BEEP BEEP BEEP
I woke up to a sound that felt like an alarm.
"When did I set an alarm?" I usually didn't. Being a full-fledged corporate slave, I didn't need one—I just knew when it was time to work.
"Wait, this sound… an alarm clock?"
It was unmistakably the sound of a real alarm clock—not the digital kind you'd find on a phone.
"That's weird. When did I buy an alarm clock?" I twisted and turned, half-awake and trying to make sense of it.
"Hmm… so soft." The mattress beneath me felt like a marshmallow. The blanket was warm, soft, and thick—it felt especially cozy in the chill surrounding me.
When did my mattress become this soft? Wasn't it caving on one side last I checked? And why was I under a blanket in the middle of summer? It had been hot enough for government alerts warning people to stay cool.
Then again, weather these days was never reliable in the age of global warming.
But that still didn't explain the blanket, the mattress, or the unexpected cold.
Something felt… off.
I mustered all my willpower to fight off the grogginess and opened my eyes.
Two eyeballs the size of ladders stared at me.
I quickly shut my eyes.
Frowning, I slowly opened them again.
This time, a tentacle filled with dozens of eyeballs stared back.
"…"
I shut my eyes once more.
Sleep vanished instantly.
Am I dreaming? Of course! This couldn't be real. I tried to reassure myself and pinched my index finger with my thumb.
PINCH
A chill shot through my veins.
It hurt.
That pain confirmed it wasn't a dream.
Thousands of thoughts raced through my mind in that instant.
With a trembling body, I opened my eyes slightly.
Now there were three massive tentacles with hundreds—no, thousands—of eyes gazing at me.
CURSES!! WHY ARE THEY MULTIPLYING?
My heart skipped a beat. Every time I shut my eyes, it multiplied.
I could hear my heartbeat hammering in my chest. I wanted to run. But something told me—if I moved, I'd die.
So I lay there, still as a corpse, watching thousands of eyeballs wriggle unnaturally.
Every squirm sent a tremor of terror through me.
I felt nauseated. But somehow, I held it in, drawing on a strength I didn't know I had.
Seconds passed in tense silence. Nothing happened.
Until finally… movement.
One of the tentacles twitched and slowly slithered toward me.
I froze in fear and closed my eyes tightly.
My body screamed Run! but I stayed still.
It approached.
Even with closed eyes, I could smell its sickening stench—so vile it could drive someone insane. The squelching sound rang in my ears as it neared alarmingly close. I could feel its gaze—the wriggling mass of eyeballs watching me.
It was maddening. All of it was maddening.
I focused on shallow breaths, willing my body to remain still.
Seconds passed again.
BREAK
Something shattered. The alarm that had been blaring since I awoke abruptly stopped.
The stench faded. The squelching stopped.
Silence returned.
Cautiously, I opened my eyes.
The moonlight greeted me. Perhaps those tentacles had blocked it before?
No sign of them remained.
I slowly turned my head to check my surroundings.
All I could see were towering trees and the wreckage of a building.
"Hey."
!!!
Startled by the sudden voice, I froze again.
"It's gone," a calm male voice said.
I turned my neck toward the sound.
Peeking out from something that resembled a cocoon or membrane was a young, handsome man.
I said nothing—just stared.
"You're a junior from Class 1, right? Just lie still. The membrane is absorbing your mana, so don't try to force it out."
He spoke with eerie calmness, giving instructions I didn't understand.
Junior? Class 1? Mana? Membrane?
I turned my head slightly.
The "mattress" and "blanket" I had felt earlier were, in fact, part of the dry, cocoon-like membrane he mentioned.
I didn't even get time to be horrified by that.
CRACK CRACK CRACK
Suddenly, the stench of burning filled the air. I heard crackling, like fire, and saw a flickering light.
I snapped my gaze toward the source—where that young man had been. Now, swirling flames engulfed the membrane.
Did he die? That thought struck me instantly.
But to my horror, from within the fire, a wraith-like figure emerged—bathed in flames.
The fire slowly subsided.
The wraith transformed back into the young man.
What the heck is happening since I woke up?! First, that abomination. Now a guy who can turn into a fire wraith?!
Even as these thoughts raced through my mind, my body and face remained weirdly still. It was like they'd turned to stone—unfazed by the chaos unraveling inside me.
The young man calmly looked around, then turned toward me and raised his hand. Flames burst from his palm.
I watched in horror as the fire engulfed me. I closed my eyes tightly, bracing for the burn.
Seconds passed. Nothing happened. I cautiously opened my eyes and saw the flames eating away at the membrane. The cocoon-like shell slowly turned to ash, without harming me.
I stared in amazement as the cocoon burned away. Once the flames died out, the blanket-like membrane was reduced to ashes—and I was free to move.
"Quick, we don't have time," the young man said. His once calm voice now carried urgency.
I turned my head toward him without any change in my expression. He was scanning the surroundings, visibly alert.
Wasting no time, I stood up as quietly as I could.
While I got to my feet, the young man walked over to another cocoon. I watched, fascinated, as fire flared up from his hands again and he hurled it at the cocoon. It burned away, revealing a young girl lying motionless.
The boy gently lifted her and rested her against a nearby tree.
He continued searching the area for other cocoons and soon walked toward one attached to a tree.
As I looked around, my eyes landed on a metal plate in the wreckage—a reflective surface.
A pale young man stared back at me with cold, black eyes and black hair. His frame was worryingly lean, and his skin looked like it hadn't seen sunlight in years.
It took a moment to realize the image I was seeing... was my own reflection.
Did I transmigrate? I thought, incredulous, while staring at the icy face that stared back at me. Still, I managed to remain unnervingly calm—something I seemed to be doing quite well.
But... shouldn't I have woken up in an unfamiliar room, then slowly discovered that I had transmigrated? That's how it usually went in the novels I'd read. In most of them, the protagonist wakes in a relatively safe place and gradually comes to understand they've crossed into a new world.
As I pondered this, I started scanning my surroundings more carefully.
The young man had freed everyone trapped in cocoons.
I saw two young women—one seemingly a college student, the other slightly older—and one young man who appeared to be the same age as the student.
I walked toward the young man and stood beside him, too afraid to remain exposed in the open.
He noticed me but continued focusing on his task. He began chanting incantations and making strange hand signs.
From his palm, alien characters emerged, slowly forming something like a glowing circle.
I watched in awe as a white light shone from the circle and bathed the three unconscious figures. After a moment, the glow dimmed and the circle vanished.
Was I in some kind of fantasy setting? I wondered, staring at the whole process through a stone-cold face that refused to express anything.
I didn't know what he had just done—but soon enough, the people on the ground stirred, groaning and twisting.