⸢ I want to dream. I know I sound pathetic saying that, but I never want to feel the painful loneliness that consumes me ever again. If I can't find happiness despite all my attempts, then my life has no meaning. I want to lose myself in this dream and never come back. ⸥

I was slowly beginning to open my eyes, a blinding light from above me was shining, and my ears were buzzing. I could hear screams, cries, and shouts of pain coming from all around me. I was lying with my back against the ground. Trying to sit up, I couldn't move my legs; they were paralyzed. I then tried to roll onto my side, using my arms for support.

Gathering all my strength, I clumsily managed to roll onto my side, gradually opening my eyes fully. I found myself in the center of a round room, with a dome above me filtering the sunlight that reached me. Around me, six marble pillars were symmetrically arranged in a circle, the gilding and numerous decorations in the room left me speechless. After a few long minutes, I finally found the strength to stand up, and I began to stagger slowly toward one of the gigantic mirrors hanging on the walls of the room. But what I saw there petrified me.

I realized with horror that I didn't recognize the person reflected in the mirror; I was a perfect stranger. My 17-year-old body was gone, replaced by long legs. Before me stood a young adult man in his twenties, maybe even older, with a tanned complexion, shiny beads of sweat running down his forehead, his black hair tousled falling over his face supported by two perfectly aligned shoulders. Troubled, I couldn't make sense of it. Just moments ago, I was sure I was dead after jumping off a bridge, giving up on life.

After a long moment of contemplating my body in the mirror, wondering if all of this was real, I realized that the voices and cries in my head had stopped. The piercing pain in my skull, however, wouldn't stop, but that pain was nothing compared to the cries of pain I had heard, which, for some reason, tore at my heart deeply, filling my eyes with tears.

Suddenly, the ground beneath my feet began to tremble, my vision blurred, and I felt myself falling through the floor, sinking into darkness. This sensation of falling wasn't unpleasant; it reminded me of the feeling of freedom I had experienced when jumping off the bridge just moments before.

This falling sensation into darkness lasted a good minute before a bright light blinded me. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself atop a hill in the center of a small island, the wind blowing through tall grass. Overwhelmed by the landscape before me, I collapsed to my knees. Everything seemed so gray; deep down, I knew I was back in my own body, so weak.

I was startled when I saw, just beside me, a black silhouette in the right corner of my field of vision. A person stood there, wearing a long black coat billowing in the wind, their eyes shining with a bright white light, silently staring at me. Their body seemed formed of a thick opaque black smoke that gave the impression of being able to absorb everything they encountered, even light.

I found the courage to ask, "Who are you?"

I don't know why, but as I uttered those words, tears began to flow down the man's face. He wiped them away with a sleeve.

"I didn't think I'd be so emotional."

He took a deep breath and continued, "Do you want to know who I am?"

I nodded, surprised to hear such a melancholic voice as if all the misery in the world were embodied in a single entity.

An enigmatic smile appeared on his face, or at least from what I could see.

"Me, who am I? I am the alpha and the omega. The all and the nothing. The memory and the presence. The absence and the remorse. The past and the future. Knowledge and ignorance. I am ■■■."

His last word didn't reach me, as if it were stifled, drowned out by the surrounding noise—the sound of the wind rustling through the tall grass, the crashing waves colliding with the distant shore.

"If I were to compare myself to something you know, I would say—God."

God? How could that be? I didn't think a god would be so familiar with someone like me. Had he taken pity on me? In truth, I didn't think I had ever been close enough to anyone for them to speak to me so familiarly.

"If I brought you here, it's because I appreciate you."

"You appreciate me?"

"Yes." He approached me, bending his knees to meet my gaze, into which he plunged his luminescent eyes that revealed nothing. "We're not so different, you and I. I'd like you to help me. Despite all the power I possess, there's still one question I haven't been able to answer."

"Which one?"

He chuckled and stood up. "You'll know soon enough. All you have to do is live; the rest will follow naturally."

Amidst laughter, you could almost distinguish a smile on this person's face.

Suddenly, white smoke began to emanate from my feet, rising towards the sky.

"Oh, it looks like we're running out of time. You can't maintain your astral body for very long yet, so I'll make this brief. I'm giving you a second chance by reincarnating you into this world."

Despite his reassuring words, the man, or whatever he was, didn't seem real to me. His cheerful and fake consciousness couldn't stop the tears streaming down his cheeks.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

I didn't have time to hear what followed. The only thing I saw as I was once again engulfed in darkness was his lips moving without hearing anything. Only words reached me despite everything. A violent headache and ringing in my ears accompanied the indecipherable voice. "■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■."

The voice fell silent as the darkness completely engulfed me again, transporting me once more into the unknown.

Voices reached me from afar.

"Sir..."

I woke up, opening my eyes. The color of the world returned to me as I once again abandoned my frail and useless body. To find myself in the same adult body as a few moments earlier.

"Sir, are you okay? You suddenly collapsed on the side of the road; I thought you wouldn't wake up again."

I turned to find myself face to face with a young lady in her twenties, dressed in a black uniform with an insignia depicting a balance on her arms. Her fine jet-black hair was cut at shoulder level, accentuating her round face with delicate features that seemed as though they could be broken with a flick of a hand. Her slightly flushed cheeks contrasted with her large deep blue eyes that looked at me through round glasses.

Her puzzled eyes fixed on me.

"Can you walk?"

I felt uncomfortable with a woman caring for me.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. Are you worried about me? Do we know each other?"

Her face grimaced. "No, just a formality." She looked away.

I had never been very comfortable around girls, and having one so close after so many emotions disturbed me. She helped me up, holding me by the arm.

I began to stagger, trying to remain standing. She looked at me with a disdainful air, then sighed.

"I really can't leave you like this; I have to take you home."

"No, it's not necessary." Actually, I had no idea where I had landed.

"I insist; the safety of citizens is part of my duty!"

She pointed to the badge shaped like a balance on her shoulder as a sign of authority. That's right; I felt foolish. It was normal for a police officer to care for someone in distress.

She escorted me through the streets of the city. It looked like Seoul, but with one detail: it was raining when I jumped off the bridge. However, a dazzling sun was now shining in the sky above me. Something felt off; this scene seemed too perfect, almost unreal.

Her voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Come this way."

She held a heavily reinforced door bearing the same scale symbol as on her shoulder. She seemed to want to let me go first, wanting to respect the protocol, whatever it was. I hesitantly stepped towards the entrance. It was strange to see such a large door in a city.

Once we passed through the door, a long, gloomy corridor lit only by flickering dim lights in the darkness stretched out before us. She took care to close the door behind us, then she passed me and confidently strode into the corridor.

We had been walking for a good ten minutes when suddenly a deafening noise rang out. The ground began to shake beneath our feet; she fell while I clung as best I could, leaning against the wall.

Several long minutes passed before calm returned. The policewoman was lying on the ground. I then approached her to help her up.

"Are you alright? Did you get hurt?"

"No, I'm fine. Just startled." She began to dust off her jacket.

"Does this kind of thing happen often around here?" Although we were in Seoul, after everything I had experienced, I was ready to accept any reality, no matter how absurd.

I reached out my hand to help her up.

"Thank you. No, this isn't normal..."

A sinister look appeared in her eyes.

Suddenly, a transparent bright screen appeared before my eyes. A quick glance showed me that the policewoman seemed to be observing the same thing under her eyes. At the same time, a voice, half-human, and half-robotic, read out the words displayed one after the other.

[System startup.] [.] [..] [...] [Your existence is acknowledged by an entity tinged with regret.]

A deafening noise rang out, causing me to experience tinnitus. A piercing pain pierced my skull, forcing me to kneel and hold my head. Unreadable black characters appeared on my flickering and trembling screen. The muffled voice seemed to produce sounds without any sense.

[■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■]

The pain gradually subsided, allowing me to raise my head. Nothing moved before my eyes; it was as if time had stopped. The policewoman was still standing facing her screen. Mine, however, disappeared in a crackle and then reappeared immediately with a different message this time.

[An entity hears your call.] [Do you wish to launch the system? (Refusal will result in the self-destruction of this universe.)] [Yes.] [No.]

I looked at the screen incredulously. It was up to me to make such a crucial choice. I, who had never gained anyone's trust, the friendship of a companion...

I raised my hand above the word "no". I was angry; I wanted everyone to suffer as much as I had suffered. However, my death meant little to me, but the deaths of others... Even though I disliked most people, I loved this world and couldn't bring myself to lose it.

My finger descended on the screen, making contact with a surface resembling a glass pane, except that this glass was not cold but warm.

[Response recorded.] [System launch completed.] [Start of the 6th reality.] [.] [..] [...] [An entity tinged with regret thinks it would be wise to exit this reality.]

The screen closed after the voice finished speaking. To my surprise, it strangely resembled a game. And whoever the creator was, they wanted us to go there.

I turned to the policewoman to notice that time had resumed its course, and she was now looking at me with a panicked expression.

"What is this? What does it mean?"

I had to find the words to reassure her; it should be easy, after all, in Korea, people were used to video games.

"You know what a video game is, well, I'm sure it's similar. There's no need to worry; it may just be a new advanced technology system developed by the military."

Of course, I didn't believe a word of what I was saying; the words just came out naturally. I knew the Korean military couldn't deploy such a large-scale operation without apparent reason. Moreover, the earthquake that had occurred a few moments earlier didn't bode well.

I turned back to the policewoman. "Let's start by getting out of here; it would be dangerous to stay in a building if there was another tremor."

She pouted. "Alright. If you think you know what you're doing..."

She followed me as I began to turn back. I was more than surprised that someone could trust me by listening to what I had to say; it was as if for the first time in my existence, I truly existed.

As we advanced, the smell grew stronger. Although I couldn't guess where it might be coming from at the moment, this powerful smell of iron made progress difficult in the narrow, collapsing tunnel.

When we finally emerged from the tunnel, what lay before us left us speechless. The first thing I remember noticing was a thick smell hanging in the air, tearing at my lungs. I didn't immediately recognize it, but this violent smell floating in the air came from all the rubble piled along the ruined street.

The ground was littered with craters, bodies protruding from under the rubble here and there. The wind whistled violently as it passed through the dilapidated buildings.

In the distance, between two buildings, a reddish shape was outlined. I tried to elevate myself by climbing on the debris to get a better look.

A cold sweat ran down my spine. What I saw froze my blood, leaving me paralyzed in place.