After being dragged home by a knight whose face I can't even remember—
my world ended.
BOOM.BOOM.BOOM.BOOM.
Explosions thundered somewhere far away, shaking the walls of the estate. Servants screamed. Steel clashed. Something—someone—was dying.
I didn't move.
I couldn't.
I lay on the cold stone floor like a discarded object, empty, hollow, already half-dead.
Then—
CRACK.
A whip tore across my bare back.
Pain exploded through me, ripping my mind back into my body.
"Aaaaarrrghhh!"
My scream echoed uselessly through the room.
Through blurred, tear-filled eyes, I saw them.
My siblings.
Same blood. Same face.
Nothing else in common.
"How…?" I whispered, my throat raw. "Why…?"
One of them laughed.
"How can trash like you be a child of the Azure Household?" he sneered. "You're weak. Pathetic. I even heard you can't use a single sword form."
Before the sentence finished—
SHNK.
A blade pierced my leg.
"Aaaaarrrrghhh!"
My body convulsed. Blood soaked into the floor beneath me.
"Stop."
The voice was calm.
Cold.
Final.
I knew instantly—this one was the leader.
Not because of his clothes. Not because of his weapon.
Because of how he stood.
Because of how he looked at me—
like I was something already dead.
He approached slowly, boots tapping against stone, while I sobbed and bled.
"Do you want us to stop?" he asked softly.
"Yes!" I screamed. "Please—yes!"
"Fine."
He crouched and placed something in front of my face, wrapped in paper.
I couldn't see it clearly.
The smell hit me first.
Rotten. Foul. Inhuman.
"If you eat that horse shit," he said casually, "I won't harm you."
"…What?" My voice broke. "That's not—humans can't—"
SHNK.
The second blade went into my other leg.
Fear erased everything.
I started eating it.
Warm. Wet. Filthy.
"EWWWWW!"
All three burst into laughter.
I gagged. Sobbed. Chewed.
Tears streamed down my face as I swallowed something no living being should ever consume.
I wasn't a human anymore.
I was less than an animal.
"I… I'm done…" I whispered, my stomach twisting violently.
"Hm." The leader straightened. "Well, guys, I can't harm him now."
Relief flickered—
For less than a heartbeat.
CRACK.
My head smashed into the floor.
Pain detonated inside my skull. I felt something break.
"B–but… that wasn't the deal…?"
The leader smiled.
Wide.
Twisted.
Insane.
"What deal?" he asked. "I said I wouldn't harm you."
His eyes gleamed.
"I never said they wouldn't."
I hate everyone.
Why am I alive?
Why don't I just die?
Please.
Kill me.
Kill me.
Kill me.
The thoughts looped endlessly, crushing everything else.
Time lost meaning.
"He's still alive," one of them muttered, surprised.
"Wow," the leader laughed. "That's impressive."
He counted casually.
"After smashing his head ten times. Cutting him open. Forcing filth down his throat until he passed out. Stabbing his neck to wake him. Dragging him outside. Drowning him in the lake…"
He tilted his head.
"…He's still alive."
I couldn't move.
My body wasn't mine anymore—just broken flesh, shattered bones, punctured skin.
The taste wouldn't leave.
It burned my throat. Filled my lungs. Stole my breath.
"Get a rock," the leader said.
A massive stone rolled toward me.
They tied a rope around it.
Then around my leg.
No hesitation.
No mercy.
The rock was pushed.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Their laughter followed me as my body was dragged forward.
The lake swallowed me.
Cold.
Dark.
Heavy.
My lungs burned.
My vision faded.
I suffocated.
And finally—
I died.
RING—RING—RING!
The class bell rang.
And just like that, the classroom shattered into chaos.
Chairs scraped the floor. Laughter burst out in waves. Someone yelled about a game, another about lunch, another about a fight that might happen after school. Groups formed naturally—like they always did. The popular kids gathered by the windows. The loud ones claimed the back seats. Even the students everyone avoided had each other.
Everyone belonged somewhere.
Everyone except one boy.
Ayo.
He remained seated, hands resting quietly on his desk, eyes unfocused. No one spoke to him. No one ever did. In the entire year, he had exchanged words with only two classmates, and even that was accidental.
By definition, a loner.
Not tragic. Not special.
Just… invisible.
It was a normal day.
Just like every other day.
Until the light came.
At first, it was faint—like sunlight reflecting off glass. Then it grew blinding, swallowing the walls, the desks, the voices. Screams barely had time to form.
Before anyone could react—
We vanished.
When I opened my eyes again, the world had lost all color.
White stretched endlessly in every direction—no floor, no ceiling, no horizon. It felt less like standing in a room and more like floating inside a thought.
Around us stood beings beyond reason.
Men and women with wings—some feathered, some made of light, others carved from shadows that moved on their own. Their eyes glowed with calm superiority. Power radiated from them so intensely that breathing felt heavy.
"What is all this?" the class president demanded, forcing confidence into her voice.
One of the winged beings stepped forward.
"We apologize for summoning you," he said calmly, "but we require your assistance in saving our world."
A murmur spread through the students.
"Why don't you do it yourselves?" someone shouted. "Aren't you gods?"
"Yes," the god replied simply. "We are."
"Then why us?"
The god smiled.
"Because if we solved everything ourselves… it would be boring."
The word echoed strangely, as if reality itself accepted it.
"Let me explain," the god continued. "Imagine your favorite anime. When it grows dull, you could rewrite the entire plot, erase all conflict, give everyone a happy ending."
He paused.
"But would that satisfy you?"
Silence.
"No. You want struggle. You want despair and hope. You want unpredictability."
He spread his wings.
"So I took you from your god. He lost a bet. And now, I've placed you into my own story."
Gasps filled the white void.
"Try your best to entertain me."
After answering a few more questions—about magic, monsters, and survival—the god snapped his fingers.
Poof.
One by one, the students vanished into streams of light.
"High school students summoned from another world to prevent imminent destruction."
"Huh?"
The words slipped from my mouth before I could stop them.
The white space was suddenly empty.
Except for me.
"Why am I still here?" I muttered, looking around.
The god frowned.
"…That's strange. Only twenty students were supposed to enter."
"Um," I said quietly, raising a hand, "we're twenty-one."
"WHAT?!"
The god's composure shattered.
"Can you send me back?" I asked.
"No," he replied flatly. "If your soul returns now, it will be erased completely."
"…Why?"
"I don't know," he snapped. "You're not my problem. Another god will deal with you."
He vanished.
One by one, I was rejected.
A god of war laughed and turned away.A goddess of wisdom claimed my existence was an error unworthy of correction.A laughing trickster god said I'd make a good punchline and disappeared.
I was small.
Too small for gods.
Then—
"Excuse me."
The voice was gentle.
I turned.
She stood apart from the others, as if the space itself bowed around her.
She was beautiful.
No—radiant.
Pink hair flowed like liquid light, shimmering with every movement. Her golden eyes held entire sunsets within them. Her skin was pale as untouched snow, and a soft golden aura wrapped around her form like a living halo.
Compared to her—
I felt microscopic.
A grain of dust before a star.
"I apologize," she said softly. "A mistake was made."
Her voice wasn't commanding. It wasn't distant.
It was warm.
"Do you wish to die," she asked gently, "or enter a world?"
She waited.
"Hello?" she said again, tilting her head slightly.
"You're beautiful," I said without thinking.
The words escaped me naturally, without fear.
Her entire face turned red.
"H–human! What do you think you're doing?!"
"I'm telling the truth," I replied calmly. "In all my years, I've never seen beauty like yours."
She stiffened.
"Of course," she said, trying to regain composure. "Gods are superior to humans in every way."
"Even among the gods here," I said, smiling faintly, "you're the most beautiful."
She froze.
Then looked away completely.
"…Why don't we get married?"
The words slipped out before logic could stop them.
"Huh?! Y–You want to marry me?!"
"Yes."
"That's impossible," she said quickly. "A human becoming a god—"
She stopped.
Her golden eyes met mine.
She studied me—not as a god observing an insect, but as someone truly looking.
Then she smiled.
"There is… a way."
She waved her hand, and the white void cracked like glass.
Beyond it stretched an endless realm.
Infinite stories.
Worlds stacked upon worlds—fantasy, horror, romance, tragedy, hope. Each story glowed like a star, constantly being born, dying, rewriting itself.
"This is the Realm of Stories," she said. "Every possible tale exists here."
"Enter one," she continued. "Create the perfect ending."
"If you succeed, you'll be granted one wish."
"Anything?" I asked.
"Anything," she replied softly. "Even becoming a god."
She hesitated.
"But you only get one chance. If you die… that's the end."
I looked at her—this overwhelming, radiant being—and felt my chest tighten.
"I've never seen anything as beautiful as you," I said quietly.
"So why wouldn't I stake my life on it?"
For a moment, her expression softened—something fragile flickering behind divine eyes.
A massive black gate rose from nothingness, carved with symbols that shifted and rewrote themselves endlessly.
"This world is extremely dangerous," she warned. "Please… be careful."
"I'll come back," I said. "Wait for me."
She nodded.
Light engulfed me.
And then—
Everything went dark.