The first thing Jake noticed was the smell.
Salty, rot and wet wood mingle together, making him wake up rather unpleasantly.
He opened his eyes and immediately regretted it as bright sunlight reflected off the sea, stabbing into his vision from all direction.
"...Ahh."
He was lying on a wooden deck... and not a nice one either as it seemed to have torn off and was floating aimlessly in the water.
Cracks could be seen ran through the planks and something sticky clung to his shirt.
When he pushed himself up, his palm touched something damp and the faint smell of fish hit his nose.
"This is bullshit..."
Jake sat up slowly, his head throbbing.
He felt like vomiting, as if his body had been lying on the rocking deck for hours.
But as much as he hated to admit it, he never got motion sickness on land or at sea.
Because he had traveled a lot as a kid, thanks to his rather...adventurous father.
After a few minutes of adjusting, he finally got used to the waves and let out a sigh of relief.
Then he looked around, his face deadpan.
"...What the fuck."
The last thing he remembered was going to sleep after coming back from a welcoming party.
Tomorrow was supposed to be the big day as it will be his first day of college.
Jake had made up his mind that he was going to get a girlfriend and enjoy college life.
After all, he desperately wanted to lose his twenty-year virginity.
He had even spent the entire summer vacation working out at the gym, building a well-toned body in hopes of impressing beautiful women with his muscles.
"What the hell happened?" he murmured, staring dazedly at the endless sea in the distance.
He remembered coming home drunk, wobbling slightly, and going to bed with a peaceful mind.
And he clearly knew there had been no accidents.
No truck ramming into his house, no lightning strikes, nothing dramatic at all.
Just normal... sleep.
But now...
...Now, there was water stretching as far as the eye could see, reaching the horizon in every direction.
Jake stared blankly at the endless sea.
As a normal man in his twenty, he looked like any regular guy you might pass on the street.
Short black hair, brown eyes, a simple white shirt and jeans as he blended in perfectly at every place.
Maybe the only thing that usually made him stand out was his calm demeanor, honed over many years of living with his strange father.
Jake looked around and slowly stood up.
He pinched his cheek hard.
"...This definitely isn't a dream. Then does it mean this is the after life?"
He let out a long sigh at that conclusion.
"To think I'd die still a virgin... I should have gone with that bastard."
He remembered how his best friend had urged him to experience a woman at a famous soapland, and how he had refused, believing he should save his first time for the one he loved.
...Now, he deeply regretted it.
If only he had known he would die, at least he could have experienced adulthood...even a little.
But suddenly—
Splash!
A wave of salty water slammed into his face, and he coughed violently, spitting out the brine.
"Cough! Cough!"
Then the realization hit him.
"...I'm not dead."
The sensation was too real to be an afterlife.
The scorching sun overhead, the salty water making him gag....everything felt painfully, undeniably real.
But if this was real... what had actually happened to him?
As his mind wandered, his balance was shaken.
"What...?"
Jake tried to steady himself, bracing for balance as the wooden deck beneath him wobbled violently.
It was far stronger than any normal wave should be.
Fearing he might be thrown into the sea, he gripped the nearest support with all his strength.
Then,
The deck lurched again, this time with a violent jolt, as though something massive had struck it from below.
"Shit !"
Jake dropped to his knees, clutching a cracked plank as the wood tilted sharply.
Water splashed over the edge, soaking his jeans.
The entire chunk of deck lifted...then dipped...like a colossal creature brushing against it.
His stomach dropped.
Slowly…
Very slowly…
He leaned over the edge.
"Hmm…?"
The water wasn't the clear like the one he used to remember when traveling.
No… from a distance, it looked blue enough, but the water around him was... weirdly dark.
Jake squinted, trying to see through the murky depths.
But the sunlight barely pierced a few meters down.
For a moment...
He saw nothing but his own reflection, distorted by ripples.
Jake exhaled.
"Calm down...probably just a big fish... or driftwood...or"
Thump.
Something struck the deck below, and Jake froze.
This time it wasn't his imagination as he could feel the impact clearly.
He hurriedly looked down again... and finally saw it.
The darkness was moving.
A long shadow....
...Way too long.
It slid beneath the wooden deck like a passing cloud....except clouds didn't swim.
Jake swallowed hard.
His nervousness made his stomach twist.
The fear of the unknown gripped him like ice.
His brain tried to rationalize it.
Whale? No. Too thin. Too fast.
Shark? ...Too big. Way too big.
The shadow kept moving.
And moving.
... And moving.
His throat went dry at one possibility.
"...There's no way..."
It had to be at least five, maybe ten meters long.
The tail alone was wider than his entire body.
The water bulged as it passed, lifting the deck slightly like a toy.
Jake's fingers tightened around the plank until his knuckles turned white.
He didn't dare breathe, didn't blink, didn't move.
His heart pounded so loudly it felt like the creature below could hear it.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Then—
The shadow stopped.
...Right under him.
He saw his own reflection trembling on the water's surface.
And then—
Two faint lights appeared beneath him.
Not reflections.
Not sunlight.
...Because they looked too symmetrical
Like ... a pair of eye.
Jake's eyes met that pair of lights and for some reason, he could feel that whatever it was... it was also looking straight at him.
"…You've got to be kidding me…"
A numbness ran through his scalp.
At his words, the water suddenly churned, bubbles erupting upward, and the deck rocked violently.
"FUCK!!"
CRACK!
One of the planks split, and cold seawater rushed over his legs.
Whatever that thing was…
It wasn't just swimming.
It was circling and...hunting?
Jake scrambled backward, heart hammering, mind racing.
"Think! Think! THINK!"
His face went pale as he searched for anything, anything that could help him.
But all he could see was endless water.
No land.
No boat.
No supplies.
Nothing.
He realized just how screwed he really was.
"…I just wanted to start college…"
A wry and bitter smile crossed his face.
The situation was so absurd that all he could do now was laugh weakly.
"This is such bullshit...."
At his words, the shadow below him moved again and this time faster.
Then-
BOOM!
SPLASH!
The wooden deck exploded into splinters.
And Jake was thrown into the sea.