.

And then I froze.

There was no mistaking him.

The Demon King.

The final boss of Hero Academy.

The very game I had been playing moments ago.

As for the masked man...

No matter how hard I looked, I couldn't see his face.

Yet for some reason, he felt strangely familiar.

As if I had known him somewhere before.

As if he were someone important.

I searched through my memories, trying to identify him.

But nothing came to mind.

In the end, I gave up.

After all...

I was still falling from the sky.

At the moment, I probably looked like a skydiver who had forgotten his parachute.

Honestly, the situation was so absurd that I almost wanted to laugh.

"...Well... what exactly am I supposed to do here?"

A furious roar suddenly shook the battlefield.

My attention returned to the scene below.

Ten figures burst forward from the demonic ranks.

The Ten Demon Generals.

Every one of them was a named boss from Hero Academy.

Crimson mana exploded from their bodies as they charged.

The atmosphere trembled beneath their overwhelming power.

Magic circles appeared one after another.

A storm of destructive spells descended upon the lone man.

Yet the masked swordsman remained calm.

Without hesitation, he raised his sword.

One swing.

The torrent of magic was split apart.

The black blade looked strange.

There was no guard.

No decorations.

A normal sword would be forged with a sturdy guard and a thick blade to improve its durability in battle.

Yet the weapon in his hand possessed neither.

It consisted of nothing more than a simple hilt and an unnaturally thin black blade.

It looked incomplete.

Fragile, even.

As though a single powerful clash would be enough to shatter it.

And yet...

Yet for some reason, that incomplete-looking sword radiated a terrifying pressure, as though it alone was enough to cut apart the world itself.

A question suddenly surfaced in my mind.

If this was truly the world of Hero Academy...

Then why was there a swordsman?

According to the game's lore, swordsmen no longer existed in the current era.

At least, that was what the game implied.

The developers never once mentioned the existence of a living swordsman.

Before I could think further, the battle below changed.

The space around the masked man suddenly distorted.

The next moment, he vanished.

Not a trace remained where he had stood.

Then he appeared high in the sky.

Directly above the demonic army.

The surrounding space twisted and warped around him.

It was as if his mere presence was forcing reality itself to bend.

Without uttering a single word, he slowly raised his sword.

The world fell silent.

Then.

Thousands of black swords materialized behind him.

The endless blades filled the heavens like a storm waiting to descend.

And a moment later...

The rain of swords began.

Countless blades fell from the sky, crashing toward the demonic army below.

The demons desperately raised their defenses.

But against that overwhelming barrage, even they looked insignificant.

After several minutes, the rain of swords finally came to an end.

The countless black blades slowly dissolved into particles of darkness.

Silence briefly descended upon the battlefield.

A thick cloud of dust covered the devastated ground below.

I stared at the scene while continuing to fall from the crimson sky.

Then the dust slowly cleared.

"...They're still alive?"

My face twisted in disgust.

The Ten Demon Generals were still standing.

Or at least, pieces of them were.

Some had lost half their bodies.

Some were missing limbs.

One had its entire torso split apart.

Yet none of them died.

Dark red flesh squirmed like living worms.

Bones extended from broken stumps.

Muscles intertwined and reconnected themselves.

The wounds regenerated at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"...Ugh..."

A chill ran down my spine.

"That's disgusting..."

The sight alone was enough to make my stomach churn.

Yet the masked man showed no reaction.

As though he had already expected this outcome.

The space around him distorted once more.

BOOM!!

The air exploded.

His figure vanished.

The next instant, he appeared directly before the nearest Demon General.

His sword flashed.

A black line cut through space.

The Demon General froze.

Then its body split into hundreds of pieces.

Before the fragments could regenerate.

The swordsman disappeared again.

BOOM!!

Another shockwave erupted.

A second Demon General lost its head.

Then a third.

A fourth.

A fifth.

His figure continuously flickered across the battlefield.

Appearing.

Disappearing.

Reappearing.

Again and again.

The battlefield became a storm of black flashes.

The Demon Generals roared furiously.

Magic erupted from every direction.

Flames.

Lightning.

Curses.

Yet none of it could touch him.

The black swordsman moved like a phantom.

No.

Even phantoms would have struggled to keep up with his speed.

The only thing I could see were brief flashes of black light.

And every flash was followed by another Demon General losing a limb.

Or its head.

Or half its body.

Minutes passed.

Then dozens of minutes.

The battle became a one-sided slaughter.

Thousands.

Tens of thousands.

Hundreds of thousands.

The swordsman continued swinging his blade.

Again.

And again.

His attacks never stopped.

His movements never slowed.

As though he had abandoned everything except the act of killing.

Eventually...

The first Demon General failed to regenerate.

Its body collapsed into dust.

Then the second.

The third.

The fourth.

One after another, the Demon Generals finally died.

Until only one enemy remained.

The Demon King.

The ruler of all demons.

The final boss of Hero Academy.

The monster responsible for humanity's destruction.

The battlefield fell silent.

The two stood facing each other.

No words were exchanged.

No speeches.

Only silence.

A silence heavy enough to crush the soul.

Then.

Both disappeared.

BOOOOOOM!!!

The world shook violently.

The clouds above exploded apart.

A giant shockwave spread across the battlefield.

The Demon King appeared behind the swordsman.

A crimson spear of magic pierced forward.

The swordsman twisted his body.

The spear grazed his shoulder.

Before the Demon King could retreat.

A black sword slashed toward his neck.

The Demon King raised his arm.

CLANG!!

A deafening metallic sound echoed across the battlefield.

The impact shattered the surrounding space.

The ground below collapsed.

Entire mountains of corpses were blown away by the shockwave.

The battle accelerated.

Neither side held back.

The Demon King unleashed countless magic circles.

Thousands of crimson spears filled the sky.

Each possessed enough power to erase a city.

The swordsman answered with countless black slashes.

The heavens split apart.

The earth cracked.

Reality itself seemed unable to withstand their battle.

I could barely follow their movements.

One moment they were on the ground.

The next moment they were in the sky.

Then beneath the earth.

Then thousands of meters away.

It was less like a battle.

And more like two disasters colliding.

Yet despite his overwhelming strength...

The swordsman was reaching his limit.

I noticed it.

His movements had become slower.

His breathing heavier.

His body was covered in wounds.

The Demon King noticed it too.

A cruel smile appeared on his face.

The next exchange decided everything.

The Demon King sacrificed one of his arms and charged forward.

The swordsman swung his blade.

The black sword cut through the Demon King's chest.

For a moment...

Everything became still.

Then—

A crimson spear erupted from the Demon King's hand.

The attack pierced straight through the swordsman's chest.

Blood scattered through the air.

The Demon King's body slowly split apart.

A deep black line appeared from his shoulder down to his waist.

The line expanded.

And the Demon King was cut in half.

The ruler of demons had fallen.

The final battle was over.

Yet victory came at a terrible cost.

The swordsman's left arm was gone.

His chest had been pierced completely through.

Blood flowed endlessly from his wounds.

Even from this distance, I could tell he was dying.

Slowly.

The man staggered toward a mountain of corpses.

Then sat down.

His black sword slipped from his hand and stabbed into the ground beside him.

For the first time since I arrived here...

He looked tired.

Truly tired.

His gaze wandered across the battlefield.

The corpses.

The ruins.

The endless sea of death.

A bitter laugh escaped his lips.

"What is the point of victory..."

His voice was hoarse.

Weak.

Broken.

"When everyone I wanted to protect is already dead?"

Silence followed.

The wind carried his words across the battlefield.

Then he laughed again.

A laugh devoid of happiness.

"Not that it matters."

"I'll be joining them soon enough."

Cough!

A mouthful of blood spilled from his mouth.

Meanwhile, I was still falling from the sky.

For some reason, my descent had been strangely slow during the entire battle.

Almost as if someone wanted me to witness everything.

To witness humanity's final battle.

To witness its ending.

But now that the fight was over...

The speed of my fall suddenly increased.

The ground rapidly approached.

"...Wait."

"...WAIT!"

The battlefield grew closer.

Faster.

And faster.

Yet my attention remained on the dying man.

The masked swordsman slowly raised his remaining hand.

His fingers touched the cracked black mask.

Then...

He began removing it.

My eyes widened.

Who was he?

Why did he seem familiar?

Why did I feel like I already knew him?

The mask slowly lifted.

A glimpse of his face appeared.

Just a little more.

Just a little.

Suddenly the ground reached me.

Yet I never crashed.

The moment my feet touched the battlefield, everything became blurry.

The crimson sky.

The corpses.

The dying swordsman.

The battlefield.

All of it began fading away.

My vision darkened.

Then everything disappeared.

...

When I opened my eyes again.

An unfamiliar ceiling greeted me.

And the smell of blood was nowhere to be found.

"Wait.. Smell of blood?"

"..Ugh.. My head hurt.."

In the first place, why do I keep thinking about the smell of blood? And why do I feel like I've forgotten about something important?.

As I tried to recall what it was, a sharp pain suddenly assaulted my head.

BANG!

A loud noise echoed throughout the room as I crashed onto the wooden floor.

"...Where am I...?"

Groaning in pain, I slowly pushed myself up from the cold floor.

My head was still spinning.

As i regain my bearings, I began looking around the room.

Small room.

The furniture look old and worn, as if it had been used for decades.

A simple wooden bed in the corner.

Several books were stacked on the shelf.

A few old cloth hung beside the wall.

Everything look outdated than my room back on earth.

While I was examining my surroundings, a worried voice suddenly rang out from outside the room.

It belong to an elderly woman.

Perhaps she had heard the loud noise from earlier.

"..Baek Woojin! What happen? Are you okay?.."

The voice sound strangely familiar and I was certain that I have heard it before.

Yet no matter how hard i tried, I couldn't remember where.

Since I didn't answer immediately, the voice called out again.

"Woojin?

For some reason, I instinctively replied.

"..I'm okay.. A book slipped from my hand..."

After hearing my response, the woman let out a sigh of relief.

"..Alright then... Don't be late for breakfast..."

She paused before continuing.

"..And don't forget, Today the entrance ceremony will be held.."

"....Okay..."

Her footsteps gradually faded away.

Silence return to the room.

However, a question reminded in my mind.

Entrance ceremony? 

What does she mean by entrance ceremony?

Before I could think further, another wave of pain struck my head.

"Ugh.."

I grabbed my head in pain.

The headache was even worse than before.

Then.

Countless memories flooded into my mind, memory that weren't mine yet somehow felt so familiar to me as if I had lived them myself.

Image flashed before my eyes.

A child crying.

Burning house.

Corpses of a person that I called family.

And black-robed mage covered in dark mana. 

The fold of memories continued until the pain finally subsided.

Laying down on the bed silently, trying to organize everything. 

Still feeling the lingering numbness in my head, I was now certain of several things.

First.

I had somehow been transported into the game I used to play, Hero Academy. 

It seemed that accepting the mysterious travel ticket after clearing every playable character route had sent me in this world.

Second.

My name in this world was also Baek Woojin.

Third, I wasn't possessing someone else body. This body was mine.

Or at least, it look exactly like mine.

Unable to contain my curiosity, I walked over to the cracked mirror hanging on the wall. The reflection staring back at me made me certain.

Black hair.

Dark eyes.

A familiar face.

My face.

Or rather, the version of me when i was eighteen years old on earth.

Slowly I move my hand to touch my face.

The reflection copied my movement perfectly.

"..This is really me.."

According to the memories I had just received, I was eighteen years old this year and today I will be entering Helios Magic Academy.

One of the most prestigious academies in the continent.

The memory continue to surface, I was now living in an orphanage located within the Kingdom of Arathia.

When I was five years old, my entire family had been slaughtered by a dark mage during an attack.

I was the only survivor.

After the tragedy, an elderly woman from the orphanage named Young-Hee took me in and raised me as if I were his own grandson. The woman who had called me a moments ago was none other than her.

Suddenly a blue status window appeared in front of me without a warn. Dumbfounded, I stared at the translucent window floated in midair.

"What?.."

For a moment, I wondered if I was hallucinating.

Suppressing my confusion, I began reading the notification.

[New Quest]

Enroll to the Helios Magic Academy.

Rewards: Random Trait

Failure: ???

"..A quest..?"

My eyes narrowed.

"And what's with the failure condition?"

The three question mark bothered me. From my experience of playing Hero Academy, hidden penalties were rarely a good thing.

In the original game, every playable character's story began during the entrance ceremony.

Anything that happen before the enrollment ceremony was never shown. In another words, I had no idea what would happen if I failed to enroll.

Somehow, that uncertainty made me even more nervous.

Still, what choice do I have? And I was already planning to enroll anyway.

And the rewards was also tempting. Trait were extremely important in Hero Academy.

A powerful trait can influence a person's growth even if it's just an F rank trait.

My gaze shifted towards the floating screen.

If this really the system from the game, then it should have another function.

I focused on the interface.

A few option appeared.

Profile.

Mail.

And point shop.

"...Only these?"

I couldn't help feeling disappointed.

What kind of system had limited function.

With low expectations, I touched the profile option. The screen immediately changed.

[PROFILE]

Name: Baek Woojin

Age: 18

Stats:

Strength: 7 → Rank F

Agility: 6 → Rank F

Mana: 8 → Rank F

Endurance: 7 → Rank F

Luck: 19 → Rank F

Trait: None

"..What the?.."

I starred at the screen with disbelief.

"..All F rank?.."

The corners of my mouth twitched.

In Hero Academy, most students accepted into Helios Academy started around D Rank.

Meanwhile.

Playable character started at C and D Rank.

And...

I was sitting here with a collection of F Ranks.

Even my mana was F rank.

Mana was the most important stats in Hero Academy.

I suddenly felt like my future was becoming darker.

The only decent thing was luck which is nineteen points, but still F rank. Unfortunately, luck wasn't exactly something I could rely on during combat.

As for trait section, there is nothing. 

Not even F rank trait.

"This is terrible..."

"..."

I felt a headache coming back.

At this point, I wasn't sure whether I had been transported into a fantasy world or thrown into a survival challenge.

After calming myself down, I decided to stop worrying for now.

There was no point stressing over things I couldn't change.

Young-Hee had called me for breakfast earlier.

I should eat first.

Closing the system window, I left my room.

The wooden hallway creaked beneath my feet.

The orphanage wasn't large.

In fact, it was smaller than I remembered from the inherited memories.

Sunlight entered through the old windows.

The atmosphere was peaceful.

Eventually, I reached the dining room.

Five children were already seated around the table.

They happily ate their food while chatting with one another.

Nobody paid much attention to me.

Apparently, this was normal.

Following my memories, I sat in the seat that Baek Woojin usually used.

The breakfast wasn't luxurious.

Just bread.

Soup.

And a few vegetables.

Simple.

Very simple.

A few moments later, Young-Hee entered the room carrying another plate.

Her wrinkled face carried a gentle smile.

The children immediately greeted her.

"Grandma!"

"Good morning!"

Young-Hee chuckled.

Looking at the interaction, I felt a strange warmth in my chest.

Young-Hee eventually stopped beside me.

Her eyes softened.

"Eat well."

"You'll be staying at the academy dormitory starting today."

"You won't be able to come back whenever you want."

I nodded.

"I know."

Looking at my plate, I quietly began eating.

The food wasn't anything special.

Yet each bite felt comforting.

A strange sense of nostalgia surfaced.

Back on Earth, I was also an orphan.

Although I had distant relatives, they were all busy with their own lives.

Once I turned eighteen, I chose to live alone.

Most of my days were spent gaming.

Reading novels.

Avoiding social interaction.

A stereotypical introvert.

Thinking about it now, I couldn't help smiling bitterly.

"If only I had gone outside more..."

Maybe then I wouldn't have accepted a suspicious travel ticket.

Breakfast ended peacefully.

After washing dishes, I return to my room and wore the academy uniform.

A white shirt.

Black coat.

And academy emblem.

It look exactly like it in the game.

After changing cloth, I packed a few belonging that I think I need in the academy later.

The room became noticeably emptier.

Then I left after closing the door. 

The younger children were waiting outside.

The moment they saw my luggage, their expressions changed.

"Woojin hyung..."

"You're leaving already?"

I smiled.

"Yeah."

One of the younger boys lowered his head.

"When are you coming back?"

The question caught me off guard.

I opened my mouth.

Then closed it.

Honestly...

I didn't know.

The future from the game was full of disaster.

Would I even survive long enough to meet them again?

In the end, I simply patted his head.

"If I have time.."

The kids look disappointed but they still nodded.

Watching them, an uncomfortable feeling formed inside my chest.

I had only arrived in this world a few hours ago.

Yet somehow...

It felt like I was truly saying goodbye.

After spending several minutes with them, I finally walked toward the entrance.

Young-Hee was already waiting.

The old woman looked at me quietly.

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

Then I smiled.

"Grandma."

"I'll be going now."

"I'll come visit whenever I have time."

Young-Hee nodded.

Before I could react, she gently pulled me into a hug.

"Take care of yourself."

"Don't push yourself too hard."

"If things become difficult, you can always come home."

Home.

Such a simple word.

Yet hearing it made my chest ache.

I slowly nodded.

"Okay."

After saying my final goodbye, I opened the orphanage door.

The morning sunlight greeted me.

I took a step forward.

Then.

A blue screen suddenly appeared before my eyes.

[NEW NOTIFICATION]

As you leave the orphanage grounds, all memories related to you will be erased.

"...What?"

My body froze.

The words didn't make sense.

I read them again.

Then again.

Yet the message remained unchanged.

Memories related to me...

Will be erased?

My heart skipped a beat.

Slowly, I turned around.

Behind me stood the orphanage.

The children.

Young-Hee.

The only people who cared about Baek Woojin.

The only family I had left.

And now...

The system was telling me they would forget I ever existed.

My hands clenched into fists.

"...You've got to be kidding me."

A bitter laugh escaped my lips.

Back on Earth, I had no family.

And now... even in this world...

I wasn't allowed to keep one.