Kang blinked.
White.
Again.
The same sterile, endless void of the system — no sound, no ground, no horizon, just the quiet hum of something pretending to be a game praying he wouldn't notice the cracks.
SYSTEM UI*
Weapons
Armour
Status
Relationship Links
Party Members
Level Up
Items
He dragged the screen down with a finger.
A new option faded in.
SETTINGS.
"…Settings?"
He tilted his head.
"That's a new one."
He tapped it.
SYSTEM UI*
Graphics
Difficulty
Controls
Language
inner thoughts — difficulty?
He muttered under his breath,
"…So it really is just like a game, huh?"
He tapped it.
DIFFICULTY MENU
A full new pop-up appeared, glowing faint blue.
Child Mode → Practically impossible to lose; intended for children
Easy → For players who only care about the story
Normal → The intended difficulty the game is meant to be played at
Hard → New attack patterns, enemies hit harder
Hell → Practically impossible; only for veterans
Kang raised an eyebrow.
"…Huh."
He reached out to try one—
—but froze.
All five difficulties were locked.
Greyed out.
Unselectable.
He scrolled down, confused.
Another one appeared.
One he'd never seen before.
A golden star glowed beside the name.
⭐ WHEEL OF FATE
Difficulty: Locked
Exclusive User: Kang Jaehyun
Required Class: Godspinner
GLOBAL EFFECTS:
• Every enemy spawns at Level 90 minimum
• All enemies become Supercharged Demonfied
• Normal → Elite
• Elite → Catastrophic
• Story bosses → Superboss-tier
…and the list continued, scrolling downward endlessly
DIFFICULTY LOCK:
Cannot be changed by:
• Items
• Spells
• Time resets
• Exploits
• Hacks
• Reality warping
• Dimensional interference
(etc.)
WORLD RESTRICTIONS:
• Timeline won't wait
• Mandatory quests
• World continues even if Kang doesn't
• Failing to progress = consequences
PLAYER LIMITATIONS:
• Exhaustion knocks you out
• Some entities ignore world logic
REWARD:
???
???
???
At the bottom…
One final line.
goodluck.
All lowercase.
No period.
Almost mocking.
Kang stared at it silently.
"…You've gotta be kidding me."
Kang sighed as he felt something tug sharply at his arm.
At first it was faint — like a glitch tugging at an avatar model.
Then stronger.
Then real.
"…what the hell?!"
His body jerked forward — violently — and the entire white void shattered around him like glass breaking underwater.
"Kang."
A voice.
"Kang."
Closer.
"KANG — hey, I'm talking to you!"
He blinked — hard.
The white light dissolved into colour.
Sound returned piece by piece.
Air filled his lungs again.
And suddenly—
He was back.
The grass swayed.
The sky glowed faint gold.
The World Tree hummed in the distance.
Wind brushed against his face.
And right next to him—
Kwon Sohyun.
Her fists were knotted around his sleeve, dragging him halfway toward her, her face inches from his.
"What the hell happened to you?" she demanded.
Kang just stared.
Not at her expression.
Not at her grip.
Not even at her irritation.
He stared at the impossible fact that—
She pulled him out.
His breath caught.
Inner thoughts — did she just… drag me out?
Her fingers were still gripping him.
Still solid.
Still warm.
No glitching.
No fuzzing through polygons.
Not like an NPC.
Not like code.
Like a real person.
Kwon scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"You were staring at the trees for, like… thirty minutes. Are you on mushrooms?"
Kang stuttered, voice cracking.
"S—sorry… my bad."
But his eyes didn't leave her.
He slowly looked above her head — at the faint UI tag hovering there.
Kwon Sohyun — Level 5
Health: 100 / 100
Mana: 50 / 50
Class → You haven't reached the requirements to analyse this yet…
Weapons — None
His heart tightened.
Inner thoughts — I wonder what you are…
She pulled him out of the void.
She interacted with the system.
She existed in a way NPCs didn't.
He muttered softly — almost to himself:
"…What is this world?"
He thought to himself, sinking back into his own head—
BANG.
A UI window slammed into his vision with the force of a horror-movie jumpscare.
Kang physically jerked, stumbling back with a tiny, undignified yelp.
SYSTEM POP-UP*
Intelligence → Level 2 / 5
Congratulations.
The box sparkled.
Mockingly.
Then vanished.
Kwon blinked slowly.
"…What is wrong with you?" she asked, her tone flat enough to kill a plant.
Kang cleared his throat, trying to salvage what pride he had left.
"Oh— there was a bug."
Kwon narrowed her eyes like she didn't believe a single word, but she didn't push it.
Kang sighed… and then noticed something new hovering above her head.
BATTLE ROLE — DPS DEALER
He froze.
Inner voice — Battle role? That wasn't there before…
He immediately checked his own UI.
And instead of a role, he saw:
Battle Role —
You haven't unlocked the requirements to analyse this yet…
Kang stared at the text.
Then at Kwon.
Then at the text again.
Kwon raised an eyebrow.
"…Why are you staring so hard?"
She clicked her tongue.
Kang panicked slightly.
"N—nothing, nothing! It's not like that."
He quickly turned away, staring up at the floating World Tree — its massive form suspended like a divine monolith.
Inner thoughts — Yeah she absolutely hates me…
He sighed, then spoke aloud.
"You ready?"
He stepped forward.
Kwon followed immediately behind him.
"I was ready half an hour ago, you know that, right?"
Kang walked ahead, the grass brushing softly against his boots as he approached the World Tree towering in the distance.
Kwon followed behind him, arms crossed, eyes narrowed like she was ready to punch the first thing that annoyed her.
But Kang didn't hear her footsteps.
Didn't hear the wind.
Didn't hear anything.
Because something else caught his attention.
He slowed.
Then stopped.
"…Kwon," he whispered.
She looked up from her annoyance.
"What now?"
Kang stared at the gigantic, inverted-now-upright World Tree — its bark glowing faintly, its roots pulsing like veins of light.
"I swear…" he muttered, eyes narrowing as he stepped closer, "…it wasn't this bright before."
The light shimmered again.
Stronger.
Alive.
The branches trembled.
A low hum vibrated through the ground beneath their feet — soft at first, then growing, like the heartbeat of something ancient waking from a long sleep.
Kwon shivered.
"…What was that?"
Kang exhaled slowly.
"I think the tree just changed."
He didn't know what that meant.
But the system did.
Because a faint chime echoed in the sky—
so quiet only he seemed to hear it.
A new window flickered in the corner of his vision.
SYSTEM POP-UP*
WORLD TREE — AWAKE
Kang's breath caught.
The light intensified.
Shadows shifted.
Something stirred deep within the roots.
He took a step back.
"…Kwon," he whispered, voice low.
"Yeah?" she muttered.
He stared at the glowing titan before them.
"…Is it… moving?"
The World Tree pulsed again.
As if answering him.
And the hum grew louder.