I was leaning back on the couch, lazily watching TV, when the final scene of the movie flashed across the screen.
A moment later, I shot to my feet in shock.
"What the hell...? What kind of ending was that?! Why did it have to end like this?! Didn't they say this was the final installment? They're not even making a sequel!"
Groaning in frustration, I ran a hand through my long, messy black hair and let out a sigh of regret.
The movie was Pink Men—a superhero series that somehow managed to end in the most ridiculous way imaginable.
Though calling it my favorite might be a stretch.
I mainly watched it for fun.
The reason it was entertaining was precisely because it was so absurd and cliché. It wasn't the kind of story that demanded deep analysis or endless theories. You could simply turn off your brain and enjoy the ride.
The story followed four young men standing on the edge of their thirties.
Four complete strangers.
Strangers even to one another.
They shared no friendship, no history, no common ground.
The only thing connecting them was a mysterious pink box they obtained by pure chance—a box that granted them extraordinary powers.
Together, they fought against the growing chaos spreading through the city's darkest shadows.
That was how the four met.
That was how they became a team.
And somehow...
They decided to call themselves the Pink Men.
Honestly, when I first heard the name, I nearly choked.
I even left a few sarcastic comments online.
Maybe a little insulting too...
Not because I had anything against the color pink. I wasn't one of those people who attached genders to colors.
I just thought it didn't fit the story.
But as the plot progressed, I eventually realized something.
The name suited them perfectly.
Because those guys were unbelievably...
Ridiculously...
Painfully optimistic.
"Ugh..."
I rubbed my temples.
"If I were that noble and kind-hearted in real life, I'd probably be dead already."
Seriously.
Who tells their enemies their real names?
Who apologizes while punching villains?
What kind of madness possessed me to watch that movie in the first place?
Even now, I had no idea.
Still...
Putting all of that aside.
Why did the ending have to be so terrible?
After all that positivity, they deserved a beautiful conclusion.
Instead, every single one of them died in the dumbest and most random ways imaginable.
Just remembering the scene made my eye twitch.
One of them slipped on a staircase and broke his neck.
Another got hit by a bicycle while crossing on a green light.
And the rest weren't any better.
I honestly wanted to smash my head against a wall.
At least die fighting a supervillain or something.
After raging over it for several minutes, I placed a hand on my chest and forced myself to calm down.
"Relax. Deep breaths. In... out..."
Eventually, I turned off the television and collapsed back onto the couch.
Staring blankly at the ceiling, I felt completely hollow.
"At least Tina isn't home."
I chuckled.
"If she were here, she'd never stop laughing at me."
My younger sister had gone to the countryside with our parents about a week ago to visit our grandparents and relatives.
I stayed behind.
The reason was simple.
I had absolutely no desire to deal with my relatives.
Every gathering was the same.
The same questions.
The same conversations.
The same headaches.
"Why don't you have a girlfriend yet?"
"Why are you still unemployed?"
"How much money do you make?"
Endless nonsense.
As a promising twenty-six-year-old young man...
I was currently an unemployed shut-in living off my parents' money.
Heh.
Pretty pathetic.
But life was hard.
Not living.
Life itself.
I didn't know why I was like this.
It wasn't that I hated working.
Or having fun.
Or doing something meaningful.
I simply couldn't keep going.
Whenever I started pursuing something, I would eventually lose motivation halfway through and abandon it.
Sometimes I felt like I simply wasn't made for this world.
Not because I was special.
Far from it.
Rather...
The way everyone lived just didn't excite me.
Nothing had ever made my heart truly race.
Nothing had ever ignited a fire within me.
I kept searching for that feeling.
That passion.
But I never found it.
And so I drifted through a meaningless existence.
Living in my parents' house.
Spending their money.
Passing my days watching movies, reading comics, and devouring fantasy novels.
Pathetic.
And somehow it got worse.
Most people imagine themselves as the protagonist when reading a story.
They wonder what they would do in the hero's place.
But not me.
Even in fantasy worlds, I never saw myself as the main character.
I was always an extra.
A nameless background figure.
Someone destined to disappear after a single chapter.
Maybe my imagination was so limited that I couldn't even dream of becoming the hero.
Some people would call that realism.
But honestly?
I wasn't a realist at all.
"...Why am I even thinking about this nonsense?"
I shook my head.
Enough.
To clear my thoughts, I got up and headed toward the bathroom.
Standing before the sink, I looked at my reflection in the mirror.
Messy black hair hung low enough to nearly cover my eyes.
Light brown irises.
A few freckles scattered across my thin face.
Average.
That was the only word for it.
Completely ordinary.
Perhaps my eyes were the only slightly unusual feature.
Not that I disliked my appearance.
Though I wouldn't have minded being a little more muscular.
Unfortunately, exercise required effort.
And effort required motivation.
"Seriously? I came here to wash my face, not judge myself."
Mocking myself, I turned on the faucet and splashed cold water across my face.
Instant relief.
"That's better."
Then suddenly—
A chill ran through my body.
"Huh...?"
The floor seemed to tilt beneath my feet.
The walls swayed.
A crushing dizziness struck me.
I grabbed the door handle and stumbled out of the bathroom.
Then—
BOOOOOOM!!
A deafening explosion shook the entire house.
I lost my footing and crashed onto the floor.
"What the—?!"
My eyes widened.
"Was that a bomb?! Did a war start or something?!"
A crooked smile formed on my face despite the panic.
"Nah... probably just an accident nearby."
At least, that was what I wanted to believe.
"I hope nobody got hurt."
But then another explosion followed.
And another.
And another.
One after another.
The earth trembled beneath each thunderous blast.
My smile slowly disappeared.
"...No way."
A cold sensation crawled down my spine.
"Did a war really break out?"
That was impossible.
Every nation was under the authority of the Global International Union.
Wars didn't just happen overnight.
So what exactly was happening outside?
Despite the pain in my side from the fall, I slowly stood up and made my way toward the window.
Curiosity won over caution.
Pulling aside the thick gray curtain, I stared outside.
My breath caught in my throat.
A massive cloud of dust covered the city.
Black smoke rose into the sky like dark pillars.
The skyscrapers downtown had vanished behind a curtain of destruction.
Then something else caught my eye.
Cracks.
Countless cracks splitting apart the road below.
Large ones.
Small ones.
Spiderwebs of destruction spreading in every direction.
"...So I wasn't imagining things."
An earthquake.
Or perhaps something even worse.
I frowned.
"No... maybe those explosions caused it."
I pulled out my phone.
The screen lit up.
No signal.
No internet.
Nothing.
"Haha..."
My laugh sounded hollow.
"This is getting ridiculous."
Frustrated, I grabbed the TV remote and tried turning the television back on.
Nothing happened.
Only then did I notice the lights had gone out too.
The electricity was dead.
For the first time in my life, genuine fear crept into my chest.
Trying to remain calm, I picked up a water bottle from the table and took a long drink.
Gulp.
Gulp.
Much better.
Leaning back on the couch, I forced myself to think rationally.
There was nowhere to go.
The safest choice was staying home and waiting for official announcements.
Whatever had happened, the government would explain it soon enough.
Still...
Maybe I should prepare for the worst.
Food.
Water.
Emergency supplies.
Just in case.
Since the formation of the International Union, there hadn't been a major war for decades.
Maybe it was terrorism.
Maybe a disaster.
Yet something about the scale of those explosions felt wrong.
Far too wrong.
As I wrestled with countless possibilities, a mechanical voice suddenly echoed inside my head.
[Welcome to the Global Game.]
The words were short.
Clear.
Impossible.
I laughed.
"Okay... now I'm hallucinating."
My imagination wasn't that powerful.
There was no way—
A glowing orange window suddenly appeared before my eyes.
Floating in midair.
My entire body froze.
Then I fell backward in shock and slammed into the edge of the table.
"Ugh!"
Staring at the hovering screen, I swallowed hard.
[Congratulations. You have been selected by the System.]
My pupils contracted.
A foolish grin spread across my face.
I grabbed my chin.
"Wait... this is real?"
I'd read countless stories like this before.
System users.
Awakened individuals.
Chosen heroes.
But never—not even once—had I imagined becoming one myself.
So that voice hadn't been a hallucination after all.
For a brief moment, excitement surged through me.
Then reality hit.
"Stop."
I shook my head.
"Don't get carried away."
Even if I really had awakened...
There was no way I was the protagonist.
I wasn't some genius.
I wasn't a tragic hero.
I hadn't suffered unimaginable hardships.
I wasn't a villain seeking redemption.
I was just an ordinary man.
An unemployed nobody who hadn't even tried hard enough in life.
None of the qualifications for becoming a legendary protagonist applied to me.
Of course, stories always had exceptions.
But I doubted I was one of them.
Still...
If this System was real, then survival came first.
I looked back at the floating window.
A small downward arrow blinked beneath the message.
I tapped it.
The screen expanded.
New information appeared.
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System Chosen Profile
Strength: 0
Agility: 0
Vitality: 5
Endurance: -100
Persistent Energy: Unknown
Blessing: None
Abilities: None
Warning: Until your Endurance reaches zero, none of your other attributes can increase.
Note: Tutorial Phase begins at Level 10.
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