[System Message]
Welcome, Player. Would you like to read the Terms & Conditions?
You would have said no.
Kai Venn didn't.
Kai woke to a sound that lagged half a second behind reality, like the world needed extra time to process itself. He opened his eyes slowly, expecting the same ceiling—plain white, faint stain near the light, the soft shadow of a curtain shifting with the morning air.
Everything was normal.
Except for the one thing that wasn't supposed to be there.
A translucent blue interface floated in front of his eyes.
It wasn't a screen. It wasn't a reflection. It didn't belong to anything.
It simply… existed.
He blinked once. It didn't disappear.
He blinked again. Still there.
Slowly, he reached out. His fingers passed through it, but the surface rippled like disturbed water, reacting to his touch.
He pulled his hand back immediately, his heartbeat picking up.
"…A dream."
But his voice sounded too real.
His gaze shifted to the table beside him. The cup of coffee he'd left there the night before was still in place—cold, untouched.
And labeled.
[System Message]
Item Identified: Stamina Potion (Common)
Effect: Restores minor energy
Duration: 5 minutes
Kai froze.
"…No."
He picked up the cup, turning it slightly as if expecting to find a hidden projector or some kind of trick.
Nothing.
"…I'm hallucinating."
Still, he drank it.
The taste was exactly what he expected—stale, bitter, terrible.
But a moment later, the heaviness in his body eased. Not completely, but enough to notice.
[System Message]
Effect Activated: Stamina Recovery
+5 Energy
His grip tightened slightly around the cup.
"…Okay."
He exhaled slowly.
"This isn't normal."
A pause.
"…But I can work with it."
[System Message]
System Initialization: 72%…
His expression dropped.
"No."
[System Message]
System Initialization: 89%…
"No, no—"
[System Message]
System Initialization: 100%
Welcome to the Game, Player #KV-47X
Please sign the Covenant to proceed.
A single button appeared.
[ACCEPT]
Nothing else.
No cancel option. No settings. No exit.
Kai stepped closer. The button flickered slightly, almost like it was… waiting.
He let out a short, humorless laugh.
"Even the apocalypse has bad UI."
Then he pressed it.
[System Message]
Covenant Accepted.
Silence followed. Heavy. Pressing.
[System Message]
Analyzing User…
Assigning Class…
Kai didn't move. His eyes stayed locked on the text.
[System Message]
Class Assigned: The Programmer (Forbidden)
Rarity: Unclassified
Warning: This class is considered a system exploit.
Administrators have been notified.
"…Forbidden?"
The word lingered in his mind.
Then reality broke.
For a single instant—short, but enough—everything turned into code. Walls became numbers, the floor dissolved into equations, even his own hand fractured into shifting lines of data.
Something moved in that space.
Something vast.
Something that noticed him.
Then it was gone.
Kai stumbled back, breathing hard. He dragged a hand across his face.
"…That's bad."
[System Message]
Debuff Applied: System Alert
Description: Administrators are watching you
He slowly lifted his head.
"…Who?"
No answer came.
He stepped outside.
That was his second mistake.
The street wasn't the same anymore.
A man stood near the sidewalk, laughing into his phone—then froze mid-sentence. His eyes flashed gold, and a thin bar appeared above his head, rising quickly before vanishing.
[System Message]
Level Up!
The man looked around in confusion, panic creeping into his expression.
Across the street, a woman ran, glancing behind her as if something was chasing her.
There was nothing there.
Still, she screamed.
[System Message]
Quest Failed
She disappeared.
No light. No sound. No trace.
Just… gone.
Kai didn't move.
Couldn't.
His body refused.
Then he looked up.
And wished he hadn't.
The sky wasn't a sky anymore.
It was filled with text—massive, endless, stretching across the horizon.
[System Message]
Global Event Triggered: Rampaging Data Corruption
Status: Active
Difficulty: ???
Kai swallowed hard.
"I need to wake up."
He didn't.
Slowly, he opened his interface.
[System Message]
Name: Kai Venn
Class: The Programmer (Lv. 1)
Skills: Code Vision (Passive), Quest Rewrite (Lv. 1)
Debuffs: System Alert
Corruption: 5%
His eyes locked onto a single word.
"Corruption…"
It felt wrong. Like it didn't belong to him.
Not yet.
[System Message]
New Quest: Survive the First Day
Time Remaining: 23:59:12
Reward: ???
"A timer?"
He looked around again.
People running. Sirens in the distance. Glass shattering. Things moving at the edge of his vision, gone the moment he tried to focus.
Then—
He heard it.
A crackling sound.
Like a broken file trying to breathe.
He turned.
And saw it.
Something that should have been human.
But wasn't anymore.
Its body was made of shifting static, never holding one shape for long. Its face flickered—features forming and collapsing—until it settled into a single expression:
ERROR 404
[System Message]
Enemy Detected: Data Corruption (Lv. ??)
Threat Level: High
It opened its mouth.
The sound that came out wasn't a scream.
It was broken code tearing through the air.
Kai stepped back.
"…No."
Another step.
"No, no—"
Then it moved.
Too fast.
Kai ran.
No thinking. No planning.
Just instinct.
[System Message]
Skill Activated: Code Vision
The world shifted again.
Walls became transparent. Paths revealed themselves. Reality broke into lines and coordinates.
"Right—"
He turned sharply, avoiding a collision he somehow knew was coming.
The sound behind him grew closer.
Faster.
Closer.
"Don't—"
He slipped into a narrow alley, lost his footing, and hit the ground hard, sliding a short distance before stopping.
The sound—
Stopped.
Silence.
Heavy. Sudden.
Kai lifted his head slowly.
Nothing.
He breathed.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
[System Message]
Quest Updated: Survive the First Day
Progress: 1%
A tired laugh escaped him.
"One percent…"
He leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them again.
"…Alright."
He pushed himself up, dust clinging to his clothes, heart still racing.
Then he exhaled.
And muttered—
"…Let's play."