Ryoshu was still trying to piece together what had just happened—one more time. For some reason, he now found himself in the world of Rainfall Disorder, the very game he had spent over half a decade playing.

The first thing he did was try to recall when his last memory had ended.

‘If I remember correctly, I deleted the game last night and went straight to sleep. And when I woke up… I was already here. Does that mean I was kidnapped in my sleep?’

He rubbed his chin, thinking carefully. Eventually, Ryoshu came up with another, rather foolish, hypothesis.

‘Or maybe… I got reincarnated into this world?’

Realizing how ridiculous that sounded, he immediately gave himself a slap.

“Ow! Well, at least I know I’m not dreaming…”

While rubbing his now reddened cheek, Ryoshu continued thinking.

‘Even if I assume that theory is true… it still doesn’t make sense! Not that anything about this situation makes sense in the first place. Could it be that I had a stroke or something?’

That theory seemed somewhat reasonable to him, given his unhealthy lifestyle—he rarely exercised and had terrible eating habits. The idea became even more plausible when he recalled how he had just spent an entire day and night binge-playing Rainfall Disorder.

He had only taken a break because his ex-girlfriend had called him to go to the closeby beach.

‘Who would’ve thought I’d get played like that?’ Ryoshu recalled how she had posted a picture with her new boyfriend barely an hour after breaking up with him.

‘She must have been cheating on me for a while.’

Shoving aside that bitter memory, he considered other possibilities, like falling into some kind of space-time rift. But when he looked in the mirror, all he saw was a completely unfamiliar face. That alone was enough to disprove his second theory.

However, regardless of whether his theory was correct or not, Ryoshu couldn’t help but notice one thing—somehow, he had become… handsome.

His skin was no longer tanned but fair and smooth. His hair, once short, was now slightly longer. His new face had an innocent look, with soft, baby-like cheeks. And instead of his former chubby build, he now had the lean frame of a scholarly young man.

‘Damn, this is the body I always wished for in my past life… wait, no, I don’t even know if I’m dead or not. And I look pretty young… probably around 15 or 16 at most.’

Ryoshu stood up and started pacing around the apartment. The place was practically barren, as if no one had ever lived there. It was so plain and lifeless that everything felt surreal. Even the bedroom looked brand new. The only thing that stood out was a rusted steel katana lying in the middle of the living room.

After making sure no one else was around, he cautiously spoke out loud.

“Hello? System? Status screen?” His deep, slightly raspy voice echoed in the empty room.

‘The raspiness makes sense… My body is still going through puberty. Weird… I get to experience voice cracking twice in one lifetime…’

But no robotic voice responded. No game-like status window popped up. If he were a Player, the system should have appeared by now to guide him.

Ryoshu turned back to the mirror, staring at his reflection with deep thought. After a moment, he stepped closer and touched the glass.

‘I’m… not the protagonist. Not the villain. And I don’t resemble any of the side characters either… I’m… nobody…’

A terrifying hypothesis started forming in his mind—one that could mean an early death for him.

‘No, no, please don’t tell me… I’m just an NPC.’

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Because, to his horror, he could recall the faces of every major and minor character in Rainfall Disorder—but generic background characters always had randomized appearances and names with every new playthrough.

“I’m a background character… Damn it! As if this game wasn’t hard enough already?!”

But that realization only led to more questions.

‘So, did I transfer into this body… or, more realistically, am I playing an altered version of the game? Who could possibly have created a VR version of Rainfall Disorder and even bypassed one of the best anti-modification security systems out there?!’

Frustrated, he clutched his head and slumped down against the wall.

‘What the hell have I gotten myself into?’

Ryoshu sat there for a while, reflecting on his dull, unremarkable life. Eventually, he stood up and rushed to the desk.

He was convinced that he was inside a game that had been altered in some way. But who had trapped him here, and why, remained a mystery.

‘My next priority is figuring out how to log out…’

He swiped his hand down, hoping for a menu to appear. Nothing. Then, he tried giving voice commands.

“Log out? Exit game…?”

‘No response, huh? Well, it was worth a shot… So, someone intentionally removed the logout function? That makes the kidnapping theory even more plausible… What the hell is going on?’

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

A shiver ran down his spine at the implications of his own theory. He immediately collapsed onto the desk, overwhelmed by an indescribable sense of dread.

“Am I… going insane?”

‘Back to the main issue—what should I do now?’ Ryoshu chewed on his thumb, deep in thought.

Being reincarnated into this world was possibly the worst thing that could have happened to him. He knew better than anyone just how dangerous this place was.

‘I don’t know what I want to do yet, but there’s one thing I’m absolutely sure of…’

Closing his eyes, he focused on his strongest desire. Somewhere deep inside him, a small spark ignited.

‘I want to survive.’

He had no idea if he had extra lives in this world. And given how insane and serious this situation seemed, he wasn’t willing to test that theory.

‘If this was just some elaborate scam, no one would go to this extent… I can’t afford to die just to find out. I still want to hold on to my pathetic little life.’

He had never wanted to die as some miserable failure who had achieved nothing in life. Especially not when he had just resolved to change his fate.

“This is still just a VR game! Even if I don’t know how to log out yet… If I were the one behind this, I would want—”

His gaze drifted toward the window. Dark clouds were rolling in, signaling an approaching late-summer drizzle.

“It’s about to rain… Of course… It’s The Ending, huh?”

Something inside him was telling him to move faster.

“If I need to survive, I can use some speedrun tricks to plan my next steps. Not to mention… I have knowledge of the Main Storyline.”

For once, he felt lucky to have such an extensive understanding of a game. Whether it was a gift or a curse, he couldn’t tell.

Noticing the rusty katana in the living room, Ryoshu assumed his character must have been a swordsman. And judging by his living conditions, probably a poor one.

“And there’s a high chance this kid was an orphan too… Typical trope, huh?” He scoffed as he rummaged through the desk drawers.

Inside, he found some unimportant documents—and a few others… interesting things. Choosing to ignore them for now, he grabbed an old notebook and a short, stubby pencil.

“This should be enough for now. I’ll invest in a phone later.”

But first, he needed to check his Status Screen. Without knowing his stats, he couldn’t properly plan for the future.

Fortunately, while not as advanced as the Player System, every character in this world could check their own stats through a government-issued wristwatch.

‘I almost forgot about that.’

Fiddling with the hour hand, he pressed down on it. A translucent window popped up before him, similar to the admission letter that had appeared earlier.

“The first line should be my name…” Ryoshu muttered, preparing to take notes.

[Name: Amemura Ryoshu]

His eyes widened in shock.

‘Wait… That’s my Rainfall Disorder username. Why did they use this instead of my real name?’

A million theories flooded his mind.

‘Whoever did this… knew my in-game name? But I never made any enemies, did I…?’

Shaking his head, he forced himself to focus.

‘No point overthinking it now. I need to check my stats.’

[Mana: Null]

"I knew it," Ryoshu let out a loud sigh but didn’t forget to jot it down in his notebook.

For speedrun players, Mana is a necessity—without it, they would immediately reset the game. But in this case, Ryoshu didn’t have that option, or at least he assumed so, since he wasn’t about to risk killing himself to find out.

'Luckily, there are still ways to work around this issue, though they take some time.'

He wrote down both solutions in his notebook, knowing he would definitely have to go through with both.

‘First is utilizing the scarce resources available. This is a long-term solution. The second method works immediately, but… it involves exploiting game glitches, and…’

Ryoshu leaned back in his wooden chair, staring at the ceiling.

‘I… am not a Player…’

If he couldn’t use glitches, it would heavily impact his plans since most speedrun strategies relied on exploiting game bugs, whether big or small. If he couldn’t take advantage of them, his chances of either completing the game or surviving in this world would drop significantly.

However, he wasn’t entirely sure yet.

'Who said only Players could use glitches? I have to test it myself. But first, let’s check my stats.'

The second crucial thing was the Primary Stats.

[Primary Stats]

Strength: (F-)

Endurance: (F-)

Agility: (F-)

Intuition: (F)

With stats this terrible, he was only slightly above an average person and wasn’t strong at all, even compared to other kids his age. Typically, children around his age would have stats around F+ or E-, making his character seem utterly worthless in comparison.

Thankfully, Primary Stats could be improved relatively easily through diligent training.

Next, Ryoshu glanced at his Secondary Stats, though he wasn’t expecting much.

[Secondary Stats]

Charm: (Unranked)

Regeneration: (F-)

Intelligence: (F+)

"Perfect...! It’s not amazing, but at least it’s good enough to use a trick."

A common early-game strategy was to purchase passive skills that increased Skill Experience gain, helping to level up combat skills faster. However, those skills had requirements—such as having an Intelligence stat of F+ or higher.

Ryoshu’s watch was a low-quality model, so he couldn’t check his current skills. He planned to buy a better one later.

For now, he will visit the Adventurers’ Guild tomorrow to have his skills appraised.

"I’ve cleared the hardest requirement! Now I just need enough money."

[Account Balance: 103.5 RC]

RC, short for Reunion Coin, was humanity’s official currency, managed by the Reunion Corporation in cooperation with the government. In the real world, 1 RC was equivalent to 1 USD.

Ryoshu could only let out a long sigh in response.

"Even inside the game, I’m broke as hell."

'100 RC... that's just 100 dollars... But I need way more… a whole lot more.'

Now that he had confirmed his poverty, Ryoshu quickly jotted down plans to make money in the future.

Because there was one thing he understood better than anyone else—the tuition fees of Spiral Academy were far from cheap.

To put it into perspective, a loaf of bread cost around 1–2 RC, while basic rent was about 1,500 RC per month.

Most people would assume the academy’s tuition would be similar to real-world standards—maybe 10,000 RC per year, or at worst, 25,000 RC.

But the real number?

80,000 RC per year.

Eight times the expected amount.

An absolutely insane figure, especially for someone like him, who barely had a single cent to his name.

Fortunately, students weren’t required to pay the full tuition upfront. The academy split it into two payments—one at the beginning and one at the end of the year.

However, if a student failed to pay, they would end up in debt to the school. And if the debt dragged on too long, they could potentially face legal consequences.

Ryoshu had no financial backing, meaning if the government forced him to sign a loan contract he couldn’t repay, he would go to prison for fraud and financial misappropriation. An 80,000 RC debt carried a 12 to 20-year sentence under the law.

‘Though, let’s be honest—I wouldn’t even survive long enough to finish my sentence. But prison is one of the last places I’d ever want to end up… based on my experience.’

Factoring in expenses for food, living costs, and housing, Ryoshu would need to earn nearly 100,000 RC within the next year.

If he managed to get a scholarship, he could potentially cut down the tuition by 30% to 50%.

But securing a scholarship was no easy feat—Spiral Academy was filled with monsters. Without talent, getting a scholarship was nothing more than a delusional fantasy.

‘This money situation is a real problem. If I don’t pay, I might actually end up in prison…’

Just thinking about it gave Ryoshu a headache.

He had no clue what the previous owner of this body had been thinking.

'Why the hell did my character apply to the world’s number 1 academy despite having zero talent and zero money? What kind of delusion was he living in? Or was he actually from some ridiculously wealthy family…?'