Yoo Hyun was just a regular high school student, who was no different from the others packed into the train that evening. There were students in uniforms, tired office workers, a few random passengers…well, it was the usual rush hour crowd, after all.
Luckily, his favorite seat near the window got empty after a while, just like always. He slid into it with a quiet sigh of relief and pulled out his smartphone.
"Let's see…" he muttered as his thumb scrolled lazily through his webnovel app. He opened his library. Most of the novels were already marked as completed. And nothing new caught his eye.
"Tch… don't tell me I've read everything again," he grumbled, slouching deeper into the seat. Damn it…Searching for a new book felt like such a pain. It always was.
Then something pale flashed on the screen. "Aha," Yoo Hyun breathed as his eyes lightened up a bit. A novel version of that famous MMRPG, The World of Mages.
Tap!
He tapped the cover, and the book flickered briefly before opening. He'd already maxed out the game, played every event, and cleared almost every quest. It was his escape when he wasn't stuck studying or wasting energy on volleyball after getting hyped by Haikyuu!! only to quit a week later.
Well…Reality hit differently.
Yoo Hyun learned that the hard way. He was one of those idiots who tried jumping like the characters and ended up with a dislocated knee.
It still throbbed sometimes. He shifted uncomfortably, glancing down at his leg.
"Damn that short orange…" he muttered, lips tugging into a pout as he tapped on the first chapter.
The screen loaded. He squinted at the app. Because the first sentence of the first chapter was non other than:
'You are an idiot.'
He blinked.
"…Is this novel mocking me?" he muttered as his eyes narrowed suspiciously at the glowing screen.
World of Mages had always been a massive hit, especially the game version. It was flashy, addictive, and full of cool characters. And it was based on modern plus magical world, which was a new taste than those medieval settings.
Not to mention it contain rifts, monsters and hunter tropes with it's mage and magic school settings, which was actually really cool.
But funny enough, it originally came from a webnovel, one that never really got popular.
Fans said the novel was disappointing compared to the game. The pacing was slow, the main character was too bland, and the plot was messy. Most people warned others:
"Don't bother with the novel if you love the game. It's like watching a bad live-action after loving the anime."
Still, he was curious.
Just as he was about to read the first chapter, the train suddenly let out a sharp, hissing noise, as if it were slamming the brakes.
"Wha-?!" he flinched as his whole body jerked sideways. His phone slipped from his hands and clattered to the floor.
Eyes wide and heart pounding, he quickly bent down to grab it. Around him, confused voices buzzed. He sat up straight, head whipping left and right. Something felt wrong.
The train wasn't moving anymore.
"What's going on?" someone asked in a nervous voice nearby. "Did the train break down or something?"
More people stood up from their seats, muttering and looking around. The tension was rising. Because no announcement came from the staff members, nor did they bother to appear.
The train had stopped completely, and outside the windows was nothing but darkness. It was stopped in the middle of nowhere. There were no stations or roads.
No one knew where they were…
"What the heck is going on? Shouldn't they at least announce something?" someone complained loudly in a sharp and panicked voice.
Right then, a scream rang out from one of the nearby compartments.
Yoo Hyun's fingers curled tightly around his phone as he shot up from his seat. His heart skipped a beat. Carefully, he walked toward the glass door that separated their train car from the next. The glass was cloudy and scratched, making it impossible to see clearly through.
The screaming didn't stop. It only grew louder and more desperate. It was coming closer.
"What the heck…?" someone muttered behind him.
"Did someone summon Omniscient Reader or what!" another voice joked, a shaky laugh following after. Even in a tense situation like this, someone was trying to crack novel references.
Yoo Hyun's eye twitched slightly. Of course. A hardcore webnovel fan, just like him. Even when the world felt like it was falling apart, someone had to throw in a fiction joke.
"I think it's Upper Moon Six!" someone else chimed in, playing along with the first guy.
"Just shut up! This isn't Infinity Train! And it's Lower Moon One, not Upper Six. Ah, what am I even saying?!" a girl who looked like same age as Yoo Hyun, snapped as her voice cracked from both fear and frustration.
She looked around at the others, especially the students. "You guys need to shut up, seriously! Can someone figure out what's actually happening?!"
"Aw, come on," the first guy said again, shrugging. "It's probably just a prank by the cabin crew. Like, some anniversary surprise or something."
Yoo Hyun turned his head slowly to glance at him. Lee Jin Woo, his classmate and well, his childhood friend... That guy never took anything seriously. Of course he'd be making jokes at a time like this. He was the kind of idiot who'd probably wave at Death itself and laugh while doing it.
Then the train suddenly jolted hard.
A loud crash shook the floor as everyone screamed and scrambled to grab onto something. Yoo Hyun nearly fell over. His phone almost slipped again, but he managed to hold onto it. Well, it was his life after all.
The screams were right next door now. So close.
Yoo Hyun slowly turned his eyes back to the glass door. His breathing was uneven. He stared, trying to make something out in the murky glass, but it was no use. He couldn't see a thing.
But he could feel it. Something was right there, just on the other side.
"Make way," someone said, pushing forward through the crowd.
"Can you see anything, Yoo Hyun?" Jin Woo asked, squinting his eyes, like narrowing them would magically clear the glass. "Only if I had Igris with me," he muttered under his breath.
Yoo Hyun gave him a blank look.
Seriously?
Was this guy actually stupid?
Yes.
Yes, he was.
That's exactly why Yoo Hyun couldn't stand him. Jin Woo never took anything seriously, not even when everything felt like it was falling apart.
But then,
THUD!
Something massive slammed into the glass door.
Everyone near it gasped and stumbled back in panic.
"What was that?!" A girl cried in a trembling voice.
THUD.
Again, louder this time. The glass quivered under the pressure.
"Train to Busan," Jin Woo mumbled, trying to force a smile, but the fear written all over his face ruined it. "I think."
crack!
CRASH!
The glass shattered.
Screams erupted all around as people scattered. Yoo Hyun was yanked backward by the collar just in time. Jin Woo had grabbed him and pulled both of them down to the floor.
They hit the ground hard.
Others pushed and tripped over each other, trying to run to the other end of the car, but the doors were jammed. The exit wouldn't open. They were trapped.
"What- the heck?!" Jin Woo groaned, scrambling up on his elbows.
Then he saw it.
A monstrous creature stepped through the broken doorway, it was a part wolf, part man. Its limbs were too long and its eyes gleamed with hunger.
Jin Woo's jaw dropped. "P-Professor Lupin?!"
"You goddamn idiot!" Yoo Hyun snapped as he sprang up behind him.
The werewolf-like beast raised a hand, it's claws flashing like blades. It was about to slice Jin Woo in half.
Yoo Hyun didn't think. He hurled his smartphone straight at the creature's face. Ah here, his life was gone.
"Don't stand there like a statue!"
The phone smacked the beast with a thunk, just enough of a distraction for Yoo Hyun to grab Jin Woo by the shirt and yank him back.
But in doing so, he ended up right in front. The first in line to the hell.
Well, his mother once told him that, he should go first if he want to grab most valuable things. Early birds get the worm. He didn't know why that memory flashed at that time.
The creature's focus shifted to him.
Realizing it too late, he hesitated. His breath caught in his throat. Slowly, he turned toward the monster towering over him.
"I FOUND YOU."
It screeched in a high-pitched voice that rattled his ears.
Yoo Hyun smiled awkwardly with trembling lips. His hands clenched into fists.
The creature lunged, claws slashing forward in a blur.
He didn't even have time to move. It all happened in seconds.
"I am…" he whispered, frozen as those claws came within inches of his body.
"…an idiot."
***
[EX.T.R.A. System Booting...]
[Detected: Fatal Scenario.]
[Activating Emergency Transmigration Protocol.]