The rain won't stop.
Always the same fine, gray drizzle, somehow heavier than it should be... as if even the sky itself carried old debts. I stare out the window and all I see is a weary neighborhood—cramped houses, empty streets, everything washed out. Everything kind of like me.
Six months remain until the end of the year.
This year, I graduate from high school.
And I have absolutely no idea what comes after.
I turn my gaze back to the organic chemistry workbook. The formulas blur together, dancing and running across the page like wet ink. No matter how hard I try, nothing sticks. My head throbs. So does my heart. Graduation feels like the edge of a cliff—and I still have to jump.
The darkness of my room is broken only by the cold glow of my computer. From the kitchen comes the steady sound of something being chopped; my mother is making dinner. The same mother who works herself to the bone, pulling double shifts while I... I can barely manage to do anything worthwhile.
"Pass the entrance exam, Noah," she said yesterday.
Smiling, as if it were easy.
As if there were relief waiting for us somewhere in the world.
I snap the book shut harder than I meant to. The wooden desk creaks, as though it were complaining alongside me.
I need to find a job as soon as possible... I think, sinking into vague plans about escaping this hell.
I get up from my chair and walk over to my bed. A rainy afternoon like this is perfect for a nap. I deserve one. I've spent four hours studying stupid formulas.
I throw myself onto the mattress.
Thump.
"Soft and cozy as always..." I murmur, my eyes already beginning to close.
Then my phone vibrates.
Probably some pointless notification or spam.
But no.
The light is far too bright.
As if the screen itself had caught fire.
[SYNCHRONIZING]...
I blink, confused.
I didn't install this. No one did.
What the hell...? I think, picking up the phone as though it might bite me. It trembles—but not like a normal vibration.
It's... alive.
The screen goes dark for a moment.
I unlock it.
Nothing seems out of place.
I swipe through my apps, growing increasingly anxious.
"Damn it... must be a virus."
The sigh escapes more like a lament.
But on the last page...
I see something strange.
An app that has never been there before.
A golden icon.
A sun... cracked.
Or perhaps engraved with ancient runes.
Still suspecting malware, I tap the icon.
The phone pulses in my warm hand, burning with fever.
The screen darkens, and a single word appears, blinking.
[Loading]
Then:
[Welcome to the Integrated Simulation System — SIMULUM]
My stomach sinks.
"A virus? A hack? Some kind of prank?"
The question echoes inside my mind, but the air in my room has changed.
Heavy.
Dense.
As if my next words were about to be judged by something invisible.
A game-like interface appears, floating across the screen.
[Selected User: Noah Winsley.
Reason for Selection: Compatibility.]
I want to turn it off.
I want to throw the phone across the room.
But my fingers won't move.
The screen changes again.
Now it reveals a map.
Ancient.
Beautiful.
Mountains outlined like strokes of black ink.
Borders etched with almost handcrafted precision.
Then:
[You will play this simulation by living as the character you choose.
Your progress can be converted into S-Coins.
S-Coins can be exchanged for resources within the simulation...
and for real money.]
Real money.
My lungs fail me.
It's stupid.
Absurd.
But at the same time...
it's the only thing that could stop my life from completely falling apart.
The screen vibrates again.
[Before entering, customize your origin.]
The options appear like destinies carved into stone.
• Child of Artisans
• Disciple of a Minor Sect
• Disciple of a Mid-Tier Sect
• Disciple of a Major Sect
• Heir to a Great Sect
• Lost Bloodline of an Extinct Dynasty
And beneath them, a sentence that sends a chill down my spine:
[The greater the prestige of your origin, the more treacherous the road ahead.
NPCs possess ambitions, fears, and wills of their own.]
NPCs with wills of their own...
So that's the kind of simulation this is?
I feel something strange.
As though the world inside my phone is breathing with me.
The next screen appears.
[Select Your Path.]
• Path of the Immortal Flesh
• Path of the Inner Essence
• Path of Shadows
• Path of the Heavenly Mandate
• Path of the Living Blade
• Path of Aetherial Harmony
[Host, make your choice so the world may be integrated.]
The sound of the rain seems to bend around me, waiting for my decision.
And for the first time in a very long while, I feel that maybe... just maybe... my life is about to change.