Earth – Year 2020 – 8:03 pm.
"It burns... it really burns... Stop! Please!"
I was burning as I floated in the air at that moment. I could smell my skin smoking heavily as my body cells burned. Completely frozen, unable to move, I stared at the reason I was going through all this.
"What did I do to you?!... Why are you doing this to me...?"
Burning with pain, the person in the strange cloak stood staring at me, showing no sign of change.
"How... how did all this happen...?"
...
..
.
Earth – 2020 – 5:03 am.
It is said that Alexander the Great, at the height of his power, regretted that he had found no other worlds to conquer.
It is said that Napoleon, in his final isolation, did not regret losing wars... but rather his misplaced trust.
Even those who changed the course of history were haunted by regret in different forms, like a shadow that never left them.
Throughout history, most humans have experienced periods of regret and self-deprecation. Even the greats whose names have been immortalized in books have not escaped this habit in their personal lives, which some see as a curse....
"Seven... eight... nine..."
Or maybe that's what everyone thinks, I guess.
"Ten... eleven..."
But I don't agree with this generalization myself!
"Twelve... thirteen..."
And that's because...
"Fourteen..."
I have no regrets!
"Fifteen!… Ha… Ha…"
Dropping the weights on the floor, a young man sat down gently on his training bench.
"Strong as usual, aren't I?"
He muttered to himself with quiet arrogance, his sweat-slicked muscles standing out sharply in the mirror's reflection. Moments later, he turned and left the training room.
My name is "Ame" or at least that's what people around me call me, despite my dislike for it. But I don't care about such trivial matters... or at least, that's what I believe for now.
Shhh— the shower droned quietly in the background.
-7:33 am.-
Ting-ting-ting…
The alarm clock pierced the quiet morning.
After turning it off for the fourth time, the girl opened her eyes, clearly annoyed.
"Ah... good morning..."
She muttered quietly as she stepped out of the bedroom, her black hair tousled from sleep. She sat silently on the chair, as if she hadn't had enough sleep.
"Good morning rose ,Slept late again?"
"Mm… yes," she said, stretching and yawning.
My fiancée, Rosita.
Even with her lazy, slow ways, she remains, in my eyes, one of the most beautiful things on this earth.
"So… what do you want to do today?" the young man asked, pouring coffee.
"Nothing… just sleep."
She leaned onto the table, letting herself drift into slumber..
"So… should I tell the paper you're refusing the interview?" he teased.
She lifted her head from the table, frowning. "What are you talking about?! I don't have any interview with the pa—… damn it!"
She darted back to the bedroom before finishing her sentence.
*Pfft~*
Seeing her reaction, the young man stifled a sarcastic laugh and continued on his way, coffee cup in hand.
"You know… I think it's time you reconsider my suggestions and actually use the routine app I made for you."
Finishing his sentence, he handed her the cup of coffee.
Without a word, she took it, drained it in a hurry, and placed the empty cup back in his hand.
"Oh, sure… you and those strange apps of yours. Sorry, Mr. Routine, but I'm not a fan of boredom like you are."
She wrapped up her words as she got dressed and headed for the bathroom.
""Believe me, routine is the greatest thing humans have created—right after the internet… and maybe the coffee machine too."
Leaning against the bathroom door, he watched her.
"Haha, very funny… I wonder where your sense of humor disappears when I ask about the novels I recommend!"
She glared at him through the mirror.
"That… um…"
He stammered, unable to do anything but flush with embarrassment.
Her eyes lingered on his shy expression, and she smiled. "Hey… it's fine. I know you're busy and can't always spare time for things like this."
The young man tried to explain himself. "Rosie, no, it's not like that, but—"
"Shh—let's drop this topic. How about you invite me to dinner tonight after work, hmm?"
She walked toward the apartment door, waiting for his response.
Hearing her, he smiled.
"Of course."
"Hmm, good… good. Then I'll see you tonight. I love you—see you later!bye!"
She spoke quickly, then closed the door before he could reply. "I love you too, Rose…"
-7:55 am.-
Walking down the company hallway, excitement bubbled inside me. Today, I would finally receive a letter of recommendation.
In fact, I'm not a full-time employee yet due to my studies, so I can't fully commit to a full-time job for now.
But that didn't stop me from trying to earn money while studying.
Online projects, app programming, website development for major companies… and finally,
a position at one of the largest technology firms in the country!
Ding… ding ding — the elevator doors opened with a cheerful chime.
He took the documents from his bag and began organizing them.
"The recommendation letter… finally! After an entire year of hard work on this report for the manger, I'll finally have an outstanding job record. Ah~ I'm so happy…"
Ding… ding — the elevator chimed.
Walking toward the manager's office, I greeted my coworkers along the way, as usual.
"Hey! Eric, how are you?"
""Ah, perfect timing! I'm still stuck on the new site, man."
"I'll be right with you—don't worry."
"Hey, Ame! You're looking good today—what's your secret, man?"
"Just my morning workout, Mr. Zack! You should give it a try."
"Hey! Hi Ame, how are you?"
"Hi, Lucy! Same as yesterday—handsome and awesome!"
After all the pleasantries and morning chatter, I finally reached my destination.
-Knock on the door-
"Good morning, boss. May I come in?"
I spoke softly, peeking my head through the door.
The manager raised his eyebrows as he glanced toward the door.
"Huh… Ame? Hello, young man. Yes, yes, come in. What do you have?"
I stepped into the office, not wasting a second.
"Mr. Martin, this is the recommendation request I asked for last year, which you agreed to provide if my performance at the company met expectations."
He took the papers from my hand without giving me a chance to read them.
"Good, good… don't worry, kid. I can judge your performance here without needing all those statistics. Of course, you deserve this recommendation—no question about it."
The manager lifted his pen and swiftly signed the papers.
A smile appeared on the corner of my mouth: "Thank you, boss!"
Outside the manager's office, I couldn't contain my joy as I walked.
"Another achievement today… how wonderful my life is…"
Sitting at my neat, orderly desk, I opened my laptop.
"Okay! Time for another day at work!"
Work has never been an obstacle in my life. Despite my financial success and freedom, I didn't want to leave everything behind.
"I can still do more."
I looked at a photo on my desk—an old woman with a gentle, kind smile.
"Mother...you must be proud."
...
..
-7:33 p.m.-
"Finally! ... I'm done! I didn't think the work would be this intense..."
shiver ran through me. Looking out the office window, I saw the city swallowed by darkness, a cold wind sneaking in.
"Damn… I didn't expect to be this swamped. I'll be late for dinner."
I grabbed my jacket and hurriedly gathered my things… and then the sound came.
Beep... Beep!
"Hmm?.."
My eyes landed on the computer screen. A red alert blinked on one of the servers—something wasn't right.
"Server issues? Now of all times?"
I looked at the clock on my phone, and it was already 7:41.
"Hey, Eric! Are you still there?"
No one answered.
"Lucy! Zack! Are you guys here?"
Still nothing...
"Damn... Looks like I'm the only one left in the building."
Trying to fix the issue as fast as possible, I bypassed the security protocols and transferred the company's access keys to my laptop.
"Let me finish this quickly."
After linking my laptop to the company's system, I retrieved all the data needed to access the servers without any trouble.
-7:50 p.m.-
Snatching up my laptop, I hurried to the server room.
"Hey Rose, I'm sorry, sweetheart, but a work issue popped up. I'll be late for dinner.
Your crazy lover... heart emoji."
After sending the message, I finally felt at ease, knowing there would be no misunderstanding about my delay.
I headed toward the server room, opened the door, and took a look around.
The room was massive, the aisle between the servers stretching for nearly hundreds of meters.
"Well... where is the troublemaker?"
I weaved between the servers until I finally reached the source of the problem.
"Zack should be handling this… why does it always fall on me?"
After entering my login information and bypassing the security measures, I finally accessed the source of the problem.
"Huh? Are you kidding me?"
I scanned the system, but everything seemed normal.
"What is this nonsense? Why is there nothing here?"
Annoyed, I tried to calm myself and think logically.
"Is the problem with the alert system, not the server? No… maybe it's just a glitch? Or a delay caused by heavy load?"
Lost in my own thoughts, I couldn't come up with a convincing explanation.
"Who cares? I'll just send a report to mr. Martin now and think about it later, hehe…"
As I reached to disconnect the computer from the server—
*Beep* — a notification sounded —
My hand froze mid-motion.
"Huh?…"
I looked down at the screen, but there was no file, no familiar desktop.
Instead, the graphical interface had vanished completely.
Blackness.
Then, a lone white line emerged at the top of the screen, looking almost as if someone had written it by hand.
[Core terminal active]
"...What?"
Before I could touch any buttons, lines of text began pouring across the screen at an unnatural speed.
[Establishing secure channel...
Bypassing redundant protocols...
Host privileges detected.]
.
"Host privileges? ... The fuck is happening?!"
I froze, staring at the screen as new lines appeared—
Normally, I might have panicked, but I forced myself to stay calm.
Opening the system logs, I began scanning for anomalies, running diagnostic scripts to trace the source of the intrusion.
[WARNING:Unregistered core detected.]
I swallowed hard.
"Core? What core? ... That's not part of any system I know."
I placed my hands cautiously on the keyboard and typed a simple command
"> Exit"
But the response came immediately.
[Rejected.]
My heart began to race.
New lines appeared, one after another.
[Host recognized... Match confirmed!]
Panic surged through me. "Fuck this!" I muttered.
I yanked at the network cable, trying to force a disconnect—but the moment I pulled it—
*Beep!*
The sound returned, louder than before.
Then a lone window appeared in the middle of the screen, with no other commands.
[Does the host wish to return?]
>Yes
"Return? What… does that even mean?"
I tried to ignore the window and power off the
computer, but the sound erupted once more.
*Beep!*
"Is this a trick?"
I slammed the power button repeatedly, but the computer refused to respond. That's when I realized… it wasn't going to turn off.
Beep... beep!
"What!? Are you kidding me? And why isn't there an option to cancel? How is this even possible?!"
I slammed my fingers across the screen, trying every command I could think of, but it was useless. There was no choice left but to surrender to reality.
"Fine… let's see what happens."
Teck! — the button clicked —
-8:00 p.m.-
I pressed the only option on the screen, and the device powered down—without a single explanation.
I tried to turn it back on, but it didn't respond to anything. A cold wave of fear washed over me.
"Damn… what happened?come on...wake up buddy!"
Suddenly, a cold breeze swept across my back, like a chill from outside creeping into the room. I spun around, shivering.
"What was that…" I glanced behind me, but there was nothing unusual—just the empty, brightly lit hallway, exactly as before.
"Is anyone there?"
Silence.
-8:01 p.m.-
"Maybe I was imagining things... Let me just get out of here."
I grabbed my laptop. I didn't want to stay in this quiet place alone for another minute.
*Shh... Shh* - Flash of light -
I quickened my pace, a faint unease creeping into my chest. As I walked past the rows, it felt as if unseen eyes were following my every step.
"What's wrong with this place now..?"
My steps grew faster, faster, I felt my heart beating rapidly. The strange feeling pressing on me only grew stronger, forcing me to jog toward the exit.
Reaching the door, I felt a fleeting sense of relief as I readied my hand to pull it open.
-8:02 p.m.-
I pulled the door open—and suddenly, it was jerked back.
A creepy man blocked my way, his face hidden beneath a grimy, worn scarf.
"hey… who are you?" I asked
The man approached slowly, silent as a shadow.
"Sir? Are you deaf?!" I shouted.
He kept coming closer.
"Hey! Don't come any closer! Back the fuck off man , or I'll call security!" I lunged for my phone, fingers trembling.
The man stepped closer, until there was no space left between us.
And then… I saw beneath the scarf.
I swung my fist at him.
"Get away from m—?!"
My words cut off.
He caught my arm with ease. In the same motion, his hand shot to my throat and locked there, lifting me slightly.
"Agh!?!... You... Kag!"
His hand clamped around my throat, cutting off my air. I struggled to pry it away, but his strength… it wasn't normal.
"What the hell kind of strength is this?!" I thought, panic surging through me.
Suddenly, I began to feel fire burning inside me.
"What...what's happening?!"
As the heat increased, I couldn't help but feel as if a tremendous fire was burning all over my body.
"My body...stop!...Aghh!"
It was as if the flames never stopped... I began to feel the fire consuming and melting my organs, while I began to smell a foul odor.
It was nothing but the smell of my skin burning.
-8:03 p.m.-
"It burns... it really burns... stop... please!"
I was burning as I floated in the air at that moment. I could smell my skin smoking heavily from the burning of my body cells, trying to kick with my legs, but I couldn't push it away, as if it were a rock.
My body began to burn more intensely, and flames came out of my eyes as I burned alive. At that moment, I was certain that my death was near... the end of my life, which I did not regret.
I was looking for the reason for everything I was going through now.
"What did I do to you?...Why are you doing this to me?"
I drained all my remaining energy and asked him.
"No..."
Burning with pain, the person in the strange cloak continued to stare at me without any sign of change, with his terrifying smile.
"Rose..."
..
.
"Rose... Rose..."
"Rose!!"
I opened my eyes, gasping for air. My heart pounded, and a cold dread lingered over me, as if I had just awoken from a nightmare.
"Huh... huh...what happened?"
Trying to remember everything in my memory, I was able to recall everything I could.
"My body! My body is burned!"
In panic, I removed the cover from my body, and when I looked around, I found everything intact, without a scratch.
"This... Was it... Was it a dream?"
Feeling uneasy, I looked around, and when I finally took in my surroundings.
A massive bed for four, etched with classical engravings. The floor bore intricate patterns, and the room was filled with ornate Victorian furniture, untouched by modern design.
"This doesn't look like a hospital, or my apartment... Where? Where am I?"
Trying to remember everything, I closed my eyes when I felt a terrible headache.
Suddenly, the annoying sound I had heard before appeared at that moment.
*Beep!*
"Damn... My head... What now?"
I slowly opened my eyes. Suddenly, a strange window appeared before my eyes. covered in characters that resembled my own language.
–Host is being loaded into the program...–
–Loaded–
–Host data is being verified...–
–Verification complete–
–Transferring body memories to host.–
–Transfer complete!–
–Welcome, host 'Kraif Tharos,' to the Return program!–